Demarcations

The experience of the Dutch landscape is increasingly undergoing changes. Where first corridors in the landscape were made with the construction of highways, nowadays walls are being erected to separate the road user from his surroundings. For the immediate environment such noise protection measures make sense, but these structures curtail the optical freedom of the traveler. Where once it was possible to survey the land for miles around, one now finds a strip of concrete, steel and polycarbonate separating the viewer from the vista. This (usually successful) reduction of traffic noise is paid for with optical imprisonment.

In urbanized areas other developments are at work. Here the 'invisible' territories, viz. those which have not yet been fenced in, are being demarcated with large chunks of rock. Instead of prefab concrete structures or flower tubs, more and more pieces of rock are being imported from abroad to safeguard a 'free' zone from parking cars. These rocks appear after the renovations have finished or on the grounds of new development projects like remnants of fallen meteorites, landed softly and neatly arranged.