(Above artwork by Janet Essley. Embarking on migration on a full moon / Australian Aboriginal acrylic painting style. Collection: A Cultural Cartography of a Migratory Bird’s Annual Journey)
On this page you will find information about art projects in which our researchers are involved.
NEW: Launch of The Red Knots Project
In July 2018, Janet Essley in collaboration with biologist Lee Tibbitts, launched the The Red Knots Project: A Cultural Cartography of a Migratory Bird’s Annual Journey . This project maps the annual migrations of Red Knots, from Southern to Northern Hemispheres and back, via Janet’s artwork inspired by the human communities with which the shorebirds have intersected for thousands of years. TeamPiersma is a member of the flock that has inspired Janet and Lee.
NEW: Kanoet – wonderen van de vogelwereld
May–June 2018 and September 2018–June 2019
Kanoet is a co-production of Foundation Pier21 with Garage TDI. A beautiful performance making children look at nature with different eyes.
Actor Theo Smedes, known from the youth theater show ‘Tomke’, plays the role of Mient. Mient is a boy whose father investigates waders and he dreams of being able to fly himself. On stage he has a large collection of stuffed birds that live in the Wadden Sea and fly all over the world: red knots, brent goose, sanderling, bar-tailed godwit and spoonbill.
The children learn about the wondrous behavior of wading birds, the connection of our Wadden Sea with Africa and Siberia and the connection between different ecosystems. And about the power to find your way on your own wings.
The story
Mient prepares a presentation for father about Wadden Sea birds. He has already prepared all stuffed birds and “things” from the mudflats, but his father will not show up. Mient is by himself. He tries – with the help of the children from the audience – to tell his father’s story as good as possible. Fortunately, father has taught him a lot, but if only he could ask him a few things… In the end he gets in touch with his father in a surprising way.
He appears to be sitting on the Siberian tundra, with a nest of young knots! It is clear that his father will be too late for the presentation, but Mient proves that he can do it alone – just like the chicks. If he does not get answers to his questions, he always has his empathy and imagination.
The ‘digital role’ of the father is played by a real professor, Theunis Piersma – professor of Flyway Ecology at the University of Groningen and Wadden researcher at the Royal NIOZ on Texel.