Dolmen is a site-specific installation reflecting on the life cycle of an artwork: its birth, death, and possible rebirth.

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The project evolved from MEGALITH, my 2022 solo exhibition for Young Grunn Artist III, a talent development programme by NP3 and the Groninger Museum. MEGALITH presented a 300 m² artificial landscape built around a contemporary stone circle made from metal oil barrels. When the show ended, these “stones” faced a familiar fate: disposal or storage, a quiet death.

Invited by NP3 to reconsider the afterlife of these materials in the MOBI Square Garden, I buried the barrels in the form of a hunebed. These ancient megalithic tombs, common in Drenthe and other parts of the Netherlands, once marked burial sites for human remains. Their exact meaning is still unclear.

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By echoing this form, Dolmen acts as a contemporary grave for the artwork’s physical body, acknowledging that artworks can indeed “die” after their initial exhibition. But rather than a final end, this burial is a transformation, life-after-death. The barrels now collect groundwater and sustain a curated mix of 49 native plant species, selected with guidance from ecologist Cruydt Hoeck. Over time, the piece contributes to soil health and biodiversity, shifting from sculpture to ecosystem.

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This work questions conventional ideas of artistic permanence. Instead of the typical cycle; reation, exhibition, de-installation, and disappearance, Dolmen proposes a different rhythm: one of decay, integration, and reuse.

Hidden within the hill lies a time capsule, engraved with the phrase not yet. Inside rests a seed disc spelling out the anagram forever too late, each letter representing a native plant growing on the mound. The capsule remains sealed, a quiet offering to the future. Whether it’s a message, a riddle, a warning, or a gesture of trust is no longer mine to define.

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Special thanks to: Zwaan Ipema, Ruud Akse (NP3) and to Cruydt-Hoeck.

Dolmen is made possible by the support of: Mondriaan Fonds and Amarte Fonds.