In the middle of the city, surrounded by the agricultural landscape of Fryslân, VHDG brings together two art presentations about the landscape, animals, and what we eat and grow. The exhibition is part of our program VHDG Lokaal. Within this program, Sophie Krier and ERBA (Suzanne Bernhardt & Philipp Kolmann) are working in Fryslân for a full year. They create art, organize workshops, and conduct artistic research. Each of them immersed themselves in the Frisian nature and farming life, creating artworks about our relationship with the Frisian Horse, the changes in the landscape, and the future of local food production.
Amino, Anima, Umami x Hyndertiid can be visited free of charge from Friday, October 31 through Sunday, December 14.
Amino, Anima, Umami
Amino, Anima, Umami is a project by the traveling food studio ERBA (consisting of artists Suzanne Bernhardt & Philipp Kolmann). Last summer, the artist duo traveled through the Frisian landscape with VHDG’s Traveling Studio. Among grazed, mown, and overgrown meadows, ERBA collected stories from grasslands in transition. In this exhibition, they present works about the building blocks of our food, the interconnectedness between humans, plants, and animals, and wool as a carrier of stories about the Frisian landscape and new life.
A lot is changing in what food we eat and how we grow it. Long-lost pastoral traditions have been replaced by square monocultures of English ryegrass. Only along the edges do remnants of old grasses and herbs still grow, as a reminder of how things once were. Now, with the rise of the plant-based revolution, diets centered around the consumption of dairy and meat are increasingly being replaced by plant-based alternatives. The English grass, once cultivated for livestock, is gradually being replaced by legumes and grains. In addition, fields are being left to rewild. This not only changes the ecology of the land but also its cultural memory. How do we remember the landscapes of the past, what traces do animals leave in the land — and what will the agricultural culture of the future look like?
With Amino, Anima, Umami, ERBA imagines a future landscape where grasses of all kinds flourish and herds of animals once again roam freely. Our exhibition space is temporarily transformed into a space of preservation, growth, and production — a place where traditional cooking techniques are applied to plant-based ingredients, where a sheepskin becomes the carrier of new plant life, and where the artists explore ways of caring for animals and the landscape in a time of changing eating habits. The land, the animals, and their stories are retold, through scent, taste, and touch.
Hyndertiid
Hyndertiid (Horse Time) is an art project by Sophie Krier about the Frisian horse. Since the beginning of this year, she has been exploring the contours of this equine world. Sophie traveled across the province — visiting stables, inspections, kitchen tables, and grasslands — in search of what the Frisian horse means today. She followed the animal through the seasons and learned how birth, training, and farewell each find their place in the rhythm of both the animal and the human.
In dialogue with breeders, scientists, fellow artists, horse lovers, and among herds of horses, new artworks have been created. Together, the results form an exhibition that explores the layered reality of care, labor, and imagination — about how new relationships between humans and horses can take shape. What does it mean to spend time with horses? How do horse people experience their bond with these animals? And how does the Frisian horse live on in our contemporary culture and within the equestrian world?
Research and Encounters
Sophie Krier’s journey began at the popular annual Stallion Inspection. There, she also attended clinics on the health challenges and ethical considerations of breeding within a closed studbook. From there, she set out on an exploratory journey visiting private horse owners, foaling stables, studbook inspectors, and equine lawyers.
She spoke with a zooarchaeologist who studies what ancient bones can tell us about the relationship between humans and animals in the early Middle Ages. She met one of the initiators of the Frisian Horse Calendar and a coach who works with horses and guides trance journeys using a percussion instrument made from horsehide. Stories from the past: from myths, research, and memory, intertwined with daily practice. What endures, what changes, and what do the Frisians dream of in their life with these black beings?
Hyndertiid is a record of the time we spend with horses, from centuries past up to the present. Humans and horses have profoundly influenced each other. Through herders, farmers, and breeders, the horse has evolved from a wild herd animal to a farm helper, and then to a show horse. In all these roles, it has also shaped human life: in labor, crafts, the economy, and the cultural life of Fryslân. The Frisian horse remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration, also for the future. What kind of life does the horse inspire? What time awaits us and the horse?
