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Focusing on the human-built island Marker Wadden, the most striking aspect of the project for us has been the way that the island was created. The islands are made out of many places that have accumulated into one place due to different forces and over time. Looking back in history there was already land in this place several times, then again it was flooded by the sea. At this present moment, you can step on dry ground because humans have influenced the way of deposition of sediments. We were fascinated by the interplay of time and geological forces. Having the question in mind is what “natural“ forces are. 

We couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the process of the deep layers being formed through millions of years; and the process of cooking. Keeping this in mind, we took the theme back to the interior and tried to understand the ground we are standing on through one of the most domestic acts known to humans: the act of cooking & baking. Through an activity that seems rather mundane, we talk about the forces that shape the geological layers, and we learn about their structure and composition. Marker  Wadden is like a layer cake, it consists of many different layers that refer to deep time and tell us stories about their creation.  

  

Deep time is not an abstract or distant prospect, but rather a  spectral presence in the everyday. The era of the human denotes how industrial civilization has changed the earth in ways that are comparable with deep-time processes. Hearing out scientific experts who study a wider time span than the so-called “thick present” leads to a wider understanding of the changing planet.  Considering the forces that shape the layers of the planet can help someone think about further developments. It is crucial to understand the process of those forces in order to be able to think ahead; and this is why we chose to work with the process of cooking and baking and embraced its lightness of it, so we could have a more holistic idea about the formation of the grounds we stand on from a domestic perspective. 

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Agnes Tatzber + Bahar Orçun + Sander Blomsma