june 2011
'Off the coast in the north of the Netherlands, an extinct, prehistoric volcano lies dormant in the layers of the earth and beneath the waters of the Wadden Sea. This volcano is 160 million years old and it was active for several million years. In the 1970s, while drilling for gas, volcanic specimens were found and thereby this volcano was discovered. In the late 1980s a gas-drilling platform was placed precisely above the apex of this submerged volcano and is still in function. When passing by aboard a local passenger ferry, one has a direct view of the platform; since I have obtained this knowledge, the platform for me, now equates to the summit of the volcano'
I have never seen volcanoes, but when travellers tell is a publication by artist Eva Olthof about a photograph of this volcano. She asked artist Roman Signer, writer Peter Delpeut and me to (textually) reflect on the photograph. The book is published by DAi publishers / ArtEZ press and is on sale by Werkplaats Typografie Arnhem, Boekie Woekie in Amsterdam, or with the artist herself.
