The value of heathland
The starting point is a mapped-out walk that introduces visitors, step by step, to the story behind the heathland landscape.
The walk functions not only as a spatial intervention in the landscape, but also as a pilot project – in museum contexts, amongst others – that explores the boundaries between education, design and the experience of nature. Various objects are placed along the route, each highlighting a different aspect of the landscape. Some elements provide information about the heathland’s origins, management and vulnerability, whilst others create moments of tranquillity and reflection. In this way, visitors are invited to look at their surroundings more consciously and to engage with them in a different way. My research aims precisely to challenge that taken-for-granted view of the landscape. Not only of the heathland, but also of other valuable landscapes that we often pass by without a second thought. When we truly pause to consider what is happening right under our noses, it becomes clear just how much hidden dynamism, meaning and value these landscapes hold.