The work/3d space/experience invites us to inhabit a limit, the line between the known and the unknown, the liminal space where our wildest fears and oldest myths dwell. Wolfs, tigers, pumas, mythical creatures, and magical forces inhabit this dark threshold (“el umbral”).

Wilderness is becoming today just an abstract idea. In some parts of the world, like in The Netherlands, there are no uncontrolled, free, deserted, or extreme places anymore. There are no primeval forests nor high mountains. The limit between wild territories and man-made landscapes does not exist anymore. There is no fear nor magic around the idea of nature. Territory is traced as a concatenation of enclosed gardens without obverse.

Pestbosjes, Dutch for pest-groves or pest-woods, are still existing elements of the historical landscape in some parts of The Netherlands. They look like small groves enclosed by a ditch; they are similar to convenience woods but with a different and unusual function. These small pieces of land were marked off between the 16th and 19th centuries to bury and isolate cattle lost because of infectious diseases and plague epidemics. These places still exist because of the apprehension of diseases like anthrax, which can remain contagious for more than one century. These enclosed forests originated by death and illness are nowadays islands of diversity and carry an almost mystical meaning. The landscape in this part of the world has long since been lost. These Pestbosjes incorporate all the fear and vitality that the disappeared wilderness used to embody.

These enclosed places are deserted, devoided of humans. They are at the same time gardens and feral places, the smallest fragment of land and the entire world. These parcelles can only be inspected from a distance. Wilderness has been objectified and our relation to it became fetishism in disguise.