Bastiaan van Aarle

The steady rise of the sea level is an often-reoccurring subject in our society. We hear about it on the radio, read about it in newspapers or magazines and see it in documentaries on television. These representations of what is going to happen always look far away from us. If it would happen at all, then it would happen at the North or South Pole, but definitely not in Belgium.

The project “Waterlijn” (Waterline) wants to change this. It brings the subject to the Belgian people. What is going to happen to Belgium when all the ice around the world would melt? Scientists predict that the sea level would rise 65 meters or to put it differently: half of Belgium would be under water. This drastic rise is however currently not visible. It is an idea of the future that has not yet been fulfilled. Hence, we cannot photograph it.

This search of representing a future in photographs leads to the implementation of a line, which is drawn on the glass of the frame and represents the sea level. This artificial element in the image does not only represent the sea level but also serves a different purpose. It plays with the idea of the reality factor in images. Images work on the thin line between reality and fantasy. It represents reality but it excludes elements like sound, or the surroundings, which we (the viewers) have to fill in with our fantasy. By adding this line, I would like to guide the viewer to imagine something specific within the image. The landscape transforms by using their imagination.