Rudy J. Luijters (The Hague, 1955) is a Dutch artist living in Belgium. He reaches consistent proposals and perspectives based on meticulous cultural-historical and natural observations and registrations. His aim is to unite the landscape and its users in the broadest sense of the word by showing the various layers or logic underpinning a cultural and historical landscape or context. This process can have a wide range of outcomes. Growing vegetables in a museum garden is as much a valid component of cultural practice to Luijters as keeping bees or writing about cultural topics.
Rudy Luijters has given his project the working title of Carduelis carduelis. For his location, he picked the vacant lot between Hoogstraat and Kloosterdreef. Now mostly an overgrown nettle patch, it is set to become a haven for insects, bees and goldfinches. Learn the symbolism behind the goldfinch and why it’s such a perfect fit for the theme of this biennial, Faith.
“Following the path of the biennial – which takes you from the St Paulus Abbey, along the Onze Lieve Vrouwe abbey, to the Catharinadal – visitors will pass a small vacant lot. A triangle between Hoogstraat and Kloosterdreef, surrounded by linden and maple trees. Dominated by a very narrow range of species, mostly nettles, the field stands out sharply from the carefully kept monastic properties, the imposing Kloosterdreef and the adjacent tightly ordered vineyard.
Vacant fields really capture my imagination. After all, fallow grounds have a lot more natural spectacle to offer to me as an artist, beekeeper, and amateur botanist and ornithologist than large-scale agricultural fields or manicured parks and gardens.
But when the h3h biennial invited me to survey the terrain, the road-hemmed little field did not quite turn out to be a botanic paradise. The narrow range of species is only of interest to insects and birds. It makes ecological sense: the more species, the more activity. More butterflies, bees and other insects buzzing around, which in turn attract birds who feed on them and on seeds.
Before long, a plan came about to create the extra dynamism that would be expressly visible. A start would be to plant Teasels. Next to them, a few beds of annuals. Maybe some Poppies (Papaver somniferum) and Yellow Mustard (Sinapis alba), species that have a layered meaning in a religious context while also attracting bugs.
The Wild Teasel (Dipsacus follunum) is a biennial plant that can reach over two metres in height, but that’s not its only special feature. As a biennial, it won’t flower until the second year. That’s why we made a head start sowing a few hundred specimens this summer, which will be transplanted to Oosterhout in the spring of 2023. We can expect them to reach full bloom and seed production in the summer of 2023, during the Biennial.
Photographs: Wild teasel in bloom, potted Teasel seedlings in my studio garden (left to right)
Wild Teasel and Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
The generous Wild Teasel is not strictly native, but the species has been present in our regions for over five centuries, so it’s carved out its niche in our ecosystems. Its unusual inflorescence is a visual standout that attracts bees and bumblebees in swaths. The perfoliate leaves form bowls that collect water, which in turn is drunk by insects and the occasional bird. After blooming, the flower heads will still stand firm on their dried stalks throughout the winter. The seeds are much loved by the Goldfinch, which is also called the “thistle finch” in Dutch, perhaps because it’s one of the few birds capable of extracting the seeds from the spiky heads. That’s why planting Teasels will ensure the eventual arrival of this remarkable little bird. Just another bit of ecological logic…
Next year, during the summer of the biennial, the bees and butterflies will already have arrived, but the Goldfinch will take a little longer. It won’t arrive until the seeds have ripened. But we have confidence – or rather faith – that they will show up for the autumn and winter of 2023!
The Goldfinch is a perfect match for the context of this biennial, themed after Faith as it is. Throughout the ages it has turned up in paintings, often as a bearer of religious symbolism. The most famous legend has it that some blood hit the Goldfinch’s head as it pulled a thorn from Christ’s crown of thorns, explaining its bright-red “mask”. Another symbol ascribed to it refers to resurrection, or the soul, sacrifice and death. Raphael’s famed Madonna del Cardellino shows Christ as a young boy receiving a Goldfinch from John, perhaps portending his crucifixion.
Photo: Rafaël, Madonna of the Goldfinch, 1506, Uffizi