16 Apr 2026
Podcast
Paleis Het Loo State of Wander Podcast
with Cathelijne Blok
16 Apr 2026
“State of Wander: Towards Environmental Restoration,” Paleis Het Loo, Apeldoorn, NL April 16 – September 27, 2026
Curated by Anna Bitkina
Cathelijne Blok: Look down. That marble is not just stone. It is built from the bodies of billions of microscopic sea creatures called coccolithophores, which convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into calcium carbonate rock. They sank to the ocean floor, were compressed by the Earth’s mantle, and rose back up as marble mountains. This palace is literally built from the sea.
The sea runs deeper here than marble. Much of the wealth of the House of Orange-Nassau was built through the Dutch East and West India Companies and maritime commerce such as indigo and the transatlantic slave trade. Ships sailed these routes for profit. One of them, the Witte Leeuw, sank in 1613 near the island of St. Helena in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Its inventory listed 1,311 diamonds. They were never found.
I spoke with Caitlin about how she pulls all of this into a single work.
Related
1,311 Diamonds
Work
1,311 Diamonds
Writing
Frieze reviews "State of Wander"
In: Frieze Magazine
Critical Text
