State of Wander new commissions
Towards Environmental Restoration at Paleis Het Loo, NL

“1,311 Diamonds” new commission by Caitlin Berrigan
with contributions from Samuel Hertz, Chandrika Francis with the Oshun Swim School, and Pietro Odaglia with Design Building Technologies at ETH Zurich

Sculpture and sound installation

Location: East Foyer

Berrigan weaves together material metaphors, reparative practices, and the history of Paleis Het Loo with its ties to marine mercantilism and the Transatlantic slave trade—a source of systemic racism and intergenerational trauma. Amid climate crisis and social reckonings, the work tends to submerged oceanic histories that continue to shape the palace and our unequal relationships to nature.

The ocean imbues several artistic gestures. The palace’s marble, formed by microscopic sea creatures, links architecture to marine life and the planet’s atmospheric cycles. Indigo-dyed textiles evoke both aquatic depth and a link between the royal family and slavery, while the shipwrecked shells resound the breathing practices of a reparative swim school led by and for BIPOC communities. The installation frames the ocean as a nexus of extraction and memory—as well as a source of breath and connection.