Fanja Bouts
Sonsbeek 2026
Park Sonsbeek, Arnhem
Inleiding
Landscapes looking back: More-than-human interpretations of Park Sonsbeek, 2026
Photo: Django van Ardenne
Informed by her studies in physics and environmental sciences, Fanja Bouts is invested in mapping out the intricacies of systems of human and more-than-human worlds. The artist’s works combine research with detailed drawings and humor that result in large-scale installations with chaotic scenes and nonlinear narratives in which characters convey satirical and philosophical undertones. In this newly commissioned spatial intervention, Bouts takes a closer look at Park Sonsbeek, which follows the design of English landscapes wherein each element posits an aspect of “real nature”. These elements show how nature has presented itself over time, and how we, as humans, have chosen to respond. Advocating for these stories and relations, Bouts’s work is composed of stained-glass panels framed by engraved wood placed at defining elements of the park: the Sint Jansbeek stream, the rhododendron, the beech tree, and the deer camp (a fenced off area where the park’s deer are kept). The panels invite viewers to inhabit each element’s vantage point, and to consider its arrival in the park and how it has shaped and been shaped by its surroundings. They encourage reflection on how these elements are curated, giving voices to the patterns of other species and non-living structures. While parks have primarily advanced anthropocentric aesthetic ideals, they are now being reconsidered as essential support for ecological vitality. By decentering the human perspective and highlighting networks of interdependence, parks might open up space to reimagine landscapes as shared dynamic systems that are more inclusive and more responsible.
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About the artist
Fanja Bouts (b. 1997, Nijmegen, the Netherlands) is a visual artist who lives and works in Amsterdam and London and specializes in installation and illustration. Her practice features chaotic scenes and nonlinear narratives with recurring characters that convey satirical and philosophical undertones, where more-than-human ecological frameworks incorporate political ecology and philosophy toward more just worlds. In 2023, she graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam. Her work has appeared in venues including Kunsthall 3, 14, Bergen, Norway in 2025 and Manifesta 15, Barcelona in 2024. She has also shown work in venues in the Netherlands such as TextielMuseum, Tilburg and Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, receiving the 2023 RM Public Choice Award from the latter. Her tapestry commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations is in the Rijkscollectie, the Dutch national art collection.
Fanja Bouts would like to thank Maarten Berfelo of Demigare for his support and for producing the stained-glass work, my mother Christine Thijsen for donating her stained-glass collection, and Soepel Projecten BV – in particular Siem Stinesen – for the wood engraving. Thanks to the specialists at Park Sonsbeek: forest and park manager Jan Floor, forest ranger Jeroen Glissenaar, architect Edwin Verdurmen (Studio EARTH), thanks go to the specialists at Park Sonsbeek: forest and park manager Jan Floor, forest ranger Jeroen Glissenaar, architect Edwin Verdurmen (Studio EARTH), park guide Gerard Herbers, forest educator Simon Klingen and Monique Verstraten, director of the Arnhem Nature Centre. Thanks also to the research institutions Wageningen University & Research, with special thanks to Clemens Driessen, the University of Nottingham, the University of Manchester, Linköping University and the Gelders Archief, Arnhem.
Special thanks to the participants: the deer, the rhododendron, the beech tree, the Sint Jansbeek and its waters.
Commissioned by Sonsbeek 2026
Made possible in part by the Pauwhof Fund