Fanja Bouts
Sonsbeek 2026
Park Sonsbeek, Arnhem
Inleiding
Landscapes looking back: More-than-human interpretations of Park Sonsbeek, 2026
Photo: Django van Ardenne
Four stained-glass panels framed by engraved wood are 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.
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