Artist Spotlight: Family Walk with Fanja Bouts: Deep Mapping

Throughout Sonsbeek 2026, artist Fanja Bouts invites visitors, including children aged four and up, to collaboratively create a deep map of the park. Drawing on her background in physics and environmental sciences, Bouts explores the complexity of human and more-than-human systems.

Deep maps move away from traditional cartography, in which landscapes are often represented from an anthropocentric and extractive perspective. Instead, they focus on the many meanings a landscape can hold for both people and more-than-human beings.

Bouts has developed a booklet of prompts and questions, accessible to children, that encourages reflection and a broader way of looking at the park. On Sunday, July 5, she will activate the booklet for the first time during a family walk that visits elements of her commission for Sonsbeek 2026. The walk will be conducted in Dutch and English.