“Umweltfarben” presents four agricultural tools coated with layers of natural materials—crushed leaves, hay, and earth tones—transforming each tool with the colors and textures of the landscape. This piece is a poetic reflection on rural life, where the boundaries between nature and culture blur and a deep, tactile connection to the land is ever-present.

By enveloping these everyday tools in materials from nature, “Umweltfarben” suggests a quiet harmony between human work and the earth, evoking the lived beauty of rural environments. Without imposing a viewpoint, the work leaves space for viewers to consider their own ideas of place, labor, and the gentle integration of life with land.

If Paradise Is Half As Nice #14  in Wartenburg, Germany

From August 18 to September 23, I participated in IPIHAN #14, held in an abandoned school in the village of Wartenburg. The presentation took place over the weekend of September 21, during which I introduced a new series titled Umweltfarben. A few works from series can now be viewed on my website, with additional images and details to come soon on the IPIHAN website as well.

This year’s participating artists included Maurice Bogaert, Willem Besselink, Guus Vreeburg, Jette Kelholt, Sofie Doeland, and Mels van Zutphen.

From left to right: Guus Vreeburg, Mels van Zutphen, Maurice Bogaert, Willem Besselink, Sofie Doeland, Ties Ten Bosch, Jette Kelholt.

The abandoned school where we lived and worked for five weeks is located in a small German village along the river Elbe—the same village where I bought an old farmhouse two years ago. Being immersed in this environment, I was inspired by the close relationship between culture and nature here and how they constantly influence each other; the local people adapt to the natural landscape while also shaping it to meet their needs. This shaping often happens in ways that feel traditional or even old-fashioned, evoking a sense of nostalgia. I realized how this resonates with many people in a romanticized way, calling to mind an idealized past—one that perhaps never truly existed.

Umweltfarben (3 Säge)

The works all share the title Umweltfarben, a term that connects to the colours of nature. The German word Umwelt, meaning “environment,” translates literally to “the world around”—a phrase I find both poetic and deeply meaningful.

All but one of the pieces in this series are created from agricultural hand tools, generously donated by local villagers. These are mostly older tools, broken or replaced by more modern, motorized versions. I’ve coated each tool in a unique layer of shredded leaves or grass, giving each a distinct natural colour and connecting it back to the environment for where its purpose lies.

Umweltfarben (4 landwerkzeuge)

The IPIHAN project consistently offers me the chance to work on a larger scale and to create site-specific installations. For the 14th edition, I sought to explore these possibilities again, inspired by the subtle ways in which nature has influenced local culture here—especially in the colors chosen for the old school building’s interior, which featured numerous shades of green and brown.

For this piece, I used a large, donated tractor tire from the village, fully covering it—inside and out—with shredded leaves from a single type of tree. Installed upright in one of the old classrooms, the green-coated tire harmonized with the interior’s muted green shades, blending into the space almost like camouflage. Despite this harmony, the tire’s massive presence dominates the empty room.

Behind the tire, a faint trail of green leaves suggests its movement into the room, as if it left its own natural marks upon arrival. This track hints at a larger story that began before and may continue after this moment, inviting viewers to interpret and imagine their own narratives within the scene.

https://tiestenbosch.com/umweltfarben-traktorreifen/Umweltfarben (Traktorreife)

A nondescript game, consisting of 35 numbered, concrete cubes, spread out over the area of the ruins of an iron factory at Salangsverket Norway.

During If Paradise Is Half As Nice #13, which took place at the Salangen Biennale II, this work was one of my contributions to the presentation weekend. 35 concrete cubes, all with a number imprinted in them, were lying in a line to begin with. Most of them were later spread over the area of the old ruins of the old factory. Why they were places and what they seemed to point out stays ambiguous. The work challenges the viewer to come up with their own reasons, rules or meanings.

year: 2023
material: 35 concrete cubes of 12x12x12 cm

A sculptural work made during If Paradise Is Half As Nice #13, which took place at the Salangen Biennale II. The work was made after noticing the extreme measurements that were needed in order for us to work in the abandoned factory at Salangsverket. The work consisted of three old fire extinguishers, which are covered in a layer of concrete. While being turned in to stone and being preserved for ever, they are rendered useless at the same time.

year: 2023material:
fire extinguishers, concrete, lacquer
size: variable sizes

A video work in which I read a famous Dutch poem to a Norwegian landscape.

During If Paradise Is Half As Nice #13, at the Salangen Biennale II in Norway, I made this video. The work displays me, reading a famous Dutch poem called ‘Herinnering aan Holland’ (Remembrance of Holland) by H. Marsman, to a Norwegian Landscape. 

year: 2023
video 2:23 min

A site specific work made during If Paradise Is Half As Nice #10 in Rotterdam. 

The annual IPIHAN project took place this year on an extensive abandoned deserted concrete slab (betonplaat) in Rotterdam.
Compared to the indoor derelict industrial buildings of former editions, this open-air site offered the IPIHAN participants a new challenge. On top of that it enabled the project to be compliant with Covid-19 regulations.

One of the few constructions that were present on the concrete slab was a an old concrete water tank that consisted of 3 big parts and and 3 small parts. I decided to explore the possibilities and properties of one of the three big parts, starting by letting the water out and entering the space by a self made ladder. It gave me an enormous sense of solitude and concentration.

After letting the water out, all that was left was a bad smelling, watery sand substance with water plants and a lot of salamanders and empty concrete walls. During 4 weeks I explored the different elements. I tried to make tiles out of the sandy mud, plastered parts of the concrete walls with the mud and rescued a lot of salamanders out of the drying mud. It turned out to be an ongoing fight with the muddy sand which resulted in very weak tiles and a plaster that cracks and crumbles very easily.

After 4 weeks I presented my endeavors by making the tank accessible for the visitors of IPIHAN #10. I build a stairs out of wood on the inside and a gangway to a small platform in the middle of the tank. Also I put back a little water in the tank, helped by the rain in the last week of the project. This regenerated the life in the tank. All the salamanders came back to life and the plants started to become green again. The stairs and the platform gave the viewer a unique experience. The solitude and silence, the viewers were only allowed to go in one at the time, made you aware of every little detail in the tank: the cracked mud on the wall and the very subtle placed tiles made out of mud in the corners, the salamanders and plants in the water and the clouds moving by in the sky. The sounds of the immediate surroundings where muted and only distant sounds of the city and the wind where audible. Of the outside world, only the sky was visible.

title: Pavilion
year: 2020
size: 11 x 8 x 4 meter
materials: Betonnen waterreservoir, modder, hout
photo: Aad Hoogendoorn