the universe of LACH
Mare in Àgris
2026
"The murmur of the sea in the polders."
- LACH DE TEMMERMAN -
Mare in Àgris is a monumental installation of windsock flags that brings the experience of the sea into the open and flat polder landscape. Not as a literal water surface, but as a tangible, surreal presence of movement, rhythm and sound. The murmur of the sea in the polders functions as the guiding slogan: a sensory promise that opens up the work without making the sea visible.
The installation consists of a grid of eight windsock flags in height and twenty flagpoles in length. Together they form a layered structure that undulates and breathes to the rhythm of the wind, as an abstract translation of ebb and flow. The windsock flags respond directly to wind direction and wind force, causing the work to change continuously. No moment is ever the same. In this way, Mare in Àgris becomes a living sculpture, in dialogue with its surroundings, with nature determining the tempo, intensity and choreography.
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The vertical arrangement of eight flags carries a layered symbolism. It refers to the rhythm of the tides, while also evoking rising sea levels. In the vulnerable polder landscape, this height acquires a poetic yet urgent meaning. The horizontal expanse of twenty poles evokes the endless horizon of the sea. Through the repetition of identical elements, the image of an infinite, constantly moving surface emerges.
Inside each windsock, a subtle rustling plastic layer has been integrated. When the wind flows through the flags, a soft and uncanny sound arises, strongly recalling the sound of the sea. This auditory trace adds an additional sensory layer to the work. Visitors are invited to stand with their backs to the installation and listen. At that moment, the illusion arises of a sea located behind them. What one hears seems to detach itself from what one sees. The experience becomes intimate, bodily and almost meditative.
By placing an abstract seascape within a polder context, a tension emerges between land and water. The polder symbolizes control, order and human intervention. The sea embodies force, unpredictability and constant change. This contrast gains further historical weight when one considers that the sea was once truly present here. In 1134, a severe storm surge created a sea inlet that reached as far as Bruges, bringing large areas, including what is now Damme, under the influence of seawater. A stone at the town hall still marks the height the water reached at that time. This memory deepens the meaning of the murmur that now once again resonates through the polders, as an echo of a landscape that once lived here.
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Mare in Àgris brings together landscape, history, climate and sensory experience into a single whole. It creates a sea without water, a wave motion without a coastline. With "the murmur of the sea in the polders" as its leitmotif, the work invites visitors to not only see climate change, but also to hear and feel it.