The dikes that guard the sub-sea level Netherlands against the water's invasion also provoke its attack. It is no coincidence that throughout the ages the Dutch have repeatedly felt the need to heighten or strengthen these dikes. According to the laws of nature does Holland even have a right to exist? Wind and water are cunningly conspiring against this land but have met their match in the small and artificial culture that sustains it. De Belaagde Landen (The Besieged Low Lands) deals with the field of tension which is Holland, with attraction and rejection, with the calm before the storm, with water that flows where it cannot flow, with sow the wind and reap the whirlwind, with tilting against windmills... Nio has edited images of dikes, water-works, windmill… and water with sounds of ships' horns, clocks, barking dogs and snatches of a song. Through their length, colour and treatment, sound and image combine to evoke an alienating and somewhat ominous atmosphere. The clock tolls as if it is sounding the final hour. There are no people in The Besieged Low Lands as if they all have fled Holland to avoid the oncoming storm. The words that appear on screen are highly significant within a Dutch context and are taken from poems by Ad Zuiderent. They do not coincide with the images, rather they evoke certain associations that imbue the tape with additional layers... Read more...