In conversation with de Onkruidenier, artists in residence

De Onkruidenier have been the Sainsbury Centre’s artists in residence as part of the Can the Seas Survive Us? season, collaborating with Norfolk coastal communities to facilitate meaningful exchange and community activations. In this interview, the collective speak at the end of their residency, discussing their time spent on the Norfolk coast.

Founded in 2013 and describing themselves as ecosystem futurists, the Dutch collective, which consists of Jonmar van Vlijmen, Rosanne van Wijk and Ronald Boer, create new narratives to reinterpret the relationship between humans and nature, both above and below sea level. The trio carry out fieldwork – often in conjunction with audiences – to tackle topics of nature and human evolution. Their work focuses on living organisms and the natural world, often discussing how these can be displayed and integrated within a museum.

In partnership with originalprojects, Wolterton, Norwich University of the Arts, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, YARMONICS, Coastwise and the Bluetits Open Water Swimming Society, the residency unfolded through a mix of site-specific encounters across Norfolk.

The collective created sculptural works using silt from Wolterton and hosted The Ecotone of Norfolk, a performance-based tasting dinner featuring foraged coastal plants. This immersive event explored themes of salt, soil and transformation, reconnecting audiences with the coastal environment through sensory experience.

In Sheringham, the artists collaborated with the Bluetits to explore their relationship with the North Sea as a living body and the global urgency of protecting marine life. In Cromer and Happisburgh, they gathered plants from sites impacted by coastal erosion, examining how ecological shifts transform foraging practices and the wider coastal food web.

In Great Yarmouth, de Onkruidenier led deep listening exercises and embodied shoreline explorations, treating the body as a sensor for place. A collective walk from the town centre to the sea became a performative act of environmental attention, culminating in moments of stillness and attunement to wind turbines, waves and air currents. These encounters invited reflection on our entanglement with climate systems and the blurring boundaries between land and sea. How will we adapt as coastlines become more saline? What new forms of plant life and human behaviour might emerge?