Losing Winter
From 1 October 2023 to January 2024, US artist Lynn Cazabon worked on a Dutch edition of the project Losing Winter. During this working period, she collaborated with Dutch artist Anne Leijdekkers.
Losing Winter is a site-specific, participatory artwork initiated by Lynn Cazabon as an archive of memories and emotions about winter, revealing the personal and cultural ties we have to the season and providing a window onto what we are collectively losing due to climate change impacts on weather patterns.
The project is realized through the participation of local communities, site-specific exhibitions, and virtually through a dedicated augmented reality mobile application.
Losing Winter addresses the phenomenon of environmental amnesia, wherein with each new generation the changed or degraded state of the environment is perceived as normal, by preserving personal memories about the season as it was in the past in a particular location.
Losing Winter was first realized with the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest, Romania in 2018 and has since been realized in several other iterations, including at the Maryland Center for History and Culture (Baltimore, MD, 2021 – 23) and at the Oresman Gallery at Smith College (Northampton, MA, 2022).
Witte Rook ran a classic Artist in Residence program until October 2022, for which artists from the Netherlands and abroad were invited to live and work for a period at their location in Breda. Because this location was temporary, Witte Rook developed a program for artistic research, experiment and collaboration. As in Witte Rook’s former AIR program, in this project the connection between international, national, and local artists is supported for the development of networks, interdisciplinary work and connection with the local environment.
Each realization of Losing Winter is unique and site-specific. For the iteration of Losing Winter hosted by Witte Rook, Lynn Cazabon will collaborate with artist Anne Leijdekkers with a background and expertise in theatre and scenography.
The location and collaboration partner is Park Zuiderhout in Breda, a former monastery and now a home for the elderly. Cazabon and Leijdekkers filmed various memories of residents at Park Zuiderhout in early October 2023 and also stayed here which enables them to be a part of the living environment of this community. In collaboration with three young actors from 39Graden, the youth community of Podium Bloos, a performance and gallery installation of Losing Winter was created.
The recorded memories prompted the young theatre makers to draw inspiration from both artists – onsite and online – resulting in new texts, images, scenes and physical gestures coming together. Both video and live elements interact in the performance, bringing the installation to life.
On 13 and 14 January 2024, the live performance and video installation Losing Winter was performed at the StadsGalerij in Breda. Especially for the residents of Park Zuiderhout, a special performance took place on Friday 12 January.
About Lynn Cazabon
Lynn Cazabon is an artist based in Baltimore, MD and a Professor of Art at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Her work has been exhibited internationally in museums and galleries, as public art, and in solo and group exhibitions. She has received grants and fellowships from institutions, including the Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund, The Puffin Foundation, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, Maryland State Arts Council, and the U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program. Cazabon received an MFA degree in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art and BFA and BA degrees from University of Michigan.
About Anne Leijdekkers
In her visual work, Anne Leijdekkers (Rotterdam) theatrically investigates the relationship between humans and the non-human environment. Her projects, collaborations and assignments relate to (changing) landscapes and the relationships between humans and our non-human environment.
In 2018 she successfully completed her master’s degree in Scenography at the HKU on the basis of these themes. Anne prefers to apply the theatrical view in the already existing environment, outside the walls of the theatre. In addition to developing her makership, she works as a designer and maker for theater collective De Vrouwen van Wanten, Gaia’s Machine and Jeugdtheater Hofplein, among others. Anne has previously completed a talent development programme at Podium Bloos.
Foto door Stijn Terpstra
Foto door Esther van Rosmalen
About Park Zuiderhout
Park Zuiderhout is a residential centre for the elderly in Teteringen. It is located on the grounds of the St Francis Xavier Mission House. In early 2021, Artist in Residence De Missie (The Mission) was launched from the residential centre with the aim of offering artists of all disciplines the opportunity to explore the meaning of religion, meaning and spirituality in our contemporary society in contact with the residents of Park Zuiderhout.
The programme has since ended, which is one of the reasons for this collaboration. Another is that this kind of project adds value to the quality of life at Park Zuiderhout. From AIR The Mission, there is already experience of working with artists and establishing exchanges with residents.
The Losing Winter project was successfully launched in October 2023 which led to 25 filmed interviews.
About Podium Bloos
Bloos is (not) a theatre. Here, talent is discovered who stand out with an innovative approach or an urgent message. For all makers (autonomous, performing and applied), Podium Bloos is an incubator in the form of a workshop and production house where young professionals develop themselves and shape their work. To this end, Bloos makes room for experiments, offers residencies, and provides support in realising theatre productions.
Within the 39Graden community, creative minds with stage ambitions have the chance to take their first steps, stimulated by ambitious peers and award-winning professionals. Bloos is located in the Belcrum port area, the creative heart of Breda, and is part of the PLAN network which is part of talenthub Brabant.
The collaboration in the Losing Winter project came about through participating artist Anne Leijdekkers who previously participated in a residency at both Podium Bloos and Witte Rook. Within this project, Podium Bloos supervises and facilitates the theatrical elaboration.
