Dutch Waterworks Worldwide - A project by nai010 publishers & Luuk Kramer

In this project I want to generate attention for Dutch water-heritage outside our country. To show that the dutch waterworks are in a tradition that began long time ago.

When sailing on the seven seas of the world, the Dutch "discovered" new land and people. They made trade agreements with the people in the far east, the south and the far west, and together with this trade they took their knowledge of dealing with water with them.

When the first Dutch ships arrived in Japan the sailor-men agreed with the Japanese Emperor to stay on a little spot, called Decima,. They were the window for Japan to the rest of the (western) world. Immediately after their arrival, the Dutch constructed a quay, and some drainage was made, in order to make this place worth living.
Some centuries later, Dutch water-engineers like de Rijke and Escher made some great designs for the Japanese, like the quay in Mikuni or the river-works in Nagoya.

My project is about these kind of waterworks the Dutch constructed worldwide. The project is about the care for the population not being drowned by the water in the delta. This gouvernance became part of our DNA.
In this project, which will result in a travelling exhibition and a book, I will visit several countries where the remains of this gouvernance are still visable.
These countries are: Japan, Indonesia, South-Afrika, Brasil, Suriname, USA, Poland and England.

The project will be finished spring 2024culminating in a publication and an exhibition. In the book, beside the photo-essays about the venues in the different countries, there will be a profound essay about the origin of the waterworks constructed by the Dutch. Also graphics, maps and short essays on each venue are planned to be in this book and exhibition.

In the past years I photographed architecture and infrastructure in the Netherlands. In 2017, I published a book about Waterworks in the Netherlands.