NAIADS Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8in / 21 x 14.8cm. Specialities: a poetic visual narrative on the River Rhine in Rotterdam as a result of a residency at Noordereiland in 1992; two-sided, 32 pages, full colour, English text, selfcover. Edition: 30 copies.

			When I was invited in 1989 to work three months in a studio in La-Chaux-de-Fonds, la Suisse Romande, I travelled from the Netherlands to Switzerland over land. In 1990 I decide to return to my native land by a river which divides Europe into countries, while connecting thirty centuries of history and thirty nations. The river is called according to the German etymology Rin: flow. The River Rhine symbolically reflects the quality of life in Europe. In what ways does this concept of 'life quality' express itself in the various practices that connect the people of Europe, i.e., those who live near the river?

Rotterdam is the final destination in 1992 of project Rhine - the locus where the river meets the sea. In the midst of the city, there is a small island that has the shape of a ship and is called Noordereiland. I cannot imagine any place that would be more suitable for rounding off this two-year journey. The solitary spot invites us to embark on a journey to that other island we're after - after all. The isle, that compels us to begin our journey, a journey that we want to last as long as possible. The journey, that, once it is under way, raises questions that are more important than the answers, questions that describe the secret of the Naiads. Three suitcases are standing next to me, filled with experiences from the two-year trip along this European river. The voice of the River Rhine is no longer audible here in Rotterdam, as he is mixed up with the numerous languages spoken in the harbours before he merges with that immense mass of water in which clouds mirror themselves, and the attributes and rituals exist forever without any clear right, reflecting a universal silent language of people who are 'in transit'.