



These interventions, when compared to the uncensored parts of the images display the physical alterations made to the Dutch landscape through a vast land reclamation project that began in the sixteenth century and continues to this day. With a third of the Netherlands below sea level, the dunes, dykes, pumps, and drainage networks engineered over hundreds of years have dramatically shaped the country’s landscape, providing it with huge swathes of arable land that would otherwise be submerged.

Seen from the distant gaze of Earth’s orbiting satellites, the result is a landscape unlike any other; one in which polygons recently imposed on the landscape to protect the country from an imagined human menace bear more than a passing resemblance to a carapace designed to combat a very real and constant natural threat.

There is of course an absurdity to these censored images since their overt, bold and graphic nature only draws attention to the very sites that are meant to be hidden. Yet this contradiction seems perfectly apt for the absurd fear of terror that has come to dominate the cultural landscape of the last decade.

Dutch Landscapes - Mishka Hanner

Frederikkazerne, The Hague.


Dutch Landscapes - Mishka Hanner

Mauritskazerne, Ede.


Dutch Landscapes - Mishka Hanner

Paleis Noordeinde, The Hague.


Dutch Landscapes - Mishka Hanner

Staphorst Ammunition Depot.


Dutch Landscapes - Mishka Hanner

Unknown site, Noordwijk aan Zee.


Feature image: NATO Storage Annex, Coevorden.

Flying Towards a Country of Rain
The Reader and Technology