Oysters for Naturalization
Japanese oysters were introduced to the Wadden Sea in the 1960s and 1970s. They soon supplanted their Dutch counterpart and now experiments are underway to bring back the Dutch oyster.
The starting point for the project ‘Oysters for Naturalization’ is the analogy between the introduction of the Japanese oyster and the economic migrants who arrived in the Netherlands in the late 1960s and 1970s. Both were meant to be temporary but have since become permanent. The oysters in the film are presented with a surreal questionnaire based on the exam for Dutch citizenship. This ironic work questions the future of our multicultural society, which has been a hot topic in Dutch politics for decades.
Music by sound artist and double bassist Dario Calderone. The project was supported by the Mondriaan Fund and Stookros Foundation.
