“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Monday August 28th — —

The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Monday August 28th — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Monday August 28th — —

Bicycle Landscape

Cycling across all 388 Dutch municipalities

My friend and inspirator on ultra distance cycling; Yorit Kluitman, is about to finish a long time project, his ‘Bicycle Landscape: cycling across all 388 Dutch municipalities’. Started back in 2011 and at this moment filling the last gaps, Yorit cycled through all 388 Dutch municipalities, photographing the landscape between cities and villages, exclusive of people and buildings: a cross section of the organized Netherlands.

“I gave myself six years to cycle across all municipalities. Within this time-frame I will be visiting as many different areas as possible. Equipped with a camera, I research the functionality, the rhythm, the composition, the lines, the form and the order of the Dutch landscape.”

In April 2011 I bought a race bike and started cycling. My perception of distance and my view on the Netherlands changed totally. We live in a very small, flat country with a unique, almost manic way of spatial planning. I discovered, from a bicycle rider’s perspective, how well-structured and extremely cultivated the Dutch landscape is.

During this six year adventure, Yorit took almost 10.000 images. “While on these rides I search for open spaces between the densely build Dutch urban areas. In the process of making a photo I apply a set of self made rules and search for recurring graphic elements in the landscape.”
The enormous amount of images is boiled down to 1000 images, now resulting in a beautifully designed book called ‘Bicycle Landscape’ including cycling statistics and personal experiences. With contributions by various specialists ranging from landscape architect Adriaan Geuze to former Rijksmuseum director Wim Pijbes, Bicycle Landscape pays tribute to the Dutch man-made landscape and inspires us to look at our country from a different perspective: the saddle of a bicycle.

The book is being produced in collaboration with design studio 75B and Vereniging Deltametropool and will be published by nai010 publishers.

Yorit Kluitman (1980) is a freelance graphic designer running a design studio in Eindhoven. He studied editorial design at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. Since 2009 he works for clients ranging from museums, publishers, software developers to sports teams and legal firms.

Photography: Yorit Kluitman
Authors: Adriaan Geuze, Gerrie Andela, Timo de Rijk, Wim Pijbes, Nancy Arkema, Steven Fleming and Yorit Kluitman
September 2017 | Ned/Eng | ISBN 978-94-6208-387-5
Publisher: nai010 publishers
hardcover | 288 p | 1000 foto’s
Design: 75B | i.s.m. Vereniging Deltametropool
With the support from Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, Vereniging Deltametropool

Make sure to follow Bicycle Landscape on Instagram

Order the book online here