Lodovica Guarnieri: Green Offshores. Nature at War

The landscape has always been a project of colonial powers. From the reclamation of land in Dutch polders in the 17th century to the recent reforestation of the Negev Desert, the creation of landscape – and the concept of nature – has always been utilized to grasp the imperial expansion of Western culture and civilization as a natural and neutral phenomenon. As colonialism continuously constructed the landscape, it became an architecture used as a weapon, but also as a name and representation of economic, military, and cultural norms. Green offshores scrutinize these concepts by examining the connection between war and some iconic landscapes in The Hague, the capital of peace and justice of the UN. The stories that Dutch capital has defined itself with since the 19th century emphasize its urban and economic development in relation to international diplomacy and peace – while the city’s prosperity has been tied to colonialism and its transformations from Javanese plantations to trade in security and defense. The gardens surrounding the Peace Palace (1913) and the International Criminal Court (2016) serve as an entry point into the dual narrative of the city. Although they represent two opposing poles in the development of international peace and jurisdiction, both chronologically and conceptually, their appearance and materiality testify to the cultural influence of corporations and warfare on the spatial representation and performativity of these concepts.
The garden surrounding the Peace Palace was designed as the ultimate symbol of peace and neutrality. For its decoration, architects utilized what they considered "peaceful plants": species without thorns, with delicate leaves that allowed the flow of light and air and did not cast pronounced shadows. Among the plants used were rare specimens brought to the Netherlands as a result of imperial wars in Southeast Asia. Thus, while they represented a peaceful space, these plants simultaneously symbolized Dutch colonial wealth derived from the production of antimalarials and the military occupation of foreign territories.
On the other hand, the landscape surrounding the International Criminal Court was conceived as a model of democratic architecture. By reiterating the typical Dutch panorama of dunes, architects employed its natural features as a weapon to create a highly militarized landscape. The heights of the dunes, plants, shrubs, and tree typologies function as means of surveillance and terrorism prevention. Nature is implemented and designed in the form of an urban landscape that reduces risk, while providing security in a peaceful, pleasant, and "transparent" manner.
By examining the relationship between planning and the ideologies behind these two significant buildings, the lecture will reveal the military management, technologies, and territories associated with these landscapes, as well as forms of storytelling in space regarding peace and internationalism that were used to promote colonial and neocolonial forms of dominance.
Lodovica Guarnieri (Italy, 1989) is a researcher and freelance creator. In her work, she explores the connections between culture, history, and politics through installations, performances, and texts. She has served as a research fellow and curatorial assistant for the exhibition The Way Beyond Art at the Van Abbemuseum and as a research assistant for the Manifesta 12 biennale. She is currently a postgraduate researcher at the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London. She holds a master's degree in Social Design from the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands and a cum laude bachelor's degree from the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti in Milan, Italy.
The lecture is part of the accompanying program for the exhibition Queer Nature.
The lecture has been supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Czech Republic.
Introductory photo: International Criminal Court, The Hague. Photo: Jannes Linders, courtesy of Stroom Den Haag.

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