REINHARD BEHRENS

For nearly fifty years now I have developed my artistic concept of NABOLAND. I came across the word ‘Naboland’ when I was working as an archaeological draughtsman in Pergamon, West Turkey, in 1975.

A Turkish newspaper reported the collision between a submarine and a cargo ship called NABOLAND. The pictured submarine reminded me of a little toy submarine that I had found on the German North Sea coast the previous year. The combination of this found object and the word NABOLAND inspired me to let the toy torpedo boat explore regions of Naboland in years to come.

Over the last five decades evidence for the existence of NABOLAND has materialised in etchings, drawings, paintings and installations and continues to be generated by found objects, images of real and imagined travels, visual references to art history and associations by anyone who witnesses its manifestations.

DOG FRIENDLY | VENUE 45 | 10:00 - 17:00

‘Shangri-La Express’. A toy submarine is lucky to be taken by a couple of obliging towards its destination of the High Plateau of Naboland.

‘The Croatian Holiday’. Having survived the pandemic the toy submarine is taking a deserved holiday in the Adriatic Sea, causing not a little stir amongst the locals.

'The Captured Spy’. Attracted by the Orient the toy submarine finds itself at the centre of a watercolour by the nineteenth century artist Arthur Melville, a form of presumptuous time travel.