Return of the Wolf is the new project by ARIAS associate artist Agat Sharma. It takes as its starting point the wild wolf, an animal that was historically hunted out of the Netherlands but has, due to the EU Habitats Directive, which considers it a protected species and prohibits its hunting, been returning to the country. The wolf's return is a divisive topic. It is both celebrated and opposed by ecologists, farmers, hikers, biologists, and others, who either consider the wolf's return an investment in the biodiversity of the Netherlands, or regard the animal as a dangerous predator that has no place in the Dutch landscape.‍

Return of the Wolf will begin as a series of working sessions in which Agat invites various artistic researchers from the ARIAS network to engage with the wolf as a relational subject through the lens of their individual practices. The first researcher Agat will collaborate with is Carlo De Gaetano.

Through conversations, walks, drawing, speculative fictions, and other modes of exchange, they will explore the significance of the wolf within the Dutch socio-cultural context and pursue its resonances with wider topics such as the organisation of Dutch society, the ethics of wildlife conservation, Dutch national identity in relation to its position within the EU, and others that arise out of the interests of the participants. The project’s form and scope will evolve throughout, guided by collaboration and the encounter between specific approaches to artistic research.

ARIAS invited Agat to conceive a project that will dialogue with and feed into our own journey over the next year, as we re-imagine a sustainable financial and organisational structure for ARIAS’ future. Return of the Wolf aims to highlight the distinctive potential of artistic research and to offer an opportunity to observe and reflect on ARIAS' workings and values. Through this process, we simultaneously imagine, embody, and rehearse future versions of ARIAS. In the coming months, you can follow the developments of the project – and the journey of the wolf – here on the website, via our newsletter, and on instagram.

Agat is an artist and theatre maker. His work prominently features themes examining the emergence, evolution and erasure of the relationship between land and the body. He works with an expanded notion of what a song and a story can be and employs them as tools for evoking postcolonial imaginaries. Agat grew up in India and was associated with Jan Natya Manch before moving to Amsterdam to study at DAS Theatre.