Water World

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Next to Aaron Betsky's house on a polder 18 feet below sea level is a small grey box with a red light. It contains an emergency switch for the pumps that keep the surrounding grid of picturesque ponds and canals at bay. If the red light comes on, he's probably going to get wet. There is a Dutch saying that 'God made the world, but the Dutch made the Netherlands', clawing back land from the watery grasp of the North Sea and the Rhine. There are 3500 polders (areas of reclaimed land) in the Netherlands, so the Dutch clearly enjoyed playing God.

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Currently director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI), Betsky, like his Rotterdam Biennale compatriots George Brugmans and Adriaan …