Beesterzwaag is well-known regionally for the rehabilitation centre and care homes which have been built on land that used to be part of country estates. Most of the woodland is still privately owned. The landed gentry who ruled the roost here amassed huge fortunes from peat extraction and land development. At the end of the nineteenth century the peat workers, inspired by the Dutch socialist and anarchist Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis (1846–1919), also known as ‘our liberator’, united to protest against the abysmal working conditions. That glaring inequality gap between rich and poor might seem like a thing of the past, but it is still a hot topic of debate even today.

The Wild Treasure is made in spring and summer 2016 developed, designed and made with a skilled and enthusiastic group of Opsterlanders. All people behind this treasure are:

Betty van der Kamp (Moll Fur), Douwe van der Velde (Silver), Durk Schroor (Beans), Eline Nijboer, Geertjan Plooijer (Photo), Gjalt Tjeerdsma, Koen Blank, Lutzen Schroor, Maritt Kuiper (Kunsthuis SYB), Murk-Jaep van der Schaaf (Film), Rinske Sieswerda, Wapke Feenstra (Myvillages), Wietske Lycklama à Nijeholt (Text-Letter and Moll Fur).