An Island' is a proposal for a large scale work in public space, commissioned by the province of North-Holland in the Netherlands. 'Kunstgebouw' was involved with the choice of artists. My proposal will not be realised.
How many kubic metres of soil can be displaced for € 100.000,-? Quite a lot, you can build an island of 30 x 90 metres, with an average hight of 5 metres, in a 100 x 100 metres lake. The budget is sufficient for a number of additions; a nice large tree, bushes and plants, a beach in a bay, a shipwreck, a pile of trees, driftwood, a rockslide, and a little bridge. All adding up to 'an Island'. A sculpture, totally assembled with sharp attention to formal sculpural qualities; composition, light/dark, colour, texture, reflection, rhytm. Shaped with firm sculptural gestures, with add-on elements originating from the aesthetics of destruction. 'An Island' is placed as an enlarged Bonsai landscape in its context, a smallish recreational area next to the A13 motorway in the Netherlands. 'An Island' is a public space mirage with the qualities of a filmset, but it is not a filmset. It is a place where many things are possible. You can swim there, go fishing, sunbathing, play or walk. But it is not a swimming pool, not a fishing pond, not a playground and not a public footpath. All these things are possible and allowed, but they are not programmed and there are no specific facilities there. It offers protection from the wind and the noise coming from the road. But it is not designed as a windscreen or sound barrier. Animals and plants are totally welcome, but this is not a nature area. It is a sculpture.
An Island' is a proposal for a large scale work in public space, commissioned by the province of North-Holland in the Netherlands. 'Kunstgebouw' was involved with the choice of artists. My proposal will not be realised.
How many kubic metres of soil can be displaced for € 100.000,-? Quite a lot, you can build an island of 30 x 90 metres, with an average hight of 5 metres, in a 100 x 100 metres lake. The budget is sufficient for a number of additions; a nice large tree, bushes and plants, a beach in a bay, a shipwreck, a pile of trees, driftwood, a rockslide, and a little bridge. All adding up to 'an Island'. A sculpture, totally assembled with sharp attention to formal sculpural qualities; composition, light/dark, colour, texture, reflection, rhytm. Shaped with firm sculptural gestures, with add-on elements originating from the aesthetics of destruction. 'An Island' is placed as an enlarged Bonsai landscape in its context, a smallish recreational area next to the A13 motorway in the Netherlands. 'An Island' is a public space mirage with the qualities of a filmset, but it is not a filmset. It is a place where many things are possible. You can swim there, go fishing, sunbathing, play or walk. But it is not a swimming pool, not a fishing pond, not a playground and not a public footpath. All these things are possible and allowed, but they are not programmed and there are no specific facilities there. It offers protection from the wind and the noise coming from the road. But it is not designed as a windscreen or sound barrier. Animals and plants are totally welcome, but this is not a nature area. It is a sculpture.