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Ana Maria Tavares Secrets of the watersJun 16, 2009 - Jun 16, 2010A new five-piece work of art by Brazilian artist Ana Maria Tavares (1958) is on display in the sculpture garden from April 23 2009.Tavares gets her inspiration from the context of her surroundings. In this work her inspiration is water, particularly the manner in which water is present in the surrounding area. Water symbolises the source of life and the power of nature. For the exhibition 'Sonsbeek 2008: grandeur', Tavares created her work of art Secrets of the waters. During her research in the surrounding area Tavares discovered 81 springs and brooks around the Veluwe. Five underground water junctions, so-called ‘fountainheads’, were marked by large round mirrors with stone edgings bearing the mantra ´Desire, Deserve, Delight, Still Life, Sparkling Water, Still Water, Sparkling Life’. This mantra refers to longing and to life. The Kröller-Müller Museum purchased the five mirrors with mantra with the support of the BankGiro Lottery and Ana Maria Tavares personally chose a new spot for the works in the museum’s sculpture garden. Once again, the works are positioned on five underground water junctions. Until September 20th 2009, the works Crystal Waters and The Wish-Ribbon Net by Tavares are on display in one of the temporary exhibition spaces in the museum’s Van de Velde wing. Crystal Waters is made of coloured, mirroring layers of Perspex. The mantra was also woven into the ribbons of the banner The Wish-Ribbon Net, which was carried in the Procession of Sonsbeek. |
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EuropaHammer by Andreas RimkusAug 25, 2008 - Nov 28, 2009Self-taught German artist Andreas Rimkus (originally a blacksmith) is currently working on a world-wide project which involves placing seven forged hammers on the following continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America and Antarctica. The African country Togo (Yohonou) already has a hammer in a so-called ‘forging village’. In Beijing there is a hammer at the 'University of Science and Technology Beijing'. Europe’s hammer is the third in this project: a massive figure measuring 3.2 metres long, 1.2 metres wide and 90 cm high. The work weighs 12.8 tonnes. In consultation with the artist and National Park De Hoge Veluwe, the museum has chosen a suitable location across from the museum entrance, in a ‘basin’ beside the Steynbank. A Ginkgo tree has been placed which is to serve as the hammer’s handle. This tree variety has been chosen in order to reinforce the artwork’s symbolic meaning. Moreover, it is a tree that will last for generations to come. The hammer will in fact be clasping the tree.
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Marta Pan: AmphitheatreJun 21, 2007 - Jun 21, 2007On 21 June 2007 Amphitheatre, 2005/2007, by Marta Pan (1923) was unveiled. Marta Pan has donated the design for Amphitheatre to the museum. The sculpture has been realised with financial support from the BankGiro Lottery.The work has been constructed for a site in the sculpture garden selected by the artist and consists of a circle of French grey-white granite ingeniously divided into segments. It is an ode to the beauty of geometry. Through its placement in an enclosed spot in the garden among trees with a large opening towards the light and the sky, the work takes on a surprising and dramatic dimension, while its functional character makes it an ideal place to meet, chat, rest or carry out a performance. In 1960 the French artist of Hungarian descent designed the first sculpture for the garden, which had not yet opened: Floating sculpture, Otterlo, which is now internationally known as one of the best-loved and most-photographed objects in the museum’s collection. This second sculpture, created 45 years later, represents an entirely different aspect of her work. Photo: Cary Markerink, Amsterdam |
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House of Dr. JungMay 31, 2007 - May 31, 2007On 31 May 2007, the museum unveiled a work of art in the sculpture garden by Dutch artist Pjotr Müller (1947): House of Dr. Jung (2004-2006). In its collection, the museum has several works of art by Müller, chiefly works on paper. In 1987, Müller also made the work To Noumenon in the sculpture garden, which like House of Dr. Jung was a temporary acquisition designed to decay in a natural manner.The House of Dr. Jung consists of three rectangular stacked “boxes” made of scrap wood, which together form a house. The building consists of three floors - a basement, a storey above it and an attic at the upper level - and was constructed according to the maxim Omne trinum perfectum (every perfect thing is threefold). In his drawings for the house, Müller made use of the proportions and unit system of the architect R. M. Schindler (1887-1953). This Austrian-born architect worked with the famed Frank Lloyd Wright in the United States, and is particularly known for the Lovell Beach House in Los Angeles and King’s Road House in West-Hollywood. On display in The House of Dr. Jung are five plaster sculptures, also made by Müller. The sculptures demonstrate Müller’s interest in classical mythology. Plaster fragments of images of God and attributes such as stools, Thonet chairs and an umbrella serve as artistic elements. Müller: “I wished to depict several archetypal references to religious and mythological messengers, you may interpret the rest as you please”. |
Chris Booth - Echo of the VeluweMay 3, 2004 - Aug 24, 2005The artist Chris Booth from New Zealand worked in the sculpture garden on his work of art 'Echo of the Veluwe', which consists of 310 boulders, from May 2004 up to August 2005, together with a team of coworkers. The design is based on the artist's research into the history of the sculpture garden, the flora and fauna, and the geological composition of the sculpture garden. On wednesday August 24, 2005, the work of art was transferred to the museum, after an impressive Maori ceremony. Description by the artist: The undulating shape of the boulders moves through and between the trees, like the wind moving the sand, like the glaciers of old that shaped the land and brought the boulders from Scandinavia. The shape refers to the waves of the sand dunes, characteristic of the area around the museum, and to the waves of the nearby ponds. The egg-shape of the work was inspired by the surface of one of the ponds. The work of art emphasizes the importance of water, that has become scarce on the Veluwe because of overuse. The spiral shape of the boulders was inspired by the currents of the wind, that changed the shape of the landscape over thousands of years. The work of art also deals with the descructive influence of man on the vulnerable land, by centuries of agriculture and other forms of overuse. In request of the artist, an extensive geological research was carried out on the used boulders. All 310 boulders were researced on age and origin. The results of this research are available through the link below. |
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