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CITIES - sculptures and land art
Barendrecht
Pieter Janszoon Saenredam Project
The 'Saenredam' Island plays an important role in the Full Moon project that Joseph Semah and Felix Villanueva developed. Meant as a tribute to the 17th century Dutch church painter Pieter Janszoon Saenredam, it was constructed in the center of a Barendrecht residential area according to the plan by Lucien den Arend in 1982. The 30 meter long and 30 meter wide island on which 256 willows are planted, evokes an image of a subterranean church vault. In Full Moon a visualized answer is given to the utopian and apocalyptic conceptions that were in great demand during the time of Humanism and Reformation in Christian Western Europe. These conceptions did not make room for concepts of the Jewish tradition to which they were indebted. Across from the 'Saenredam' island eight bronze cubes, designed by Joseph Semah were placed in 2001, on which respectively the eight chapters from Shir Ha-Shirim (Song of Songs). They are inscribed in Hebrew. The cubes depict the foundation of the Temple of Salomon in Jerusalem.
Landscape as Project
50X80m reservoir and 30X30m island with osier - 1982|1985/∞
Read more about the background of this land art project.