Zaanstad is the home of Victory.
The forty-four meter wide painted steel sculpture by Lucien den Arend inhabits the void
under highway A8. In the sixties this highway was projected through the heart of the Dutch
town Koog aan de Zaan, now part of Zaanstad.
Before, this location was a repulsive place devoid of any
quality - the view of the River Zaan being blocked by the concrete piers. It was for this
reason four artists were commissioned to make proposals. Lucien den Arend concluded that
the only thing to do was to introduce a sculptural element, so large that this degraded
location would be overruled by it. At the same time this work forms a belated protest to
the ruthless invasion of the sixties.
