1969
- patio with acrylic fountain elements (tallest 450cm
high), concrete, lava stones, steel pipes Linden trees (Tilia Europea)
and grass planes - total area 30x30m - social plant -
Dordrecht Holland
|
"It was
in 1969 when the city architect of Dordrecht Holland, Dirk Hol, invited me
to make a proposal for a sculpture in one of the inner gardens of the
DSW Plant
in Dordrecht. It was the main 'patio' as he called it. It was quite
large (25x30 meters). Through its situation, the garden served as a visual
extension of the entrance hall. The architect had planned a pond near the
huge transparent wall. The garden was not meant for people to enter -
there were three other ones which had a more recreational function. This
main patio was meant as a garden for viewing - more or less in the Zen
tradition, was my interpretation. I had become acquainted with the gardens
that Isamu Noguchi had designed and I
had learned to know the work of
Hans Petri, the
Dutch pioneer of environmental and garden designs. Dirk Hol believed in
giving the artist quite a lot of artistic freedom in making his proposal
and later on in the execution of my design. Therefore he told me that,
next to making the sculpture, I could include the design of the pond as
well as the rest of the garden, for that matter, in my proposal. In
subsequent meetings it became clear to me that the whole design lay open
for me and that this was my chance to go far beyond making a sculpture and
adjusting its surrounding to it. In fact, I didn't even want to make any
sculpture in this case. Whenever there is an opportunity to do a whole
environment there is in my view no need for separate, or even included,
sculpture. The whole environment is the sculpture.
It was in
that year that the now well known Dutch poet,
Jan
Eijkelboom, coined the term 'terreinplastiek' which can be translated
as 'terrain sculpture'. At that time he was public relations officer for
the city of Dordrecht and wrote a text about my environmental installation
at the DSW"
Lucien den Arend |
