cv | works | sculptures | site specific | environmental | land art | architectural | publications | exhibitions | symposia/lectures | cities | encounters | accounts

CITIES - sculptures and land art

Walburg|Volgerlanden project

towards an environment/land art project by Lucien den Arend

introduction

1971|1973 earth, asphalt, meandering dike, bronze, high-tension pylon and pollard willows - 136x50x19m - Zwijndrecht, Holland

Near the end of the sixties, on a warm summer Sunday evening I occasionally walked down the Walburgpad. This was a narrow dirt road which ran from the river dike in the east to the old, originally a Roman road, Rotterdamseweg/Langeweg in the west. During that time I painted and sketched from the landscape and was studying the tarred sheds and barns.

On one (the photograph above was taken that evening) midsummer day the sun was setting. I paused under the high tension wires. The humid atmosphere made the electric current audible - it produced a crackling sound, giving a surrealistic flavor to the evening. I had my camera with me and photographed the location. I could not have imagined on that day that this view would set a future scene for an environmental project of mine.

A few years later the city commissioned me to make a proposal for a sculpture that should be functional and blend in with its surroundings. I was free to propose a location of my choice. This spot was one of my favorite places.

>>