Wave
The HagueThe Netherlands (stainless steel sculpture demolished by the municipality of The Hague)
wave - 1986/1989 - stainless steel - Molenwijk-Zuid The Hague, Holland
1986|1989 Three artists made proposals for the
Molenwijk area of The Hague. Mine was selected. The housing project was designed
for people who had to move from another part of the town. These people are not
exactly art lovers. During the unveiling ceremony two of the new inhabitants
gave their children hammers and instructed them to pound on the sculpture until
the guests and the alderman, who was to perform the act of unveiling, found
refuse in a nearby cafe. No one took any action, the Dutch being very
''tolerant'' and art, for them, is a disposable matter anyway.
Ever since a few of them have been trying to destroy the work; pulling at it with their cars and cutting it with their do-it-yourself grinding machines. In the early nineties the police declared the situation too dangerous and before the situation could be investigated the department of public works took it down.
This was my second project for The Hague. The first one was never installed because the advisory committee, nor the representative of the public works department knew that the intersection, for which I made a 12,5 meter steel arch, was to be reconstructed. So when the parts were ready, they were stored and returned to me in 1997. I am preparing a page which will show this work as I am looking for a new owner.
Both projects cost The Hague more than $100.000
four projects