Rob Voerman's installation opens in an Arnhem shopping centre

Artist Rob Voerman was asked to create an installation in a shopping mall in Arnhem. The opening will take place tomorrow, Februari 12th at 5:30 PM. The installation will be on view until April 18th. Voerman about the project:

"For 3 weeks I have been working on a large installation with a team of interns. The work made of glass, plexiglass, wood and aluminium is based on the flower of a thistle. A metaphore of migration. The seeds of the thistle spreads themselves through the air and don't know national borders. The spreaded sprouting seeds cause tension among farmers and gardeners. Yet the plant is a strong and beautiful plant.

Obviously, apart from the shape of the flower the work also resembles a space-module.
The shoppingmall Presikhaaf was the first modernistic shoppingmall built in American style in Europe. In 1971 it has won awards on the Paris world-exhibition. In 2015 the shoppingmall celebrates its 50th anniversary and in that year the mall and its neighborhood give home to people of more than 100 different nationalities.
The work will function in the coming 2 months as a platform for various activities related to the content of the work.
Concerts, dance-performaces and various workshops with schools will take place. The neighbours-project will gather in the sculpture every week. A critical debate about the islam will be organized together with the local newspaper and tv-channel. And many other initiatives will connect to the project spontaniously over the coming months".

 

 

Publication date: 11 Feb '15