BlowUp Art The Hague
This year, BlowUp Art The Hague's focus is on the heart of the city, (since the 13th century) the Hofvijver. The temporary festival of blow-up artworks in Museumkwartier Den Haag is set like a lush garden on a floating pontoon, on which five fabulous creations by leading Dutch designers steal the show.
Four temporary artworks have been specially designed by Marcel Wanders, Job Smeets, Studio Mieke Meijer and Sigrid Calon. The special floating garden with water features will be realised by students 'liveable city and climate' (Yuverta) led by ecological landscape designer Deborah Treep and artist Frank Bruggeman.
For the third edition, Mary Hessing, the curator of BlowUp Art The Hague, selected four renowned Dutch design luminaries:
- Studio Job
- Marcel Wanders
- Studio Mieke Meijer
- Sigrid Calon
Dutch Design has been exploring unconventional solutions, sustainability and the narrative potential of products, objects and furniture since the early 1990s.
Studio Job
Studio Job, Job Smeets. Portret Jan Willem Kaldenbach, foto Jeroen Musch
Suske and Wiske, Gerrit Rietveld, Biedermeier or Elvis Presley can be subjects of design. There is no distinction between high and low culture for Job Smeets, whose surreal subject choices are transcended by the expressive power of formats, materials and precision in finishing. Studio Job's approach resembles that of an artisanal Renaissance atelier.
Marcel Wanders
Marcel Wanders. Portret Jan Willem Kaldenbach
Marcel Wanders came into the limelight mainly because of his Knotted Chair and placed himself in the avant-garde of Dutch design. Ambitious as a designer and entrepreneur, Wanders went further; he founded the innovative furniture and interior design brand Moooi, which enjoys great international recognition. Today, he lives and works in Milan.
Studio Mieke Meijer
Studio Mieke Meijer, Mieke Meijer en Roy Letterlé. Portret Jan Willem Kaldenbach
Working at the intersection of architecture and design, Eindhoven-based Studio Mieke Meijer has developed an impressive body of Space Frame light objects. The studio of Mieke Meijer and Roy Letterlé strives for sustainable design solutions that reflect the logic of construction and respect material properties, while pushing the boundaries.
Sigrid Calon
Sigrid Calon. Portret Jan Willem Kaldenbach, foto John Geerts
Originally a textile designer, Sigrid Calon enjoys working with graphic and highly colourful patterns, which she ceaselessly varies and repeats. Her minimalism results in vivid sometimes even humorous visual mathematics, which continues to intrigue and captivate. Calon creates entire worlds out of dots and dashes.
Floating garden
Inspired by a workshop led by visual artist Frank Bruggeman, second-year students in the 'Urban Green Development' program at Yuverta, led by Deborah Treep, developed a plan for a floating garden featuring exciting water features and clusters of willows. Landscape architect Natascha van den Ban translated these broad strokes into a detailed design. During the planting process, the students are assisted by the City Nursery of The Hague and Engelsman Landscapers.
Tweedejaars studenten ‘Leefbare stad en klimaat’ met docent Deborah Treep en kunstenaar Frank Bruggeman.
Kunstenaar Frank Bruggeman, groeninstallatie van zijn hand voor Salon Beijing 2013.
Workshop in het lokaal van ‘Leefbare stad en klimaat’ Yuverta. Foto’s Jan Willem Kaldenbach.
Eetbare bloembedden in Artis, een project van de studenten van ‘Leefbare stad en klimaat’.
Previous artists
International artists, designers and architects who have previously participated in BlowUp Art Den Haag: Steve Messam (UK), Marleen Sleeuwits (NL), Ludmilla Rodrigues and Mike Rijnierse (BR/NL), Adrianus Kundert (NL/DE), Larissa Ambachtsheer (NL), Paul Cournet (FR/NL), Raw Color (DE/NL), Lambert Kamps (NL), Yamuna Forzani (IT/UK/NL), Theo Botschuijver (NL).
BinnenhofBuiten
BlowUp Art The Hague 2024 is curated and produced by Mary Hessing for BinnenhofBuiten, which organises activities during the renovation of the Binnenhof on behalf of The Hague & Partners.
Disclaimer
BlowUpArt takes its shape by blowing air into a shell of coated textile. The flexible and light material offers all the freedom to adapt a work of art to the shapes of a statue or building. Yet the artworks are in no way constructively connected to the monuments.