Steel object (200 x 400 x 220 cm) with coloured tempered glass windows. Inspired on the nature and shape of a thistle. The work is accessible and can be used as a hangout or a bar.
Rob Voerman’s source of inspiration for Not-In-My-Backyard is the thistle, the much loathed garden weed. The title also alludes to other things that people may prefer not to have too close to their homes, such as a school or a psychiatric institution. Voerman derived the form of his pavilion from what he himself calls an ‘anarchistic plant’: ‘It disrupts the existing order in gardens and fields, places where it’s unwelcome.’ Voerman compares thistles to punks, complete with Mohawk haircut and an attitude of defiance towards the establishment and bourgeois rules. That character provides a powerful alternative to the surroundings of Southeast Amsterdam, which on the one hand exasperates Voerman with its lack of ragged edges, and at the same time spurs him to produce his own idiosyncratic interventions: ‘I’ve always loathed the Dutch mania for over-regulation and rigid designs. But secretly I’m also quite grateful for them.’
What Voerman has made is a warm cocoon that entices visitors from a distance and envelops them. The object is made of brown and green steel and multicoloured glass. Its coloured windows overlook the neighbourhood, giving visitors a coloured view of reality. In the daytime, Voerman’s thistle will be open to the public, and once inside, visitors will experience the curious atmosphere generated by the colourful light slanting through the windows. In the evening, the pavilion will radiate that same light to the outside world, becoming a fairy-tale beacon in its surroundings.
Rob Voerman
1966, Deventer, NL. Lives and works in Arnhem, NL
Rob Voerman’s sculptures are the physical embodiment of his ambition to undermine the images and structures around him. He sees art as a way of creating a new reality: a utopian, but primarily autonomous world, with elements alluding to rural life as well as to technologically sophisticated society. The images sometimes appear to be violent fusions or annexations of different spheres, such as architecture and nature.
Come back to my backyard please?