Measurements: 3,5 m x 1,2 m (ensemble of 2 pieces)
Underwater dancing, floating seaweed gives oxygen.
‘Alghe Galleggianti’ is a balustrade for a villa by the sea.
The artwork ‘Alghe Gallegianti’ was festively revealed by Kees van Twist, former director of the Groninger Museum. Katja Rodenburg, philosopher and exhibition curator, presented her lecture ‘Born from the sea’.
Measurements: 6,3 m x 1,5 m
On 11 March 2011, the nuclear disaster in Fukushima took place. All life in the nearby sea died.
When I walk along the North Sea beach I often find ‘Fucus Vesiculosus’ (bladderwrack). Because of the bladders, the algae keeps upright when it is under water. Breathtaking shapes in all sorts of sizes. The symbolic meaning, shape and transparency is a source of inspiration for cut out and painted studies.
The corten steel is rusted, colored from deep brown to bright orange with shapes of bladderwrack and air bubbles that are laser cut out of the steel. In the evening, the algae and the air bubbles light up through the LED lighting behind. On the wall you can see the algae.
The city entrance of Delft near A13 and IKEA has acquired a poetic identity with this artwork of Berkman en Janssens.
In the public space an assembly of different elements can be seen with an area of 5000 m2. The artwork consists of 10 shiny white steel sculptures (h = 2,5m), black and white checkered natural stone embankments and 24 decorated pillars and lighting. Artists duo Berkman and Janssens designed and realized more than 30 artworks for public area from 1996-2010.
Sources of inspiration: the paintings by Johannes Vermeer, ‘the Love Letter’ from the Rijksmuseum, historic Delft blue tiles and the ‘la Dame a la Licorne’ carpet series from Museé de Cluny in Paris. The warm color red, which symbolizes love and the suggestive perspective from Vermeer’s work can be found in the painted pillars under the highway. The white sculptures are inspired by the animals on the carpet series ‘La Dame a la Licorne’ and 17th-century Delft blue tiles.
The artwork was unveiled on 20 September 2007 by Lian Merkx, Anders Westney (director IKEA), and Folkert Post (chief engineer-director Rijkswaterstaat Zuid-Holland)