A mon seul Désir © Berkman en Janssens 2010, for the Mayor of Utrecht

Measurements: 12,5 m x 2,5 m x 3,5 m

The Farewell Gift of Mayor MRS. Brouwer-Korf to the city of Utrecht, The Netherlands by Berkman en Janssens in 2010.

The inspiration for the artwork ‘A mon seul Désir’, is the desire (Désir) of Mrs. Brouwer to donate an artwork the Utrecht district Leidsche Rijn where people can meet each other. ‘A mon seul Désir’ is one of six carpets from the medieval carpet series ‘La Dame à la Licorne’. In the carpet series, Berkman and Janssens found all kinds of references to Mrs Brouwer and her desire to bring art to Leidsche Rijn.

The carpet from Musée de Cluny

The lady puts her jewelry on the tapistry (Mrs Brouwer lays down her symbolic necklace) and the tent-like residence where the lady can seek shelter and receive visitors. (meeting place). The environment in which the lady is sitting on the carpet (a Hortus) also corresponds to the place where the artwork is placed. The translation of this medieval source of inspiration into a modern, inventive and fairytale work of art for the public space is characteristic of the method of work of Berkman and Janssens.

Cooperation Landscape Architects

In close cooperation with the Project Office Leidsche Rijn and Landscape Architects Lodewijk Baljon, the most attractive location for the artwork in Park Leeuwesteyn was chosen; in the middle of the park with a view of the water.

 ‘A mon seul Désir’

The concrete bench is 12.5 m long, 2.5 m wide and the height is 45 cm. Colorful ceramic tiles are casted in concrete to create a nice shiny seat surface. In the middle of the bench, in the longitudinal direction, there are 7 figurative white sculptures that together represent the senses ‘the smell, the taste, the seeing and the hearing’. The white images are made of 2 cm thick steel and have a glossy white coating. The size of the entire image group is approximately 11 meters long. The highest image (the tree) is about 3 meters high.

Additional

Book ‘A mon seul Désir’

Art classes and Exhibition of art classes for young people from Via Nova College in Leidsche Rijn.