Suzanne Swarts travels the world in search of the most amazing museums and works of art and shares her adventures in MASTERS. This time the museum director stays closer to home and talks about the special exhibition that is now on display in and on 'her' Voorlinden.
Of course, I don't have to travel far to enjoy insane art. Every day I cycle to the most beautiful workplace imaginable: Museum Voorlinden. We have deliberately made it a place where you can marvel, be surprised and recharge yourself - and many people these days have a strong need for that, I notice. It really is an oasis of peace in the busy Randstad with a beautiful combination of art, nature and architecture. And this summer at Voorlinden is even more special because British artist Antony Gormley has largely taken over the estate and museum with his solo exhibition GROUND - the largest we've ever had at Voorlinden. Gormley creates spectacular sculptures, installations and works in public spaces. You may be familiar with the 26-meter-high crouching figure Exposure near Lelystad, overlooking the Markermeer. His work is loved all over the world, from Brazil to his home country, the United Kingdom. We are currently bringing a large survey of his work, including his early lead works and recent space-filling installations. A number of works are from our own collection and are on display in the Netherlands for the first time.
Location is very important to Gormley. His work explores the relationship between the human body and the space it occupies. The placement of his artworks is therefore essential. Therefore, he has chosen Voorlinden for a reason. We have known the artist for years - he already made a sculpture for our Clingenbosch sculpture garden in 1994 - and he knows the estate well. He has fallen in love with its special location in nature, the sky above the dunes and the light in the museum. And in GROUND he makes full use of these elements. You can already see that when you walk onto the estate and see the museum building looming in the distance. Because if you look carefully around you can already discover sixty sculptures in the garden around the manor house, in front of the museum and in the dunes. They are all casts of the artist's body and together they form a sculpture group called Critical Mass. Gormley sees the cast iron casts as "industrially manufactured fossils" that he has dropped into the green context of Voorlinden. With the traces of his body, the Brit wants to appeal to your "feeling potential" and your "body memory.
Read the entire column? In the summer edition of MASTERS, an interview with Sven Kramer, a driving impression of the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport and an examination of Max's Effect. But above all, it features people who bring light into the darkness. Like Henk Jan Beltman, who took over Tony's Chocolonely because with a business you can make the world a more beautiful place. Chef Emile van der Staak, who has the ambition to change our food culture and therefore cooks with plants and vegetables sourced from the food forest. Designer Nienke Hoogvliet, who has introduced natural seaweed paint as an alternative to harmful textile dyes. And Anna Nooshin, who denounces the current social media culture of pretty pictures. In her documentary, she also shares the less beautiful aspects of her life. All of them people who ask questions, present mirrors, make steps. Steps toward a healthier world and more understanding society.
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