Public Art. Amsterdam

Agenda

Ontmoetingsplaats 21ste eeuw

Figuren en Vuur

Ladders

Krijger

Vruchtbaarheid

Totempaal

Mensen op strand met parasol

Monument voor de Vrede

Aardewerk

Zwerm

Blauwe Boog

Jongen met Haan

Papieren vliegtuigpijl

Schaapjes

Senza Parole

Vleugelvormen

Zonder moeite niets (Het Sieraad)

Herdenkingsmonument voor slachtoffers Tweede Wereldoorlog

De Wending 666/999

Boegbeeld

Ankh

Het Molecularium

Vierwindstrekenbrug

Zonder Titel (hekwerk poort)

Home is where the heart is: de potkachel

BOLD TOREN BOUWMATERIALEN

Strike a Pose – Wafae Ahalouch

Amsterdam, the magic center, art and counterculture 1967-1970

Schip van Slebos

De Appel

Het Bankje

Het Raam

De Oude Kerk

Het Stoepje

Licht

De Brug

De Brug

Ruimtestructuur

Het Zandkasteel en de Amsterdamse Poort

How to Kill a Tree, Edward Clydesdale Thomson

City Cells

Nelson Mandela

Monument tegen Apartheid en Racisme

DOE IETS / DO SOMETHING

Spanje Monument

De Muur

Gedenkteken Steven van Dorpel

De Grote Glijbaan

Yellow Wings

Dolle Mina

Man en Schaap

Hortus Botanicus

Portrait of Jan Pieterszoon Coen, J.L. Vreugde

Anton de Kom

Now, Speak!

Tayouken Piss

Monument Bijlmerramp

Sequin Monument

Mama Aisa

Zonder titel (Twee Schuine Naalden)

Nationaal Monument Slavernijverleden

Monument for Martin Luther King

Gloei!

Voor de Bijen

Industrieel Monument

The Black Archives

Tussentijd

Corned Beef

Sami

Brace for Impact, Node #6

Untitled (You Don’t Have To Be Here)

Staalmanplein

Wegwerphuisje

Groot Landschap

De 7 poorten

Klimmuur

De Kies

Black Waves

Tectona Grandis

Stapeling omlaag

Animaris Rhinoseros Transport

Tuinen van West

De Poort van Constant

Fietstunnel station Amsterdam CS

Noordbeeld

NDSM-Werf

Ontmoetingsplaats

IJ boulevard

ADM monument

De Ceuvel

NDSM-Werf

Observatorium

De Ceuvel

Gedenkteken Ataturk

Twee Beelden

Sunday Seminar Pay Attention Please! curating the city

Official Opening Pay Attention Please!

De Kost en de Baat

Van Eesteren Museum and Aldo van Eyck’s climbing frames

Constructie met I-balken, André Volten

Mirage, Tamás Kaszás

Rembo, Bastienne Kramer

Untitled, Margot Zanstra

Horse Chestnut, Amok Island

2 U’s naar buiten / 2 U’s naar binnen, Carel Visser

Opstandingskerk, Marius Duintjer

Cascoland

WOW Amsterdam

Leonard van Munster, Under Heaven 02

Lex Horn, Concrete relief Hendrik de Keyser

Het Wiel, Jeroen Henneman

Herbert Nouwens, Brettensuite

White Noise

De Wachter

Feestelijke Beelden (festive sculptures)

Your Life is Calling

Untitled

Primum movens ultimum moriens

11 Rue Simon Crubellier

Lady Solid

Opgelichte Stoeptegels

Ode to Mungus, Menhir Tower and Spire

Untitled (Hildo)

The First Turk Immigrant or The Nameless Heroes of The Revolution – Framer Framed

Amsterdam, the Magic Center Art and counterculture 1967-1970, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Monument for the White Cube – P/////AKT

Monuments to the Unsung – Framer Framed

wild care, tame neglect – Frankendael Foundation

GET LOST – art route, several artists

Ode to the Bijlmer – CBK Zuidoost

Untitled (You Don’t Have To Be Here) – De Appel

We should have a conversation (2018) – De Appel

Fiep van Bodegom

Roos van Rijswijk

Alma Mathijsen

Massih Hutak

Chris Keulemans

Rashid Novaire

NDSM-wharf

Art tour Amsterdam Zuid

  • permanent
  • accessible

An artwork in public space is different from an artwork in a museum. Encountering an artwork in the streets, you often have to make do with the physical details of the object (and its immediate environment). This may make it difficult to come to an interpretation of the work. In a museum, works are often presented in coherence and wall texts or a catalogue may be supplied for background information.  Perhaps it is for the lack of information that public works of art are often met with such aversion. But mystery can also be powerful.

The difference between public space and the museum is something Giny Vos understands very well. For the KPN tower at the Zuidas she made the light artwork White Noise. When night falls, at a height of 120 metres a composition of lights starts flickering. For the design of the light installation Vos looked into the functioning of radio masts. At times, the transmission and reception of signals is interrupted by ‘white noise’- the same noise that fills your television screen when the connection fails. The artwork is a representation of Vos’ imagination of the universe: we see the big bang, meteorites and falling stars. Against the background of this universe signals are being transmitted and received. To illustrate this, every now and then numbers and letter light up: verification codes you are sometimes asked to enter on a computer to prove that you are human and not a robot. White Noisehas many layers of meaning you cannot immediately grasp as you pass by. But for this work that’s not essential, because it functions as an artwork by itself: when you see it twinkling against the dark night sky you will pause automatically to take time to be enchanted.

Most of Vos’s projects are made for public space, and she often works with light. For this commission that was especially a good thing, for non-transparent material would obstruct the mast’s radiation- it would create actual noise. It is quite an ambitious endeavour to make a work at such great heights and without obstructing the mast’s performance. But it suits KPN as a company which in the 1920’s, when it was still state-owned and called PTT, was one of the first Dutch businesses to boost their reputation by means of art, architecture and design. Commissioning an artwork for their mast can be seen as a way to continue that tradition. As such, the nature of the commission is reflected in the final result. The telecommunications tower is now owned by another company. The new owner chose to keep White Noise, but wouldn’t have had to. Artworks in public space are always subject to these kinds of unstable factors.

For the accidental passer-by, White Noisemay simply allow for a moment of wonder or surprise. The work is not a loud and dominant presence. Its high location gives the work a certain subtlety. For people who are familiar with the nature of the commission and with Giny Vos’s oeuvre White Noiseis a pleasant surprise. That is exactly its strength, and the artist’s intention: “A work needs to have layers of meaning, but you should also be able to enjoy it without knowing my story.” White Noiseis a successful example of the way a work of art in public space can serve on many levels the many eyes that can behold it.

More information

White Noise op de officiële website van Giny Vos: http://ginyvos.nl/werken/white-noise

Agenda

March