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visualisatie, ontwerp, fotografie / visualisation, design, photography

Tagged: art

The giant steel sculpture The New Delft Gate by artist Cor Kraat on the corner of Pompenburg aan Haagseveer in Rotterdam

Photography / Rotterdam

The Rotterdam Public Sculpture Top 10

Every city has a collection of statues and other works of art in public spaces. But I do feel that the average artwork in Rotterdam is somewhat larger than elsewhere. The city has a remarkable number of sculptures that are so large that you can walk through them. The reason may be that, in the spaciously designed post-war inner city, there is simply more room to go big. I wondered what were my favourite public sculptures in Rotterdam and I came to this list of ten. Let me start with a disclaimer: I don’t know much about art at all....

Combination of an old photo of people waiting in line in front of the Bijenkorf department store in Rotterdam with a recent image of the same location on Coolsingel

Rotterdam

The Return of the Bijenkorf Sculpture: an Update

“The ‘Bijenkorf stone’ is coming back – perhaps”, NRC, a national newspaper with Rotterdam roots, headlined on Saturday 3 February. And indeed: there is news about the sculpture by Hendrik van den Eijnde, which from 1930 to 1960 decorated the façade of the old Bijenkorf department store, designed by architect W.M. Dudok. The sculpture is currently hidden in a place that doesn’t really do it justice: the Bijenkorf’s logistic center in Woerden. But as the only remnant of the architectural masterpiece that was so ruthlessly demolished in 1960, it deserves a location in the center of Rotterdam, preferably as close...

The Forest Planetarium of Arnhem: eight stainless steel spheres in the Cold Pond in Sonsbeek Park

Space art / Various

The Arnhem Forest Planetarium and the Lost Planets

A few years ago I had a brilliant idea: a model of the solar system on the scale of the municipality of Rotterdam. Just because it’s important to see the bigger picture, to know which larger system we’re a part of. And because it’s fun to be amazed about how big everything is. And how small we are ourselves. Streetplanetarium The city of Rotterdam is a very suitable place for such a streetpanetarium because there is a long trail of port areas attached to the city. Therefore, the distance between the center and the extreme outer regions is so large...

A virtual relief, creating the illusion of depth on a flat surface,, done as a colorful tile mosaic in a white wooden frame.

Digital art

Virtual Reliefs: 3d Illusions on a Flat Surface

A while ago I visited an exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Schiedam, dedicated to the work of Jan Schoonhoven (1914-1994). An artist from Delft who is best known for the cardboard reliefs he made.   They made him world-famous, and he even had to hire assistants in order to meet the demand. One of his reliefs was auctioned in 2010 for more than 800.000 euros. Yet he continued to work until his retirement as a civil servant at the Dutch Mail. Reportedly the money he earned with his art was to a large extent spent on the jazz concerts that his wife...

Photo of the Marstunnel in Zutphen looking from Noorderhaven and De Mars towards the city center

Photography

Marstunnel Zutphen: a Colorful Underpass

Since I was in the neighborhood, I took the opportunity to visit the Marstunnel in Zutphen. Another recently completed project in the east of the country in which I’ve put an lot of hours. Among other things, I made the artist impressions for the project when I was working at Royal HaskoningDV. The name Marstunnel has nothing to do with the Red Planet and also not with candy bars, but everything with business park De Mars. The new tunnel connects that area, and the new district Noorderhaven with Zutphen town center. The underpass replaces the a level crossing. Architecture Responsible...

Artist impression of a fictional Icelandic cafe, warm and cosy inside, with paintified landscape photo's on the wall, beer on the bar and the Icelandic flag on the tables, and with a snowy landscape outside

Digital art / Visualisation

Virtual Iceland – Cafe with a View

Iceland, the land of ice and fire, volcanoes and glaciers, fjords and lakes, hot baths and boiling mud puddles. The land of four seasons in a single day, where the sun, the wind and the clouds provide a continuous and spectacular light show. The land where nature is leading, where fords at some moments are suddenly not that fordable. I was in Iceland in the summers of 2005 and 2008 and in the winter of 2012. Statistically, it is about time to make another trip to the island on the edge of the world, the most beautiful place on the...

The melting pot version of a colorfull composition with 48 flags of European countries, as decoration on a stucco wall

Digital art

My Way to Minimize the Effects of a Grexit

It was perhaps not the best time to do something creative with the flags of the 28 member states of the European Union. With the results of the Greek referendum in this morning’s papers, the future is uncertain. There may very well be only 27 members states somewhere in the very near future. And in that case my flag project is instantly outdated. Moreover, one of the characteristics of a political union like the EU is that countries can join or leave. In the past, only the first happened and currently the second option seems to become fashionable but the current gloomy mood...

Artist impression of the Marstunnel in Zutphen, The Netherlands, as seen from the city side, with dark brick walls and light art by Herman Kuyer

Visualisation

Is it Mars? No, it’s Zutphen!

In April work will start on the Marstunnel in Zutphen, a collaborative project of ProRail and Rail Infra Solutions. During my years at Royal HaskoningDHV I have been involved in the design of the tunnel, for which I made, among other things, these artist impressions. The Marstunnel has nothing to do with our red planetary neighbor. The name refers to an area called De Mars which will be connected to the city center by the tunnel. However, it must be said that there’s a 38 kilometre wide crater on Mars called Zutphen. Brick and artwork It’s great news that the...

Sail boats under a blue sky in the marina in Flushing, the Netherlands

Photography

Return to Flushing – part 2

(see also Return to Flushing – Part 1 ) But even without the implementation of the plans for the Scheldt Quarter, Flushing is an interesting destination at the end of the railway line . It is like a smaller version of the antithesis of Amsterdam-Rotterdam: Middelburg is beautiful and picturesque but actually Flushing is more interesting. Even if it’s only because of the vessels, bound for Antwerp, that come very close to the beach: Maritime Or the maritime atmosphere with the robust quays, the sheds and yards and jetties in all shapes and sizes: Past glory Or the magnificent pieces...

The Silver Elephant of Rotterdam, a proposal for a sculpture on the square in front of Rotterdam central station, the location of the former Zoo

Digital art / Rotterdam / Visualisation

The Silver Elephant of Rotterdam

The old station square of Rotterdam was chaotic and packed with trams, buses and taxis. But now that those are neatly relocated to the side entrances of the station there are people who feel that the new square is too empty and that it needs a statue. A proposal to move The Destroyed City, the famous sculpture by Ossip Zadkine, provoked a lot of discussions. The main argument against moving it is, in my opinion, that it is currently in the middle of the area destroyed in the 1940 bombing, while the location of the station square is just outside...

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Frans Blok, 3d artist, designer and photographer


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