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A cast of a door, a filmed inflatable house, virtual spaces. Buildings are everywhere in the sculptures of painter/sculptor Jan van de Pavert. Sometimes they are computer animations with fantasy architecture, sometimes they are sculptures that look like maquettes or small buildings that you can enter as a spectator. Van de Pavert has also created murals that are reminiscent of the social realism paintings of the world-famous Mexican artist Diego Riviera (1886-1957).

Van de Pavert's pedestal sculpture 'Ministry' was created in 2000. The bronze sculpture refers to the Ministries of Internal Affairs and Justice built in 1977. Around the turn of the millennium there were plans to completely strip these buildings and give them a new exterior. Later, there was talk of demolition. And although the two towers are still standing in 2007, their future is anything but certain.

For Van de Pavert, the ministries are buildings that are associated with modern architecture. When he made the pedestal sculpture, he was reminded of Italian railway stations. There, large black-and-white photographs of (mountain) landscapes intersected with an almost car-free motorway and panoramic city views used to be hung. These could be historic images, but often they were not. According to Van de Pavert, the Netherlands lacks the tradition of representing modern architecture on such a monumental scale. If it is done at all, it is in the form of historicising, sentimental pictures. Hardly any representative images are made of reconstruction architecture either.

Many of the modern building styles are gradually disappearing from our streetscape. That is why Van de Pavert decided to erect a monument for them. That has become 'Ministry'. Because despite its disappearance, modern architecture has largely determined the image of our cities.