Text

Rubble and concrete are the constituents of this work by artist Donald Duk. The choice of material may seem strange, but it isn't when you consider that the dunes of Ockenburgh and its surroundings are not made of sand, but were raised from the debris of demolished neighbourhoods in The Hague, including the Bezuidenhout which was bombed in 1945. By creating the trench of debris that leads to the ball, the artist wanted to suggest that 'the earth has cracked open and revealed a giant ball of debris' which now rolls down the hill like a huge avalanche. Of course it is not! The 'Rubble Ball' - as it has quickly become popularly known - is firmly rooted in the original access road over which thousands of debris-laden trucks have thundered.

The Rijswijk artist Duk has not realised many works of art in public spaces. The appearance of the commissions he has carried out is very diverse. This is because he incorporates the wishes of the users into his designs and, moreover, interweaves the function and history of the designated location. For example, he devised the 'Dundoek' project for the County Hall in Haarlem: a series of pennants in the colours of the province that flutter around the building. Another constant in his oeuvre is the concern for nature. The depletion of raw materials was already a hot topic at the time the 'Puinbal' was created. The 'Ball of Rubble' is not a sculpture according to the classical ideal of beauty, but the dunes and the ball do form an impressive example of recycling.