Out of Focus
Status
Permanent
Category
No longer exists
Explanation
Anyone entering or leaving the city via the Utrechtste Baan between 1981 and 2006 came across them. With two groups of eight poles each, Matthijs van Dam marked the beginning and the end of the Zuid-Hollandlaan. The group in light yellow was located at the intersection with the Koningskade. The poles in blue were placed obliquely in the ground on the median strip of Boslaan at the end of the A12. Although a totally abstract sculpture, the title Spatial Shading did give a hint of the essence of this artwork. Van Dam wanted to use it to represent the movement of traffic. His work also served as a signal here at the intersection. After the turn of the millennium, the polyester from which the poles were made began to wear so much that the sculptures were removed in 2006 as a precaution.
Artwork Data
Title
Ruimtelijke arceringen
Artist
Year
1981
Material
Poleyster
Dimensions
h. 1100 cm
Artwork Location
Address
Boslaan, Den Haag
City district
Haagse Hout
GPS data
52.087837690067, 4.3211874651901 View on map
Artwork Description
Text
In fact, they always worked together: Amsterdam native Matthijs van Dam and Peter Jansen from The Hague. They saw their different backgrounds (one was originally a designer and the other once started out as a painter) as an enrichment. They completed many large projects and worked in an abstract visual language of mostly tall or curved and twisted poles.
Van Dam died young. This brought an early end to the many years of collaboration. 'Spatial Hatching' was a solo project by Matthijs van Dam. The two-part artwork marks the beginning and end of Zuid-Hollandlaan. At the intersection with the Koningskade are several pale yellow poles. The polyester poles are placed at a 60-degree angle in the narrow median strip and vary in length, with a maximum of about 10 meters.
The title "Spatial Hatching" is apt. The shorter and longer, slightly tapered tubes resemble outlined lines. The sculpture is a three-dimensional translation of lines or scratches on paper. In converting from flat surface to sculpture, Van Dam has kept spatiality to a minimum. It has become a sober sculpture in a restless environment.
Viewed from the side, it becomes clear that Van Dam's pattern of diagonals breaks the horizontal and vertical lines in the surrounding architecture. But the diagonals do not exclusively go against the lines of the buildings. They go along with the movement of one of the lanes of traffic, thereby underscoring the speed of the traffic racing across it. In the crowd, the diagonal pylons have a signal function: here is an intersection!