Artwork Data

Title

Torso

Artist

Anton Broos

Year

1994

Material

Roestvaststaal

Artwork Location

Address

Neherkade 1, Den Haag

City district

Laak

GPS data

52.068241524233, 4.3316286263199 View on map

Artwork Description

Text

Like a graceful arch, 'Torso' by sculptor Anton Broos has stood at the foot of the Trekvliet Tower since 1994. In that year, the Food Inspection Department moved into this building. It was built especially for the service and, as is customary with new government buildings, the so-called percentage rule applied. Broos was commissioned to create a work of art for the new accommodation. Ultimately, he came up with two. Under the title 'Determined Flag', he placed three flagpoles on the roof, each displaying part of the Dutch flag. Only from one specific spot on the nearby Laakbrug could you experience the three parts as one flag. The second work is the abstract sculpture at the main entrance.

Sheet steel is this sculptor's favourite material. He likes its thin character. Moreover, steel is both rigid and strong, and you can still use it to create flowing forms. These flowing forms are particularly well represented in the 'Music ribbon' that Broos made in 1990 for the municipality of Oegstgeest. And although the shapes are a little less swinging, 'Torso' is also one flowing gesture in steel.

After the Food Inspection Department became part of the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority in 2002, the Trekvliet Tower became vacant. Since then, it has accommodated a large number of alternating smaller tenants. Broos' flags disappeared from the roof in that same year.

Since 2019, developer Idea Compact has been working with Geurst and Schulze Architects on a 70-metre-high residential tower on the same site. The Trekvliet Tower will disappear in the process. It is not yet clear whether the accompanying sculpture will be included in the new construction plans or whether it will be given a different use elsewhere in the neighbourhood. Judging by the reports in the neighbourhood newspaper Samen voor Laak (Together for Laak), the residents do not want to lose the work of art in any case.

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