Artwork Data

Title

Zonder titel

Artist

Frank Heerema

Year

1989

Material

Verzinkt staal

Dimensions

h. 250 cm

Artwork Location

Address

Juliana van Stolberglaan, Den Haag

City district

Haagse Hout

GPS data

52.084044094055, 4.3484167272266 View on map

Artwork Description

Text

At the end of Juliana van Stolberglaan, where Schenkkade meets Van Heutzstraat, stands this work of art by Frank Heerema from The Hague. The circular movement of traffic around the square is symbolised by the three folded, round sheets of steel.

Heerema studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (1971-1976). One of his first assignments was to paint a community centre in the Schipperskwartier. In his three-dimensional work from the 1980s, you often see circular shapes.
At the time, many artists made environmental designs. The then director of the Hague Academy, Joop Beljon, even called on artists to help shape the new construction projects and renovations in the inner cities. No longer did the artists have to make a sculpture for which a 'nice spot' had to be found, but they had to 'create signs that mean an added value for city and landscape'.

Heerema has increasingly become a designer. His art in public spaces is no longer an autonomous work that relates to its surroundings, but is functional: applied art, in other words. For example, he designed a reception desk for a college in Velp.

Around 2000, you increasingly see that art in public spaces is integrated into the environment to such an extent that it loses its autonomous status. The boundary between art and design has thus become much more vague. An artist may, for example, choose to design a gateway or a lamp. Heerema's development is exemplary for this phenomenon.

Close