In late March, Tamar Frank's artwork Gebroken Lijn was unveiled in Breda. Frank was asked to create a work for a square on a viaduct that both refers to the writer Marga Minco and makes a visual connection between Oud-Breda and Ginniken, where Minco was born. A complex and beautiful task, initiated by...

It can be tough, the process that precedes realizing art projects in public spaces. You don't build much credit for it either, because much of it remains invisible to the public. Works of art appear out of nowhere, as it were. It is therefore perhaps logical that the number of professionals involved in this is relatively small...

Twenty years ago, Véronique Baar founded QKunst. Until then, she was curator of a corporate collection. She noticed that employees were curious about the collection and wanted to know more about it but that contemporary art was also far removed from their world of experience. Through QKunst (a playful reference to the q in her...

"Want to get moving for the climate but don't know how? You don't have to come up with it all by yourself! We help you on your way through How to start a movement: an adventurous post project by artist Merel Smitt, in collaboration with collective the Weeds & Humanist Alliance." When Esther Didden mentioned this in the newsletter...

Gemene Grond is an art program in public space that will develop west of Utrecht's old city center through 2030. A major goal of Common Ground is to contribute through art to a public space in which all people, animals and plants are well represented. The program proposes...

Next year, the Amersfoort City Council's open call will take place for the tenth time. A good reason for Esther Didden to talk to Leontine Sies and Marieke Sikkens, both responsible for Amersfoort's visual arts policy.

Helmond artist Tinus Derks was working on a plan in which everyone who makes art could participate. After his death, two close friends gave themselves the task of realizing his idea after all, and recently the center of Helmond has become a lively breeding ground. Esther Didden spoke with Julienne Tullemans and Ine van...

Ever heard of Strukton? It is a Dutch construction and rail company with over 6,600 employees and annual revenues of about two billion euros. They deal with the design, financing, construction, management and maintenance of (large-scale) infrastructure. In short, a business world in which (very) large sums of money are involved and all kinds of interests are constantly at stake....

For several years now there have been two large display cases for art at Breda Station. This year KOP (Kunstenaars Ontwikkel Platform) programmed them; in the months of April, May and June it was Loran van de Wier's turn. During the exhibition period, he organized several meetings. Esther Didden attended one.

"RAUM is the place we make together. On the Berlin Square in Leidsche Rijn (Utrecht) you can experience how much fun it is when we arrange public space just a little differently and more creatively," reads the RAUM website. Esther Didden visited RAUM and spoke with Theo Tegelaers.

On a cold, stormy Monday in March, Esther Didden cycled through Tilburg with Arno van Roosmalen, adviser on art in public spaces. They see many good and interesting works of art, including John Körmeling's Turning House doing its tour. Enough conversation material.

On the table is the Volkskrant which contains an extensive interview with Job Hof. He recently turned 100, and since the Volkskrant is also celebrating 100 years, the newspaper interviews people of the same age. Briefly mentioned in the article, artist Dike Hof, the journalist describes how her father shows one of her sculptures....

On the edge of downtown, near the Groninger Museum, on a wide green strip stands the Tschumi Pavilion. For a year now, site-specific works of art have been made there. Esther Didden went there to visit and wrote about it.

If you make work as an artist for public space, after a while you usually have quite a few works in that public space. After the festive unveiling, you would like to let go of a work of art and concentrate on new work, but practice shows that letting go is actually not an option. Suddenly...

Art in public spaces is vulnerable. If the owner, often a municipality, does not maintain the work, you are pretty powerless as an artist.

Artists Development Platform, or KOP, in Breda has for years been committed to giving starting artists the opportunity to develop, especially when it comes to commissioning practice. It does this by offering activities in combination with an art commission.

In 1991, Centraal Museum organized the exhibition Night Rules. Temporary works of art by artists from the Netherlands and abroad were on display in downtown Utrecht, only in the evening and at night. All participating artists were asked to create a work that highlighted the relationship between word and image. The exhibition functioned primarily in...

Works of art in public spaces are sometimes removed, moved or stored, and in such cases there is usually little regulation for artists. They can invoke copyright (see also page 10) or personality rights, but when working in public space both usually fall short. On this subject, Esther Didden spoke with artist Peter Struycken....

On March 12, Koen Hauser's work was unveiled in the center of Leiden: The Rainbow Artwork. He was commissioned by COC Leiden; they wanted a visible permanent artwork for the (local) Rainbow Community. The title, by the way, is provisional. Residents are expressly invited to make proposals, but in the vernacular, it suffices...

After twenty years of working on art in Rotterdam's public space, Siebe Thissen said goodbye at the end of 2021. BK-informatie asked him to look back at the past two decades. What stands out to him and what has changed?

This series is about commissioning and public space. A situation is always sketched from the perspective of the narrator. This can be an artist and/or a client. We want to paint a picture of the artist's practice: what goes well, what an artist encounters when working in public space and how...

This series is about commissioning and public space. A situation is always sketched from the perspective of the narrator. This can be an artist and/or a client. We want to paint a picture of the artist's practice: what goes well, what an artist encounters when working in public space and how...

This series is about commissioning and public space. A situation is always sketched from the perspective of the narrator. This can be an artist and/or a client. We want to paint a picture of the artist's practice: what goes well, what an artist encounters when working in public space and how...

A few months ago, Esther Didden wandered through the historic centre of Utrecht. At that moment, Centraal Museum was closed due to the corona measures, but on the adjacent square stood a huge angry tree.

Esther Didden talked to Niels Albers, artist and designer.

On his website visual artist Edwin Stolk has divided the projects he is working on into three categories: in development, completed, not completed. Especially the last category is striking, why make stranded projects public?

Main conclusions for the future of art in public space.

Esther Didden talks to commissioners and artists in the section "Commissioning and Public Space. This time with visual artist Sjef Henderickx (1944) whose work and life are steeped in historical awareness.

In 2017, the IJssel Biennale put itself on the map with a big bang as the Dutch equivalent of Beaufort and Emscherkunst; a mile-long temporary exhibition in the IJssel Valley with countless works of art that you could view by bike.