Unity

On Sept. 28, 2023, a dramatic event took place at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam. A teacher was shot to death by a student, and then he set fire to the teaching center, causing severe damage to part of it. To repair the damage, construction scaffolding was installed. The Real Estate Directorate and the Erasmus MC Art Committee took the initiative to realize a work of art on the scaffolding. After a survey of students, from which the themes of Rotterdam and nature were chosen, the Rotterdam artist Nazif Lopulissa (1991) was selected. This prompted Esther Didden to take a look at the artwork and immediately become more extensively acquainted with Erasmus MC's art collection. 

Today's Erasmus MC emerged from a merger of the Dijkzigt Hospital, Sophia Children's Hospital, the Daniel den Hoed Clinic and the medical faculty. Four organizations that previously bought art separately. In 2007 the decision was made to build a new building, and prior to that a single art committee was formed for all organizational units. The committee advises the Board of Directors on collecting, borrowing, conserving, managing, restoring and informing about the art collection. This consists of approximately 1,350 works of art: objects from the old buildings to which new works of art have been added that fit the target audience and location. Through donations, purchases directly from the artist, gallery or auction, or through commissioning. 

Particularly in art commissions for public spaces, it is important that a work of art hold up in the noise

Lydia Bogtstra is an advisor to the art committee. "We want to entice visitors and staff to look at art, that for a moment they are not concerned with illness. The art can make a stay far-

pleasant, prompt thought, make one dream again about a future or evoke a memory." Particularly with art commissions for public spaces, such as the main lobby, it is important that a work of art hold its own in the so-called noise: between signage, sign-in kiosks, digital screens, counters, stores, visitors and staff. The building may be sleek in architecture, but visually it can be unsettled. 

The most recent commission was to Lopulissa. The organization felt it was important to create a temporary artwork in the education center fairly soon after that black day in September. "People there are now looking at a work of art that is about Rotterdam and Rotterdammers, a work of art that encourages people to go on together. The emphasis is on moving on and less on the repairs, the damage and the painful memory. Together we go on and so we look forward." 

Lopulissa calls his work Unity with which he depicts a reflection of the city of Rotterdam. Unity was created to give students heart after the traumatic incident. The education center is the place where they come together, study and receive education. With the title, Lopulissa wants to convey the message of supporting each other regardless of cultural background and having respect for everyone. 

Unity was created to give students heart after the traumatic incident

The artwork is large: 10 meters high, 20 meters wide and another 9 meters around the corner. These are the dimensions of the scaffolding. The work can be seen temporarily and then, when the repair work is complete, parts of Unity shown in other locations in the building. 

The work has three layers. The abstracted flowers represent bringing a gift to friends or family who are hospitalized and also represent hope and development. The 44 gradient paintings refer to human skin tones, representing the diversity of Rotterdam's inhabitants. The three large ikat paintings, which include all skin types, refer to a binding in Indonesia, the country where a grandfather of the artist was born. 

Bogtstra highlights two other works of art in the collection. Hanging in the entrance hall since 2019 The Sweepers Clock by Maarten Baas. The clock is a real-time video of two men sweeping trash forward. With it, the art committee draws colleagues' attention to sustainability. Themes that play a role in society naturally also play a role in the hospital. Sustainability is a subject that has our constant attention. Bogtstra says that work processes are adjusted wherever possible, such as the use of materials in the operating room so that unused instruments and materials are not thrown away.

At this hospital in Rotterdam, the world passes by daily

Another work of art that is well displayed in the main hall is Shadows and Moonlight (2020) by artist duo Liet Heringa and Maarten van Kalsbeek. The architect had designed a number of alcoves in the new building that are very suitable for placing a work of art. This work of art literally jumps out of such a niche. It is colorful, playful and as a viewer you wonder what you are actually looking at. Are they ibises in flight or tropical plants? Heringa and Kalsbeek wanted to make a biotope, because during their first exploratory visit they experienced the hospital as a biotope, as a city within the city. Their biotope has a paradisiacal feel. They drew inspiration from masks from Benin, from Asian art, from paintings by Henri Rousseau and strong shadows in Japan during their artist-in-residence there. The world at your fingertips, you might say. Because in this hospital in Rotterdam, the world passes by daily. 

In the gigantic central hall you can see much more good art, by Jaume Plensa or Stephan Balkenhol, for example. It is worth walking into.