ARTS HOLLAND MAGAZINE
new museum spaces
Centraal Museum, Utrecht Utrecht’s ship, ca. 1000
On 3 December 1930 workers in the city of Utrecht unearthed a mysterious shipwreck. Archeologists thought at first it was of Roman origin, but tree-ring research revealed that the wood used to build the ship came from trees felled somewhere around the year 1000. Measuring about eighteen-by-four meters, the skeletal structure is quite large, particularly when one considers that its basis is a single hollowed-out tree. In 1936 the museum had to breach its wall to install it. The medieval ship was a trader on the Rhine. At the end of the first millennium Utrecht was a flourishing port for the important riverine trade, transporting such goods as salt and furs upstream, and bringing wheat and wine down the river. For years museum visitors could view the ancient ship in a rather narrow dark space, heavy with the stench of the thick tar daubed on the ancient wood to forestall further deterioration. In 2012 media art collective Monobanda designed a multi-media installation to bring the ship to life again. Visitors entering the space trigger an installation that animates the wreck with loud but indeterminate sounds of heavy labor, the slap of shovels, water, and winds. Subtle lights dance
across the wooden ribs, alternately casting deep shadows, projecting shapes onto its surface and bathing the artifact in dark-blue or white hues. The combined light, smell and sound hypnotically transport viewers centuries back in time.
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam Dan Flavin Untitled (to Piet Mondrian through his preferred colors, red, yellow and blue), and Untitled 2 (to Piet Mondrian who lacked green), 1986
The newly renovated and expanded Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam boasts a rich collection of contemporary art treasures, including works by Lawrence Weiner, Barnett Newman and Marlene Dumas. Among the newly acquired pieces is a refined installation in two parts by Dan Flavin: Untitled (to Piet Mondrian through his preferred colors, red, yellow and blue), and Untitled 2 (to Piet Mondrian who lacked green). In 1986 the artist was invited to create this work specifically for the hallway at the top of the central stairs, a famous backdrop for happenings, performances and parties. Flavin’s reference to Piet Mondrian is in line with his earlier tributes to modernist predecessors,
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Lights on Wood, interactive projection by Monobanda on ancient Utrecht Ship in the Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 2012. photo – monobanda