Portal

Some things do not catch the eye until the sun shines, such as in the case of this work by Saar Oosterhof. She applied rhinestones in irregular distances from one another in the Pelsterstraat pavement. The stones only shine when they catch a ray of sun. The built-in holograms provide the stones with depth and their shape changes with every movement. Each stone was handmade by the artist from a cast mixture of resin, colour pigments and glitter. The rhinestones mark the place of a former Groningen town rampart.

‘Stap’ (Step) is the larger than life-sized and extremely stylised body of a young girl who is hardly awakened and anonymous because of her missing head, arms and hands. She is standing straight and proud. Academy teacher Peter Stut created the bluestone pedestal that is reminiscent of a catwalk. The posture and stylised representation are characteristic of the sculptures by Siepman van den Berg, who is predominantly interested in the patterns of the human body and the abstraction that results when individual features are omitted.

Ons Blauwe Hart (Our Blue Heart) is a work of art that provides access to much more art. Artist Erwin Stienstra has hidden a large number of QR codes in the patterns of the giant Dutch tile tableau. Scanning these codes with a telephone provides information about various topics concerning Groningen city centre, such as poems by city poet Stefan Nieuwenhuis in addition to portraits of Groningen residents that the OOG TV broadcasting station recorded in the Gelkingestraat; historic stories and ‘just’ a list of current places of interest. The digital work or art between the old-Dutch looking tiled wall is constantly changing because it is continuously updated with new information.

Bus stops involve people waiting, which makes them a perfect location for a work of art. In the Oosterstraat a news ticker has been installed between two stainless steel columns. Instead of passenger information, texts are displayed about travelling, buses, and heart and lungs. The texts were written by author Jacques Brooijmans and most of them are poetic or philosophical.  In the Oosterstraat is a transparent synthetic heart in neon light above the columns. In the Gelkingestraat, that runs parallel to the Oosterstraat, lungs are placed above the columns. The organs refer to the centre and periphery of the city. When you enter the city by bus, you first pass the red heart, a symbol for the centre and the dynamic liveliness surrounding it. When leaving the city via the Gelkingestraat, buses pass the green lungs that refer to the tranquillity and space in the suburbs.

Visitors entering the city of Groningen via the main railway station immediately make their acquaintance with a typical Groningen work of art: the Peerd van Ome Loeks (Uncle Loek’s horse), created in 1959 by artist Jan de Baat and located in the centre of the station square. Rumour has it that the sculpture was created in memory of the racehorse of a Lucas (Loeks) van Hemmen, a riding-master and owner of De Slingerij pub and livery stable in Groningen. His horse died in 1910 and when the horse butcher came to collect it, some boys were singing: ‘Uncle Loek’s horse is dead’. This became a well-known Groningen folk song. Other sources, however, state that the song is based on a German student song.

Artist Willem Valk applied tongues of fire and a crystal shape on this bronze commemorative tablet that symbolise the text on the bronze plate: ‘Toen rees uit oorlog en vuur / het helder kristal van de vrede’. (Then, from war and fire/rose the clear crystal of peace.) The text refers to the fierce battle that was involved in the liberation of the city of Groningen by the Canadian armed forces. On 13 April 1945 they entered the city, after which the disastrous battles for the Grote Markt took place. Many historic buildings went up in flames and the heart of the city was mutilated by shellfire. On Monday 16 April the Canadians surrounded and closed off the city centre and the last resistance broke.

This voluptuous woman with distinctive ultra-long lashes strides down the stairs of the Cascade complex at the Emmasingel. The sculpture was created by Silvia B. and placed here in 2004. Over eight metres high and seemingly an example of beauty, upon closer inspection it becomes clear that deficiencies are hidden behind this exterior.

The relationship between surface and spaces plays an important role in the work by Danish artist Per Kirkeby, and this also applies to this untitled work at the Emmasingel. The work consists of two rows of six columns connected crosswise as well as lengthwise using arch constructions. Wall surfaces are applied between some of the columns in such a way that a wall is positioned opposite every opening, resulting in a spatial line pattern of open and closed sections and changing light and shadow.