Het rode geheim
On the square of the University Medical Centre, you can hardly ignore this work of art. Nine rough fragments surround a smooth polished sculpture of granite.
Have a look now
The polished sculpture resembles a head and consists of ninety stacked blocks of red granite. The stacking creates a pattern of lines that seem to refer to human thinking and the complex network of the brain. According to artist Sigurdur Gudmundsson, the Swedish red granite, from which the artwork is made, matches the colour of Groningen. In the 1960s, the artist lived in Zandeweer, a small village in the north of this province. Gudmondsson's colour experience relies on the typical redness of the older buildings in Groningen's villages and towns. Because the oily sea clay - the raw material for Groningen brick-making - is ferruginous, the bricks took on that characteristic red colour.