M HKA Ensembles

Installation, 200 x 120 x 75 cm.

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. BK5774_M89).

“When I had to think up a scheme for the Eendrachtsplein in Rotterdam my first thought was that I could just do as I wanted, because when it rains it’s always rubbish. You always prefer sitting on an ugly square in the sun to an attractive square in the rain. What a country! First it’s so flat down here and then there’s that flat surface up there, a roof, a leaking roof, and above: beautiful weather. It’s what you see when you travel by air; up through the clouds and there’s the sun. I thought: I’ll just leave the Eendrachtsplein in its present chaos and make a hole in a cloud where a ray of light can come through. It will then automatically be the loveliest place in the Netherlands.”

This is the artist John Körmeling’s explanation of his work Hole in the Cloud. Like many of the works by this artist, who studied architecture, this one was of course never carried out. Since he hasn’t yet developed a machine to dissolve clouds or push them aside, his idea was carried out in Madurodam, the park in the Netherlands that contains a miniature city. Körmeling uses playful ideas for and critical commentary on existing architecture and urban planning situations. He prefers clever solutions to conventional plans. The cloud with its hole measures 1.4 by 2 metres and is made of foam sprayed silver. It hangs in the air and above it hangs a lamp, eight times more powerful than a car headlight.