Today we highlight a work of art that plays with folklore and history: Kabouter, created by Ruchama Noorda.
This bronze gnome stands in the centre of Amsterdam on Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal and refers to the 1970s Kabouter Movement — a nonviolent protest movement that, among other things, advocated for the environment, harmony with nature, and emancipation.
Noorda first modelled the sculpture in clay from the Amstel river and then cast it in bronze. The small figure feels playful yet reflective: a symbol of protecting what lies beneath concrete and stone, and a reminder of responsibility.
“The Kabouter is, for me, the child of its time… a protector of what lies beneath the concrete, the bricks and the asphalt… a sign of both the past and the future…,” writes Ruchama Noorda.
