This can of corned beef is best before 1995! The Oostelijk Havengebied hosts this extraordinary transformer house. Long ago this port area was a cattle market and an abattoir, around the Hildo Kropplein. In 1988 the slaughterhouse moved to Amsterdam West and the marketplace with live animals disappeared from the city.
The houses along the Hildo Kropplein are carefully designed, with a focus on repetition and consistency. The architectural harmony of the square was disrupted by the placement of a rather large transformer house. Conceptual artist Carolien Feldbrugge covered the complete structure in tiles and transformed it into a can of corned beef by the brand Hereford, complete with barcode and net weight, a reminder of the former abattoir. The mosaic building in the colours red, white and blue, weighs 26.000.000 kilos and is best before 1995.
Image: Alf van Beem
This artwork is part of the Sunday Sculptures series that Stadscuratorium Amsterdam posts every Sunday on Instagram.
