The apartment building Groeneveen in Bijlmermeer has a turbulent history that is engrained in the Dutch national history, since a Boeing-747 crashed into it in 1992. After this tragedy, the buildings were rebuilt and the original foundation of the old buildings form the current Bijlmermonument, made by Herman Hertzberger, next to the ‘tree who witnessed everything’.
The Bijlmermonument isn’t the only thing in Groeneveen that commemorates the 1992 disaster. A more subtle and poetic gesture can be found in ‘Dishes – Untitled’ of artist and photographer Rein Jelle Terpstra, which was placed on the gable end of the building. The artwork consists of 38 dishes, seemingly randomly placed, as if they are congregating. The dishes reflect the sky and play with the wide, modernist orderliness of the Bijlmer architecture. The dishes are enlarged paillettes, or sequins: disk-like decorations on clothing, mostly in shiny gold- and silver colours. The paillettes were used by Terpstra as amulets, as protection, to bounce off evils and misfortune.
This artwork is part of the Sunday Sculptures series that Stadscuratorium Amsterdam posts every Sunday on Instagram.
Image: Rein Jelle Terpsta
