Arjen Lancel’s artwork Morgenster (Morning Star) consists of the aluminum, bronze and granite likenesses of a wheelbarrow, a television, a garbage bag, a toilet bowl, a broken shovel and some planks. They were left seemingly at random, on the sidewalk along Admiral Helfrichstraat, under a lamppost that ensures that the “garbage” is also illuminated at night. In the 1990s, the artist was commissioned by the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts and Stadsdeel De Baarsjes to create a site-specific artwork on this spot. Specifically for this spot, because the garbage is there for a reason. Initially, it referred to the Stadsdeel yard located there, where the bulky waste and maintenance services kept house.
However: the Stadsdeel yard disappeared, but Lancel’s artwork remained. What to do with a site-specific artwork whose context changes over time? The artwork is still in good condition, and so the municipality set out to find a suitable destination. This destination was found at the Nieuwpoortkade, also in Amsterdam West. Like the area around Admiraal Helfrichstraat, this is a business park, yet it is in the middle of the city. This suits the character of the artwork; it is a sculpture that you may accidentally stumble upon, in a place where you do not immediately expect a sculpture. Not a proud bust on a central square, but a pile of garbage in a business park, immortalized by the time-proof material.
