Foundation Art and Public Space
artist: Brieke Drost, André Dekker, JKN (Jan Broekstra), Æ Kliest, Jaap Kroneman, Liedeke Kruk, Jorgen Leijenaar, Hester Oerlemans, Marry Overtoom, Maria Roosen, Wiebo van Mulligen, Roland Schimmel, Marcel Smink, Rado
located in: Psychiatrisch Ziekenhuis De Gelderse Roos,
client: Psychiatrisch Ziekenhuis De Gelderse Roos
A large-scale architectural reorganization took place on the grounds of the psychiatric institution, De Gelderse Roos, which is located in the forests of Renkum. Old pavilions were discarded and new ones were added. A group of Arnhem-based artists came up with the future plan to use some of the abandoned pavilions as living and working spaces. On the advice of the PBK (now SKOR), it was proposed that the artists should, by way of an exhibition, introduce themselves to the residents of the Gelderse Roos.
Various artists
The Crazy House
Liedeke Kruk (photo: Liedeke Kruk)
The exhibition took place in April 2000 under the title Het Gekke Huis (“The Crazy House�). This title did not refer to the former residents but, rather, to the peculiar objects that were found in the house. Curious objects filled the empty ‘socio-accommodation’: three attached houses that, up until recently, accommodated patients. The rooms were closed off by walls of Plexiglas, transforming each into a type of google-box. With their work the artists responded to the location and everything seemed to elicit the oppressive atmosphere of this building’s original purpose, namely, that of a psychiatric institution.
Wiebo van Mulligen (photo: Liedeke Kruk)
Maria Roosen (photo: Liedeke Kruk)
