Waterwerken sponsorship project
Ruud Kuijer (1959) studied at the Royal Academy for Art and Design in Den Bosch and at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. He exhibits in the Netherlands and abroad, including at the Centraal Museum Utrecht and the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, Germany. In 2004 he was presented with the first Fentener van Vlissingen Culture Award for the quality of his sculptures and the way in which he expresses himself as an artist.
Kuijer is a cultural entrepreneur who consistently succeeds in securing both corporate and government support. For instance, following intensive negotiations with the City of Utrecht and the Department of Public Works he was given the go-ahead for the large-scale ‘Sculpture at Land’s End’ project, in the Lage Weide industrial zone along the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal. The project comprises seven large concrete sculptures.
Kuijer creates abstract sculptures in which he incorporates recognizable shapes. By playing and experimenting with balance, gravity and stacking he produces surprising and strong sculptures. Raw industrial materials such as steel, wood and concrete are his materials of choice. He has his own take on the abstract imagery of the tradition of modernist sculpture to which he belongs.
Boskalis commissioned Ruud Kuijer to create two monumental sculptures: ‘Springtij’ (Spring-tide) and ‘Footprint Alliance’.
- Papendrecht
Springtij (Spring-tide)
‘Springtij’ has been given a prominent position at head office in Papendrecht. Made of reinforced concrete, the sculpture is 8.35 meters high and weighs 28,000 kilograms. The free association between the shapes is not determined by the structure alone. Kuijer found inspiration at Boskalis in the shape of the centrifugal pump, which is at the heart of the dredging industry. By alluding to Boskalis’ industrial activity the artist was able to introduce a new abstract en expressive element to his work.
- Melbourne
Footprint Alliance
‘Footprint Alliance’ is to be found at Port Phillip, Melbourne. The sculpture is a nine-meter high ‘tripod’ consisting of shapes which are interconnected in an intriguing way. The work is a lasting memorial to a very high-profile project which saw the Port of Melbourne and Boskalis form a unique alliance to deepen the access channel to the port. The combination of stringent environmental regulations, the extremely hard rock at great depths and the requirement that the work should not interfere with shipping made for a unique challenge.
Want to see more? Visit the Ruud Kuijer website.
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