Join us on September 10th and 11th as curator Jules van den Langenberg and artist Annee Grøtte Viken share their research and plans for a new type of public artwork: A site-specific work that is based on a plant to paint to public principle.
Curious neighbours, experts and nature lovers are invited to join the transformation of an original 1960’s Friso Kramer Street lantern by ‘woodgraining‘, a traditional painting technique for imitating wood using natural pigments, water and linseed oil.
Our goal? To bring back a sense of site-specific production to the streets and public spaces of the Dutch capital.
The project is part of a longer-term goal of the artist and curator in collaboration with the (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation, to find a permanent destination for a series of circles used for cultivating flax in a neighborhood currently under construction. During sowing and harvesting, the circles become sites for social gatherings and seasonal harvest feasts. Once the flax is matured it is processed into linseed oil, traditionally used as a base for paint. Together with locally sourced pigments, an all-natural paint is then applied to benches, lanterns, and bins in public spaces, using age-old techniques of marble and wood imitation. This gives these everyday objects a monumental presence.
The plant to paint to public performance in the public space of Amsterdam’s Zuidas is an early prototype of this vision: a vintage street lantern, repainted with linseed oil paint and transformed into a vessel of stories, community, and craft.
JOIN
Join the making of a plant to paint to public streetlantern, free entry
10 and 11 September 2025, 09:00-17:00
Christian Neefestraat 2, Amsterdam (outdoor)
For more information and updates on the programme contact jules@theovandoesburgstichting.nl
THANKS
The two day presentation ‘Plant to Paint to Public’ is made possible thanks to the generous support of (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation, Gemeente Amsterdam Zuid, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and Akzo Nobel Art Foundation.Thanks to all neighbors, experts and collaborators involved, especially Marjo van Baar, Sandberg Instituut, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Hester Alberdingk Thijm, Augusto Pereira Silva, Boetie Zijlstra, Zaansche Molen, Geertje Jacobs, Paco Bunnik, Rosita Roosblad, Laurens Otto, Sander van Wettum and Our Polite Society.