Pieter Janszoon Saenredam project
2006 - pollarding the willows of the in Barendrecht,
Holland
When the willows are pollarded (pollarding is
replacing the older verb polling) regularly, they form their
heads. Eventually the rows of pollard-willows will form vaults
over the aisles between them and evoke memories of the interiors of the churches,
like the ones which
Saenredam painted in the 17th century.
"The stainless steel center-piece of the island fulfils a similar
function much like an altar does in a church - but not in a
religious sense for me; it's more in a spatial way. It is the focal point
of the Pieter Janszoon Saenredam project. The concrete cross
on which it has been installed, is the intersection of the diagonals
of the island. The focal point is a stainless steel cube which
acquired its dimensions from the distances between the 16 x
16 rows of pollard willows - which are 160 centimeters. As was
planned from the beginning,
the four central pollard willows have been removed to accommodate
the cube. They have been exhibited on several occasions."
Lucien den Arend
