Visual artist Hans Lemmen feels “robbed twice”. It started with playing with his artwork ‘Zegelboom’, which was unveiled in 2010, during a redesign of the Promenade in the center of Heerlen. This was followed by the real theft of the statue during temporary storage at a contractor in Sittard.
They are not insured against these types of crimes, nor is the municipality of Heerlen. Lemmen: “How the six hundred kilo heavy work could disappear despite closed gates is a mystery. The thieves must have been after the bronze. I am now going through a grieving process.”
Lemmen made his twenty-meter-long tree as a tangible reminder of the coal mining that made the city of Heerlen great from the early twentieth century. The seal tree is an extinct tree species that was found in fossil form, petrified, in mine tunnels. After the mine closures about half a century ago, almost everything that reminded us of that time quickly disappeared.
Heerlen has been trying to reinvent itself since the closure. Art is part of that. The municipality is even considering applying for European Capital of Culture 2033.
Benches
Lemmen designed his horizontal tree in such a way that visitors to the center of Heerlen could sit against it on the sides. “That idea was thwarted shortly after the unveiling by benches that the municipality placed around it,” he says.
But according to him, the real damage to his original idea came with the plans for redevelopment of the Promenade, in which the architect placed the seal tree like a bridge over a wadi (dry ditch) that was to be constructed. With wooden decking on either side, so people can walk from one side to the other.
“I thought it was a joke at first,” says Lemmen. “Art has a context. If I put a red dot on his nose on the portrait of the king in the Heerlen council chamber, it becomes something completely different. And that’s just a minor intervention.”
Lemmen tried to make it clear to the municipality that it was not without reason that the tree lay along the length of the Promenade and needed to be connected to the ground. “This was followed by an adapted design with a small dam in the wadi on which the tree could lie. Then the tree was grounded after all. There was also a proposal to bury most of the work of art, with only the upper part of the horizontal trunk sticking out above the ground.”
Finally, Lemmen was suggested that his work of art could be temporarily stored with a contractor until another suitable location could be found. “Never, I thought. Because it seemed to me the best guarantee never to see the tree again.”
Carnival
Ultimately, “after a lot of stress and insomnia,” Lemmen agreed to the grounded tree across the wadi. “With great reluctance. The lack of feeling for my image was also evident from the planned location for a work of art to be donated by the contractor, dedicated to carnival, about fifteen meters away.”
The fact that the Seal Tree has now been stolen makes councilor Jordy Clemens (SP, Culture and Center Development) “angry and sad”. He disputes that things could have been done differently during the preparation of the redevelopment of the Promenade. “It was a careful process, which also included regular discussions with the artist. But the area in question is petrified and suffers from vacancy. We want to make that greener. Then you can’t please everyone 100 percent.”
There is no longer any question of a recreation of the Seal Tree. After the theft, Clemens wants “a reference to the Seal Tree with the accompanying story. And elsewhere on the renovated Promenade we strive for another work of art with a significant impact.” It is not yet clear whether the maker of the tree will also have a role in all this.
When Lemmen is asked for a new work of art, he has ideas. “As far as I’m concerned, you should be able to see that something has happened to the seal tree. A tree in segments spread over the entire green area to be constructed would be possible. Or just the remaining pedestals as a reminder of what once was, for which young artists can come up with something every now and then. Or a work of art that rises towards the sky, because the real miners of the past are gradually dying out.”
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