If he could, he would get back to work tomorrow. Nowhere was Bonne de Boer (79) happier than at his family’s sand company. His father and four brothers started a sand hole near Emmerschans. It gained world fame through the construction of Broken Circle/Spiral Hill. The De Boer family took care of the renowned land art work of art for many years and Bonne also contributed.
The sand hole of the de Boer family was created in the post-war years. Emmen experienced a huge growth spurt from a simple farming village to an industrial center. The factories sprang up everywhere like mushrooms and that was necessary.
The loss of peat extraction threatened to cause economic malaise due to persistent unemployment. With increasing employment there was also a need for more houses and roads. And therefore sand.
“Those sand holes were desperately needed at the time, they popped up everywhere,” says Bonne in his apartment in the heart of Emmen. Bonne’s father, also called Bonne, started a sand pit on Emmerhoutstraat around the mid-1950s. “Because that’s where the best sand was,” says Bonne. “The Wese river used to flow at that spot.” Due to its angular grains and a lack of salt, it is ideal as a basis for residential construction.
Partly because of the economics tree van Emmen, the sand company is growing like crazy. It is therefore no wonder that in addition to father Bonne, five sons also quickly find a place in the company. Bonne started at the age of 15 and grew into the former technical man of the family business. Mechanic, truck driver, repairs and operating heavy equipment such as sand suction dredgers, it becomes second nature for Bonne.
A unique chapter for the sand company broke in the early 1970s, when suddenly theater director Sjouke Zijlstra of De Muzeval and an American artist Robert Smithson knocked on De Boer’s door.
“For a national exhibition (Sonsbeek Buiten De Perken), Zijlstra and Smithson looked for a suitable place for a land art work of art,” says Bonne. “And both thought that the sand excavation was actually the most suitable place.” Smithson himself is charmed by the way in which the industrial and natural come together in this place.
Gerard, the brother and also the director at the time, is also enthusiastic about the idea. Bonne: “Gerard found that all very interesting, because it was so special.” A deal was quickly concluded and the construction of the artwork, which rose on one of the banks of the sand hole: a spiral-shaped hill in combination with an openwork circle on the border of water and land.
According to the artist, not everything goes according to plan during construction. “During the preparatory groundwork we came across a gigantic boulder. Smithson found it disturbing and wanted to get rid of it with all his force. But the thing could not be removed. So in the end he just left it at that and that is why it is now part of the work of art.”
According to Bonne, Smithson saw a connection with the dolmens, which are also made of such boulders. In that respect, it formed a link with these grave monuments so characteristic of Drenthe, was the idea, according to Bonne.
The artist was very private, Bonne remembers. Bonne has not actually spoken to Smithson. That was difficult because of the language barrier. There was absolutely no question of caprice on the part of the American. “He just ate his sandwich with us in the cafeteria. Although he had to go hungry for a day. He stayed at Hotel Ten Cate in Emmen, where his lunch was also prepared. On the day he put it on the ground near the sand hole, after which vermin made off with it. So that meant going hungry for a while,” Bonne laughs.