Two large signposts for the highway have been placed in The Hague at the beginning of the pedestrian zone of the Lange Voorhout, in the bend of the Kneuterdijk. The signs indicate the direction to ‘The Hague culture’ and the exit ‘From here everything is allowed’.
The artwork is the contribution of artist Zeger Reyers to the open-air exhibition Voorhout Monumental 2023which will be opened by Princess Beatrix on Saturday.
A total of twenty sculptures by artists such as Armando, David Bade, Marieke Bolhuis and Theo Jansen will be on display outside along the shell path until August 20. The organizer, the artists’ society Pulchri from The Hague, also shows works of art at other locations.
Reyers’ life-size signposts mark the entrance to the open-air exhibition in the urban pedestrian area on the Lange Voorhout, which is also referred to as the ‘museum quarter’. The arrows straight ahead indicate two lanes to end up in ‘The Hague culture’.
Mental way out
“And then there is the exit to the destination ‘From here everything is allowed’”, says Reyers. “That points to a mental way out. Art as an escape from the usual straitjacket, art as a place where you can and are allowed to think freely, art as a place or as a direction where, for example, satire is also offered a safe haven”, says the artist from The Hague.
That grand reference to ‘The Hague culture’ on the huge board can also be seen as a critical note. “I mean two Den Haag”, explains Reyers. The national political The Hague, where culture generally comes off rather badly despite good intentions. And also the city of The Hague, where something similar applies; the predecessor of this exhibition The Hague Sculpture stopped due to lack of support, and the Parkpop festival has also stopped.
The fact that the sign refers to motorways that were never realized in the Netherlands, the A11 (from Leiden to Bodegraven) and the A3 (which would come between Amsterdam and Dordrecht) contributes to the imaginary character of this signposting artwork. Zeger Reyers (Voorburg, 1966) often makes unpredictable interventions in the environment in his art, in order to make natural and human processes visible in it.