The child-friendly artwork ‘Kasteel Samenvleet’ was supposed to be placed in the Amstelveense Kastelenbuurt in July, but recently that turned out not to be a feasible card. The reason: the steel price, which is through the roof due to the war in Ukraine. Some local residents are critical and hope that postponement will be cancelled, because they believe that the final design is absolutely no asset to the neighbourhood.
The steel artwork was designed by artist duo Maze de Boer and Frank Koolen. For inspiration, they visited local primary schools, where they asked students to make parts of castles from clay. “They have created fantastic shapes with all their imagination”, says Maze enthusiastically.
The clay creations were then presented to local residents, after which they could vote for their favorite towers, bridges and gates. The artists have used this selection to design the two-dimensional shapes, which together form the Samenvleet Castle.
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Artwork in danger – NH Nieuws
Due to the chosen route, the municipality hopes that the work of art will ‘live’ among local residents, but that seems to be disappointing for the time being. “It’s not quite what we expected,” says local resident Roel Faasen. “We thought it would become a bit more dynamic, that children could actually play on it. You can walk under it, but not really climb or slide,” he explains.
And many other residents near the square are not completely satisfied with the final design, according to a tour by NH Nieuws. The municipality of Amstelveen says it does not recognize the criticism. She received only four negative responses to the clay design questionnaire and over 70 positive responses. “But we were not asked whether we wanted a work of art at all,” Faasen explains.
75,000 euros have been budgeted for the artwork, of which both the artists’ fees and the raw materials for the artwork must be paid. Since the municipality commissioned the artists at the end of 2020 to come up with a child-friendly work of art, steel has become 2.5 times more expensive. An important reason for this is the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the steel price has cooled slightly again.
The municipality and artists are now investigating how the artwork can be made cheaper without compromising quality. This concerns changes in the technical design. Consider, for example, the use of thinner steel plates and other anchorages.
Marleen Nijhuis, who was going to have the artwork next door, is not sorry if it fails to keep costs down. “Then it remains a nice playground for the children. They are always picnicking and playing football there,” she says. “It looks a bit like Barbapapa”, nine-year-old Benjamin refers to the iconic cartoon character. At least it’s not his taste.
But there are also children who are happy with the crazy shapes and bright colors. “It’s all the colors of the rainbow,” describes six-year-old Emily. Girl next door Cathelijne (9) may like it a little less colorful, but she likes the shapes.
Maze is therefore convinced that the neighborhood children can use the artwork well as a playground. “They can make up stories and, for example, play hide-and-seek.”
Samenvleet Castle is part of a project by the municipality of Amstelveen to place three ‘child-friendly’ works of art. The aim of the child-friendly art is ‘to allow children to build up memories with art, just as many Amstelveners have memories of the Zwijntje in the Stadshart,’ according to the municipality. 75,000 euros has been budgeted for each work of art.