Gone with the Wind
Gone with the wind, 2016
Commission for Public Works an initiative of the Foundation Kunst in het Stationsgebied, in collaboration with the city of Utrecht.
"A small crane in the station area slowly rotates, following the direction in which the wind is blowing. It soon becomes apparent that the crane cannot do what cranes are designed to do: move building materials over the roof of houses or from one area of a building site to another. This tower crane ends in a thunderbolt-like shape, an almost organic drawing of lines that suggest an unravelling.
In an area so completely and totally under renovation, adorned with a skyline of tower cranes, this artwork of artist duo HeHe, Helen Evans (1972, United Kingdom) and Heiko Hansen (1970, Germany) might be overlooked during daytime. The work just seems to be part of the building site and the ever-changing environment. But the crane’s arm, which draws the background with its lightning shape, does not tell a story of construction, change and improvement but rather of explosion, degradation and a more savage, uncontrollable energy.
The controlled characteristics of a major construction site mutate here into an untamed energy of change of which the goals are uncertain. What this tower crane is helping to build, we do not know. It is a visual reminder of what we make and build will always be temporary, what looks solid might actually be fragile."