How do you become aware of the here and now and how do you experience the meaning of a place? Pondering Around is an invitation to contemplation and reflection.

Upon entering the circular platform, the apparently closed mirroring outer surface unfolds into two arches of repeating slats with an increasingly open structure to a warm wooden interior: the barrier forms the portal to a new world.

Can that open structure make one feel safe? The mirrors outside enhance the transition to a place where the visitor can withdraw from the hectic pace of every day life. Inside the visitor feels both closed off and open. An intense sense of being occurs, enhanced by the gentle movement of the platform floating on the water.

Pondering Around is my entry to the art route Folly Art Norg 2021. It was already selected for the 2019 edition but because of the absence of water in the route it was forwarded to 2020, when covid made the event impossible.

For this edition, 16 works by artists, designers, architects and also residents from the area were selected from 109 entries, which could be seen in a beautiful 7-kilometer walk in and around the village of Norg in Drenthe. Pondering Around was the third installation in the route and was located in the Schipmeer, a leafy peat lake just outside the village.

Audience Award

The almost 9000 visitors that attended the Folly Art Route were given the opportunity to vote for their favorite folly. Pondering Around recieved more votes than number 2 and 3 combined, which was a wonderful present to recieve from all those enthousiastic people that walked the route. I was fortunate to meet a lot of them.

Winner London International Creative Competition 2021 

Pondering Around is the winner in the London international Creative Competition (LICC) 2021 in category CREATE (Art)! Visit the page on the LICC website!

Closed and open, captive and free

A wooden gangway invites you to enter the 3.5 meter diameter platform floating on the water. A gradual transition from closed to open is created by vertical slats, which are not placed next to each other, but parallel. The exterior is mirrored, which evokes distance as well as association with reflection. When the visitor moves through the deliberately narrow opening, a change from physical to mental reflection occurs in a completely wooden, softer interior space. As a result, the visitor experiences distance from the moment before, which provides space for new thoughts.