Page 37 - Studio International - May 1973

Dekkers's sculpture is a systemic piling of
elements within a long rectangle. The
courtyard, virtually congruent with the central
structure's rectangle, stands around it like a
frame : a classic example of a closed structure
which in no way invites people to enter it and
only suggests circular movement around it.
The design of Terwindt, built with tiles and
blocks of concrete, is fundamentally different.
The size of each element has been deduced
from the modular size of the tiles, which
guarantees a visual unity for the total area — but
every element or group of elements also has
an identity of its own. As with Struycken's
paintings, there is no fixed way to walk
through this area; its structure permits all
kinds of movement and play, and that is
exactly what, here, integration of functions
means : making an environment which is
functionally and structurally open and which
still suggests, however discretely, several
possibilities for usage. 'Practical usage and
optical impression', formulated Terwindt as
one of his basic working principles, 'might both
be considered as influencing behaviour and
atmosphere.' To both qualities, Dekkers's
sculpture is indifferent.
It is another art. q

(Far left top)
Wessel Couzyn
Unity Embodied 1960-63
8 m wide, bronze
Rotterdam: Unilever Building
(Far left bottom)
Carel Visser
Double Form 1957-67
4 m high
Leeuwarden
Photo : Ad Petersen
(Left)
Ad Dekkers
Sculpture 197o
Utrecht Crematorium
45o cm circumference
Photo: Cor van Weele
(Top right)
Ad Dekkers
Ground Relief 1965-71
50 x 25 m
Gouda
Photo: Cor van Weele
(Bottom right)
Eugene Terwindt
Area in front of school 1969-70
Emmen
219