The organizers of ‘ZERO on Sea’ wanted to show the optimistic and revolutionary approach of avant-garde artists of the 1960’s. During a walk along the Scheveningen sea shore, Henk Peeters and his fellow German ZERO artists developed wild plans about what one could do with the sea. Participating artists included Yayoi Kusama, Hans Haacke, Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, Günther Uecker, Arman, Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein, the Dutch Nul group and many others. However, this ambitious project was never realized.
Today’s Art on Sea
25 September 2015, exactly fifty years after the planned ‘ZERO on Sea’ event, The Pier is still there. The last 3 decades have taken their toll. Not only structurally, but also on a perceptual level. Although the new owner is giving The Pier a makeover, it will still take some time for people to forget all the cheap entertainment and truly rediscover its initial beauty. In the 1980s, The Pier was renovated and turned into an ‘all weather experience’. The whole pier was covered to extend ‘the season’. A boardwalk on the top remained, but overall the pier turned inwards.
Inspired by the current situation of the Pier and all the plans and sketches from the ‘ZERO on Sea’ initiative in 1965, TodaysArt asked several national and international artists to propose commissioned, site-specific or existing projects. The organization specifically requested proposals that would use the (physical) context of The Pier.
In the end, with the 2015 festival on The Pier, TodaysArt presents the versatility of contemporary (media) art, and art that is reminiscent of particular ZERO elements. The curatorial team selected artists working within different disciplines and practices, whether working autonomously, commercially, collaboratively with universities, companies, other artists or scientists, within art, science, social design, sound or music. Forms, practices and ideas from back then echo in the now. Natalie Jeremijenko touches upon on of the themes and ambitions of the festival when talking about her work: ‘Can we redesign our relationship to the ocean? How do we do it; what are the tools and strategies for doing so? It’s a space race to the 21st century. [...]’ (abstract from an original text by: Petra Heck and Peter Zuiderwijk)
I was asked by Collective Works to deliver all photographic images for the Eleventh Edition: 24 till 27 September 2015, De Pier - The Hague.
