MODULES FOR CHILDREN
2018
cardboard,polystyrene
1,4m;1,2m;1,2m
Parque Mexico
a video by Andrea Cambur
about a public art intervention
by Gijs Coenen
Parque Mexico, located in the heart of Mexico City, took on a central role in the research I conducted in Mexico. It is a concrete plaza surrounded by palm trees, flowers, walking paths, and fountains, and it’s filled daily with salsa lessons, games of tag, cycling children, soccer matches, spinning tops, dogs, birthday parties, and kickboxers. This lively dynamic is framed by a 30 cm-high wall, historic murals, a stage, and pergolas. At the heart of the plaza stands an impressive sculpture, once part of an open-air theatre from 1927. The sculpture consists of five pillars connected by a red arch, executed in a distinct Art Deco style that subtly echoes through the surrounding architecture. People from all walks of life—seniors, children, rich, poor, locals, and tourists—gather here. The plaza has no fixed rules; everyone claims their space, and the unexpected is always welcome. The result is a festive atmosphere where frisbees can fly dangerously close without anyone batting an eye. This makes Parque Mexico a public oasis brimming with a unique energy where play naturally flourishes. But what exactly makes Parque Mexico so special? What elements are present that give rise to this unique dynamic? And what would be lost if certain elements were removed? It’s tempting to think that the low wall or a few palm trees aren’t essential—but what if all the fountains were turned off, the murals painted over, or the central sculpture removed? The vibrant energy of the plaza would inevitably fade.
As an experiment, I introduced several new elements to the plaza and its visitors: a block of ice, a rubber band, wooden sticks… These kinds of field experiments form an essential part of my artistic research. They bring people and materials together to generate new insights and sculptural designs.
Melting Module
Ice, cardboard, wood
Mexico City, Radio 28
2024
The interactive cardboard sculptures in the video are a continuation of the research I conducted in Mexico City, where I investigated how people engage in play within public spaces and how sculptural elements influence that behavior. The materials I used—such as cardboard, rubber bands, and ice—are drawn from the everyday urban landscape of the city. Ice, in particular, caught my attention as it is delivered daily by specialized companies to street vendors across the city, where it plays a key role in preserving goods and cooling drinks. These sculptures translate such material and cultural observations into playful, interactive forms.
Werfberg
Permanent art work
Ganshoren 2024
in collaboration with Sebastiaan Willemen & Kaat Vandervelde
General Work Description
Some kids are running up and down a high pile of earth. Even though it’s overgrown with plants, there’s no deliberate plan or intention to this mountain. It’s just dirt that was left there and has subsequently been claimed by a bunch of youngsters as an unofficial playground. Some are rolling downhill. Others are running to the top and screaming at an imaginary opponent, as they are king of the mountain now. The youngest is at the bottom grabbing dirt and squeezing it through her fingers with unwavering attention.
Play allows people to step outside of reality and to determine, once again, what is real and what is not… It is a “non-serious” action that absorbs their participants in a unique sort of seriousness, for a certain time.*
As a visual artist I explore the relationship between art and play by creating a series of sculptures that, together, function as a playground. One of these sculptures, called Rocking Module, reacts to simple movements such as pushing, pulling or evading. It’s my ambition to investigate multiple facets of play by creating a variety of play objects, each with a unique response to movement. Within this series, spectators become part of the artwork, as adults and children move intuitively with the objects.
These artworks find themselves at the intersection between sculpture, play-object and functional design. However, the conflict with functional design is significant, for how do you define the function of a free activity like play? Let alone; how do you design an object that supports this unpredictable action? I’m fascinated by how seemingly aesthetic elements such as color, texture and figuration take on a different kind of value within free play. As they definitely are key to our imagination. This is where play and art intersect conceptually. Both allow us to connect to the real world through an imaginary world, which calls for imaginative designs. And both allow us to connect to reality, whilst disrupting “the rules”.
It’s this tension between the serious and the non-serious that is shaping my oeuvre. It’s this tension, powered by an unstoppable urge to play, that works as an incentive for my artworks.
*Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens, 1944, Routledge and Kegan Paul.
HOLYLIGHT2022-lowres-99.jpg)
Rocking Modules
2021
recycled HDPE & lead
1,80m ; 0,80m ; 0,80m
a project in collaboration
with Werktank
Light is Coming from the left
6,907m ; 5,863 m
wall painting
Harensesteenweg 228
Vilvoorde
Carrying Module
Silent intervention
for Het Entrepot
2020
wood & concrete
1,10m;1,10m;1,35m
Gravity take me
2020
stainless steel & foam
0,51m;0,49m;1,05m
Geometry by day
2019
painting: acryl on wood
0,74m;0,87m;0,04m
& 0,15m;0,86m;0,04m
(diptych)
Struck By Sunlight
(upper left)
2019
painting: acryl on wood
1,44m;1,44m;0,063m
O'Wall
2019
painting: acryl on wood
0,74m;0,87m;0,04m
The Light Is Coming
From The Left
2019
painting: acryl on wood
0,74m;0,87m;0,04m
HOMAGE TO
A CHAIR
@BOZAR 2016
polyurethane, chinese ink 2m;1m;1m
A number trivial everyday coincidences bring about an image that in contrast is not trivial at all. An image capturing time, fixated on the wall. “Homage to a chair” is a massive abstraction/ concretization of the world that surrounds me. It’s the accidental compilation of numerous things: a chair, a blade of grass, a spine, a cone, ... developed into an intuitive design. The imagery is brought together by a game of contrast, tensity and repetition in which it carries connotations despite these abstract conditions. A spectator starts to think, to doubt and looking for a reason why. But the solution is absurd, trivial, like the waving grass, a chair standing in a room or a mountain reaching for the sky. It’s the accidental course of events that defines their position until someone, while passing by, takes its time to behold them, the way he does.
O'SOIL
2019
blue concrete, stainless steel
1,37m;1,13m;1m (500kg)
ROCKING MOTION I
2017
steel,rope,wood
9m;9m;4m
SOLO
EXIBITION:
WHERE THEIR
CONTENT LIES
@Serre Hasselt
2019
A CREATURE
HESITATES
2019
acryl on wood
1,80m;0,85m;0,036
O'BODEM
SUR FACE
2017
plaster, copper
0,4m;0,324m;0,4m
O’Bodem is an angular blocky distorted shape held together by a tight copper rack. Its shape is founded in a simple drawing and adjusted during the making process. Every step was an abstract game of line corresponding with shape, ink with matter, of drawing corresponding with model. This game of ping pong played by third and second dimension led to a very angular shape which in my opinion looks very much like a cheap. Although O’Bodem has an abstract root he flourishes while being interpreted.
CONTINGENT COLORED COMPOSITIONS
2017
ink on paper, wood
0,31m;0,31m;0,018m
PUSH & PULL
2017
ink on paper, wood
0,94m;1,58m;0,054m
OUT OF TONGUE AND GROOVE FROM TIP TO TOE
2017
mdf, concrete
0,40m;0,22m;0,95m
OSAE COMI WAZA
2018
acryl on wood
0,867m;0,736m;0,036m
Composition with four identical objects which seem to be functional but in reality are absurd.
OBJECTS,
LIKE THE GRASS
2017
polyurethane
0,05m;0,2m;
0,075m
ROCKING MOTION II
2017
steel,rope,wood
10,3m;1,2m;6,3m
RUNNER
2014
TEK7
0,07m;0,05m;
0,05m
In order to make a Modernist's chess game functionality had to be the ground rule of my design: After rejecting the original design of all the chess game pieces the shape of every piece had to grow out of its possibilities, defined by the board game rules: The bishop, only being able to move diagonal on the board, came out of this experiment as a very mechanical piece that seems to "run" while moving. This is remarkable yet a bit humoristic because it forms a wordplay with the Dutch designation for bishop:’Loper’, literally translated as: ‘Runner’
