Starting October 2012 a group of students from the United World College in Maastricht will be working on a project in the Sphinxpark. Together with designer Debra Solomon and her studio Urbaniahoeve they shall work on a project around urban agriculture in the Sphinxpark.
From the early days of the Sphinpark photographer Tineke Kambier has been visiting the park on an almost regular basis. The pictures she takes form an extensive and detailed visual document of the Sphinxpark.
Have a look at the photos here.
Wednesday September 19 a group of children looked, together with the IVN Maastricht, through the eyes of animals at the Sphinxpark during their City nature safari.
You can find a photo report here.
The third and last edition of Piquenique Electronique in the Sphinxpark was yet another great succes. In the autumn sun around 500 people enjoyed jamsessions, dj's and their picknick.
Have a look at photos of all Piqueniques here.
Even after it burned down the wooden Maurer-pavilion that formerly stood in the Sphinxpark still kept some of it's beauty. Unfortunately nothing is left of it. Maurer United Architects and Studio Stad, both architects involved in the Sphinxpark project will bow their heads over a new (flame resistant) pavilion for the park.
Friday September 7 the first pole was placed for the work of Studio Stad; a new project in the Sphinxpark. In their work 'Lost Formwork' Studio Stad makes the history and the future of the Sphinpark terrain visible.
The last days of August the Sphinxpark was transformed into an open air cinema (in cooperation with Lumière Cinema). On August 30 the documentary Queen of the Sun was shown, with an introduction by the Bee Collective. On September 1st the movie Microcosmos played, with as a supporting programme, a classical concert from Polish-Italian string orchestra Il Giardino d'Amore.
You'll find more images here.
.
Project: Places of Memory
Partner: Karin Peulen e.a.
In collaboration with artists, archaeologists, philosophers and art students, Karin Peulen – artist and living in Maastricht – will realize five investigative interventions that focus on landscape, heritage and memory. Peulen started from the questions “What is landscape?” and “How do we remember?”. She takes the work Les Lieux de Mémoire by the French historian Pierre Nora as a basis for the interventions in the Sphinxpark.
In Les Lieux de Mémoire, Nora argues that so much is said about memory because so little is remembered. In this work, he introduces the notion of so-called places of memory, where man is enabled to connect with the past.
Place of memory 1: The determined landscape
Tonn Prins
Jamais deux homes ne jugerent pareillement de mesme chose
During the period in which the Sphinxpark is publicly accessible, the most hazardous part of the area remains fenced off. In spite of its polluted character, this hidden valley has an appealing quality. The pollution is deliberately not hidden from view by Tonn Prins, but rather accentuated and even enriched by planting toxic, flowering plants that can be both medicinal as well as fatal.
Place of memory II: The landscape as memory
Levend Landschap
In the past, the place for an important building, such as a church, was often determined by so-called ley lines, energy channels that run through the landscape. Based on the ley lines –and the crossing of these lines- the optimal location was chosen. This place had meaning and was not seen as a random choice. The initiative Levend Landschap in Maastricht refers to this past and aims to make these invisible lines visible, especially in the context of spatial planning issues.
Karin Peulen has asked Levend Landschap to apply this working method in the Sphinxpark. In this way, memory is approached as an alternative form of archeology, in which events of the past are significant for current locations. Based on their research, Levend Landschap will create two maps that trace the energies in the Sphinxpark by showing, amongst others, ley lines.
The first map displays the situation in the Sphinxpark in the spring of 2012. The second map will be made in the same period in 2013. This will give insight into the changes and interventions that will take place over the coming year.
Place of memory III: Lieu et La ‘Folly’ / Regout’s ‘richesse’
Karin Peulen in cooperation with students of the Academy of Fine Arts Maastricht
Based on the study of the initiative Levend Landschap (see Places of memory II), Karin Peulen asked what the most appropriate place would be within the Sphinxpark for a reconstruction of the supposed, secret love nest of the founder of the former Sphinx Factory, Petrus Regout and his good friend Willem II, who was known for his extramarital affairs.
In collaboration with students from the Academy of Fine Arts Maastricht, Vera Gulikers, Astrid Mingels, Sanne Vaassen, Sanne Gilissen, Nuria Junghans, Charlotte Koenen, Thomas Hütten and Linda van Kerkhof, this love ruin is rebuilt with material found in the park.
The ruin is surrounded by flora from the surroundings of Maastricht, described in the Guide du Botaniste (1868). These plants were taken from the nature of Maastricht during guerrilla actions and brought back to the park, where they get a new meaning and significance.
(Special thanks to Fokeline Dingemans, biologist and Flora Group IVN-Maastricht)
Place of memory IV: Nymphaeum - Oh tu, severi religio loci
In cooperation with philosopher/historian Guido Goossens and art historian Mique Eggermont
In a meditative lament, composed of quotations from historical sources, philosophical treatises and classical literary texts, the spirit of the place is summoned. Students from the theatre academy, the art academy and the University of Maastricht, directed by Jelle Stiphout and Anna Salden, interpret the voice of Mneme (Greek mythological muse of memory) as they wander through the park during the opening day of the Sphinxpark.
Places of memory V
Amber Bus
Artist Amber Bus is responsible for the fifth part of the project ‘Places of Memory’. Perception plays an important part in the work of Amber Bus. By carefully looking at a physical location and almost literally scanning it, she examines the various aspects of a place and appropriates a location. She applied this nuanced and intensive methodology to the Sphinxpark and, based on her insights, she realises a number of interventions.
Amber Bus envisions the Sphinxpark as an artefact, as a product shaped by time and man. At the same time, she sees the unmistakable influence of nature on this historic place and experiences the Sphinxpark as a so-called ecofact. Based on this dual perspective, Amber Bus placed three display cases in the park, which will form her temporary workplace. Several actions will take place within and around these display cases, for which flora, fauna and man form the starting point and through which the place itself gains visibility.
On the basis of this working process, the contents of the display cases changes constantly. This transformation can be followed by visiting www.amber-bus.blogspot.nl.
