A quick walk through the sculptural route in South

Jul 11, 2011 | by Robert | Art, Event

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Art director, designer and photographer in the virtual world. What's in a name.

South has a sculptural route curated by Jan Cramer, where 50 sculptures from across the world are showcased. If the weather’s nice and you’re in the neighbourhood you should definitely take a look. It’s not mind blowing, but a nice walk by when you’re looking for a relaxed way to spend your day.

While strolling down the route I really enjoyed some of the sculptures, especially the giant golden tortoise by Jan Fabre. Imagine having that in your own street or local park. There’s also an exhibition in the Kröller-Müller museum, if you’re interested in his work.

Sculptural controversy

Another artist down the route I really like is Wim Delvoye. He never ceases to make controversial pieces of art, like tattooing living pigs at his own farm. When I was at the Miami art fair last summer I saw one of his pieces being sold for $ 200.000. This piece was based on the same system his currently exhibited Caterpillar is. Elements from cathedrals are laser cutted and reassembled to create an object, and boy do they look good (not depicted on purpose).

Apart from couple of highlights, the overall feeling I had is the route was missing out on contemporary sculptures, on new developments like Dune, Google’s dead pixel or anything from, let’s say, Richard Serra. We have seen people moulding bronze into settings and scenes for years, and it’s a craft without doubt. But what’s next? On the other hand; the exhibition has already drawn 100.000 visitors, so what do I know? Naarden photo festival’s increasing visitor numbers don’t mean it isn’t slowly turning into a mediocre way to spend the day off.