In Sight

Proosdijtuin library Deventer, 2018

The old proosdijtuin will be the new garden of the new library that was built in 2018 in Deventer. An iconic feature of the garden is the beech tree, which was planted around 1650 and now has a circumference of nearly 5 meters. But the beech is located behind the fence in the neighbor’s garden, hiding the beautiful trunk from the eye. 

A library is a place of knowledge and question, a place where, as in the arts, the invisible is made visible. The two-pronged proposal addresses this. 

• 1. IN SIGHT is a bronze cast of the back of the trunk of the beech tree about 3 meters in height and 1.60 wide, placed in front of the corner of the fence that is obscuring the view of the beech. The image from the library garden then becomes a bronze cast of the beautiful stump in front of the fence, an ivy-covered fence and the beech behind the fence. In this way, the rear of the beech, which is doubly hidden from view, is brought into sight. 

• 2. IN SIGHT programme: an annual program with walks, performances, dialogues, games and other interactions that question values and make you view the city differently. Alumni of art and design academies who are increasingly concerned with social issues will be invited. A different theme to be chosen every year.