Contemporary art draws attention to Roman history
Author: Harry Lindelauf
Photography: Harry Heuts
A three-metre-high aluminium vase on a column will, from September 2020 onward, draw attention to the Roman past of Simpelveld and Bocholtz. The artist Tanja Ritterbex, who grew up in Bocholtz, has begun work on what the municipality of Simpelveld describes as a “total artwork” on and beneath the viaduct on the N281.
The orange exclamation mark in the shape of a Roman vase will be visible from a great distance. The artwork also conquers the lower regions: under the viaduct the artwork takes the form of 24 line drawings. On the concrete pillars of the viaduct, Tanja Ritterbex draws Roman symbols of her own design. She found her inspiration close to home: “In the Thermenmuseum in Heerlen and by looking at the Simpelveld sarcophagus. Using shapes of, for example, small shards and a piece of turquoise glass, I started drawing myself. I also added contemporary shapes from WhatsApp and Twitter.”
The large vase also refers to the past with its three handles and its colour. Tanja Ritterbex: “I noticed that the shape of vases in Roman times and now has hardly changed. And because of the three handles, the vase always has a front side from every viewing angle. With the choice of the colour orange, I symbolise to visitors that they are in the Netherlands, but the colour also refers to the terracotta vases of earlier times.”
The artist involved pupils of the primary schools in Simpelveld and Bocholtz in the project D’r Ritterbecher. “With the pupils of groups 6 and 7 I worked in workshops. They drew, made their own version of the vase in clay, and we visited the viaduct.”
The project is organised by Jules Beckers and Toon Hezemans of Dobuyart. Councillor Hub Hodinius of Simpelveld embraced the idea in the hope that the new artwork will make people curious and tempt them to visit Simpelveld and Bocholtz.
