Hans van Houwelingen
SKER

Under the title European Space, Latvia’s 9th Sculpture Quadrennial took place in Riga from 4 June until 25 July 2004. Artists from numerous European countries took part, including Finland, Poland, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, Hungary, Norway, Iceland, Lithuania and Estonia. In the capacity of SKER (Stichting Kunst en Europese Ruimte/Foundation for Art and European Space), SKOR presented Hans van Houwelingen’s project Pissing in Public, recommended by curator Mark Kremer.

The Latvian Sculpture Quadrennial is an ambitious new art event aimed at putting the Baltic state’s contemporary art on the map within a European perspective. The theme of the event in 2004 was European Space, focussing on the political upheaval within Europe since the accession of the first East European countries to the EU. Curator Mark Kremer and artist Hans van Houwelingen thought it fitting that the Netherlands should participate. After all, Europe as an economic unity is increasingly revealing itself as a new, political and cultural reality.

Hans van Houwelingen presented his Pissing in Public project at European Space. In 1925 the civic sculptor Hildo Krop designed a splendid public urinal for Amsterdam, which is still in use on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal. Hildo Krop was known as a fervent supporter of Communism. According to Van Houwelingen, the ideals of those times could not be better typified than by the sculpture placed on top of the urinal of a man singing a militant song and pissing in freedom. His project consists in a proposal to have a copy of Krop’s urinal made and to site it permanently in Riga. The work reflects in an ambiguous way the social history of two different countries which are now extending a hand to each other in Europe. Pissing in Public was presented in Riga’s park in the form of a ‘discussion-provoking exhibition model’. A tent was erected showing Hildo Krop’s urinal photographed from all sides on its outside, while inside people could piss at will. As part of the project, Hans van Houwelingen and Mark Kremer proposed that SKOR should be presented at the Quadrennial as SKER: Stichting Kunst en Europese Ruimte/Foundation for Art and European Space. Thomas Buxo designed a new house style specially for the occasion.

For more information about the 9th Riga Sculpture Quadrennial European Space see: www.sculpturequadrennial.lv