Oogstdag (harvest day) Bureau Venhuizen

For example, during the past year Bureau Venhuizen invited a number of artists, architects and local residents of Vlaardingen to contribute their visions of the changing landscape. In order to do this they temporarily transformed the southern part of de Krabbeplas into a recreational laboratory that would stimulate critical thinking regarding the innovative and well-informed uses of this living environment cum recreational area.

On 29 September 2007, during the Oogstdag, Hans Venhuizen will present the results of this temporary set-up. His conclusions and recommendations are aimed at providing the potential foundations of a new Krabbeplas and the audience will, consequently, be challenged to realize these plans. An expert jury will then discuss the results of this ‘Sketch-in’ and enter into a debate with the audience.

A variety of analyses have been made of de Krabbeplas during the past five years. Opinions from a range of angles and backgrounds almost unanimously concluded that the recreational area is boring, predictable, too planned and not stimulating enough. The original design that dates from the 1970s and 1980s does not offer enough possibilities for spontaneous activities and independent initiatives. Distributing plots of land was considered to be one way of positively influencing this situation. This was one of the most important conclusions of earlier phases of the project and formed the basis for Bureau Venhuizen’s own 2006 project. Indeed, through Venhuizen’s implementations, the stimulation of new land use in de Krabbeplas is foregrounded in a number of ways. Firstly, four artists and architects were invited to use plots of land in order to realize their future visions of recreational areas. This resulted in the Vlaardinger Zouttuin by Willemijn Lofvers (Bureau Lofvers), the Mushroom Cleaning Fields and Eels by Jacques Abelman, the Kuubtuinen by Rianne Makkink (Sloom.org) and the Recycloop by 2012 Architecten. Secondly, local residents were invited by the local media and selected publicity channels to claim a plot of land. This resulted in the Waroeng Minoem Thé, a unique thee pavilion, and the archeospel, which focuses on the region’s archeology. The latter were based on the proposals of two residents who both focused on the concept of ‘personal encounters’. And, finally, the future of Midden-Delfland was analyzed by creating a design that works with the area’s existing problems. Based on this a number of debates were organized with various experts from the field and the aim is to compile all the proposals that will be presented during Oogstdag into a catalogue. The layout of the catalogue will be schematically organized so that the recommendations can apply both to the specific context of de Krabbeplas as well as to other similar contexts.

Oogstdag Program
Saturday 29 September

2.00
Opening conducted by Bert van Meggelen
2.10
Recommendations for future Krabbeplas by Hans Venhuizen
2.40
Brief debate with jury members
The jury is made up of a variety of experts and will be led by Bert van Meggelen
3.00
Start ‘Sketch-In’ with simultaneous commentary by jury members
4.00 - 4.45
Presentations participating artists
4.45 - 5.45
Jury presentation and final debate
5.45 - 8.00
Dinner

This event is part of the project ’Case study Krabbeplas’, a long term project that was commissioned by the City of Vlaardingen in collaboration with Recreatieschap Midden-Delfland and SKOR (Stichting Kunst en Openbare Ruimte) with the participation of Bert van Meggelen and Esther Didden. The project was also supported by the Province of Zuid- Holland.