Kiwi flies again...: On the Lange Voorhaut...

Yesterday I returned to the Lange Voorhout - one of my favourite places in the centre of Den Haag. Every summer there is an exhibition of sculptures along the leafy walk. This time I was particularly taken by a work that featured doors/gates/entrances/exits. Initially I found it slightly disturbing - throughways without a purpose, leading nowhere in particular. Then it made me think of how our lives are shaped by openings and closings, how doors, gates, windows are a constant, taken-for-granted presence. One thing I noticed was my desire to walk through rather than round!

I sat for a bit to watch how passers-by interacted with the sculpture. Many looked but avoided moving into the space. Others stopped to inspect the material and construction and passed through one of the openings. One young lad tried his best to dislodge a gate. Having a photo taken in a gate was a favourite way of interacting with the work.

This man used the gate as a dog obedience exercise

This couple spent some time interacting with all the pieces of the sculpture

One woman focused not on the whole, but on the detail of the construction. She took very close-up photos with her camera virtually resting on the metal.

Here she is on the right, camera against the material

This made me look at the sculpture differently again. I had a close-up look too.

I felt deeply satisfied with the time spent around this work. My view of it changed and I learnt a little more about human behaviour. I decided that the people I would rather get to know were those who played with the sculpture rather than those who avoided it.

There were other sculptures that caught my attention. This Russian work was a crowd-pleaser.