ark of oestdi k alace in aarn

Contemporary Art Exhibition “Voorlopers / Pioneers” in the Park of Soestdijk Palace in Baarn

Maja Meijewith her husband Ton Meijer

From May 13 to August 5, the park of Soestdijk Palace is open to the public with the sculpture exhibition: ‘Voorlopers’. Visitors are introduced to contemporary art that offers new stories and perspectives. Contemporary artists, with established as well as new talent, depict current themes such as innovation and (bio) technology and design, sustainability and recycling, but they also tackle the changing meaning of heritage. All this brought together in the unique natural and historic location of the Paleis Soestdijk estate.

Art in the park The park garden of Paleis Soestdijk – a 19th-century design by Zocher – with its many vistas, 17th-century avenue structure and many monuments on the estate, is the perfect setting for a unique exhibition. The public explores the park through works of art that engage in an extended, interactive, extensive, in-depth or cheerful conversation about nature culture in the Netherlands, the history and future of the park, and the possibilities of new sustainable developments, with and in nature.

Forecasts (Voorlopers) Curator Marieanne de Rooij presents fifteen artists living and educated in the Netherlands, artists who are innovative and visionary. In short: artists who are truly avant garde or ‘Voorlopers’, who love pioneering and research; their artistic beginnings therefore fit in well with the innovations destined for Soestdijk / Made by Holland. The artworks display a diverse selection of contemporary art, the public discover work and installations specially made for the park in the fields of bio-design, sound art, robotics, video art, and eco-(part) design.

The exhibition is curated by exhibition maker Marie Jeanne de Rooij, in collaboration with Maya MeijerBergmans, historian and owner of Paleis Soestdijk. In the past, De Rooij and Maya Meijer have jointly organised very successful and original sculpture exhibitions, The Hague Sculpture, at the Lange Voorhout in The Hague. art and culture, heritage and history. We really want to surprise and engage the visitors.”

The park of Palace Soestdijk is part of Landgoed Paleis Soestdijk, which will be a platform for Dutch innovations in the future in which sustainability and heritage retention plays an important role for future generations.

Before the restoration starts in 2023, Palace Soestdijk organizes the exhibition ‘Voorlopers’. The images exhibition invites a broad and diverse audience to discover the park through art, and encourages them to give new meaning to the park. After the restoration and renovation, the palace and estate will be opened to the public in 2025.

Art of today - the artworks show the multidisciplinary ambition of Voorlopers with a varied and inviting picture of contemporary art, so in addition to ‘real’ sculptures by renowned pioneer Joep van Lieshout / Atelier van Lieshout and Modern Classic sculpture (with sustainable reuse / recycling of material). From Ivan Cremer, there will be a lot of work and installations specially made or adapted for the park with current themes which will appeal to a younger audience as well.

Innovation and sustainability, bio-design and technology, for example from Bob Hendrikx, (in addition to the ‘Living Coffin’, Hendrikx presents new work, the ‘living couch’, a transparent couch filled with living green and red algae from the Soestdijk park pond, which cleanses and purifies the air as visitors sit on it); Lennart Lahuis with water / steam poetry, sound art of Cecilia Bengtsson, Robotics art by Bram Ellens, Sci-fi video art with ‘The Revolutions That Did (not) Happen’ van Silvia Martes, and circular (part) design-art by Birgit Verwer.

You can experience Interaction, participation and nature at the Aquatheek van Groenewoud / Bui with water from far and near, at Zeger Reyers who, using the dilapidated tennis court, creates a ‘Lawn Tennis’ nature maze. Furthermore, there is a chair installation by Iliada Charalalambous, which invites the public to park conversations on personal or political-social topics and Marjan Laaper’s video work ‘Encounter’ which confronts from a high vantage point in the public ream with our un-Natural (Dutch) nature experience and Buroldr’s listening route with water theme for the park. Ingrid Molk creates a fairy tale diorama for the Princess playhouse in the sports park about a perfect queen-clone. Birgit Verwer, through the partial design principle of designer Enzo Mari, creates a new sustainable work, a variant on the typical The Hague ‘lice bench’, ‘Final Rehearsal’.

Kids and young people: David Bade organises for the exhibition a special work-in-progress education learning project for youth from the local area. The project, “throw a different bow,” gives an old sailboat a new future during the exhibition period. And Ingrid Mol makes a map colouring page - also the information for the routing of the exhibition - for children. Participating artists atelier van Lieshout (AVL), David Bade, Cecilia Bengtsson, Burroldr, Iliada Charalalambous, Ivan Cremer, Bram Ellens, Groenewoud / Buij, Bob Hendrikx, Marjan Laaper, Silvia Martes, Ingrid Mol, Zeger Reyers, Lennart Lahuis and Birgit Verwer.

Palace Soestdijk: Landgoed Paleis Soestdijk had been closed since 1971 and was inhabited until 2004 by the late Queen Juliana and late Prince Bernhard. Very famous to the elderly was the yearly flower parade on Queen’s day (Koninginnedag) on 30 April. On the platform in front of the house, Queen Juliana, Prince Bernard, children and grandchildren were waving to the Parade of Dutch people. For years, this was shown on Dutch television. In 2015, the government decided to sell the palace and estate. The Meyer-Bergman Heritage Group owned it after an extensive selection procedure in December 2017.

For the last four years, they worked on the development of the destination plan. In February 2022, the zoning plan was adopted by the Baarn City Council and as a result there is green light for the restoration and re-use of the estate. The expectation is that the restoration can start early 2023. Palace Soestdijk is at the start of a new phase at its more than 350 years anniversary. The estate will be thoroughly restored and prepared for a new destination in the coming years. In 2025 the new Soestdijk Palace opens Made by Holland: an inspiring platform, stage and landing place for innovative and entrepreneurial Netherlands. With temporary exhibitions, lectures, congresses and educational offerings, the Dutch solutions will soon be presented to the public.

Maya Meijer-Bergmans is together with her husband Ton Meijer owner of the Meyer-Bergman group (MBE) that gives historical heritage a new future. After the successful Westergasfabriek site in Amsterdam, MBE just opened an exhibition “Vorm aan de Vecht” a former convent at Estate Doornburgh (www.buitenplaatsdoornburgh.nl) and are now working on Soestdijk Palace, which is giving new meaning with the Made by Holland concept. (info: Made by Holland, www.paleissoestdijk.nl).

Written by Nanda Jagusiak-Monteiro The Soestdijk park can be visited from 13 May to 5 August 2022. More information and tickets via www.paleissoestdijk.nl.

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