Operation Manna (Manna Monument) (2006) Observatorium

photo BKOR archive
About the artwork

Along the A20 at Terbregge, a work of art has been made mainly of crash barriers. This material has made a connection between the aesthetics of the motorway on the one hand and the residential area of ​​Terbregge on the other. Due to the material used, the work has more or less become part of the sound barrier, creating a relationship between these two generally separate worlds. In 2001 the pavilion, asphalt garden and walkway were completed. After this, on the initiative of concerned citizens, the work acquired a new meaning as a memorial for the food drops at the end of the Hunger Winter in April and May 1945, which took place in the area. The artwork has also functioned as a memorial for this dropping since 2006, “Operation MannaCalled. In this way the work naturally took on the organic use function desired by Observatorium, in addition to the connection and lookout point.

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About the artist

Observatorium is a collaboration of artists Geert van de Camp, André Dekker, Ruud Reutelingsperger and Lieven Poutsma in Rotterdam. Since 1997 they have dedicated themselves to the connections between art, landscape and society. They make sculptures that are accepted as a common good for that genius loci and that are used.

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