This Sunday 20 June, World Refugee Day, Mayor Aboutaleb will unveil a new work of art at the head of the Wilhelminapier. On the Maas, directly opposite the future FENIX Emigrant Museum, the work of art will be L'Âge d'Or (2019) by the British visual artist Gavin Turk. L'Âge d'Or is a more than 3,5 meters high open door of painted bronze. This larger-than-life door will soon offer a view of the Maas and then beckon over the North Sea to the Atlantic crossing. FENIX is donating the sculpture on long-term loan to the sculpture collection of the Municipality of Rotterdam.
The head of the Wilhelminapier is a suitable location, because in the 19th and 20th century more than three million emigrants left the Rotterdam quays to the other side of the world. They left Rotterdam from all over Europe and were heading for a new life. L'Âge d'Or symbolizes hope, dreams and opportunities as a door that is always open. A door without a building, but as a symbolic transition between two imaginary worlds, an old and a new one. After the unveiling on June 20, everyone is welcome to step through the door and fantasize about the future. The new acquisition will be placed near Hotel New York and the sculpture Lost Luggage Depot (2001) by Jeff Wall.
Gavin turk
With Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst, among others, Gavin Turk (1967) is considered one of the Young British Artists. He elevates the everyday to art and plays with the context of the objects he presents. The image L'Âge d'Or was acquired at the Frieze Sculpture international fair in London in October 2020.
Art walk
BKOR and SIR are working on a new art route map that will be released this summer. This will be a walk from the Westersingel to the Wilhelminapier with attention to a special selection of works of art, including The Plait from Kalliopi Lemos and L'Ậge d'Or from Gavin Turk.
