New Geographies Outdoor Sculpture Commission
Krijn de Koning – Green/blue, work for the Fredrick Gibberd Garden, Harlow 2020
August - October 2020
Working in partnership with UH Arts, artist Krijn de Koning has created a site-specific installation at The Gibberd Garden in Harlow. De Koning’s art practice takes different structures and environments – such as Compton Verney, Edinburgh College of Art and Folkstone Triennial – to create interventions in a space, which both highlight and intervene with our experience, perception and assumptions of these places. Based in Amsterdam, de Koning has been able to explore sites in Hertfordshire and Essex with fresh perspectives as a visitor, before selecting The Gibberd Garden as the location for his installation.
Visit The Gibberd Garden to see the installation and more.
Art Activities for all
Get creative with artist Sarah Evans who has developed activities inspired by Krijn’s ideas and artwork:
- Art Activities you can do at home - Nature Collage and Flower Collage
- Activity sheets to take to The Gibberd Garden are here
Free Publication
Continue your art exploration with activities and information in our free book, we have limited copies to give away – if you would like one please email uharts@herts.ac.uk with a short paragraph on why you would like the book and we will let you know if you are successful.
About the Artwork
The artist’s interest in architecture is well placed at The Gibberd Garden; the house and garden of architect Sir Fredrick Gibberd. Born in 1908 and knighted in 1967, Gibberd designed Harlow and other iconic places such as Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and London Central Mosque. The Garden has been arranged into rooms by Gibberd and peppered by his eccentric collection of artworks and paraphernalia leftover from his own builds.
Characterising the garden as ‘rooms’ inspired de Koning to design a structure which is divided by walls – acting to partition the space. He has created compartments which feature ‘openings’ that allow people to look and step through as they navigate the space. De Koning often employs geometric shapes in his work, and here they relate to the passages in the Chinese and Japanese gardens. He states:
"The whole installation creates a spatial game of see-through, obstruction and framing that investigates the interaction between the specific iconography of an object (in this case the trees) and the experience of a place, which is of a much wider character. The trees are as central and important as the work that surrounds them, they belong to each other. The situation is in balance, but together they put a lot of particular focus and attention to the place."
Krijn de Koning guides the visitor to see and experience the garden through a new architectural structure, as the garden, in turn, forms an integral part of the work. The installation opened at The Gibberd Garden during Summer 2020, and is continuing into 2021. This will be in line with government guidance and Covid-19 restrictions and The Gibberd Garden opening hours. Please visit their website before you travel - www.thegibberdgarden.co.uk
We would love to see images from your visit and anything you make from Sarah’s creative activities (above) – share the results with us by email uharts@herts.ac.uk or social media @UniHertsArts.
With thanks to The Gibberd Garden, Harlow and Wysing Arts Centre and New Geographies project manager Matt Nightingale for all their support.
