Michael Lin

Atrium, City Hall, The Hague

In the summer of 2002 the artist Michael Lin (1964, Taiwan, lives and works in Taipei) was invited to create a monumental floor of painted tulips (measuring 1100 m2) in City Hall of The Hague, a building by the architect Richard Meier. The project was part of a cultural exchange between the cities of Taipei and The Hague. In 2001 Erik Lindner, a poet from The Hague, was a guest at an International Poetry Festival in Taipei. In return Michael Lin was invited to do a project in The Hague.

The tulip floor consisted of 380 panels made of wood, which Lin painted by hand with the assistance of 70 students from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and 15 professional artists from The Hague. In his work Michael Lin uses traditional motifs found on pillows and bedspreads from the recent past which are given to girls as part of their dowry. For his floor in The Hague he selected a tulip motif, which - blown up to 80 times its size - he introduced as a ‘Made in Taiwan' floor. A generous and joyful work of art as public space.

The project was made possible by the generous support of: Stroom Den Haag, Stichting Atrium, Stichting Doen, the city of The Hague, Casema Cultuur Fonds, Fonds 1818, Department of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan R.O.C., Royal Academy of Arts The Hague

12 Jul '02 - 09 Sep '02