André Kruysen

Location: 19 January - 16 February 2003

André Kruysen is a sculptor. He constructs architectural structures in such a way that the incoming daylight is given form through them. In the exhibition space of Stroom at the Toussaintkade, he built the installation Over Vedra, consisting of two monumental sculptures that alternately channel light and envelop darkness.

André Kruysen (born 1967, lives and works in The Hague) studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. He worked as an assistant designer on several projects for the architecture firm Metropolis III and was awarded the Charlotte van Pallandt Prize in 1998. Since 2000, he has been teaching Fundamental Form Studies at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam.

'Over Vedra'
"Vedra is a rock in the Mediterranean Sea and lies at the foundation of all my spatial experiences. From my first to my twenty-fifth year, I spent every summer in its vicinity. Its enormous presence stood every day, relentless and unmoved, in my field of vision—like a fixed point from which you seemed constantly aware of your own position.

During the boat trip toward it, about a kilometer and a half long, the rock changes shape. The image of Vedra—a broad rock with a high side tower—gradually transforms into that of a vast island stretched lengthwise, with one end suddenly rising up like a fish’s tail. On the far side, the overhanging walls form coves that are always dark. In other places, you can moor and climb to the 400-meter-high peak, from where you see all of western Ibiza laid out below.

On the west side, you can enter the island through a narrow crevice in the rock. This leads to a cave that can also be reached via an underwater tunnel. Daylight reflects indirectly from above through fissures in the rock and from below through the water, illuminating the walls around you. The magic that exists there, I have never encountered anywhere else on Earth. To this day, I seem to measure all my spatial experiences against what I have seen, felt, and experienced on, in, and around this rock. In fact, all my works are about Vedra. I dedicate this exhibition to my brother and sisters."

An information leaflet was published to accompany the exhibition, featuring an essay by Philip Peters.