Ingrid Mol, 2004

Elementary school Statenkwartier, Van Beverningkstraat 29, Den Haag

The artist Ingrid Mol (1970, lives and works in The Hague) made an art comission for elementary school Statenkwartier in The Hague. Her project is entitled ‘LINV 29 the expedition to the gluttonous potato fields' and consists of 4 large, colourful ceramic sculptures in the schoolyard, a wall painting and an accompanying comic book telling the story behind the project.
Ingrid Mol presents the story of 3 children of elementary school Statenkwartier who are sent on an expedition by the singer Loewie Sjansee. There is a great famine in the country of King Bakthavar and it looks like the king is eating all the food himself. In order to stop the king from doing this evil deed, the children (united under the name of LINV 29) enter the palace, where they find the king imprisoned. He is innocent. The children set our for the gluttonous potato fields, where the story reaches its climax.
The combination of a story and three-dimensional characters is inspired by the marketing strategy of comic strip producers like the Disney Studios and Manga, who sell their main characters as action dolls. Ingrid Mol turned her comic characters into large ceramic sculptures and placed them in the schoolyard, for the children to play with.
The accompanying comic strip was made in collaboration with the children of the school, who came up with the main characters. Ingrid Mol, together with Quinten Smith, used the children's ideas to develop the story.