OPCW Memorial to all victims of chemical weapons (design: Voebe de Gruyter)

Location: World Forum The Hague

Memorial on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the OPCW (Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons). This place should give comfort to everyone who feels affinity with the victims of chemical weapons and stands for 'Peace and Hope'. The memorial was inaugurated by Queen Beatrix on May 9, 2007.

The memorial after a concept by Voebe de Gruyter (1960, Den Haag) consists of three trees:
1. a living tree (8 meters high) which inhales carbon dioxide and exhales pure oxygen.
2. solar-cell tree, which powers a webcam that films the trees.
3. a virtual tree: www.thismeldingtree.org (website online from May 9, 2007). The website tree grows with the trees, through successive visitors who can leave their own traces in a network of the memorial.

Voebe de Gruyter 
Lives and works in Brussels and Amsterdam. She studied at the Rietveld Academy and the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam and spent a year in New York on a scholarship. Her work is included in the collections of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum for Modern Art Arnhem and the Bouwfonds collection.
website Voebe de Gruyter

World Forum The Hague
This area was designed by DS landschapsarchitecten.
Website DS landschapsarchitecten

Website OPCW

Click here to go the Webdossier

May 23, 2007, 8 pm
location: Hogewal 1-9
Discussion between the artist Voebe de Gruyter, philosopher Rob van Gerwen, light scientist Kobus Kuipers and journalist Anna Luyten. Language: Dutch!