How do you become aware of the here and now and how do you experience the meaning of a place? Pondering Around is an invitation to contemplation and reflection.
Upon entering the circular platform, the apparently closed mirroring outer surface unfolds into two arches of repeating slats with an increasingly open structure to a warm wooden interior: the barrier forms the portal to a new world.
Can that open structure make one feel safe? The mirrors outside enhance the transition to a place where the visitor can withdraw from the hectic pace of every day life. Inside the visitor feels both closed off and open. An intense sense of being occurs, enhanced by the gentle movement of the platform floating on the water.
Pondering Around is my entry to the art route Folly Art Norg 2021. It was already selected for the 2019 edition but because of the absence of water in the route it was forwarded to 2020, when covid made the event impossible.
For this edition, 16 works by artists, designers, architects and also residents from the area were selected from 109 entries, which could be seen in a beautiful 7-kilometer walk in and around the village of Norg in Drenthe. Pondering Around was the third installation in the route and was located in the Schipmeer, a leafy peat lake just outside the village.
Audience Award
The almost 9000 visitors that attended the Folly Art Route were given the opportunity to vote for their favorite folly. Pondering Around recieved more votes than number 2 and 3 combined, which was a wonderful present to recieve from all those enthousiastic people that walked the route. I was fortunate to meet a lot of them.
Winner London International Creative Competition 2021
Pondering Around is the winner in the London international Creative Competition (LICC) 2021 in category CREATE (Art)! Visit the page on the LICC website!
Closed and open, captive and free
A wooden gangway invites you to enter the 3.5 meter diameter platform floating on the water. A gradual transition from closed to open is created by vertical slats, which are not placed next to each other, but parallel. The exterior is mirrored, which evokes distance as well as association with reflection. When the visitor moves through the deliberately narrow opening, a change from physical to mental reflection occurs in a completely wooden, softer interior space. As a result, the visitor experiences distance from the moment before, which provides space for new thoughts.
Energy on and through water
Water is an element that means tranquility for many people. Water strengthens focus and makes you think. The folly floating in a lake invites the visitor to withdraw from the hectic pace and stimuli of everyday life.
Links and press
More information on all follies and the route on www.follyartnorg.nl.
In the largest northern newspaper 'Dagblad van het Noorden' a big article on FAN21 was published on 2 August: https://dvhn.nl/cultuur/Festival-voor-mensen-met-fantasie-26969308.html
Quotes from visitors
“Beautiful object in the area, makes you look at it differently! Thnx!”
"We were most charmed by Pondering Around by Peter Musschenga (…) a sensory confusing depth experience, placed on both land and water."
“To see, to feel, to experience (together). That’s the meaning of life. Pondering Around (Peter Musschenga, Folly Art 2021, Norg).”
"I had a very special experience when I walked through the mirror wall on to the plateau."
"I love how you work with space and light."
"What a beautiful thing in a beautiful place! I would love to sit there for an hour."
Gallery
The Making Of...
A short movie about the constructing and assemblling the installation and getting it to its special destination.
