Special trees planted at the Voorlinden Museum

The new Giuseppe Penone retrospective opened on October 8, 2022, at the Voorlinden Museum in Wassenaar. Works by the Italian artist were on display both indoors and outdoors. Saan oversaw the installation of two sculptures in the Voorlinden gardens. Prior to this, Saan staff removed Antony Gormley’s Critical Mass II, a work of 60 sculptures, from the estate.

The first sculpture was impossible to miss: the striking, 11-meter-tall tree stood directly opposite the entrance. It is the Albero folgorato (The Lightning-Struck Tree). Its trunk is split open, its branches gone, and a glowing residue glistens inside. It’s as if Giuseppe Penone captured the moment the tree was struck by lightning.

Optimal view

First, Saan hoisted the pedestal into place. To ensure an optimal view of the sculpture from the path to the main entrance, it was first placed on the pedestal under the watchful eye of the artist’s studio and Voorlinden’s management. A forklift assisted the truck-mounted crane to lift it into the correct position. After placing it on the metal pedestal, the tree was rotated several times to determine the best position for its presentation.

Equivalenze

The next day, the sculpture Equivalenze (Equivalences) was installed on the other side of the museum: a hollow bronze tree. You can enter this tree and stand in the space where the plant material used to be. This tree was also placed on a plinth using a mini-crane and a tracked mover.

Voorlinden and HIZKIA

The clients for the removal of the previous sculpture exhibition on the estate and the installation of the new works were Museum Voorlinden and HIZKIA. Both clients frequently work with Saan, and both parties experience the collaboration as pleasant and have a high level of trust. HIZKIA – specializing in art transport and collection management – ​​regularly hires Saan when work becomes literally too heavy and cranes, forklifts, or other auxiliary equipment are needed to get sculptures in their proper place. Barbara Bos, Head of Exhibitions at Voorlinden: “We enjoy working with you. The weather has been terrible over the past few days; it rained constantly. Removing the 60 Critical Mass II sculptures was therefore not easy. But your colleagues were steadily working to finish the job.” Fortunately, the weather improved during the installation of the two new sculptures, and the golden sections of the Albero folgorato, in particular, caught the sunlight beautifully.

Exhibition

With his sculptures, installations, and photography, Giuseppe Penone consistently emphasizes the inextricable bond between humanity and nature. He works with materials taken directly from nature, such as trees, marble, and even potatoes. He kneads, chisels, hammers, and saws, searching for traces of a lived life and invisible growth processes. As you walk through the exhibition at Voorlinden, you’ll see the traces of this creative process, smell nature in the galleries, and even feel traces of life with your feet.

The project was carried out by our Industrial Relocations department.