Rotterdam Archives | THE SEEN PHOTO

I had an exclusive invitation from The Contemporaries to visit the reopening of the Toshiko Mori designed, 22,000 square foot, Sean Kelly Gallery last night to sip in the work of Antony Gormley. The show titled “Bodyspace” is a visual treat of abstract humility portrayed through geometric human forms balancing the relationship between man and architecture. Confirming with director Maureen Bray that Antony Gormley had permanent installations in Rotterdam, I was convinced the image above was one of his. Due diligence this morning proved me wrong.

The sculpture shown above is the work of Woody Van Amen who predates Gormley by fourteen years. This piece titled “Taxat” has a completely different expression created by the structure in the 90 degree welded stainless steel. The Taxat is a form created by Woody van Amen that expresses relationships in east Asian symbols. From the Straight Up perspective Woody van Amen’s work takes on another equally exciting feel. More of van Amen’s work can be seen at this link.

Kids these days have amazing video games. I remember when the 8-bit Frogger game came out for the Atari 2600 game console. The graphics weren’t as amazing as going to the nickel arcade, but it was still better than my friend’s cassette-tape-drive version for the Commodore 64 which took about fifteen minutes to load. The hours spent playing Frogger probably contributed to the success in this image.

The Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam is Frogger in real life. To get to the center of the bridge, I had to cross the bike lane, the traffic lane, and finally position myself on a zero clearance platform between two trolley lines. All without getting smashed. It’s all about timing, pre-planning, and expedited movements. I had my friend Marjolijn help spot for trolleys–the main concern, since they are fast and quite dangerous. After studying the traffic flow, I knew I’d have about twelve seconds to make the image, reverse course, and run back to safety. I wouldn’t recommend doing this, but I successfully completed the gauntlet three times to get this image. I find it interesting that the trolley lines aren’t parallel to the center of the image–something you’d never know unless standing in the middle.

Below is a photo Marjolijn made of me running back. It was, as PSY would say, full on Gangnam Style.

Category: Rotterdam

Woody van Amen in Rotterdam

Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, Netherlands