Het vergeten Bestaan 2025
Het Vergeten Bestaan (The Forgotten Existence) 2025, Concrete, Pigment and Brass. Location Smakkelaarskade Utrecht.
Last year I had the opportunity to work on a monument for the infamous ‘Junkentunnel’ in Utrecht.
At the end of 2023, the foundations and the municipality asked to create a monument for the tunnel. This is a reminder of the time of the tunnel in the late 1990s.
After having wonderful conversations with experienced experts and doing my own research, I wanted to create an sculpture in the shape of a human being. Someone could have lived in this tunnel. And just lay down
here outside.
The artwork depicts a figure lying quietly along the edge of the plant bed. It shows how vulnerable life on the street can be. In this work I want to show that vulnerability and ask the viewer to relate to the figure. People will wonder why that thing is here.
The artwork consists of eight segments that depict a split or
broken figure.
In the work for the tunnel I want to link this to the idea that the image can take up space in whatever form. The image, and thus the memory, may claim space on the street.
A relief has been created in the concrete skin of the statue. I pressed them with old newspapers, cardboard and cloth. Items that people who sleep outside may use for protection and warmth. And to indicate that the figure (or person) is still present, but the items are no longer there.
I tried to create a neutral expression that is intended to continue telling the stories about the tunnel.
Media Links
NOS: https://nos.nl/artikel/2554621-bij-beruchte-utrechtse-junkentunnel-herinnert-nieuw-monument-aan-zwarte-tijd
HKU: https://www.hku.nl/nieuws/hku-alumnus-lucas-mergler-maakt-kunstwerk-voor-beruchte-tunnel
