In the studio on the fifth floor of the extraordinary building Het Archief, a story is told about various approaches to using artworks to integrate imagination, memory and community spirit into urban planning and landscape architecture.

The observatorium is trying to evoke a contemplative moment in which the audience connects with the actualities of the site. At best, a public artwork creates a sense of wonder in places often already magical.

From the foreword of Public Art for Public Life by Wouter Veldhuis, urban planner and Chief Government Advisor on the Built and Rural Environment:
“Public art can help us to overcome our fear of an unknown future. It can help us see new meaning and beauty in wind farms, solar plants, new delta works, circular industrial estates, production forests, climate swamps and all the other space-devouring systems that will change our cities, towns and landscapes beyond recognition. Observatorium’s works shows us how important it is to relearn how to look at the spatial manifestations of all the inevitable changes that are coming our way. Not with an eye to stopping them, but to take away our discomfort.“

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