Project Spaarndammerhart | 2016-2020

Martijn Sandberg has created an integrated artwork for the gateways and the floor of the new building project ‘Spaarndammerschoollocatie’ in the Spaarndammer district, Amsterdam. The artwork is an integral part of the building complex Spaarndammerhart by Korth Tielens Architecten, Marcel Lok Architect MLA, and DS Landschapsarchitecten. The house numbers are also by Martijn Sandberg and function as a sculptural element on both opposing street facades of the complex and the inner courtyard.
The site-specific art by Martijn Sandberg is executed in brick relief on the interior of the three archways and within paving stones upon the floor to the interior courtyard.

While walking through the archways over the paving ‘De Oude Weg Naar De Nieuwe Tijd’ *), a figuration appears before our eyes – as if in a vision.
In the constantly changing play of light and shadow, brick letters become visible upon the wall and the curved ceiling.
It is a figuration deploying four letters and four numbers, in each passageway with a different numerical combination, providing us with the entrance code for a journey through time: ‘Anno 2020’, ‘Anno 1917’, ‘Anno 3025’.
Through the gates and into the courtyard, step by step, letter by letter we enter: ‘The Old Path To The New Time, The New Path To The Old Time’.

*) ‘The Old Path To The New Time / The Old Way To The New Time’

Click here to see a description in English, as pdf.
Click here to see a description in Dutch, as pdf.

More info: Concept text (Dutch / English) by Martijn Sandberg, tender phase, August 2016, as pdf.

‘Architectuur met helend effect‘, interview/ article (in Dutch), www.heijmans.nl, 06/03/2018.

‘Uitslag tender Spaarndammerschool‘, article (in Dutch), www.dearchitect.nl, 02/12/2016.

Click here for photos of the artwork, in the section ‘public artworks’.

Title: ‘De Oude Weg Naar De Nieuwe Tijd’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Krommeniestraat, Amsterdam
Concept and figuration: 2016
Realisation: 2019-2020
Planned completion: 2020
Project assistance art: Atelier Rinzema
Architects: Korth Tielens Architecten, Marcel Lok Architect
Landscape architect: DS landschapsarchitecten
Project development: Heijmans Vastgoed

Photos by: Martijn Sandberg

Project I Am Still Alive | embroidery | 2020

Atelier Rinzema and Martijn Sandberg started a project in the summer of 2020 that literally and figuratively builds on the earlier work of art ‘I Am Still Alive‘ in metal.
The letters ‘I am Still Alive’ are now embroidered on a white piece of fabric, each time with two different colors of thread. Stitch by stitch, the figuration ‘I Am Still Alive’ slowly becomes visible in the handiwork. The time-consuming manual labor makes not only the maker, but also everyone who views the embroidered result, aware of the passage of time.
‘I Am Still Alive’ is a ‘memo’ that appears again and again in the pastime ‘medium’. The embroidered series ‘I Am Still Alive’ ‘reports’ life – from needle to thread.

Atelier Rinzema en Martijn Sandberg zijn in de zomer van 2020 een project gestart dat letterlijk en figuurlijk voortborduurt op het eerdere kunstwerk ‘’I Am Still Alive‘’ in metaal.
De letters ‘I am Still Alive’ worden nu geborduurd op een wit stukje stof, elke keer met twee verschillende kleuren garen. Steek voor steek raakt de figuratie ‘I Am Still Alive’ langzaam zichtbaar in het handwerk. De tijdrovende handarbeid maakt niet alleen de maker, maar ook iedereen die het geborduurde resultaat bekijkt, zich bewust van het verloop van tijd.
‘I Am Still Alive’ is een ‘memo’ die telkens weer opnieuw verschijnt in het ‘medium’ voor tijdverdrijf. De geborduurde reeks ‘I Am Still Alive’ doet ‘verslag’ van het leven – van de naald tot de draad.

Title: ‘I Am Still Alive’
Artist: Atelier Rinzema & Martijn Sandberg
Project: Embroidery Series
Concept and figuration: 2020
Start realisation: 2020
Measurements: 17cm x 17cm / variable

Project Cut Paintings | Sketches

A selection of sketches by Martijn Sandberg for several aluminium cut paintings, size 100cm x 100cm – a.o. ‘Im Westen nichts Neues’, ‘What Fun Canvas Done’ and a series of nursery rhymes by the artist: ‘Tip Tap Top De Verf Is Op’ (‘Tip Tap Toe The Paint Won’t Flow’).

Click here for photo of the realised artwork, in the section ‘cut paintings’.

Title: ‘Im Westen nichts Neues’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Project: sketch for cut painting
Measurements: 42cm x 60cm

Title: Tip Tap Top De Verf Is Op’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Project: sketch for cut painting
Measurements: 42cm x 60cm

Photos by: Simon Sandberg

Project Bridge Zuidas | 2019-2024

Martijn Sandberg has made a design for a pedestrian bridge at Amsterdam Zuidas in collaboration with Atelier Rinzema, Haasnoot Bruggen, BPD | Bouwfonds Gebiedsontwikkeling and the municipality of Amsterdam.
The pedestrian bridge is a connection for De Boelelaan to the Zuidas, near building The George. The design is made in close coordination with the municipality of Amsterdam and the bridge is offered by ZuidSchans C.V. (BPD & AM).

More information can be found here:

Website bpd.nl (text in Dutch)

Website zuidas.nl (text in Dutch)

Website zuidas.nl (text in English)

Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Project: pedestrian bridge, De Boelegracht, Zuidas, Amsterdam
Concept and design: 2019-2020
Project assistence: Christa Rinzema, Atelier Rinzema
Collaboration: Haasnoot Bruggen BV, Rijnsburg
Commissioned by: ZuidSchans C.V. (BPD and AM), Amsterdam

The Making Of Make Love Not War | 2019-2021

The site-specific artwork ‘Make Love Not War’ by Martijn Sandberg, forms part of the transformation of the former Tapijn Barracks (Tapijnkazerne), Maastricht.
The barrack terrain was laid out between 1916 and 1919 and will now receive a new function as an urban park containing University of Maastricht buildings.
The artwork figuration is incorporated in the paving of the main path, using bricks. It lies in the park-like surroundings of the former military terrain.

Visitors, students and residents of the city walk in Tapijn’s rustic public park. They parade, where soldiers used to march, over the main path extending in a straight line past the principal building and the central assembly station of the barracks.

From different viewpoints a pattern of letters appears in the paving. Step by step a ‘score’ becomes visible under our feet, from far away and nearby.
A never-ending song resonates from the chalk white bricks, linking together the history, the present-day and the future of the spot.
A ‘canon’, a ‘refrain’ of each time is written in stone: ‘Make Love Not War, Make Love Not War, Make Love’.

Photos: ‘Make Love Not War’, work in progress (2020) and concept drawing (2019), site-specific artwork, main path (lxw) 238m x 2.75m.

Title: ‘Make Love Not War’, paving
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Concept and figuration: 2019
Realisation and completion: 2020/2021
Project assistance art: Atelier Rinzema

Silence Please Science Please | 2014-2017

Martijn Sandberg has realised a site-specific artwork: an acoustic wall in the interior of the newly constructed Gorlaeus Beta Campus of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FWN), University of Leiden.
The artwork consists of connected perforated aluminium panels, covering the surface of the wall in the hall, vacant space and first floor of the building. The perforated artwork is twenty metres long, seven metres high and lit from within.

A sequence of words appears in the pattern of circles when the artwork is viewed from different sightlines. The words may be read in succession from left to right – but also from right to left, from above to below, from below to above and in diagonal reading order: ‘Silence Please Science Please’.

Click here for photos of the realised artwork, in the section ‘public artworks’.

Title: ‘Silence Please Science Please’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FWN), Beta Campus, Leiden
Measurements: (lxh) 20m x 7m
Material: acoustic wall, perforated aluminium
Concept and figuration: 2014-2015
Realisation and installation: 2016
Completion: 2017
Commissioned by: University of Leiden
Architect: Inbo Architecten, JHK Architectendam

U Heeft Tien Bewaarde Berichten | 2011-2013

Martijn Sandberg’s site-specific artwork on the concrete wall in the entrance hall of the Synagogue LJG in Amsterdam, refers to the location in a contemporary manner.
The figuration comprises vertical lines of polished metal reflecting the sunlight shining into the hall, through the roof window. The tints and reflections of the surroundings keep on changing along every sightline in the mirroring surface; upwards from the ground floor, from through the window next to the access to the Schul on the first floor, and from the stairwell above.
While looking at the interplay of light and lines high on the wall, the contours of letters become visible. A radiant message appears to the visitor. A message from above. Art with a message – from yesterday, today and tomorrow. When entering and leaving the Synagogue. Over and over again, a vision for now and forever more: ‘You have ten saved messages’.

Click here for photos of the realised artwork, in the section ‘public artworks’.

Title: ‘U Heeft Tien Bewaarde Berichten’ (‘You Have Ten Saved Messages’)
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Synagogue LJG, Zuidelijke Wandelweg 41, Amsterdam
Measurements: 4.36m x 4.36m
Material: polished stainless steel
Concept and design: 2011-2012
Realisation and installation: 2012-2013
Completion: 2013
Commissioned by: Synagogue LJG, Amsterdam
Architect: SeARCH Architects, Amsterdam

The Making Of I Will Survive | 2006-2008

‘I Will Survive’. A contemporary reading of the Latin proverb ‘Ars longa, vita brevis’ – life is short, art long.

-“What’s that for?”
-“It looks like a fence, but it isn’t a fence.”
-“But what is it then?”
-“If it has no use as a fence or doesn’t serve anything, then it must be art.”
-“But what’s written there?”
-“Well, ‘I Will Survive’.”
-“But who says that?”
-“I see it and I did just say it myself, but it is often said that art speaks for itself.”
-“Well, I’m damned, now I get it. So if it is art, then art says ‘I Will Survive’?”
-“That is what’s there. And in any case, it was already there yesterday and probably will be tomorrow as well.”

Photos (work in progress) and imaginary conversation, site-specific sculpture ‘I Will Survive’.

-“Waar is dat voor?”
-“Het lijkt op een hek, maar het is geen hek.”
-“Maar wat is dat dan?”
-“Als het geen nut heeft als hek of nergens toe dient, dan zal het wel kunst zijn.”
-“Maar wat staat daar dan?”
-“Nou, ‘I Will Survive’.”
-“Maar wie zegt dat dan?”
-“Nou ja, ik zie het en ik zei het net zelf, maar men zegt vaak dat kunst voor zichzelf spreekt.”
-“Verdomd, nu je het zegt. Dus als het kunst is, dan zegt de kunst ‘I Will Survive’?”
-“Het staat daar. En het stond er in ieder geval gister ook al en wellicht ook morgen.”

Click here for photos of the realised artwork, in the section ‘public artworks’.

Title: ‘I Will Survive’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Mulopad, LOC, Kerkhof Nijenstede, Hardenberg/ NL
Measurements: (lxhxw) 25m x 3m x 02.m
Material: gold metallic coated steel
Concept and figuration: 2006
Realisation and completion: 2008
Commissioned by: Municipality Hardenberg/ NL
Advice and supervision: Kunst & Cultuur Foundation, Overijssel/ NL

Na Regen Komt Zonneschijn | 2007

Martijn Sandberg has developed a plan for a site-specific artwork in connection with the renovation of the Ministry of Economic Affairs building on the Bezuidenhoutseweg in The Hague. Sandberg’s plan ‘Na Regen Komt Zonneschijn’ concentrates around the building’s two patios. Both patios mirror each other in the building, originally of such symmetry in its design.

Click here to see a full description in English, as PDF.
Click here to see a full description in Dutch, as PDF.

Title: ‘Na Regen Komt Zonneschijn’ *)
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Ministerie van Economische Zaken, Den Haag/ NL
Material: three-dimensional (half) raindrops of glass, exterior glass 2x patio
Size: raindrops of glass (lxwxh) 14cm x 10cm x 5cm (indication), glass 2x patio
Concept and figuration: October 2007
Commissioned by: Rijksgebouwendienst, Den Haag/ NL
Architects: Hans Ruijssenaars Architects and NAT Architects, Amsterdam

*) ‘After Rain Comes Sunshine’

Project Forever In Stone | 2001-2008

The site-specific artwork ‘Forever in Stone’ by Martijn Sandberg, is an integral part of the architecture of the district Olympisch Kwartier, Amsterdam.
Steel clinkers form the pixels of a figuration in the brickwork of the planters, meandering along the plinths of the housing blocks throughout the district like a banderole.
By sampling the steel clinker in the brick grid of the banderole, a perpetual loop occurs: ‘Stoned Forever’, ‘Forever Stoned’, ‘Stoned Again’ and ‘Again’ written in stone.

Click here for text in English, as PDF.
Click here for text in Dutch, as PDF.

Click here for photos of the completed artwork, in the section ‘public artworks’.

Title: ‘Forever in Stone’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Olympisch Kwartier, Amsterdam
Material: steel clinkers, bricks
Size: brickwork (lxh) 1015m x 0.9m
Concept and design: 2001
Construction phase: 2004-2008
Planned completion: 2008
Commissioned by: Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Stadsdeel Amsterdam Oud Zuid, AM Wonen, Bouwfonds Woningbouw, BPF Bouwinvest, Stichting Eigen Haard Olympus Wonen
Architects: Lafour & Wijk, Rudy Uytenhaak, Mulleners + Mulleners

Photos by: Peter Cuypers (1,2,3), Martijn Sandberg