More Good News

The metres-high, square work of art by Martijn Sandberg in the entrance hall of the new Mediavaert building in Amsterdam, marks, as a ‘sign on the wall’, the location, from afar and nearby.

In the vertical lines of the figuration in relief, a message appears, from different viewing angles, sculpted from a sole piece of natural stone. It is a news message for every day, timeless and of all times – from yesterday, for today and tomorrow: ‘More Good News’.

The artwork with capital letters on the wall, can be compared to a headline on the front page. It can be a title, the first sentence on a blank page. With these three words with as many letters, you could fill an article, or the entire newspaper.

At the same time, the three words lend themselves to endless shouting and chanting as a slogan. In fact, the artwork appeals to the ‘wishful thinking’ of everyone, now and throughout the centuries. ‘More Good News’ – Who wouldn’t want that? Don’t we all want that?

Here, art fulfils the role of the ‘bringer of good news’.

The work of art announces and stimulates our imagination. Is it a message from times gone by, or ‘old’ news? Or is the message, every time you see the artwork, ‘new’ again?
Are we looking at an ancient inscription on a stone, recently excavated and now shining as a ‘sense image’, or ‘sentence image’, on the wall in the entrance hall of the Mediavaert building?

Title: ‘More Good News’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Mediavaert, van der Madeweg 40, Amsterdam
Material: Natural stone in relief
Dimensions: 2.30m x 2.30m x 11cm
Concept and figuration: 2022
Completion: 2024
In cooperation with: Jan Reek Natuursteen
Project art assistance: Atelier Rinzema
Architect: Team V Architectuur
Commissioned by: DPG Media, the Netherlands

Mediavaert is the main office of several Dutch newspaper editorials and radio stations, including de Volks­krant, Trouw, Het Parool and news platform nu.nl.​

Photos by: Peter Cuypers

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

More Good News

Het metershoge, vierkante kunstwerk van Martijn Sandberg in de entreehal van het nieuwe gebouw Mediavaert in Amsterdam, markeert als ‘teken aan de wand’ de locatie, van veraf en dichtbij.

In het verticale lijnenspel van de figuratie in reliëf, verschijnt, vanuit verschillende zichthoeken, een bericht, dat is gebeiteld uit één stuk natuursteen. Het is een nieuwsbericht voor elke dag, tijdloos en van alle tijden – van gister, voor vandaag en morgen: ‘More Good News’.

Het kunstwerk met kapitale letters op de muur, is te vergelijken met een kop op de voorpagina. Het kan een titel zijn, de eerste zin op een onbeschreven blad. Met deze drie woorden met evenveel letters, zou je een artikel, of de gehele krant, kunnen vullen.

Tegelijkertijd lenen de drie woorden zich om als leuze eindeloos uit te roepen en te scanderen. Het kunstwerk doet in feite een oproep, die appelleert aan de ‘wensdroom’ van iedereen, nu en door de eeuwen heen. ‘More Good News’ – Wie wil dat nou niet? Willen we dat niet allemaal?

De kunst vervult hier als rol de ‘brenger van het goede nieuws’.

Het kunstwerk kondigt aan en prikkelt ons voorstellingsvermogen. Is het een bericht uit vervlogen tijden, ofwel ‘oud’ nieuws? Of is de boodschap, telkens als je het kunstwerk ziet, weer ‘nieuw’?
Kijken we naar een eeuwenoude inscriptie op een steen, die onlangs is opgegraven en nu als ‘zinne-beeld’ straalt op de muur in de entreehal van het gebouw Mediavaert?

Titel: ‘More Good News’
Kunstenaar: Martijn Sandberg
Locatie: Mediavaert, van der Madeweg 40, Amsterdam
Materiaal: Natuursteen in reliëf
Afmeting: 2.30m x 2.30m x 11cm
Concept en figuratie: 2022
Oplevering: 2024
In samenwerking met: Jan Reek Natuursteen
Projectassistentie kunst: Atelier Rinzema
Architect: Team V Architectuur
Opdrachtgever: DPG Media, Nederland

Mediavaert is het hoofdkantoor van verschillende krantenredacties en radiostations, waaronder de Volks­krant, Trouw, Het Parool en nieuwsplatform Nu.nl.

Foto’s: Peter Cuypers

Opgelet! Kunstwerk! Opgelet! (‘Artwork! Attention! Artwork!’)

The Art Bridge on Boelegracht in Amsterdam Zuidas, was recently opened and festively unveiled.

Martijn Sandberg has created a bridge, where the artwork and the bridge form one whole. From the vertical line play of the free-standing, gold-coloured steel bars, a figuration emerges in relief: ‘Attention! Artwork! Attention!’

It is a bridge as a work of art, a work of art as a bridge. The artwork plays with the essential question ‘What is an artwork?’ As it happens, a bridge is also called ‘a work of art’ – ‘een kunstwerk’ – in Dutch architectural terminology.

Martijn Sandberg: “I write with the bars of the bridge. It is playing with letters, light, relief and shadow. At the same time, the bridge is a nod to art and it always remains what the viewer sees in the artwork.”

The bridge brings an ode to public art in general and is likewise a tribute to the bridge as architectural phenomenon.

Martijn Sandberg realised the bridge in collaboration with Atelier Rinzema, Haasnoot Bruggen, BPD and the municipality of Amsterdam. The art bridge is a donation to the municipality of Amsterdam by Ontwikkelcombinatie Zuidschans C.V., a collaboration between BPD and AM.

Title: ‘Opgelet! Kunstwerk! Opgelet!’ (‘Attention! Artwork! Attention!’)
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Art bridge, De Boelegracht, Zuidas, Amsterdam
Material: powder coated steel
Measurements: bridge (lxw) 26m x 2.04m, bars (h) 1.20m
Concept and figuration: 2019-2020
Year: 2024
Project assistance art: Atelier Rinzema
Commissioned by: Zuidschans C.V. (BPD & AM)

Photos by: Peter Cuypers

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

Opgelet! Kunstwerk! Opgelet!

De Kunstbrug van Martijn Sandberg is onlangs officieel geopend aan de Boelegracht in Amsterdam Zuidas.

De Oude Weg Naar De Nieuwe Tijd

Martijn Sandberg has created an integrated artwork for the gateways and the floor of the new building project ‘Spaarndammerhart’ in the Spaarndammer district, Amsterdam. The artwork is an integral part of the building complex 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 as a brick relief in the masonry 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’

Martijn Sandberg: ‘’The design of the Spaarndammerhart building has three ports. In these gates I wanted to let the bricks – the ‘pixel’ of the architectural style of the Amsterdamse School – speak.
In every gate I have captured the time with the word ‘anno’. What happens if you write ‘anno 1917’ on a new building?, I wondered. Or ‘3025’? A year so far in the future causes a clash of the imagination, while ‘2020’ generates an awareness of the present.’’

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.

Click here for more images and a selection of concept drawings of the artwork, in the section ‘concepts & projects’.

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

Photos by: Peter Cuypers

Make Love Not War

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

Visitors walk in Tapijn’s rustic public park. They parade, where soldiers used to march, over the main path of the former military terrain.
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 ‘canon’, a ‘refrain’ of each time is written in stone: ‘Make Love Not War, Make Love Not War, Make Love’.

“A canon instead of a cannon as ‘street art’ at the Tapijn Barracks, Maastricht.” MS

“Niet een kanon, maar een canon als ‘street art’ voor de Tapijnkazerne, Maastricht.” MS

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

Artwork: ‘Make Love Not War’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Tapijnkazerne (Tapijn Barracks), Maastricht
Material: bricks
Measurements: main path (lxw) 238m x 2.75m
Concept and figuration: 2019
Realisation and completion: 2020
Project assistance: Atelier Rinzema
Commissioned by: Art & Heritage KEC, University Maastricht

Photos by: Harry Heuts, Marcel Lok (2)

U Bevindt Zich Hier

The artwork ‘U Bevindt Zich Hier’ (‘You Are Here’) by Martijn Sandberg, honours prominent residents, groups or places highlighting the character of District Amsterdam Oost in the twentieth century.
Consisting of more than 20 columns, the artwork is located on the Oranje Vrijstaatkade, from City Office Oost, alongside the facade of the former Ooster gasworks and on the waterside of the residential area to the corner by the Polderweg.
The pedestals are provided with texts appropriate to the persons, groups or places in District Oost in the twentieth century. The accompanying names and background information are deliberately not mentioned in the figuration upon the artwork. The artwork on site invites one to contemplate and literally ‘un-cover’ the ‘Legacy of the Twentieth Century’ oneself.

The website www.u-bevindt-zich-hier.nl functions as an online guide and forms part of the artwork. The website offers background information about the person, group or location to which the pedestal refers.

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

Artwork: ‘U Bevindt Zich Hier’ (‘You Are Here’)
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Material: concrete
Measurements: (lxwxh) 80cm x 80cm x 40cm
Project: Legacy of the Twentieth Century
Location: Oranje Vrijstaatkade, Oostpoort, Amsterdam
Realisation and completion: 2019
Project assistance: Christa Rinzema, Atelier Rinzema
Commissioned by: Amsterdam Municipality, District Oost
Also funded by: AFK, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts

Photos by: Peter Cuypers

Hier Komt Kunst

Public artwork ‘Hier Komt Kunst’ (‘Reserved For Art’), with special clay bricks manufactured for the writing on the wall.
It can be read in all directions – from left to right and in the opposite direction, from right to left. From announcing to questioning the announcement of a work of art: ‘Hier Komt Kunst’, ‘Komt Hier Kunst’? (‘Here Comes Art’, ‘Comes Art Here’?)

Photos: ‘Hier Komt Kunst’, with kids’ chalk writing upon the writing on the wall.

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

Title: ‘Hier Komt Kunst’ (‘Reserved For Art’)
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Size: 2x wall (lxh) 10m x 5.60m
Location: Leeuwesteyn, Utrecht
Realisation and completion: 2020-2021
Concept and figuration: 2017
Project assistance art: Atelier Rinzema

Photos by: Martijn Sandberg, Hans Peter Föllmi (8)

Silence Please Science Please

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

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

Photos by: Martijn Sandberg, Marcel van den Burg (2)

One More Wall Well Done

A wall has been raised, the job is finished. The bricklayer looks at the result of his completed work with pleasure and satisfaction and says with appropriate pride: ‘One More Wall Well Done’.
The site-specific artwork on the Southern facade of the First building in Rotterdam, covers a wall surface measuring three and half metres high and twenty seven metres long. A message has been left on the wall, written in relief with brick letters. The text becomes visible in the play of light and shadow.
Anyone listening well, hears an echo. The brick relief ‘One More Wall Well Done’ is also a compliment, a homage to the artwork ‘Wall Relief No.1’ (1955) by Henry Moore, which is located on the Northern facade of the building.

Een muurtje is opgetrokken, de klus is geklaard. De metselaar kijkt tevreden en voldaan naar het resultaat van zijn gedane arbeid en zegt met gepaste trots: ‘One More Wall Well Done’.
Het kunstwerk op de zuidgevel van het First gebouw in Rotterdam, beslaat een bakstenen muuroppervlak van 3.5 meter hoog en 27 meter lang. Een bericht is in het metselwerk achtergelaten, geschreven in reliëf met monumentale bakstenen letters. Op de muur wordt in het spel van licht en schaduw de tekst zichtbaar.
Wie goed luistert, hoort een echo. Het gevelreliëf ‘One More Wall Well Done’ is ook een compliment, een hommage aan het kunstwerk ‘Wall Relief No.1’ (1955) van Henry Moore, dat zich bevindt op de noordgevel van het gebouw.

MS: “The figuration “One More Wall Well Done” appears in the play of light and shadow when you walk along the wall. In image and language, the artwork pays tribute to the laying of a brick wall, which can be seen as a reference to the post-war reconstruction of Rotterdam. At the same time it is a homage to the artwork “Wall Relief No.1” by Henry Moore, on the Northern facade of the same building.”

MS: “De figuratie “One More Wall Well Done” verschijnt in het spel van licht en schaduw wanneer je langs de muur loopt. Het kunstwerk brengt in beeld en taal een ode aan het metselen van een bakstenen muur, wat je ook kunt zien als een verwijzing naar de Wederopbouw van Rotterdam. Tegelijkertijd is het een hommage aan het kunstwerk “Wall Relief No.1” van Henry Moore, op de noordgevel van hetzelfde gebouw.”

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

Title: ‘One More Wall Well Done’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: First building, Southern facade, Weena 762, Rotterdam
Measurements: (lxh) 27.30m x 3.50m
Material: wall relief in brick
Concept and design: 2013-2014
Execution and completion: 2015-2016
Commissioned by: First Rotterdam CV, Maarsen Groep BV, MAB Development
Architect: de Architekten Cie., Amsterdam

Photos by: Peter Cuypers, Martijn Sandberg (3)

De Sleutel Ligt Onder De Deurmat

Martijn Sandberg’s site-specific artwork is integrated with the communal corner stair belonging to De Zilverling tower building at the Colijnstraat in Amsterdam.
A secret message lurks among the layers of the concrete stair treads. A message left unobtrusively, for your eyes only: ‘the key is under the doormat’.

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

Title: ‘De Sleutel Ligt Onder De Deurmat’ (‘The Key Is Under The Doormat’)
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: corner stair De Zilverling tower building, Dr H. Colijnstraat, Amsterdam
Measurements: (lxhxw) 11.77m x 2.85m x 22.70m
Material: concrete
Completion: 2012
Commissioned by: Stadgenoot, Amsterdam
Advice & supervision: Kunst en Bedrijf, Naarden
Architect: LEVS Architects, Amsterdam

Photos by: Peter Cuypers

Morgen Komt Alles Goed

A rectangular paved artwork by Martijn Sandberg, is an integral part of the Kraaipan Square at the Hofmeyrstraat in the Transvaalbuurt, Amsterdam.
Lines delineate a text in the paving, a hidden message to the square’s visitors, neighbourhood residents and passers-by. Over and over again when seeing it anew, today and every day: ‘Tomorrow everything will be alright’.

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

Martijn Sandberg: “Ik ben de orgelman die op het plein het levenslied afdraait, een partituur voor elke dag. ‘Morgen Komt Alles Goed’ is een kunstwerk dat je meer dan één keer kan bekijken, en elke dag weer opnieuw kunt ervaren, lezen en ontdekken.”

Click here for interview text NL “Ik ben de orgelman die het levenslied afdraait”, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst.

Title: ‘Morgen Komt Alles Goed’ (‘Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright’)
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Kraaipan Square, Hofmeyrstraat, Amsterdam
Measurements: paved artwork (lxw) 27.65m x 8.40m
Material: paving stones
Concept and design: 2012
Construction and completion: 2013
Commissioned by: Ymere, Amsterdam
Architect: Architectenbureau Hoogeveen, Amstelveen
Also funded by: Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst

Photos by: Martijn Sandberg (1), Nadine Stijns

Melodie (Melody)

The site-specific artwork ‘Melodie’ by Martijn Sandberg, is an integral part of the masonry of the residential block Couperus, Ypenburg, Den Haag.
The stanza from Louis Couperus’ poem ‘Melodie’ (1886) is incorporated into the vertical and horizontal brick pattern of the façade, in dark coloured bricks in deep relief. The text in the unique, metres-high brick letter typeface, designed by Martijn Sandberg, encompasses the entire circumference of the building in length.
From the brickwork a song resounds, written in the metre of the bricks: ‘Luchtgewiekte melodie / Zweef klaatrend op! / Of juublend in een zilverlach, / Of smeltend… / Smeltende in een vliet / Van louter tranen…’

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

Title: ‘Melodie’ (‘Melody’)
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Couperus, Ypenburg residential block, Den Haag/ NL
Measurements: masonry brick letters 165m
Material: bricks
Concept and design: 2011
Built: 2011-2013
Completion: 2013
Commissioned by: Ceres Projecten, Den Haag/ NL
Architect: Frits van Dongen, de Architekten Cie.

Photos by: Martijn Sandberg

My Last Penny

‘My Last Penny’ by Martijn Sandberg is available in a multiple edition, issued by the Vereniging voor Penningkunst VPK/ Dutch Art Medal Society. The art medal refers to financial crisis. ‘My Last Penny’ states that it is our last cent. What should we do with this last cent? Keep it as a memento of bankruptcy?

‘My Last Penny’ in the outstretched hand of the artist. Donation or plea? Benefaction or begging? Charity or fast-change trick? A true confession or sham poverty?

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

Related: ‘We’re Only In It For The Money‘, coin edition, 2000

Title: ‘My Last Penny’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Material: brass, perforated
Size: diameter 62mm, thickness 3mm
Concept and design: 2009
Release: 2010
Publisher: Vereniging voor Penningkunst VPK/ Dutch Art Medal Society
Production: Koninklijke Begeer, Zeist/ NL

Photo by: Tom Haartsen

Het Wapen van Lochem

A façade artwork by Martijn Sandberg graces the Lochem Town Hall. A visitor to the Town Hall sees a concrete façade relief, built into the very frontage. The emblem describes the Lochem coat of arms. It arouses an association with centuries-old banderoles and modern banners. When sunbeams illuminate it, it resembles a digital display. Legible from some positions, it encourages continued perusal from other positions.

Martijn Sandberg: “While viewing and reading the artwork, everyone literally forms his own picture of the town coat of arms based on the façade relief. The text I used and transformed into an artwork is the standard description of the Lochem arms, originating in heraldry. Anyone certain of this is invited to speak up, but it is probably unique to the artwork, and for the first time ever, that not the image but the description of the town coat of arms is on the front of a town hall.”

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

Title: ‘Het Wapen van Lochem’ (‘The Lochem Arms’)
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Gemeentehuis (Town Hall), Lochem/ NL
Material: façade relief in concrete
Measurements: (lxh) 3.10m x 6.20m
Concept and design: 2010
Realisation and installation: 2011-2012
Completion: 2013
Commissioned by: Municipality Lochem/ NL
Architect: RAU Architecten, Amsterdam

Photos by: Martijn Sandberg

Glass Fragile Handle With Care

A figuration of dots has been realized on the transparent glass of the gallery and balconies by ‘damaging’ the glass surface through sandblasting. The point raster resembles the grid of a protective plastic bubble foil. A series of letters appears within the point raster, making an unending, continuous text visible over the full length of the glass. As if pre-printed packing tape has been pasted over the façade in four strips: ‘Glass, Fagile, Handle With Care, Glass, Fragile, Handle With Care.’

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

Title: ‘Glass, Fragile, Handle With Care’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: apartment complex Stadshoven Weidevenne, Purmerend/ NL
Material: sandblasted glass
Measurements: glass gallery, railings and balconies, surface 467 m2
Concept and figuration: 2006-2007
Final design: January 2007
Built: 2007-2009
Completion: 2009
Commissioned by: Municipality Purmerend and Bouwcompagnie, Hoorn/ NL
Architect: Faro Architects/ NL

Photos by: Peter Cuypers (1), Martijn Sandberg

I Will Survive

‘I Will Survive’ is a freestanding, golden-coloured sculpture by Martijn Sandberg, in Hardenberg, the Netherlands. It is located at the Mulopad, between the building LOC and the old cemetery Nijenstede adjacent to it.

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 and imaginary conversation, site-specific sculpture ‘I Will Survive’, Mulopad, Kerkhof Nijenstede, Hardenberg.

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

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

Photos by: Martijn Sandberg (1), Axis

Pas Op! Kunst! (Watch Out! Art!)

Heralding art, as a work of art. Black and white letters flash like an alarm signal. What is going on, what’s that up there? You only see what is blinking so insistently when you look properly: ‘Watch out! Art! Watch out! Art!’
The non-stop warning sign ‘Watch out! Art!’ alerts us and stimulates questions: do you have to watch out for art? Or do you have to watch out for it in the sense of protecting it?

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

Title: ‘Pas Op! Kunst!’ (‘Watch Out! Art!’)
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Material: LED-screen, non-stop loop
Measurements (wxh): 14.4m x 4m
Realisation: 2008
Commissioned by: Museum De Paviljoens, Almere/ NL

Photos by: Allard van der Hoek

Hallo, Is Daar Iemand?

The artwork ‘Hallo, Is Daar Iemand?’ (‘Hello, Is Anybody Out There?’) by Martijn Sandberg is a free standing iron wall 4.5 metres high and 24.5 metres long, with the artwork ‘Ben Even Weg’ (‘Back Soon’), located in the district of Floriande in Hoofddorp/ NL.

While passing the artwork, a series of letters appears and disappears in the alternating of the railings of the fence over its full length. As if someone has just left a memo, a memento for ever in the trellis: ‘Hallo, is daar iemand?’ (‘Hello, is anybody out there?’)

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

Title: ‘Hallo, Is Daar Iemand?’ (‘Hello, Is Anybody Out There?’)
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Dussenstraat / Hankstraat, Floriande Hoofddorp/ NL
Material: brown coated steel, precast concrete
Measurements: (lxh) 24.5m x 4.5m
Concept and figuration: 2005
Final design: 2006
Realisation: 2006-2007
Completion: 2007
Commissioned by: Bouwfonds MAB (Municipal Building Fund MAB), Haarlem/ NL and District of Haarlemmermeer, Hoofddorp/ NL

Photos by: Allard van der Hoek, Martijn Sandberg (05)

Ben Even Weg

The artwork ‘Ben Even Weg’ (‘Back Soon’) by Martijn Sandberg is a free standing iron wall 4.5 metres high and 14.5 metres long, with the artwork ‘Hallo, Is Daar Iemand?’ (‘Hello, Is Anybody Out There?’, located in the district of Floriande in Hoofddorp/ NL.

While passing the artwork, a series of letters appears and disappears in the alternating of the railings of the fence over its full length. As if someone has just left a memo, a memento for ever in the trellis: ‘Ben even weg’ (‘Back soon’).

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

Title: ‘Ben Even Weg’ (‘Back Soon’)
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Dussenstraat / Hankstraat, Floriande Hoofddorp/ NL
Material: brown coated steel, precast concrete
Measurements: (lxh) 14.5m x 4.5m
Concept and figuration: 2005
Final design: 2006
Realisation: 2006-2007
Completion: 2007
Commissioned by: Bouwfonds MAB (Municipal Building Fund MAB), Haarlem/ NL and District of Haarlemmermeer, Hoofddorp/ NL

Photo by: Martijn Sandberg

Forever Young

‘Forever Young’ by Martijn Sandberg is a site-specific artwork integrated in the OSG Singelland College building in Drachten, The Netherlands. The artwork is in point relief on the entire facade of the curved building situated on the roofed-over central square of the school.
A universal refrain, spreading over the pavilion’s skin like a form of acne: ‘Sleep All Day, Party All Night, Forever Young, Never Grow Old’.

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

Title: ‘Forever Young’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: OSG Singelland, Van Haersmasingel 37, Drachten/ NL
Material: point relief cast, plaster
Size: circumference 49m/ height 6.5m/ surface area 270m2
Concept and design: 2003
Final design: 2004
Completion: 2005
Commissioned by: OSG Singelland, Drachten/ NL
Advice and supervision: Kunst en Bedrijf BV, Amsterdam/ NL
Also funded by: Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam/ NL
Architect: Team 4 Architects, Groningen/ NL

Photos by: Gert Jan van Rooij, Allard van der Hoek (3)

No Image No Message

It takes a second look to affirm what you thought you saw in the first place. A pattern, energetic and decorative, almost to the point of triviality – purely abstract forms repeated to produce an ornamental field.
But once you know, or see, that the ornamentation is based on letters, and that the letters form words, then the repetition acquires another quality. The single slogan becomes a chant. Over and over again, a thousand voices shout: ‘No Image No Message!’
This thin line between image and message, between meaningful sign and abstract form, is where Martijn Sandberg produces what he calls his ‘Image Messages’.

‘No Image No Message’. Art as wallpaper, wallpaper as art.

Wallpaper installation, Galerie Markus Richter, Berlin, 2002.

Title: ‘No Image No Message’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Galerie Markus Richter, Berlin
Size: wallpaper on walls, rolls 0.53m x 10m
Installation: 2002
Material: metalic silkscreen on wallpaper
Edition: ‘No Image No Message’, wallpaper

Photos by: Uwe Walter, Martijn Sandberg (3)

Forever in Stone

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.
The artist allows the stones to speak. Those who listen, hear the endless song that is written in stone: ‘Stoned Forever’, ‘Forever Stoned’, ‘Stoned Again’ and ‘Again’.

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

Title: ‘Forever in Stone’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Olympisch Kwartier (Olympic Quarter), Amsterdam/ NL
Material: steel clinkers, bricks
Measurements: brickwork (lxh) 1015m x 0.9m
Concept and design: 2001
Built: 2004-2008
Completion: 2008
Commissioned by: Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Stadsdeel Oud Zuid
Architects: Lafour & Wijk, Rudy Uytenhaak, Mulleners + Mulleners

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

Power To The People

Martijn Sandberg created a typographic figuration on aluminum panels attached to the walls of the transformer station at the Hoofddorpplein, Amsterdam.
In the dark and caused by street lighting or the headlights of passing cars, the yellow colored letters light up very brightly. After darkness falls, the work has a relationship with artificial light in its immediate surroundings and actually feeds on passers-by who make the text visible: ‘Power To The People’.

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

Title: ‘Power To The People’
Artist: Martijn Sandberg
Location: Hoofddorpplein, Amsterdam
Material: reflective material on aluminium
Size: (lxwxh) 400cm x 400cm x 342cm
Completion: 2000
Commissioned by: Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst
in collaboration with Stadsdeel Oud Zuid
Companies involved: Nuon, Amsterdam

Photos by: Luuk Kramer (1), Frank Kok (2,3)