Shards Bring Good Luck (Scherven brengen geluk - 14 parts)

About this artwork.

After complaints about an unsafe athmosphere at and around the Noorderstation, in around 1995 the municipality of Groningen and the Dutch Railways decided to renovate the station and its surroundings. As part of this, Hans van Bentem created a piece of art made of ceramic shards for the passageway underneath the Noorderstation.
 
Shards Bring Good Luck consists of 14 concrete slabs 1.5 metres square. On each slab, shards in patterns are incorporated as mosaics. In the middle of the panels are handmade ceramic objects by the artist.

Van Bentem was inspired by the world of Anne de Ruijter de Wildt, the sociology student who was murdered at the Noorderstation in 1997. The ceramic objects (including peace signs and hearts) express the “naive, positive view of a girl who wanted to change the world”, according to the artist. The shards that Anne de Ruijter de Wildt collected during her lifetime – in order to make a mosaic of them – were incorporated into the sculpture by the artist.

The local residents of the Noorderstation also contributed to creating the mosaics. They provided a massive quantity of shards – from mugs, plates, saucers and tiles – which were also used by Van Bentem in the panels. As a thank you, the local residents were given a tile designed by the artist with the text: scherven brengen geluk.

Facts & Figures.

• Design
  Hans van Bentem

• District
  Korrewegwijk & De Hoogte

• Year of creation
  2000

• Art type
  Art in / on a building, Mosaic

• Material
  Ceramics

• Dimensions
  h 1,50 x b 1,50 m