Bust for the Vishoek – Anne Wenzel (2018)

The A-quarter in the city has been redesigned. The area around Hoekstraat and Vishoek needed to become attractive again after the disappearance of window prostitution. Conviviality, small-scale and neighbourhood feeling were the starting points. A piece of street art was part of these plans. For this reason the CBK, in consultation with residents and the municipality, asked the artist Anne Wenzel (Schüttorf, Germany, 1972) to come up with some suggestions. Wenzel, who mainly makes ceramic sculptures, chose a female bust on a victory column. Wenzel about her artwork: “The women who determined – and still determine – the image of the A-quarter, will likely not have names that will go down in history. For them, a monument is rarely placed. But this does not mean that they are not important. Quite the contrary, in fact. Sometimes it’s the small, everyday actions that are more important to society than the big, publicised actions that become world news. I want to erect a monument for this woman, as a tribute.”

In order to do full justice to her idea, Wenzel chose a centuries-old theme in sculpture: a bust on a victory column. Victory, or memorial, columns, are erected to commemorate an important event or person, and are intended to make an impression and last forever. The columns are always topped with a statue of the person being honoured: in this case, it’s womankind. She is also referring to the former window prostitution: “You can’t ignore the history of the place,” says Wenzel, “so I do refer to the prostitute with the bust.” The work of art on the Vishoek, behind café De Sleutel, is called Beeld voor de Vishoek (Bust for the Vishoek). Wenzel hopes that her work of art will eventually be renamed, at least colloquially if not officially.