Applied artwork for the Selwerd pumping station
Art commissions for companies
Client: municipality of Groningen
At the same time as renovations began at the Selwerd sewage pumping station, the commissioned a work of art as well. The commission: give the building a more expressive appearance; make what happens inside visible on the outside.
Emerging artist Ingeborg Entrop was given this commission. Artist Ingeborg Entrop made the sound of the pumps in the building visible through her work by applying the words ”TSHP” (sucking in) and ”PSHT” (flowing out) in black and white on to the roof. Entrop: “In my design, I made the underground, invisible pumping sound visible by translating it into letters. I then ‘pumped’ this written sound from the basement to the highest point of the building: on to the roof. Vertical lines have been applied to the side walls, the width and colour of which are determined by the letter pattern on the roof.
In order to be able to fully read the work, you also have to get yourself, as a spectator, higher: you’ll have to ‘pump up’. You can do this, for example, by climbing the stairs of the nearby Noorderstation. This can be done virtually too: via your own imagination or — soon enough — via satellite images on the Internet.’