Secret Operation 610
Former NATO airbase Soesterberg
When aircraft Shelter 610 opens its ruthless doors, a monstrous black behemoth slowly comes driving out. The object revives the mysterious atmosphere of the Cold War and its accompanying terrifying weaponry. At an almost excruciatingly slow pace, the artwork uses its caterpillar tracks to cross the seemingly infinite runway. Due to this brutal object's constantly changing position in the serene landscape, it allows the visitor to experience the area and the history of the military airbase in new ways.
The mobile sculpture and shelter 610 are perfect spaces for research, experiment and innovation for groups coming from various disciplines. The unconventional combination of nature and Cold War history offers an exciting environment for the development of knowledge about nature, technology and aviation.
Data
Clients: Vrede van Utrecht, Province of Utrecht, SKOR
Design & Concept: RAAAF | Studio Frank Havermans
Team: Frank Havermans, Ronald & Erik Rietveld, Arna Mačkić
Construction & Coordination: Koos Schaart Adventures
Location: Soesterberg Air Base
Status: Realisation, 2013
Film: Moving Films
Photography: Michiel de Cleene, Raymond Rutting
Special thanks to: Koos Schaart, Ella Derksen, Koen van Oort, Jigme Radovic, Anne Mauch, Willeke Evenhuis, Feike de Jong, Edwin van der Zanden, Arjan Zandbergen, Hugo Hendrickx, Francois Lombarts, David Habets, Aisha Fouad, Janno Martens, Tomm Velthuis, Erik Rietveld, Creative Industries Fund NL and NWO
Quotes from reviews
Aaron Betsky - The Journal of the American Institute of Architects, 2013
"Mobile Sculpture Memorializes American Air Force Base Defensive structures reminiscent of mid-century war technology offer new landscape perspectives."
Freunde von Freunden
“Experiments In Spatial Dynamics” “A monstrous arthropod made out of steel with two spindly legs stares vacuously out of its white glassy eyes. Every attempt to name this mechanical being fails, it merely appears as a collision of past and future—science fiction in flesh and blood.”
Metropolis Magazine NYC - New Talent issue 2015
"For Secret Operation 610, the team built a gigantic robot in an abandoned hangar, its acute angles and sinister forms taking cues from Cold War–era military design.... In the end, the genius of RAAAF is in its strategic interventions that, though small, invite viewers to imagine a completely different way of living."
The Architectural Review, 2013
"RAAAF unveiled its Secret Operation 610. This proved to be another meditation on defence, its impact on the landscape and its possible futility against overwhelming odds. Again, it is hard to know quite what to make of this RAAAF project, and yet there is something strangely thrilling in the sight of the most unexpected think-tank studio you will ever have encountered emerging on caterpillar tracks − in the guise of some monstrous Cold War warrior, Captain Condor space vehicle, or giant mechanical crow − from an abandoned F-15 military jet interceptor hangar at Soesterberg airbase."
Volkskrant
“Insect op rupsbanden” “Met hun kunstwerk stellen de makers leegstaand erfgoed ter discussie”
NRC Handelsblad
"Als in een geheimzinnige filmscène, zo openden afgelopen vrijdag de deuren van een hangar op vliegbasis Soesterberg."
