Quotes from reviews and juries - download full PDF >>>
Selected press quotations, jury statements and review excerpts
Quotes from reviews Vacant NL, Venice Biennale 2010
The New York Times
“Another highlight is the Dutch Pavilion. The makers of the installation [...use] cheeky math to introduce their striking research into vacant state-owned buildings in the Netherlands. Every one of the more than 10,000 empty buildings was rebuilt as a miniature blue foam model and suspended from the pavilion’s double-height ceiling. The curators […] propose to develop a strategy for temporary use, to make these buildings available to the public, particularly to the creative industries on which the Dutch government is banking its future prosperity.”
The Wall Street Journal
“The Dutch, Japanese and French national entries each examine the notion of the void in modern cities. The Netherlands pavilion does it in the most straightforward manner, simply pointing out that the building lies empty for almost nine months of the year. As you enter an empty room, there is a suspended blue foam ceiling that, when one proceeds to the upper level, turns out from above to be a model of a city. It provides a neat visual example of the percentage of empty space in European urban spaces.”
The Guardian
"The Dutch present models of empty buildings highlighting the gormless enormity of architectural waste; how we concrete over anywhere we can for short-term gain, while governments prattle on about sustainability and building shortages."
Metrpolis Magazine NYC
"RAAAF often presents these ideas in confrontational ways. For example, Vacant NL, the Dutch pavilion at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale, was composed of 10,000 models of government-owned vacant structures, making clear the magnitude of idle property in a nation facing an ever-present housing shortage....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.“
Deltawerk //
De Standaard - Belgium
"Is art meant to last forever? The colossal Delta Works // in the Dutch Waterloopbos impressively demonstrate that this is not the case. And what about the eternal value of human beings?"
Metropolis Magazine NYC
"Hardcore Heritage": RAAAF Reveals Its Latest Experiment in Historical Preservation
An experiential approach to Land art in Flevoland [pdf] (by Anja Novak, historian of modern and contemporary art)
"With Deltawerk // and the demolition of the Delta flume that it involved, they invite visitors to rethink their trust in existing technology, face its fallibility and open up to radicallydifferent possibilities for the future."
Destination Art - Amy Dempsey
A ‘new’ industrial ruin has been turned into a powerful artwork whichis thought-provoking, intense and beautiful. The water entwines and reflects the interactions of the viewer, the sculpture and the landscape.
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