boatshed / burgum - MaartendeReus

BOATSHED / BURGUM
In 2016 I designed a sculpture to be placed next to an aqueduct close to the village of Burgum in Friesland in the north
of Holland. Herdrik Bulthuis lived in Burgum. He was a hairdresser and in his spare time he built sailing boats in the shed
behind his house. Two of these boats, the ‘BM’ and the ‘16m2’,
became famous ‘build-it-yourself’ boats and are now Classes
in the world of competitive sailing. The aqueduct bears his
name and the project brief was for the sculpture to refer to
this piece of history in one way or another.
Maarten de Reus - Scheepstimmermanstraat 124 /1019 WZ Amsterdam - 06 24249422 - [email protected]
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BOATSHED / BURGUM
REFERENCES
Some pictures of Hendrik Bulthuis and his shed still remain. One can see him in action sailing and watch him in the process of
building the first prototypes of his now world famous sailing boats.
The boats are still being built and restored to this day. There are many technical drawings circulating on the web as well as
online forums describing tips and tricks on how to achieve the most elegant build solutions.
The ‘do-it-yourself’ mentality is not reserved solely for constructing the boats. Like Hendrik Bultuis himself, many people also
build the sheds in which the boats are built. Once you like building things it never really stops. It becomes a way of life, an interface with the world, an attitude for getting things done.
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BOATSHED / BURGUM
A SHED
The main drive behind the commission for this sculpture was a sense of ‘location’. The aqueduct gets its name from Hendrik
Bulthuis, who lived nearby. But if the idea of ‘location’ is central to the sculpture, then his shed must be included in this ‘sense
of place’. The boats were not invented and realized ‘in the village’ but in his dinghy shed. With that in mind I began by making a
3D model of the shed based on surviving pictures.
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BOATSHED / BURGUM
A BOAT
Then the focus shifted to the BM boat itself. Based on the available drawings and photographs I built a 3D model of a section of
the boat to show the principle elements of its construction. Half a boat - half way through the job.
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BOATSHED / BURGUM
FIRST DRAWINGS
The notion of someone having an idea in a shed, the boat in a shed, a boat hovering over the shed like an idea, like a cartoon text
balloon. The permanent activity of building, the never-ending process of making, mending and adjusting both the boat and the shed.
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BOATSHED / BURGUM
SCULPTURE
The drawings delivered an almost prefab-like notion of the sculpture. In the wide-open landscape with very few reference points
there is a play with scale: the shed is a smaller version of itself, the boat a much larger one. The shed becomes a pedestal.
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BOATSHED / BURGUM
SCULPTURE
It is a simple gesture: there is a shed under permanent construction and a boat in a similar state. It is simple because this is a
‘drive-by’ sculpture, which will be seen whilst travelling at around 130 kilometers per hour for about 15 seconds only.
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BOATSHED / BURGUM
IN SITU
The sculpture sits on the left bank of the aqueduct. Small buildings are not unusual near bridges and tunnel entries. The proximity of the concrete stairs (for maintenance of the tunnel entry) gives the placement some feeling of purpose.
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BOATSHED / BURGUM
CARVIEW
These are two views from a car driver’s perspective. Since the road sinks into the landscape as it approaches the aqueduct, the
backdrop of the sculpture is only sky. Thus it becomes almost like a drawing with nothing to interfere with its lines.
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