International collaborative project SkyRocket

SKYrocket is the title of the proposal for the project stemmed from the cooperation of Norbert Francis Attard (Malta) with the Dutch artist duo VanGerven|VanRijnberk (Netherlands) for a work in situ in Genk and is incorporated as a Parallel Event in Manifesta-9.

Intervention

The artists want to gold coat the elevator tower of the Waterschei mine, an important heritage monument of the Belgian Limburg mining region. The intervention symbolizes the versatility and multi layered significance of this special historical monument.

 Manifesta, European’s Biennial of Contemporary Art which now for the ninth time, every two years alights in a different region of Europe. In 2012 Manifesta,  makes its camp in the Limburg mining region. To be more precise in the former mine building at Waterschei, Genk Belgium.

 Gold symbolizes purity assigns special value and reflects importance. Objects are made of gold, monuments are decorated with gold and building are depicted in gold, to express their importance.

Symbol of heritage

Then it is the elevator tower which towers above everything visible everywhere, the symbol for the mining and the mining of the ‘black gold’ that took place here earlier in Waterschei. The high rising elevator tower is the iconic symbol for the mining industry of the ‘blackgold’.

 Then is there the constant demand for energy, with coal still essential it price will rise. Was it the coal in the previous century, that brought  prosperity to the mining region of Genk. By this increasing demand, the price of mineral coal will still rapid and substantial increase, where the English phrase and verb “to skyrocket” stands for.

 With no coal left to harvest, the Waterschei region has to rely on mirroring the importance of this heritage out of its recent past, to attract new activities to prosper again.

 The SKYrocket project announce the works to mark the elevator tower in gold as the iconic symbol of the region. The project uses billboards and large printed canvasses.
Note: This idea, its depictions and translated artefacts, are legally copyright protected and registered with File Reg.com

SkyRocket has landed

In expo Mainifesta 9
30.05 – 30.09.2012
Waterschei Genk, Belgium

Side-event:
16.06 – 29.07.2012
Iedereen-GenkTilburg-je-bent-er
SEA’s Project Space, Tilburg Netherlands