Woensel Supertoll!

Description

The history of "Woensel Supertoll! leads back to the summer of 2013. Artist Tijs Rooijakkers wanted to collaborate with the award-winning rapper Fresku (Roy Reymound, Eindhoven, 1986) in the semi-outdoor space of the Van Abbemuseum called Het Oog (The Eye). The theme of your own strength, finding your flow and creating a work with that flow is deeply rooted in the work of both artists. Fresku, which is Papiamento for 'cheeky', is a storyteller with sharp observations, humor and a reflective, critical eye. He wrote texts about personal motives and ambitions on the semi-circular wall of Het Oog, covered with wooden slats. These wooden slats were then steamed by Rooijakkers and bent into an enormous spinning top. A time-lapse by motion graphic studio OddOne was made of the work process and used in Fresku's video clip "WILSKR8" (willpower).

Subsequently, the project moved to the area Woensel. Under the title "Woensel Supertoll!", Rooijakkers went here to organize master classes and workshops, together with Fresku, social design collective Tante Netty and local neighbourhood and welfare organizations. They invited local residents to formulate their own motives and ambitions on Rooijakkers' slats. With this he created large wooden clusters spread across the neighborhood. Ultimately, a permanent sculpture was erected in the middle of Woensel; a ‘supertol’ (super spinning top) covered in handwritten texts by both Fresku and local residents.

With the project, Rooijakkers wanted to build a bridge between the museum and the city, between art and urban culture and between residents and their living environment. The artist explains: "The spinning-top is a symbol of the will, power and passion of mankind. Once a top is spinning, it supersedes gravity.’’ With the project in Woensel, he won the Eindhoven Culture Prize 2017.

In 2019 the work returned to the Van Abbemuseum. Using slats from "Supertoll!" and "Woensel Supertoll!", Rooijakkers developed a theatrical installation in the 25-meter high tower of the Van Abbemuseum. A large part of this installation has been acquired by the museum with support of the Mondrian Fund. The cluster of slats and the spinning top can be presented separately in the future. , , ,

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