Pioneers

The provinces of Groningen and Drenthe have joined forces to build a fast-transit cycling route between Assen and Groningen: the Groene As. The route is twenty-seven kilometers long and runs alongside the Noord-Willemskanaal. Artistic elements have also been incorporated. After a preliminary design phase, the plan by artist Marjet Wessels Boer selected. She designed four signs, two in Drenthe and two in Groningen. Esther Didden spoke with Marjet Wessels Boer. 

The art commission stemmed from the green ambitions of both provinces. This through-route not only encourages but also makes it possible to bike to work or school. The distance between Groningen and Assen is just under thirty kilometers—a distance you can cover in an hour and a half on an e-bike or in about an hour on a speed pedelec. That’s faster than driving during the morning rush hour. The Green Axis It has more advantages: as a cyclist, you have the right of way at most intersections, there are few traffic lights, and—so they promise—they’ll spread grit as soon as the roads get slippery. What’s more, at four meters wide, the route is quite spacious. And then there’s the chance to encounter art along the way. It sounds pretty ideal. 

The art assignment took Wessels Boer back to her own childhood. As a high school student, she rode her bike every day from Beilen to Hoogeveen. It was quite a long ride. She rode to school and back home in a small group. She remembers that it was a boring stretch of road, with no markers along the way, so they made up their own. “The landmarks we made up served as relay points,” she explains. “The riders at the front, who took the brunt of the wind, were allowed to move to the back of the group there to catch their breath.” Especially during the quieter stretches of the route, she would lose herself in her thoughts. Cycling came naturally, and insights and ideas swirled through her head. “Traveling from A to B is also a journey in your mind,” she says. With these childhood memories in mind, she set to work on a design. 

Traveling from A to B is also a journey in your mind

In addition to the requirement that the artworks be placed along a cycling route, there were other requirements as well. The artwork had to consist of four parts; the clients themselves had selected four locations they considered most suitable for an artwork. Namely, De Lonerbult (Assen), the Onlandweg (Tynaarlo), the Meenrueg loading and unloading dock (Haren), and along the stretch from Ketwich Verschuurlaan to Haren P+R. Unfortunately, the locations are not evenly distributed along the route, and as sites for artwork, they are not all equally suitable. That’s a shame, but both provinces are contributing equally to the artwork, which means each province will receive two pieces. Most of the bike path’s kilometers are in Drenthe, where the two works are nicely spaced apart, while in Groningen they are close together. That’s just how it works. Wessels Boer takes a pragmatic view of the situation but does find it unfortunate that they weren’t allowed to choose the locations for the signs themselves. 

She designed four signs that, from a distance, resemble large traffic signs, yet are different. “They’re dynamic. As cyclists move through the landscape, not only does a play of colors and an optical illusion emerge, but the artworks and the landscape also constantly form new images.” If you look closely while cycling, you’ll discover a different color palette on the front and back of the artworks. The layering of colors changes the visual experience depending on the direction in which you’re cycling. According to Wessels Boer, this visual shift emphasizes that every bike ride has its own unique character. Signs normally indicate a clear direction. On your way there or back, you often reflect on your day. That’s what these signs are about: reflecting on your day, viewing it from different angles, and recognizing that there are different directions. Although the entire bike path has not yet been completed, the section that is already in place is well used. De Groene As fulfills a need. And all those thousands of cyclists who travel (part of) the route every day see The Vaartmakers. 

Because of the layering of colors, the visual experience changes depending on the direction in which you’re cycling.

The artworks are five meters tall and therefore vandal-proof. The original commission specified that the artworks should say something about the surroundings, but that is precisely what Wessels Boer did not do. “After a day’s work, you’re not in the mood for a historical story,” was her argument. She doesn’t completely ignore the specific characteristics of the locations; the colors of the immediate surroundings are reflected in the work, and as a result, each piece is different. How colors blend from a distance—that’s something that fascinates her. Emilie Coopmans, columnist at Haren Newspaper At least she understood that; she wrote: “Then my eye fell on the biggest sign. A blue one on two poles. I’d never seen one like that before. As I got closer, the color even changed—from blue to green, yellow, and red. It was really beautiful; it was just like a chameleon.”