In the early 1960s, artist Ad Dekkers (1938-1974) gained fame for his thorough investigation of the plane, form and line. His name is still associated with the avant-garde art of the 1960s and 1970s.
Fifty years after his death, as a tribute, a work by him has been realized in his hometown of Nieuwpoort. It is eight meters high, weighs 30,000 kilos and its title is From prism to cylinder. Dekker made his design out of wood in 1971. With the note "design for concrete. It stayed there, until now. A reason for Esther Didden to talk to Gerard van den Berg and Erik Luermans of Heritage Association Heemschut, who were involved in the project as consultants.
All photos accompanying this article: © Norbert van Onna
Van den Berg and Luermans know Dekkers' oeuvre well. Several years ago, they campaigned for the reinstatement of Dekkers' work Tile Relief, which he made in 1971, commissioned by the then MTS in Gouda. The work was part of the atrium and students sat and walked on it. The work had to give way at some point due to expansion of the school. Tile Relief consists of 30×30 cm pavers, with no bevelled edge, fired white throughout and enclosed with concrete banding. The relief follows a pattern of stacking to eight tiles and then counting down to one, both on the outside and toward the center. The tiles form a rectangle of 30 by 60 tiles and has a total dimension of 9 by 18 feet.
Van den Berg and Luermans felt that this extraordinary monumen-tal work of art deserved a new place, and actively searched for another location and new client. Finally, and this was a process of years, in the spring of 2019 the
artwork rebuilt in the Mien Ruyspark in Bergeijk. Not just any park: Gerrit Rietveld designed the former factory of weaving mill De Ploeg and garden architect Mien Ruys designed the green area around it. Now Bruns, developer and producer of exhibitions, is in the building and this company offered the tile relief a place in the park.
This colossal work of 400 meters long and about four meters high had to give way due to the recent major renovation.
Also, the artwork Helix - a national monument - by Alfred Eikelenboom (1936-2014) has ended up in the park. Eikelenboom created the work in 1990 for the courtyard of the Army Museum in Delft. This museum dissolved in 2013 and the work was stored. For a long time, no suitable location seemed to be found. Van den Berg and Luermans sprang into action and once again found an ally in Bruns. In 2025, the last work of art to be added was the fencing that enclosed the first floor of the Nederlandse Bank in Amsterdam, by Peter Struycken. This colossal work of 400 meters long and about four meters high also had to give way due to the recent major renovation. With a large part of it, Struycken is developing an entirely new work of art.
With all this experience under their belt, Van den Berg and Luermans were logically approached by Stichting Vestingstad Nieuwpoort to advise them on the construction of From prism to cylinder. The work is made of concrete, eight meters high and the side of the triangle is two meters at the base. The work consists of four parts with one corner falling off each time to arrive at a circular shape. At the top, the diameter of the cylinder is just over one meter.
Photo: © Norbert van Onna
"Dekkers made many drawings and models in which he wanted to make visible the coherence and at the same time the tension in changes of form." says Luermans. Several associative preliminary studies served as sources for this newly constructed work of art. "There was also a direct example," adds Van den Berg, "which is a model Dekkers made in 1971 also titled From prism to cylinder". Both appreciated the tremendous efforts of the foundation, led by gallery owners Ilona Visser and Leo Cox. Ad Dekkers' son Daniel Dekkers and Peter Struycken were also closely involved in the creation.
Ad Dekkers has created a limited number of artworks for outdoor space, which is remarkable because many of his sketches and studies lend themselves perfectly to execution. He conceived them primarily in an urban context but both the current location of Tile Relief as those of From prism to cylinder, which stands along the river, blend extremely beautifully and as a matter of course into a scenic environment.
Several associative preliminary studies served as sources for this newly constructed artwork
From prism to cylinder is a wonderful tribute to Ad Dekkers, agree Van den Berg and Luermans. He spent his youth there, among the primeval Dutch landscape with meadows, farms and the river. It is great that a work of his can now be seen in his birthplace, it shows once again that the interest and admiration for his oeuvre is still great.
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