...... My speciality as a visual artist is in large-scale multimedia projects aimed at a wide audience. In practice, this means that I do all of the work involved in an idea/concept, from the first, gentle pencil stroke, to hammering in the last nail, and everything in between. Giving shape to ideas, sketching, feasibility studies, finding funds from commissioning bodies, sponsors and subsidising authorities, putting together a team to realise the project, supervising its implementation, dealing with the press/media, designing brochures, organising television coverage, etc. Such projects usually have a production period of around two years. My work doesn't fit inside the classical conceptual framework of The Visual Arts: painting, sculpture, etc...

One of the most significant features of my work is the fact that it is aimed at a large, and broad, audience. Less obvious, but just as important, is that I attempt to structure my work in several layers. Content, image and technology are all equally important, and have equal attention paid to them. This allows different sections of the public to experience different aspects of a project. So, for example, professional and amateur cultural observers will offer a commentary on the conceptual side of a project, while artists and designers will often have more eye for the visual aspects. Specialists will enjoy the technical artifices. In addition, I always attempt to offer some spectacle for a wider audience.

Another feature of my work is that the entire 'builing process' is at least as important as the final image. I force this upon myself by setting a seemingly impossible goal for myself, which shifts a great deal of emphasis towards the process itself. Take Maerten in Cyberspace, for instance, a project which meant transporting an enormous triptych over the Internet from the Netherlands to Sweden, to rematerialise it again there. Or take Koloss, a two week long ritual, in which an entire seagoing ship, all 40 tons of steel, was dismantled and transported from A to B, to be reassembled again. Things could have been much easier. Or take the imagery which surrounded the National Gift To The Sea. The process, lasting a year, and filled with ritual images and deeds, was at least as interesting as the end result, the sacrificial statue, or the way in which it finally disappeared into the North Sea.

This is how I continually offer ways for spectators to get to grips with my projects, at myriad different levels. And watch, as the barriers between the visual arts, theatre, technology and design disintegrate.....

Alkmaar, November 1997

SUBSIDIES - COMMISSIONS - PURCHASES

1986
Subsidies:
- Anjerfonds (Carnation Fund)
- The Artists Support Fund

1987
Subsidies:
- Bergen Municipal Council
- Toer-in Noord-Holland
- Province of North Holland
- Baron de Vos van Steenwijk Fund
- The Artists Support Fund

1988
Subsidies:
- Anjerfonds (Carnation Fund)
- Summer Stamps
- BPBK Noord-Holland
- Toer-in Noord-Holland (North Holland Tourist Agency)
- Province of North Holland
- Baron de Vos van Steenwijk Fund
- The Artists Support Fund
- Fund For Visual Arts, Design and Architecture

1989
Subsidies:
- Anjerfonds (Carnation Fund)
- Ministry of Health, Welfare and Cultural Affairs
- BPBK Noord-Holland
- Toer-in Noord-Holland (North Holland Tourist Agency)
- Province of North Holland
- North Holland Theatre Fund
- The Artists Support Fund

1991
Subsidie:
- Fund For Visual Arts, Design and Architecture

1992
Subsidies:
- The doors and bread buyers of the CARGO foundation
- Toer-in Noord-Holland (North Holland Tourist Agency)
- Province of North Holland

1994
Purchases:
- Hoorn City Council
- St. Rondom Alkmaar
Commission:
- Private Groningen
Subsidy:
- Fund For Visual Arts, Design and Architecture

1995
Commissions:
- Amsterdam City Council
- Culemborg Municipal Council

1996
Purchase:
- St. Beheer Grote Kerk Alkmaar (Management Fund Grote Kerk, Alkmaar)
Subsidies:
- Alkmaar City Council
- Linköping Municipal Council (Sweden)

1998
Purchase:
- Hoorn City Council

1999
Subsidy:
- Fund For Visual Arts, Design and Architecture
Commission:
- Diepenheim Art Society

2000
Subsidies:
- Prince Bernhard Culture Fund
- Multikabel (cable television compagny)