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THE WORKERS THRONES
2012
STADSKANAAL, HOLLAND
3 X 3,50 METER
STEEL

The sculpture The Worker’s Thrones shows three wheelbarrows that are placed upright around a pile of peat. In the Stadskanaal community these wheelbarrows were used in the peat winning to carry freshly dug pieces of peat to a place to dry them. A man picked the peat with a special fork to put it on the wheelbarrow. Then another man changed a full wheelbarrow for an empty one and carried his load with 12 or 16 pieces of peat to the place to dry them in a row pile. By capsizing the wheelbarrow who had no sidebars aside all pieces of peat landed in the right place and direction on the ground for drying. The sculpture’s pile of peat refers to that. In the positioning of the artwork the wheelbarrows are put up, to let them form thrones. This positioning aims to honor all those people that worked in the ancient peat winning thus creating the birth of the community of Stadskanaal. At the same time the artwork has an immediate appeal to children and water recreants, who can climb and sit on it. By its historical context this monumental artwork shows a pleasant character containing an impressive background story.