Niels van Bunningen
Throughout this year, artist Niels van Bunningen will design, create and place 10 artworks along the Walk of the Town route. The artworks will all be linked to the history of Nijmegen.
Niels says: "This project has given me the opportunity to get to know the city I already had a strong bond with a little better. This city with its strict rulers, hard-working Kaaijsjouwers and hard-drinking students. The sculptures I am going to make will be connected to locations that played a role in important events in the history of Nijmegen. This history will cover the prehistoric era, the Romans, Middle Ages, the days as a fortress city and all the steps to becoming the modern Nijmegen with its identity of tolerance and an open environment for people with different backgrounds and lifestyles.
My challenge in creating the designs of the ten sculptures was to make them as diverse as possible without diminishing the cohesive feel of the series. The tone of the sculptures varies; critical, hopeful, dramatic and funny. They should depict just enough that the viewer will be challenged to want to learn more about the story behind it.
For my materials, I chose corten and galvanised steel. To make them recognisable, the sculptures will all be made with a 2D, handmade plasma cut corten steel background and 3D sculpted elements made from galvanised steel. These industrial materials will blend in well with their surroundings: one rusty brown, and the other grey like stone.
