I am contacting ‘Straatnieuws’  (‘Street News) , a monthly Utrecht newspaper sold by homeless people to generate a little income. Hope to interest them in my Hoog Catherijne project. I like their approach and would love to see my intervention at Jaarbeursplein come back to the street via their  newspaper.

To inform them of my plans I wrote a press release – a first for me.  It is – of course – in Dutch, will give the translated version here:

Playing  the City
Artist critical about Hoog Catherijne redevelopment plans

Expodium, platform for young art in Utrecht, has had its critical eye trained on the redevelopment plans for Hoog Catherijne and the Utrecht Central Station area  for a number of years now.  They challenge – in cooperation with MaHKU – young artists to do playful interventions in the area to comment on the plans for redevelopment.

One of these artists is Everdien Breken. She lives elsewhere, but works in Utrecht and goes to school there. She knows Hoog Catherijne as a traverse between the station and the city. A building complex that she has a lot of questions about.  She sees Hoog Catherijne as  “a caricature of itself and of the city.”

Corio, the owner, calls the new Hoog Catharijne ‘a city center’:  “It will get a social function as well, a city atmosphere, with room for  public squares,  restaurants with outdoor seating, street musicians.  A mall where consumers can feel that they are in a real city.”

Everdien has been interested in city playgrounds for a while, places where young and old can meet. Will the renovated Hoog Catherijne, apart from piazza’s and patio’s, have places where kids can play while parents meet and talk?  Her expectations are not high.

This is why she will install a -very temporary – playground at Jaarbeursplein this coming  June. Where children can play and adults sit in the sun. Where consumers can slow down. Using very simple means she will make a statement against the monoculture that will permeate the new Hoog Catherijne as well as the old.