Annechien Meier, 2008

Location: OBS De Startbaan, Böttgerwater 21, The Hague

For the school's courtyard, visual artist Annechien Meier designed twelve mobile allotments above which a plane hovers. The shadow of this plane - the ‘Tigermoth’- moves with the sun over the tightly framed Dutch landscape in the containers below.

The artwork at De Startbaan refers to the history of the school's location. Ypenburg was an airfield for sports aviation from 1936. During World War II, the airfield played an important role; after the war, glider shows and sports and commercial pilot training were held there.

In her work, Annechien Meier plays with boundaries of public space; allotments are a recurring theme. At several locations in The Hague, she has already created temporary green oases in unusual places: mobile gardens that temporarily occupy a spot on a pavement, square, pavement or highway. The pupils of the Startbaan can now garden in their own courtyard! There are twelve little gardens; large wheeled flower boxes on wheels. The plane forms a permanent canopy over the gardens. The boxes are planted with vegetables, herbs and edible flowers. The plants are kept ‘low’ so that the whole remains a perspective as if you were looking out from an aeroplane window over the characteristic, cultivated, flat Dutch landscape.