Nébulose Mécanique [VI]

In the summer of 2024 Fondation Constant started consistenly documented works in the archive that had not been located yet. One of these works was Nébulose Mécanique [VI], created in 1958. Shown in several exhibitions and catalogs the sixties, the current location of this sculpture was a mystery.

Until we found an article on Deplher from Nieuwsblad van het Noorden [6 Nov 1974] clearly showing the object. The article reports how in 1974 the sculpture was donated by contractor, the Amsterdamse Aannemings Maatschappij, to celebrate the opening of the newly built Biological Center in Haren part of National University of Groningen (RuG).

Extatic about this lead, we contacted the staff of the museum collection of the University of Groningen. Weeks after our e-mail, Jan Waling Huisman, depot manager of the university museum, called our director Kim; he had not been able to find the sculpture in the archives, nor at the original location, which was now called Biotoop Groningen, a creative breeding ground housing a collective of artists and small businesses [inspired by New Babylon maybe?].

Then on November 5th as Kim was creating an Instagram post to ask people online for help locating the object, Jan called. He was standing next to it right then and there.

After the sculpture was donated to the Biology Center in Haren in 1974, it was on show in the air bridge in the Biology building on Kerklaan in Haren. It was visible from both from the start of the foot bridge and from reception. It resided there till 2010 when the department moved to a new location, Linneausborg. In the pandemonium of the move the sculpture was left behind. When Professor Anita Buma went back to the building to pick up some equipment it was already inhabited by anti-squat groups, she saw the sculpture and arranged for it to be moved to the new location. It was only later that she found out who the artist was. Had it not been for the intervention of Professor A.G.J. Buma Nébulose Mécanique [VI] may have ended up on the scrapheap.

The sculpture is on show in Linneausborg. In 2021 a commemorate plaque was added, dedicated to Professor A.G.J. Buma, who with her work on ecophysiology of marine microalgae is not just saving the planet but also the arts. Professor Buma coincidentally was also the first female researcher on Antartica.

It is with much gratitude to Jan Waling, who decided that shortly before his retirement this was a quest worthy of his time and Anita Buma for her keen eye and her decisive action. It goes to show how much our work relies on passionate people, willing to lend a hand.