Love in Leeuwarden
Jaume Plensa was approached in the bid book stage for participation in 11Fountains. He visited Leeuwarden for the first time in August 2014, where he met the mayor, some of the aldermen and the Director of Urban Development. It resulted in the invitation to the artist to think about the complete redevelopment of the area in front of the station and to have the fountain designed by him as a defining part of it.
By already involving Plensa in the development phase of the urban redevelopment, this busy and formerly chaotic area is turned into a clear, directional entrance to the city with Plensa’s Love fountain as the inescapable centrepiece.
The fountain is seven metres …
Love in Leeuwarden
Jaume Plensa was approached in the bid book stage for participation in 11Fountains. He visited Leeuwarden for the first time in August 2014, where he met the mayor, some of the aldermen and the Director of Urban Development. It resulted in the invitation to the artist to think about the complete redevelopment of the area in front of the station and to have the fountain designed by him as a defining part of it.
By already involving Plensa in the development phase of the urban redevelopment, this busy and formerly chaotic area is turned into a clear, directional entrance to the city with Plensa’s Love fountain as the inescapable centrepiece.
The fountain is seven metres high and consists of two white heads of a boy and a girl resting on an oval-shaped, black plateau. Their faces are turned towards each other but their eyes are closed. Both facial expressions are serene, almost meditative. “They’re dreaming”, says Plensa. “For children, the future is a dream full of promises.”
Plensa got his inspiration for the mist fountain when he saw the early morning mist over the Frisian fields. “In Friesland”, he said, “water comes out of the ground.” That’s why a two-metre high cloud of mist hangs around the children's heads, in which the visitor can wander around. The area around the fountain invites you to sit and enjoy that part of the city with its flowers and old trees. And then wander further into the beautiful city.
