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Since Egyptian antiquity art, science and
spirituality were the foundation of culture and could not be considered
separately. The organization of 'Art meets Science and Spirituality' sets
as its main goal the reunion of these categories. For that purpose it
organized a symposium mainly in the Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam, where
artist, scientist and spiritual leaders of great renown met and where an
audience could watch the fruit of their conversation. This congress took
place in the summer of 1990.
Weteringschans 10 was to become the permanent address
and the office space was remodeled in 1989. Plans were made from the
beginning of that year and gradually executed. The project has a central
core with kitchen and working-space for a secretary, which is covered with
a canopy. On top of this roof a model is placed, that was meant for an
adobe pavilion. This pavilion was going to be built on the Museumplein in
Amsterdam as part of the manifestation and was to be used to locate a part
of the symposium and other activities. The German mud-house specialist
Klaus Eckert made the design among others. Although the project wasn't
realized, the model could be well viewed, even from below, since the
canopy has an opening in its center.
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From the beginning of the project it was clear, that
the walls were going to be plastered with a mud plaster. Existing walls
were meticulously cleaned of cement-based plaster and covered with a thick
layer of mud plaster. The mixture for this was made on site and clay put
together with sand and fine cut straw. An old workman, who saw no
difficulty in plastering inside corners of walls and ceiling in a round
fashion, did the actual plastering. "Yes, with a milk-bottle,"
was his response to such request. The walls of the natural earth color
were painted white upon request of the client Louwrien Wijers, the
instigator of the 'Art meets...' project and promoter of earth
architecture. This painting, as the other painting of the project, was
done with natural paints, so to allow the earth-plaster to breath. |
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