It was supposed to be a tree-house, but when the size and form became definite, the chances of finding a suitable tree in the Netherlands looked next to impossible. We subsequently built legs under it, which made it into something of a UN peacekeeper, or command post. The thing disappeared into my own back garden, also known at that time as the company garden, never to reappear, I thought.
Recently, the Temporary Museum was opened in Amsterdam, in the former Shell head office on the IJ. I was asked if the recycled wood cabinet and steel tree-house from the waste project could be included in the exhibition, in keeping with the theme of sustainable art. A giant crane was needed to haul the colossus from its place and through the plants in the overgrown garden, but it all went smoothly. The museum opened a couple of days later, and the steel object was displayed, towering proudly above a huge crowd, with as crowning glory a number of children on top. The tree-house was not repainted, since everyone thought it was beautiful just as it was.
When the tree-house comes home, we will place it next to the little steel house which already stands here, and maybe we’ll add a tower and a look-out post; a kind of waste material bridgehead for the future in case everything goes really wrong with the world.
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