Gulliver’s Collections
Photo: Pet van de Luijtgaarden
Gulliver
Photo: Pet van de Luijtgaarden
In collaboration with Centraal Museum and media-art platform DROPSTUFF.nl, artist and photographer Pet van de Luijtgaarden is organizing an interactive mega-summer exposition in the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht.
Lain across the Jaarbeurs floor is Gulliver, the main character of Jonathan Swift’s famous novel, tied down by the tiny people of ‘Lilliput’: the visitors of the exhibition. Gulliver’s body, measuring 100 meters long and 50 meters wide, will be built from crates and scaffolding material. The ‘baggage’ accumulated along his travels is shown on top: hundreds of different collections from Pet van de Luijtgaarden, Centraal Museum, but also from visitors themselves. Any proud collector wanting to share their unique collection with a large audience can join the expo [in Dutch].
Materialism and beauty
The man behind the plan, Pet van de Luijtgaarden, is a collector of collections. His collections include 40,000 lighters, 600 Barbie dolls and 1,500 caps. With this exhibition, Pet wants to open our eyes to the vast amount of things that we surround ourselves with, and the extent to which we are attached to them. At the same time, he is showing the intrinsic beauty of all the things people have invented and designed. We become aware of both the burden and joy of objects which we even start to regard as works of art.
Centraal Museum Collection
As a collector, Centraal Museum will also be taking part in the Gulliver’s Collections expo. One of the collections on display will be a selection of cabinets and ceramics for the Collect & Connect project. The goal of this project is to bring one of the museum’s main tasks – researching the collection – to the public, both online and through a variety of presentations in and outside of the museum. The research is focused on the 20th and 21st century applied arts and design collection. This collection consists of approx. 3,000 items, such as significant sub-collections Droog Design and Utrecht
Dropstuff
Armed with a tiny camera, small robots will make their way through the Gulliver installation, showing the insides of the giant collector on the DROPSTUFF public network of LED displays. During the exposition, these displays are located in Utrecht, Amersfoort, Eindhoven, The Hague, Breda and at Schiphol Airport. Visitors of the expo can control the robots via their Smartphone. Anyone in front of a DROPSTUFF-display can also activate a robot. This allows everyone throughout the Netherlands to discover and enjoy the exposition.
Location and admission
Gulliver’s Collections is on display in hall 7 of the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht. Directions can be found here.
Tickets can be purchased online or at the door. On the same day, your tickets are also valid for the Centraal Museum, and vice versa.
Join as a volunteer
The organizers are still looking for volunteers. Think of location managers (surveillance, cleaning), building and breaking down the exposition (building from 30 June - 6 July, breaking down 23 and 24 July), ticket sales, and First Aid. Opening hours are from 10.00 to 18.00; during building you can start earlier, and/or stay longer. If you would like to volunteer, please sign up at www.gulliversverzamelingen.nl/vrijwilligers/ [in Dutch].
Partners
