4. Two Dancing Limberjacks - LEONARD VAN MUNSTER
This artwork is inspired by homemade toys: jig dolls. These are wooden figures with loose limbs that step dance or jig to the beat of the music. The two life-size figures represent the artist and an old friend. In a series of scenes, carried by music and light, atmosphere and mood shift, and we see how these two men, sometimes with a touch of embarrassment, dance together. Sometimes hesitant, sometimes exuberant, the figures move—like an intimate self-portrait and simultaneously a relatable story about friendship and the celebration of life.
Artist Leonard van Munster about artwork Two Dancing Limberjacks:
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This artwork was commissioned by the ALLUMINOUS Light Art Festival, in collaboration with Suburbia.
More information about this artwork? Listen to the audio tour explanation via Soundcloud:
CREDITS
Technique: Edwin Dertien
This artwork was developed in collaboration with: The Don Leo Organization
ABOUT ARTIST LEONARD VAN MUNSTER
Visual artist Leonard van Munster (Zwolle, 1972) creates installations and sculptures, primarily in public spaces. His urban interventions have been exhibited in numerous cities, particularly Amsterdam. For example, he created a tree with a treehouse on the roof of the Stedelijk Museum-Post CS building (Amsterdam, 2015), his dancing self-portrait was on display at the Frans Hals Museum (Haarlem, 2017), built a glass water feature during the IJssel Biennale (Deventer, 2022), and placed an overturned ship in front of the ABN-AMRO bank in the financial heart of the Netherlands during the financial crisis. He also recently had a meteorite crash into the Frisian village of Hempens-Teerns (Leeuwarden 2024). From 1996 to 2001, Leonard was also part of the artist and designer collective Dept and taught at the Rietveld Academy and the Academy of Architecture, among others. On the border between an industrial and a nature reserve, nestled between immense oil storage tanks and a rugged landscape where Scottish Highland cattle graze, Leonard created "Biotope 2.0." He placed a seven-meter-high glass dome over a small piece of nature. Inside, the plants and flowers continue to grow, and the space serves as a studio, experimental, and exhibition space. Biotope 2.0 also houses Amsterdam's smallest official incubator.