The Crate House was conceived after a series of models for possible houses and forms the link between my work as an architect and my work as an artist. As an architect I did care about functions, I did care that someone could live there, I did care that the whole “construction” would be waterproof, heatable and comfortable.
For an artist however that did not matter anymore: functions became elements to play with, structures visual elements. The shape of the house, the way it looked and the way it was organised became interesting elements for me as an artist.
The Crate Hosue still has visible elements that could be used for possible future “inhabitants”. The green wall could be a kitchen, the yellow round element could be a bathroom, the staircase and the floor could be used as a sleeping area. It could be but it was not necessary anymore.
Ger C. Bout was invieted by the Rotterdam Art foundatiuon to make an installationin “Theater de Unie” in Rotterdam, that would be open for the public for 48 hours, from friday afternoon to the following sunday afternoon.
The Crate House was presented with the original scetch, the scale model and the full scale work: all necessary elements in the making of this “building”. In later projects, there were no scetches anymore, just models. The models how-ever were meant as visualised three dimensional ideas to start the project and make clear to others how it might look, not how it should look. Therefore the models were not precise anymore, did not have any scale and did not have any kind of reference>
The Crate House was built by Ger C. Bout in co-operation with Laura Hovenkamp, Mark, Mariet, Monne Rubingh, Tom Rubingh, Babette Vermaase and Menno Verschuren in “Theater de Unie”,Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 1990
Installation, Dimensions 900 x 900 x 500 cm.
The Crate House was built in close cooperation with The Rotterdam Art Foundation that made the installation possible and Vroom & Dreesman Nederland BV, which was so kind to take care of approximately 2000 suitable crates.
Photography by Martien Kerkhof and José M. Rodrigues
Press
- Het Vrije Volk, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 15 June 1990
- Radio Rijnmond, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 15 June 1990
- Stads TV, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 15 June 1990