EU Students Design a 21st-Century Hon

We’re getting close to the 25 February opening of “Niki de Saint Phalle: Outside-In” at SCHUNCK* Heerlen — the first exhibition in the Netherlands since 1976 to be devoted solely to the works of Niki de Saint Phalle, and the first major retrospective there since Niki’s death in 2002. On the occasion of this exhibition, SCHUNCK* Heerlen organized a unique event inspired by “Hon – a Cathedral,” the legendary work Niki created for the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 1966.

SCHUNCK* Heerlen challenged high school students from seven European schools to design a sculpture inspired by the Hon, then sent an expert jury — including Bloum Cardenas, Niki’s grand-daughter and a trustee of the Niki Charitable Art Foundation — to visit the schools and choose a winner. The winning design, a polar bear named “Tosca” created by students of the Institut Saint-Laurent in Liège, will be executed life-size and displayed from late March through mid-June 2011 at the Pancratiusplein in Heerlen.

The exhibition “Niki de Saint Phalle: Outside-In” will run at SCHUNCK* from 26 February through 19 June 2011. Learn more.