Rob Sweere

Rob Sweere presented his new commission for Hinterland at the National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont.

An installation artist from the Netherlands, Sweere has shown his temporary interactive public sculptures internationally. Recent works have been shown in New York, Palestine, Mexico City and Nairobi. He is best known for his Heath-Robinson-like constructions which encourage audiences to view a situation or place in an unusual and awe-inspiring way.

Rob Sweere develops instruments and meticulously staged paths, whereby he tries to translate the experiences of the senses as specifically as possible. Through these instruments – machines, made by the artist himself – and through a careful delineation of a track, he sends the observers at a measured pace and with a determined movement into a certain direction, the goal being to steer that experience.  Andrée van de Kerckhove

Using locally sourced recycled materials and with assistance from boat builders at the National Watersports Centre and local artists, Sweere created a memorable journey across the man made lake usually utilised for practicing rowing and watersports. Evoking the ancient tale of the Ferryman Charron and the River Styx, Sweere transported people two at a time in a his moving structure. The audience, like journeymen to the underworld, paid the artist for their passage with a penny, which was placed on their forehead for the trip. This made it impossible to move one’s head and thus concerntrated attention to the sky, enhancing the feeling of floating or maybe even flying.