Henk Hofstra, “Blue Road”, Netherlands

From the Trontoist and Wooster Collective Text from Trontoist. Images from Artist.
Last April, 2007 Henk Hofstra created an “urban river” in Drachten, The Netherlands. The Blue Road installation is an example of what mind-blowing urban public art can be.
Featuring 1000 metres of road painted blue and the phrase “Water is Life” written in eight-metre-high letters across it, the Blue Road is reminiscent of the waterway that used to be where the road is now. It’s a memorial to nature, but it’s also just plain awe-inspiring. There’s even a few cool tidbits along the road, like a sinking car.
The project took 4000 litres of paint and cost 75,000 Euros. Half of the cost was covered by municipal funds. Hofstra wants the road to be visible on Google Earth, but it hasn’t shown up yet.
Weiss Comment
Very simple and low cost urbanistic gesture to reinforce the street as a space and a place. Compare not to million dollar streetscape projects with trees, benches, pavers and signage, but with 1000 meters (1/2 mile) lightpole banners and kiosks. Don’t complain that its does not last, but focus on the memory like a Christo project. Remember when the street was blue…..
Hofstra paints everything blue and “cars in the canal” is a little too easy and contradicts the canal metaphor, but makes provides for some populist photographic opportunities.
In our green universe, we start to analyze by life cycle costing. I wonder how many years the street could be painted blue before the exceeding the cost of permanent pavers? My experience in Florida is that the “permanent” streetscapes are redone every 20 years. Some cities in Florida use colored pink concrete sidewalks. But the cities that paint the sidewalks rather than stain have a much better solution for image, color and cleanliness.

Blue Road by Henk Hofstra, April 2007

Drachten, The Netherlands