Caravan From Istanbul, Chateau Bethlehem

Performance by Sonja van Kerkhoff,
as part of the "Under The Trees" collection of interventions
during Land Art Maastricht, The Netherlands, 9 - 20 May 2013

 Sonja herds elephants into the grounds of Chateau Bethlehem. 
Sonja herds elephants into the grounds of Chateau Bethlehem.

 Sonja herds elephants into the grounds of Chateau Bethlehem. 
A herd elephants in the grounds of Chateau Bethlehem with the moat beyond.

 Sonja herds elephants into the grounds of Chateau Bethlehem. 
This elephant hails from Sofia in Bulgaria,
a part of the herd since August 2011.

This is Sonja's second herd of elephants and her most international herd. This herd began in 2011 while travelling to Istanbul by road where at various locations a newspaper was used to make an elephant. Trade routes throughout history have been influenced by economical and physical retraints. Caravans stopped where there was trade. We stopped where there was art.

For Land Art Maastricht Sonja set out the elephants in a trail from the entrance to the wall of the moat, interacting with the public while doing this. Then the elephants remained on the wall for the rest of the day as an installation. The herd changes as new elephants are added and as vulnerable ones are retired.

Later the Maastricht Hotel School students (who welcomed the public into the grounds) told me that they enjoyed watching people's responses to the herd.



Thematically Related Work

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