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Frottage drawings; In a drawn form a different form We would like to propose the following to the museum:
from the one drawn appears. An apparent contrast. In We will sponsor for an amount of € 7,000 becoming ‘Main
Circles turned Inside Out the inside becomes outside sponsor’, to be mentioned at exhibitions as ‘An en Martien de
and the outside becomes inside. Voigt, Gorinchem’.
Drawing for five minutes; Of this amount € 5,000 will be for you as an artist’s fee and €
In the reflection of the time drawn and the solidified 2,000 for the museum, exclusively for cost of materials.
movement the property of the material is essential. The first tranche of your fee, € 2,500, will instantly be paid
Also in this process the property of the material is an to you at the start of the project, which must be announced by
essential subject. the museum in writing and confirmed by you. We will pay the
Because of the contrasts art becomes an adventure both rest into your account after completion of the object.
for the artist and the art lover. The cost of materials for the museum, to an amount of
Simplicity is the sublimation of complexity. € 2,000, will also be instantly paid to them at the start of the
project. This sum will have to be refunded, if, in the unfor-
Then we come to speak of the Soft Living Room (SLR), tunate event of the project not getting off the ground and
which appears to have been exhibited at the Technical sufficient materials not having been bought yet. The cost of
University Eindhoven in 1971. Because of my contacts materials must be justified by invoices afterwards.
there and my former chairmanship of the ‘Studium All this will be laid down in a contract, which will be signed
Generale’ she asks me to make inquiries. Unfortunately, by the museum, by you and by us.’
however, nobody remembers anything about the Soft
Living Room. This contract is drawn up and signed on 9 July 2013.
Then she receives good news from the Schiedam curator Although you have made some preparations already, it
Colin Huizing that he wants to exhibit the SLR after all will appear to be difficult to finish the SLR in time for
during the great retrospective exhibition in September the opening of the exhibition (15 September 2013). A few
2013 I love Holland; Dutch art after 1945, which will run months of extremely hard work follows, in a studio in
until September 2015. The reason is that also this work Amsterdam specially arranged by Colin Huizing. Finally,
had at some time been in the possession of the Schiedam after a lot of blood, sweat and tears, the Soft Living Room is
museum, was left in the attic as a pigeon nesting place and installed in Schiedam in time for the opening.
later ended up at the national ‘Cultural Heritage’ insti- We are delighted to see the wonderful, big black-and-white
tute, where it was obviously destroyed in 2012. Colin then circle, in which the velvety black-and-white objects are not
decides to set up a work force to reconstruct the SLR and only caressing for the skin, but also a delight for the eye. It
starts looking for sponsors. Maria is enthusiastic to redo is indeed a jewel in an exquisite exhibition and amidst the,
the whole work and starts looking for photographs and for us, interesting art of the sixties and seventies.
original drawings, although time is short for the recon-
struction of such an extensive project. We are also enthu- Martien de Voigt, February 2017.
siastic about it, the more so after she sends us photographs
and articles of this earlier work, in which we recognize
many concepts that are further examined in her later
works. Then we write to her as follows:
‘What energy, Maria, to reinstate the Soft Living Room,
but this will really take some doing. Therefore An and I have
decided to sponsor this project. This will probably encourage
you and the well intentioned people of the Schiedam Museum.
Besides, we do not have enough room at home for such a
monumental work. In this way we can spend some money
on the work and enjoy it later when it is exhibited in the
museum, as appears to be their intention.

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