Erik van Lieshout
Spring 2001
It was an extraordinary experience for Erik van Lieshout to be back in the mental hospital where he once worked as an activities counselor. Because he felt it was silent on the grounds, he decided to make a ’boom-car’. At a scrapyard in Den Dolder he bought a used car. He tore off the doors, hood and tailgate, and turned those into two giant loudspeakers that he mounted on the roof of the car. In this sculpture he drove over the grounds of the clinic, loud hip-hop music blaring from the speakers. On each street corner he would find a patient eager for a ride. For his presentation, the car was converted into both a bar and a sound system, and people danced late into the night. In 2002 the car was part of the exhibition ’Naughty by nature, not because I hate you’ in the Groninger Museum.
