Senza Parole

Senza Parole stands at the edge of Osdorpplein, where it meets Meer en Vaart in Amsterdam Nieuw-West. Bert van Loo created this public artwork in the late nineteen nineties as two contrasting sculptures.

Stacked, cut glass plates form one object, with broken edges that catch and scatter the light. Granite forms the other, presenting an opaque, solid surface beside the fragile transparency. An elliptical, slightly raised garden covered with artificial grass surrounds the glass sculpture, while the granite piece stands alongside it. This combination reflects van Loo’s wider practice with glass, stone, bronze, lead and wood.

In April two thousand twenty-three, someone climbed onto the glass sculpture and broke off a point. Fences now surround the damaged work while the city investigates restoration with the artist’s heirs and specialist craftspeople. The granite sculpture remained intact, leaving the contrast between solidity and fragility visible even through the changed setting.