CITY COCOON IN SCHIEDAM EXTENDED

Good news for everyone who hasn’t been yet: the City Cocoon by artist Florentijn Hofman in the Sint Janskerk in Schiedam is open until Sunday, 26th September 2021, two weeks longer than planned. The Stedelijk Museum Schiedam has extended the exhibition with the inflatable artwork due to its success. “Many timeslots were full; now we are giving everyone who could not get a ticket the chance to take a look,’ says museum director Anne de Haij. Visitors can reserve a free ticket via the museum’s website. You do not need a ticket for the church where you see the artwork as a kind of green spaceship. The City Cocoon is a collaboration with the Sint Janskerk Foundation.

Inflatable Artwork

Florentijn Hofman became known for his inflated Rubber Duck, which attracted millions of visitors in Asia. In Schiedam, visitors can now enter such an inflatable work of art for the first time. It is made of spinnaker sail, has a length of 26 meters and is almost ten meters high and wide. The artwork is accompanied by music that can be heard during your visit. There are calm sounds, sometimes silence and now and then a heavier passage. Hofman wrote the soundscape together with composer Jasper le Clercq. Arjen Leistra, city organist, will perform it. 

Stories

The title City Cocoon winks at the work Hofman is familiar with: bloated animals. In nature, the cocoon is a wonderful spinning, where a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. In Hofman’s artwork you can cocoon, relax together. The green color refers to religion and survival. Yet you can also put all that aside. Hofman: ‘I am also interested in something else: what do people see and think when they have been in it? What stories are coming out?” 

This is what you want to know

The Stadscocoon and the Sint Janskerk are open until 26th September  2021 from Tuesday to Saturday between 11 am – 5 pm and on Sunday between 12 noon – 5 pm, closed on Mondays. Due to limited space, a free ticket for the City Cocoon is required; you can walk right into the church.  

Click here to read our review of the installation