“Spiked” (2021). All images © Steve Messam, shared with permission

U.K.-based artist Steve Messam is known for his artistic interventions in the landscape, reinterpreting historical monuments, buildings, or rural areas with bold, ephemeral installations. Often inflated, his works reimagine or disrupt perceptions of our surroundings and impact how people move around and through them. Bright colors and striking forms that jut from colonnades, facades, and river banks prompt viewers to consider their relationships to the built environment.

As part of BlowUp Art Den Haag, a three-week outdoor exhibition featuring large-scale, temporary, inflatable artworks throughout The Hague, the artist has unveiled new work marking two notable locations. For one, a bronze statue of William I, or Willem de Oranje, who founded the Netherlands as an independent nation, a tube of green spikes playfully encircles the monument, transforming the atmosphere of the main square it overlooks.

You can find more work on Messam’s website and Instagram.

“Oranje,” (2022). Photo by Pim Top / Hague & Partners

Left: “Bridged” (2021). Right: “Multiform*” (2022)

“Portico” (2022)

“Oranje.” Photo by Pim Top / Hague & Partners

“Tunnel,” (2022). Photo by Pim Top / Hague & Partners

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