In 2016, the Netherlands signed the UN Convention on Disability which makes it clear that people with a disability or chronic illness have the right to equal treatment and must be able to participate. This summer, an election took place to find out which municipality of The Netherlands would be voted the most accessible for the disabled.
The Association of Dutch Municipalities made surprise visits to the five finalists accompanied by some striking inflatable art to raise the profile of the competition. These custom inflatables, supplied by the team at Glow, drew in plenty of media attention and helped to raise the profile of disability rights in the Netherlands.
These inflatable artworks were made in collaboration with the Amsterdam and Haarlem-based Museum van de Geest (roughly translated as the museum of the mind/spirit). The giant inflatable characters were inspired by works of art by Masayoshi Hanawa and Maurits Sterkenburg. Their style of Outsider art is surprising, unpolished and doesn’t care too much about the rules of the established art world. Their special talents show a combination of strength and vulnerability which are particularly relevant in the promotion of disability rights.
Masayoshi Hanawa’s four-metre-high inflatable installation was a replica of his angular, mosaic-patterned doll, the original of which is currently on display at the Museum van de Geest in Amsterdam. The second giant inflatable replica is based on another abstract doll originally created by Maurits Sterkenburg from threads of wool. The original piece can be found in the Museum van de Geest in Haarlem.
Glow Inflatables specialise in inflatable art works and created these replica pieces using sealed PVC inflatables with no constant running power so that they could be easily transported from place to place. Glows own in-house artist was utilised to ensure that the replicas matched the mosaic and wool fibre effects of the original artworks. In collaboration with the artist, Glow actually used the same fur material for the large head as on the Sterkenburg original.
When the election was over and the giant inflatable characters had completed their tour of the Netherlands, both pieces were displayed in the collection of the Museum van de Geest in Amsterdam. Once again, Glow was the obvious choice when it came to the supply of custom inflatable art of the highest quality.