Koos Buster is best known for his sculptures of everyday objects – a fire hose, bottles of cleaning detergent, a smoke alarm – crafted from clay or glass. These objects closely resemble their real-life counterparts, yet they’re just distorted enough to be unusable. This subtle shift invites us to look again – with a smile, perhaps, but also with a touch of wonder at their form and role in our world.
For Paradys, Buster created something entirely new: a series of large, coloured glass donation jars. Made especially for Bouwurk, the work draws inspiration from the idea that Bouwurk stands on the site of a 16th-century cathedral that was never built – the Sint Vituskathedraal.
Buster places five whimsical, bulbous forms on pedestals, each inscribed with its own hopeful cause: a donation for peace of mind, for mother earth, to move someone else into action. With their strange, almost creature-like shapes and lofty, almost impossible aims, these jars invite visitors to reflect. Can we really donate our way to a better world? And what does it mean to give – sincerely, selflessly?
With a gentle sense of humour and sharp eye for detail, Koos Buster casts Bouwurk as a kind of new cathedral – a place for reflection, generosity and shared ideals.