Loom Light

Havenhoofd

The light monument by visual artist Titia Ex on the Kanaaldijk-Zuid is a tribute to Jan Zwartendijk and other invisible resistance heroes from the region during the Second World War. The interactive light artwork titled ‘Loom Light’ marks 75 years of living in freedom. The work, with a diameter of approximately 3.50 meters, fans out from 4.50 meters to almost 6 meters high.

Jan Zwartendijk (1886 – 1976) was director of the Philips division in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1939. When the Second World War broke out, the Dutch government, which operated in exile, appointed Zwartendijk as deputy consul in Lithuania. In that capacity, he saved the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees in this country by granting them visas for Curaçao in July 1940. He created this escape route in collaboration with, among others, the Japanese ambassador Chiune Sigihara.

Titia Ex emphatically opts for a dynamic monument that refers to this history and that also moves with our times. Loom Light suggests a book blowing open. It is a book in which you never get bored and always find new insights. Ex invites the viewer to experience the many meanings she has placed in it. The work is also interactive and responds to the approaching visitor. The artist converts this conscious act into a dynamic light motif. With this she indicates how important the acting role of each individual, no matter how small, is in shaping the future.