News of: Sunday, January 29 2006,
Although the neighbourhood council Amsterdam East had previously decided the statue in commemoration of the assassinated filmmaker Theo van Gogh should be a cactus, it is not going to be so.
The winner of the design contest for the statue, to be place in the Oosterpark in Amsterdam East, is Jeroen Henneman.
He designed a 4.5 meters tall statue that consists of a series of 6 profiles of Theo van Gogh's face. The inner profile is Van Gogh with his mouth closed, the outer profile has its mouth open, screaming. The name of the work is 'The Scream' (De Schreeuw). The statue depicts the freedom of speech.
In the jury were i.a. family members of Theo van Gogh (his parents) and some of this friends.
The statue is scheduled to be place in September of this year.
Theo van Gogh was a well-known Dutch filmmaker, who was assassinated in November 2004, very near to the Oosterpark, by a muslim radical, while cycling to work. The killing shocked the nation, and it was soon decided that a statue should be placed in his honour, in the Oosterpark.
