Bert made this painting as a try-out for the project 'The Colorfield Performance 2018'. On June 10, 2018 Bert participated in The Colorfield Performance CH 2018. With the fact that Leeuwarden, the capital of the province Friesland in The Netherlands, has been appointed becoming European Capital of Culture 2018, Dirk Hakze, a Dutch artist launched an initiative for a new project as part of an artistic series called The Colourfield Performance. The Colourfield Performance is the collective term for an extraordinary land art project that Dirk Hakze aims to carry out in collaboration with other artists. The concept is to bring together individual artistic contributions in the form of a single larger scale community project. In this constellation, it is possible to create a prominent work of art, while forming a distinctive symbol set in the landscape. The idea for this new version of The Colorfield Performance CH 2018, is to create a collaborative work of art with 400 artists in the year 2018. This fits fantastically with the theme “Community”. The work of art has the dimensions of a land-art style project. In an open landscape, 2018 easels will be erected on wooden stakes. The easels with white panels will be arranged to create an equilateral triangle of 144 meters per side. Using a waterproof multiplex panel measuring 122 cm x 122 cm, the idea is that all participants complete one work of art per day. The work will be carried out in daily groups of 8 artists. Each participating artist is invited to exercise complete and total freedom of expression in creating his or her artwork on the spot. The inspiration for the painting was the damage to houses caused by the earthquakes in the Northern part of the Netherlands. Parts of the Dutch province Groningen were shaken several times by earthquakes. Locals described the way homes in the region shook and creaked but police said no major problems were reported. The quakes are caused by ground settling following the extraction of natural gas from under the province. The government reduced the volume of gas but locals say much more still needs to be done. The biggest quake, in 2012, measured 3.6 on the Richter scale and led to hundreds of reports of damage. Since the quakes began, some 75,000 complaints have been made about damage and the bill for research, shoring up property and damages claims has reached an estimated €1.3bn so far.
