The Successor
2023
Bronze and Concrete
300 x 380 x 400 cm
Farming followed hunting and gathering. What started with the cultivation of small parcels of land ended with the rise of large, professional companies that have found a balance between seasons and systems. Once run by parent, child and helper- today’s farm is high-tech and increasingly run as a business rather than a `family affair’. The helper is still there, but the child more often follows a path that is removed from farm life. Instead, robots now play a central role in farming and Lely is the forerunner in helping to bridge this transition.
Atelier van Lieshout’s “The Successor” pays tribute to the farming family of yesterday, today and tomorrow. This bronze sculpture seems to grow out of the earth and has a robust posture.
The figures in this ensemble represent today’s farming family, they are ready to solve any opposition or problem and support their livestock by any means or invention imaginable. The concrete plinth refers to a mound, the oldest architectural tool to secure the early Dutch farmland from the sea.
“The Successor” is permanently placed in front of the new Lely Campus, realized by architect Machiel Hopman of Converse Architects – a destination for innovation and farming of the future. This work is about an evolving craft within the profession, while offering cows the right to choose and live “freely”.
“With this new technology cows get a spa treatment and milk on their own body clock, this is the most humane use of technology, maximum animal rights for all the cows we love . “Joep van Lieshout
Lely
Cornelis van der Lelylaan 1
3147 PB Maassluis
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com