A “Berenkuil” (Bear Pit) is the name used in the
Netherlands for a raised traffic circle with a junction (most often a
roundabout) of cycle paths at the lower level. The first of this type was built
in Utrecht in 1944, but there are several in the Netherlands, some with a
different name however. The junction of the Outer Ring with the central
thoroughfare (that links the football stadium via the station and the TU/e
university campus with the motorway to Helmond) in Eindhoven is officially known
as Insulindeplein. The traffic circle is locally known as De Berenkuil.
An outer circle for automotive traffic surrounds a
second sunken circle for bicycles and motor scooters; ramps from the bicycle
lanes along the nearby streets lead into the lower circle via four underpasses.
The Insulindeplein is also a crossroads of pedestrian routes with underpasses
and steps leading people safely underneath the ring road. The more recent
Hovenring is an opposite solution with a raised circle for slow traffic (pedestrians
and cyclists).
This Berenkuil in Eindhoven is also well known for
another reason: it has been designated a free zone for graffiti artists, where
they can paint graffiti without interference from the police. As a result,
artists have created several large and impressive works on the walls and the
area has become a showcase. Every year since 2010 the international graffiti festival "Step
In The Arena" is held here in September, making it an everchanging open-air
art installation.
Each underpass combines a two-way cycle path with a one-way
walking path either side. The face of each underpass has been adorned with
graffiti art, I especially liked this snake coiling around two eyes staring
right at you as you come down the ramp.
The lowered centre of the “Bear Pit” is a roundabout
for cyclists with wide walkways around it. Trees have bene planted within the
green verges to make for a more attractive place, but also to reduce micro
particles. On the faces of the retaining walls around graffiti has been
sprayed, mostly as tags, often with little artistic merit.
Tags are usually letters, often with clear edging in
contrasting colours. I prefer the figurative artwork. On the right a playful addition
to an existing work in the shape of a gnome, which is repeated in the moth of
the dystopian head.
Some work is pure graphic art, on the left this
landscape of textured shapes as debris after a colourless apocalypse. As a free
zone for graffiti work is being added all the time, as can be seen on the
right.
Some of the figurative work represents a narrative, as
this girl with the cherries, ripe for picking, mixed with % signs -as a comment
on greed. The red goldfish within an abstract sea of blue with shapes in red
white and blue -representing the Dutch flag- I really love as an image.
The social convictions of some of the artists is clear
in for instance this “portrait” of men in Guy Fawkes masks, a reference to the
Occupy Movement and the hacking collective Anonymous. For the rest dystopian imagery
of angst, violence and disaffection are very prevalent next to references to
drugs. Mushrooms pop up everywhere!
