Ambassador Benno Tempel

Benno Tempel is the new director of the Kröller-Müller Museum and is also taking over the ambassadorship of Sea Level from his predecessor Lisette Pelsers. Anne Louise van den Dool spoke with him about his vision on the artwork and what this means to him.

Benno Tempel has been director of the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo since November 2023. Previously, he was director of the Kunstmuseum – then called the Gemeentemuseum – in The Hague.

"In itself, it's already remarkable to bring an American artist like Serra to the Netherlands: in the United States you have infinite space, here it's more limited. His work Sea Level is placed here in the inhabited environment of Zeewolde. That's where part of the tension lies: here it has to compete with other buildings.

I think it’s beautiful that when you walk past it, you no longer have sight of the horizon. Precisely in Flevoland, which is as flat as a pancake, that's a special experience: you have sight lines almost everywhere here. Sometimes you see a house or treetop protruding above it; that creates a somewhat surrealistic experience.

As with many of Serra's works, Sea Level does something physical to you: when you walk along the work, you have the feeling that you're descending. Usually Serra achieves such a physical effect with curves in materials, creating a feeling of instability when you stand next to them. In Zeewolde, the work is the stable factor: it's the sloping ground under your feet that disorients. The use of materials is also remarkable; Serra almost never used concrete.

Sea Level is not a show of strength: it doesn't beg for your attention, but makes you aware of your position in relation to the water. Unlike many other land art works, as a viewer you don't feel particularly insignificant: the work is large and present, but also has something quiet about it. In this way, it gently confronts you with reality.

I grew up in Harderwijk, on the other side of the water. At that time Sea Level didn't exist yet, but during my student years, I visited the work for the first time. When professionals from abroad visit, I regularly take them on a trip to a number of artworks in Flevoland, and Sea Level is always included. People are often surprised that in this province so many works of international caliber can be found so close together. The realization that you're below sea level also invariably evokes wonder.

I don't visit the work annually, and yet it's continuously in my mind: it's a beautiful combination of art and nature, which we at the Kröller-Müller Museum are also fans of. An artwork in the green is something fundamentally different from a painting in a museum or a sculpture in an urban environment. It's more an installation than sculpture: this is not a statue on a pedestal, but an artwork that enters into a relationship with the environment.

The artwork was recently re-executed. That Serra wanted to finance that himself says a lot to me about what this work meant to him. I can imagine that it will still acquire signs of use because people walk on it or lean against it. At the same time, I hope that the work will receive the respect it deserves. Without Sea Level, this would be a boring piece of Zeewolde: the land gets more character because of it."