Trolley busses

Van Genk, Willem

Trolleybus blauw (Geitenkamp)

Van Genk began making trolley busses in the eighties. A Van Genk trolley bus is a many-layered assemblage of carefully selected materials. Technical-looking components are modelled onto the main shape with glue and string: huge headlights and searchlights, shiny window frames, reflectors and wiring looms that lead to remarkable push-buttons. Some of the busses have their trolley poles tied to the low-slung bumpers with chains and cords, but more often they simply hang limply. Passengers are rarely to be seen. Texts and reflective foils are stuck over the windows. Advertising slogans are endlessly repeated, and destinations are given much prominence. Wheels and hubcaps sometimes occupy a disproportionate place in the object, making the rows of windows rather undersized. But the cables and buttons, the technical components, remain the most important part. It is as though the engineering aspect of each bus has been magnified.

Reference: Van Berkum, Ans; Willem van Genk: a marked man and his world, Zwolle 1998, p. 119-122.