Visual artist Antoon Versteegde (1953) attended art school in the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, specializing in monumental design. Since then, he mainly seeks his artistic freedom outside the walls of established institutes and exhibition spaces, in public locations with free access for everyone. It is the immediate feedback from spectators in particular, which inspires him to do his ground-breaking projects.

Versteegde conceives life-sized constructions, which in their spatial conception do fit into his head, but not into his studio. For this reason, he designs and constructs temporary installations in situ, visualizing the solidification of his imagination. For a brief moment, illusion thus becomes reality, allowing the public to share his experience. In Versteegde's vision, it is the afterimage that is of lasting value: the thought of what has passed, the imagination which enables the spectators to remember the sculpture. The dream image of the artist is thus fixed in the collective memory, as an immaterial, cultural heritage living on in memory. As a result, the project location has actually changed for the spectators.

Antoon Versteegde has gained ample experience by now with large-scale, interactive projects, and the material he usually works with (bamboo) has proven itself highly successful, if you want to realize large-sized sculptures in a short period of time, working with groups of volunteers. His self-developed construction technique (bamboostics): connecting bamboo sticks with elastic bands, is easily passed on to people who want to co-operate spontaneously. His art projects include projects in France (1989), Switzerland (1992), Belgium (1996), Denmark (1997), Germany (1997) and a large number of other sites in the Netherlands. The majority of Versteegde's sculptures and installations are temporary, and consequently have vanished. But you can still see them on the internet: http://www.versteegde.nl