Ever turned your business suit into a wetsuit? Well, many unfortunate people have in Utrecht’s Euclideslaan, where a water-filled pit is often mistaken for gravel.
After three people lost solid ground last week, falling into the water-filled art structure known as Het Verzonken Schip (The Sunken Ship), AD reports that the municipality has decided to place further crowd barriers to prevent even more accidental swimmers.
The Utrecht municipality hopes that by placing crowd barriers around the water art structure, as well as a warning sign with 12 more to come, future passersby won’t have an unplanned dip.
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Water or gravel?
Water plants called duckweed ferns are growing in the artwork. The result? The water can be easily mistaken for a red gravel track in winter, and grass in summer — which for many, seems like a convenient place to walk.
A few people have learned that it is niet zo.
No swimming here!
To prevent more businessmen and women from soaking their expensive suits, the municipality also removed these water plants and will likely have to keep doing this as they will regrow.
The municipality is also considering installing water fountains for a more obvious signal that the artwork is, indeed, water — and that people should pay closer attention to where they are walking.
An unimpressed artist
“It’s ridiculous to put thirteen signs in such a beautiful water feature,” the maker of the art structure, Karin Daan, tells AD Nieuws.
Regardless of the artist’s opinions, the municipality is keeping the crowd barriers and warning signs up around and within the artwork, which was installed in 1993.
This will be the case until another plan can be made with Daan, who is certainly not happy with having signs placed in her artwork.
What else do you think could be done to stop people from falling in? Let us know in the comments below.
Feature Image: Het Utrechts Archief/CC4.0