As part of a celebration of its achievements at the brink of the new millennium, the city of Eindhoven, in the south
of the Netherlands, had commissioned us to create what its officials referred to as an "eye-catcher." Rebuilt after heavy bombing attacks during World War II, the city had grown into an important commercial center of the European
Union by the end of the twentieth century. Its renowned contemporary art collection, the Van Abbemuseum, was
adding a new wing and the city was planning to host the 2000 European Championship soccer tournament.
In search of a subject to embody the ubiquitous movement characteristic of the surroundings, we focused on some form of sport or game. Soccer was too obvious a choice and not suited to the limitations of the space. Instead we selected bowling, which had the advantage that the "players" in the strike, the game's climactic event, were all objects, and therefore suitable to our type of sculpture. The game also fit the location because the movements of inbound vehicles on the Kennedylaan could be equated with the imagined roll of a ball in a bowling lane. ("Laan," in fact, is the Dutch word for "lane.")
We chose as our site the median of the Kennedylaan, the main boulevard leading into the city center, facing a busy intersection in front of a high-rise business complex. The grass-covered space was planted with trees and was wide enough to serve as a park, although it was surrounded by the continuous flow of traffic. The site is flanked on one side by a prominent bank and on the other by a lively university campus, a location that projected maximum civic energy.
For Flying Pins Coosje chose as our image the immediate aftermath of the strike, when the ball drops out of sight while the pins are still flying. The simultaneous upward and downward movement was emphasized by having the ball and two of the pins partially buried in the ground. The uppermost pins were positioned horizontally to convey the greatest sensation of speed. Because the weather in the Netherlands is often gloomy, especially during long winters, Coosje selected an intense yellow color for the pins, inspired by the daffodils that emerge in the spring to light up the site.