Flower sculpture parade! [Bloemen Corso Zundert 2016]
Heh, it seems all I do at LJ these days is post picspams. I plan to return to regular browsing and commenting and updating tomorrow. With my calf still healing from that whiplash, I've been feeling very blah and not up for anything after getting home from work (when I finally have managed to climb the stairs up to my apartment) *sighs*
I am glad I had already planned a couple of fun weekend things before the accident, so I didn't have a chance to get down on my days off in the past few weeks:)
Below are photos (and videos!) from last weekend's adventure: I took the bus and train and train and bus to travel down South to the small town of Zundert for their yearly flower corso. The local communities work all year on their huge designs made out of dahlias -all those flowers are put on fresh in the final three days of building the sculptures!- and they present all their creations in a spectacular parade.
I've never been to a flower corso before, but I'm pretty sure I'll be going again in the future, I was in awe:)
The whole town is closed off for traffic, so the bus from trainstation Breda drops its passenger at the edge of Zundert and you walk the rest of the way. You need a ticket to get into the village; from the moment you pass the town sign it's all about the dahlias:)
A first taste of what you can achieve with imagination and flowers: how cool is this Cruella?
Dahlia Dalmations! And a sitting woodman, because I liked that as well:)
The Hunchback of the Notre-Dame, such gorgeous windows.
The square in front of Zundert Town Hall is filled with seats; the winners of the corso will be announced here at the end of the parade. I however, have a seat in the cheap section of town *grins*
Sign on the church says: 'House of God, gate of Heaven"; the sign in front says 'Private Property, no access for unauthorized people'. I thought that was funny;)
It was a long walk on crutches to get to the other side of town, but I had a lot of nice buildings to look at on my way to the bleachers. Got there two hours before the parade would pass, just in time to grab a perfect seat at the top \o/
There was a band playing until the parade started and then there was lots of music in between. First band was riding on bicycles while playing, it was amazing!
Look: the first flower cart is coming around the corner, it's enormous....
This design is called Slapende Reus | Sleeping Giant and it's made by Buurtschap Rijsbergen
(a buurtschap is a hamlet, a group of streets working together)
I MADE A VIDEO: CLICK TO WATCH THE LION BREATHE!!! Is it not gorgeous?
Once the parade is going, there is no stopping; here's the next design: Menskracht 12 | Human Force 12 by Buurtschap Helpt Elkander; ships struggling on sea with the stormclouds moving above.
The sound of the wind and thunder is made live with theatre effects at the back.
Unlike other corsos, the carts are not pulled by a tractor, but pushed by the builders who are hiding underneath!
Contra by Buurtschap De Berk, from the program: "An empty mould, the contra mould with its opposites casts, is filled with liquid material. A carefully shaped solid form emerges. an empty canvas, neatural incolour, waiting to be painted and brought to life." ...
... IT'S A DRAGON!!! A dragon made out of dahlias! <3
Fanfare | Marching Band by Buurtschap Molenstraat: "Five rows of marching drummers, cymbal players and trumpeters cut out of a flat piece of paper and then crumpled up into a wad. A chaos of figures in stark contrast to the order of a marching band." Zoom in to see the fabulous flowers up close!
One of my favorite designs: Speels | Playful by Buurtschap Laer-Akkermolen: FOXES PLAYING. \o/
Seriously awesome concept and execution. Look how neat those flowers are arranged. *stares and stares*
Bevangen door de Wind | Captivated by the Wind by Buurtschap 't Kapelleke, inspired by the steel sculptures of Australian/French artist Gil Bruvel, who was invited by the builders to see their process; he was blown away (ha) by the enormous size of the flower versions:)
With the weather being very windy, those faces really came to life!
The next design was my least favorite, mostly because they spraypainted the white flowers with grubby green and gray: Opgesloten | Locked Up by Buurtschap Achtmaal featured zombies.
Warning: beware of the annoying buzzing sound of these bees in the video. The design is lovely though and the most flower related one in the parade;) Bezig! | Busy! by Buurtschap Poteind
An Orgel... | Organ... by Buurtschap Raamberg with impressive light and sound.
Another favorite of mine: Vortex by Buurtschap Klein Zundert: a building with gothic elements appears to get completely swallowed up by a storm. Gorgeous.
Inspired by 'Nautulus', a steel sculpture from Belgian artist Wim Delvoye Love all the different purples and pinks in the swirls.
Krachtstroom | High Voltage by Buurtschap De Lent; those wires were buzzing and flashing, very creepy!
I love how these giants look even more intimidating with the stormy sky in the background, but the design doesn't really do anything with the flowers.
Wildebeest by Buurtschap Stuivezand: showing the hectic trek of the wildebeests (gnus) through the savannas in Africa.
Oh, no, poor Wildebeest! *giggles behind hands* My camera messes with the colours in close up, but you can still see the intricate pattern.
Retouche! | Retouch! by Buurtschap Wernhout: "a polished idea of perfect beauty."
So. Many. Pinks!
This is definitely my favorite: Valse Hoop | False Hope by Buurtschap Schijf
*claps hands with glee*
So much detail, and I think they used all the available colours of the dalhias:-)
Apport! | Fetch! by Buurtschap 't Stuk: dogs jumping into the water to catch a ball, look at that splash!
Wide shots to show the sheer size of these flower sculptures, whoa \o/
Waterbak \ The water ditch by Buurtschap Markt: purple horses!
Waterbuffalo | Water buffalo by Buurtschap Laarheide: "This buffalo pulls itself from the water with great force and you can se the many insects, fish and reptiles he pulls up with him."
So many detailed little animals on that buffalo! Wish I could have looked at this one longer. But it's already time for the final creature...
Around the corner you can already see the smoke and do you hear that roar?... Dundunndunnn... Gevaarlijk Transport | Dangerous Cargo by Buurtschap Tiggelaar.
The end. See you next year?
There were two more designs to admire; sadly they hadn't been allowed to join the parade because of the stormy wind, but I could catch a glimpse of them at the exposition site: Op Hoogte | At Height by Buurtschap Veldstraat, featuring a window cleaner dangling on a skyscraper and Tecnica Di Natura by Buurtschap Klein-Zundertse Heikant, a fish inspired by the inventions of Leonardo Da Vinci.
Unfortunately I didn't have time to wait until all the carts arrived at the exposition site, because I had a three hour trip home. But as I was making my way through the crowd to get back to the busstop, the carts passed me by and I could enjoy another look while the announcers along the way told us the scores. And the winner is...
I had a great day and whole heartedly recommend going to one of these flower corsos. Zundert is the oldest (and best;) one, but the first week of September these parades are all over the Netherlands; well worth the travel!
J.
I am glad I had already planned a couple of fun weekend things before the accident, so I didn't have a chance to get down on my days off in the past few weeks:)
Below are photos (and videos!) from last weekend's adventure: I took the bus and train and train and bus to travel down South to the small town of Zundert for their yearly flower corso. The local communities work all year on their huge designs made out of dahlias -all those flowers are put on fresh in the final three days of building the sculptures!- and they present all their creations in a spectacular parade.
I've never been to a flower corso before, but I'm pretty sure I'll be going again in the future, I was in awe:)
The whole town is closed off for traffic, so the bus from trainstation Breda drops its passenger at the edge of Zundert and you walk the rest of the way. You need a ticket to get into the village; from the moment you pass the town sign it's all about the dahlias:)
A first taste of what you can achieve with imagination and flowers: how cool is this Cruella?
Dahlia Dalmations! And a sitting woodman, because I liked that as well:)
The Hunchback of the Notre-Dame, such gorgeous windows.
The square in front of Zundert Town Hall is filled with seats; the winners of the corso will be announced here at the end of the parade. I however, have a seat in the cheap section of town *grins*
Sign on the church says: 'House of God, gate of Heaven"; the sign in front says 'Private Property, no access for unauthorized people'. I thought that was funny;)
It was a long walk on crutches to get to the other side of town, but I had a lot of nice buildings to look at on my way to the bleachers. Got there two hours before the parade would pass, just in time to grab a perfect seat at the top \o/
There was a band playing until the parade started and then there was lots of music in between. First band was riding on bicycles while playing, it was amazing!
Look: the first flower cart is coming around the corner, it's enormous....
Click to view
This design is called Slapende Reus | Sleeping Giant and it's made by Buurtschap Rijsbergen
(a buurtschap is a hamlet, a group of streets working together)
I MADE A VIDEO: CLICK TO WATCH THE LION BREATHE!!! Is it not gorgeous?
Once the parade is going, there is no stopping; here's the next design: Menskracht 12 | Human Force 12 by Buurtschap Helpt Elkander; ships struggling on sea with the stormclouds moving above.
The sound of the wind and thunder is made live with theatre effects at the back.
Unlike other corsos, the carts are not pulled by a tractor, but pushed by the builders who are hiding underneath!
Contra by Buurtschap De Berk, from the program: "An empty mould, the contra mould with its opposites casts, is filled with liquid material. A carefully shaped solid form emerges. an empty canvas, neatural incolour, waiting to be painted and brought to life." ...
... IT'S A DRAGON!!! A dragon made out of dahlias! <3
Fanfare | Marching Band by Buurtschap Molenstraat: "Five rows of marching drummers, cymbal players and trumpeters cut out of a flat piece of paper and then crumpled up into a wad. A chaos of figures in stark contrast to the order of a marching band." Zoom in to see the fabulous flowers up close!
One of my favorite designs: Speels | Playful by Buurtschap Laer-Akkermolen: FOXES PLAYING. \o/
Seriously awesome concept and execution. Look how neat those flowers are arranged. *stares and stares*
Bevangen door de Wind | Captivated by the Wind by Buurtschap 't Kapelleke, inspired by the steel sculptures of Australian/French artist Gil Bruvel, who was invited by the builders to see their process; he was blown away (ha) by the enormous size of the flower versions:)
With the weather being very windy, those faces really came to life!
The next design was my least favorite, mostly because they spraypainted the white flowers with grubby green and gray: Opgesloten | Locked Up by Buurtschap Achtmaal featured zombies.
Warning: beware of the annoying buzzing sound of these bees in the video. The design is lovely though and the most flower related one in the parade;) Bezig! | Busy! by Buurtschap Poteind
An Orgel... | Organ... by Buurtschap Raamberg with impressive light and sound.
Another favorite of mine: Vortex by Buurtschap Klein Zundert: a building with gothic elements appears to get completely swallowed up by a storm. Gorgeous.
Inspired by 'Nautulus', a steel sculpture from Belgian artist Wim Delvoye Love all the different purples and pinks in the swirls.
Krachtstroom | High Voltage by Buurtschap De Lent; those wires were buzzing and flashing, very creepy!
I love how these giants look even more intimidating with the stormy sky in the background, but the design doesn't really do anything with the flowers.
Wildebeest by Buurtschap Stuivezand: showing the hectic trek of the wildebeests (gnus) through the savannas in Africa.
Oh, no, poor Wildebeest! *giggles behind hands* My camera messes with the colours in close up, but you can still see the intricate pattern.
Retouche! | Retouch! by Buurtschap Wernhout: "a polished idea of perfect beauty."
So. Many. Pinks!
This is definitely my favorite: Valse Hoop | False Hope by Buurtschap Schijf
*claps hands with glee*
So much detail, and I think they used all the available colours of the dalhias:-)
Apport! | Fetch! by Buurtschap 't Stuk: dogs jumping into the water to catch a ball, look at that splash!
Wide shots to show the sheer size of these flower sculptures, whoa \o/
Waterbak \ The water ditch by Buurtschap Markt: purple horses!
Waterbuffalo | Water buffalo by Buurtschap Laarheide: "This buffalo pulls itself from the water with great force and you can se the many insects, fish and reptiles he pulls up with him."
So many detailed little animals on that buffalo! Wish I could have looked at this one longer. But it's already time for the final creature...
Around the corner you can already see the smoke and do you hear that roar?... Dundunndunnn... Gevaarlijk Transport | Dangerous Cargo by Buurtschap Tiggelaar.
The end. See you next year?
There were two more designs to admire; sadly they hadn't been allowed to join the parade because of the stormy wind, but I could catch a glimpse of them at the exposition site: Op Hoogte | At Height by Buurtschap Veldstraat, featuring a window cleaner dangling on a skyscraper and Tecnica Di Natura by Buurtschap Klein-Zundertse Heikant, a fish inspired by the inventions of Leonardo Da Vinci.
Unfortunately I didn't have time to wait until all the carts arrived at the exposition site, because I had a three hour trip home. But as I was making my way through the crowd to get back to the busstop, the carts passed me by and I could enjoy another look while the announcers along the way told us the scores. And the winner is...
I had a great day and whole heartedly recommend going to one of these flower corsos. Zundert is the oldest (and best;) one, but the first week of September these parades are all over the Netherlands; well worth the travel!
J.