The public art work “Open book” is made by the artists Maree Blok and Bas Lugthart for the town hall of Diemen. The artwork consists of two large, slightly curved sheets of tempered glass like the pages of an open book. From a distance one sees two portraits that are photographed up close. On the right page there is the face of an older person and on the left page the face of a young child who looks curiously at the spectator.
Both portraits are composed of a large number of small photographs, arranged in such a manner that from a distance the large portraits emerge. The portrait of the older person is made up out of hundreds of tiny pictures that show the history of Diemen. The face of the young child is made up of pictures that show the city of Diemen in present time and its current inhabitants.
Two faces of the same city, one that looks at the past, the other looking to the future.