Fireworks

This sculpture is titled Nomen Nescio, which means "I do not know the name". Cast in bronze, it measures 192 cm in height, 48 cm in depth, and 84 cm in width.

The artwork refers to the weekend of the fireworks disaster: Saturday, 13 May, and Sunday, 14 May 2000.

Nomen Nescio consists of three stacked elements: a column or pedestal, a fallen cup, and a crowlike bird. Each element symbolizes an aspect of that weekend. The pedestal gives the sculpture the height of an adult human. The fallen cup represents the sunny Saturday, a day when many people were sitting outside, perhaps enjoying a cup of coffee or tea just before the disaster struck. The explosions shattered this peaceful scene: tableware toppled over, and people fled, leaving cups lying on their sides.

The Bird and the Cup

The next day, the bird perched on the cup is the first to return to its dwelling place. It symbolizes how nature, shortly after the disaster, begins to reclaim the site. Time and life move forward; nothing stands still. Even now, there is always a "day after", with its own rhythm and dynamics. An event like the fireworks disaster is deeply traumatic. People are suddenly torn from their everyday lives. They must flee. Shocked. In panicked. They lose their grip on things, on their own lives, and on their sense of independence.

I Do Not Know the Name

That single moment, the transition between everyday life and being abruptly torn away from it, is elusive and cannot be put into words. Nomen Nescio. I do not know the name.

Place

2001, Vanekerstraat in Enschede.

with Mees en Robin

Former minister Roger van Boxtel (right) congratulates André Boone on the installation of the sculpture Nomen Nescio.