Political Cultural Center, De Balie, Amsterdam 

Second Skin for multifunctional hall: Pleinzaal
2021
6 (with) x 9 (length) x 4 (height) m
Printed cloth on acoustic backing

Broekman's masterly strips of textile create a whirlwind of color and movement in the newest room of De Balie in Amsterdam. Architect Rogier Weijand was involved in the renovation of the old Court building into a political, cultural center in the early 1980s, where he gave Broekman her first commission for a public space. This year, when he realized a new hall, he asked Broekman to design a work based on her work My Second Skin. 

In My Second Skin, Broekman celebrates the inventiveness of humans, who have been developing increasingly ingenious textile techniques for thousands of years. These different techniques have been magnified enormously so that the viewer almost disappears into fine embroidery stitches, bobbin lace and sewn-on shells. The cheerful lambs that frolic across the wall are part of an Arpillera, a colored creation that women made during the Pinochet dictatorship, in which they hided letters with politically tinted texts. 

The multifunctional room is intended for debates, lectures and can also be hired for meetings and dinners. Broekman is delighted and honored that a work that is so close to her heart is accessible to everyone.