'Where the bus takes us '. A collaboration between Peter Spaans and Hans Eijkelboom for the international exhibition 'Sonsbeek9 ', curated by Jan Hoet.

Jan Hoet brought 75 artists together for this exhibition in Arnhem (The Netherlands) and came up with the idea to locate this -mainly outdoor- exhibition in 3 parts of the city: 1. Sonsbeekpark (as cultural and for respect of all past Sonsbeek exhibitions) 2. The Eusebiuskerk (as the historical aspect) and 3. Shopping centre Kronenburg (socio- economical aspect and the future). In this way Jan Hoet connects 3 important issues of this city and asked the artists to make in total freedom work for one or more of these places. Locus / Focus. Focus on the location. The place.

The first thing we did, without reading any text or ideas of Jan Hoet, was climbing on the Belvedere tower in Sonsbeek park in Arnhem to oversee the city and in the distance we discovered the shopping centre Kronenburg (over the river in South Arnhem). And we discussed the possibilities of connecting the tower with Kronenburg. With this idea in our head we finally got the idea to connect through a bus line and came up with Bus line 20, which connects also the 3 venues of this Sonsbeek exhibition. The basic idea was there. What Now? What to do with it? What to photograph and why? or maybe filming? We just started to walk. No NO, we first made a very enjoyable bus tour with line 20 and looked and looked. And in the weeks after that we started to photograph. Just the way we walked and talked we made our photographs. Without any reason. Just walking, looking, picturing. And by doing this and seeing it, and to talk about it we asked ourselves why? What do we want to express? What do we want to search? And we discovered the beautiful arrangements and the complexity and connectivity between individual human behaviour and signs of planning. Sometimes it seems as though we artists are just walking along with a dreamy stare, while 'real ' life simply passes by. We drape it in an ingenious sauce, but that 's about it..... No, the whole line 20 project is actually about that deeper insight, that understanding. We want to know more. With all this visual information we finally made the book 'Where the bus takes us '. as part of the Sonsbeek 9 exhibition.

Next to this book we glued series of small photographs on the windows in the 7 buses of this number 20 line + a small booklet introducing our project to the public.

The number 20 bus has the longest route in Arnhem, with 69 stops each way. The route was planned with the aim of connecting as many districts as possible, and it takes in amenities like shopping centres, homes for the elderly, and hospitals. We got out at all 69 stops, looked at the surroundings and took photographs. In doing this we focused our attention on two things: The gives facts of the environment like the spatial planning and the architecture, and alongside this everything that has come about through personal intervention. The reason for this was that in our experience the fleeting encounters made during a bus journey can give the impression that everything is the same, yet when one gets off, each place turns out to have an individuality brought about by an interweaving of town planning and individual behaviour.

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