Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam has installed a recreation of Wim T Schippers' 1962 artwork Pindakaasvloer (Peanut Butter Floor), spreading 800lb (363kg) of smooth peanut butter across the hexagonal gallery floor. The installation, which opened last week, follows detailed instructions left by Schippers before his death in June at age 83.
Artist's Precise Specifications
Schippers' instructions stipulate that curators apply 15.6kg of non-chunky peanut butter per square metre, spread "smoothly and monotonously as possible." The work must not be stood or lain upon, and visitors should not approach it "with any educational purpose." The floor installation was first conceived in 1962 and first exhibited in 1969.
"Peanut butter floor still raises questions like, is this art? Am I allowed to like this?" said Sandra Kisters, acting director of Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. "And it is this sense of bewilderment that makes this piece so special. We regard it as a great honour to be able to present this unique artwork in his memory."
A Life of Absurdist Art
Born Willem Theodoor Schippers in Groningen, he was a co-founder of the A-dynamische groep art collective in the early 1960s, which protested commercialisation and boredom in art with stunts like shaving cactuses and filling galleries with shards of glass or salt. Food was a recurring medium: besides peanut butter, he upholstered a chair with canned noodles and covered a table in peas.
From the late 1960s, Schippers moved into television. His music show Hoepla was cancelled after featuring the first completely naked woman on live Dutch TV. He later created the cult comedy character Sjef van Oekel, a Belgian frites salesman in a tuxedo played by Dolf Brouwers. To many Dutch people, Schippers is best known as the voice of Ernie, Kermit the Frog, and Count von Count on the Netherlands' Sesame Street.
Lasting Influence and Legacy
Kisters compared Schippers' status and influence to Monty Python: "He believed that life and art were always entirely serious and entirely non-serious at the same time." Schippers continued making conceptual art until his death. His 1999 work Het Is Me Wat made a large stone float above a pedestal using electromagnets. Hilversum's Media Park still displays his 4-metre-high sculpture of a pile of excrement, Stationnement Gênant (Unauthorised Parking), from 2011.
In April 2024, Schippers told Dutch media he was working on his final artwork, titled Wim is Gone. "I keep putting it off, because then I think I'm going to die," he said.
Previous Installations and Incidents
The peanut butter floor has been installed multiple times in Dutch museums. In 1997 at Utrecht's Centraal Museum, schoolchildren vandalised it by covering it with chocolate sprinkles and slices of bread, recreating a popular Dutch snack. Schippers was reportedly not dissatisfied. In 2011 at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, a visitor walked over and slipped, damaging the installation. Visitors submitted 648 questions about the work, each of which Schippers answered in writing.
Exhibition Details
The current installation will run until 6 September 2024. The museum restaurant offers a peanut butter sandwich on its menu during this period, with optional cheese and spicy sambal relish. Kisters said the museum shop sells smooth peanut butter so visitors "can make their own art at home."
