New Public Slaughterhouse

by JAN HILLOV

The origins of *Nieuw Openbaar Slachthuis* lie in a black-and-white drawing I made in 1968. As a young artist, I fantasised about a remarkable industrial installation in which technology, machinery and reality came together in an almost absurd way. More than half a century later, I have used this old drawing as inspiration – and with the help of AI – to create an entirely new artwork. An enormous, complex machine rises up on the banks of a canal. Countless pipes, cogs, conveyor belts, springs, chains and metal structures combine to form an almost incomprehensible mechanical structure.

The dramatic orange, red and golden-yellow sky contrasts sharply with the cool blues and greens of the metal. The warm evening light lends the old industrial installation a monumental quality, whilst the dark cloud cover gives the scene an almost apocalyptic atmosphere.

And then there are the cows. A neat row of black-and-white cows walks from the canal across the site towards the entrance to the plant. Their presence is at once logical and utterly absurd. It is precisely this contrast that forms an important part of the work’s surrealist character. The cows bring something everyday and recognisable into a world otherwise entirely dominated by machines and fantasy.

The result is a colourful, dramatic and slightly ironic ode to the imagination of a young artist from 1968 – an old idea, reinvented in the twenty-first century thanks to AI. ‘Nieuw Openbaar Slachthuis’ is for lovers of industrial surrealism, retrofuturism, mechanical fantasy worlds and art with a story.