De Buitenpoorters (Preliminary Design)
For the Morspoort site in Leiden, Fleur van den Berg developed the design De Buitenpoorters, commissioned by the Municipality of Leiden. The work envisions two bronze sculptures that stand in dialogue with one another.
The first is a gate-like form made of fused human silhouettes. Open and inviting, it suggests climbing plants or flowing water and mirrors the historic Morspoort across the road. The second sculpture is a flat compact figure that fits inside the gate but is placed at a distance.

The sculptures speak of oppositions that shape both history and contemporary life:
-inside and outside: the city gate, the bunker, the threshold between belonging and exclusion
-visibility and invisibility: the individual, the group, and the hidden
-here and elsewhere: the neighborhood’s history and its ties to colonial trade
-us and them: questions of origin, class, and power
-connectedness and isolation: solidarity in difficult times, but also loneliness and displacement.

The design grew out of research into the history of the neighborhood, archival sources, and conversations with residents. A collaborative mind map captured themes of solidarity, discrimination, and the tension between inclusion and exclusion — all of which informed the visual language of the sculptures.