Power transformers: they’re useful but very dull. Seeing definite room for improvement, the urban ambassadors of Thirty030 called upon artists to create designs for power transformers that would brighten up the streets of Utrecht. They’re everywhere you look: power transformers that distribute electricity in a neighbourhood or street. They’re necessary, but why do they have to be so grey and dull? This was the million-dollar question for the team at Thirty030 – a group of young Utrechters with creative ideas for making the city a better place to live. In the past, they’ve launched campaigns to get young people talking about mental health, they’ve transformed a loading bay into a pop-up picking garden and they’ve organised several clothes-swapping events. A few years ago, the urban ambassadors started a project entitled ‘Van kastje tot canvasje’. This year’s theme is ‘sharing’, inspired by the legend of the patron saint of Utrecht Saint Martin, who gave half of his cloak to a beggar. Residents in various neighbourhoods were asked to share local stories, as a starting point for multiple new designs for the power transformers. Someone from Wittevrouwen, for example, said she would love the transformer in her street to be pimped, as it was precisely opposite the house of a neighbour with MND. It would be a ray of light in his darkest hours, said the woman, and something that the rest of the street could enjoy too. Thirty artists were linked to thirty stories via an open call. They submitted their designs and the transformers were duly painted. The neighbour with MND now looks out onto a transformer featuring motorbikes (his hobby) driving through a field of flowers. Another transformer in the Port of Utrecht features colourful fruit as a reference to the auctions that used to be held there, and in Kanaalstraat, you come face-to-face with the local Lombok vibe. Not forgetting the other 27 transformers located throughout the city and painted by artists with a soft spot for Utrecht, which also tell their tales. They have all been ‘transformed’ and are now making the city that little bit brighter. Nathalie van Dalfsen The power transformer on the square on Kanaalstraat is only used once a year: by the oliebol stall that sells warm Dutch doughnuts here every winter. The Stadsklooster, which has given the square a green facelift, wanted the transformer to be painted too. Its dull, grey appearance was in sharp contrast to the newly planted eco-friendly greenery. Nathalie van Dalfsen, fourth-year student of Illustration at HKU, knew exactly how to make the transformer blend into its new surroundings. Landscape and nature feature strongly in her work. ‘It’s a theme I always return to. It makes me happy. Psychological research has shown that people are happier when they’re surrounded by nature.’ She tried to capture the local vibe in her painting for the square in Lombok. ‘It’s a place where you see cyclists, children playing, older people catching their breath, local cats, people doing shopping. They all feature on the transformer. I want everyone who walks past to be able to identify with it.’ Instagramaccount @nathalienaomi.studio Philipp Jordan/ Teddies in Space He’s already painted the transformer in Drieharingstraat once before, but his artwork has been badly damaged. So it’s time for a new Teddies in Space, only this time, the skulls of the teddies in Philipp’s design are exploding in vibrant multi-colour. ‘It’s how I often feel,’ he explains. He was diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years ago and the teddies illustrate how it feels in his head. ‘All those thoughts going on at once, all those moods and emotions… But it’s not just chaos. My creativity, vitality and passion are also a result of my ADHD.’ Teddy-bears have been his signature theme for many years now. They signify childhood, the magical time when you believed in the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny. Philipp: ‘Once the spell has been broken, it can never be mended. I want Teddies in Space to conjure up this world again, remind people that there’s still a child hidden away inside them, calling out ‘‘Hey, remember me?’’ They’re supposed to encourage you to let that child out every now and then.’ Instagramaccount @teddiesinspace Feya Hijl/Boobie Babes ‘The transformer I painted is near the port, where fruit and vegetables used to arrive and be auctioned. That’s why I included oranges and raspberries in my design. I got plenty of reactions while I was working: passers-by gave me the thumbs-up, cars hooted, drivers called out through the window, people brought me coffee, stopped for a chat. It’s great to feel that the world is full of lovely, kind people, as you feel quite exposed standing there painting in a public space. Even more so because of my bare Boobie Babes. They’re an important theme in my work, as they stand for self-love, power and positivity. To me, they’re a daily reminder that you can be whoever you want to be, and can do whatever makes you happy. I hope that everyone who sees my transformer receives this message loud and clear.’ Instagramaccount @boobie.babes