Functional
Features
Het HEM’s Architecture, Collaborations, and
Location as Agents of New Museology
MA Museum Studies Master’s Thesis
Hester Rowan
2
Master’s Thesis Museum Studies
Hester Rowan
12732605
Master’s Thesis Heritage Studies: Museum Studies Supervisor: Dr. Sophie Berrebi
Second reader: Dr. Dos Elshout
hesterrowan@gmail.com
Student number: 12732605 Word count: 23,029
January 29, 2021
3
Abstract
Het HEM is one of the Netherlands’ newest cultural centres. When the institution first opened in June 2019, Het HEM garnered much praise in the media. Of
particular note were three main features: the former ammunition factory housing Het HEM, the art exhibitions made with well-known guests, and the institution’s location in Zaandam. As well as grabbing attention, these features serve a functional
purpose. This thesis addresses the way that through these three features – factory architecture, guest collaborations and location in Zaandam – Het HEM works towards the same goals as New Museology, creating a politically engaged, open, and community focussed institution. It examines how each of these features function in Het HEM’s stated aims, art exhibitions, and from the perspectives of staff.
Comparisons are drawn between Het HEM and other art institutions in the
Netherlands which share these features. The thesis argues that while Het HEM’s architecture, guests, and location function to match the institution’s ethos with that of New Museology, this is limited by Het HEM’s maintenance of its position as a cultural authority.
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Contents
Abstract ... 3 Introduction ... 5 Impact of COVID-19 ... 16 Methodology... 19 Chapter One ... 21 Chapter Two ... 41 Chapter Three ... 55 Conclusion ... 73 Acknowledgements ... 78 Image List ... 79 Bibliography ... 805
Introduction
The next big thing
The Netherlands is not short of art museums and exhibition spaces, and one of the shiniest new additions is Het HEM. The institution opened in June 2019 and was dubbed by respected newspaper NRC, “a spectacular art space,” that was “already a hit.”1
Journalist Arjen Ribbens researched the story behind Het HEM for another article in the NRC in 2018.2 Ribbens explains that Het HEM was the initiative of businessman Alex Mulder. Mulder has been investing in arts and culture since resigning from his position as chairman of the board of USG People in 2006, the
1 Arjen Ribbens, “Spectaculaire kunstruimte Het Hem opent met tentoonstelling vol hiphopcultuur,” NRC, June
19, 2019,
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2019/06/19/het-hem-spectaculaire-kunstruimte-van-bijna-200-meter-lang-a3964340. Translation mine.
2Arjen Ribbens, “Na ‘Soldaat van Oranje’ investeert Alex Mulder nu in een ‘Tate Modern aan het
Noordzeekanaal’,” NRC, December 5, 2018,
6
secondment company that made him one of the richest people in the Netherlands.3 Prior to Het HEM, Mulder’s investment company Amerborgh International financed the musical Soldaat van Oranje. The musical staged in a remote airport turned out to be hugely successful and became the longest running theatre performance in the Netherlands.4
Ribbens highlights that when Mulder first decided to make an art centre, he wanted it to be located in Amsterdam, where he is from. Mulder conceptualised it as a way to give back to the city. The centre was to be named The Next and stay open 24 hours, providing a platform for young talent.5 A site was found in Amsterdam Zuidas and designs were made for the art centre, including studios and shops to provide income. However, after an ongoing argument over whether this was actually a cultural institution – for which the price of land would be reduced – Mulder began looking elsewhere.6
The Next transformed into Het HEM once Mulder found the building. Included in Ribbens’ article is an interview with Mulder, who explains that he first came across the former Eurometaal ammunition factory on the Hembrug site in 2016.7 He
immediately saw its potential as an exhibition space, inspired by the successful conversion of the Bankside Power Station in London to the Tate Modern in 2000.8 In the interview, Mulder dubs the former ammunition factory “the Tate Modern, but on the North Sea Canal.”9
OMA, the architecture firm founded by acclaimed Dutch architect Rem
Koolhaas, was hired to renovate the building. Exhibition spaces, a film theatre and a restaurant were planned, as well as a 160-room hotel to eventually be built above the cultural centre.10 The intention was that profit from the hotel would finance the cultural programme. As with Mulder’s other cultural investments, such as the
Compagnietheatreand Felix Meritis,Amerborgh was not envisioned as a permanent
3 Ribbens, “Soldaat.”
4 Frank van Zijl, “De Volkskrant: ‘Tate Modern aan het Noordzeekanaal’, het megaplan van ondernemer
Alex Mulder.” Amerborgh, 2019, https://amerborgh.com/nieuws/. Translation mine.
5 Ribbens, “Soldaat.” 6 Ribbens, “Soldaat.”” 7 Ribbens, “Soldaat.” 8 Ribbens, “Soldaat.” 9 Ribbens, “Soldaat.” 10 Ribbens, “Soldaat.”
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financial support for Het HEM.11 In his interview with Ribbens, Mulder states that in the long term, the cultural centre must support itself.12
Despite his desire to “create places where society can be worked on,” and “support artists,” Mulder chose not to be involved in the programming.13 Mulder hired a management team, to whom he gave the assignment of creating an interesting and experimental programme for a wide audience.14 Kim Tuin was appointed as artistic director. Tuin previously managed Club Trouw, a nightclub and contemporary art space in Amsterdam, before taking over leadership of the NDSM-werf foundation in 2015.15 Under her direction the area around the former shipyard in Amsterdam Noord developed into a cultural hotspot. This matched the trajectory envisioned for Het HEM: a transformation from abandoned factory to thriving cultural centre.
Functional features
In its first year, Het HEM flourished as an exciting new art exhibition space. Het HEM’s impressive building, well-known guest collaborators, and location in a small community all sparked considerable interest.
The former Eurometaal ammunition factory was described as “an industrial landmark building,” and “the real spectacle,” of the inaugural exhibition Chapter
1NE.16 The sheer size of the building gained considerable attention, stretching for two hundred metres and extending over three floors. Het HEM was called “a huge cultural centre,” with “a floor space almost equal to that of the Rijksmuseum.”17 Also
11 Companietheatre was established in 2017. Located in the centre of Amsterdam, it is a venue
for theatre, dance, music and talks. The building was formerly a church, built in the 18th century. Felix Meritis is an 18th century building on the Kiezersgracht in Amsterdam. It was bought by Amerborgh in 2014 to be
converted into a venue for programmes on technology, entrepreneurship, science and art. After some initial experimental programming, the building closed for renovations 2017. After delays due to COVID-19, Felix Meritis re-opened in September 2020. “Over Ons,” Companietheatre, accessed November 29, 2020,
https://www.compagnietheater.nl/overons/. Translation mine. “We zijn wij?” Felix Meritis, accessed November
29, 2020, https://felixmeritis.nl/wie-zijn-wij/. Translation mine.
12 Ribbens, “Soldaat.” 13 Ribbens, “Soldaat.” 14 Ribbens, “Soldaat.”
15 Arjen Ribbens, “NRC: Het Hem, nieuw cultureel centrum in oude kogelfabriek aan Noordzeekana,” Amerborgh, August 2018, https://amerborgh.com/nieuws/. Translation mine.
16 Ribbens, “Spectaculaire.” 17 Ribbens, “Spectaculaire.”
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of note was the factory’s industrial architecture. Reviewers felt that the industrial legacy of the premises had been fully retained, providing “an inspiring backdrop,” for Het HEM’s art exhibitions.18 The factory space was commended for not being “a sterile white cube,” and inviting a variety of exhibitions.19
Het HEM’s programme of art exhibitions created in collaboration with professionals from different fields also garnered interest. Art critic Joke de Wolf highlights that “the guests do not have to be people from the art world.”20 In an interview with journalist Jaan Pieter Ekker, Tuin compares the role of the guests to famous Dutch television show Zomergasten (Summer Guests)21. Aired by public broadcaster VPRO during summer, the programme invites well-known or interesting guests from various professional backgrounds to put together an evening of
television.22 The selected clips are shown, along with an interview in which the guest comments on their choices. At Het HEM, guests were invited to use their unique perspective to create a temporary art exhibition. The exhibitions are called ‘Chapters’ as they tell the stories of the guests.23 Het HEM’s first guests were the founders of fashionable Dutch streetwear label Patta, Edson Sabajo and Guillaume Schmidt. The pair had already established a sizable global following prior to working with Het HEM. The same was true of musician Nicholas Jaar, who was the guest for
Chapter 2WO. The notoriety of Het HEM’s guests attracted attention to the art
exhibitions.
The third feature of Het HEM which was most talked about in the press was its location in Zaandam. Of course, Mulder’s original plan was to build a cultural centre in Amsterdam. He wanted to give back to Amsterdam, not Zaandam. Some interpreted the location of Het HEM as a sign of Amsterdam’s spread to Zaandam. One headline announces that “with the arrival of the cultural centre Het Hem, the
18 Andreas, “Amsterdam: Het HEM Opening.” Super Future, July 11, 2019,
https://superfuture.com/2019/07/new-shops/amsterdam-het-hem-opening/.
19 Ribbens, “Spectaculaire.”
20 Joke de Wolf, “Het Hem wil alle bezoekers serieus nemen,” Trouw, 29 June
2019, https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/het-hem-wil-alle-bezoekers-serieus-nemen~bc0679b8/. Translation mine.
21Jan Pieter Ekker, “Vroegtijdig einde dreigt voor Het HEM: ‘Het zijn gekke tijden’,” Het Parool, 14 May, 2020,
https://www.parool.nl/nieuws/vroegtijdig-einde-dreigt-voor-het-hem het-zijn-gekke-tijden~b7f1f50a2/.
Translation mine.
22 “Over VPRO Zomergasten,” VPRO, accessed January 15, 2021,
https://www.vpro.nl/programmas/zomergasten/service/veelgestelde-vragen.html. Translation mine.
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fringe of Amsterdam is now in Zaandam.”24 Another newspaper article predicts that Het HEM’s location on the banks of the North Sea Canal “will be part of the
Amsterdam metropolis in ten years’ time.”25 However, others viewed the
establishment of an arts venue in Zaandam as invigorating the arts sector outside of Amsterdam, rather than a sign of the capital city’s expansion.26 The inclusion of the Boxing Clinic in Chapter 1NE, which was aimed at young people in the area, was identified by online cultural calendar Art Agenda as evidence of Het HEM’s desire to cater to Zaandam.27 While the Boxing Clinic connected with the local community through sport, rather than arts and culture, Art Agenda states that this effort to broaden the appeal of Het HEM in Zaandam highlights “the institution’s commitment to bring art and community closer together.”28
The proximity between the description of Het HEM’s features in the media and on the institution’s website suggest that the content of these articles is based on Het HEM’s presentation of itself online and in press releases, rather than critical
responses from critics and journalists. The mission statement on Het HEM’s website identifies the former factory building, collaborations with guests, and location in Zaandam as the defining elements of the institution. It aligns these main features with engagement with social issues, openness to diverse perspectives, and a focus on the community. These match the key aspects of “New Museology” theory.29 However, New Museology is an academic discourse focussed on the public museum. It envisions the public museum as for the people and about the people, which is why the ‘new museum’ is engaged with social issues, open to the voices of people outside the institution, and centralises the needs of the community.
Het HEM is not a public museum. It is a privately funded art exhibition space, established by a wealthy businessman who has a number of cultural investments. In
24 Karolien Knols, “De Volkskrant: Met de komst van cultureel centrum Het Hem ligt de
rafelrand van Amsterdam nu in Zaandam,” Amerborgh, March 2019,
https://amerborgh.com/nieuws/. Translation mine.
25 Ribbens, “NRC.” 26 Andreas, “Amsterdam.”
27“Chapter 1NE: Edson Sabajo & Guillaume Schmidt,” Art Agenda, June 2019,
https://www.art-agenda.com/announcements/270063/chapter-1ne-edson-sabajo-guillaume-schmidtcan-t-be-greedy-you-gotta-take-some-and-leave-some. Translation mine.
28 Art Agenda, “Chapter 1NE.”
29In the introduction to The New Museology (1989), Peter Vergo defines New Museology as a widespread
dissatisfaction with the ‘old’ museology’s focus on the methods, rather than the purpose of museums. Vergo, “Introduction,” 3.
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creating Het HEM in an old factory building, Mulder followed a formula for cultural institutions which has already proved financially successful elsewhere. This
suggests that Het HEM’s main features were conceived with the financial success of the institution in mind, rather than engagement with social issues, openness to diverse perspectives, and a community focus. Het HEM’s aims match those of New Museology, both in marketing materials and when staff explain their vision for the institution, but Het HEM is not subject to the obligations of a public institution, and is not fundamentally by and for the people.
This leads to my research question: How do these notable features – the converted factory building, exhibitions staged with guests, and the location in the Zaandam community – function at Het HEM? This is addressed with the secondary questions: How are these features understood in museum theory, and what role do they play in other private and publicly funded art institutions in the Netherlands?
Three case studies are used to compare Het HEM with other Dutch art institutions. These are: De Pont in Tilburg, Framer Framed in Amsterdam, and Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam. Like Het HEM, De Pont is a privately funded venture, and is located in a former factory. 30 However, De Pont is an art museum and has its own permanent collection, while Het HEM is an exhibition space and only stages temporary exhibitions. Framer Framed also exclusively shows temporary exhibitions, and similarly to Het HEM, all of their exhibitions are put together by guest curators. Framer Framed differs from Het HEM in that it is a publicly funded
institution, as is Kunstinstituut Melly. 31 Kunstinstituut Melly is another art exhibition space, which like Het HEM, is engaged with the community. Kunstinstituut Melly made a commitment to the voices of the community during their recent renaming process.
I argue that through its architecture, collaborations, and location, Het HEM works towards creating a politically engaged, open, and community focussed art exhibition space in accordance with the ideas of New Museology. However, Het HEM’s maintenance of its own authority as an institution is in conflict with these aims.
30 “The Start of a Collection,” De Pont Museum, accessed October 13, 2020,
https://depont.nl/en/collection/background.
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Het HEM and the museum
Het HEM’s mission statement calls the institution “a new home for
contemporary culture,”32 and they identify as “emphatically not a museum.”33 The International Council of Museums (ICOM) defines the museum as follows:
A non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its
development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.34 Het HEM does not fit this definition as they do not acquire and conserve artworks. A single artwork is on permanent display at Het HEM, RAAF’s Still Life (2019), which was commissioned for the space. Otherwise, Het HEM does not have a permanent collection, and borrows artworks from elsewhere for their temporary exhibitions. Aside from this, Het HEM’s work is not dissimilar from a museum. Their main
activities are researching, communicating, and exhibiting, which are listed in ICOM’s museum definition. Therefore, Het HEM’s clear identification as not a museum suggests their distance from the museum is more ideological than factual. It is not a rejection of the museum as defined by ICOM, as it implies a more significant
difference between Het HEM and the museum than the absence of a permanent collection. Het HEM communicates the desire to stand in opposition to the fundamental concept of the museum, as shaped by its place in Dutch history.
Unpacking how Het HEM identifies themselves requires establishing what this fundamental concept of the museum is, which they are opposed to. Het HEM is described as “an accessible cultural centre that wants to take all visitors seriously.”35 From this it would be natural to assume that the museum is an institution that
restricts access and does not embrace all visitors. Certainly, such ideas are present in the history of the museum. The forerunners to the museum were the private collections of royals and aristocrats. 36 Such collections had restricted access and
32 “What is Het HEM?” Het HEM, accessed October 13, 2020, https://hethem.nl/en/Het-Hem/Mission. 33 De Wolf, “Het Hem.”
34 “Museum Definition,” International Council of Museums, 2019,
https://icom.museum/en/resources/standards-guidelines/museum-definition/.
35 De Wolf, “Het Hem.”
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displayed wealth, power, and privilege.37 In the Netherlands, private collections were the basis for a number of museums, such as the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, which still bears the name of two wealthy art collectors.38 However, within contemporary museum theory there is a considerable focus on making the museum an accessible space.
New Museology first emerged in the 1970s and by the 1990s was an
established academic discourse, calling for “a radical re-examination of the role of museums within society.”39 This involves rejecting the idea that the museum is a ‘cultural authority’; increasing the critical and socially substantive role of the
museum; and envisioning the museum as an inclusive and polyphonic space.40 The rationale for New Museology is that “social subjects and concerns replace objects as its focus [and] community needs drive museological development.”41
Whether or not museum professionals are engaged with New Museology theory and subscribe to its aims, many Dutch museums state values that match the ideas of New Museology in their marketing. The website of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, another museum named after a wealthy art collector, promotes their openness, and even encourages critical reflection on the role of the museum.42 While Het HEM might be opposed to the ideas of exclusivity associated with the history of the museum, their stated aims of being accessible and open align them with both museum marketing, and museum theory. For this reason it is pertinent to use museum theory to analyse Het HEM’s stated aims and how their main features function to achieve these aims. To broaden the discussion of these features, museum theory is supported by theory from a range of other disciplines, such as semiology and healthcare.
37 Peter Vergo, “Introduction,” in The New Museology, edited by Peter Vergo (London: Reakton Books 1989):
2.
38 “DG van Beuingen,” Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, accessed January 19, 2021,
https://www.boijmans.nl/collectie/verdieping/d-g-van-beuningen.
39 Vergo, “Introduction,” 3.
40 Julia D. Harrison, “Ideas of Museums in the 1990s,” in Museum Management and Curatorship (1993),
166.
41 Harrison, “Museums.”166.
42 “Who We Are,” Van Abbe Museum, accessed January 15, 2021,
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Theoretical framework
Factory architecture
From the eighteenth to the middle of the twentieth century, museums were deliberately designed to resemble older ceremonial monuments such as palaces or temples.43 A radical break with this tradition occurred in 1977 with the establishment of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, following which, “museums of modern and
contemporary art have acquired all kinds of shapes and appearances.”44 In 1994, the conversion of factories into art museums was dubbed “the hottest trend in museum design” by architectural historian Helen Searing.45 However, art historian Wouter Davidts argues that establishing museums in factories often results in the fetishisation of industrial architecture.46
Semiologist Patrizia Violi considers the use of historical buildings as museums in terms of the meaning these sites have, going beyond their aesthetic significance. 47 She states that museums located in historical buildings are indexical, as they evoke the history that they have “directly witnessed,” and are “themselves
testimonies of the past.”48 They enable visitors to connect to the history evoked by the building, rather than just the objects displayed. Based on Violi’s ideas, using historical sites as museums aligns with New Museology’s aims of “social subjects and concerns replac[ing] objects as [the museum’s] focus.”49
Guest collaborators
Art historian Hans Belting identifies the museum’s protection of its own professional authority as “a structural weakness that limits the possible meaning of the museum.”50 He proposes, “inviting writers, philosophers, and musicians to
43 Carol Duncan, Civilizing Rituals: Inside Public Art Museums (Routedge 1995), 7.
44 The art centre is housed in a large glass building surrounded by a cage of steel scaffolding.
Wouter Davidts. Triple Bond: Essays on Art, Archtecture, and Museums (Amsterdam: Valiz 2019), 207.
45 Helen Searing, “The Brillo Box in the Warehouse: Museums of Contemporary Art and Industiral
Coversations.” In The Andy Warhol Museum (The Andy Warhol Museum, 2012), 39, quoted in Davidts, Triple
Bond, 139.
46 Davidts, Triple, 47.
47 Patrizia Violi, “Trauma Site Museums and Politics of Memory,” Theory, Culture & Society, no. 29 (2012): 39.
48Violi, “Memory,” 39. 49 Harrison, “Museums.” 166.
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participate in the activities of the museum”, as a means of disrupting the idea that the “public is only a necessary burden,” for museum staff.51 Museums and culture
academic Julia D. Harrison argues that embracing a variety of perspectives and ideologies means opening “all aspects of museum work to cultural empowerment [and] multi-vocal interpretations.”52 She states that it is insufficient to invite “a
particular cultural group into the museum to see if they approve of what the museum is doing in handling and interpreting the group's story.”53 Instead, Harrison proposes handing cultural groups “the authority to tell their own story, letting them determine how, or even if the story is to be told.”54
Community engagement
New Museology proposes that community needs drive museological development.55 Community engagement is an important strategy used by both public and private institutions seeking to strengthen links with local communities, and enabling change within those communities.56 In museums, ‘engaging’ with the
community often entails working with groups of individuals who do not or cannot visit museums due to physical or cultural barriers, to make the museum more accessible to them.57 However, in this model the museum devises programmes to help specific groups, rather than positioning the community at the centre of the institution and having their needs drive the work of the museum. Theories of community
engagement which prioritise the voices of the community can be found in other fields, such as healthcare. Researcher in health professional education Cathy Kline and her collaborators propose establishing a dialogue with the community, and allowing institutional practices to be shaped by the needs of community members.58
(Vienna: MAK 2001), 81. 51 Belting, “Reflection.” 81. 52 Harrison, “Museums.” 171. 53 Harrison, “Museums.” 171. 54 Harrison, “Museums.” 171. 55 Harrison, “Museums.” 166.
56 Ealasaid Munro, “People Just Need to Feel Important, Like Someone is Listening:
Recognising Museum's Community Engagement Programmes as Space of Care,” Geoforum (2013, 48) 56.
57 Munro, “People.” 56.
58 Cathy Kline, et al. From “Academic Projectitis” to Partnership: Community Perspectives for Authentic
Community Engagement in Health Professional Education in Community Service-Learning in Canada,”
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Involving communities in planning is also presented as a means of identifying and minimising risks to the community, such as potential economic consequences.59 This is relevant to museums, as urban studies theorist Richard Florida identifies that the development of a vibrant arts and cultural scene often has detrimental effects on the original inhabitants of cities, such as gentrification and increased house prices.”60
Analysing the institution
To analyse how factory architecture, guest collaborations and community engagement function at Het HEM, each chapter addresses one of these features.
Chapter One, ‘A former munitions factory’: Factory architecture and
engagement with social issues, traces Het HEM’s relationship with the history of the
ammunition factory. It examines the interaction between Het HEM’s architecture and art exhibitions as a means to increase engagement with social issues. In many instances the architecture is aestheticised and treated merely as an industrial backdrop, much like at De Pont, an art museum in a former factory in Tilburg. However, when artworks and the ammunition factory’s history are brought into conversation with one another, the architecture facilitates meaningful engagement with social issues.
The second chapter, ‘Individuals who broaden our horizons’: Guests and
diverse perspectives, addresses bringing in people from outside Het HEM to make
exhibitions. While there is diversity in the professional and cultural backgrounds of Het HEM’s guests, Het HEM’s staff play a central role in the selection of works for the exhibitions. In this way, the intervention of the institution inhibits the authentic expression of the guest’s ideas. The role of Het HEM’s guests is compared with that of the guest curators at exhibition space Framer Framed in Amsterdam. Framer Framed’s guest curators all come from within the art world, which means there is not the same diversity of professional perspectives as at Het HEM. However, the guest
59 Vicki Marsh et al. “Beginning community engagement at a busy biomedical research programme:
Experiences from the KEMRI CGMRC-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya,” Social Science &
Medicine, vol. 67, no. 5 (September 2008).
60 Richard Florida, The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class - and What We Can Do About It (New York: Basic Books, 2017) 21.
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curators are granted full creative freedom to put together exhibitions which express their perspectives.
The final chapter, ‘Culture happens in communities’: Community engagement
and institutional change, examines Het HEM’s place in the Zaandam community,
and their methods for engaging with local residents. Het HEM’s programmes, aimed at specific groups in the community, work to lower the barrier for entry. As Het HEM is privately funded, programmes which serve the community are philanthropically motivated, rather than enforced by the region’s social policy. However, these programmes are conceptualised by Het HEM and reflect their perception of the community. Comparison is drawn between Het HEM’s approach to community engagement and the relationship with the community fostered by art centre
Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, during their renaming process. The renaming was a response to the demands of cultural professionals, and included the voices of the public at all stages. Kunstinstiuut Melly’s openness to public opinion highlights the opportunity for Het HEM to re-frame their relationship with the community and shape their programme according to the wants and needs of local residents.
Het HEM’s factory architecture, guest collaborations and location in Zaandam all work towards creating an open and politically engaged institution, in line with the ideas of New Museology. However, an unwillingness to dismantle the authority of the institution inhibits Het HEM from fully achieving these aims. The building is treated as an aesthetic backdrop for art, staff members choose work for the
exhibitions, and Het HEM aims to help, rather than create a reciprocal relationship with, the Zaandam community. This presents an opportunity for Het HEM to
increase their critical and socially substantive role, through meaningful engagement with the factory building, handing over curatorial control to guests, and fostering a dialogue with the community, which then shapes the institution.
Impact of COVID-19
Het HEM, along with all museums and public venues in the Netherlands were forced to close from March to June 2020. Being privately financed put Het HEM in a very precarious financial situation. Not only was Het HEM no longer earning
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affected. This caused Amerborgh to completely retract their financial support of Het HEM.
Shortly after Het HEM opened, plans for the hotel above the cultural centre reached an impasse. The local council rejected the environmental plan, forbidding the development of housing on the Hembrug site.61 Despite the loss of the proposed means for Het HEM to finance their cultural programme, Het HEM decided to extend their short term opening until 2025, as the initial test phase proved a success. Het HEM’s first three exhibitions drew in over 35,000 visitors.62 Tuin worked to establish financial support through state funding, sponsors and other investors, but the
Netherlands was hit by the corona crisis before Het HEM was able to gain financial security outside of Amerborgh. Amerborgh made their staff and the factory building available to Het HEM for one year to give them a chance to revive the cultural programme, but otherwise Het HEM was left to fend for themselves.
Tuin was forced to fire 19 staff members, leaving only her and two other
employees. One newspaper headline read, “enough big names and ambitions for art space Het HEM, but an early end is imminent.”63 In May, Het HEM set up a
crowdfunding campaign to raise €50,000 to pay their mediators and security guards, so they could re-open in June with limited staff. This was a success and Het HEM re-opened with an extension of their third exhibition Chapter 3HREE. Originally scheduled to close at the beginning of May, the exhibition was extended until the start of August. From August to October, Het HEM paused their programme of Chapters and offered the use of their building to other parties, calling this Chapter
3HREE and a 1/2.
In the middle of October, Tuin announced that Het HEM would close until 2021, after the Dutch government reinstated restrictions for public venues.64 The plan is to re-open in March and resume their programming with Chapter 4OUR, and
Chapter 5IVE. Tuin found a financier wanting to make a one-off injection which is
sufficient for Het HEM to open in 2021, but more funding is required for Het HEM to stay open on a long-term basis.65 This is an issue which numerous privately-funded 61 Ekker, “Vroegtijdig.”
62 Kim Tuin, “A letter to our visitors, our creators, our friends,” Het HEM, October 2020,
https://hethem.nl/en/Het-Hem/Een-Woord-Tot-Onze-Bezoekers-Onze-Makers-Onze-Vrienden.
63 Ekker, “Vroegtijdig.” 64 Tuin, “Letter.” 65 Ekker, “Vroegtijdig.”
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cultural institutions in the Netherlands are currently facing. In July 2020, Museum Association published survey results which indicate that within one year, a quarter of Dutch museums – particularly private museums that do not receive government subsidies – are in danger of closing permanently, due to financial losses connected to COVID-19.66
66 “1 out of 4 museums in The Netherlands fear permanent closing due to COVID-19.” Network of European
Museum Organisations, accessed December 7, 2020,
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Methodology
My initial analysis of Het HEM’s factory architecture, guest collaborations, and community engagement was conducted during visits to the institution. I visited Het HEM twice, first in February 2020, during Chapter 3REE, and again in August 2020 once the main exhibition programme had been paused. To carry out a more
thorough analysis of Het HEM’s guest collaborations it would have been useful to visit more than one of the Chapters. However, due to COVID-19, Chapter 4OUR and Chapter 5IVE were not staged in 2020 as planned. In order to discuss more than one exhibition I used textual analysis of the exhibition publications, press reviews, and interviews about the exhibitions, as well as the promotional material on Het HEM’s website.
In order to better understand Het HEM’s activities and the intentions of the staff, I conducted interviews with Het HEM’s director Kim Tuin and former curator Rieke Vos. When I spoke to Vos, she was no longer permanently employed by Het HEM, being one of the staff members who Tuin was forced to fire due to lack of funding. However, Vos was an important person to speak to as she curated the three exhibitions Het HEM staged. While I would have liked to meet Tuin and Vos in person, COVID-19 restrictions made this impossible. Instead, I emailed Tuin
interview questions to which she responded in writing. Since she was hired early in the establishment of Het HEM, I asked Tuin about the process of converting the factory, as well as how Het HEM defines itself. I was fortunate to be able to interview Vos via video call. I spoke to Vos about working with guests and Het HEM’s engagement with Zaandam, as well as how Het HEM is financed. I also had email correspondence with the curator of the Hembrug museum, Daphne Stechweij about the history of the Eurometaal factory.
To compare the role of factory architecture, guest collaborations, and
community engagement at Het HEM to other cultural institutions in the Netherlands, I selected three case studies. For each case study I analysed the presence of one of these features. The first was art museum De Pont in Tilburg, where I examined the role of factory architecture. I chose De Pont because like Het HEM it is in a
converted factory building. My second case study was Framer Framed, which is a publicly funded art exhibition space in Amsterdam. I analysed Framer Frame’s use of guest curators as they have worked with external curators on all of their
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exhibitions to date. The final case study I selected was art centre Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam, formerly known as Witte de With. I selected Kunstinstituut Melly as a case study for community engagement as their recent renaming process was shaped by public opinion and a commitment to the place of the institution within the community. I visited these art institutions in order to analyse their architecture, exhibitions, and community engagement respectively. This was informed by textual analysis of the institutions’ online material as well as press articles. The closure of museums and public venues due to COVID-19 during my research period meant that initially I was unable to visit Kunstinstituut Melly and therefore relied heavily on online research.
My analysis is of Het HEM’s main programme of exhibitions. Therefore, this thesis does not address the Sandberg Instituut Graduation exhibition staged at Het HEM at the end of 2020. Het HEM’s main exhibition programme was cut short due to COVID-19. It only ran from June 2019 – August 2020, with a pause due to the institution’s closure from March – June 2020. Only three of the five exhibitions planned for this time period were able to be staged. This made it difficult to
thoroughly analyse the institution’s use of the factory building and collaboration with guests. Furthermore, minimal staff, and reduced visitor numbers due to COVID-19 meant that Het HEM did not carry out any formal research into their visitors, which means it is not possible to draw definitive conclusions about the success of Het HEM’s engagement with the local community.
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Chapter One
‘A former munitions factory’:
Factory architecture and engagement with social issues
Introduction
Engagement with social issues is at the centre of New Museology, as the philosophy of New Museology is that “social subjects and concerns replace objects as [the museum’s] focus.”67 At Het HEM, the architecture of the building is a means for the institution to engage with social issues. Het HEM is located in the former Eurometaal ammunition factory, which serves as an entry point for the institution to address social issues associated with ammunition, such as gun violence.
The conversion of factories to art exhibition spaces is a well-established trend, but art historian Wouter Davidts argues that this often amounts to a “fetishistic
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glorification of raw and large spaces.”68 Although this perspective does not
acknowledge the use of a former factory building to facilitate engagement with social issues, it is certainly true that cultural institutions in converted factories often fail to engage visitors with the history of the building. At De Pont in Tilburg, the conversion of the former textile factory to an art museum resulted in a space which, despite having an industrial character, looks sleek and new. This makes it difficult for visitors to picture a grubby, functioning factory and fully connect to the history of the building. While Het HEM’s building shows clear signs of age, it is similarly difficult to imagine its former use in many of the exhibition spaces.
The exception to this is the former shooting range. Here, the history of the space is tangible and shapes the experience of the artworks on display. In Het HEM’s first exhibition, Stanford Bridger’s 2017 sculpture and video work BAM (for
Jordan), which addresses issues of racially motivated gun violence, was displayed in
the shooting range. This created a conversation between the artwork and the space, connecting the social issues addressed by the work with the history of the
ammunition factory. Through the evocation of the history of the shooting range, Het HEM connected issues of gun violence with the immediate experience of the visitor standing inside the shooting range. This demonstrates the power of the factory architecture in facilitating meaningful engagement with social issues. Using this as an example, Het HEM could draw connections between artworks and the
architecture divorced from its original purpose, addressing issues associated with the institution itself, such as the fetishisation of industrial architecture. This would be an opportunity for Het HEM to break down the institution’s position of authority, further aligning with the ideas of New Museology.
A former factory
It is immediately clear when visiting Het HEM that the institution is housed in a former factory. The photo used on Het HEM’s website gives a sense of the
enormous size of the building, but does not convey how much it looks like an old factory (fig. 2). While in the photo the building looks clean and bright white, when I visited in February 2020, and again in August, the building looked weathered, with
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accumulated dirt making it appear more grey than white. The outside of the factory appeared so untouched that when I first visited I wondered if this was in fact just a neglected factory. The entrance is not up a staircase or through an arch, as is typical of art museum architecture, but through small doors on the side of the building. 69 Inside, the space that visitors first enter has been updated with modern lights, furniture and large leafy plants. However, the industrial character of the building is still very prominent. Curator Rieke Vos explains that when Het HEM opened, the staff understood that the factory architecture was an asset, and it was something that they wanted to highlight and show off:
We knew we were opening up this building that nobody had seen yet, and that the building already has such a strong character. We wanted people to really experience the building as it is. We wanted to show off the building, which we thought was very beautiful.70
Accordingly, instead of being divided up into multiple rooms, much of the expanse of the building has been left open. The entrance space extends into a vast room which houses a library, café, a living room space, and a restaurant. There are high ceilings and a concrete floor, and the whole space is interspersed with large concrete pillars (fig. 3). These continue through the exhibition spaces at both ends of the ground floor, and upstairs. The pillars interrupt the space, maintaining the sense that this is a former factory throughout the building.
69 Duncan, Rituals, 10.
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Fig. 2: (Above) The factory building as depicted on Het HEM’s website.
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Factory as art museum
The conversion of factories into cultural centres is an established trend. However, it is common that when factories are converted to art exhibition spaces, they appear shiny and new, fetishising the industrial architecture, rather than bearing clear signs of its former use. De Pont is an example of this. While the building has a strong industrial character – which is evident in its large open spaces and exposed metal scaffolding – the architecture refers to an industrial past which has
disappeared, but does not show any marks of the labour carried out in the building. Given how new the interior looks, it might be mistaken for a purpose-built art
museum. Furthermore, features such as De Pont’s arched gate are an intentional nod to more traditional styles of art museum architecture. This contrasts with Het HEM, where the factory building was altered as little as possible in its conversion to an art exhibition space, in order to make the industrial history of the space part of the cultural experience.
Art historian Carol Duncan identifies that from the eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century, art museums were deliberately designed to resemble older ceremonial monuments such as palaces or temples.71 However, the establishment of the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 1977 – built of glass and steel, with coloured tubing on the exterior – marked the beginning of a radical break from this tradition.72 From then onwards, art museums took on a variety of forms, one of which was the factory. In the 1990s, the conversion of factories into art museums gained global popularity. De Pont was established in 1992, more than 25 years prior to Het HEM, and was the first instance in the Netherlands of an art museum in a converted factory. The institution was named after Jan de Pont, who left part of his fortune to the stimulation of contemporary visual art when he died in 1987.73 By this time, there were already several instances abroad of factories successfully converted into museums, such as the Hallen für Neue Kunst in Switzerland.74 Inspired by this, the
71Duncan, Rituals, 7. 72 Davits, Triple, 207. 73 De Pont, “Collection.”
74Opened in 1984, the Hallen für Neue Kunst, Schaffhausen, was a museum for “New Art” of the 1960s and
1970s from Europe and the U.S. It was located in a former textile factory and was a private institution, open for 30 years before closing in 2014. “Institution,” Rassmüller, accessed January 18, 2021,
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De Pont foundation decided to focus on finding a factory in which to establish a new art museum.75 The Thomas de Beer wool-spinning mill in Tilburg closed in 1989, and was chosen as the site for the museum because of its link to Jan de Pont. De Pont was a former resident of Tilburg, and being concerned about the vanishing textile industry, he helped the mill to recover after bankruptcy during the 1960s.76
Unlike Het HEM, in the conversion from factory to art museum, the building was completely renovated and took on some of the characteristics of the palace or temple-like art museum. The renovations were carried out by Benthem Crouwel Architects, with the goal of retaining the original character of the factory.77 The conversion maintained the original form of the building, with the expansive main area and row of little rooms with wooden doors conveying that this space had a former use. On their website, Benthem Crouwel describe the project as a transformation of the “monumental factory halls and the small, intimate wool sorting rooms into a beautiful, serene space.”78 However, in order to create a beautiful, serene space, the factory was returned to pristine condition. The concrete floor is smooth and unmarked, and the white walls are immaculately painted (fig. 4).
The exposed metal scaffolding in the ceiling is clean and shiny, as are the uniform metal pillars along the walls. When I visited De Pont in September 2020, the
apparent newness of the interior made it difficult to imagine that this space was ever a factory. Although the metal scaffolding and pillars give the space an industrial character, their shininess is akin to that of the decorative metalwork in a palace or temple, and the interior does not have any of the signs of wear visible at Het HEM.
De Pont’s departure from the factory building is further highlighted by the entrance, which emulates more traditional art museum architecture. Unlike Het HEM, with its inconspicuous entrance in the side of the factory building, De Pont is approached through a five-arched gate which Benthem and Crouwel describe as “a worthy entrance for the museum.”79 Beyond the gate, there is a large paved
courtyard bordered by trees which leads to the doors to the museum. This evokes the “monumental architecture and clearly defined precincts,” and “grand doorways,”
75 De Pont, “Collection.” 76 De Pont, “Collection.”
77 “Museum De Pont,” Benthem Crouwel, accessed October 13, 2020,
https://www.benthemcrouwel.com/projects/museum-de-pont.
78 Benthem Crouwel, “De Pont.” 79 Benthem Crouwel, “De Pont.”
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which Duncan identifies as typical of art museum architecture from the eighteenth to mid-twentieth century.80 While De Pont’s gate has an industrial appearance, with its boxy-shape and rust-coloured coating, it nevertheless conveys a sense of grandeur and demarcates the precincts of the museum. De Pont’s entrance space and the immaculate interior reveal the influence of art museums styled after temples and palaces in the renovation of the factory. While the museum’s website outlines the industrial history of the building, in the conversion process it has been fetishised any clear signs of the work of the factory have been lost.
Fig. 4: De Pont’s pristine interior.
People and society
In contrast to De Pont, Het HEM is in a state of non-renovation. The visible signs of the building’s past serve as a means for Het HEM to critically engage with the factory’s production of ammunition and the social issues connected with it, such gun violence.
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The mission statement highlights that Het HEM is located in a former
munitions factory, explaining that “the controversial history and origin of the industrial area provides a contrasting framework for questioning the role of people and
society.”81 This idea is echoed by director Kim Tuin, who identifies that the building’s history is evident in the walls, pillars and floors, and that “the controversial history of the site in general provides a contrasting framework for questioning the role of the individual in society.”82 It is not surprising that Tuin essentially quotes the mission statement, as she was likely the one who wrote it. Her statement reinforces the idea that the factory building encourages reflection of the role people play in society, as well as highlighting that this is a contrasting framework.
In this way, Het HEM positions itself in contrast to the production of
ammunition. This encourages a binary perspective of Het HEM as ‘good’ and the factory as ‘bad’, which does not make room for the ways in which the factory played a positive role in society, by providing jobs in the community, and Het HEM might cause harm, by fetishising the industrial space. Nevertheless, by acknowledging the controversial history of the site, rather than shying away from it, Het HEM is
embracing an opportunity to reflect on the social implications of producing ammunition in the first half of the twentieth century.
Controversial history
The ammunition factory has a long and varied history, including involvement in World War II and the Cold War. This presents a number of controversial issues for Het HEM to engage with, from the use of weapons to freedom of expression.
The main controversial aspect of the building’s history, the production of ammunition, began in 1895. Artillerie Establishments (AI) constructed a new
ammunition factory on the Hembrug site in Zaandam, having outgrown their factory in Delft.83 This was a strategic location as the Hembrug site is in the middle of the Defence Line of Amsterdam, which AI supplied ammunition and weapons to.84 The
81 Het HEM, “Het HEM?” 82 Tuin, Interview.
83 “Bedrijfsgeschiendenis.” Hembrug Museum, accessed October 13,
https://zaansmuseum.nl/hembrug museum/bedrijfsgeschiedenis/. Translation mine.
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Hembrug site is 43 hectares and consists of more than one hundred buildings, where both military and civilian production were carried out. The Hembrug rifle was made on this site, as well as various types of cartridges, grenades and bombs.85 In 1912 AI became a state-owned company, and after the outbreak of World War I the factory employed over 8, 500 workers.86
During World War II, when Germany gained occupation of the Netherlands, a plan was made for the factory to be destroyed to save it from falling into enemy hands. However, this plan was never carried out, and in June 1940, after initial refusal from the factory’s management, AI began production for the German forces.87 Factory staff tried to sabotage production by using faulty materials and falsifying documents. Eventually the company deliberately shifted its focus to civilian production in order to reduce the production of military equipment for the occupier.88 From September 1944 until the end of the Second World War, all of the buildings on the Hembrug site were looted by order of the Germans and the interior of the AI factory was completely destroyed.89
After the Second World War, the Hembrug site received two large orders for the production of ammunition for the United States. They also received money from the Marshall Plan, which was conceived as a way for the U.S. to get European countries on their side in the Cold War, by helping them to recover economically from World War II.90 In 1955, this money was used to build the two-hundred-metre-long white building which now houses Het HEM. The factory was re-opened in 1957, and shortly afterwards all alleged communist employees were fired on the spot.91 In 1973 the Dutch Government divided the company into Eurometaal NV and
Gereedschapmachinesindustrie Hembrug. Eurometaal NV continued production of firearms, artillery and ammunition for the Dutch army, but eventually ceased
production in 2003 due to a lack of orders, making it the final ammunition factory in the Netherlands to close.92
85 Daphne Stechweij, Email to author, 13 October, 2020. 86 Hembrug Museum, “Bedrijfsgeschiendenis.”
87 Hembrug Museum, “Bedrijfsgeschiendenis.” 88 Hembrug Museum, “Bedrijfsgeschiendenis.” 89 Stechweij, Email.
90 Stechweij, Email. 91 Stechweij, Email.
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This factory, and the Hembrug site as a whole played an interesting part in Dutch history. The manufacture of military equipment for the German forces,
attempts made by staff to sabotage production, the funding received from the United States during the Cold War, and the factory’s anti-communist policy, all have their controversies. This varied history provides numerous entry points for Het HEM to address social issues, such as freedom of speech and the morality of war.
Limited engagement
Despite the mission statement’s claims that the factory’s history facilitates reflections on the role of people and society at Het HEM, in reality, the institution’s engagement with this history is very limited. Beyond acknowledging that bullets were produced in the factory, the institution does not actively engage with the factory’s history and the social issues it raises. The description of the building on Het HEM’s website is more evocative of an intriguing past than actually informative. It paints a picture of “high fences and strict security,” behind which weapons were produced, but does not refer to any of the events that took place on this site.93 Inside Het HEM, the history of the space is addressed by the artwork Still Life (2019) by RAAF. The work is on permanent display at the far end of the entrance area, and was commissioned for the space. Still Life consists of large brass plates that move backwards and forwards between the concrete columns running the length of the room (fig. 5). It connects to the factory’s history, as brass is the material that bullets are made from. However, Vos identifies that when Het HEM opened, this artwork was the extent of Het HEM’s engagement with the history of the space:
The site-specific artwork by RAAAF addresses the loaded history of the factory and with the bullets that were created there, but we didn't really do further research into the social history of [the factory]”94
More research into the history of the factory and the Hembrug site was carried out during the second exhibition, Chapter TWO. Het HEM worked with artist and musician Nicholas Jaar on this exhibition and it was his initiative to investigate the history of the area. The exhibition publication included a map of the Hembrug site,
93 Het HEM, “Het HEM?” 94 Vos, Interview.
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with notes identifying its geographical features and some events in its history. However, this served as an informative tool, rather than a springboard from which to engage with the social issues connected to the history of the site.
Fig. 5: Still Life (2019) by RAAF on permanent display on Het HEM’s ground floor.
(In)visible history
It is clear from a visit to Het HEM that much of the building has been
unchanged since it was a factory. However, it has been sufficiently altered to make it difficult to visualise the former use to the space. Without room divisions,
machinery and the original furnishings, the elements of the factory building that have been retained are not sufficient to communicate the history of the space. Tuin
explains that the conversion of the factory to a cultural centre maintained as much of the original architecture as possible. She describes the renovations as only “the necessary adjustments to open the building to the public.”95 Tuin states that this shows visitors the history of the building:
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We left the character of the building intact as much as possible. During a visit you can see all kinds of layers of the history of the building reflected in the walls, pillars and floors of the different spaces.96
There are chips in the concrete floor and paintwork, showing its age. The pillars in the entrance space are painted half-blue half-grey, and in the rooms at either end they are teal and white. Scuff-marks and missing patches of paint confirm that this was the factory’s colour scheme, rather than a decorating choice made by Het HEM. Narrow segments of other colours on the pillars indicate that some of them were at the corners of separate rooms which previously divided the large space. Upstairs, there are pillars painted an even wider variety of colours, as well as apparently random squares of paint on the walls. Since this paint is a remnant of the factory, it surely follows some decorating logic, but as the space is empty and there are no-longer room divisions, this logic is incomprehensible. While the walls, pillars and floors certainly show that this building had a use before Het HEM, they do not clearly communicate what this use was.
Aestheticised architecture
While Het HEM does not highlight the way the building functioned as a
factory, their art exhibitions draw attention to the architecture by leaving much of the space empty. This brings the works into conversation with the architecture, but without context the factory architecture functions in an aesthetic way, bringing art into a working-class space and making it seem more relatable.
Admittedly, it would have been quite a feat to fill the whole building with art as it is almost 10,000 square metres. However, instead of creating smaller exhibition spaces to fill with art, Het HEM disperses artworks throughout the space. This means that often, artworks are viewed in relative isolation. Vos explains that this choice was motivated by a desire to leave space for the architecture to influence the experience of artworks:
It was never about […] filling up the building with gigantic works, but quite the opposite – keeping the space open. Once you walk towards an artwork, all of
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the environment, all of the architecture is part of your experience of that work.97
In an exhibition space filled with numerous artworks hung side-by-side, the
experience of each artwork is influenced by the works that are hung either side of it. The works may contextualise or contrast with one another. When works are
displayed in isolation at Het HEM, the architecture takes on the role of surrounding artworks. Unlike an artwork, the architecture is not clearly identified or defined. Het HEM’s exhibition publications identify the artworks exhibited by title, artist, year, materials, and provide a short description of each work. However, they do not include details of the architecture – who the architect was, or what the stylistic influences of the building were – nor are there wall texts providing this information. This, along with the absence of descriptions of how the space was used when it was a factory, limits the ability of visitors to engage with the history of the building. It also means visitors are not encouraged to engage with the social issues connected with the factory’s history.
Therefore, it is only the aesthetic appearance of Het HEM’s architecture which influences the experience of the artworks on display. The large concrete pillars, chipped paint, and expansive exhibition spaces clearly communicate the industrial character of the building. This lends a sense of the imperfect and the everyday to the art and makes it feel accessible. This contrasts with the worship-like attitude inspired by places such as the Gallery of Honour in the Rijksmuseum, with its domed ceiling and intricately decorated friezes. However, although the aesthetics of the factory architecture make the art exhibited at Het HEM seem more accessible, it does not evoke the specific history of the factory.
Tangible history
The exception to Het HEM’s lack of engagement with the factory’s history, and reduction of the architecture to an aesthetic backdrop, is the shooting range. This space creates a tangible link to the production and testing of bullets.
Unlike the rest of the rooms in the former factory, the shooting range is named after its use in the factory. The first exhibition publication identifies the basement 97 Vos, Interview.
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exhibition space as “the shooting range of Het HEM’s former munitions factory,” and Het HEM continues to refer to it as the shooting range. 98 Het HEM’s decision to call it the shooting range immediately signals the history of the space to visitors.
While the name alone is enough for visitors to visualise how the space was used, the architecture of the shooting range further evokes its history. It is a long narrow corridor with bare cinder block walls, which stretches for 200 metres in the basement of the factory. The numbers painted on the walls demarcating distance make it easy to imagine factory workers firing bullets down the corridor and
measuring where they landed. Furthermore, the former use of the space required it to be empty. This contrasts with the rest of the rooms in the factory, which would have housed machinery. Therefore, the conversion of the shooting range to an exhibition space has not resulted in the removal of markers of its former use, as in the rest of the factory. In its use as an exhibition space, with a few artworks placed along its length, the tunnel looks very similar to how it would have looked as a shooting range.
By identifying the former use of the shooting range, Het HEM enables visitors to clearly imagine how it was used in the past. This aligns with semiologist Patrizia Violi’s theory of buildings serving as testimonies of the past.99 Violi specifically addresses the potential for this to occur in museums located in historical buildings. She argues that beyond contributing to the experience of the museum aesthetically, historic buildings can be indexical and evoke the history which they directly
witnessed.100 She explains that although visitors are located in a different time to the events that took place at the site, traces of the past and signs of what happened there are endowed with a direct connection to the situation that produced them.101 Violi highlights the evocative power of these traces of the past to activate the
imagination of visitors.102 In this way, the shooting range is indexical, as the signs of its former use enable visitors to clearly imagine the history of the space. They are more readily able to picture people working in the factory, and bullets being fired
98 Het HEM, Zine 1NE (Het HEM, 2019), 10. 99 Violi, “Memory,” 39.
100 Violi, “Memory,” 39. 101 Violi, “Memory,” 39. 102 Violi, “Memory,” 39.
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down the corridor. In the shooting range, the architecture of the space is a tangible link to the history of the factory, rather than an aestheticised backdrop.
By naming the shooting range by its former use in the factory, Het HEM draws attention to the specific history of the space. The evocation of this history is
increased by the fact that as an exhibition space, the tunnel still looks very similar to how it would have looked as a shooting range. This serves as a trace of the
factory’s history and enables visitors to picture the events which took place in this tunnel.
Experiencing art
Along with creating a tangible link to the history of the factory, the shooting rang provides visitors with an immersive viewing experience. Seeing an art exhibition in a dark tunnel underground is a unique sensation, and heightens the experience of the artworks.
The spacious and light exhibition rooms above ground have some resemblance to the well-lit, spacious galleries commonly found in art museums.103 However, the cramped, unlit corridor in the factory’s basement is a much more unusual
environment in which to view art (fig. 6). If anything, a long dark corridor is an undesirable place in which to stage an art exhibition. As Vos observes, a tunnel underneath the ground where there is no daylight is not what most artists have in mind as an exhibition space.104 This is partially why it is such a striking feature of Het HEM. In the dark, visitors are unable to see what lies ahead down this long tunnel. The unfamiliarity of this kind of exhibition space inhibits even seasoned art exhibition visitors from being able to predict what they will encounter next. Het HEM particularly utilised this unpredictability in Chapter 3REE, which was the first time that multiple works were exhibited in the space. The majority of the exhibition was inside the shooting range, with 24 artworks spaced out along the full length of the 200-metre tunnel. The exhibition made a feature of the long narrow shape and darkness of the space. Vos compares the experience of the exhibition to being at the cinema:
103 Duncan, Rituals, 10. 104 Vos, Interview.
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Fig. 6: The long dark corridor of Het HEM’s shooting range during Chapter 3REE.
[Chapter 3REE] really takes the logic of the tunnel as an ongoing, like a tunnel vision almost. And because of the architecture, you are pushed through that exhibition. It's very cine[matic].105
Just as a film is more engrossing in the dark of the cinema, the tunnel encourages visitors to become more immersed in the artworks. Submerging visitors in darkness, in a tunnel under the ground, takes away their awareness of the outside world and forces them to focus on their immediate experience.
Awareness of the former use of the shooting range, prompted by its name, makes the space even more memorable. The thought of bullets being fired through the same passage you are walking down adds to the unsettling nature of being in a dark underground tunnel. The combination of the dark, unfamiliar space and its violent history alerts the senses and encourages curiosity, priming visitors to be moved by the artworks displayed here.
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Engagement with social issues
As well as evoking the factory’s history and heightening the experience of artworks, the shooting range also encourages reflection on the social role of the factory. This was particularly apparent in Het HEM’s first exhibition. A single work,
BAM (for Jordan) (2017) by Stanford Biggers was installed in the shooting range.
This work speaks to social issues of racism, police brutality and gun violence, which connects to the violent history evoked by the tunnel. The artwork emphasised the tunnel’s association to this violence, which in turn created a sense of immediacy and connection to the social issues addressed in the work.
BAM (for Jordan) consists of two parts. The first is a replica of a mukudj mask
from Gabon, West Africa. This mask is associated with spirituality, healing, and connection with ancestors.106 Biggers covered the mask with wax, shot it with
bullets, then plated it with silver. The second part is video footage of the mask being shot. Biggers is a Black American artist and created a body of work titled BAM which addresses the killing of countless black citizens at the hands of the U.S. police.107 BAM (for Jordan) is a commemoration of Jordan Edwards, a 15-year-old boy from Texas who died in 2017 after being shot by a police officer.108
Het HEM highlighted both the political nature of the work, as well as its
connection to the shooting range. In the exhibition publication the piece is described as “a disarming artwork,” with “an element of activism.”109 The link between the shooting range and the subject of the work is highlighted with a reference to black youths being treated as “shooting targets,” and the explanation that the “local context echoes through the artwork and its topical content.” 110 Vos backs this up with her statement that this is “a very heavy work,” but one which “completely resonated with the shooting range.”111
On the most basic level, the artwork and the space are connected by the firing of bullets. The video footage of the mask being shot filled the space with the sound
106 Het HEM, 1NE, 10. 107 Het HEM, 1NE, 10. 108 Het HEM, 1NE, 10. 109 Het HEM, 1NE, 10. 110 Het HEM, 1NE, 10. 111 Vos, Interview.
