HCAK Revisited: A Single Painting
HCAK Revisited
Today, the art scene of The Hague accommodates many artists’ initiatives, from underground to austerely designed project spaces. But this hasn’t always been the case. The Haags Centrum voor Actuele Kunst (The Hague Center for Contemporary Art, aka HCAK, 1978-1996) was the first artist's initiative in The Hague and remained one of the few of its kind in the Netherlands for a long time. The HCAK constitutes an indispensable chapter in the cultural history of The Hague and has been an important source of inspiration to the current day Hague initiatives.
Now, representing the next generation, six The Hague art institutions are reflecting on the legacy of the HCAK that, as it turns out, is anything but obsolete. Under the common denominator HCAK Revisited, Heden, GEMAK/Vrije Academie, 1646, JCA DE KOK, Ruimtevaart, and Nest each offer their own interpretation of one of the former HCAK projects.
Eén Schilderij (A Single Painting)
GEMAK has chosen to revisit the HCAK project Eén Schilderij (A Single Painting) and sends its visitors on a pilgrimage, a personal journey with a special route description, criss-crossing through the neighborhood and finally arriving at creative warehouse HOOP to experience A Single Painting, a work by Vittorio Roerade entitled Artist in Exile.
Find out, as a visitor, how old ideas relate to new ones and, on seeing the painting, what lurks beneath its surface and what images emerge on second sight. In HOOP you are offered an intimate, one-on-one art experience that allows you, in these times of volatile visual culture, to reflect in silence on the image that presents itself to you alone.
GEMAK – HOOP - GEMAK
In GEMAK there is an information space where books on the theme of intimate art experiences, the route, the project, and an especially compiled reader can be consulted. But above all, after completing the route, visitors can leave their account or reaction by writing in the journal or typing on a laptop at GEMAK, or are free to react from their homes by sending an e-mail to info@gemak.org.
A free route description, with lots of surprising historical and cultural background information will be available at GEMAK between 5 May and 3 June and can also be downloaded from www.gemak.org. The free publication about the entire HCAK Revisited route throughout the city is also available at GEMAK.
For more information about all six HCAK Revisited projects, please visit: www.hcak.nu
foto: Gerrit Schreurs
FUTURES
5 May - 17 June, 2012
More information soon
Futures
