How Gijs Stork creates space by learning people to see better through art
Happyplaces Stories (video)
I met Gijs in Beijing, when I was there to transform The Tank in area 751 into the Dutch pavillion during the Beijing Design Week (BJDW). The Tank was the epicentre of the Dutch programme at Beijing Design Week for a week and a half. Think of it as a proverbial ‘Holland House’ like the Netherlands always has at large events abroad at events like the Olympic Games, as a place of celebration and as the homebase away from home. Courtesy of Amsterdam, the guest city for the fourth biennale in Beijing, and proud successor to Milan and London. There was where Mayor of Amsterdam Eberhard van der Laan made a speech, where urban designers of Towards 2050 outlined their urban vision for the future, where participants in SALON/BJ toasted their work in the working-class district of Dashilar, where fashion designers gathered, architects networked, and students enjoyed a first taste of international design practice.
When we had some time off, we visited SALON/BJ, just around the corner of the Tiananmen Square. During BJDW 2013, SALON/ re-located and domiciliated designers from Amsterdam and Beijing for 10 days in Dashilar with the goal to “break down the walls” between the disciplines, the creator and the spectator, the neighbourhood and the city. They broke down the differences between cultures by producing “in situ” installations and workshops and by creating the possibility to participate among the designers and artists. SALON/BJ inspired and engaged a dialogue and reflection in between the participants, the locations, site-specific workshop/installations, the public and the inhabitants.
Gijs took us on a tour through this old Chinese neighborhood to show some of the projects designers were working on. It was amazing to see how the spaces amplified the projects, and the projects by the spaces. A pleasant contrast between worlds that caused you to look better at both. I visited him at his home annex exhibition space a couple of weeks later, in the historic city Centre of Amsterdam. And learned how Gijs learns people to look better through art and art projects, and connects people to art to places to people.
Platforms
I have been organising expositions since 2008. But more importantly, I have been active in the world of art since 1992, I believe. And ever since I started publishing books, I have been creating platforms for people working in different branches. Which means that a book was always a place where a good artist was joined by a good writer. But who were also joined by a good photographer and a good graphic designer, who are just as important. By doing this, you create a place where everyone can do and show what they do best. So I always try to convince artists who want to make a book that it is very important to work with a graphic designer who is able to create this book for them. Similarly, you should ask a photographer to take the photos, in stead of trying to do it yourself. So everyone’s talents are equally valuable, but all on the same platform. It is like placing everyone on the same boat and going on a trip together. I have faith in every single one of you, because you are all great at what you are doing. From this, great things were created. This is the starting point, as well as the final point, of the things I do. I create a platform for people where they are valued and respected for who they are. Because this is also why I chose to work with them. But the idea is to work together in one place to create something new.
Come together
This is still how I work with people and artists. I give them a lot of space, because I ask them who they are and what they did thusfar. But at the same time, I make clear that I want them to work for this place. I will take you on trips to visit SALON/’s, castles or to other places I work. This is how I create things. This does not only have a lot to do with me as a person, but also wth my children. I raised them in the same way and I recognise them in myself. From the day they were born, I have always treated them like fully fledged people. So no baby talk. But more like, ‘you may only be two years old, but you are still a complete human being’. I appreciate you for being two years old and because of everything you are already capable of doing. I am never going to… Today still. They are now eighteen years old and are living in Amsterdam. Because I value them for who they are, I do not really worry when they have to walk down the streets at night. I trust them. I think this is a very important basic concept of what, to me, is a great place to be. This has everything to do with the unification of all these different disciplines in one project. This actually just a house where you can have paintings on your walls, a chair that was designed by someone or where someone walks around in a dress that was created by a designer. To me, the perfect place is when all these things and people get together and share their stories and ideas. I am someone who, after creating such a place, distances himself from it. So I make sure that people come together. And that things come together. And I also make objects come together. I let them talk to each other, which creates one single space.
Seeing things properly
For me, the reason for doing all this is because I feel that, for a long time, before even starting with SALON/. SALON/ actually is the reason why we started doing this. But it is because, for a very long time, I have felt that people do not watch and see things properly. People do not take the time to give thought to, especially in the art scene, where I come from, people do not take the time to see things properly. They do not take the time to appreciate specific moments. Even in the art scene there are a lot of people who come to an exposition just to stand there with a drink in their hand, facing away from the work of art and leave soon after this. They went to the exposition, but they did not see anything. To me, it is very important to find a way to make people look at things over and over again at things that I find important, beautiful or nice, and to have them share this. And one of the reasons for starting with SALON/, is because we felt that the enormous events which are organised for art, fashion and design, like Milan and Fashion Week in Amsterdam where the most important things are the white boards and having as many people as possible there are no longer really about what exactly is fashion or what exactly is the creative process. Why is this such a special piece of design and how did someone create this? People do not take the time to give thought to this and already leave after just three minutes. And only stop to drink some prosecco and to make small talk, not to discuss what they have just seen. In a way this is a good thing, because these things need to happen as well. They have the right to exist, they bring in money and they create an economy. But I felt the same way about art fairs, where you can find all these different stands. People do not really pay attention to what is displayed in these stands. These fairs are very important to sell things and to create an economy but they are definitely not about seeing new things or appreciating art, nor are they about looking at things with great focus. But I also felt that the white cube and all other major events that are solely for the insiders. Milan, for example, only focusses on the designers and not on the larger audience and the people going to Fashion Week all received an invitation. It also requires courage to walk into a gallery, which is already intimidating enough as it is. This big white room with incomprehensible pieces of art. I felt the need to create something outside of this white cube, outside of this distant feeling. To see if, like what we are doing with SALON/ right now, we can make people from different branches come together. Which comes from something I have done for a long time, namely publishing books in which you join and connect all these different disciplines in one book. You could make a 3-D version of this and publish it in a gallery that is not white, like all the others. By doing this, you create a very nice place for all audiences. People will then start looking at their surroundings in a different way, because something here is wrong. What I have been doing in this castle for the past three years, because you are in a heritage filled with old things, paintings from the 17th Century, old furniture… The moment you are in this castle, it suddenly all becomes art. There is hardly any need for graphic design or fashion. The moment you place a contemporary painting between the older ones, something happens to the painting. But something also happens to the place and its audience. The audience would have been wandering through the castle and seeing nothing but old furniture and old paintings. But then, boom, something happens. People suddenly start looking. All of a sudden, they pay attention to what they see. But at the same time, they are also focussed on their surroundings. This creates a reaction, which can be either positive or negative. But something happens. People are more aware of their surroundings. This is what we also tried to accomplish in Beijing.
Layers
I went on a tour here with the international press. You walk into a house where they have a scale model on display. People will look at this thing and think: “Ehm okay? Whatever”. They will walk around the model, take a few photos and then leave again. Just to walk into the next room, where a beautiful vase with spotlights on it is displayed. But it is nothing more than a vase with spotlights on it. It does not tell you anything. What we did with SALON/, is to give everyone in these beautiful old houses the assignment to start with nothing and we will start a collaboration. Show them what this collaboration and process means. And make sure to also share this with your visitors. What happens is —and this is the good thing about having seen the entire exposition— that people will see something is happening. People get confused because they do not understand what is happening. But this is a good thing, because I can see people working here, there is a process, something is going on. And it shows something different than just a single object. This is because there exist different layers. This is also what I always ask people. What is very normal in the visual arts branche, is that every piece has its own story. It is always about something and it always communicates something. Like a standard description that a piece of art always exists between you and me. The film we are making right now is happening right here. This actually is the interesting type of space. What exists between us, or between that piece of art and myself. Something happens there. I often feel that, in the branche of visual arts, nothing happens or exists between us anymore. What I always really want is to show people what the process is. What happens with people? Why are you doing something? Show me. I am not interested in the final product. I am interested in what happens between that first thought and the final product. Of course, the final product has to be there. That’s fine. But just show me what happens in-between. That is a place as well. And it actually is a very nice place, because everything is still possible. Even one of the things I always try to teach people: if something fails it is more interesting to find out why it failed. And do not be afraid to also show this failure. A piece of art only is a good piece of art when something is not quite right. When something makes you think: ‘Huh, this is not perfect’. “Why is it like this?” Only then, something happens. The moment you deliver a perfect piece of art, no one bats an eye.
Things to hold on to
I am always looking for something to hold on to. There are so many things in life you have to let go of, or which you simply forget about. But having the strong feeling of holding on to something. I also feel that we, as a society, let go of many things. “Just throw it away, I do not need this. Just forget about it”. There is no history, there is no past. That cabin of my grandmother? Just throw it away. Take it to the trash or sell it. I do not need it. In this crazy and uncertain world, more and more people are looking for something to hold on to. For a lot of people it is gone. Then what do you hold on to? What are you looking for? I think there is a personal reason for why I am doing this and why I feel this way. But this is also why I recognise it and feel that it is necessary. I have a long history, and I am aware of this. This does not make me a better or a worse person. It just is the way it is. But it is a useless history. You try to hold on to something by organising expositions and by being interested in art but also by being interested in other people’s histories and stories. By doing this, I try to hold on to it.
Bringing places back to life with art
What immediately comes to mind is something interesting; the castle in which I work has a history and this applies to every place we visit. It has history, but the place itself is empty and abandoned. They are dead objects. There is furniture, but that is all. This furniture is meaningless. However, if you place a piece of contemporary art in this room a new story is added. This new story revives the previously dead and meaningless room. The castle itself is a long story, but it has been uninhabited since 1942. The previous owner moved out and took all his belongings with him, but the castle remained and degenerated. The cabins are empty. All furniture was taken by the Germans and later on was returned to the castle again. The funny thing is, all people visiting this place, notice that, for a long time, this has been a dead place. It was uninhabited for sixty years, not a single person went there. Nothing. Because of the contemporary art that is displayed in this castle right now, personal stories are added. They bring this place back to life, which is a great thing. This is also what happened with SALON/ and what we did in Beijing. We went to these empty houses that all have lost their history and meaning. We moved into these houses to return their soul.
