Getting around the East Groningen region of Westerwolde is far from easy, but for art, sometimes you have to make an effort. We visited the exhibition Vergankelijkheid (Transience) at Artphy, a relatively new space for contemporary art in Onstwedde, and concluded: the expedition is worthwhile. It is an account of grand plans, imperfection and the things that move on without us.
It has just been a little over a week of worryingly nice spring weather for the time of year, but on the morning we headed to Winschoten, a thick fog hung over us. ‘Small world,’ says Jan Willem Kok, who picks us up from the station. ‘Normally, you can always see for miles around here.’
Kok should know: in Artphy, the art space in Onstwedde that we're on our way to, you will encounter the Groningen landscape repeatedly. As soon as I enter the huge 1000-square-metre space, I can already see the light shining through the windows on the opposite side. During the exhibition Vergankelijkheid, that light is temporarily filtered through Joyce Zwerver's fragile yet monumental installation ‘In Between’, made of organza in the same shade of blue as the beams and props in the barn.
CONSTANT DEVELOPMENT
However, I'm getting ahead of myself now: before we enter the exhibition space, Kok, in his colourfully decorated living room, first tells us a bit more about Artphy, an initiative by Janke Westra and himself. The project stemmed from the need to stay in Westerwolde. ‘It's beautiful living here,’ Kok says enthusiastically, gesturing to the expansive view all around. ‘The only reason you would move is that you might miss some of the city pleasures.’ For Kok, they are contemporary art, philosophy, and meditation. And so why not bring that to Westerwolde? Thus the idea of Artphy was born - art for art, phy for philosophy.
The bar was high from the start, and the plans for Artphy were (and still are) ambitious. High quality art, a meditation room, a café, a meeting room, hotel rooms, a studio — it would eventually all have to be there, in addition to regular exhibitions and lectures. After a lot of red tape, the space was inaugurated in 2017, but everything is still under development, Kok says as we enter the frigid exhibition space a little later for a tour. For example, there is no heating yet and the floor has yet to be poured. So with each visit, you may just find that something new has appeared: a wall, a staircase, or even an organ — Artphy's newest addition.
TRANSIENCE
Although the philosophy behind Artphy sounds light-hearted when Kok talks about it, the title of the current exhibition makes it sound a bit heavier. Fortunately, during the tour, it quickly becomes clear that Vergankelijkheid need not mean a constant confrontation with my own mortality. Many of the works, such as the photographs and video installations by Elise van der Linden, and the sculptures by Dirk Zegel and Marieke Bolhuis, seek precisely the openness of the theme. Transience is not necessarily an end, but a constant process. The decay of the material world around us therefore appears to be able to produce new images, which in their imperfection are perhaps more exciting than the perfection of eternal life. It actually fits the space quite well, which I realise as I look around.
SEAWEED, CORAL AND PLASTIC
We pause to look at Flos Pol's paintings and the small sculptures she has made with seaweed. In some places a small shell is still attached. ‘And the sea, do you still smell it?’ I ask. We stick our noses in. No, not any more. Smells are also temporary.
Pol's work forms a nice dialogue with Tanja Isbarn's work on coral and plastic in the sea around the Antilles. In addition to her paintings, some objects made of ceramics are on display. Isbarn's coral looks almost even more fragile than the real deal: the ceramic is as thin as paper. Together, Pol and Isbarn's works underscore the cycle of transience that characterises nature. Involuntarily — perhaps because of Isbarn's sea of plastic or because of the cold in the barn — I occasionally think back to those strange warm spring days. Transience can be natural, but of course it can also be initiated by man.
COMPLICITY
This is a more frightening perspective, and it stays with me when we later look at Matthieu Klomp's work. He has sculpted two groups of life-size sculptures out of molten plastic, which I am standing between. One group is terrifyingly fleshy — you can see the veins running under their skin — evoking both associations with birth and violent death. The other figures are black, appearing charred and desiccated. One of these figures stands turned away, a shopping bag in one hand, a phone in her other. When do we let the vulnerability of others slip away from us? When do we look away? When do we take responsibility? In any case, the installation makes me complicit in the questions it raises: soon I find the sight of the group of people with their outstretched hands hard to bear, and I also turn around again.
ROUGH EDGES
At the end of the tour, the three of us hung over the railing of the newly built level for a while, looking out over the exhibition and space. Kok points — the floor is still bumpy: the ventilation base may be extended to the ceiling. Artphy is, as its initiators themselves keep emphasising, a work in progress. The rough edges have literally not yet been sanded off. It has a recognisable aesthetic, somewhat reminiscent of the hip, temporary venues where contemporary art often finds a home. Yet Artphy does not feel the same way: what happens here is not temporary, but firmly rooted in the ground it’s built up from. The idea is exciting: this keeps what is to come a surprise not only for Kok and Westra, but also for Artphy visitors.
Vergankelijkheid will be on display at Artphy until 24 March 2019.