The nomadic art initiative Het Resort has moved into the former gay sauna 't Pakhuisje for their third season. Since 2016, the building had been empty, but together with the help of the municipality and a team of volunteers, they emptied, cleaned and redecorated it to make room for a new batch of ‘resorters’ for S03E01 Little Nostrum: Tom Kemp, Kitty Maria and Alicja Nowicz. We took a look.
ALICJA NOWICZ
The heat hits you as soon as you enter. The walls show new pipes running to red-hot radiators (a hint to the property's former function). The exhibition is divided into four floors: each artist has been given their own floor. Only the first floor functions as a reception hall, bar and also as a stage for Alicja Nowicz's alter ego Radek Morszczuk. The rest of her work is on display one floor below.
During the work period, Nowicz did a lot of research into the experiences of people involved in 't Pakhuisje. This was then worked out in many different ways: there are tiles depicting the stories of the former gay sauna, videos in which, as her other alter ego Beati Jolanda Niesysta, she interviews people who visited the sauna, an artwork she borrowed from MooiMan gallery and homemade silicone buttplugs. The two alter egos we see in the videos also deal with the information she tracked down during her residency in their own way. It is multifaceted and investigative, but also often light and sometimes downright entertaining.
KITTY MARIA
On the third floor is Kitty Maria's work, which has a very different tone from the rest. In the video work she presents there, she explores a wind tunnel in a tactile and almost intimate way. She hugs the device, taps it with paper clips and uses Play-Doh, among other things, to feel around it. Presented on curved monitors and amid supple, sculptural wooden partitions and speakers, the feeling of the venue is engaged in a very different way. Despite no direct references on display, the work resonates extremely well with the location.
TOM KEMP
Finally, in the attic you will encounter the work of Tom Kemp, who has partnered with Anna Sieben, medical illustrator for the UMCG. Together, they translated all the information, stories and maps of the location into drawings and a video work in which they use roleplay strategies, among other things, to determine how to deal with that information. The drawings were scanned and then printed on a material called Tyvek, which is also widely used in the medical field. It is fascinating work that is absolutely worth spending some time listening to in order to figure out how all the information is ultimately transformed by them.
All in all, it is an exhibition that is ambitious without being immediately pretentious. With Het Resort living a nomadic existence, they definitely take advantage of this. The venue challenges not only the artists, but also the organisation itself. For each location, they have to rethink how to flesh out the new season and the role they themselves will play in it. The exhibition S03E01 Little Nostrum is actually a total experience in which the organisation, atmosphere and aesthetics they create are almost as important as the art on display, without detracting from the individuality of the artists. The role of the organisation almost becomes a piece of performance art itself. It makes it clear that organisation does not have a passive role within arts initiatives, but possesses its own identity and personality that must also be taken into account. Het Resort calls everything into question for a moment and challenges us to think about the way art institutions deal with venues and residencies.