with Anne Bruggenkamp, Piet Zwart Institute, 2000 / 2001
“The Hygiene project examined the relationship between private and public spaces from the point of view of cleanliness. Do social hygienic standards determine the way people relate to each other? Making contact, socialising, being infected, purification: these terms were also interpreted as metaphors for the position of the artist in society. Do we develop artistic ideas isolated from society, or are we willing to be influenced by environmental circumstances?
This project was developed and realised in collaboration with HTV de IJsberg, a newspaper for contemporary art, made by artists. HTV de IJsberg is in itself a medium for artworks that are developed within the specific characteristics of a paper, while also providing information about the activities of artist-initiatives in the Netherlands. Different methods of working were explored and combined. The theoretical and visual research went hand in hand with practical production. Participants were encouraged to use the practice of editing as an artistic tool. In collaboration with the HTV editors, participants produced a special edition of HTV de IJsberg no 35, which appeared in January 2001. The aim of the publication was the development of views on the future meaning of “hygiene”. Taking the analyses of related topics as a starting point (representation of dirt in advertising; the historical develop- ment of the concept of filth; the political and social implications of the notion of hygiene), the group worked towards the visualisation of alternative models. What would the world look like if the water closet had never been invented? Will genetic manipulation produce cleaner human beings?
Parallel to the production of the magazine, the participants produced Puur en zuiver (pure and clean), a compilation of individual video works which were broadcast by Salto Television in Amsterdam (January 12, 2001), and presented in screenings at TENT., center for contemporary art in Rotterdam (December 21, 2000) and W139 artist initiative in Amsterdam (April 14-29, 2001).
Project leaders were art historian Anne Bruggenkamp (Netherlands) and artist Peter Westenberg (Netherlands), at the time both members of the editorial team of HTV de IJsberg. Guests for this project were cultural theorist Rob van Kranenburg (Netherlands), and artists Joep van Lieshout (Netherlands) and Zeger Reyers (Netherlands).
A reader was produced, including texts by Hans Blumenfeld, Norbert Elias, Dominique Laporte, Philippe Perrot, and Louis A. Sass.”
(source Piet Zwart Institute )