The door jammed, it was cold inside and there was the smell of steel throughout the building, but through the high windows the rays of sun lit up the hall like a cathedral. The potential of this place was immediately clear to me, and I took the opportunity to set up a new cultural centre.
In the months that followed, I invited countless artists and programme makers to explore the possibilities of the old factory building.
I wanted to investigate what the ideal conditions were for them to create and present their work.
It soon became clear that the raw building in itself was a great source of inspiration for them: the unpolished state in which we found the building offered artistic freedom. It thus offered artists a license to think trans-disciplinary and outside the box.
Moreover, the charged history of the bullet factory formed a separate starting point to think about a future in which other values became central, such as pluralism, polyphony and inventiveness, without any guarantee of success.
We decided to open the doors as soon as possible so that the public could participate in the exploration of this new cultural centre.
From June 2019 we organized many large-scale art events where diverse artistic disciplines came together, different communities met, and last but not least we experimented extensively. Many highlights followed: such as the installation by Nicolás Jaar in the 200-meter-long shooting range, and the concert by Lion Storm in the middle of the exhibition during Chapter 4OUR: Abundance.
But there were also lows: concerts where our audiences had to sit in a room that was way too cold, or works of art that could not be shown at the very last moment because there was too much humidity.
After almost four years of experimentation, it's time for the next step. The building, which was mostly empty for almost ten years before the opening of Het HEM, is due for a large-scale renovation. We need to isolate, become more sustainable, and our public facilities are due for an upgrade. At the same time, we are taking advantage of the renovation to further expand the technical facilities for exhibitions, concerts, performances and night culture, while preserving the overall appearance. With the reopening of Het HEM in the autumn of 2024, a new, permanent phase will begin in which we will return with an even more ambitious, diverse and layered artistic program.
