Friday and Saturday 12–24h
Sunday 12–22h
Art is our first language. Throughout the year, Het HEM presents a range of temporary art programmes as well as more permanent art installations.
May 7 – 25
There is always music to listen to at Het HEM, with programmes focused on experimental ways to create, present and experience music in the building through listening sessions, live shows, and musical artis-in-residence initiatives.
Come by for a drink and a bite, wine and dine at one of our restaurants Zanini, Bois or get a sandwich at Bakery Solinger,. With good wether we suggest you settle down on our sunny terrace on the Costa del Zaano.
Het HEM loves books. During your visit, come lose yourself in the library's rich selection or discover new favourites in the SANZ Shop.
Situated in a former munitions factory, Het HEM is a new home for contemporary culture.
The building's industrial design and our experimental art programme bring ambience and meaning to every event.
Tree Mountain – A Living Time Capsule – 11.000 Trees, 11.000 People, 400 Years (1982, 1992–96)
Tree Mountain – A Living Time Capsule – 11.000 Trees, 11.000 People, 400 Years, 1982, 1992–96
Mixed techniques
©Agnes Denes, Courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects
Landscapes are slow. Our economy dictates a logic of eternal growth at a speed that does not correspond to the ecological clock, not even when it is aided by advanced technology. Tree Mountain – A Living Time Capsule – 11,000 Trees, 11,000 People, 400 Years by conceptual and ecological artist Agnes Denes reminds us of this slowness of the landscape. It makes us aware that this forest already existed many years before us and will exist many years after us. Denes is well-known for her iconic work Wheatfield—A Confrontation (1982), for which she created a two-acre wheatfield right in the middle of Manhattan.
Tree Mountain – A Living Time Capsule – 11,000 Trees, 11,000 People, 400 Years is an artwork erected as a forest, consisting of 10,000 silver firs, planted in an elliptical shape by 10,000 people on a former gravel pit in Finland. The forest in the first place restores the ecological balance in an area that has been ruined by industry, but additionally also functions as a time capsule comparable to for example Stonehenge in England. The mathematical formation – a combination of the golden ratio and the Fibonacci sequence – in which the forest has been planted encourages future civilisations or other forms of life to reflect on its cultural origins, comparable to the recent discovery by scientists that large parts of the southern Amazon region were also planted by humans.
"I want to change humanity a bit. And I think I have", Denes says in the interview that is shown in the installation. A passionate statement that, despite being inspirational, also raises the question to what extent we really are able to bring about change. The forest still exists, but the strength of the artwork lies especially in the utopian imagination it invokes. The artwork is intended to survive our current era and to take our concepts and ideas to an unknown time in the future. A project that does not embody an individual artistic desire, but the common good for future generations.