High tide - An exhibition with: Iris Woutera, Marilyn Sonneveld, Sarah Dona and Tom van Veen in Het HEM’s Open Studio.

Everything is water, and so we humans are water bodies, connected to everything. “The human body consists of sixty to ninety percent water. We are water ourselves, but there is also water between us. Water is constantly in motion, but it also has a memory. Water is never stuck, but it is also not volatile. Because we share water, because we drink, use and excrete water, we are all connected. We are connected with the smallest and largest animals, but also with the water tank and the rain clouds. Water guides a body from young to old, from here to there, from possibility to reality to translation, change. Change flows through us.”

• ‘Waterig Denken’ by Simone van Saarloos, referring to Astrida Neimanis ‘Hydrofeminism. Or, On Becoming a Body of Water’ (Translated).

Within the walls of Het HEM you can hear the water splashing against the quay and see the water swirling in the river from the windows. Here at Het HEM art is not only exhibited, but also produced. Since its opening in 2019 Het HEM offers space to musicians, designers and artists to further develop their practice. High tide - presents new work of four artists after having worked in the ateliers of Het HEM.

Studio Artist In the swell of the COVID-19 virus the tide may turn. We are carried on a stream of change. Which sometimes feels like a flood and other times like a rebirth. We wonder how to relate to time, and the memory of the space between intimacy and us.

Iris Woutera Woutera creates sensory and spatial body works that result in time based performances. She shows a remake of the performance work Collective Loom. What happens in our "in-between space"? Iris contemplates over our place between the organic and materialistic as well as the virtual world that we have created.

Marilyn Sonneveld In these new series of works Sonneveld’s central focus is the body and identity. Her work explores the role of the sensual, intimacy and sexuality in our bodies and behavior. The various bodies depicted in her paintings and drawings are transformed into abstract forms that interrogate when looking becomes a sinful act

Sarah-Dona Manev Manev has been working on projects in which she visualizes the dialogue between physical and inner space. Her latest work is a research in time and movement. She draws much of her inspiration from both the Great flood myth and the fairy tale of Rapunzel. The stories meet in the work Intermission.

Tom van Veen van Veen creates paintings masquerading as digital snapshots that are quickly taken. They have a relationship with the transnational youth culture. However, the act of painting rather has a slowing effect, you see/feel the time it took to produce the image. Tom's paintings are like isolated scenes from a story. Memories of icons are reconstructed in the image. The paintings simulate certain assumptions wherein nuances or even completely new images arise.

Opening Hours The exhibition is freely accessible.
Het HEM café and terrace are open
The exhibition is between 13:00 and 22:00 hours with the presence of the artists.
A durational performance by Iris Woutera is scheduled Sun 27 September in the midday between 14:00-17:00 hours