Hosting Space at Hordaland Kunstsenter

Participants: Jos Boys (The DisOrdinary Architecture Project), Erika Brandl Mouton, Staci Bu Shea, Maud Ceuterick, Emne Studio, Exutoire, fem_arc, NOGOODS, César Reyes Nájera and the visitors

Exhibition title: Hosting Space

Curated by: Maike Statz

Invited by: Mathijs van Geest

Venue: Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway

Date: June 3 – July 23, 2023

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Hordaland Kunstsenter

Hosting Space is a public program of workshops, talks, film screenings and a reading group. The project is conceived and carried out by Maike Statz, in collaboration with Hordaland Kunstsenter, Jos Boys (The DisOrdinary Architecture Project), Erika Brandl Mouton, Staci Bu Shea, Maud Ceuterick, Emne Studio, Exutoire, fem_arc, NOGOODS, César Reyes Nájera and the visitors.

The event program will take place at Hordaland Kunstsenter throughout June.

After the event program ends, documentation and various forms of outcome from the events will be available in HKS’s main gallery space. The talks, conversations and workshops of the event program will inform an upcoming redesign of some of HKS’s public spaces: looking at the art center’s entryway, reception, cafe, kitchen, bookstore and terrace.

ABOUT / BACKGROUND

In spring 2022, Maike Statz (artist and interior architect) was invited to join Mathijs van Geest (artist and leader of HKS) and Vera Lunde’s (artist and receptionist at HKS) conversations about the public spaces of HKS. Maike responded by suggesting the project Hosting Space, with the intention to rethink and challenge ways of hosting, welcoming and engaging with visitors at an institution such as the art centre.

Hosting Space is an exploration of how we can design spaces with rather than for the staff, visitors, local and regional communities and artists we intend to host. The project poses questions such as: What spatial and institutional structures allow a diverse group of individuals to first feel welcome, then enter and stay at the art centre? What tools can we provide to support access or a feeling of agency within these spaces? How can we foster collectivity and community through moments of gathering?

The event program is divided into three intersecting sections: Entry Points, Support Structures and Politics of Gathering. It includes workshops, talks, film screenings and a reading group hosted and organised with a group of local and international artists, writers, researchers and architects.

From the opening of Hosting Space, where fem_arc presented their work, in the installation they made in the art center’s gallery space. Photos: Runa Halleraker

From the workshop Sukkerbelg with Emne Studio, focusing on the art center’s terrace and outdoor area. Photos: Runa Halleraker

From the closing event (a potluck dinner) and installation shots from the main gallery space showing curator Maike Statz in the installation by fem_arc

Installations views of the main gallery space, with installation by fem_arc, at the end of the project period. Photos: Hordaland Kunstsenter