In this new video feature, Art Viewer travels to The Hague to visit 1646, one of the most exciting experimental art spaces in the Netherlands and Europe. Operating as a non-commercial, artist-run initiative, 1646 provides a crucial platform for both emerging and established international artists to realize complex, site-specific productions. We sat down for a video conversation with co-directors and curators Clara Pallí Monguilod. and Johan Gustavsson to discuss the history, identity, and ongoing curatorial vision that drives this unique institution.

During our conversation, Pallí Monguilod and Gustavsson shed light on the space’s dedication to open-ended experimentation and the creation of ideal working conditions for artists. Unlike rigid institutional settings, 1646 deliberately embraces risk-taking, allowing artists to test unformed ideas and use strategies like fictioning, complicating and humour to challenge existing settings and systems. The directors emphasize that their primary goal is to curate solo exhibitions that initiate ongoing public conversations rather than presenting static, finalized conclusions.

Through the video, we see numerous changes and transformations in the exhibition programme, as well as in the space itself. In each show, we witness different metamorphoses that push forward the work of the artists they present. The video is the result of images from the 1646 archives, combined with on-site footage featuring the people involved in its care and development.

Watch the full video conversation to find out more about how 1646 continues to shape the art scene in the Netherlands and across Europe, thanks to its collaborative approach and its commitment to the diversity of contemporary artistic practices they foster.