Inside Archive, 2021
Permanent installation, Hotel Maria Kapel, Hoorn

A place where we keep safe what we cherish deeply and value most.
A place of caring, of memory and thought, around which we commune, learn and talk –
or in which we hide and spend time alone, to find solace in soothing seclusion.

With Inside Archive, artist Rik Dijkhuizen places a monumental yet understated yellow cube on the mezzanine of artist in residence Hotel Maria Kapel’s minty green reception area, which explores practices of care within the context of spatial design, archiving, and mental wellbeing. The permanent installation double-functions as a public archive and private hide-out and reflects on the idea of the archive as a living body that needs continuous caring, and living bodies as archives that need caring sanctuaries to withdraw to in times of (personal) peril.

The archive, which often remains hidden from sight, is made public by placing it in an accessible structure in the middle of the space, in and around which users gather in close proximity to its contents to exchange thought and knowledge. An intimate seat inside the cube offers a place to rest and recuperate in privacy; a temporary escape from a world that is highly individualized and flooded with crises, much like cabins in mountainous landscapes for passing travellers in need of shelter.

With the installation Inside Archive, artist Rik Dijkhuizen created a structure that is recognisable and resembles the monuments and shrines where we keep safe what we value most and around which we gather to commemorate and exchange thought. By placing the archive physically at the centre of the institution, Dijkhuizen has set out to create a generous and convincing topos that invites visitors to learn and talk about, in and around the archive – thus using HMK’s living archive as a metaphorical and physical space for collective embodiment and sharing. Its contents, HMK’s archive, has been stored in nondescript and numbered boxes, for people to further delve into themselves. An index is made available for navigation through the wide array of printed matter and artefacts, and is open-ended in order for HMK’s communities to add histories and stories to it.

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Building on the idea of the archive as body and the body as archive, artist Rik Dijkhuizen set out to create a spatial structure that cares for both: “We carry our experiences, traumas, memories and challenges with us, like a personal archive, while we navigate our way through rugged landscapes and stormy weather on a day-to-day basis. A comfortable seat inside the monochromatic grey interior offers a place where visitors – its temporary inhabitants – can find solace and (sensory) relief from a world that is highly individualized, fast-paced, driven by notions of success and therefore (at times) quite challenging for our (personal) wellbeing.”

The installation Inside Archive reflects on how spaces can be designed to accommodate a sanctuary for wellbeing: “I wanted to create an inviting topos, somewhere between memory and fiction, where people gather, care and feel cared for – much like the watery installation Inside Poolside I built in HMK’s chapel almost a year ago. For me, this yellow cube is a visual metaphor for HMK’s rich and shared history (an archive made public, which will hopefully set the stage for inspiration and exchange), but it also offers a sanctuary (physically and metaphorically) to learn, reflect, escape, find rest, hide out and keep safe.”