Souterrain #2
2005
The "Souterrains" series examine the interface between people and the built environment. These pictures were taken in Arnhem, the Netherlands, while the artist was employed by a demolition company to document their methods and techniques. Willems also became interested in readings beyond those which he was being paid to provide. As is quite common in cities in the Netherlands, and in large cities everywhere, squatters had usurped the abandoned building where these photos were taken and had been living there before the premises were sealed in preparation for demolition. In the low-ceilinged basement of the building, Willems discovered the detritus from what appears to have been the last party thrown by the squatters before their departure; a suspended moment in time. What Willems detects in this trace of human presence is an eerie yet poignant sense of loss, perhaps akin even to post-apocalyptic emptiness. In the photographs, the trash, covered in a thin layer of dust, is strewn about as if the partiers had suddenly vanished in the midst of their revelry.
These photographs were first exhibited in a recently gentrified area in Toronto, Canada. Although they do not specifically refer to the building on King Street West where they were installed in the basement windows, they do point to the cyclical use and development of architecture. Originally built in the early 20th century for industrial use, the buildings now house trendy bars, restaurants, design houses, domestic lofts and other non-industrial enterprises. It is not, however, the artist’s intention to romanticize the past or celebrate this current circumstance. Willems considers it his task to present viewers with facts for contemplation and reflection. In the case of this section of Toronto and the building in the Netherlands where the photographs were taken, one might consider the displacement of one social class by another.
David Liss
Artistic Director & Curator
Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art
Exhibition History:
2005 - CONTACT Photography Festival, Featured Exhibition, Toronto, Canada
