Are artist-run spaces now being created/simulated by real estate developers?

And on top of that, not just any art space, but one that claims to be "a bottom-up non-institution" that does "self assemble and strategically address societal and ecological justice"? [Note the question mark, because I am not yet 100% sure yet whether my suspicions are true.]

In Rotterdam-Delfshaven, right next to where I live, the real estate development companies Dura Vermeer & Dudok Groep are turning a former factory territory into a new upmarket housing complex, as part of the larger Merve-Vierhaven real estate development/gentrification project. This complex, right at the entry of Dakpark, will called Diepenveen. As part of this complex, an old factory building will house a "club of makers and thinkers which will form a mini society together with the neighbors" (description on the website of the real estate developers), respectively "a new experimental platform for contemporary culture" [description on the website of the space] called "Huidenclub". Huidenclub states that it "will launch on 1 July 2021 with its first theme addressing how as a bottom-up non-institution it can self assemble and strategically address societal and ecological justice."

The launch will be during Art Rotterdam Week. Announcements can be found on art/culture websites such as WeOwnRotterdam and artrabbit.com, but also on real estate websites like wonen360.nl and Dura Vermeer's own website.

The artists listed for the opening exhibition are:
Pauline Boudry + Renate Lorenz, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Andrea Éva Győri, Patricia Kaersenhout, Janis Rafa, Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Jennifer Tee, Kubilay Mert Ural, Laurids Gallée, Sabine Marcelis, Tim Mastik, Phil Procter, Anna Aagaard Jensen, Théophile Blandet, Jonas Lutz, Supertoys Supertoys, Pim Top, Johan Viladrich + Lauriane Heim

The website of "Huidenclub.tmp" looks like that of a contemporary art space, but has a contact adress of the P.R. firm Coebergh which works, according to its homepage, for "brands, (inter)national market leaders and innovators" (which include the FrieslandCampina agro-industrial company, Auping and Rituals).

The driving forces behind the Huidenclub seem to be the art consultancy Liv Vaisberg and the architect Chantal Schoenmakers whose bureau IWT.IO lists Dura Vermeer and Dudok Groep as its clients](http://www.iwt.io/who).

#art #gentrification #rotterdam