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☰ Edwin Stolk

The organisation
store
2011 - 2012


The organisation Store

HOOG CATHARIJNE UTRECHT - At the end of the year 2011, curator Jelle Bouwhuis invited me over in Utrecht. At that time, he was head curator at SMBA (Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam) and a member of a commission for the Foundation Art in the Station Area in Utrecht. Here, I was asked to develop a site specific proposal for an empty shop in Hoog Catharijne — a shopping mall that was being renovated at the time in Utrecht.

THE ORGANISATION STORE - was the title of my context-dependend proposal. It had to take place in the empty shop for the period of two months. I am very much interested in the possibilities of unconventional collaborations. Therefore I proposed to work together with the Municipality of Utrecht, Corio (owner of the shopping mall), the shop owners, customers and students of several design academies.

The organisation Store

At the time, the shopping mall Hoog Catharijne experienced difficult times. A lot of shops were empty and the ongoing renovation caused for tensions by the other shop owners. With an artistic laboratory, in the form of a shop, I wanted to research the commercial language that generally was used to attract customers.

The organisation Store

This laboratory would appear as a trendy shop. It would provide infrastructure for a customer’s research. My aim was to invite people in the shop, to develop in a co-creation different perspectives on the surrounding shopping experience.

In collaboration with students of design academies I wanted to offer small design gadgets. These gadgets would activate and enable, to engage and question the commercial language that was used in this mall.

A few weeks after my first proposal I received a short email with the message that 'The organisation store' was cancelled. A few years later I understood that Corio, the owner of the shopping mall, cancled my contribution. Instead of seeing art as an innovative tool - to improve the situation in Hoog Catharijne — it was seen as a potential threat that had to be stopped.

'The organisation store' wanted to follow the concept behind 'The organisation'. Founded in 2011, to make knowledge and means available to serve society as a whole.

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Best regards, Edwin Stolk.


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