Entrepot

The Entrepot project is designed to promote technological research and digital awareness in the visual arts. Digitalisation has a significant impact on daily life. Not only because society is organised around platforms, but also because a large part of daily life takes place online, even before the mass shift brought about by Covid-19. People of all ages work online or seek leisure activities there. Digitalisation is also playing an increasingly important role in various major issues where the imagination of artists and designers is crucial.

The Entrepot project is based on the question: how can artists occupy digital space? Since 2016, we have been using our online platform to publish content about the artistic process. In recent years, we have been using digital storytelling as a method to work with artists to find a balance between the use of digital and physical space. We firmly believe that, as the internet and digitalisation play a significant role in daily life, this is precisely where artists can make a difference. The follow-up question is: what role can we, as an organisation, play? Digitalisation in art is not merely a matter of technology. It is also a different way of thinking. For instance, regarding uniqueness and authenticity, which have a completely different impact and value in an online environment. To inform this research from various perspectives, we have spoken with, amongst others, Baltan Laboratories at Eindhoven, Waag Futurelab Amsterdam, DEN, LI-MA, Annet Dekker, Jan Robert Leegte, Upstream Gallery, Martine Neddam, Constant Dullaart and The Institute of Network Cultures. These interviews will be published in mid-May/June 2022. A preview of the interview with Geert Lovink and Sepp Eckenhaussen from The Institute of Network Cultures can be read here.

The name Entrepot is derived from the concept of storing something whose final destination has not yet been determined. We do not yet know where this research will take us, but we do know that we will share and preserve the results of this ‘something’ until it finds its purpose. With the Entrepot project, we are taking the first steps towards developing the current online platform into a platform for technological research and digital awareness. Technology in the sense of innovative working and thinking to explore the intersection between the practical aspects of technology and the substantive issues it raises. The aim is to offer artists, in the near future, the opportunity to experiment with digitisation, devise new strategies and develop methods for greater visibility, different audience reach and new art forms.