Billytown is always in search of how to tackle space and how to present art.
The question of how to make an exhibition is usually just as important as the exhibition itself.
It has done so under different circumstances and usually with interesting and vital results.
Apart from the major artistic presence of the Billytown artists themselves, this is what makes the club special.
It is a downright shame that this is not recognised by nerdy art committees and authorities.
Especially because Billytown seems to have found its place at last in an unlikely spot that would be seen as a problem by any other gallery.
It is a space that is open to the world and as such it is potentially and with patience one of the most inclusive places in town, more so than the daft experts seem to notice.
That becomes clear again in Kifl the Kid Salon, set up by Suzie van Staaveren (1991) and Jan Dirk Adams (1995).
They created the base for an environment where people can become part of the exhibition and where their own sleeping artistry is stimulated.
Yes, there are works on show by Van Staaveren and Adams, but they don’t shout for attention.
They rather stimulate the appreciation of being there.
Other artists and non-artists also leave their marks.
In the mean time (the Covid-19 crisis was a blessing in disguise as it gave the work more time to unfold) different spontaneous events, some private, others open to anybody, have been made possible, a birthday party, a cinema evening, food tasting.
The salon is trying to move outside as well, in order to communicate more with passers-by.
As for yourself, just go there and take your time, have a drink, read a book, have a conversation, look at the art around you, look at yourself.
I was there on a lazy summer afternoon and it felt a bit like the terrace of a small family driven hotel in the tropics.
What you meet here are clearly the ideas of a younger generation about art and society, and the “social sculpture,” if you wish.
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© Villa Next Door 2020
Contents of all photographs courtesy to Suzie van Staaveren, Jan Dirk Adams and all potential and possible others, and Billytown, Den Haag.
Bertus Pieters
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