Sanctum is a deep blue chapel that appears to float in between two floors. The work invites for contemplation while examining what the architecture of the spiritual consists of. Why do we assign value to objects, to the tangible, within the immaterial realm of faith? What is the basis of our devotion to altars, relics and icons? In the colossal space of Het HEM, Sanctum tests the boundary between an artistic and a spiritual experience.
Sanctum is kindly supported by the Mondriaan Fund and Outset.
Since 2017, Amerborgh International has been the owner of the former munitions factory on this site, a two-hundred-metre-long white building from 1956 on the banks of the North Sea Canal. In 2018, Het HEM BV was founded as a subsidiary of Amerborgh to give the munitions factory new purpose as a meeting place for contemporary culture. Het HEM Foundation was established that same year as the cultural conscience of Het HEM. The Foundation produces an artistic programme that keeps a close eye on developments across the Hembrug site and connects with social movements at a local, national and international level.
