For this exhibition, we came into contact with Loods6, a former shipping dock constructed around 1900. In the 80s, when the large warehouse was out of use, around 40 artists successfully squatted it. Because of this artist community, today, Loods6 is made into a large creative organisation which rents out ateliers for artists and housing art galleries and offices for various creative businesses.
Within Loods6 is the Bagagehal, a large exhibition space, roughly 1000 m2, generally used for large-scale convention-like exhibitions. These exhibitions are usually hosted by art organisations whose primary concerns are commercial, which we’ve found to be a false and uninspiring representation of contemporary art. We wanted to react to this coldness by focusing on the warmth and closeness we’ve experienced within the young artistic community. A closeness with which the community of artists have made it possible for Loods6 to become what it is today. Through this story, we realised how empowering it is to surround yourself with like-minded artists; creating a strong community opens many possibilities.
With ‘suzi & friends’, we reached out to artists who are dear friends and acquaintances and inspire us as exceptional makers and thinkers. We’ve attempted to create an ecology, combining the landscape of Loods6 with the local artist’s flora and fauna. In this balance, we believe that contemporary ideas can freely manifest themselves and grow; here, works and space are celebrated and do not impose but aim to become a part of one another. By providing artists with a landscape to experiment and advance in their practices, we aim to create a window through which their most recent thoughts and processes can be experienced, not only as individuals but also as a community.