We will close for the public to turn inwards, recharge and reflect - Happy Solstice and see you in February!

In this solstice week and with the holidays approaching, BAK Basecamp wishes you a wonderful turn of the year. We are in the last week of our fall program and as the change of season demands, will close our doors to turn inwards. Until Feburary, we are not running a public program. Although we are looking forward to a much needed break and some weeks of recharging, closing for public doesn’t mean we will not be working. During January and February we take time for reflection and evaluation, while collecting our learnings from the past year. Because what a year it has been..

Through the grapevine we hear about continuous confusion about the status of BAK, basis voor actuele kunst. People still think that BAK is dead, that it is closed and gone. We like the world to know that BAK Basecamp is very much alive and kicking! We are busy building the cultural institution we think we really need.

What happened?

It's now a year and a half since BAK, basis voor actuele kunst was confronted with the shocking decision of the municipality to end their multi-year subsidy to BAK. Raad van Cultuur followed shortly after, leaving BAK completely defunded and halted in their work. Disbelief was followed by outrage. Solidarity messages poured in from the local, national and international arts community that BAK built carefully over a period of 25 years. The support was heartwarming, but to no avail and the authorities stayed with their decision. To the outside world BAK seemed beyond saving. However, long time collaborators of BAK were convinced otherwise.

In January 2025, they announced BAK Basecamp for Tactical Imaginaries: a six month period of thinking and planning to consider possible directions for the organization amidst overlapping political, social, economic and climate crises. With friction money and BAK’s reserve, BAK Basecamp started to unbuild the institution as it stood. But where one chapter ended, a new one started. The small team left to run BAK Basecamp asked itself: how do we collectivize all the resources we continue to take care of now? How do we remake this public institution so it may serve the common good? They set up camp at the base to propagate from there and people came running to support, with militant dedication.

Unbuilding and rebuilding cultural infrastructures

Then, a whirlwind of activities and people took off. We built a collective consisting of domain coordinators, hosts, collaborators, builders, companions and critical friends. We flattened all labors fees and took on a sociocratic model. We opened our doors to whoever was interested to join in this endeavor. It became clear that many people are in need for space and so we host a variety of different organizations and groups, both renting out the space and offering it for free to people we think need it. Some become regulars and now we share the building with companions such as Colored Qollective, das Spectrum, the Trans Healthcare Study Collective, New Women Connectors and the Joma Sison Legacy Foundation. Critical friends such as Jonas Staal, Laura Raikovich and Molemo Moilo support us from a distance, help us write, give advice and keep us sharp.

Meanwhile, a couple of BAK Basecamp builders started up several public and non-public programs:

To accommodate weekly reading groups about revolutionary history and movements all over the world, Iliada Charalambous built a learning object What are your flowers? Assembling in Resistance. Every week, different organizations and collectives gather there to read and learn together. Another consistent weekly event has been the Open Kitchen, a VOKU and Freeshop organized by the b.ASIC a.CTIVIST k.ITCHEN. Around 30 meals are served every Thursday, sometimes accompanied by a program or workshop.

Former young fellow Raidan Baqi started up Young Revolt, a series of pop-up exhibitions, workshops, talks, that cater to a younger crowd. It’s a fresh wind blowing through the building and wonderful to be able to become a space where also the youth feels at home! Triwish Hanoeman from 030 Netwerk, launched the Music Café Piece the Resístance. He brings together musicians for workshops and live shows, while inviting local musicians in by offering a platform for them to share their story at the open mic. Teresa Borasino launched the beginning phase of Fermentation and Anti-Fascist Living, fermenting vegetables while examining anti-fascist resistance through a decolonial lens.

Lastly, with Sophie Mak-Schram we launched Basecamp Theories, a series of intensive studies grounded in the Basecamp’s ongoing unbuilding and rebuilding of cultural infrastructures. Each seminar invites a theorist with expertise in materially-grounded, emancipatory democratic practices and models of the past, present or future. We were happy and honored to have learned from and with theorists Vijay Prashad and Munir Fasheh and look forward to grounding our vision with feminist thinkers next year. Other builders that are working towards a public program in the next year are Sandra Lange, Merve Bedir, Ehsan Fardjadniya, Remove the Dot (Saja Amro and Wassila Abboud), Nancy Jouwe, Yasmin Ahmed and Joy Mariama Smith.

We can't say how proud we are of everyone, of their beautiful works and brilliant minds. It is a blessing to see how all aligns with our long term vision for BAK Basecamp to become an expanded, political space.

Gratitude

We like to take this moment also to express our deepest thanks. To all of those involved with BAK Basecamp, thank you so much for everything! Thank you to everyone that visited, donated, participated, was curious and kind! Thank you for your support, your energy and your dedication. Thank you to all the builders and companions, for bringing us beautiful events that tingle our minds and hearts. Thank you for the friends and comrades you’ve brought with you, for the learnings, meals and dances that you have shared. Thank you to our critical friends, for keeping us sharp and having our backs when we are tired. Thank you to all the volunteers and the domain coordinators, who have busted their bums to keep the space open for everyone who needed it. Thanks to our collaborators, who’ve made beautiful posters, cooked amazing meals and built amazing bars. This place wouldn’t still stand if it weren’t for all of you.

We could say that BAK, basis voor actuele kunst with it’s strong and undeniable legacy as an influential, critical space and voice in the art world is being composted. In that soil, the seedling of BAK Basecamp was planted. After one year, it has taken root and now a flower blooms. One companion said, they felt that where BAK, basis voor actuele kunst was about non-fascist living, BAK Basecamp is about anti-fascist training. What began as an experimental phase to think about tactical imaginaries is now a solid collective process based on consent, that is gaining ground with a long-term vision.

Uncertainty and precarity are marks of our time, but nevertheless we are glad to share with you that we will be able to continue the Basecamp for at least another year. We warmly invite you to join us in February, when we share our collective learnings and reflections to the public.

Come join us! Our doors will be open.

Holiday greetings from the BAK Basecamp collective

[id: a purple cat sleeps on a green pillow under a darkened sun]