Young artists get together in the Cacao factory in Helmond. It is situated along the Zuid Willemsvaart, a straight waterline where ships loaded their cargo in order to transport materials from one place to another. The old plant is given a new, a cultural, destination, like many former industrial buildings.
We all seem to like these spaces. They give a thrill when you enter the rough high rooms whose purpose has changed. The glorious past of high production, sweating men and oil driven machines lingers on. Cathedrals of capitalism and entrepreneurship, dating from the age when man thought he could conquer nature.
Wonder if the next generation will feel the same grandeur in the offices built nowadays. Why not? A 2010 office does not appeal to the imagination. It is clean and
sterile. No open windows, no dust and dirt. There is no sense of adventure, no piracy.
After twenty or thirty years nobody will work in an office anymore. At least not like today: morning exodus by car, nine to five sitting behind a desk in between the other desks, evening retreat by the same car, home at six, diner at six thirty, television, bed. I don't think our kids can be seduced to lead this kind of robot life.
They will work in their houses, with their offspring playing around them. Getting up in the morning and switch on the computer, faces unshaven and bodies not yet showered, but a strong cup of coffee to start the day. First reply all the messages. Then wash up, brush your teeth, walk the dog, practice yoga or jog around the forest and start to work....
What will we do with these office buildings lined up, guarding straight tarmac roads? If we do nothing they will begin to deconstruct, fall apart, ivy growing inside turning the, once perfect white walls, green.
Winds will blow through the broken glass. Then. Then they will attract people again. Then new nomads enter, customize the place for their needs, start to make music, exhibit paintings, give performances.
Then they will no longer breathe the boring, grey, act-normal-wear-a-tie, air.
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