solo in Galerie de Zaal Delft

I am a Passenger by Hugo Beschoor Plug

“The line comes from Iggy Pop's The Passenger. He wrote the lyrics on the Berlin S-Bahn,” Willem van den Hoed tells me. Hearing the word Berlin takes me straight back to the Lindower Straße in 2004. Next to the Wedding S-Bahn station, Kunstraum Berlin was showing an exhibition by van den Hoed called Trip to Tyoplyi Stan. In the main exhibition space, large three-dimensional photographs displayed the artist’s long-term observations of typical Soviet high-rise buildings. These resulted from his numerous trips to this suburb south of Moscow. The vernissage took place on a beautiful summer evening. Huge windows and doors opened the gallery out onto the street and the elevated S-Bahn tracks. From time to time, the sound of a passing train interrupted the lively conversations. I remember van den Hoed looking up, as if searching for something. It is only now that I realise, he was searching the S-Bahn windows for Iggy Pop, jotting down words to describe his fascination with being a passenger.

He rides and he rides

He sees things from under glass

He looks through his window's eye

The exhibition I am a Passenger sees Willem van den Hoed return as a guest artist to Galerie De Zaal in Delft. Following legendary exhibitions such as Fotonen (2012) and Ofﬁcetel (2013), De Zaal presents forty works by van den Hoed featuring his journeys through sixteen cities around the world. Like a passenger, the artist moves through time and space. Guided by expectation and experience, he knows exactly which camera settings to use for his work. At the same time, however, he longs to be surprised. Is it possible to prepare for surprise? In van den Hoed’s world, it is.

Take the Novotel Paris Centre series, for instance.
It all begins with an architectural detail that Jayoun, the artist’s wife, ﬁnds online by chance. A rounded hotel window in the Novotel Paris Centre reminds her of van den Hoed’s piece 10005, which features this nautical shape. In his work, rounded windows, as found on planes and trains and boats and buses, represent the link between the dynamic, hazardous exterior and the quiet, safe interior in which his photography takes place.

The window Jayoun discovers is one of 1008 covering the entire 100-meter-high building, offering views over Paris in all directions. Educated as an architect, van den Hoed immediately recognises the potential for a new series of artworks and nicknames the hotel “a static S-Bahn with 1008 windows”. Drawing on his architectural experience, he researches the building’s structure and its relation to the urban context, concluding that his main objectives are the corner rooms with three windows.

After the challenging process of reserving a suitable corner room, the work on site begins. Guided by his architectural drawings, van den Hoed ﬁnds the ideal position for the tripod supporting the bulky digital medium-format camera. From this point onwards, he steps back and allows the quality of light to lead the way. For each piece of work the artist takes 30 to 40 monumental photographs, capturing the slightest variations in light. Slowly fading sunlight, bright ofﬁce lights and suddenly appearing street lamps all start to intermingle with the static interior lighting of the hotel room — transforming the rounded window into a double-sided canvas with unexpected mélanges.

I see the stars come out tonight

I see the bright and hollow sky

Over the city's ripped back sky

If everything is under control, you’re not going fast enough
(Mario Andretti - former Formula 1 driver)

“The large number of windows requires a fast and efﬁcient technique”, explains van den Hoed, as he outlines the technical equipment he uses for the Novotel Paris Centre series. The introduction of speed marks a turning point in his work. His Nikon is now accompanied by a Phase One IQ4 150MP, enabling him the step from single hotel room works, with which he made his name, to single hotel works. His long-term observation of a single perspective gives way to a collection of blistering views which he refers to as a moth’s-eye perspective. Visit after visit, van den Hoed documents the ongoing urban transformation around his metropolitan S-Bahn with 1008 windows.

I am a passenger

And I ride, and I ride

I ride through the city’s backsides

Inspired by the signiﬁcant impact that the speed of the Phase One camera has on his work, van den Hoed is stepping up another gear. In his brand-new series, Imagined Installations, he tests his Novotel Paris Centre pieces in galleries around the world. To create these galleries, he uses Midjourney, a generative intelligence programme that creates images from language prompts. By using this swift technique, van den Hoed purposefully relinquishes control while increasing his speed exponentially. Not letting an “uncomfortable feeling of carsickness” stop him, he nods appreciatively towards Mario Andretti and fastens his seat belt.