On one of the open studio days of the Borgerstraat I get a note pushed into my hand by him that resembles the notes that have been falling on my doormat at home for years with texts like: Mr. Rada, (Professor Siriki or Dr. Aziz) offers a 100% solution to all your problems. On this note I read:
No life without problems, no problem without a solution. Mr. GERT.
With a smile he says: "I have recently been out of work and find it funny to look for work this way, as a webdeveloper you are ultimately also a problem solver".
A few days later I'm back in his studio. The installation of the open studio days with the vintage tape recorder connected to a modern computer is still there. From that tape recorder his voice sounds: "YES", to which a nasal computer voice responds: "NO", "GOOD" sounds Gert's voice from the tape recorder, "FAULT" says the computer voice.
The studio is a high space, the windows facing north show a steel blue sky outside, inside the lights are on. The old-fashioned built-in cupboards, six white-painted wooden doors in a row, each with a key in the keyhole, betray the original function of his studio as an administration room. Across from them is a wall with wooden sliding doors which he opens for me with a wide gesture: deep rooms which, like the other cupboards, are filled with Gert's stuff. Perpendicular to the walls are low shelves with books, along one wall a cupboard with long playing plates, a turntable and several computers.
Gert pours coffee and we sit down at a big table.
"So for twenty years, I've been working three days a week for internet companies. That's a permanent job and I can make a good living with it. Before that I lived from stipends and chores, my previous studio was at Duende and that was very cheap, materials I could pay from exhibition money and through reuse. When the stipendia stopped I bought a computer in '97, that seemed interesting. Two years later I worked as a programmer. There's always work to be found in that industry and three days is enough for me to make ends meet".
He shuts up and stares in front of him. Then he looks at me and almost apologetically says: "That work of mine is like a double-edged sword: it allows me to be independent as an artist but also prevents me from being more active in art. I don't even get the idea of putting up a prize on such an open studio day."
"Being an artist is a relatively lonely thing. I need social contact. Two years after the founding of Duende I joined them, that was still in my academy days. We were of the punk generation. Autonomy and togetherness were our ideology. We had a huge building that we managed ourselves, with communal spaces and guest studios and we organized art events. But with the SKAR we didn't have that much at the time and SKAR didn't have that much with us. In my opinion, the situation was quite different at the time; the SKAR rented studios that it managed from the Municipality and (like the Municipality) did not want to get involved in artists' initiatives. Now the SKAR, in my opinion, sees its task much broader. I think it is important that the SKAR keeps a close eye on the needs of the artists. Many artists nowadays use the computer to create their art. So I think many artists need a desk with good internet rather than an old-fashioned painter's studio. And as far as I can see, SKAR nowadays closely follows the needs of artists and that's a good thing for us as artists".
"In 2012 Duende had to give up our studio building, we could not maintain it. We tried to stay together, but the group was too big and there were too many different wishes. SKAR then offered us studios in the Borgerstraat and I and ten others responded. I have a nice studio here, but I do miss the togetherness of the past. I do have some friends here in the building that I see from time to time, but there is no canteen, for example, where you can meet each other. I would like that. Occasionally a conversation and that doesn't even have to be about art, but about music, politics, about the things around us, I do need. But I think there aren't enough people who want that, you have to pay extra for that and a lot of people work more on their own. Look, at Duende the energy for that togetherness was also less at the end, we did no more exhibitions, no more open studios, we all had our own work and grew apart". He'll shut up for a while. Says, "I was a little stuck myself five years ago."
"I've never thought so much about living my art alone, I'm ambitious, but within the art I make I want to do things my own way. I've never been frustrated that I'm not in the Boymans collection. That doesn't do you any good, I think it can eat you up pretty good. But everyone needs recognition and I need others to get moving.
At the moment it is important for me to make use of the togetherness that is created here around the open studio days. My new studio, those open days here with the audience that comes to watch, ensures that I can move on. As an artist you need an audience. That gives new energy. This new situation here has given me a flow and helped me to take steps again.
Gert points to the installation: "This is new work. Togetherness helps me to get moving, at least every year I make new work as part of the open studio days.