Suzanne Oxenaar
The Fifth Season, 1994-2000

Large white buildings from the early twentieth century, reminiscent of Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain, surrounded by pavilions from the thirties and fifties, and more recent buildings designed by Albers and Van Huut, Bonnema and Soeters. As a result of reorganisation and savings, various pavilions have to be demolished. The site will also be reorganised and new buildings put up. The architectural reorganisation gave rise to a budget for art and approaches were made to the former Praktijkbureau Beeldende Kunstopdrachten, now renamed SKOR. The clinic sought a work of art that would bring society closer to the institution and break through the isolation of the Willem Arntsz Hoeve.
While walking round the site, the proposal arose to retain the pavilion called Het Heuveltje, which had been threatened with demolition, and to use it as lodgings for an artist. By inviting an artist to come and live here each season and create an art project with the patients, society would be literally brought closer. The clinic reacted enthusiastically. In order to realise this plan a foundation was set up and the project was called Het Vijfde Seizoen Fifth Season, after the story by Kurt Tucholsky.
The artists were expected to enter into an interaction with their new environment. In order to achieve this they have to be prepared to expand their horizons and work in a different social context. This particular context requires a different reaction than the sort of art made for a gallery or museum. As far as the choice of artists is concerned, their previous work and their affinity with the situation is examined. From this it should become apparent that time spent at The Fifth Season would yield surprising results for the artists themselves and for the patients. There would on each occasion be an enquiry into the most suitable successor. It will therefore always be a surprise who it is and what project they will come up with.
It seems to be an inspiring place, and staying there leads to an extreme experience. The relatively short duration of a season forces the artist to be alert. Many of them started with a firmly delineated plan, but were forced to adapt or even radically change it during the course of their stay. It occasionally took some time before an artist realised that the patients were often extremely ill, and that even the slightest act was too much for them, and that in addition a clinic is a highly regulated environment. It is striking how each artist always chooses his own approach and sees psychiatry from a highly personal angle. A period of three months may seem short, but it is a long time when you are in such an isolated situation. In each case, the relationships between the artists, the patients and the other people who work and live at the Willem Arntsz Hoeve set a new and unique process in motion. Patients, whose state of mind is usually one of isolation, actively participate in the projects. The distance between the artists, the patients and the outside world is sometimes bridged for a short time. The participants’ intense involvement generates not only a great deal of creativity and new ideas, but also understanding and openness. The boundaries between ill and not ill seem occasionally to vanish, for both the artist and the patient. At this point a ‘Fifth Season’ is born for a brief period.