A WINDOW TO
HETTY DE BRUYN
11/04/21 – 25/04/21

a window to is a project beginning with an email invitation sent to different artists and creators.* The correspondence project considers the window as not only a viewing point but also a space of potential (This is your window of opportunity!) and a point of separation, longing or distance (Like ‘The girl reading a letter at an open window’ by Vermeer.) Each recipient was asked if they would like to respond to this theme, the result then to be displayed in Het Musuem Van.

Hetty de Bruyn was the first to reply to the invitation, displaying an artwork which features the roots and tubers of aardperen that have grown by chance into the fabric of a household towel.

For one week the tubers face outwards, and the following week the piece is turned so that the roots face the street. The towel which is displayed whilst wet, gradually dries along with the tubers and roots. After display the towel will be planted into a container in the hope that the aardperen will grow in the garden of Mathenesserdijk 430.

*Dear friend,


Would you like to be a part of an exchange?


The front window of my house in Rotterdam is now a little museum space. The name of this display is ‘Het Museum Van’ (The Museum Of), it is a small experiment and a way to share stories, collections and artworks to my neighbours and passersby.


I have an idea bubbling in my head. For ‘A window to’, I would like to invite artist friends to post, email or send me works that will be displayed in the window. The starting point of ‘A window to’ considers the window as not only a viewing point but also a space of potential (This is your window of opportunity!) and a point of separation, longing or distance (Like ‘The girl reading a letter at an open window’ by Vermeer.)


The past year many of us have found ourselves in isolation whilst trying to find windows of hope…windows of time…a window inwards…a window to something else altogether. I’ve spent a lot of time at my window watching the same view change as the weather and seasons progress. I noticed the black cat take the same route from left to right and disappear into the night. Sometimes I see the same neighbours cycle the same route, or newcomers who look at the architecture of the buildings with interest and curiosity on their daily walk.

Would you be interested to correspond with me, to make, post or email me a response to the starting point ‘A window to’? Whether you want to send something physical in the post, or if you want to send a digital file that I can print (in black and white) or perhaps you have a set of instructions that I can carry out on your behalf. Anything you would like to respond with will be exhibited in the window of Het Museum Van in Rotterdam.

In exchange I would like to send you one of the texts or drawings that I’ve made from my sitting place in the window (and maybe you’d like to display it in the window of your own home.)


If you would like more information (for example the size of the window or my postal address) please let me know.


I hope to hear from you soon,

Jo