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Hw8
At the end of 2019, the Hemweg Power Plant in Amsterdam was decommissioned. ‘Hw8’ – or HW8, as the plant is known to its staff – is a documentary photo book about this last fully coal-fired power plant in the Netherlands.
The book reveals the hidden world behind the power socket. The closed colossus next to the A10 highway harbors a complex and dangerous environment where everything revolves around the intimate relationship between humans and machines. In the presence of this colossus, with its immense boiler at the heart, encased in a claustrophobic network of pipes, conveyor belts, stairs, walkways, tanks, and turbines, the photographer is a mere speck.
He is allowed to observe for half a year and portrays the extensive machinery and its inhabitants: from the almost otherworldly coal fields to the laboratory; the control room; the workshop and the turbine house; to the 175-meter-high chimney. By the time the book ends in the locker rooms, we have come to know the people who all have something to say about their plant, about the living entity it proves to be with all its quirks and caprices. Even for those who have worked there for half their lives, no day is the same – the plant never fully reveals itself.
This inscrutable, living, and fragmented nature is the starting point for both the design and the edit. The story is constructed as a driving stream of images that begins with the raw coal (C), followed by the power plant as it transforms the coal into electricity, fly ash, gypsum, SO2, NOx, and CO2. ‘Hw8’ seems to fit within this series of chemical formulas as a title. The camera zooms in and out, the images are edited cinematically, and the page numbers at the top emphasize the progress of the process. Regularly, the focus shifts to a specific phenomenon hidden behind a fold-out page, enhancing the feeling of disorientation and the sometimes absurd presence of humans within their own creation.
The book reveals the hidden world behind the power socket. The closed colossus next to the A10 highway harbors a complex and dangerous environment where everything revolves around the intimate relationship between humans and machines. In the presence of this colossus, with its immense boiler at the heart, encased in a claustrophobic network of pipes, conveyor belts, stairs, walkways, tanks, and turbines, the photographer is a mere speck.
He is allowed to observe for half a year and portrays the extensive machinery and its inhabitants: from the almost otherworldly coal fields to the laboratory; the control room; the workshop and the turbine house; to the 175-meter-high chimney. By the time the book ends in the locker rooms, we have come to know the people who all have something to say about their plant, about the living entity it proves to be with all its quirks and caprices. Even for those who have worked there for half their lives, no day is the same – the plant never fully reveals itself.
This inscrutable, living, and fragmented nature is the starting point for both the design and the edit. The story is constructed as a driving stream of images that begins with the raw coal (C), followed by the power plant as it transforms the coal into electricity, fly ash, gypsum, SO2, NOx, and CO2. ‘Hw8’ seems to fit within this series of chemical formulas as a title. The camera zooms in and out, the images are edited cinematically, and the page numbers at the top emphasize the progress of the process. Regularly, the focus shifts to a specific phenomenon hidden behind a fold-out page, enhancing the feeling of disorientation and the sometimes absurd presence of humans within their own creation.
208 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
About the author
Henk Wildschut
9 books1 followerHenk Wildschut (Harderwijk, NL, 1967) studied photography at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.
With a documentary practice that is characterised by long-term engagement with his subject matter, Henk Wildschut aims to shed new light on pressing global issues. By maintaining a contemplative and objectively distant view of the people and situations he finds himself in, his photographs obtain a balanced and monumental quality that incite the viewer to further reflect on the subject. As well as creating an essential counter image to conventional representations of displaced peoples or the food industry, Wildschut’s intriguing approach continues to unearth a range of fascinating stories.
In 2005 Wildschut started his long term project around European illegal immigration. This resulted in the book Shelter (2011), the book Ville de Calais (2017) and his latest book Rooted (2019).
His books have been awarded with a few prestigious prizes such as the Dutch Doc Award 2010 for his book Shelter and the Arles, Prix du Livre 2017 for Ville de Calais, and the Dutch national photobook award for best book 2017/18 for Ville de Calais. His latest book Rooted was shortlisted for best book at the Paris Photo Aperture award 2019. The Rijksmuseum assigned him the prestigious “Document Netherlands” twice. “Document Nederland” is a Rijksmuseum project where photographers capture contemporary aspects of Dutch life to create a time capsule that complements the museum’s historical collection. For this purpose, he created the work Food in 2012, documenting the highly innovative Dutch food industry. In 2021, he produced the work Distance, which captures the impact of the coronavirus crisis in the Netherlands.
With a documentary practice that is characterised by long-term engagement with his subject matter, Henk Wildschut aims to shed new light on pressing global issues. By maintaining a contemplative and objectively distant view of the people and situations he finds himself in, his photographs obtain a balanced and monumental quality that incite the viewer to further reflect on the subject. As well as creating an essential counter image to conventional representations of displaced peoples or the food industry, Wildschut’s intriguing approach continues to unearth a range of fascinating stories.
In 2005 Wildschut started his long term project around European illegal immigration. This resulted in the book Shelter (2011), the book Ville de Calais (2017) and his latest book Rooted (2019).
His books have been awarded with a few prestigious prizes such as the Dutch Doc Award 2010 for his book Shelter and the Arles, Prix du Livre 2017 for Ville de Calais, and the Dutch national photobook award for best book 2017/18 for Ville de Calais. His latest book Rooted was shortlisted for best book at the Paris Photo Aperture award 2019. The Rijksmuseum assigned him the prestigious “Document Netherlands” twice. “Document Nederland” is a Rijksmuseum project where photographers capture contemporary aspects of Dutch life to create a time capsule that complements the museum’s historical collection. For this purpose, he created the work Food in 2012, documenting the highly innovative Dutch food industry. In 2021, he produced the work Distance, which captures the impact of the coronavirus crisis in the Netherlands.
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