Aukje Dekker & Gerald van der Kaap 
Buzzclub Sexyland 2022 (Screentest #9) (2022)

In the 1990’s, artists Rineke Dijkstra and Gerald van der Kaap created a series of ‘screentests’ – reminiscent of Warhol’s video-portraits – in which they removed young clubbers from their context (the dancefloor) and filmed them dancing in a neutral setting, creating an insightful portrait of youth life in that era. For Buzzclub Sexyland 2022 (Screentest #9), artist and Sexyland co-founder Aukje Dekker invited Van der Kaap to collaborate on a project that asks: what happens if we recreate the experiment in 2022? The clubs in which Van der Kaap and Dijkstra filmed – MysteryWorld in Zaandam, RoXY and Vrieshuis Amerika in Amsterdam, and Buzz Club in Liverpool – are all closed, but they create a ghostly veil over the projection screen as we watch Sexyland’s clientele participate in the experiment. Dekker’s method of commenting on existing artworks and exposing the processes that give them value emphasizes the awkwardness and self-consciousness that comes from shaking people out of their socialized relationship with a camera. Van der Kaap’s soundtrack heightens the tension between artist and subject and makes us complicit in the almost shocking disembodiment that takes place when a clubber is isolated from the club.