zaterdag 26 december 2009

Nuts to be pensioned





Well, as one of the last manifestations of the year (participation at a presentation (Machine #3) in Gent) the best I could come up with concerning the various considerations around the decommissioning of art, artist and artworld was the exclamation ejaculated by Gen.
Anthony C McAuliffe, (born Washington DC July 2, 1898) also just before X-mas sixty-five years hence - 22 December 1944: “nuts” (...and not some other four-letter word as reported) in response to an ultimatum by the German side... that about sums it up quite well – can’t live with it can’t be without it... a bind, a quandary and a dilemma... just have to wing it then.
So this year also ends with a bit question mark as to how it will go on, hoping for the best as usual... but already things are not looking too good, and the recent announcement that the former ICC / royal palace (Meir 50 Antwerp) will become an eatery and chocolate-outlet just reminds us how superficial officialdom will become when left to it’s own devices... following the money for the most part.. all part of the general sell-out / privatization scheme which has already proven to be a bad idea...
So it looks like the pensioned artists will have clamber back onto the barricades again... nuts!

donderdag 8 oktober 2009

And So Long & On & on

RVR and back again, again,

Well, the archive situation is not really moving along – or at least it seems so, the rear-view-reviews are slow to compile even though it should just be a matter of translating the program an doing some graphic adjustments... but also the context – it has to be illustrated just a wee bit, and so the question of how to go about it arises, and one thing leads to another, ultimately leading to courses in archival techniques in Gent, making things even more difficult, since there are different ways of going about organizing archives and the different stages and the diverse needs of possible users...
So the more we forge ahead the greater the distance between us and the goal first conceived... in fact, now wondering if at all possible... And then there is the shifting world of electronic media, different interpretations as to how best to store it, and the only recently (re) formulated laws, already inadequate in this fast-moving world...
So slow, slow, and ever so plodding, the archives are being considered.

zondag 28 juni 2009

reView retro inspection







(shoved by bulldozer)



There is quite a bit to review here... not only the running reflections which progress in fits and starts in between other (more pressing) activities, but also some which have only barely been formulated, often as an aside or digression from another line of research... and then some. It is difficult to decide on a strategy or to make priorities, often depending on some very subjective influences and chance encounters with lost fragments and such... giving it all a bit of a metamorphic feel and keeping it all as malleable as plasticine.
As time progresses without making greater headway the ongoing production of archive material slows the effort even further... sometimes it even feels as if it’s all going backwards... and maybe it is, depending on the current current, from low ebb to high flash flooding... (and so we come to the theme of the further research project... slightly shifting from ‘submersibles’ to fluid or fluctuating flux.)

more soon...

woensdag 13 mei 2009

a breather & activity








Slowly Bureau Gruzemayer makes an attempt to emerge from the relative oblivion of moved archives & renovations... an ongoing process, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned... but in order to get a bit of fresh air this intervention by Odie Rynell Cash: “Offsider” – a series of projects, events & interventions... this being the first... He is currently engaged in a continuation of “DSP” (Distributing experience /Situation prompted / Prominent public relations) at the Poortgebouw in Rotterdam... this series was part of his last visit to Antwerp and Brussels in late 2007.
Specifically ORC will do a performance at the war memorial in the city park at 12:45,
“this is what happens when you follow the rules”
and then (from 2 to 5 p.m.) at the offices of Bureau Gruzemayer, an audio piece intervention/installation outside. “ring a trillion bells for dollar bills”
So, in fact we are engaging in another bout of ‘archive production’ rather than concentrating on the organization of existing material... but it has to be seen in context and new material is needed for a sense of continuity... no?

zondag 12 april 2009

in the archival meantime





Ah les archives!

Well, the whole archive project has been put back on the back burner once again, while the improbable space on the second floor is refurbished to house at least part of the material subject to our further investigation... at the moment it’s a rather improvisational affair, (see image) but we hope to have some degree of functionality going by the beginning of summer (when it will probably be too hot to actually work upstairs...)
But we are getting there, the roof no longer leaks and the wind does not blow the papers off the table anymore thanks to the wonder of isolation.... viva la isolazzione!

dinsdag 17 februari 2009

here switch cont...





In the meantime there has been quite a bit of movement in and out of the field, be it of vision, of consciousness, of consideration... it has become somewhat fuzzy if not entirely illogical. Activities have been fragmented into various facets again, so it is not so simple to put a handle on it: the ‘recherches (e)aux submersibles’ have been continued occasionally, but have lagged behind somewhat. (the intention to have the first research-brochure / cahier (Rear View Review – Paris Bleu Une) - out by now has not happened... we hope to have it on line soon.)
The nomadic tendency has been curbed by the move to more permanent premises, and the investigations have been sidelined by various other activities... but we have managed to get the on-line version of “La jeune Avrill Due” out, albeit late, and it’s available via the wwaow.com website. (check gruzemayer) The Finnish counter-piece has also run into arrears ( due to the early organization of Perf! At Telakka/Tampere I presume) and we are expecting it soon. More archive material is piled up in the new ‘offices’ awaiting some sort of organizing, so that will probably be the main activity for quite a while to come...