Excursion grand Hornu Straat(wo)man symposium

 It turned out to be a fine day for a pick-nick. Some cloud cover to accompany us on the trip, which went smoothly. We were 26, just the group for an alphabet – and so a homage to the AZART and absentee Guy Rombouts, as well as being practically half the bus – 52 seater half full half empty- perfect! Angel had brought with him the soundtrack of his Straatman-opera we performed in Amsterdam (and Bxl) in 2002, but alas there were technical difficulties to get it on the speakers...

 

 

(view of Straatman during the Opera preparations at the W139 in Amsterdam 2002...)

... which was a pity... but replaced with some sight-seeing information and a first reading of a Spinoza proposition, one proposed by Domino Thirion concerning 'Laetitia directé mala non est. Tristitia autem contrà directè est mala' and with that reminded us of absentee Laetitia Yalon who would not have missed this trip for the world. Yes we were here to be happy, glad ...alegria! The idea that there might be too much glee as foreign to us as it was to Baruch... Aided by a sip of 'Pineau de Charentes' that was brought on board to commemorate a similar bus-trip (though a lot smaller) proposed by Jef Lambrecht 31 years earlier 'on the 22^nd for his 44^th' to the first 'intercontinentaal entrepot' at Kassel during documenta IX to lay the foundations of a new unitary 'Belgian People's Party' (Belgische Volkspartei, Belgische Volkspartij, Parti Populaire Belge) under the flag of 'Black, Brown and Beige'...

 

 

(invite for the kleine Löwenkonferenz 22 for 44, Kassel 1992)

Thus reminding us all that this was in fact not a fifty-fifty but a non-fifty-fifty trip, an archival exercise at best, or not (to quote A.W., another absentee enthusiast)... yet another absentee or excused member Bendy Glue could not make the long trip from southern France but sent an image to be used as a surrogate landscape while traveling under cover... (which we did surreptitiously) Once we had entered the region of the Borinage (the exact borders of which are subject to an extensive investigation currently under way at the map-room of the Buktapaktop) we were reminded to prepare for the upcoming disembarkation: a small test to ready ourselves for arrival...

 

(during the test the only member not under cover was our main straatman himself – here caught on camera by Claudia Radulescu, who also shot this stowaway cowboy (Grégoire Motte) who with his son Edgar was one of the last-minute participants)

We had failed to secure safe passage for everyone and anyone with the museum administration, so decided to issue 'Laissez Passers' to all on board, with the notion that we would clear the accounts afterwards rather than niggle at the counter in the entrance-hall... if this should fail in any way, we were quite prepared to re-shape the whole operation into a syndicalist intervention and picket the institution, which might have also been an interesting thing to do... but as it was, clear sailing, with each of the anonymously shrouded straat(wo)men receiving their stickers without any hiccups at all...and so we streamed seamlessly towards the large courtyard, drawn in by the statue of the founder De Gorge with his missing left arm...

(more on that later...)

(arrival photo C Radulescu)
 

And broke out the pick-nick baskets... each and everyone sharing tidbits, while more towards the arches a table was set up with some drink and salad offered by the museum and where we could refresh ourselves while considering some of the proposals in Spinoza's 3^rd and 4^th section... considering that as part of the 'substance' we can use a self-knowledge akin to intuition to grasp the concepts at hand... self-knowledge of the modes – 'in which the substance expresses itself in certain and particular ways...' (using convergent, divergent and lateral thinking)...

We did however run into a snag with some concepts concerning human bondage, or the powers of affects... mainly due to translation: I had with me a Latin-Dutch version, while most of our group was francophone...

But first we gathered for a visit to 'in the instant' exhibition... beginning with the wondrous sculpture created by children with visual impairments... a plan-view of the museum turned into a hut, painted brightly with very discernible figurations... a perfect intro along a wall of early portraits into a light-emitting painting video of a visually impaired girl interacting with Abramovich... we donned our sheets and let the goings-on impress upon our selves as we were also impaired as it were, to understand more fully. 

 

( Tolmacheff, Mott and Montalvo coulnd't resist turning this solemn moment into a Marxist scene.. photo C Radulescu.)

The next image was an actual projection in which we the works of art could actually partake and participate in the projection of the painter painting the town of Castellón back in 2009 – and after being part of this (retro)projection (for the viewer under wraps – from the outside as regular projection) and emerging into the light (of the projector) it was the Maestro Pintor himself who was stigmatized by the museum's designer balustrade... Ouch!

(here Maestro Pintor explains his origins after being stigmatized – soon blood would flow from his wound – flanked by Maria with the flaming red hair (Degrève) and a bearded Moïsé Obst, long time acolyte, as well as Nep Nö, the state-street woman from Budapest - foto Toni G.)

Climbing the long flight of stairs to the great hall of traces, where Straatman had gestured his way out of blackened canvasses to the sound of classical modern music (voice, violin) at Vervoort along the Albert Canal near Antwerp in (2019?) - it was difficult to refrain from participating and cleaning all the rest of the sooty black from the canvasses, which would have created quite a situation!... from there to the old movies – the 8mm-strips we know from the eighties – in fact, once the maestro pintor projected his strips on strips under a white shroud – a sort of private interior straatman viewing at inexistent... 1989 I think... here though were many an expired friend and fifty-fifty aficionado to be seen in better times...

(straatman projection inexistent 1989)

 (amalgamated super-8 strips looped into an ongoing movie nostalgia)

 

(straat(wo) menphoto in front of 'Pintor' projection   - Maria Degrève)

Next was in fact becoming artwork oneself, entering into the realm of straatman, weaving between associative bits & pieces, fragments, views, connecting and disconnecting lines of errance and reference and historical pieces mingling with chance encountered, all reminiscent of past activities.. a fluid retrospective through which you can flow along different lines, observing every time a different combination of affects... and effects.

The next interludium, a space between spaces much like the synaps of our nerve-endings, is a personal thing – each to their own, uncovered or under cover, to take a moment to acknowledge these two special people – Isi and Bernd, who in their heyday brought about the special mix of verve and talent that made the corner behind the museum in Antwerp such an international hub of the latest goings-on... A to B, and here I think of more than one B:  Beuys, Broodthaers, Byars... who in turn influence us to this day...

(both graves were part of this operation – visiting Bernd at the beginning of plans and Isi towards the end... just before the pick-nick... (here a splash of liquid sustenance as gesture)

The great hall with it's large format communal patchwork-quilt-style paintings, becoming interior (land) scape of the endless dance, the whirling of straatman through time and places all over the world, be it Ripple Bar in Tokyo or the shifting sands of the Sinai desert...

(in the crypt inexistent graves, the actual bodies are inhumed elsewhere)

for a group-visit to the crypt there was not enough time... still work to do... sewing together some sheets to make one large enough for the monumental statue of De Gorge who had lost his left arm... a mystery that is prone to speculation... and some interesting stories – one of which related by Jérôme André of the museum; - concerns the inception of the museum- at the moment that the deed was to be signed between the architect who had saved the site from destruction and the province promising to create a contemporary art-site... a great storm appeared and the night before the signing lightning struck the statue of De Gorge... blowing him to pieces... (and the moment his arm went missing... alas no, it seems the arm was already gone... another theory is souvenir-hunters, or, considering the times the mine was closed, communist and republican sentiment still ran high... who's nose, do you think?)

All we could do is pay homage to this visionary and more-or-less philanthropic capitalist, taking with one hand and giving with the other (which is which, missing or not?) by offering him a straatman-costume and posing for a commemorative photograph bearing our left arms...

 

(from left to right in no order )

Guy Condé-Reis, Simone Gulden, Frederic Tolmacheff, Corinne Bertrand, Annick Nölle, Domino Thirion, Guy Cardoso, Lieve Lambrecht, Angel Vergara, Toni Geirlandt, Carlos Montalvo, Lise Duclaux et François, Claire Lavendomme, Claudia Radulescu, Beatrice Delcorde, David Evrard, Raya Lindberg & daughter, Veronique Dockx, Gregoire Motte & son, Heini Obst, Carine van Erps, Marc Lambrechts, and friend absent but there in spirit...

There was not much time for a philosophical debate, but we did make some references to Isi's favorite thinker, Spinoza, throughout the day and the confusion concerning the index and note-structuring between Dutch and French versions had us searching for the concept of 'Conatus' (ref Efficiendi est Ambitio III 31s) which Raya Lindberg wanted to expand upon but could not find the right reference in the Dutch version, and translation in French being not readily on hand we were flailing In the dark for a while - until Dominique Thirion came along with a French version – by which time the discourse had wafted along and become somewhat dispersed...

(wiki describes it thus; Spinoza's 'conatus' is a signal concept of his thought and one which appears as an axiom of modern treatments, particularly those of a political nature. Famously, the conatus doctrine provides: Each thing insofar as it is in itself, endeavours to persevere in its being.)

...but that was the nature of this open-air symposium under cover, the chance encounter or chance operations which conspired to get a sewing machine (for the drapes) and an umbrella (for the rain, which did not materialize – but the brolly was used to create a circle) and an operations-table, being that of a temporary pick-nick-office of this section of the European Theatre of Operations...

 

(magic moment in the correography as manu t. atempts a solo  - photo by Annick Nölle)

To wit; the last manifestation was a short interlude base on the basic premise of Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle - having quickly made a light dusted circle with Bolognese chalk (was going to use craie de Chamapgne but didn't find any – it was as wink towards Bernd, for whom ephemeral chalk was the perfect counterbalance to the heavy beams he used) up on the one side powerful art institutions, semi-public and private, (played by Manu Tete) and on the other side the authorized arstist (rather than the rights-holder) (played by Marc Lambrechts) and in the middle the poor artwork (interpreted sumptuously by Canine van Erps) on who's behalf this tug-of-war is to be executed... 

 

As the role of hapless anarchist poet Azdak who would be the presiding judge, Carlos M was chosen by popular acclaim. Proceedings were as in the original (in sketch form) until the judgment was to be made: expecting something along the lines of the judgment of Solomon, we were pleasantly surprised when the judge amalgamated into Dialogist-Kantor under the drapes, mingling as one and refusing to order a binary judgment at all: they were to lay aside their differences and live harmoniously together in a state of love, with no need for police cells or baton charges...

 

Judgment time: Dialogist-Kantor dissolving the issue through love: art institution and authorized artist go Scott-free, and the artwork is allowed to be it's natural self!

….on that positive and fraternal note we had to gather our things together in a hurry, since the bus was already waitung to take us back into the maelstrom of the civic life outside the walls of this grand cricus maximus of an arena.... to round off I offer you a portrait of Straatman (brandishing pastels) and his monumental effigy.... long live Straatman!

 

and again (#11)

 

First 'Art au Centre' of the year and I decided to have a bit of a preview for just my sneaky self, sort of like a one-man press opening without the tid-bits... Thought I I stayed for the official launch I would get in quite late, but sort of hesitated because an evening in Liége would not have been amiss either... Anyway, I sort of knew some of the haunts from previous editions, and thought I could wing it without map or brochure... But these were in fact already available, so no problem whatsoever...
Often a mixed bag, but always something to interest one or the other enthusiast, the series has become a pleasant fixture to a visit to the city especially when combined with some other something else which I proceeded to do... 

 But first things first -decided to do a loop from the Place St Lambert to Place St Leonard and then see... Which put me into position to check out quite a few windows before deciding what to do next. Just behind the Palace a wink by Petra Herzog at double take reality... Painted (or film) blinds denoting that the place was closed, with two laminates just skew enough to surmise a peeping someone or slightly rough handling... Which is it to be -the viewer can choose... Next up empty showcases by Hadrien Loumaye: except for a wild modification of colour, "vide peint" perhaps a handle one might use... One gallery I was planning to visit was closed, so moseyed on towards a couple of other (Thiriry Hanse) vitrines before considering the turn in my loop... By now geared up to see unintentional art in various shop windows... Or rather "hors serie" interventions... 

 Well the rue Fernonstrée was one big construction site, which made progress slow and muddy as well as losing one"s barings slightly... Nearly passed by Carole Louis: playful eycandy, cablesalad and junkseed rasins for possible rodents to boot... Boot being the image provided between what otherwise seemed like a punk terrarium for three blind (drunk) mice") window because behind barriers, but per chance she was there herself taking photographs and so realized and got to "meet the artist" to boot... Good omen.. 

Headed back towards town and saw Vered Ben Kiki's work across the road behind barriers... It was nice to see how strong her presence is even from a distance and less than optimal circumstances... The windows and the set-up very nice, in fact quite  a good location if it had not been for the roadworks.... And one could even consider this a "major show" in as much as it had been a long time since so many and such large works were displayed... Only sorry that she had to miss this upsurge in interest in her work... She would have enjoyed the display, surroundings, circumstances...  Since even in this strange messy building-site it had presence... Including the reflections of the window panes in the museum quarter... 

some takes (reflections permitting)

A certain surrealist quality, and I found myself taking more photographs of unintentional, Guillaume Bijl-style situations in the area, including the remnants of the gallery ( Brasseurs) we had another homage in just along the way and a number of empty stores... Who can keep up business with this mess in front of the door... But there were a number of AauC interventions along the (muddy) way,  (one by ESA St. Luc, another 'mauvais graines' by Julie Gaubert) and I took the time to visit the new (well, most recent) show at the Brasseurs II, 'mezza porta' by Jacques Di Piazza, which was quite a bit better than I thought it would be, adding to the semi-unintentional confusion and trop d'oeil (trompe d"oeil) effect without being literal... The leaking bath leaving the illusion of black water behind it, the spent sulfuric racing tyres in the basement alluding to distance without being anywhere near a solid wall, fake walls and layers, excavation cores of super-thick paintings and replica roofing combined with existent attributes which this sumptuous space had furnished itself...

 In the showcase a work by Indigo Deijmann surrounding a crush on an actor, a sort of exhaustive miniature museum and shrine... I didn't immediately find the next venues and decided I was going to leave it at that for the time being, intending on returning to continue the itinerary... It is in fact quite extensive and so perhaps best sectioned... And a good excuse to return for a second impression too...
( other recent trips to Liege were for less that happy occasions) 

Season reverb

 

SeasonalReverb

Well after the summer runaround we redoubled our tracks locally to see what had been slumbering during the covid slowdown and all that, now back in gear... September saw us rediscovering a piece of Ghent we had not known, perchance, on the way away... (see sommerskool gent ri fica on gruzeblogA) while October had us revisit haunts we had sort of neglected of late: Liège... beginning with the colour-clad station...

Daniel Buren at it's most decorative – I must admit it plays OK with the light and such, but it is a far cry from the radical minimal stripe-statement which made his name – but that is nothing new and I already railed against the tendency way back when I was in Paris and even some time before – as with more of our minimal heroes... anyway, we followed a hapahzard circuit of the 'Art au Centre' which as so many of these sequential group effort has it's merits but don't always hit the mark... but it's okay, eve if we missed out on a work related to our presentation at Bukta around the same time... more on that later. We did however manage to see Djos Janssens intervention at the Théàtre de Liège – might have been more if seen with public moving through the doors, but food for thought anyway, more than just a snack, and I even considered if this in/out aspect was part of the concept... considering he likes to reflect his work back at you through the looking-glass, no?

But it was an uncharacteristically balmy day and we enjoyed just the city as it were before heading to our goal at the Drapieres –'impossibles réparations' the third part of Tatiana Bohm's investigation into the re-ravelling of our colonial past... (commented on Bukta-site) returning to the station a last vestige of the once militant bastion of worker's rights – the whole popular area around Guillmains razed, revolution overpainted...

 

 

Grand opening at Hornu – the Mac's celebrating it's 20^th anniversary, and for the occasion, Denis Ghilen gave his former boss carte blanche... it was Laurent Busine that put the place on the map after all... and also now he managed to give us a sumptuous understated comment on the state of affairs and ourselves... “Les Fabriques du coeur et leur usage” - far from bloated spectacle and pretense, a slice of life collection in a very traditional frame, but so much to take home in consideration and bemusing...

(and with quite a few favorites past and present, so yes, thumbs up)

Back in Uccle at the academy, Domino Thirion again pleased us with a one-day presentation of a grand collection on a model scale, though it was anything than toying with us – rather a maquette of a possible pavilion in which the small and slight gesture figures large, and the tiniest intervention holds great consequence...

Tolmacheff got himself some more space recently – and used the occasion of his anniversary to show it off- before it gets stuck with art – though admittedly he could not refrain from introducing a work or two of his own... refreshingly understated but stated nonetheless – a tie-tied floor-mat as welcome, and a mysterious orfice leading you to believe... well, up to you...

 

 

Thought I arrived late at the B.I.O.S. Show in the rue Bara Brussels, but was in fact not – not thus: noght... Annick had a mishap and wasn't coming, so no performance – though everything was ready: similar set-up as in Antwerp, though darker, more lugubrious – it was evening and there were videos, so no surprise, but it did give the whole a different atmosphere than usual, being light and flighty -

since there was no performance to report on I take the opportunity to reproduce here the full text of my verision written for the Antwerp show..

The work of Annick Nölle has always struck me as light, flighty even, free-spirited and ever so positive – that is why I was slightly concerned to find the reference to mourning in this installation... to mourn the loss of something or someone is to view the past – to re-view. Perhaps my view of a happy-go-lucky and permanently positive artist is but a figment of my own imagination... based on past instances in which I had the privilege to work with her – for instance on the A Ripple in the Stuff of the Universe installation, part of the Ramble series at the Felixart museum, and certainly the various “jaarlijks verlof/vacances annuelles” and various interventions during 'Laboratoires Patacyclistes' and group projects like the Cadavre Exquis in the rue de Flandre.

Annick told me: addressing the question of mourning is one way to talk about how we humans deal with ourselves and our environment in this particular society at this specific moment in time. The way we mourn, or rather not mourn, is in my opinion a serious issue we should really start to deal with, for the sake of peace. There´s a lot of unmourned sadness in our society that turns into violence.

In her earlier work, A Ripple in the Stuff of the Universe, Annick Nölle referenced the literature of Mark Twain and subtitled the 'Wild is the Wind' section with a quote: “Light out for the territories”. It represents the wish for an unorganized landscape full of potential, much like the field or cloud of potentialities in quantum field theory – which also emerged at the turn of the (former) century.   

The materials hark back to a time when the gifts of nature still seemed abundant and life was not yet as commercialized as it is today; freedom of thought, factual though it may be, is under strain through all kinds of applications that influence or affect one’s behavior without one even realizing it. 

‘Becoming more conscious’ is one of the aspects that is presented here in a whirlwind of potentials, in which the evisceration of bowels – against the wind – becomes a way to reference not only the microbiome yet also that which we all refer to as 'gut feeling'...

The smock from the invitation and performance reminds one of the painters of yore, and its length is reminiscent of the work of Gabriele Münter (not only as a painter, but mainly the anthropologically interesting photographs she made during her visit to the American Midwest at the turn of the (former) century) - who, together with Kandinsky, breached the barrier of abstraction in Western culture back in 1911... heady times which are reflected here: the various grounds, both earth-colored and translucent, populated by any number of representational, fragmentary and abstracted thoughts – put to paper and cut, pasted, arranged and juxtaposed again through repeated manipulation – that pertain to personal reflections as well as notions of NonViolentCommunication, seeking connection so as to facilitate new solutions to old problems... much as for instance Max Plank would think outside of the box to address problems not solved by classic means.

 

Annick Nölle's work keeps changing yet always retains a connection with earlier incarnations. It is precisely when one thinks one understands it that the surprise strikes, and nothing appears to be in place; it either swirls around in a cloud of potentialities (see above) or lingers for a moment, as it does in a dérive or déjeuner sur l'herbe, with all the elements seemingly disorganised and scattered across the bedspread on the floor or in the air, and the snacks and delicacies mixed in with tracts and essays, heartfelt sentiments and heartfelt laughter. An inspiring conversation of signs and ideas that, at a moment's notice, makes one's head spin so that one might require a moment's rest, one in which one can still perceive the gentle sloshing of digestion.

Het werk van Annick Nölle heb ik altijd licht, vluchtig zelfs, vrijgevochten en altijd zo positief gevonden - daarom was ik enigszins bezorgd om de verwijzing naar rouw in deze installatie... om te rouwen om het verlies van iets of iemand is om het verleden te bekijken – te reviseren. Misschien is mijn kijk op de gelukkige en permanent positieve artiest slechts een verzinsel van mijn eigen verbeelding ... gebaseerd op eerdere gevallen waarin ik het voorrecht had om met haar te werken - bijvoorbeeld aan de de installatie A Ripple in the Stuff of the Universe, onderdeel van de reeks Ramble in het Felixart museum, en zeker de verschillende "jaarlijks verlof/vacances annuelles" en diverse interventies tijdens 'Laboratoires Patacyclistes' en groepsprojecten zoals het Cadavre Exquis in de rue de Flandre.

Annick zei me: het aanpakken van de kwestie van rouw is een manier om te praten over hoe wij mensen op dit specifieke moment omgaan met onszelf en onze omgeving in deze specifieke samenleving. De manier waarop we rouwen, of liever niet rouwen, is naar mijn mening een serieus probleem waar we echt mee aan de slag moeten gaan, omwille van de vrede. Er is veel niet-gerouwd verdriet in onze samenleving dat overgaat in geweld. In haar eerdere werk, A Ripple in the Stuff of the Universe, verwees Annick Nölle naar de literatuur van Mark Twain en ondertitelde de sectie 'Wild is the Wind' met een citaat: "Light out for the Territoria". Het vertegenwoordigt de wens naar een ongeorganiseerd landschap vol potentieel, net zoals het veld of de wolk van mogelijkheden in de kwantumveldentheorie - die trouwens ook ontstond aan het begin van de (vorige) eeuw. De materialen gaan terug naar een tijd waarin de gaven van de natuur nog overvloedig leken en het leven nog niet zo gecommercialiseerd was als nu; vrijheid van denken, hoe feitelijk ook, staat onder druk door allerlei toepassingen die iemands gedrag beïnvloeden of zelfs beïnvloeden zonder dat men het zich realiseert. 'Bewuster worden' is een van de aspecten die hier wordt gepresenteerd in een wervelwind van potentiëlen, waarbij het uitknippen van darmen - tegen de wind in - een manier is om niet alleen naar het microbioom te verwijzen, maar ook naar dat wat we allemaal 'onderbuikgevoel' noemen...

De kiel (Schilderskleed) van de uitnodiging en performance doet denken aan de schilders van weleer, en de lengte doet denken aan het werk van Gabriele Münter (niet alleen als schilder, maar vooral de antropologisch interessante foto's die ze maakte tijdens haar bezoek aan het Amerikaanse Midwesten tijdens de (vorige) eeuwwisseling) - die samen met Kandinsky in 1911 de barrière van abstractie in de westerse cultuur doorbrak... onstuimige tijden die hier worden weerspiegeld: de verschillende gronden, zowel aardekleurig als doorschijnend, bevolkt door aantal representatieve, fragmentarische en geabstraheerde gedachten – op papier gezet en geknipt, geplakt, gearrangeerd en weer naast elkaar geplaatst door herhaalde manipulatie – die betrekking hebben op persoonlijke reflecties en noties van geweldloze communicatie, op zoek naar verbinding om nieuwe oplossingen voor oude problemen mogelijk te maken. Net zoals Max Plank bijvoorbeeld buiten de gebaande paden zou denken om problemen aan te pakken die niet met klassieke middelen kunnen worden opgelost.

Het werk van Annick Nölle verandert voortdurend, maar blijft altijd verbonden met eerdere incarnaties. Het is precies wanneer je denkt het te begrijpen dat de verrassing toeslaat, en niets lijkt op zijn plaats; het wervelt ofwel rond in een wolk van mogelijkheden (zie hierboven) of blijft even hangen, zoals in een dérive of dejeuner sur l'herbe, met alle elementen schijnbaar ongeorganiseerd en verspreid over de sprei op de grond of in de lucht , en de hapjes en lekkernijen vermengd met traktaten en essays, oprechte gevoelens en oprecht gelach. Een inspirerend gesprek van tekens en ideeën die in een oogwenk het hoofd doen tollen zodat je even rust nodig hebt, een waarin je nog steeds het zachte klotsen van de spijsvertering kunt waarnemen.

Die Arbeit von Annick Nölle fand ich immer leicht, flüchtig sogar, freigeistig und immer so positiv - deshalb stimmte mir der Bezug zur Trauer in dieser Installation ein wenig besorgt... es handelt um Rückblick, wieder ansehen – revidieren. Vielleicht ist mein Blick auf die glückliche und dauerhaft positive Künstlerin nur eine Erfindung meiner eigenen Fantasie… basierend auf früheren Fällen, in denen ich das Privileg hatte, mit ihr zusammenzuarbeiten – zum Beispiel bei der Installation A Ripple in the Stuff of the Universe, Teil der Ramble-Reihe im Felixart-Museum, und sicherlich die verschiedenen "Jahresurlaub/vacances annuelles" und diversen Interventionen bei den "Laboratoires Patacyclistes" und Gruppenprojekten wie dem Cadavre Exquis in der Rue de Flandre.

Annick sagte mir: Das Thema Trauer anzusprechen ist eine Art, darüber zu sprechen, wie wir Menschen in dieser spezifischen Gesellschaft in dieser besonderen Zeit mit uns selbst und unserer Umwelt interagieren. Die Art und Weise, wie wir trauern oder besser nicht trauern, ist meiner Meinung nach ein ernstes Problem, mit dem wir uns im Interesse des Friedens wirklich auseinandersetzen müssen. In unserer Gesellschaft gibt es viel ungelöste Trauer, die in Gewalt umschlägt. In ihrem früheren Werk A Ripple in the Stuff of the Universe bezog sich Annick Nölle auf die Literatur von Mark Twain und betitelte den Abschnitt „Wild is the Wind“ mit einem Zitat: „Light out for the Territories“. Es repräsentiert den Wunsch nach einer desorganisierten Landschaft voller Potenziale, genau wie das Feld oder die Wolke der Möglichkeiten in der Quantenfeldtheorie – die übrigens auch zu Beginn des (letzten) Jahrhunderts entstanden ist. Die Materialien gehen auf eine Zeit zurück, als die Gaben der Natur noch im Überfluss schienen und das Leben noch nicht so kommerzialisiert war wie heute; Gedankenfreiheit, wenn auch faktisch, wird durch alle möglichen Anwendungen unter druck gesetzt, die das verhalten beeinflussen oder sogar beeinflussen kann, ohne es zu merken. 'Bewusstsein schärfen' ist einer der Aspekte, die hier in einem Wirbelwind von Potenzialen präsentiert werden, bei dem das Ausschneiden von Eingeweide - gegen den Wind - eine Möglichkeit ist, nicht nur auf das Mikrobiom zu verweisen, sondern auch auf das, was wir alle 'Bauchgefühl nennen...

Der Kittel (Malerrobe) der Einladung und Performance erinnert an die Maler vergangener Zeiten, die Länge an Gabriele Münter und ihr Werk (nicht nur als Malerin, sondern vor allem an den anthropologisch interessanten Fotos, die sie bei ihrem Besuch im Mittleren Westen der USA gemacht hat um die (vorherige) Jahrhundertwende) – und die 1911 zusammen mit Kandinsky die Abstraktionsgrenze der westlichen Kultur durchbrach... repräsentative, fragmentarische und abstrahierte Gedanken – auf Papier gebracht und ausgeschnitten, geklebt, arrangiert und durch wiederholte Manipulation wieder zusammengesetzt – mit persönlichen Reflexionen und Vorstellungen von gewaltfreier Kommunikation, auf der Suche nach Verbindungen, um neue Lösungen für alte Probleme zu ermöglichen. So wie zum Beispiel Max Plank über den Tellerrand blicken würde, um Probleme anzugehen, die mit klassischen Mitteln nicht zu lösen sind.

Das Werk von Annick Nölle verändert sich ständig, bleibt aber immer mit früheren Inkarnationen verbunden. Es ist genau dann, wenn man sie glaubt zu verstehen, dass die Überraschung zuschlägt und nichts auf seinem Platz erscheint; es wirbelt entweder in einer Wolke von Möglichkeiten herum (siehe oben) oder verweilt für einen Moment wie in einem Dérive oder Déjeuner sur l'Herbe, wobei alle Elemente scheinbar desorganisiert und auf der Tagesdecke auf dem Boden oder in der Luft verstreut sind, und die Häppchen und Köstlichkeiten vermischten sich mit Traktaten und Essays, herzlichen Gefühlen und herzlichem Lachen. Ein inspirierendes Gespräch von Zeichen und Ideen, die Ihnen im Handumdrehen den Kopf verdrehen lassen, sodass man eine kleine Pause braucht, in der man noch das sanfte Gluksen der Verdauung hören kann.

Le travail d'Annick Nölle m'a toujours semblé léger, volage même, libre d'esprit et toujours aussi positif - c'est pourquoi j'étais un peu inquiet de trouver la référence au deuil dans cette installation... pleurer la perte de quelque chose ou de quelqu'un est de voir le passé – de re-voir, revisiter. Peut-être que ma vision d'une artiste insouciante et positive en permanence n'est que le fruit de ma propre imagination... basée sur des exemples passés dans lesquels j'ai eu le privilège de travailler avec elle - par exemple sur A Ripple in the Stuff of the Universe, installation qui faisait partie de la série Ramble au musée Félixart, et certainement les différentes « jaarlijks verlof/vacances annuelles » et diverses interventions lors des 'Laboratoires Patacyclistes' et des projets collectifs comme le Cadavre Exquis de la rue de Flandre.

Annick m'a dit : aborder la question du deuil est une façon de parler de la façon dont nous, les humains, traitons nous-mêmes et notre environnement dans cette société particulière à ce moment précis. La façon dont nous pleurons, ou plutôt ne pleurons pas, est à mon avis une question sérieuse que nous devrions vraiment commencer à traiter, pour le bien de la paix. Il y a beaucoup de tristesse sans deuil dans notre société qui se transforme en violence. Dans son ouvrage précédent, A Ripple in the Stuff of the Universe, Annick Nölle a fait référence à la littérature de Mark Twain et a sous-titré la section « Wild is the Wind » avec une citation : « Light out for the Territories ». (foutre le camp pour les territoires) Il représente le souhait d'un paysage inorganisé plein de potentiel, un peu comme le champ ou le nuage de potentialités de la théorie quantique des champs - qui a également émergé au tournant du (avant-dernière) siècle. Les matériaux remontent à une époque où les dons de la nature semblaient encore abondants et la vie n'était pas encore aussi commercialisée qu'aujourd'hui; la liberté de pensée, même aussi factuelle soit-elle, est mise à rude épreuve par toutes sortes d'applications qui influencent ou affectent le comportement d'une personne sans même que l'on s'en rende compte. « Devenir plus conscient » est l'un des aspects qui est présenté ici dans un tourbillon de potentiels, dans lequel l'éviscération des intestins - contre le vent - devient un moyen de référencer non seulement au micro-biome mais aussi ce que nous appelons « à l'instinct, viscéral', du ventre »...

La blouse d'artiste de l'invitation et de la performance rappelle celle des peintres d'autrefois, et sa longueur rappelle le travail de Gabriele Münter (non seulement en tant que peintre, mais surtout les photographies anthropologiquement intéressantes qu'elle a réalisées lors de sa visite dans le Midwest américain au tournant du (avant-dernière) siècle) - qui, avec Kandinsky, a franchi la barrière de l'abstraction dans la culture occidentale en 1911... des temps grisants qui se reflètent ici: les différents sols, à la fois terreux et translucides, peuplés de n'importe quel nombre de pensées figuratives, fragmentaires et abstraites – mises sur papier et coupées, collées, arrangées et juxtaposées à nouveau par des manipulations répétées – qui se rapportent à des réflexions personnelles ainsi qu'à des notions de Communication Non-Violente, cherchant une connexion afin de faciliter de nouvelles solutions à d'anciens problèmes. un peu comme, par exemple, Max Plank sortirait des sentiers battus pour résoudre des problèmes non résolus par des moyens classiques. Le travail d'Annick Nölle ne cesse de changer mais conserve toujours un lien avec des incarnations antérieures. C'est précisément quand on croit le comprendre que la surprise frappe, et rien ne semble être en place ; il tourbillonne dans un nuage de potentialités (voir ci-dessus) ou s'attarde un instant, comme dans une dérive ou un déjeuner sur l'herbe, avec tous les éléments apparemment désorganisés et dispersés sur le couvre-lit sur le sol ou dans les airs , et les collations et les délices mélangés avec des tracts et des essais, des sentiments bien intentionnés et des rires sincères. Une conversation inspirante de signes et d'idées qui, à tout moment, fait tourner la tête au point d'avoir besoin d'un moment de repos, mais où l'on perçoit encore le doux ballottement de la digestion.

fifteen documents and more

 

As for documenta fifteen, well can't say I saw much...

 

Empty Friedrichsplatz dead grass

The controversy had already taken it's toll: the head curator threw in the towel, one artist decided to bail, press having more than one field-day... heat wave slowed the teeming masses to a trickle... or so it seemed with the empty Friedrichsplatz scorching in the sun... clock ticking away time resource and meaning... the venues slightly modified in an attempt to pull them into the public space at large – trying to whittle away the difference between art & life – Flux-like as seen before – as have many of the issues touched upon, but presented differently perhaps, less top down Marxist dialectics and more exotic (Indonesian) names for similar concepts, slightly re-appropriated like the 'ekosistem/ecosysteem' - and yes, the lumbung rice barn – premise is that there is a surplus to redistribute horizontally – anyone who travels around Africa or 'global south' can see USAid, EU and UN food sacks reworked as clothes tents and bedding – but that's colonial charity, not what is wanted here... But one can't help comparing the offerings with the many NGOs vying for funds for all sorts of empowering projects worldwide – And while there are quite a few proposals on how to kick start one's own economy, (virtually if not otherwise) most seem content to blame historical wrongs by, well yes, the north/west... 

 

Neue Halle goes south

Archives are a good start, documentation and contextualization – identify where things have gone wrong and correct them... archives, like libraries need stable environments, time to collate and consider, background knowledge to fit into perspective... we are looking at places of study here – call them universities, - ones that process all information, and not just a selection – for that you need freedom, and that is where the tensions emerge – where is what appropriate and when should an expression be subdued?

variation on 'wir sind das volk'?

They should have left the controversial work and had a decent discussion about its ramifications instead of taking it down and running off – sort of pulled the plug on the whole affair, which now looks more like an adventure holiday with a bad conscience than a real cultural confrontation... especially in the light of the reemergence of a 'European Theatre of Operations' with the first act 'Donbass' already well under way and grain stuck in ships instead of lumbungs...

 

wonder what Spoerri thinks of this

Otherwise right down our alley, having been busy with alternative group-run spaces and fringe socio-cultural programs for ever so long- it has a familiar feel to it, but perhaps victim of its own success and not made for this kind of showcase... more preparation might have helped, but then if organized like a real show beside the point again. 

 

quaint?

 

Rear-viewing

 

Rear-viewing reviews

Being involved in a retrospective presentation with additional collation effort and analysis, I found that there is a general tendency in this field which I welcome... another look at / second take on works by people who never made much of an issue about their 'careers' and such, but who's work and activities are up there with the best – if not even better...

As with icebergs, the main body of a cultural field is below the surface and what can be seen is just a chance corner of the whole – before it turns over and we se another part – in the meantime we tend to forget the submerged and see parts of it only when the turn takes place... short moments indeed and that is why I appreciate even to most flighty glimpse...

 

The most amicable of these short shows is the presentation of 'Patrice Verhofstadt et ses collectionneurs' initiated by Dominique Thirion and friends at the Maison de Culture Uccle, - a nice selection of work by an artist unknown to the markets but very much appreciated by friends, and, with some effort such as this show, might still gain a place in the subconscious of the art scene – even if this latter is so preoccupied with what is new and fresh it does not have much time for the precursors of todays tendencies...

It is a rather unique moment, with a lot of works not seen for ages being shown, and probably will not be seen again for some time... a gathering of friends as it were – hopefully there can still be a publication of sorts to document the fact, since otherwise it is again only for thoses that were there...

 

More systematic perhaps is the approach taken by Ronny van de Velde, now engaged more than ever to present his collections and curiosities, away from the big commercial presence he had for so many years – and yes, the one that I prefer is Wout Vercammen, who as an old friend had always been in the wings, but as Nihil impossible to show – until the very end at least, and now again, in various contexts from the good ol days – illustrating not only his talent but positioning of his stance in the ever-important sixties...

Various works to be seen in the InBox-series at the MuHKA, but also Rossaert and around town... the beginning of a major posthumous careeer perhaps, and why not (really fifty-fifty)...

 

 

Even more thought out and systematic is the presentation of collections allsorts by Eric Fabre at his Cosmos garage – dating back a bit further but essentially along the same thought-lines; 

Chaosmos, la ligne oublié – inspired by the book by Marc Partouche, bohèmes, avant-garde et art contemporaine de 1830 a nos jours – tracing poetical, scientific and personal lines through the historic, the live and the (nearly-) forgotten – again, an important exercise in these times of quick-fix and superficial associations – these being more tenuous but stronger by wit... 

Written texts and conferences to accompany the viewer, interaction with live-and-kicking artists, a sumptious small gathering that gives you brain a good work out as well as your aesthetic palate.

More to come (until mai 1^st)

archival sessions (again)

 Been involved with archival sessions again, this time harking back to the fifty-fifty era...

only a few anonymous participants, homage to straatman who could not be there, painting landscapes in Mexico...

(thanks to calosM)