last official tri-trip

 

Last tridrive 4 Erich

Triangulation Drive as it should be – a voyage of measurement, calculating the distances that lie between us... it had been a while, but this was a great opportunity for the living to see each other and the dead to be remembered as part of a trajectory in which not all itineraries are congruent.

End of the line for Otto E. the last vestige of his material being under pressure to disappear... as we all do sooner or later; or as he himself said: “...the way from the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Mr. Nobody is short and steep” What better than to end on an artistic note – one that is not concerned with the societal trappings of careers and positions, money and fame...

(though these raise their ugly head intermittently)

 

Somewhere between Godot and the end of an official journey (Ende einer Dienstreise) is a release from the fetters of even the social mores of humans even after death. So the trip went from A to B (Antwerp to Bonn) where the ritual of dematerialization was 

 

 

 

 

 

implemented – beginning with the removal of green growth, and then an attempt to break rock – in the end only slight slivers were removed... chips off the old block, and some words were said, and some rolled oats and chickpeas left behind with stones and candles, gold leaf – one of twenty-five leaves to be shared among the closest kin... or not, for we submerged some in the river Rhine in the evening by the emergence of the moon, reflecting on it's running waters... and then to burn the certificates, so that nearly nothing would be left, hardly a trace, impossible to find for one who was not there...

 

( B to A via D )

We were there momentarily, and still will be for a while but not for ever... a sumptuous evening meal to celebrate our physical selves before retiring for the night, moon rising slowly, no longer a blood moon as it was the night before, eclipsed by our own shadow. Next grey and rainy morning we spent at the museum to visit a show on Wim Wenders... noon saw us cross the river and heat north to Düsseldorf, to our niece, the first to receive a certificate of our endeavor (we had posted the rest in a mailbox at the hotel, but these would take longer than a personal hand-over such as this... of course we celebrated this pregnant moment with 'Kaffee und Kuchen' as is proper in Germany, and had a nice time catching up on all sorts of bits and bobs of information before we split ways: the Belgian delegation to the west, the others retuning south...

 

 

Over / in the run of Time

It was very fitting that we were able to visit Wim Wenders' exhibition after all, because I had already thought that the timing was a special coincidence, as I also saw this venture on the Rhine in the light of the road film "Im Laufe der Zeit," in which the main protagonist (Rüdiger Vogler) produces a special edition printed on the family press for his elderly father, in which he could hand over everything unsaid in black and white... I wanted to use the rockfall (bruchtsein/steinbruch) to also bring a conversation (posthumously) into the rubble, but it only resulted in a splintered fragment...

Yet the film's melancholy also crept in somewhere during our Rhine activity, and the burning on the bank was a good finale. In any case, during my visit to the exhibition, it became clear to me once again how much this filmmaker had shaped my perspective – our entire generation, actually... not to mention early works like the Hantke adaptation of "Die Angst des Tormanns beim 11 meter" and, of course, "Alice in den Städten, Falsche Bewegung, The American Friend, The State of Things, (Stand der Dinge) and Paris Texas, not forgetting 'Der Himmel über Berlin / ailes du désir"... and in general, the 'new German wave' has accompanied all along (colonized our subconscieous)... so I also think that "Germany in Autumn" can also be taken along in our thoughts here, albeit without Wenders... When I then look at the video footage of our event, I'm irresistibly reminded of "Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen / Even Dwarves Started Small" by Werner Herzog... Our action sort of was reminiscent of a futile and failed revolt...

 

So it was an end of an era trip – along ways we have often traveled but this time the context made it more memorable – a farewell to the Rhine, though our niece reminded us she lived just a few hundered yards from the river... so there still is a family presence.

And probably always will be.

 

Heady time for a new example

 since we had let things slide a bit - need to get it back

 (vaag veeg 2025)

beleive it or not, back to painting - very thin, very minimal but with a gesture or two... after all these years of conceptual constipation it seems like a good way forward... 

The reduction of imagery

returning to essential oils in acrylic

to practice... whether oils will ever come back

is the question

over time

but for now these shortstop gestural paintings

are keeping me afloat, between the other

daily chores and rendezvouses

short hops into studio

short hop out

some of it works, some of it doesn't

working all the while

at keeping memory afloat

in order to fill in the gaps

that occur

more and more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jaunt (springtime)

 

 

first stop Düsseldorf

 

 

 

We started spring on March 8th with a coffee trip, celebrating Women's Day with a visit to the exhibitions in Düsseldorf: Yoko Ono at the K20 and Katharina Sieverding at the K21. The Yoko Ono exhibition was quite interesting, lots to see, including some from the early years that you don't get to see so often, and which charmed me and brought home how much of that eary work also influenced my own practice without really realizing it – osmosis - otherwise, a lot of weel-know stuff... and also very common these days, good to remember where the trends originally came from (I had forgotten, for example, that she participated in the DIAS in London... (Destruction in Art Symposium 1962, organized by Gustaf Metzger)... Katharina Sieverding was also interesting, you're more familiar with the early years in actionist Düsseldorf and have somewhat forgotten the large photographic works of the 70s... or repressed them, seen them as less relevant en though equally engaged as the earlier stuff -... good to take another look, but still not entirely convincing – heart in the right place, but the works just don't quite speak... the distance doesn't help.

Next stop Bonn

Fast-forward Meanwhile, it's April, and finally some time for a detour to Bonn... Yes The grave –. The cemetery was quite pleasant this time, with flowering trees and such. Birds were chirping, and someone had thrown their entire record collection into the general waste bin. I chose a German Grammaphon recording (Privilege Collection) of "Les Grandes Lieder de Schubert" (with Fischer-Diskau and Fritz Wunderlich, Grace Bumbry, and Irmgard Seefried, among others)... In true Romantic style, I lay down at the foot of the gravestone and Sighed and sobbed; Well, a bit Dadaist, yes – I'm thinking of the ProPathetic cabaret, for example, partly because this time we did a cult-culture combo and went to the museum (Bundeskunsthalle): Continuing our series on strong women: Sausan Sontag... interesting, but perhaps more of an overview for the younger generation who may not be so familiar with her work... Another (random) discovery was the exhibition "Para Moderne," which critically examined the lifestyle reforms since the turn of the befor-last century, including the slosh zone between Oberdada Baader's critique of democracy and Schultze-Naumberg's Nazi ideology, all the way to the Haeusserian swastika-communist superman... that's how quickly things can go wrong-wrong, hey – all the way to the alternative (commercialized) lifestyle of the hippies and to "today's false prophets & profits," so to speak - We probably needed a A decent iced coffee on the terrace of the art museum, just to be decadent... but much of the Bonn we knew is disappearing, like everything else. Nevertheless, I was delighted that some of the old avenue trees were still standing... (at Telekom, Friedrich Ebertallee) – because a lot of things are disappearing, and there's also a large construction hole behind the Science Center on Kennedyallee... we'll see wht that will become...

another leap / and back in Belgium

 

 

this time still with a strong sexual reference but on gender-neutral terms, or perspective – specifically sex work an violence – South Africa specifically; Candice Breitz breaking a lance for sexworkers (Ghost Series, Capetown 1994-96 TLDR 2017) and critical of the white middle-class hollywood womens stance, tho well meaning not relevant to the real world.. quite an eye opener, radical and relevant without becoming screamy, letting the voices of the practitioners carry the show – another strong showing in between a slightly stayed 'Broodthaerisan' environment the series of births revisited:reviewed – pushing baby back into the womb... that simple detournement setting off quite some tought... the matriarchal manifest on the other hand seemed a bit much... would have left it to the viewer of the strong imagry to ponder...

 

revisitation

 

The (curious) reappearence of Yoshio Nakajima

I had the privilege of partaking in a rare manifestation of living live art archive with the reappearance of Yoshio Nakajima after 50 years of absence from Belgium. His name and the 'UNBEAT' are forever fixed in the annals of performance and street art in Belgium since the famous happenings in 1965... In fact one might well say that the loitering of this Japanese sage were instrumental in congealing the various tendencies of the time to create the myth that is has become:

Having arrived in Europe after his long hike/hitch-hike across Asia just in time for Szeeman's Documenta 5, he immediately was immersed in all that was going on at the time and was himself a purveyor of the oriental mystique that was all the rage...

Since the late 50's various tendencies such as abstract expressionism, new music and artistic investigations began to merge, Kaprow's first happenings were conceived as musical scores, the

'Jikken Kobo' in Japan mixed various disciplines in what they termed "Happyokai" (recital) based on dada (one hs to think here of one of Yoshio's friend Dada Khan (the 'failed' kamikaze)... as well as neo-dada and Gutai obviously)... 

 

 

So this was an opportunity to see live for oneself the flavour of an event related to these historic references: for me on the one hand the inception of Provo in Amsterdam and the relation to Robert Jasper Grootveld, as part of the Jef L archive (here in the correspondence I found material from the later Ubbeboda Symposium... more on that later) but mainly and of course the dynamics of the happenings on the Meir in Antwerp, the Happening news and the 'Unbeat'-like names such as 'Nihil' and Happy() spacemaker... multimillionaire and Dusseldorf (sic) – Thom Jasper's Veilig-Verkeer-Magiër direct from RJG... A lasting albeit short interlude in the European 'dérive' that saw Yoshio Nakajima end up in Sweden... 

 

So after all these years we have the opportunity to see what the fuss was all about... we are reminded that in those days, street performance was viewed as a major disturbance of the public order and the authorities had a difficult time to administrate a response: removal from the national territory was in fact all they could do – and did... Nowadays it seems completely laughable but it's all coming back. But in contrast to the rather wild and destructive fare of yore (thinking also of Metzger's Destruction in Arts Symposium) Yoshio has graduated to a more kind, light and ritualistic collaboration with positive vibes, even if with a critical note and reminder of our mistreatment of nature and each other (recently Ukraine and Middle-East) But the sharp edge of youth is rounded – some might say worn – and has a patina to it while still looking frash: the collaboration here was with Stakattak-frontman Nick Defour and performer & organizer Merzedes Sturm-Lie, a well as with an impromptu by Philippe Tonnard. Attendance was middling... it reminded me of the interest generated by the visit of Ben Patterson in the flux-year 2012... aside from a few academics and aficionado's there was hardly any response... here too the remnant of the public staying behind for the lecture (by historian ) in the anatomical theatre was meagre – but we got another performance which the others missed – making it an exclusive moment...

Of course it was all recorded – nowadays the documentary aspect is out of all proportion – all the more reason to partake live, giving the flavour and sphere rather than just the metadata... The song and the movement conveying the vibrations – the 'vibes' as they used to say – an essential part of the experience, and as such I am very glad to have been a part of this rare occasion... the scale of which made it possible to be up close and personal for a brief encounter as it were...

of which kind is a bit of a mystery...

and must remain so.

Ho!

underground picknick

 

Metrofood...(impromptu)

Underground Picknick

We had visited a presentation at the city archive of Amsterdam and upon leaving looked for something to eat before our train trip back to Antwerp... 

We came across an Indian restaurant that was willing to proide us with a take-away meal, since we were loathe to have a proper sit-down dinner, time being just a bit short for that. The 'Memories of Indoa' provided us with a sumptious picknick which we thought to enjoy in a perk or along a canal... but it started raining and we desecneded into the Metro – in the sparse-looking Vijzelstraat station we unpacked and ate our picnic... thinking of Ghandi on a british colonial railway platform but then in this case Metrofood instead of street food... the underground passengers probably thought of us as homeless people rather than (under-)street artists, even though this was a perfect 50/50 performance: sharing a meal across from each other with every now and then the metro trains from both the south and the north stopping almost simultaneously... everyone jostling in and out for a hectic period except us... leisurely letting the cadence of the city pass us by... timeless, Indian style, eating with our hands, finishing the finger-licking curry without a hurry ... a case for the 'unnoticed art' collection...

 

 

Players: Heinrich Obst & Guy Rombouts, Amsteradm Metrohalte Vijzelstraat (line 52) 20 december 2024 

 

 

rounding up VG

 had a good roundup of givens and it is time to consolidate the results of various strands of research during the summer...

We had quite a runaround during the summer – after visiting (courtoisie) the van Gogh hoses in the Borinage in the spring, we tried to adhere to his own agenda in the 'lost year' 1880 to figure out where he all went – Korsele, one of the more interesting ones because hardly mentioned until recently... but also Courcelles, a strange about-face just before his goal... and how he might have traveled - trains being more widely available than today... icing on the cake was a languid trip to Auver-sur-Oise, and then back again via various stations along the river to it's source in Belgium...

yes we took our time this time...

 

tracing VG

 Short excursions following the (surmised) footsteps of VG in northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands... on the trail of an imaginary archive.

Auvers itself...

It's touristy, it”s picturesque, it's pleasant... but even then Van Gogh said “Auvers est bien beau, beaucoup de vieux chaumes entre autres ce que devient rare” – it has a high level of a village museum – whether it is useful to visit the supposed locations of specific paintings... in any case part of the cult: a group of orientals in a row enjoying a snack and an aperitif at sunset with a view over the cornfield that Vincent last painted... the tree roots behind protective fencing that have recently been identified creating additional root-painting courses, the many information panels to take any form of discovery out of the hands of the visitor...

The Auberge Ravoux is already too quaint and sweetly air-brushed, the back garden set up for oiled commerce... in fact already beyond its purpose... for a short visit and a few chair-photos still doable, but not for too long... run and follow the Oise back to Belgium.

(for a more detailed account, see...) 

 

In the north there are several tracks to follow, but unclear: Van Gogh apparently walked a lot in the period that he did not write letters to the family, not even to Theo (1880) or were these destroyed?) So the scant information comes from later letters in which a brief look back in time is taken... His walk to Courrières to visit the painter Jules Breton has been clarified somewhat, but the exact route is not really known. He did write later that he had been in the region of Zola's novel Germial, so the town of Marchiennes on the Scarpe is one that also exists in real life... In Courrières itself, nothing remains from that time (except for the church) so it is difficult to map out a cult-place circuit. Other excursions are highly speculative. 

 

The mode of transport or walking-route is also unclear... in an description of such a journey - the walk to St. Maria Horebeke to visit the Reverend Pieterzsen - J. Deweer has developed it into an interesting book, but it deviates considerably from the actual data... assumptions sometimes simply become facts and may be adopted in the future without further ado... but everyone has their own interpretation... for my part I noticed that at that time a much denser network of railway lines (and cheaper local trains) offered more possibilities than one would suspect today... For example, the line to St Denijs Boekel is a possible option... and from there on foot, instead of the entire way in a (current) straight line...(the possibility of hitching a ride on a barge is also omitted) .. His visit to Tournai is also something that encourages speculation: perhaps (also) cultural (Cathedral, Rogier van de Weyden) or personal - Protestant acquaintances? Nobody knows.

In Holland there are clearer traces – Etten-Leur, where they have (re-)dedicated the entire church to Vincent van Gogh is a good example: because Van Gogh himself left descriptions and even site plans in his letters, a tourist trail can be mapped out with the houses of the potato eaters and the mill, and the avenue to ... and and and so on.. Zundert of course, his birthplace where the former (no longer original) house has been converted into a museum with annex, with artist-residence pavilions and all kinds of satellite activities, - or in Nuenen, where a fine modernist architect's dream offers a virtual Van Gogh experience between the dotted paths to all kinds of sites mentioned...