MüMerc / MS skulpturprojekte

Münster17

Always glad to visit Münster during the Skulptur Projekte, still the best periodical show but perhaps in a bit of a quandary at this point... Could not help my impression that today’s artists don’t have that much more to say than the older generation... probably because I myself belong to that category by now... But on the whole still a good view on the state of affairs in the arts... and lucky enough, we had great weather to visit and no technical problems with our bikes... even so, didn’t manage to see all and so as always, this report is but a slice subjective.

Decided to first stop at Marl, which was a good idea... arrived early before the art-zoo crowd, and had a refreshing walk through the old cemetery... very nice site contrasting with the brutish cement esplanade of the city centre... in itself fascinating and with just the right patina of bygone ‘wirtschaftswunder’ enthusiasm... Schütte’s melon-pieces don’t have quite the same squat complacency as the cherries, but can stand the leafy environment of the parking lot quite well. 

(detail-denkmal für einen gefangenen, Emilia & Ilya Kabakov 2007/2010)

Kabakov’s homage to the imprisoned is a bit of a dump, due to kebab & döner gourmets not taking their fast food packaging with them after their visit – an increasing trend in Germany it seems, leaving you trash behind where it falls, and as such a ‘found sculpture’ opportunity anywhere you go... in this case in the environs of the former war-graves lined up in neat little rows among the weeds...

Joëlle Tuerlinckx connected the whole site with a ‘tag’ line right through the park, some 200m of chalk replenished every morning... works well without being obtrusive, the park being a melee of recent, temporary and older works... and indicating more at the outside corner, being a school where work by Nyholm was to be seen ( ...and videos which we didn’t)

 Tuerlinckx

The park is an interesting mix of grand allusions and small bourgeois attitudes, a lot of the sculptures are a bit humdrum, sort of committee-selection stuff, but on the other hand represent well the era of economic progress and notions of public art, art for everyone... which in itself is a commendable thought, and is well to be reminded here, in these times of ‘if it moves eat it’...

(mystery sculpture in the brushwork, surprising find, but no idea who it’s by, if anyone...)

The Glaskasten museum is interesting in as much it is an afterthought in the architectural ensemble – closing off part of the courtyard with glass panes - the most transparent museum I’ve ever come across... and most of it can be seen without even entering – though there are exhibits interior up & down stairs – quite a collection which luckily has been brought to the attention of passers-by in this connection to the skulptur-projekte... even though I had heard snippets of the place I never became interested enough to visit... 

So, delightfully surprised busy as a bee from one exhibit to the next, and charmed by the fact that I got a hand-written receipt for my booklet I bought – not sure about the title but sure would have liked to hot-wire Vostells ’64 Buick Electra and gun it “out of the showroom” by way of the large glass windows... (screaming tires across the crumbling Marlin esplanade*)... liked his topsy-turvy locomotive too (La Tortuga) The visit was well worth it, the strange surroundings like something out of an italian new realist film... with a tad ostblock mixed in... 

(*as celebratory homage to the effect the work had on its owner at the time, industrial sausage baron & Herta-boss turned bio-alternative... sort of)...author considering break-in & getaway

Münster itself then... as mentioned we brought our own bikes and so were breezing past traffic into town, but soon the main bicycle routes were quite clogged... the organization had also promoted and offered use of bikes, so some sites were a veritable traffic jam... much to the chagrin of other sporty bike-types... in fact German cycle ways are like their Autobahns... you hardly have a chance to pass a slowpoke without having a BMW-style cursing ‘schnellschnell’ kraut up your rear end... to formulate the germanic velocicultural tendencies in a mild an politically correct manner... (ah, where are the days of pleasurable cycle excursions in long skirts & picnic hampers?)... but the small streets in the old town were ok.

This edition seemed to have more of a comparative character than former ones, or at least that was my personal feeling – the fact that there is now a sort of permanent body of work which has become ingrained and new work can’t but end up comparing itself- the success of the ten year formula is also it’s problematic – of course various interested parties would love to turn it into just another art-disney, and to some extent they do, but it still remains an artists project space, which is very refreshing in these times of overproduction of scarcity... the fact that its still free for one, open to all sorts of interpretations, not expanding or contraction too much but being flexible... 

As for the interpretations, well, they are food for thought & discussion, as they should be...  Sculpture has become quite a wide angle (obviously since Beuys’ ‘soziale skulptur’, still pertinent)

First stop Favaretto’s collection-rock, classic with a twist, like most of the offerings you have to read up on the context, the works don’t really explain themselves too well... but ok, intentions are good – probably also for “HellYeahWeFuckDie” but since it was in a bank, gave it a pass... Schütte’s Nuclear temple has been there for a while but still attracts droves of cycling artlovers... saw Sany’s drawing at Marl, so pedaled on, Artschwager gone to Marl,  Kirkeby standing fast, Bartholl’s voltage energy gizmos, headed into town & the new museum...

Yes and no, on the one hand it is an aesthetically pleasing thing, no beef on the architecture, and yes, sculptural enough one might say... but was it necessary? I guess there would be enough arguments for, but that’s for any building – perhaps a bit the tendency to invest more in the frame than the work to be displayed... played is perhaps the better word, since competition between museums is hardball and it’s all about choreography nowadays... so, considering that performance has become part of the sculpture scene, this fits like a glove... and perhaps John Knight’s level on the edge denotes just that, balancing act...

(...was intrigued by Nora Schultz’s intervention though – Olle Baertling’s YZI (1969) translated from Marl to the stairway to heavy... along with video wallwork -  hmm)

Deans installation in & out somewhat ho-hum, reminding me of school, and the limited visual access something I did myself way back when... but I guess one does have a lot of déjà-vu’s as one gets older... Wagner & de Burca’s Schlager-investigation hmmm, CAMP intervention on the theatre roof more to my liking, spanning tension between the old destroyed theatre and the new forward looking playhouse – in fact just reiterating but in a sympathetic way – reminding, as quite a few works that the German  art-context is still imbued with the story of WWII.

As denoted also by Horn’s Zwinger work we passed on the way to Rottenberg, taking a wrong turn into the prison first... the site of the defunct Chinese store more interesting than the video, and again, as longtime alternative space buff, nothing new. On towards Jeremy Deller but failed to find the right lane – passes to & fro along other paths and got confused – sorry, since would have like to see the journals... at the Pumphouse a sort of in-between moment of theatre-performance improv something about being unashamed – Gintersdorfer Klaßen,  good for the younger crowd... 

Back down towards Silke Wagner’s ‘bonhomme’, also still attracting quite some attention, also reminding us...  just across the road a new neighbor (Justin Matherly) rethinks Nietsche’s rock... also well visited... as was Nairy Baghramian’s sculptures at the Erzdrostenhof, suspended classic, the site still stronger than what most put there... powermongering... Bunte’s QR works don’t work on my old phone, and anyway, having myself done the same once for a tongue-in-cheek reference to the tech-dizzies, gave this one a pass too... von Bonin & Burrs heavy load also reminded me of works seen in the 80’s... and textworks along the way also get only a glance (Tanaka in courtyard quick look) 

Didn’t see Peles Empire decor-piece, but there too, media enough – also Gerdes’ Angst (also on load from Marl) got a miss rather we headed for the Aa and a bit of respite from artzoo-viewing in view of Oldenburg’s balls... and with that a reminder that in fact, the early contributions still rank among the best – and taking into account the times, most controversial... there simple oversized billiard balls got the leftist students all in a huff at the time, representing US-imperialistic venture-decadence and the worst of capitalist hegemony... now just a picnic decor... It’s very hard to get people in a huff nowadays, and while lots of the works make reference to today’s woes, refugees, planet, social injustice, it all flows by like a babbling brook... 

Still one of the best works is Asher’s caravan – very interesting documentation section in the old museum ambulatory (above Deans Lichthof installation) where one can follow the caravan’s progress over the decades, comments & theories – such a simple gesture delineating such a wide discussion – neat!  And, to top it all off, came across an Asher caravan on the way out of the city... just sitting there as ever, - a new feature- a tow-bar lock so that no-one can just hitch it up & disappear... sign of the times, along with the improvised trash-sculptures everywhere... and in that sense again significant even 40 years on – just standing still illustrates the headlong folly best.

What is it?... a false Asher - never was the same identical caravan, but a rented same model, so someone who raised the ghost of Asher or is it a semi-official intervention?
(been broke into?)

must admit didn't read all of the info in the show, but like the "original imaginaire" aspect to it - does it matter? would Asher mind?

Quite a few major works were not visited, too far for a leisurely pedal, but did pass by one of the most mediatised: Ayse Erkmens ‘on water’ and though again an interesting location, the execution sort of bland – security buoys and gateways – should have been just nature – but then the whole area is up the creek: typical harbor-regeneration with expensive lofts and startups alongside rusting industry (not for long) and disco- alternative scene haunts (not for long)... Tuazon’s fireplace was near there but didn’t find it – anyway, an image that caught my eye and perfect for the ‘SP’ 17: a recent model Mercedes coupé trashed & looted... Gentrification meets autonomy, I’d say...

especially the alloys…

Performance meet Q

Review Quartair

It’s been a while since we passed by the artist-space “Quartair” in the Hague, in fact quite a while –  our ‘Halitosis Convention’ was in August 2001, the ‘between two chairs’ presentation in September 2003... so it was great to see the place still alive and kicking (we had missed the 25year-aniverary bash the month before, but were trying to make good) ...

Chance conspired to get us there just at a moment when a few friends involved with various performance groupings & platforms converged for a international meet – so right down our alley. (The Hague’s own PerformanceSite (P.S.) and ...PAS (performance art studies) and International Performance Association (IPA).... 

Not so much has changed in Quartair itself, tidied up, reconfiguration of space to give more practical areas, but the general feel of the main space is the same and the cozy BBQ corner out front is still as popular as always... 

So we felt immediately in our element/home.. meeting some long lost friends and more recent acquaintances, chatting and updating our lives... but not to dwell on that here, where the activities at hand are described... Part of a weeklong series of workshops and performances, we could only view friday evening, missing the ‘holaa opeing’ since we were late... so, fragmentary as it is, here a short report:

Just in time to see Yvette Teeuwen in action, using but her (wrapped) body language and voice, running a series of possible emotions and situations, using mainly the viewer’s imagination to create the images, mostly recognizable situations without real cause or slightly astray from the usual, one recognizes and immediately doubts – thus setting us off footing and becoming participants in a sort of dance – or theatre moment – for one has the impression the sounds, breathing, gestures are from a classic background – but at the same time fresh and surprising enough to have the effect of a sudden encounter... good stuff – the use of a prop near the end, as sort of tiara worn/unworn to some effect on the facial expression was perhaps unnecessary, since the strength of the performer/body alone would have been enough to carry the whole...

Next was a piece by Sarah Atzori, musical chars as it were, children’s seats strung with string and plucked by a harpist and fed through a computerized bank of modulators and DJ material... perhaps better in a more closed/studio environment, since the visitors milling about were not quiet enough to really appreciate the sounds... or more ‘playful’ raunchy destructive as kids are (and it seems a lot of her other work) - while on the other hand I couldn’t help remembering various similar constructions, often more elaborate and intriguing, from the sixties, seventies, eighties... etc... so, on the whole a less impact, also because 17 years of alternative radio programming sort of jaded me to rediscoveries....

Heekyung Riu on the other hand did achieve a well proportioned presentation of what might be termed a classic – figure in bag / see-through plastic – also a blast from the past when plastic was a new material... and bag-pieces from Ono onwards... but she managed to give it all an own aesthetic slant, combining self-isolation, self-adulation (selfie & cream) as well as participation, holding corners, and exhaustion, standing sculpture upside down for ever so long... she managed to keep the public quiet and curious for the duration, so that is a good point to make. 

Duo presentation Leva Savickaité & Jürgen Fritz was an interesting proposition: separated ensemble as it were, on either side of a sheet, she proceeded to light candlesticks with her mouth, he inserted a tuning harp in his... she proceeded to lie down an pull the candlestick across her body which became naked, he breathed all the more heavy and rhythmic to the tunes of whatever emerged from the tuning harp, sometimes bluesy, sometime rock ‘n rolly or such, and coming to a crescendo climax type moment which could well have been a good end to this rather curious piece... but it went on with another demonstration of oral prowess by lighting a whole box of fireside matchsticks to then insert them into a trunk with a hole in... hmm... as said, could have been a separate piece, didn’t quite know what to do with it here... but the basic set up of a seperate duo-combination was good and worked well without the appendix.

Larysa Bauge did a disturbing small but weighty piece. Quiet, standing still as innocent as can be, only noticing a curled up belt in her hand after a bit. After another bit it comes loose, unfurls as it were, begins dangling and the danger becomes slightly apparent... she moves forward unnoticed – the dangling becomes wavy, slightly menacing, foreboding, becoming frightening / frightened... not sure which... strains of a children’s musical box, making things more ominous... the belt stars swaying, higher and higher, whipping against the light fixtures, expecting to crack... snap snap, in the minds eye shut tight, no scream or wail but it’s there somewhere... home truths, traumatic memories, therapeutic exorcism, - we’re left to figure it out for ourselves as she puts down the little music box and leaves... strong and slight... it worked.

Ah, as finale of the evening something more fun & spectacular – TV based comedy moment under the parasol sipping chardonnay... Teddy May de Kock immersed herself into a certain personage from ‘the bold and the beautiful’ and reenacts various versions, dubbed and gaudy... good fun while at the same time a frightful mirror of our insatiable appetite for frivolous bullshit consolidating questionable role models... a preposterous form of social criticism having the effect of court jester, behind the laugh a niggling insight that pinches... on the surface slapstick pantomime, and who knows, maybe  society is no more than that...though slapstick ends up being broken bones and blood on the carpet mostly. But is it performance? The theatrical elements dominate, and so maybe it should be disqualified from the series? On the other hand any format is OK...

Depends on definitions – the guiding theme was a research into poetics of performance, and as such some did better than others, some specific work developed, some versions of set pieces perhaps... 

A continuous piece was developing all during the evening, which, sadly we did not take time to participate in, but which did engage curiosity... Joie de Wolf set up office just behind the entrance with a “Mythological Institute” section named ‘Department Self Exploration and World Arrangement’... and used questionnaires and a technique of instant revealing invisible drawings it seems, using UV light while-u-wait, or rather participate... (the old architectural plan print process I presume)

(seemed to me a bit like a persiflage of the BIWA, but probably no connection) - and a lot of these things take shape subconsciously, ‘in the air’ so to speak... danger is to wave things aside if they seem to similar to something already known... alas, we’re not in a position to say more about the project and will have to await results on the website concerned...

Obviously would have liked to see all the offerings over the weekend, but not possible – in any case this small visit did give an inkling of the quality and engagement displayed here – openness and willingness to try out things – giving one the feeling of being part of a creative process... good marks all around, the criticisms are but small annotations to what essentially was very good.

Hmmm dinner disaster - installation to be ate...

not sure who's responsible for this one, yummy

tho not many takers...

(the eyes have it)

Louve very heureuse

Perchance was invited to a very agreeable recital in a private garden in Brussels, a bit like a forest clearing in the middle of the city, on a warm summer evening which could have been somewhere along the coast of Chile... 

An intimate and heartfelt offering of works by Violetta Parra, fifty years hence, gone from us at fifty years of age... by none other than her granddaughter Felisa Cereceda in duo with Ylva Berg as ‘La Louve Heureuse’ ... a rare treat. Accompanied by only the barest essentials, an Arauco drum and a string of shells, they gave strong and emotionally laden interpretations which harked back to the original, raw and engaged style that Violetta Parra herself might have appreciated... Over the years her songs have gone through various phases of popularization in various senses of the term... 

I had arrived in Chile some ten years after her death, in the dark times of the Pinochet regime, but her music was still omnipresent – something the Junta could not silence... and as such they became anthems to the struggle for freedom... Even though Violetta Parra’s songs were pre-Allende (lastly the Frei presidency) and about the disenfranchisement of  the poor & indigenous peoples rather than the disaster still to take place, it was partially the origin and represented the sentiment of change in Allende’s Unidad Popular, and adopted by the persecuted, with Victor Jarra’s martyrdom as catalyst - and exported to Europe...via groups like Inti-Illimani, especially Quilapayun, in which recently departed Angél Parra (son of Violetta) played a key role.

It is due to these groups that I first heard songs by Violetta Parra, versions my sisters had in their university record collection... and was a bit surprised to find they could be heard in Chile, since the aforementioned groups were prohibited, but Parra herself seen as heritage even if grudgingly, by the military regime... (there were enough records of the more revolutionary songs floating around in private circles though- so undermining any censorship anyway...) 

At the close of the seventies awareness sort of ebbed and attention focused more on Central America (Nicaragua, El Salvador...) and discord in the aforementioned groups sort of had their toll also... resurgence (of ‘historico’ groups) in Chile itself with the restoration of democracy but also enshrining and in a way entombing the whole ‘folkloristic renewal’ while losing sight of the essentials...

Which is exactly what I felt one caught a glimpse of here in this small unpretentious garden-recital: back to the simple protestations and heartfelt concern for those less fortunate... the need for an emotional response rather than political machinations, the re-sourcing of self-worth in order to emphasize with others...  (...well,  with some socio-political aspects if you please,  especially the pre-colonial indigenous populations, befitting the recent trend of ‘decolonialization’ discourse...)

But the main appreciation is that of a personal warmth, the beautiful poetry, carried by well crafted voices, interchanging and mingling with the evening slowly descending on the small green oasis in the city...

Very much appreciated. Certainly to be looked out for (...venue mentioned on their blog....September 23, Antwerp?)

Broke Rocks

The sculpture projects at Münster  opens today, and reminds me of a note I had made earlier this year, at the passing of Gustav Metzger

Broke rocks

Gustav Metzger, one of those artists that gets / got under your skin...

The ones you absorb by osmosis rather than name crunching... My earliest memory is of the car with its exhaust connected to a plexi box on its roof, withering plants... I think a version of a project planned for Documenta 5, not sure, but as a youngster I thought " hey, neat..." and it sort of stuck... Only much later did I learn that Townsend’s guitar-bashing and copy-cats were also to be traced to his auto-destructive ideas, and were influential in my own auto-subversive series... Again, without realizing the origins, much like Filliou, and admittedly I did sort of mix them up for ever so long, perhaps because of the misfits-gig... But I did always hark back to the DIAS and must admit indebtedness for my auto-subversive series way back when...

Anyway, like many I had sort of lost sight of his work (short exception was Explosiv,) Köln ‘81) until I got involved in a re-launching of his 'art strike' (by stewart home) in the nineties... Whence I interconnected with Ruine in Geneva and Fri Art in Fribourg -   As well as various process-projects that could be linked to origins to do with Metzger’s work... But he was not on the radar much... (himself avoiding the art-zoo)  but that something that really jolted me back to consider Metzger as artist was stumbling across his broken rocks at the Münster Skulpturprojekte in 2007... Literally...

It was a chaotic an rainy opening... We had planned to meet up with friends and participating artists but were blown off course... Downpours sent people scattering for cover at regular intervals and as it was we were perfectly happy to just let the whole show impress on us rather that scurrying to and fro following a checklist of some sort... 

Anyway, as it happened it was during one of the downpours that we were hurrying along a path trying to share an umbrella when a pile of stones made our passage difficult... In fact nearly stumbled... Yes, Stolpersteine...

(were they already in the news at the time?)

Broken rocks, chain gang material... If it had not been for a small sign stating that this was in fact the work of Gustav Metzger I would not have known... Later even saw the guy with his forklift fetching some stones... But it was only afterwards I read about the work and its computer generated chance distribution of rocks here and there... Ah equivalence! So it had been since the strike that I had encountered his work again... As it turns out he had been quite active... In my mind he was still under the radar investigating... But no, he had resurfaced and was still as vibrant & critical as ever... Even though in some ways perhaps recuperated by the establishment... But aware of that fact and making use of it.. And later work still could count on my approval... The intervention at the Haus der Kunst (former national socialist temple), the hidden photographs in full view, history winks... The flight ban for art-hoppers, and last but not least his call the head off extinction, remember nature, which we also contributed to... But alas, now a memory... Ist nicht mehr... In memoriam... And hopefully to continue in his vein.

(only just recently learnt more of his Antwerp connection... There was an interesting talk by ..... At the local university... Already planned before his death, mainly in reference to his work shown at Documenta 13 which I missed... but already during the famous fifth Documenta (or was it the first Skulpturprojekte?) his proposal for a work with car exhaust was very visionary, even if difficult to realize – now still, we’re arguing about the way we mistreat our environment... )

our cat investigating Metzgers open call / via Point d'Ironie

quel chose

It had been a while since there was again a more or less performative sculpture evening at Buktapaktop – literature with some perf, song with some perf, but this time the space was more of a scene itself, which was nice – set, the scene as it were by a girl crushed by the weight of scenery. For a moment Bukta became Aleppo and the victims crushed in their nightgowns, dusted by debris, still breathing... she remained there for an hour which was already disconcerting – how must it be for the real victims of the rubble-rousing disaster which has befallen Syria, no soap. 

Hap-hopping pep-talk on how to ameliorate your being – you well-being, you self-being and the relation to the world around you- hop to it, get involved, just short of physical (can’t get that tune out of my head now...) go for it, advised and coached by professional know-it-alls, grouped together in team spirited upstarts, groomed by corporate web-talk and supporting human resource junkies... Yes! Yes Yesss...

Collectif Chôse

An interesting alternating mix of integrated performance, lecture and visuals; following through chapters but intertwined, parallel divergent, re-referencing and simultaneous brief. An extende discourse on ambidexterity lined up with a collection of paving stones, again pep talk or video, again from before, or no, another one, for instance witnessing the failing light while in fact not being aware of it... nothing happening so to speak but all the while not knowing where to turn first – a reflection on our own capacity to observe...

Reconstructing what we saw into something translucent, which we might have drank from, cemented in a precarious attitude just short of identifiable.

Questionable, yes that’s it... and as such a refreshing take on the scientifically circumnavigated banality of everyday. Chôse certainly something to watch out for. Chôse certainly something to look forward towards. Of aft, as the case may be.

on this occasion Chôse is

Psss... impressssion

Pshit impression

I was impressed by the fact that there was to be a printing party at the haunt of the Buktapaktop in Brussels some weeks ago... that is my cup of tea I thought and proceeded to consider what I might contribute. In the past I had been somewhat of a terror in the printroom, and the somewhat anguished head printer opted I may be considered somewhat of an artist, but a printer? No.

I ad been too far influenced by alternative mindsets to discipline myself enough to produce a decent run of prints that were of comparative quality and competence... I loved the process to be sure, but found it immensely difficult to re-produce, repeat and refrain from adding touches, well, modifications, additions, variations... 

I had been impressed by a print made by Dieter Roth sometime in the seventies I presume, since it was a key reason for my choosing printmaking as a major when entering the hallowed halls of the academic pursuit of artistry... it was a chocolate praline that had been printed... as simple as that. It had not been inked up, it had not been dissected, but just tucked in under the blankets of an unsuspecting etching press and rolled on through (obviously with some modification of the pressure, being slightly more lumpy than a copper plate. The result was spectacular, the foul wrapper had become a chinese bird, sporting both interior and exterior colours, stuck chine-collé style to a lengthy smear of sienna and earth-brown hues, first widening and them tapering to a slight wisp of conté it seemed... a masterpiece of simplicity.

Of course it fit in with his conceptual series concerning chocolate and the consumption of... by humans or fungi as it were, but I had taken this face value and began to churn all sorts of objects through the robust but also delicate Charles brand presses at the school... to the dismay of the studio head and technical assistants. The blankets suffered terribly and had to be prematurely replaced... the pin-up wallspace had been somewhat taken over by my ‘etudes’ in junk composition and the junk itself was beginning to pile up in what otherwise was a very neatly run printshop... I even took to hanging up some composition for the lack of space... one was a large panel festooned with found footage as it were, having recuperated bales of shredded documents from nearby banks, pressed in between plates of plastic with some other junk added, dripping charbonnel that couldn’t really dry in those circumstances... anyway, a mess.

Even with all my efforts I never really got to the simple essence of that one bon-bon that had met with unyielding pressure... and so, these many years later I found this proposal of a “Imprimature sans rime ni raison” by Alan Amate at the Buktapaktop the perfect opportunity to revisit this failed attempt at simple greatness... Alas, it was again to end up in disaster...

I had envisioned to participate in the preparatory session slated for the weekend preceding the official launch... to do a few tests as a rationally inclined person might do. We were running late and while i a supermarket I grabbed some chocolate somethings in a see-through Perspex box... they were wrapped in a golden foil, which was what I wanted... But in the end we never made it to Brussels and so the box of chocs lay around in the car for a week...

By the time the public print-run rolled around I was already busy again with other things but knew I had the Perspex box in the car... so decided to participate as planned... When we got there quite a few people were already very busy and the walls were already quite full of all sorts of printwork... the kind that I could relate to: not one print was the same as the other... everyone was having fun trying out things, collaborating on pieces and just plain being experimentalist sort of like... just about the last thing you wanted in a tight run printroom with a serious run to be done by yesterday...

red mangle (remember mangelware?)

I had brought my little red mangle especially... I thought it too much to expect to be able to use the gleaming etching press with it’s pristine blankets... memories of the admonishment I got in school were to blame... but all the well, because my chocolates were in fact round spheres... I prepared everything on a low table and stool, opened the Perspex box and was called to aide someone to arrange letters and fix them in the proofpress nearby... this obviously took a while, and admittedly I enjoyed doing it, for it had been a while... (ah those days when we produced our own posters...) anyway, by the time I got back someone (more than one surely...) had eaten all but three of the round chocolate elairs... zut alors! Luckily I had a few near the stove to heat up before the impression, otherwise I would have nothing at all.

 sore eyewear

Anyway, the first impression came out shitty... really, it looked like shit, literally, since it was a sort of choc-o-nuts concoction and was smeared Rorschach-like in two directions, reminding, as one proud member-father noted, of his still recent chore of cleaning up small children... thus far from the elegant ‘extended praline’ I was hoping for... same goes for the next and the next, encased in envelopes specially printed on the proof press with a variation of the letters oeuf as further reference to a chocolate egg once molten in a back pocket in Africa (that is another story)...

So after all these years considering doing what I had just done, it seemed a bit of an anticlimactic dud... with a thud. Even hanging next to other creations on the washing line did not even make it worse, no sense in comparing or contrasting, conceptualizing or compounding an already shitty situation... only fungi perhaps could still turn this rather fecal looking composition into something curiously colourful... so, as too Dieter Roth liked to extend the life of his work by allowing degenerate bacteria to swarm across his work, so too I thought this might be a solution... but by the time I got back someone had already committed the work to the garbage, and so any further development in discoloration would have to occur anonymously somewhere in a waste-disposal plant.

Pshit!