Improvisations by Henri van Zanten» Category ‘Improvised Collaborations’ | Improvisations by HvZ

Curator X ‘State of the Arts’ Speech at DPC2

henri — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 07:46:04 +0000

Here is the complete text of the speech written for the opening of the Depression Promotion Centre 2 by Curator X. It is in Dutch, unfortunately. And even more so because Curator X – still recovering from a light heartattack- hasn’t given permission to translate the speech into English. According to him it’s an internal Dutch affair. Wat i can say is that the speech is a witty, aggressive and clever attack on the commercialization of art and the treason of art…”Not even a pimp tells his whores how to fuck” as Mc Wisecrack has it in his ‘Art the state(ment)’ rap.

Curator X heet U Welkom in DPC2=Salonfähig_{Nota bene: cursieve gedeelten zonder bronvermelding zijn citaten van gangbare meningen en cliché’s}

Kunst? Ja wat is kunst? Iets met kwaliteit dat kwantiteit weet te genereren, toch! Oftewel de gemiddelde smaak en trendvolgerij als maatstaf voor uitmuntenheid! Uitmuntend vanuit het profijtbeginsel geredeneerd dan, dat is een woordspeling te ver bijna. Uit de kunstenaar munt slaan trouwens ook zo’n toepasselijk uitdrukking, vooral als mooie dooie! Vincent van Gogh had tijdens zijn leven er heus wel oor naar gehad grote bedragen op zijn bankrekening te zien regenen…

Nee, lijden en armoede zijn goed voor de kunstenaar, krijgt-ie zijn inspiratie van en zijn dan welverdiende 90% transpiratie, terwijl hij als ieder gewone sterveling zelf al uit hetzelfde % water bestaat. Al doet hij er nog zoveel wijn bij. Want dat moeten we ook niet vergeten, kunstenaars zijn niet alleen aan zichzelf verslaafd, ook aan alcohol, drugs, aandacht, hoeren en buitenbeentje zijn..”

Maar ja kunst? Kunst komt toch gewoon van kunnen. Iets wat gekund is. En een kunstenaar is niet iemand die naar wordt van kunsten. Een kunstenaar is iemand wiens leven staat naar het kunnen van kunsten. Met of zonder droog brood of gemeentepils. En dat dan vol continu, als genadeloos slachtoffer van eigen enthousiasme, obsessie, idealisme, waaghalserij, opstandigheid en zelfs als je pech hebt utopisme…!

Althans dat is mijn favouriete type kunst-er-naar. Maar in die kleinste etnische minderheid die zij vormen, in ons heerlijk vol hol landje, zijn er ook de rustige, de gedege, de duidelijke, de illustratieve, de vakidiotische, de traditionele, de naïeve , de genezende en de amateur-kunstenaar
(mooi woord- betekent ‘de liefhebber ‘ met ‘mijn doek, ik heb u lief!’ dat soort associaties)

Al deze rare vogels – verwant aan rare (frans) en rare (eng.) die allebei zeldzaam betekenen – Al die vogels van diverse pluimage, zult u in DPC2=Salonfähig dan ook allemaal ongestoord in elkaars bijzijn aantreffen. In levende lijve of door hun kunstwerken. Voor wie daar oog voor heeft natuurlijk. En die hoeft niet bij de ingang ingeleverd te worden….

Ieder mens is een kunstenaar zei Joseph Beuys. Zo ver zou ik niet willen gaan. Maar ieder mens heeft wel het vermogen van kunst te houden, daar hoef je geen verstand van te hebben, je krijgt er hooguit verstánd van, in bepaalde opzichten en met zekere inzichten. Want kunst kan geen vrijblijvende aangelegenheid zijn, daarvoor is de levens-investering die de kunstenaar nodig heeft, te bepalend. Roep niet in de woestijn daar krijg je dorst van volgens Van Zanten en dat daar ben ik het wel mee eens. Je hebt daar trouwens geen woestijn voor nodig, voor die dorst. Nadrukkelijkheid daar krijg je een houten bek van! Maar het is juist die kunstenaar die dorst naar kennis en verlichting, die het levende bewijs is dat je niet doof kunt zijn voor de ware roeping. En voor wie dit teveel wordt, te hoog gegrepen is of acacadabra vindt-dat geldt ook deelnemende kunstenaars! - , wil ik alleen maar zeggen dat in mijn opinie -Curator X zijnde- kunst zó moet zijn. Anders is het slechts kunstnijverheid in overeenstemming met de tijd zoals Thomas Bernhard dat Ludwig Wittgenstein liet zeggen in zijn stuk Ritter,Dene,Voss naar aanleiding van een paar portretschilderijen.

Het enige wat de gemiddelde mens met de kunstenaar lijkt te hebben is het idee dat die kunstenaar precies
van zijn persoonlijke belastingsgeld misbruik maakt. Alsof alle andere belastingsgeld-toepassingen nuttig zijn , alleen kunst niet. En met dat misverstand eigent die gemiddelde mens zich als het ware een macht over de kunstenaar toe. Als een volkgericht. Hetgeen mij met een gedachtesprong brengt op de schilder A. Schricklgruber uit Oostenrijk, die ook zijn miskende kunstenaarschap moest zien te compenseren. En hij deed dat met een woelige politieke carriere, daarbij getuigend van een grote bezetenheid en werklust. Dit is toch wel een AH-Erlebnis waard, nietwaar, dames en heren? Hoewel ik vrees dat velen nu denken aan Bonuskaarten en Airmiles en op kleintjes letten.Tot slot >volgens mijn stellige overtuiging is >

Kunst is geen gunst > of wie? met wie? luncht? Het tegendeel is waar! > Kunst met de k van karakter en krater lyncht wat niets gunt! > Komt dat zien > de kunstwerken! > Markgericht, Targetbewust, Klantvriendelijk, ja zelfs bereid aan de schandpaal van de hype te gaan! > Of om met een reklameblok aan het been > in het open riool van de media te stappen > die naar eigen zeggen zelf de grote boodschap zijn

_{^{voor de Grand Opening.van Depression Promotion Centre 2 op 18-7-2008 19.45-20.01 >}}Water & Brood!

^{Post Scriptum}

^{alleen mensen praten
beeldende kunst spreekt}

^mensenpraat

^{luchtvervuiling
conceptconstipatie
apathisch napraten en -apen}

^{met de opgestroopte mouwen
zijn de apen gevlucht}

^{kwaliteit is compleet
compleet misplaatst}

^{kwantiteit is zo vol als een file en zo tijdelijk als het maar zijn kan}

^{sssstt > beelden!!}

Only people talk, Art speaks! That’s Curator X’s conclusion. I personally feel a growing silence and thoughtless peace when i wander through a good exhibition like in the DPC. Nevertheless, let’s wish Curator X a quick recovery, so we can have live discussions with him again. Oh yes, something totally different, sorry for the strange insinuations Webmeister Ziegenmalte made in the last post. He is on holiday now.

The final words are reserved for Wittgenstein (in paraphrase): If it isn’t possible to talk about something, you better shut up about it

Schoolgirls induced world music improv by 2 strangers

henri — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 01:09:49 +0000

For the first time I visited the RotterdamShield’s new headquarters. That happend in a somewhat improvised way, as well as the unexpected world music improvisation, that was going to happen.

Initially I looked for Tymen Visser at the gallery Dek22, but he wasn’t there. By coincidence we met in the supermarket. He kidnapped me and brought me to the RotterdamShield headquarters. I had no reason to complain as I am the Devil’s father of the RS. From the open window, the many schoolgirls, which were passing by from or to various learning institutes in the neighborhood got judged and estimated by the other R S-members Jacquelino Teixeira and Jasper, with rigorous scrutiny. And some secret mutiny of scrotum’s and bubbles in testicles. All of a sudden the meat inspection ended . The windows had been closed. A security woman had entered our company and we started a discussion – the man~woman~thing!

Probably in an attempt to escape this unpleasant situation, I looked out of the window and among the school girls I saw an elegant man with – what I thought was – a lute in a case on his back. I opened the window in a hurry and asked him: “Lute? Dowland.” – “No, an ud.” the then still for me nameless Mehmet Polat said. The ancient Middle Eastern string instrument oud is called “the king of instruments” In Arabia, often considered as the predecessor of the Western lute. Mehmet himself is studying North Indian classical music as well as I did. From 1985 to 1990 I had been a student of the famous classical Indian singer Ustad Mohammed Sayeed Khan. So I asked Mehmet if he had time to come in. “Yes, only short, otherwise my girlfriend will kill me.”

The impro that followed you can see and hear for yourself. It was like kite-surfing on a tricky wind. I think we felt no longer as strangers: We passed from Turkish music to flamenco to gypsy to Japanese, to us.

Punk Research Centre presents itself for first time with a wild improv by Frauduleus

henri — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:59:07 +0000

The Punk Research Centre (PRC) presented itself for the first time to the general public on the 1st of May 2008 in Exit / Rotterdam. The PRC created with it’s performance squad Frauduleus – consisting of the PRC founders Prof. Sidhy Idiopath and Stigmadome – a wild and yet controlled improvised atmosphere of astonishment and revolutionary potential. Using staccato cut video clips projected on them and the soundtracks as accompaniment for their freestyle and Sprechgesang. Of course the reactionary members of the audience said it was old-fashioned and had been done before. But those living in the present took the improvised presentation of the PRC’s definition, ideology and style, all in their own way. This was just a modest warming up.It served as dissonant/dissident upbeat for Fuck the Writer’s first appearance with the new line up of his band the Illiterates and with repertoire from their coming cd. The brilliant, lively and critcal songs of FTW were welcomed like a spring rain. When FTW said Punk didn’t exist anymore, he actually used a punk-like provocation and a historical definition of the term punk. Prof. Sidhy is operating from a far wider interpretation. To be continued…

The Voices of baby Lon – refreshing Revelation 17-18

henri — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:29:50 +0000

A sound sculpture by Jeroen Everaert, a gifted artist who unfortunately gave up creating art to become very good producer. It was part of a group exhibition in the Big Church in the Hague in 1999. The exhibition was called Salva Mea (Save Me). Young artists were invited to react with their work to the church as institute and symbol of Western society. Everaert chose to exhibit the 6 metre high speakers – normally used for the sermons – as a sculpture. He asked me and Monique Benthin to dramatize the text of the chapters 17, 18 from Revelation, in which the whore of Babylon is cursed by the prophet. If you listen to The Voices of baby Lon, you will realize the true situation fully. Good clean fun!

Wordrattle=Taalratel – interactive sculpture for Dordtselaan – 2006

henri — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:04:22 +0000

The Wordrattle consists of a matrix of 7 x 7 words. It is like a gambling machine. When someone presses the button, headed by the text: they are your words, the matrix will randomly pick another order of the words. A new meaning has to be given. The Wordrattle is the result of my wish to remind my fellow citizens in a playfull and yet enigmatic way of the responsibility we have towards what we say, what we think, what we accept as real, either in word or action, and what should be the silence, as rest.

View original concept in Dutch as PDF

The matrix should be read vertical. Here follows the free translation : horizontal.

THE ONE IS DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER

OTHERWISE THE OTHER  WOULD BE THE ONE

BUT ONE AND ZERO IS ALREADY MORE

THEREFORE  BETWEEN NOTHING AND EVERYTHING A LOT

WHY SHOULD WE  NOT SEE THAT THEN

COMPARE THE DIFFERENCE  AND ENJOY THE LOT

LOSE COUNT AND ENJOY THE SHARING

Wordtotem=Taaltotem – Concept for Dordtselaan Rotterdam – 2006

henri — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:14:25 +0000

Wordtotem =Taaltotem – is a concept for an interactive language sculpture for the Dordtselaan in Rotterdam, developed by Henri van Zanten in collaboration with Ir. Andries Micke.

It was the result of a commission by Stichting De Vrije Parel (Free Pearl Foundation) and the SKOR (Stichting Kunst Openbare Ruimte = Foundation for Art in Public Space)

It was rejected as being too monumental. Then van Zanten and Micke came up with the Wordrattle=Taalratel. Indeed a more transparant and fitting sculpture. See also Wordrattle=Taalratel.

Collaborations can be a laboratory without enemies

henri — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:33:43 +0000

One of the main secrets of becoming an omniartist, is collaborating with many different people in many different ways. In a universe of curiosity there are no strangers, there exist only people who don’t want to get to know you. I have intensive contacts with fellow artists and artisans who for example dislike or even hate eachother. What bloody nonsense! The only person you should keep an eye on is yourself. Not to compromise or lose ideals!

A good example of balanced collaboration is this website. Helmuth Ziegenmalte is a precise, modest and friendly person. I am a wild, self conscious and most of the time friendly person. The modest, but wild result you can see for yourself..

Now, in this category i will show different kinds of collaborations. Either I was asked to participate or I asked to participate. And then there are collaborations that were or are a result of the wish to find an artistic symbiosis on equal basis.

Another beautiful example of an organic collaboration: the PKV, which translates into Passive Art Society: Lonneke Laurijsse and Laura van Putten were attending a workshop i gave at the Willem De Kooning Art Academy in Rotterdam. The theme given was The future. My personal theme: the book about the pamflets and posters during the student revolts in May ‘68 in Paris. Title of the book: Be young and shutup! Already the first day i was struck by their way of working together. There was a lot of silence, and that is a sign of trust. I joined them in silence. And very soon we started joking. Humor and silence, that combination. In the summer of 2007 we ran a Depression Promotion Centre together in a the Gallery Pool 120 hosted by the Harmen Verbrugge. He was a perfect example of how involvement and feedback lead to beauty and joy and bloody good exhibitions and an atmosphere in which art can thrive and demonstrate it’s power. The following series of photographs represent the 4 stages of a life or a process. Seasons as it were…

Birth/Spring

Summer/Life

Autumn/Sadness

Winter/Death

But luckily it’s a cycle….

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Hard on love – an epic epileptic song by Fuck the Writer & MC Wisecrack

henri — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 22:05:36 +0000

In January 2007 Fuck the Writer was producing a few songs by copycat Akward I in the Medley & O.D. Studios. I was omnipresent as ‘nanny and nuisance’, making coffee and professional positive remarks. I had no choice, because living in the same building.

After a week of highly concentrated creativity – yeah better than sex (lovesongs) – and with even a few songs written on the spot – the gentlemen concluded that their girlfriends respected their isolation with the muses. Then the phone rang. Awkward I dissappeared for half an hour and came back in a bad mood. Complaints and accusations the cause. Phone rang for Fuck the Writer. Same story.

I – having just escaped an attack of lovesickness ( and being bachelor !) tried to cheer them up with some wisecracks. Awkward I left the studio. FTW grabbed his guitar and commanded : “Sing whatever you want!” And so in one long musical copulation of pain with pleasure Hard on Love was born. This songbook is spot-on. The rest of the trouble taken was in vain. A blessing in disguise. How ironical !

Have a nice trip!

Fuck the Writer and MC Wisecrack – Hard on Love

Visit Fuck the Writer’s MySpace page!