Special guest:
Zkukkuiz

In a grey country like Holland you’ll have to create your own colourful past.

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This is a research performance for the piece Zarathustra’s Nietzsche to be written by Henri van Zanten for Mach.

In 1982 Henri van Zanten started making theatre with pieces he wrote himself. The Collectors. The Lecture of a taciturn person. In the 90’s he started rapping and writting poetic texts for Phototheatre pieces like “Bluebeard paints his beard” and “The Devil’s Workshop”. Apart from that he has written and improvised lyrics for his bands.

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2. What can life be but improvised?
3. Valuable Links to Projects & Collaborators

And i did all that without any help of Helmuth! So, having become independant in a certain way, my thanks will be independant too.

Ziegenmalte is a gentleman, with a sharp mind and a kind heart. His sense of humour is quite tricky for those not paying attention. Above all he has patience. With that he defragmented my scattered knowledge of computer and internet, and made me within a year a true cybernaut and internet/computer-fanatic. Claustrofobic as i am, i now have ’a stage’ on which i can play my play and show my show to the whole world.

I cannot express my gratitude for that training in any other way than with two clips. Thank you Helmuth!

Immer wach! is our motto… 

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On Sunday there was last but not least the second Foot and Mouth Disease Convention.

Then the DPC2 disappeared for the time being. Like the pheasant challenging the sunset in my video.

“Depression Promotion is merciless”

This header might sound a bit scary, but actually it’s an invitation to take a real look at the world, letting our eyes do their work uncensored. The Depression Promotion Centre is the embodiment of the optimism and healing power of the arts. It’s a homeopathic satire on “the new world order” atmosphere, reminding us that we just live in a well marketed upgrade of a concentration camp, with bar codes instead of barbed wire.

So here’s a video just to cheer you up! It’s a new world every day fucked up by old-fashioned bastards!

When? Where?

The DPC2 invites you – in the weekends from July, 25th until August, 17th 2008. You can find it in the former “Nederlands fotomuseum”, Witte de Withstraat 63 in Rotterdam.

Cultural Cures by Depression Promotion Centre 2

The DPC2 offers you various potential remedies:

• More than 50 very different visual artists.
• The Soundtrack Lounge with exotic movies only in sound.
• The Lyrical Tankstation with poets bringing their poetry as fuel for your mind, embedded in music.
• The Suicide Salon for meditation on the free will and the Nonsense of life.
• The world premiere of the Bandorchestra.
• And concluding four weekends of excitement and creativity with the singer/songwriter Foot and Mouth Disease Convention.



So come to Rotterdam, if you aren’t here yet.

Any comments or questions?

Feel free to let them out! Depression Promotion Centre 2 is made for you, obviously more or less improvised.

Ad fundum, Batavia!

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2. Thanksgiving by Curator X after Depression Promotion in cultural desert storm
3. Music Will Save The World

Normally my function as the webmeister of this blog takes place behind the scenes: Besides maintaining the technical aspects of the weblog I hope that my media training sessions with van Zanten will continue to be as fruitful as up to the present. Although I could mention some points of critique. At the moment I don’t want to write about irregularly posting intervals with long breaks, keeping the interested readership in a painful state of uncertainity.

But now it’s not the time for criticism, first things first. The Grande Opening of the second edition of the Depression Promotion Centre was overshadowed by a dramatic incident. After an inspiring speech by DPC veteran and PvDA polititian Ronald Motta the notorious Curator X appeared in public and addressed the audience from the balcony. Maybe he got upset about the general Dutch cultural and political climate moving to yet to be explored low pressure areas, maybe he got overexcited about the mental, spiritual and certainly physical expansion space he created together with curator Verbrugge, resulting in the convincing manfestation of Depression Promotion Centre 2 in the former Dutch Photomuseum.

I heard rumors about a latent valvular heart disease of Curator X but actually I cannot confirm this by any official source. Anyhow, after a few opening sentences Curator X caught a conceptual heart attack and collapsed all of a sudden. The public grew stiff by this apparently unfortunate calamity. Even the floating pancakes of our fellow artist Hugo Lammerink couldn’t comfort the frightened listeners, but who knows…

Probably inspired by this substantial rural meal, the art loving farmer Harm Koeimaar from Het Boerenbond entered the scene like a Deus ex machina from a Greek tragedy. Thanks to this brilliant stylistic hat trick the instant surrogate of Curator X succeeded in boiling down pretentious musings and intellectual reflections (about art and its function in society) to the very essence, hereby increasing awareness and enlightment at a larger part of the audience than Curator X possibly ever would have managed to. Although I have to admit that his dialect in combination with the reverberation of the hall complicated the understanding slightly:

• “Art? What is art? something about quality that is supposed to generate quantity, right?
• … [unidentified dialectic articulalations] … !
• Everybody is able to appreciate art, therefore you don’t need to understand art.”
• “Art can be … [more unidentified dialectic articulalations] … as well as at the farm.”
• One obsession of the average taxpayer seems to be the notion that “the artist” is wasting exactly that particular fraction of the taxpayers’ money which he paid himself. Based on this false assumption the average taxpayer is claiming a certain decisive power regarding the artist and his artistic fate, … [more unidentified dialectic articulalations] … leads to some sort of public tribunal.”

In a final attempt to silence any possible doubt and upcoming discussion about his bold claims our substitutional farmer used a little help from Godwin’s law, he referred to the rather unsuccessful painter A. Schicklgruber from Austria, who gained quite some fame for the substitution of his artistic failure with a rather “turbulent political career”.

After these nothing hindered the art loving farmer Harm Koeimaar from Het Boerenbond to open the exhibition.

Please leave your “Get well soon!” wishes in the comments! Flowers, gifts, cards and other signs of appreciation for Curator X you can send or deliver to:

Curator X
Witte de Withstraat 63
3012 BN Rotterdam

Thanks in advance. Curator X, get well soon!

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We are the source of the flow we follow. That is the essence of improvisation. Breathing in the ever unknown present (yes, a present!), unprepared in that sense, if we are excited and curious. It is the first and last chance to fathom the depth of the present’s towering challenge (Yes, it’s like poetry). Challenge of unforeseen clairvoyance. That’s what Zen also is about. Not the chains and handcuffs of control freakiness produced by fear.

Breathing out our presence and presentation …

It is the challenge to give every second, every breath, every heartbeat, every action, thought, situation and emotion the freedom of it’s uniqueness and generosity.

One grows with the flow, you know. Grows wings too! For the imagination and the joy of being on this planet. Often in spite of a lot of nasty, ugly, stupid, evil shit happening around us and to us. The art of improvisation is dealing unprepared with the unforeseen. That’s contained in the etymology of the word itself. Unforeseen, but always unprepared, because seen it is no longer as it was foreseen.

By the way, if you think about it, your conception was an improvisation too, even if you were planned.

Having gained this freedom of flow and improvisation, reality starts improvising too, because it does no longer have to resist the interpretation forced upon her.

For example this landing dodo, being the result of a bottle of sour milk I knocked over by accident, while I was laying in utter despair and depression on my coach, suicidal even in my disbelief in any meaning in life, my life etc. Totally unable to be creative. And see what happened.

Improvisation is the natural ability to be part of the unknown, to be amazed, to accept that questions aren’t always necessary, that interpretations can be destructive, that being itself is enough to give the mystery a reason to shine…

Enough for now. We don’t possess our life, we should be possessed by life. And death is our bodyguard anyway. We share the convergence of matter, emptiness and a stuttering second we call eternity. We don’t need future to be complete. No past to make pain last. The present we do need, to become our presence in such a way that it’s a present to pass on….and I pass on my presence as Omniartist, with improvised and improvisational interpretations of theater, music, writing, visual arts, video, television, graphic design, journal, webactivities and yet unknown expressions. Here you are!

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LATEST ENTRY > An explosion of timereleased fun

You can book Henri van Zanten improvising as

Zombie Disco

My latest discovery in life was “being” a zombie in a disco on Monday evening….

48 Hour Movie “Droog Krijt” from Jochem van der Heide

In Jochem van der Heide’s 48 Hour Movie “Droog Krijt” I just found myself acting: Droog Krijt from Jochem van der Heide on Vimeo.

Improvisations within the Flow of Existence

Existence is all about improvisation… if you dare to enjoy it! Look at nature! Improvisation is like breathing for me. In my life and so in my art, there’s no distinction. Panta Rei, everything flows. Heraclitus, the brilliant pre-socratic Greek philosopher said one can never dive twice into the same river, because the river flows and changes. Never the same. As is the river of our life, of our time, of our art, of our flow… One take perfection!

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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 Rotterdam<Art>Shield headquarters. I had no reason to complain as I am the Devil’s father of the R<A>S. 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<A>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.

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Pretty Evil Autobahn

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First Aid

In case you can’t handle it

• stressdesigner
• dipity

Music

Improvisations and compositions of my bands

• mcwisecrack on soundclick with all his bands
  
• mcwisecrack in soundcloud with fulllength presence
• mcwisecrack on his first myspace
  
• mcwisecrack on youtube
• yokocola on reverbnation
• myspace/godknowstheabsence
• myspace.com/frauduleus
• myspace/prettyevil
• myspace/handsomeofabitch
• myspace/theblackoutsyndromeclub
• myspace/popupshits

Video

Cinematic improvisations between fiction and facts

• youtube/henrivanzanten
• youtube/mcwisecrack
• youtube/stigmadome
• youtube/zegmaarOW
• youtube/ICCComedians
• flickr/photos/henrivz

About Improvisation

Read more about the art of improvisation.

• wikipedia about improvisation
• wikipedia about musical improvisation
• wikipedia about improv theatre
• definition of improvisations according to the merriam-webster online dictionary
• theatre on a shoestring – improvisation games and tutorials

Collaborators

Artistic interactions with colleagues

• fuckthewriter
• myspace/fuckthewriter
• tjalling visser
• wim van egmond
• wink van kempen
• ferri ronteltap
• ziegenmalte
• inherited delusions
• boszoomsolutions
• humango
• ka yee li

Worldwidewebspidery presence

Interests & Info

• anarchism

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3. Alberta & Alberto are introduced

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Also check God Knows the Absence on mySpace!

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2. It’s long ago i was here…
3. Impro on Kraftwerk’s ‘Autobahn’ by Pretty Evil ends in total loss…

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As omniartist I do many things at the same time. In that way I can keep my creativity on a high energy and concentration level – like a permanent orgasm. And of course, having a skull filled with fireworks, every ‘explosion’ (spark of the big bang) is a message looking for it’s medium. So no time for a dull moment! Life is to be discovered, dis-covered, otherwise it will be suffocated and then suffocate.

It is in fact a happy story, because it never ends. This part we – the spirits we are – choose to be in a body on the earth.

Tabula Rasa Perpertuum Mobile …. Status Quo Vadis?….Utopia Fata Morgana Deja Vu …don’t call in the desert it’ll make you thirsty …. There is no centre that’s the point…/>

Blank or blank again without end / were do we go with what stays the same / utopia a fata morgana which is a deja vu / …………………………/ ……………….

Now the first line just came up and then the quotes came together into this quatraine. Like the 4 winds. West ahead of sundown/East into the sunset/South sunbathing and famine/North snow and white seals… And then the line in the centre!?

My Webmeister Helmuth Ziegenmalte started complaining that I neglected my website.The last page was my first journal entry, ‘god knows how long ago already’. It is true, I confess. But, yes BUT …take a look at http::/www.youtube.com/henrivanzanten and you will see for yourself what I have been doing with what i have been doing…

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Today i will start my journal at last. Have been too busy up to now. That’s what i said to myself all the time. But time is our own decision. A decision to make an incision in oblivion.

Last friday i gave a concert for the first time since 20 years with my band God Knows the Absence. It was in the Arminus Church in Rotterdam, as part of a revival party of the antiscene in the 80’s, also in Rotterdam. A book of photo’s of that period by Carla van Marel was presented. It was not back to the past or the future. It was back to the present. A Merlin-machine action.

Check God Knows The Absence – I Could Give. This was our final song of the concert.

I’ll keep in touch with more bedtime stories.H.

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_{Omniartist born in Rotterdam the Netherlands on 18-03-1957}

_{1964-1965 lived in Canada}

_{1967-1970 lived in South Africa}

_{1970-76 went through high school – Libanon Lyceum in Rotterdam (with latin and greek) wrote his first poems and took violin lessons with Tom de Vree}

_{1976-79 studied Slavic languages at the University Leiden with prof. Karel van het Reve}

_{1979-83 wrote a few plays in the tradition of the theatre of the absurd created his first ready mades (3d poems as he calls them) started taking lessons on alto saxofone with Ben Vrauwdeunt}

_{1982-83 trained privately by Piet Eelvelt in the Stanislavsky technique}

_{1983 initiated the Weltschmerz & Kopfschmerz foundation a non-profit organisation for activities in many forms of art}

_{staged his first version of the Hamletmachine (solo) by Heiner Müller the East German dissident}

_{founded together with Erik-Ward Geerlings Krochttheater which proved to be so experimental that it became infamous}

_{staged his first play The Collectors (De Verzamelaars) in Picollo Theater Rotterdam}

_{created in collaboration with E.W. Geerlings a buddhist performance A Spoiled Evening (Een verziekte avond) which was also executed at Stalker in Bruxelles}

_{co-founder of the improvisation band Dustbin Silence that gave 20 concerts in 3 years in the Netherlands and Belgium}

_{1985 first exhibition of his 3d poems (readymades) in Galerie Mes�in Groningen}

_{organized�October a manifestation of Non-Neat Art with a group exhibition and theatre (M�ller and Majakofski) in�Galerie Alles voor 12 en 24 volt in Rotterdam}

_{1984-86 singer of the popgroup God Knows the Absence that gave it’s last concert in Museum Boymans van Beuningen in Rotterdam}

_{1986-87 classical singing training at the Rotterdam Conservatory}

_{1986 organized (commissioned by the Rotterdam Art Foundation) for the opening of Cafe De Unie a project called Amphibitheatre consisting of theatre, installations and performance in 5 containers}

_{took part in Wink van Kempen’s Perfo 4D festival with his performance Recital}

_{presented his 4th version of the Hamletmachine by Heiner Müller with video fragments of the first 3 versions}

_{1987 staged in collaboration with Jan Decorte (who made the adaption) A Massacre at Paris by Christopher Marlowe (title: In the meanwhile in Paris) the other actors were Nico Okkerse en Erik-Ward Geerlings}

_{created the first 3 theatre-clips of the series Kort & Goed (Short & Good) with which�Krochttheater became famous
Hamlet (Shakespeare),�Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf (Edward Albee), The Blue Bird (Maeterlinck)}

_{started his training in North Indian classical singing with Ustad Mohammad Sayeed Khan}

_{founded Gallery Paradise Regained a work and exhibition space in Historical Delfshaven in Rotterdam}

_{1988 collaborated in demolishing�Krochttheater and founded his own independant organisation Nobody’s Business}

_{created in collaboration with the dancer Lucie Moormann Estafette/Enigma a movement theatre piece with a group of youngsters in Lantaren/Venster Rotterdam}

_{staged 3 versions of The Sailor by Fernando Pessoa in Galerie Paradise Regained (Dutch premiere)}

_{1989 acted in the play Comptons & Burnetts by�Bonheur in Rotterdam}

_{made�It Goes Without Saying in collaboration with choreographer Wybo Platenkamp}

_{performed the� solo performance Lot or On falling down while addressing people in Shaffy Theater in Amsterdam}

_{performed in the movement theatre piece Cuore di Cane of Gustavo Frigerio}

_{gave a theatrical lecture on F.X.Messerschmidt the first artist to take himself as (expressive) subject for his sculptures that were later on��called��Charakterk�pfe and exhibited drawings of Charakterkopfe in the Rotterdamse Schouwburg}

_{exhibits ‘lightdrawings’ and setsketches for an inoperable project A HOLE IN THE WATER
(inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest) which he presents in FRAU HOLLE in Amsterdam}

_{1990 directs ALEX D’ELECTRIQUE in DRAMOLETTE by Thomas Bernhard}

_{commits the first outdoor CAT-Acts (Contemporary Art Terrorism Acts)
with his operated flags on the DAM square, Amsterdam and the South African Embassy}

_{exhibits OPERATED FLAGS in GALERIE PARADISE REGAINED and DE BALIE, Amsterdam
opens with the operation of the USA flag with 50 gunshots, bandages and filmblood}

_{1991 publication of THEATRICAL RESEARCH since 1984
a review of 10 years work in the theatre and visual arts
on the occasion of the VAN ZANTEN WEEK in the Rotterdams Schouwburg}

_{gives an interactive lecture on live and work of the philospher OTTO WEININGER
with the title GENDER OR CHARACTER premiere GRAND THEATRE in Groningen}

_{distributes his first freecards and stickers as autonomous art}

_{FIRST BLINDMAN’S STICK TRAVEL (Ireland) and exhibition of it in the form of freecards}

_{1992 founds THE INSTITUTE FOR SUEREALISM and in doing so gives a name
to a ‘new’ art movement: making art with reality/the art of observation}

_{organizes and leads THE SUICIDE CLUB in DE UNIE in Rotterdam en DE BALIE in Amsterdam}

_{1993 produces a series of EDIBLE THEATRE inspired by a story of Apollonaire
in Zaal DE UNIE in Rotterdam in collaboration with Karin Lancel}

_{Cd-presentation of SAMPLEMIND’S SUGGESTIONS FOR A EUROPEAN ANTHEM
in collaboration with DON SATIJN, ARTHUR SAUER e.a.in the AMSTERDAMSESCHOUWBURG}

_{got as far as the halve final of CAMERETTEN (a cabaret/stand up competion)
with TOO FUNNY FOR THIS WORLD in Luxor Theatre in Rotterdam}

_{establishes UNASKED FOR ADVICE CONSULTANCY and ANTI-CONSENSUS UNION}

_{was curator of the ROTTERDAM WEEK on the ARK in ANTWERPEN 93
CULTURAL CAPITAL OF EUROPE}

_{1994 founds the SALON FOR POETRY in the DE REPUBLIEK, FELIX MERITIS in Amsterdam}

_{creates in collaboration with LISA MARCUS a movement theatre play about GALA & DALI}

_{starts as singer with YENS & YENS the electronic raptrance formation LUCID TERROR}

_{1995 exhibits a BRAIN OF CHEWING GUM in Galerie Paradise Regained, Rotterdam}

_{actor in THE TREES, THE FOREST an peotic play by Anneke Bonnema with NIEUW WEST}

_{exhibition of OPERATED FLAGS in the form of a series of freecards (48.000)}

_{takes part in groupexhibition NOBODY’S BIZNIZ II with Jos Vermeulen en Walter Joris
in TORCH GALLERY, Amsterdam}

_{opens the DALI exhibition in the BEURS VAN BERLAGE, Amsterdam
with his Dali-impersonation}

_{BLINDMAN’S STICK TRAVEL PARIS}

_{BLINDMAN’S STICK TRAVEL SPAIN/PORTUGAL}

_{1996 exhibition of FULL COLOUR MOUVEMENT PAINTINGS
made with Milena Feher in GALERIE 2X2, Delfshaven}

_{publishes a series of social critical freecards with the title
MC WISECRACK GOES DUTCH with financial support of Centre for Visual arts, Rotterdam}

_{takes part in the group exhibition FRESH BREEZE in NOVA ZEMBLA, Den Bosch
with 36 different freecards}

_{makes a solo about the historical BARON VON MUNCHHAUSEN
in collaboration with photographer Wim van Egmond}

_{directs the youth theatre piece BLAUW by Moniek Merkx with ARTEMIS in Den Bosch}

_{opens the TRIPLE XXX Festival in Amsterdam with a concert by LUCID TERROR
and exhibits his BRAIN OF CHEWINGGUM}

_{HENRI VAN ZANTEN BRINGS NEW AMUSEMENT a multi-media week
Rotterdamse Schouwburg and DE NES, Amsterdam
in collaboration with Wink van Kempen and Wim van Egmond (phototheatre), A.Moonen
(improvisation theatre), Milena Feher (dance/performance), Jan Zobel and Dina ed Dik
(a version of the Hamletmachine combing dance and acting)}

_{1997-99 contributes to art magazine HTV DE IJSBERG (The Tip of the Iceberg)}

_{1997 creates High-Tech Rap Royal theatre as MC WISECRACK/Support Act Hamlet
in collaboration with Yens&Yens, the dancers Ruth Moreno and Milena Feher and others
(premiere NIGHTTOWN, Rotterdam)}

_{1998 stages PUBLIEKSBESCHIMPING of PETER HANDKE
as soundtrack with 120 voices and an empty stage
(CD presentation in Rotterdamse Schouwburg)}

_{plays together with Nico Okkerse (Silent Disco) and Jan Joris Lamers (Discordia)
THE MONKEY PARLEMENT (an adaption of a book by Gerrit Paape 1783)
in PERSCENTRUM NIEUWSPOORT where the Dutch premier also reports}

_{10th version of the HAMLETMACHINE in the station, on the street and
the PAULUSKERK/Rotterd with youngsters of the FUTURESQUAD}

_{1999 forms UNITED DEMONS INCORPORATED a CREACTOR of 20 artists
from different disciplines and generations (in Bonheur, Rotterdam)}

_{directs his first large stageproduction of THE HOTHOUSE by HAROLD PINTER
in the ROTTERDAMSE SCHOUWBURG with Cas Enklaar, Dik Boutkan, Hugo Haenen etc}

_{dramaturgy,lyrics and vocals with Lucid Terror) for VERGE by EDGE dance theatre}

_{locationproject BIJ BRAND OF AANRAAD (In case of emergency) in LEKHAVEN, Rotterdam
(a combination of Verkommenes Ufer and Hamletmachine by Heiner Müller)}

_{2000 publishes MC WISECRACK’S STICKERFUN}

_{opens the group exhibition SALVA MEA in the Big Church, The Hague
as in MC WISECRACK in armour, singing gregorian and swinging a flail}

_{stages THE SEVEN SENSES inspired by Dante’s THE DIVINE COMEDY
a triptych with FUTURESQUAD in the PAULUSKERK, Rotterdam}

_{publishes MC Wisecrack’s BRAINFRAGMENTATION BOMB}

_{conceives and conducts the worldpremiere of the MONOLOGUES CHOIR
in the large house of the Rotterdamse Schouwburg}

_{starts a weekly programme KOMKOMMERTV (Cucumber TV) on RotterdamTV
with art, interviews, registrations and satire}

_{stages FUCK SHAKESPEARE (Hamletmachine) music theatre with FUTURESQUAD
for ZAPNATION, a cultural youth festival in Rotterdam}

_{openingperformance for groupexhibition I AM A PUNK MAMA
in SHOWROOM MAMA , Rotterdam in which he takes part
with a new series of OPERATED FLAGS (commissioned)}

_{2001 writes and directs in collaboration with Niko Okkerse the FLASH THEATRE play
AMLETH/the Original/the Gothic/the Best in DE REGENTES, Den Haag}

_{live performance with Lucid Terror for the choreography DEUCE
by Pieter de Ruiter and Eva Villenueva in DE JULIANAKERK, The Hague}

_{lyrics & vocals with Lucid Terror for the choreography STOMACH
by EDGE (premiere HOLLAND DANCE FESTIVAL, The Hague)}

_{2002 contributes drawings to HARD POP a publication by SHOWROOM MAMA
on streetwise and wild art in Rotterdam}

_{takes part with an interactive performance RANDOM TAXI
in the manifestation PARKING DEN HAAG organized by STROOM, The Hague}

_{lyrics & vocals with Lucid Terror for MILKY TEARS by Elaine Kim, Buenos Aires}

_{lyric & vocals with Lucid Terror for the choreography STOPMOTION by Pieter de Ruiter}

_{lyrics & vocals with Lucid Terror and dramaturgy for NERVES by EDGE dance theatre}

_{takes part in the project ARTIST POSTCARDS by RUCHAN SAHINOGLU (Istanbul)}

_{composes a SELFPORTRAIT IN GROUP FORMATION with the title OH NO NOT AGAIN
in TENT in Rotterdam~ a retrospective of 20 years of artactivities and collaborations
with work of 50 colleagues (including Pasi Grandquist)}

_{2003 gives a lecture about inspiration at the ROTTERDAM DANCE ACADEMY}

_{publication of MC WISECRACK’S STICKERFUN 2}

_{takes part in the SIRENES FESTIVAL in THE ILLUSEUM, Amsterdam
with vocal performance, poetry and printed matter}

_{research in his records}

_{2004 conducts a workshop BALANCE IN WONDERLAND
at the WILLEM DE KOONING ACADEMY, Rotterdam}

_{research in his records}

_{2005 takes part in 5 different groupexhibitions inDORDTSALON, Rotterdam}

_{takes part in PNEUFORIA organized by 75+NAP in The Hague}

_{2006 participates in MENTAL ZIRKUS in SUPAMOLLY in BERLIJN
as moderator and with performance and printed matter}

_{artist in residence in WILLEM 3 in Vlissingen with an exhibition
and produces a series of pseudo-touristic freecards OOIT IN VLISSINGEN GEWEEST?
(Ever been in Vlissingen?)}

_{takes part in the WERKSTATT 2006 van JG Stadmitte JENA
makes his sculpture BUCHERSCHASHLIK and stages the 12th version
of the HAMLETMACHINE with local youth}

_{2007 takes part in the group exhibition PILLARS IN THE MUD II in LOCUS 010 in Rotterdam
it was curated by Hugo Lammerink BOSZOOM SOLUTIONS
at the opening van Z. sang with his free jazz group THE BLACK-OUT SYNDROME CLUB}

_{is narrator in U RAGING STANDSTILL by CREW in the NEW TERRITORIES festival in Glasgow}

_{gives workshops at the WILLEM DE KOONING ACADEMY and HRO in Rotterdam}

_{runs the DPC (Depression Promotion Centre) in Galerie POOL 120 in Rotterdam
collaboration with the PKV (Passive Art Society) a 2 month project
with exhibitions, concerts, poetry readings etc.}

is the correspondent in the city of rural art-community KANTJE BOORD
and supports ZIEGENMALTE’s video report as stressdesigner

_{is guest teacher at the TU DELFT for concept developement, storyboard analyses, acting
and directing in connection to the minor IMAGINATION for animation technique}

starts Youtube channels as outlets for current and past creative ‘utterings and stutterings’
of himself and alter-ego’s, including a new one: /Stigmadome, for the extreme experimental
expressions, thus protecting the general public with ’splendid isolation’

is active again as singer and rapper in various musical formations and creates Myspaces for them: /theblackoutsyndromecluboeuvre (natural bron free jazz), /hardonlove (pretty evil ballads with Fuck The Writer on guitar), /hoab (=Handsome of a Bitch with Theo Wesselo/RemboT. with thoughtful songs), /popupshits (anonymous forum for scary musical shit!)

reunion of GOD KNOWS THE ABSENCE his anti-scene band popular 1986-1991
for the presentation of the ANTISCENE photobook by Carla van der Marel in Arminus Church Rotterdam

2008�reads from his Dutch poetry in de RIDDER DICHT on 9th of march together with Frans Vogel

makes and performance a satirical interactive short play Who is fooling who? about alternative psychiatry with Paul de Breet for “the Week of Psychiatry”

is senoir vocal advisor and stressdesigner of the www.ktre.nl (the Klingon Terran Research Ensemble)
and was the grandmaster judging the musical battles on the 27th of march in Zeebelt in the Hague

exhibits glam-collages in IEZ cafe Rotterdam along side prints by Denis Oppenheim in the month april
organized by EhbeltoArt

creates and performes together with Rita Vilhena artistic leader of Baila Louca (Crazy Dance)-the performance Justification inspired by ‘the Death and the Maiden’ theme of Hans Baldung Grien in the former Photography Institute in Rotterdam (on 25th of april )
the black metal band ‘..of melancholy burning” from Rotterdam played live during Justification

founds with Prof. Sidhy Idiopath the PRC (Punk Research Centre) presenting it in public as
Frauduleus on the 1st of may in Exit Rotterdam

appointed as stressdesigner and creative coach at the Pameijer in Rotterdam
an organisation for social and psychological support

takes part in the 48 hour film project as Featherson in Zeer by pepperpopcornproductions in Amsterdam

starts poetry workshop Zegiswat (Saysomething) in collaboration with Pameijer an organisation for reintegration

exhibits SoftenonNaziWindmill in De Aanschouw Rotterdam

organizes the Depression Promotion Centre 2 in the former Photomuseum in Rotterdam

performes Green Love with Rita Vilhena during the Wereld van de Witte de With festival in Rotterdam

takes part in the 48 hour film project as�loner in Droog krijt (Dry chalk) in Utrecht

forms with Kaat Nouwen the vocal formation Tunneltunes

definitely joins the Rotterdam Free Jazz Ensemble

guestteacher at the Technical University Delft for the minor Imagination 2 for animation

2009 joins the band Yokocola as singer and royal rapper MC Wisecrack

organizes Phototheatre presents… in the former Photomuseum in Rotterdam, a group exhibition with 21 artists

gives a video workshop in the Urban Studio 2009 at HRO Rotterdam

presents with Floris Schönfeld the KTRE at the Balie Amsterdam as Master of the Scream

leads as The Master of the Scream the RFJE in the second Jambattle with robot at Het Wilde Weten Rotterdam

Related posts:

1. Van Zanten voor beginners – CV in Nederlands
2. Music Will Save The World
3. No life without theatre, no theatre without life!

grroet

van van Zanten

Download Henri van Zanten’s Nederlandse CV als PDF bestand

>> CURRICULUM VITAE - HENRI CAREL VAN ZANTEN
>> >>
>> >> Omniartist geboren te Rotterdam op 18.3.1957
>> >>
>> >> 1964-1965 verblijf in Canada
>> >>
>> >> 1967-1970 verblijf in Zuid-Afrika
>> >>
>> >> 1970-76  Gymnasiumopleiding aan het Libanon Lyceum te Rotterdam
>> >> schrijft zijn eerste gedichten en neemt vioollessen
>> >>
>> >> 1976-79  studeert Slavische taal- en letterkunde aan de R.U. Leiden
>> >> onder prof. Karel van het Reve
>> >>
>> >> 1979-83  schrijft een aantal toneelteksten, maakt zijn eerste ready mades
>> >> (driedimensionale gedichten) en neemt saxofoonlessen
>> >>
>> >> 1982-83  prive-training Stanislavski-techniek bij Piet Eelvelt
>> >>
>> >> 1983  neemt het initiatief tot de oprichting van STICHTING WELTSCHMERZ &
>> >> KOPFSCHMERZ
>> >> met als doel het ontplooien van aktitiviteiten op diverse gebieden van
>> >> de kunst
>> >>
>> >> maakt de eerste versie van de HAMLETMACHINE van Heiner Muller
>> >> (solovoorstelling)
>> >>
>> >> richt samen met Erik-Ward Geerlings het KROCHTTHEATER op
>> >>
>> >> ensceneert zijn eerste eigen toneeltekst DE VERZAMELAARS (Piccolo
>> >> theater/Rotterdam)
>> >> en maakt i.s.m. Erik-Ward Geerlings een performance/theaterstuk EEN
>> >> VERZIEKTE AVOND
>> >> o.a. uitgevoerd in Stalker, Brussel
>> >>
>> >> medeoprichter van muziekimprovisatiegroep DUSTBIN SILENCE
>> >> die in de loop van 3 jaar 20 concerten geeft in Nederland en Belgie
>> >>
>> >> 1985  eerste expositie van zijn driedimensionale gedichten in GALERIE MES,
>> >> Groningen
>> >>
>> >> organiseert OKTOBER een manifestatie voor niet-keurige kunst met een
>> >> groepsexpositie
>> >> en theatervoorstellingen in GALERIE ALLES VOOR 12 EN 24 VOLT, Rotterdam
>> >>
>> >> 1984-86  zanger van de experimentele popgroep GOD KNOWS THE ABSENCE
>> >> die zijn laatste concert in MUSEUM BOYMANS-VAN BEUNINGEN gaf
>> >>
>> >> 1986-87  vooropleiding klassieke zang aan het Rotterdams Conservatorium
>> >>
>> >> 1986  organiseert op verzoek van De Rotterdamse Kunststichting voor de
>> >> opening
>> >> van Cafe DE UNIE het AMFIBITHEATER een projekt met theater, installaties en
>> >> performance in vijf containers aan de Westersingel
>> >>
>> >> neemt deel aan het PERFO 4D festival met de performance RECITAL
>> >>
>> >> maakt een vierde versie van HAMLETMACHINE, weer als solovoorstelling,
>> >> met videomateriaal
>> >> van de drie voorafgaande versies
>> >>
>> >> 1987  maakt i.s.m. JAN DECORTE (die concept en bewerking leverde van THE
>> >> MASSACRE AT PARIS
>> >> van Christopher Marlowe), Nico Okkerse en Erik-Ward Geerlings
>> >> ONDERTUSSEN IN PARIJS
>> >>
>> >> maakt de eerste 3 afleveringen van de serie KORT&GOED
>> >> theaterclips van toneelklassiekers waardoor het KROCHTTHEATER landelijk
>> >> doorbreekt
>> >> HAMLET, WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, DE BLAUWE VOGEL
>> >> speelt mee in de afleveringen gemaakt door zijn collega Erik-Ward Geerlings
>> >> OP HOOP VAN ZEGEN, GIJSBRECHT VAN AEMSTEL, DE MEIDEN, DE VERLOREN ZOON
>> >>
>> >> begint met een Noord-Indiase klassiek vocale opleiding bij USTAD
>> >> MOHAMMAD SAYEED KHAN
>> >>
>> >> neemt het intitiatief tot de oprichting van GALERIE PARADISE REGAINED
>> >> werk- en expositieruimte in Historisch Delfshaven, Rotterdam
>> >>
>> >> 1988  werkt mee aan de ontbinding van het KROCHTTHEATER
>> >> en richt NOBODY'S BUSINESS op als zijn onafhankelijke organisatie
>> >>
>> >> maakt i.s.m. danseres Lucie Moormann de bewegingstheatercompositie
>> >> ESTAFETTE, ENIGMA
>> >> in het kader van 3uit88 Lantaren/Venster, Rotterdam
>> >>
>> >> ensceneert drie versies van DE ZEEVAARDER van FERNANDO PESSOA
>> >> (Nederlandse premiere)
>> >> in Galerie Paradise Regained
>> >>
>> >> 1989  speelt in COMPTONS AND BURNETTS van toneelgroep BONHEUR in Studio
>> >> Bonheur, Rotterdam
>> >>
>> >> maakt IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING een bewegingsperformance dat een tweeluik
>> >> vormde met
>> >> PLAT van de choreograaf WYBO PLATENKAMP en dat door henzelf werd uitgevoerd
>> >>
>> >> speelt solo-performance LOT of ON FALLING DOWN WHILE ADDRESSING PEOPLE
>> >> in het SHAFFY THEATER, Amsterdam
>> >>
>> >> speelt in het bewegingstheaterstuk CUORE DI CANE van GUSTAVO FRIGERIO
>> >> in het kader Rotterdam in Beweging in de ROTTERDAMSE SCHOUWBURG
>> >>
>> >> ensceneert een theatrale lezing over het werk van de 18de eeuwse
>> >> beeldhouwer
>> >> F.X. MESSERSCHMIDT
>> >> en exposeert tekeningen van de Charakterkopfe, premiere Rotterdamse
>> >> Schouwburg
>> >>
>> >> exposeert lichttekeningen en schetsontwerpen voor een onuitvoerbaar
>> >> projekt (geinspireerd
>> >> op De Storm van Shakespeare) EEN GAT IN HET WATER met een
>> >> openingsperformance
>> >> in FRAU HOLLE,Amsterdam
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> 1990  regisseert  ALEX D'ELECTRIQUE in DRAMOLETTE van Thomas Bernhard
>> >>
>> >> pleegt de eerste outdoor CAT-Acts (Contemporary Art Terrorism Acts) met
>> >> zijn geopereerde vlaggen
>> >> op de Dam en voor de Zuid-Afrikaanse Ambassade
>> >>
>> >> exposeert GEOPEREERDE VLAGGEN in GALERIE PARADISE REGAINED en DE BALIE,
>> >> met als openingsperformance de operatie van de Amerikaanse vlag
>> >> d.m.v. 51 revolverschoten, verband en filmbloed
>> >>
>> >> 1991  publicatie van THEATRAAL ONDERZOEK door Uitgeverij De Balie
>> >> een overzicht van tien jaar werk in de beeldende kunst en theater
>> >> ter gelegenheid van een Van Zanten week in de ROTTERDAMSE SCHOUWBURG
>> >>
>> >> ensceneert een interactieve lezing over de filsoof OTTO WEININGER onder
>> >> de titel
>> >> GESLACHT OF KARAKTER  premiere GRAND THEATRE,Groningen
>> >>
>> >> verspreid zijn eerste freecards en stickers als autonome kunstuiting met
>> >> zijn organisatie O.O.K.I.K.
>> >> (Organisatie Ongevraagde Kulturele Intimiteiten Komplex)
>> >>
>> >> eerste BLINDMAN'S STICK TRAVEL (Ierland) en expositie in de vorm van een
>> >> serie freecards
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> 1992  richt HET INSTITUUT VOOR SOUSREALISME op en benoemt daarmee een
>> >> (nieuwe)
>> >> kunststroming: de kunst van het waarnemen/making art with reality
>> >>
>> >> organiseert DE ZELFMOORDSALON in DE UNIE, Rotterdam en DE BALIE, Amsterdam
>> >>
>> >> 1993  produceert een serie EETBAAR THEATER geinspireerd door een verhaal
>> >> van APOLLINAIRE
>> >> in Zaal DE UNIE i.s.m. KAREN LANCEL
>> >>
>> >> Cd-presentatie van SAMPLEMIND'S SUGGESTIONS FOR A EUROPEAN ANTHEM
>> >> i.s.m. de componisten DON SATIJN, ARTHUR SAUER  e.a.in de grote zaal
>> >> van de AMSTERDAMSESCHOUWBURG
>> >>
>> >> bereikt de halve finale van CAMERETTEN met zijn solo TE LEUK VOOR DEZE
>> >> WERELD
>> >>
>> >> richt het ONGEVRAAGD ADVIES BUREAU en de ANTI-CONSENSUSBOND op
>> >>
>> >> was curator van de ROTTERDAM WEEK op de ARK in het kader van ANTWERPEN 93
>> >> CULTURELE HOOFDSTAD VAN EUROPA
>> >>
>> >> 1994  richt de SALON DER DICHTKUNST op in DE REPUBLIEK, FELIX MERITIS,
>> >> Amsterdam
>> >>
>> >> maakt samen met LISA MARCUS een bewegingstheaterstuk over GALA & DALI
>> >>
>> >> voegt zich als zanger bij YENS & YENS en daarmee is de electronische
>> >> raptrance formatie LUCID TERROR geboren
>> >>
>> >> 1995  groei-expositie van een brein van kauwgom onder de titel
>> >> DE DEVOLUTIE VAN HET COLLECTIEVE BEWUSTZIJN in Galerie Paradise Regained
>> >>
>> >> oprichting SOCIETEIT HARDOP DENKEN i.s.m. Galerie De Brieder
>> >>
>> >> speelt mee in DE BOMEN, HET BOS van ANNEKE BONNEMA bij NIEUW WEST
>> >>
>> >> expositie van de GEOPEREERDE VLAGGEN in de vorm van een serie freecards
>> >> in een oplage 48.000 exemplaren met subsidie van het CBK Rotterdam
>> >>
>> >> neemt deel aan groepsexpositie NOBODY'S BIZNIZ II met Jos Vermeulen en
>> >> Walter Joris
>> >> in TORCH GALLERY, Amsterdam
>> >>
>> >> opent de Dali-tentoonstelling in de BEURS VAN BERLAGE mer zijn
>> >> Dali-impersonation
>> >>
>> >> BLINDMAN'S STICK TRAVEL PARIS
>> >>
>> >> BLINDMAN'S STICK TRAVEL SPAIN/PORTUGAL
>> >>
>> >> 1996  expositie van FULL COLOUR MOUVEMENT PAINTINGS gemaakt i.s.m.Milena
>> >> Feher
>> >> in GALERIE 2X2, Delfshaven
>> >>
>> >> publiceert een serie maatschappij-kritische freecards onder de titel
>> >> MC WISECRACK GOES DUTCH met fin. steun van het CBK Rotterdam
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> neemt deel aan de groepsexpositie FRESH BREEZE in NOVA ZEMBLA, Den Bosch
>> >> met 36 verschillende freecards
>> >>
>> >> maakt een voorstelling over de mens BARON VON MUNCHHAUSEN
>> >> m.m.v. Wim van Egmond
>> >>
>> >> regisseert het jeugdtheaterstuk BLAUW van MONIEK MERKX bij ARTEMIS in
>> >> Den Bosch
>> >>
>> >> opent het TRIPLE XXX Festival te Amsterdam met een concert van LUCID TERROR
>> >> en exposeert BREINEN VAN KAUWGOM
>> >>
>> >> HENRI VAN ZANTEN BRENGT NIEUW AMUSEMENT
>> >> een multi-media week in de ROTTERDAMSE SCHOUWBURG en DE NES
>> >> met i.s.m.. o..a. WIM VAN EGMOND (fototheater), A.MOONEN
>> >> (improvisatietheater),
>> >> MILENA FEHER (dans/performance), JAN ZOBEL en DINA ED DIK (een gedanste
>> >> en gesproken
>> >> versie van de Hamletmachine)
>> >>
>> >> 1997-99  bijdragen aan  de onafhankelijke kunstkrant HTV DE IJSBERG
>> >>
>> >> 1997  maakt High-Tech Rap Royal theatre als MC WISECRACK/Support Act Hamlet
>> >> i.s.m. Yens&Yens, de danseressen Ruth Moreno en Milena Feher e.a.
>> >> (premiere NIGHTTOWN, Rotterdam)
>> >>
>> >> 1998  ensceneert PUBLIEKSBESCHIMPING van PETER HANDKE
>> >> als hoorspel met 120 stemmen en een leeg podium
>> >> (CD presentatie Grote Zaal ROTTERDAMSE SCHOUWBURG)
>> >>
>> >> speelt i.s.m. Nico Okkerse en Jan Joris Lamers HET APENPARLEMENT
>> >> (naar het boek van Gerrit Paape uit 1798)
>> >> in PERSCENTRUM NIEUWSPOORT
>> >>
>> >> tiende enscenering van de HAMLETMACHINE op straat en in de
>> >> PAULUSKERK/Rotterdam
>> >> met zijn jongerengroep FUTURESQUAD
>> >>
>> >> 1999  formeert UINITED DEMONS INCORPORATED een kreactor van 20 artiesten
>> >> uit verschillende disciplines en generaties (in Bonheur, Rotterdam)
>> >>
>> >> grote zaalproductie van DE BROEIKAS van HAROLD PINTER
>> >> in de ROTTERDAMSE SCHOUWBURG met oa. Cas Enklaar, Dik Boutkan, Hugo Haenen
>> >>
>> >> dramaturgie, tekst en zang (Lucid Terror) voor de dansvoorstelling VERGE
>> >> van Frank Handeler
>> >> en Dian Elshout in de Transformatorzolder WESTERGASFABRIEK, Amsterdam
>> >>
>> >> lokatieprojekt BIJ BRAND OF AANRAAD in de LEKHAVEN, Rotterdam
>> >>
>> >> 2000  publicatie MC WISECRACK'S STICKERFUN
>> >>
>> >> opent de groepsexpositie SALVA MEA in de NIEUWE KERK als MC WISECRACK in
>> >> harnas
>> >>
>> >> ensceneert DE ZEVEN ZINTUIGEN n.a.v. De Goddelijke Komedie van DANTE
>> >> een drieluik met FUTURESQUAD in de PAULUSKERK, Rotterdam
>> >>
>> >> publicatie MC'Wisecrack's BRAINFRAGMENTATION BOMB
>> >>
>> >> concipieert en dirigeert de wereldpremiere van het MONOLOGENKOOR
>> >> in de grote zaal van de ROTTERDAMSE SCHOUWBURG
>> >>
>> >> begint met een wekelijks tv-programma KOMKOMMERTV op RotterdamTV
>> >> met kunst, interviews, registraties en satire
>> >>
>> >> ensceneert FUCK SHAKESPEARE muziektheater met FUTURESQUAD voor
>> >> ZAPNATION te Rotterdam
>> >>
>> >> doet een openingsperformance voor de groepsexpositie IK BEN EEN PUNKER MAMA
>> >> in SHOWROOM MAMA te Rotterdam met als expositie deelname een
>> >> een nieuwe serie GEOPEREERDE VLAGGEN (in opdracht)
>> >>
>> >> 2001  schrijft en regisseert i.s.m. Niko Okkerse de multi-media voorstelling
>> >> AMLETH/the Original/the Gothic/the Best in DE REGENTES, Den Haag
>> >>
>> >> live performance met Lucid Terror voor de dansvoorstelling DEUCE
>> >> van PIETER DE RUITER in DE JULIANAKERK, Den Haag
>> >>
>> >> tekst en muziek met Lucid Terror voor de dansvoorstelling STOMACH
>> >> van Handeler en Elshout (premiere HOLLAND DANCE FESTIVAL, Den Haag)
>> >>
>> >> 2002  beeldende bijdrage aan de publicatie HARD POP van SHOWROOM MAMA,
>> >> Rotterdam
>> >>
>> >> neemt deel met de interactieve performance RANDOM TAXI  aan de manifestatie
>> >> PARKING DEN HAAG georganiseerd door STROOM
>> >>
>> >> tekst en zang met Lucid Terror  voor MILKY TEARS  van ELAINE KIM
>> >>
>> >> tekst en zang met Lucid Terror voor STOPMOTION  van PIETER DE RUITER
>> >>
>> >> tekst/stem met Lucid Terror en dramaturgie voor NERVES van EDGE
>> >>
>> >> neemt deel aan ARTIST POSTCARDS van RUCHAN SAHINOGLU
>> >>
>> >> stelt een ZELFPORTRET IN GROEPSVERBAND samen onder de titel
>> >> OH NO NOT AGAIN in TENT te Rotterdam
>> >> een overzicht van 20 jaar werk en samenwerkingen en werk van de
>> >> vijftigtal collega's
>> >>
>> >> 2003  geeft lezing over inspiratie op de ROTTERDAMSE DANSACADEMIE
>> >>
>> >> Publicatie MC WISECRACK'S STICKERFUN 2
>> >>
>> >> neemt deel aan het SIRENENFESTIVAL in HET ILLUSEUM
>> >> met een stemperformance poezie en drukwerk
>> >>
>> >> archiefonderzoek
>> >>
>> >> 2004  doet het projekt BALANCE IN WONDERLAND op de WILLEM DE KOONING
>> >> met een dertigtal studenten
>> >>
>> >> archiefonderzoek
>> >>
>> >> 2005  neemt deel aan een vijftal groepsexposities in de DORDTSALON  te
>> >> Rotterdam
>> >>
>> >> neemt deel aan PNEUFORIA van 75+NAP, Den Haag
>> >>
>> >> 2006  neemt deel aan het MENTAL ZIRKUS in SUPAMOLLY te BERLIJN
>> >> als moderator en met een performance en drukwerk
>> >>
>> >> artist in residence in WILLEM 3 te Vlissingen met een groeiinstallatie
>> >> in Gaststudio 7
>> >> en een serie pseudo-toeristische freecards OOIT IN VLISSINGEN GEWEEST?
>> >>
>> >> op 2 april openingsrede DVD-project in de Zware Plaatwerkerij Vlissingen
>> >>
>> >> neemt deel aan de WERKSTATT 2006 van JG Stadmitte JENA
>> >> maakt daar het sculptuur BUCHERSCHASHLIK en ensceneert
>> >> met jongeren de twaalfde versie van HAMLETMACHINE van Heiner Muller
>> >>

_{2007 takes part in the group exhibition PILLARS IN THE MUD II in LOCUS 010 in Rotterdam
it was curated by Hugo Lammerink BOSZOOM SOLUTIONS
at the opening van Z. sang with his free jazz group THE BLACK-OUT SYNDROME CLUB}

_{is narrator in U RAGING STANDSTILL by CREW in the NEW TERRITORIES festival in Glasgow}

_{gives workshops at the WILLEM DE KOONING ACADEMY and HRO in Rotterdam}

_{runs the DPC (Depression Promotion Centre) in Galerie POOL 120 in Rotterdam
collaboration with the PKV (Passive Art Society) a 2 month project
with exhibitions, concerts, poetry readings etc.}

is the correspondent in the city of rural art-community KANTJE BOORD
and supports ZIEGENMALTE’s video report as stressdesigner

_{is guest teacher at the TU DELFT for concept developement, storyboard analyses, acting
and directing in connection to the minor IMAGINATION for animation technique}

starts Youtube channels as outlets for current and past creative ‘utterings and stutterings’
of himself and alter-ego’s, including a new one: /Stigmadome, for the extreme experimental
expressions, thus protecting the general public with ’splendid isolation’

is active again as singer and rapper in various musical formations and creates Myspaces for them: /theblackoutsyndromecluboeuvre (natural bron free jazz), /hardonlove (pretty evil ballads with Fuck The Writer on guitar), /hoab (=Handsome of a Bitch with Theo Wesselo/RemboT. with thoughtful songs), /popupshits (anonymous forum for scary musical shit!)

reunion of GOD KNOWS THE ABSENT his anti-scene band popular 1986-1991
for the presentation of the ANTISCENE photobook by Carla van der Marel in Arminus Church Rotterdam

2008

reads from his Dutch poetry in de RIDDER DICHT on 9th of march together with Frans Vogel

makes and performance a satirical interactive short play “Who is fooling who?” about alternative psychiatry with Paul de Breet for “the Week of Psychiatry”

is senoir vocal advisor and stressdesigner of the www.ktre.nl (the Klingon Terran Research Ensemble)
and was the grandmaster judging the musical battles on the 27th of march in Zeebelt in the Hague

exhibits glam-collages in IEZ cafe Rotterdam along side prints by Denis Oppenheim in the month april
organized by EhbeltoArt

creates and performes together with Rita Vilhena artistic leader of Baila Louca (Crazy Dance)-the performance Justification inspired by ‘the Death and the Maiden’ theme of Hans Baldung Grien in the former Photography Institute in Rotterdam (on 25th of april )
the black metal band ‘..of melancholy burning” from Rotterdam played live during Justification

founds with Prof. Sidhy Idiopath the PRC (Punk Research Centre) presenting it in public as
www.myspace.com/frauduleus on the 1st of may in Exit Rotterdam

appointed as stressdesigner and creative coach at the Pameijer in Rotterdam
an organisation for social and psychological support

takes part in the 48 hour film project as Featherson in Zeer by pepperpopcornproductions

_{Rotterdam, autumn 2007}

Related posts:

1. Curator X ‘State of the Arts’ Speech at DPC2
2. Jan (Willem) Bijl draagt man van de straat voor
3. toegift-dac-noord-wie-houdt-wie-voor-de-gek.WMV

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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The Baudelaire of Rotterdam:
Henry van Zanten’s Art of Scandal

@ 2002 by Laurens Rook

Introduction

A few months ago in the city of Rotterdam a political landslide seemed to be in progress. The commonly extolled �poldermodel� was replaced by a variation that seemed more liveable. Although the former minister-president Kok was praised worldwide for years for his dedication, one single artist reproached him for years already with his colourlessness and lack of attitude: �Kok kookt niet�(i.e.: Cook doesn�t cook�).Now a whole group of the population shared the opinion of the artist. For a short time Rotterdam was the focus of the national and international press, and in the streets there was an atmosphere of collective rage and protest. Although at the time everywhere in the city little orange stickers appeared requesting �please don�t talk about politics�, the tension in the city was unbearable. In the night before the municipal election, at 24.00 exactly, this same artist took action. In a purging white smoking he sold off the local politics with one single gesture. The moment he glued his brightly coloured cardboards to the pillars of the townhall, he doubtlessly announced a closing-down sale. Henry van Zanten, artistic professional revolutionary had spoken once again.

Many people will have thought: �Oh no not again!�. Because it is an open secret, that in the national art world they are at their wit�s end concerning Henri van Zanten. Minimally he is an �enfant terrible� who regularly represents his political and social involvement with performances and interventions in the public space, and in doing so not denying his past experience in theatre. Van Zanten is an aesthetic activist, who says he thinks the famous Hamlet of Shakespeare is only a weak infusion of �the original, the gothic, the best� and above all historical Amleth. Amleth �was not a talkative sissy, but funnier, crazier, more clever and a true killer and a good son who became hero and king of his people�. ₁ Not without reason the Hamletmachine by Heiner Muller became the leitmotiv in his oeuvre. Van Zanten has up to now already staged this �ultra-political ideological requiem� in twelve different ways. The radical nature and shock effect that Heiner Muller pursued with this piece, equals what Van Zanten pursues in life and work: to get the public to applaud him by smacking themselves in their faces. Rightly the artistic effort of an �enfant terrible�.

Ideology criticism, shock effect, intervention and the psychology of the public are central motives in the work of Van Zanten. Yet in the national art world he is too often not judged by his merits. Van Zanten is extremely many-sided, and works in a high tempo on different projects at the same time. He manifests himself as director, dramaturge, musician, visual artist, designer, poet and rapper, but also as buddhist, social worker and activist. He goes through life with several pseudonyms, varying from Mc Wisecrack to Nirvana then Zen (i.e. anagram of Henri van Zanten), and at one moment collaborates with one collective, and then with another. There is also a possibility that Van Zanten after a while counteracts that same collective. It is clear, that artistic and political motives are cast by the artist into an as large as life and lifelong Gesammtkunstwerk. In bureaucratic terms this is mostly not understood as such. His incalculable manner of operating and multidisciplinary behaviour are too often and unjustly translated with �inconsistence� and �non-committal�. Many bureaucrats would like the artist who founded De Bom (De Bond Onafhankelijke Makers, i.e. The Bomb- Alliance for independent makers � against commercializing of the arts), and who invariably wears his No Product T-shirt during meetings with artistic directors and experts, to become a dependant maker of products.

In the first place this disqualification is due to the ignorance of so-called experts of the arts field. They don�t know the history of the arts, of only partly. In the second place it has to be said , that Van Zanten has waited till 2002 before he has arranged himself and his work neatly for the outer world. Van Zanten has entirely in his own way assembled a �Multi-Tasking Game� from his personal archives, so we from now on can play cards with his curriculum vitae and artistic range of ideas. Over it Tent in Rotterdam presented a special exhibition of the ever expanding � suerealist � oeuvre of Henri van Zanten from 8 November till 15 December 2002. A self portrait in a group and a group in a self portrait. An extraordinary look into an artistic network, that mostly remains �underground�. So extraordinary that it is very well possible, that spectators, collegue-artists, policy makers and experts will suddenly realize, that Van Zanten works on a consistent, impressive and uncommonly valuable artistic oeuvre. For those who nevertheless don�t sense it, with this text the artistic phenomenon Henri van Zanten is provided with a historical context. Not by referring to the resemblances he has with Dada and representatives there of like Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia. Not by referring to the Surrealism of Andre Breton and Rene Magritte. Not by referring to the Situationism of Guy Debord. And also not by referring to William Burroughs� � �stop breathing down my neck�. This in itself would be a nice �group in a self portrait�. But by going back to the poet who was in fact a professional revolutionary; a man for whom life equalled art; a man who has been written about, that he has put down the laws for our unambiguous autonomic arts field: Charles Baudelaire.

1. Concise biography of Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire is born in1821, according to some sociologists in an aristocratic and wealthy family, predestined for a life in luxury and prosperity. ₂
At the age of 18 he decides to become a writer. In the first years of being a writer he lives in luxury, especially also thanks to a huge inheritance. He is a dandy par excellence, surrounded by friends as rich as he and from the same aristocracy. Baudelaire develops into the greatest (and most arrogant and most provoking and most anti-bourgeois) literary talent of Paris. In 1844 he has already written the biggest part of his (later on very famous) book of poems Les Fleurs du Mal. He however decides not to publish the book, because he still wants it to ripen. In that same year however he is placed under guardianship by his family because of financial mismanagement. He perseveres in his anti-bourgeois provocation and blasphemy, and refuses the respectable job his family has arranged for him.
Baudelaire is borne down upon the lee shore and gets to know the hard side of society. His circle of friends changes, especially because a second type of bohemian appears in the literary world. ₃ This type-2 bohemian is from the lower class, and is forced to take commercial additional jobs, as journalist for example, to prevent starvation. Totally in tune with the spirit of the age Baudelaire gets obsessed by revolution, conspiracy and provocation. In that time Baudelaire tries, just like his type-2 colleagues, to get work as a political journalist, and to get his book of poems published. His reputation is too extreme though: he is too radical, too anti-bourgeois and too blasphemous. Les Fleurs du Mal is a literary explosive no one dares to venture upon. When Louis Napoleon, who indeed comes from the circles of conspirators, makes a coup d�etat and proclaims himself emperor, Baudelaire�s political interest weakens. His predilection for provocation and revolt stays, but he gives it the shape of Satanism and spiritism. Baudelaire�s reputation as poet grows, although especially thanks to his formidable art criticisms and his aesthetic doctrines.
Simply because Baudelaire has become too big a name in the literary world, no one can prevent that his book of poems Les Fleur du Mal is published at last in 1857. Almost immediately he is put on trial on account of the blasphemous quality of the book. Baudelaire is publicly stigmatized as immoral pornographer and is no longer allowed in the literary salons. However at home and abroad he is praised on all sides as martyr for good cause of the arts. In the end he goes to Belgium as exile, where the local police think he is a French spy. Baudelaire dies in 1867. Shortly after that is poem Correspondances is posthumously proclaimed to be the artistic manifest of Symbolism. ₄

2. The arcades of Paris, Baudelaire & professional activism

It is a popular misunderstanding, that visual art and social involvement are connected to each other from of old. Famous paintings like Guernica of Pablo Picasso and 18 October 1977 of Gerhard Richter seem to confirm that art and activism go hand in hand. However, the first real political attitude in the arts was adopted not until 1800 � the series etches Desastros de la Guerra by Goya. Art engage didn�t arise until the middle of the nineteenth century, on the one hand in the form of a romantic anti-bourgeois idealism of liberty (Delacroix, painter of scenes of the barricades), on the other hand socialist realism (Courbet, painter of the �Verelendung� of the Lumpenproletariat). In this age of the great revolutions Paris was the centre of the political world, while on the scientific, economic and artistic level also a few things happened. It is interesting, that through the influence of such social factors an art-of-the-big-city originated, that was characterized by a feeling for political scandal and artistic shock experience, revolt against consumerism and fetishism of goods, and an interest in the psychology of the crowd. This spirit of the age of modernity was put into words by Charles Baudelaire like nobody�s business. An aesthetic activism of the 21st century cannot be estimated without taking note of the life and works of the professional revolutionary Baudelaire.

Maybe in the first instance it is strange, to go back to Baudelaire. For it is customary to relate the spirit of the rebellious and anti-bourgeois artist to Dada on the one hand and Surrealism on the other � and then one always encounters Marcel Duchamp, the most influential artist of the 20th century. But Walter Benjamin has sensibly argued, that the father of Surrealism was Dada; and his mother a Parisian arcade. And the poet of the city of arcades was Baudelaire.
The arcades of Paris were built in de 15 years after 1822 in a time of boom. The arcades where the first non-industrial application of glass and steel constructions, filled with marble and shops offering fancy articles. The arcades were the dream of the rich Parisians who had enough money to indulge in the cult of the fetishism of goods. Benjamin has pointed out, that the cult of the fetishism of goods already had fashion as a collective ritual: �Fashion prescribes the ritual through which the fetish � that the merchandise is � wants to be worshipped.� ₅ Through the influence of economic growth the bourgeois for the first time got the luxury of a private space. And thanks to the fancy articles displayed in the arcade city they could install in their own home a private altar for consumed goods.
The division between private space and public space didn�t only arise because of a favourable economy. Also demographic factors had an important relevance: the population of Paris grew enormously and explosively. In the streets of the city they got to know a new phenomenon: the masses, the crowd. The crowd evoked fear, aversion and abhorrence in the bourgeois, who preferred to retreat in their own homes. Many intellectuals started, motivated by the same fear, aversion and abhorrence to study the psychology of the crowd. ₆ The sociologist Simmel makes clear, that people in the big city under the influence of technological developments got into a totally new situation, in which they were confronted with strangers and strangers, without being able to avoid this situation: �Who sees without hearing will be more alarmed than who hears without seeing. This is a feature of the big city. The mutual relationships of the people in the cities are charaterized by a striking predominance of the activities of the eye over these of the ear.
The main causes of this are the transport devices. Before the auto bus, the trains and the trams [�] people wouldn�t get into the situation in which they had to look at each other for minutes of even hours without speaking with eachother.� ₇
The crowd was seen as a superhuman, uniform and above all evil phenomenon. They tried to give a face to the crowd, and they reverted to the physiognomy of Lavater, with which one could read criminality and bestiality from faces. Paul Valery wrote in this context: �The inhabitants of the centres of the big city fall back into a state of brutalization, that means a condition of isolation. The consciousness of being dependant on others, previously kept alive by needs, is gradually blunted by the smooth, automatic course of social mechanisms. Every improvement of the mechanism renders inoperative certain ways of behaviour, certain feelings [�.]. ₈ A big need arose to ward off the danger of the masses. Doctors and psychologizing doctors like Le Bon wrote about �the criminal crowd� that suddenly could get collectively infected with delinquent behaviour, and the pathology of the criminal, while the first sociological study by Durkheim dealt with social function of �suicide�.
The fear for the masses appeared to be a breeding ground for protest, revolt and terror. Friedrich Engels wrote in 1848 as prelude to the Communist Manifest: �This enormous concentration, this accumulation of three and a halve million people increased a hundredfold. But the victims that it cost, one only finds later. When one has roamed about a few days on the pavements of the main streets [�.] only then one notices that they had to sacrifice the best part of their human nature to produce all these wonders of civilisation with which their city is filled; that innumerable capacities slumbering in them have been left unused and have been suppressed. [�.] Let alone the bustle is somehow disgusting, something against which the human nature revolts.�. ₉
Also many literary writers were deeply affected by this new phenomenon, and Edgar Allen Poe wrote the first literary work about the inhumanity of the masses with his The man in the crowd: �Their hair was in most cases already fairly thin, �..

Although this seems to be a description of a group of alcoholics and paupers, Poe was in fact dealing with people from the upper-middle class, traders, lawyers and stock exchange speculators. ₁₀ The story itself is a detective story about a pursuer, a crowd and an anonymous person who tries to escape by hiding himself in the crowd. When the pursuer gives up, he suddenly sees the face of the anonymous � an old man;�This old man is the incarnation and spirit of crime itself �, I said to myself, �he can not be alone, he is the man of the masses�.

In Paris the city of arcades, where a malicious crowd overindulged in the fetishism of goods, Baudelaire saw very quickly � under influence of The man in the crowd by Poe � the possibility of an intermediate figure � the flaneur or bohemian. The dandies of Paris annexed the arcades very quickly, and walked around there as if it was their own home. In 1839 even a silent protest arose against the fetishism of goods, when dandies decided to let their tempo of living being dictated by turtles whom they took for a walk in the arcades. Baudelaire realized very quickly that there was a potentially successful relationship between �flaneur�and �terreur�. About the flaneur he wrote:�The one who is able to be bored in a crowd, must be an idiot�. For him the observing flaneur was like �a sovereign who nowhere lost his incognito�. Under cover of casually taking a turtle for a walk, the flaneur could keep an eye on the crowd in a perfect and unnoticed way. Like a spy the flaneur hid himself in masses. Baudelaire put this double life into practice to evade his many creditors. On the run for these creditors he he haunted the arcades, cafes and reading rooms. He was also registered at different addresses at the same time, while on the day of payment he would �stay� with at the place of a friend or an acquaintance.En passant Baudelaire would meet his literary colleagues in the cafes. There he introduced and discussed his poems that were rejected for publication, and established his reputation as promising �enfant terrible� of the Parisian art world.
As flaneur Baudelaire was a professional revolutionary as Karl Marx pictured to himself. Marx described the professional conspirator as follows: �With the rise of the proletarian conspiracies there also developed a need for a segmentation of labour; the members were subdivided in occasional conspirators, that means , labourers who only conspired in addition to their normal activities, only visited the meetings and were standby to follow the order of the leader to appear at the place of assembly, and in professional conspirators, namely those who dedicated all their activities to conspiring and made a living with it. [�.]. The social position of this class determines beforehand whole character. [�.]. their insecure existence, in daily life being more dependant on chance than their own activities, their disorderly way of living, with the caf� as the only fixed point � the place to gather for conspirators � their unavoidable contact with all sorts of dubious people, made them find themselves in that sort of milieu, that in Paris is called la boheme�. 11
The fact that Marx saw artists and professional conspirators as equals, is confirmed by the behaviour of Baudelaire during the days of the revolution. Thus during the revolution of 1848 the 19th century poet was seen on a street corner of Paris screaming and waving a gun, without however shooting at anything. Baudelaire was actually nothing more and nothing less than a professional conspirator, because the target the conspiracy was directed against , didn�t really matter. Not without reason he said: �I say �long live the revolution!� as I could say �Long live the destruction! , Long live the punishment!, Long live the castigation!, Long live death!�. Not only as victim I would feel happiness, also the part of hangman wouldn�t displease me � in order to experience the revolution from both sides. The republican spirit is contained in our blood just like the syphilis in our bones: we are infected with democracy and syphilis�. 12 Although the famous words: �I only understand one thing of all politics: the revolt� has to be attributed to Flaubert, it was Baudelaire who actually put this into practice, in his life and in his art.

3. The law-maker, the art and the scandal

As poet-artist Baudelaire introduced his mentality of the revolutionary professional provocateur into the arts. The cultural sociologist Bourdieu went so far as to say, that modern art as we know it now can be explained from the influence Baudelaire had on his contemporaries and colleagues. Baudelaire as an ‘omni-artiste avant-la-lettre’ occupied himself with the art of poetry, politics, activism and art criticism. For that reason Bourdieu named him the law-maker of pure art.
In Paris the city of arcades the literary and visual arts were very dependent on the civil service and art-institutions run by so-called experts. During the reign of Napoleon III there was even a strong censorship, combined with indirect control by bankers, through which the artistic freedom of expression was seriously hampered. Artists and writers could chose between adjusting themselves to the dominance of the Salon or the Academie de Peinture, or to leave their artistic carreer for what it was. Between artistic fame and financial prosperity, or poverty and the existence of a doomed artist. The road to success was to gain access to the salons of rich women. Because of this there was a strong dependency on a political and economic elite. ‘The sullenness of the 19th century man of letters is remarkable, especially when we compare it to the mondaine life of the 18th century literary figures [�]; the contemporary bourgeoisie only looks for company of the man of letters when he is willing to play the role of funnyman, fool or guide in foreign countries.’ ₁₃
As professional revolutionary Baudelaire refused to reconcile himself with this situation. As well-to-do original type-1 flaneur/bohemien, Baudelaire believed in an uncompromizing way of writing poetry and an absolute contempt for the bourgeoisie. When he was put under guardianship by his family, he perservered in his radicality. He moved through the crypts of the city, in the hangouts of conspirators, while he took the hardships as the condition for a literary oeuvre. From the barricades of Paris, the caf�’s and arcades of the city, he worked on an uncompromizing oeuvre, that was only published
scantily. In that way – by-passing the salons, the bureaucratic political and artistic institutons of Paris – he succeeded in becoming the greatest poet of his generation, while ‘tout monde’ refused to give him a total view of his oeuvre with a publication of Les Fleurs du Mal. Inspite of all that he succeeded to command respect as artistic anomy.
In his method of working Baudelaire proved himself to be a child of his time. In his poetic art he was well aware of its revolutionary potential, of the plan that formed its foundation and the shockeffect that it could have. In the portrait of a colleague-artist Baudelaire circumscribes the iron consequence of the genuine creative process:
‘How he stands there, bent over the table, absorbing the drawing with the same piercing look as he absorbs the things around him during dayime; how he struggles with the pencil, pen or brush, sprinkling water from the glass, trying his pen on his shirt, the haste and vehemence with which he chases his work asif he’s afraid the images will escape him; such is his warlike spirit, although he is alone: he parries his own thrusts.’ ₁₄
Also contemporaries were conscious of what Baudelaire layed down as criterion for the creation of art. One poet said ‘ that even in the slightest word of Baudelaire he could see the effort that made him accomplish so much magnificence’. Another wrote: ‘Even now he has nervous breakdown, Baudelaire still is somehow healthy.’ And a third one: ‘With Baudelaire the poetic process looks like a physical exertion’. ₁₅
For Baudelaire the physical shock of writing poetry and the physical shock of sword fighting were synonymous. In his poetic art he combined his predilection for the psychological mechanisms that determined the untameable masses. As introduction to his cycle Spleen de Paris he wrote: ‘Who of us hasn’t dreamt in days of aspirations, of a wonder, written in poetic prose, musical, without rhyme or rhythm but supple and staccato enough to be able to follow the lyrical movements of the soul, the arabesques of reveries and the shocks of consciousness. This ideal, that can become an idee-fixe, will especially get hold of those that are at home in the giantic cities, with their network of countless relations, that cross eachother.’ ₁₆
To become the law-maker of the arts, Baudelaire however had to perform an act in order to lay down a new norm. Bourdieu describes two revolutionary acts with which he does that. The starting point in this case is, that Baudelaire in the end grows into the greatest poet of his time, because no one can any longer ignore him in his non-conformity.
His book of poetry is published, and he is immediately put on trial. In this court case Baudelaire refuses to make a compromise because of the so-called blasphemous content of Les Fleurs du Mal, and to let a few poems to removed from the collection.As a result of this he was banned from the court, the salons and artistic institutes. With this he lays down the artistic law, that an artist in artistic sincerity must be willing to suffer for his art.
Must be prepared to go through life stigmatized. That reflects his admiration for the principles of the Jesuits. Devotion in the form of a battle cry. Secondly, and much more decisive, by thereupon putting himself up for candidate for the Academie Francaise, the most prestigious literary institute of Paris. Exactly because no one in the literary world of Paris can ignore him, as anomy personified, he establishes himself as equal to the dominant institute in the art world. His goal: acceptation of his aberration, or the the institutionalization of the anomy, or the artist suffering on principle as the law for edifying art. ₁₇ What Baudelaire does with this, is ‘to bring up for discussion, to expose mental structures, categories of observation and appreciation that have to such an extent been adjusted to social structures, that are so deeply rooted and are so congruent that they seemingly escape the most radical criticism, and that with that lay the foundation of an unconscious and immediate subjection to the cultural order’ ₁₈
He demands the freedom for the artist.

to be continued

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