Friday 29 June 2012

I Can't Stand The Rain

This fourth day was a tricky one for me. It's edges were marked with thoughtless acts and impatient behavior. I guess the amount of work caught me off guard. All of a sudden my motivation dropped. I perceived advise and help from teachers as an attack, an intrusion. I was aware that a lot of things needed my attention. But that doesn't give people the right to point them out all the time. Give me a brake and have some faith will ya! But this is not the private domain of a studio, this is common Rietveld territory and all hands on board are determined to make it a success. My guiding system told me I was in troubled water. So I sighed, rolled my eyes made a few bitch comments and was left alone. Alone, except for Maartje. She proved to be a breath of fresh air that I was longing for. She took a bucket, started mixing the mortar and sat by my side. We nailed the column right there on the spot! I will not show you pictures of the result, for I don't like spoilers. You must come see it for yourself....in  4 days...


Wednesday 27 June 2012

I Salute You For Your Courage

Working on the column for the Bison 
None of this would have happened if you didn't make me aware of my abilities and your keen ways to address my creative obstacles. Even in these moments of your absence, I feel you're presence like you are my blood. I'm grateful for all that you bring to my world. All these little bumps in the road, how they make way for the new canopy to grow. Everything continues, expands and adds up to this particular time and space. I'm working with the elements of a tiler, a sculptor, a photographer and through it all I sing, burn incense and dance as a performer. I hope my graduation delivers a visual language where the common ground for my projects is tangible. An invisible web that needs to be further explored! My graduation is in no way an end, it's a new beginning! 

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Best take Advantage, Be All That You Can Be

Even though tools seem
 to be everywhere
we try to keep them together
 on two locations
We have become one crew, a crew that is ready! We moved out all our stuff from the KB Factory into the Gerrit Rietveld academy. We move around swiftly, just like ants. Empty a room, build up walls, cover the floor for protection and then we start painting. All according to a very detailed floor plan. This is happening at full speed, six DOGtime rooms at once. When we're done you'll not recognize them as classrooms anymore. But this is not just DOGtime at the first floor, the entire two buildings are buzzing with activities, students, teachers and lots of helping hands (family and friends) to make it all happen. All departments are represented at the graduation show; fashion, architecture,ceramics, audiovisual, design, glass, VAV and print & text. 


In previous years I was on the visitor side. You'll take a lot for granted there. Things that never cross your mind are actually very important to be hidden away from the guests awareness. It's all in good spirits and great fun. Iti is there to supply us with sandwiches and other solutions that our engines need to stay healthy. We talk, think and laugh our way through the day. I believe we are actually ahead of schedule, with this being the second day of work and almost everyone is ready to install beamers, dvd-players, lights and lots and lots of extension cords! But the technical story is a different story all together.

Fase one, connecting the screens
to make walls out of them

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Are You ready for....

We are ready to go to Stockholm !

The video is online and that marks the kick-off for the promotion of the Pony Performance participation at STOFF in August 2012 Sweden! It is very exciting to be part of the voordekunst.nl platform. They were very helpful and broadened my perspective on crowd funding. Click on the link below to see the video on their site:
http://www.voordekunst.nl/vdk/project/view/486-pony-performance

Friday 15 June 2012

Exhilarating Top Of The Mountain



Time Table Graduation Show 2012

Wednesday July 4th 16:00 - 20:00 Official Opening
Thursday July 5th 11:00 - 20:00 
Friday July 6th 11:00 - 20:00
Saturday July 7th 11:00 - 20:00 
Sunday July 8th 11:00 - 16:00 
with diploma ceremony from 16:00 - 20:00

DOGtime 1st foor
Gerrit Rietveld Academie
Frederik Roeskestraat 96
1076 ED Amsterdam

Wednesday 13 June 2012

How Does It Feel

Logo of the crowd fund organization
Recording for the Dutch crowd funding organization Voordekunst has been wrapped up. It took me two full days to make a simple 2 minute video! I wrote a script, memorized the text but still, it did not come! Take after take. The light shifted, a plane flew over, a pony fell to the floor. It drove me mental because besides all these little errands my left eye got suddenly blood shed red! I felt like Quasimodo, fortunately time was such a pressure cooker that my mind had to stay in a 'I have to move on' mentality. The editing was the same story, the video was to elaborate with a running time towards three minutes while only two minutes are allowed. 'Kill Your Darlings' is what Ken Zeph told me at the first year of DOGtime Rietveld. 

Third take and what I just said still doesn't make sense!
Paradiso was cut out, an audio clip was shortened and the Pony's were not introduced. Rounding the video up and filling in the forms about promotional activities and budget responsibility I shot a quick glance at all the material I had shot during the days. Looking at the shots caused such a big grin that I instantly fell in love with the outtakes. They showed me incredible vulnerable and on a quest for something other than I was receiving! Very refreshing from my presentation at the Elevator Pitch a few weeks ago. It felt like I was caught up in circles. For so many other projects demand my attention right now. And yet this is the most thrilling time of all! Standing in front of the mirror in the morning with hair product on my toothbrush and toothpaste in my hair makes me laugh that THIS is the time of times! And that graduating is not enough, I'm off and rolling, doing what I love best; juggling with all the elements to lay out the foundation of my art practice. Evolve, expand, play, fight, struggle and love.
Lost for words

Longing For Perfection

Krüller-Müller Museum in Otterlo honors the departure of their director Evert van Straaten with a review of art acquired by the museum under his directorship, together with masterpieces from the permanent collection. The atmosphere of the museum collection is shaped by works of art in which the longing for a better world or for paradise is embedded. At the same time it shows the human struggle with 'the perfect form' and the tragedy of the human condition. Twin concepts such as nature and culture, imagination and knowledge or destruction and construction are found in the presentation in all sorts of ways. Together with five fellow graduating classmates I travelled to Otterlo for a day to be amazed by the building and the collection.


Cai Guo-Qiang
Inopportune: Stage Two from 2004
In his monumental installation Inopportune: Stage Two from Cai Gou-Qiang we see nine life-sized replicas of tigers shot with arrows and a decorative element in the form of a mountain and a tree. Standing and floating all around you in the enormous exhibition room, they seem to be frozen in time. Visitors can easily view them from all sorts of angles. Together with the dramatic lighting they become very theatrical. We all responded differently to the work. Making it our first exchange to discuss and question the intentions of the artist and his presentation. For Jeannette they did not represent real tigers and Claudia wasn't happy about the violence on display. I couldn't get over the fact that they reminded me of the Salvador Dali tigers linking their pose and attack to a surreal experience. We moved on, feeling that I could spend an entire day with them losing track of time and space if I stayed there. Up next were Jeff Wall, Jan Fabre, Gilbert & George and Joep van Lieshout. It wasn't until I saw the Hurt Models by Christiaan Bastiaans that I stopped again and thought: What is this....


Christaan Bastiaans
Hurt Models 
Extremely rich in details, made with different fabrics and posing in various postures, Hurt Models gave the impression of theatrical costumes while others resembled iconic figures. Looking at the tallest figure in the installation, dressed in golden robes and a red velvet pillow as a face, she reminded me of the Blessed Virgin. And I had the overwhelming sensation that I'd discovered something that the other visitors were not seeing. For she was standing in a corner, surrounded by others, hard to make out. And although the hanging sculptures are inspired by clothing worn by rebels in conflict areas they resonate a harmony and beauty that shows a hint of life seeping through destruction.  


The exhibit continued with works of Van Gogh, Mondriaan and Anselm Kiefer, I got reminded that this part of the building always seems to have less oxygen. The further I go, the more I get stuck in that 'room after room filled with art' situation that I no longer can perceive the works. Thank God for light at the end of the tunnel with Bruce Nauman's 'BRRRR' installation. Together with Claudia we were transfixed on his video's, what a relieve! Only to see that most visitors couldn't stay there for more than 5 seconds made us laugh out loud. We loved the emotional charge of the obsessive, hallucinative shaking of his head.


Longing For Perfection
Audiovisual artworks
The real treat, the cherry on top was the tent complex on the activity area in the sculpture garden! In nine separate spaces, you can emerge yourself with the works of Christiaan Bastiaans, Willie Doherty and Jan van de Pavert. This is the reason why I need to return to the Krüller-Müller museum. These audiovisual works take time to experience and there are some I must see again! When I heard my name I knew the spell was over and we had to rush back to reality for the museum was closing. A wonderful day with fellow artists; discussing, laughing and recharging our inspiration! We must do it again...thank you so much Claudia, Paula, Anneke and Jeannette! X

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Were You Hare When I Was Fox?

Bison frame complete with head and legs.
For a sense of scale you see that he stands on two tables, with a pen
and a piece of paper to his right.   
I alter my attention to the Bison who arises out of wire and wood. He appears with his own personality. I put my hands at work while my mind is reduced to a minimal. An overall intuitive feeling takes over. One that is not afraid to reconsider posture or proportion. One that alters the frame for a better distribution of weight, to make way for a new tension. Working on this scale demands a flexible approach on all fronts. Maybe that explains why working on this Bison feels so refreshing. Even this project has a fundamental reflective connection like all other work. It seems inevitable. So I might as well use it full force! Placing him on a table added another layer, in some sense even a more Biblical approach, like the Golden Calf. With three more weeks to go I know I'll be spending lots of time with him...