As promised in my previous post, here are some photo’s of the new work I made for the exhibition ‘Half werk’ at WILLIE in Havenkwartier Deventer. Do also read this beautiful opening speech by Jan van Kessel (in Dutch).

Het Halve Werk (A4 print, framed)

50% (A4 print, framed)

Oogst Zaad (A4 print, framed)

WILLIE (A4 print, framed)

WILLIE (A4 print, framed), detail

I have made some new work for the exhibition ‘Half werk’ at WILLIE (May 13 – 27). The work I made is text-based and as the title suggests it’s all about different ways to perceive halves of something. I haven’t photographed it yet, so I will add photo’s here later.

My work for this exhibition is also inspired by WILLIE itself, the best artists collective, concert venue, art space and club/bar in Deventer. I have grown to love WILLIE over the years and I have put a considerable amount of time and effort in making WILLIE what it is today, together with the other people that make WILLIE tick. Sometimes at the cost of my other work and my income (working for WILLIE doesn’t pay the bills… at all). But it’s time well spent! It still gives me a kick to amaze our audiences with music, art and the overall good experiences we offer them. The feedback we get as organizers of all this cultural splendor is overwhelming at times. Thank you for that!

The past few years WILLIE has operated from a fixed location in Havenkwartier Deventer. Today this whole area is under development. And although the city of Deventer apparently sees the value of what WILLIE brings to the table (on a voluntary basis no less!) and although a collective like WILLIE fits like a glove in the intended cultural profile of Havenkwartier Deventer (which is actively promoted by the municipality of Deventer), we find ourselves forced out of our current location due to a sizeable increase in costs, starting July 2012 (read WILLIE’s official statement here). Clearly we have upgraded the area’s value considerably while we were here ;)

It kind of pains me to type the above, because this has proven to be the inevitable conclusion after a tiresome period of extensive planning, writing, networking, lobbying, organizing, calculating and soulsearching. Not being able to ‘save’ our current location after putting in this much time and effort, together with all the support we got from enthousiastic volunteers and practically all the other cultural organisations in Deventer… does feel like a loss, a failure even.

On the other hand, it feels good to have described WILLIE in such rich detail and to have searched and tried all available options, so we can now honestly say that there is no other choice under the given circumstances. This process has also strengthened our will to keep the concept of WILLIE alive and kicking, with or without a fixed location to work from.

But not so fast… we still have some certified quality time left in our current location and aim to make the best of it! So please enjoy our vibrant program in the months May and June to the fullest, because the future plans of WILLIE are still somewhat shady at best… And for those of you who haven’t visited WILLIE’s super hot spot in Havenkwartier Deventer yet, don’t miss out, your chance is now!

On January 29 the exhibition about social media I curated for Kunstenlab closed. Today I updated this website with new content for the last time.

You can find a nice selection of pictures taken by Kunstenlab and me on Flickr and a video by Egbert Scheffer on YouTube. Looking back I’m really content with the way this project turned out. In some degree it even changed my own perception of social media. I think ‘#isthemessage’ succeeded in the multitude of goals I set out at the start, although I would have expected it to gain a bit more media attention then it actually did.

I would like to thank Kunstenlab for their invitation and support, and all participating artists for their work.

Social media have made a name for themselves in society. For many, a life without is barely conceivable. How does art relate to social media? Artists are, as with the introduction of photography and video, first at the scene to explore the (artistic) possibilities of the medium. But also to critically examine and question them. Reason enough for Kunstenlab to ask me as a guest curator for an exhibition on this topic. Not only because I’m an artist, designer, curator and owner of a record label, but also as early and frequent social media user.

The exhibition ‘#isthemessage’ shows a kaleidoscopic and intriguing image of social media and the phenomena triggered by them. For example, Christopher Baker makes you aware of the nature of tweets in his Murmur Study, Birgit Bachler lets you listen to the Internet and examines an anonymous communication network in physical public with The Discrete Dialogue Network, Philipp Teister made the login of his personal Facebook profile known in his Facebook Life Sharing project and Nicholas Felton (also graphic designer of the new Facebook Timeline) shows very personal infographics in his Annual Reports.

As with other media, it is primarily how, why and by whom social media are used that matters. The exhibition is the result of research into a multitude of different perspectives from which social media can be viewed: e.g. psychology, identity, communication, utopia, altruism, social criticism, corporate business, data mining, marketing, revolution, democratization (of art) and – somewhat obvious – privacy. The exhibition ‘#isthemessage’ opens new ways to experience the power of social media and to ask critical questions about the place these media have in our lives.

Given the particular subject of this exhibition I decided not to fill the entire exhibition to leave room for a social aspect. The public can contribute and participate by mailing directly to the printer that is installed in the exhibition area (starting December 17 to isthemessage@hpeprint.com) or be a guest curator of this input by making a personal selection of the prints accumulating on the floor. Of course, participation via Twitter (#isthemessage) and this Facebook wall is also possible.

I created the website hashtagisthemessage.net for this exhibition. Usable as an online version of a catalogue. In the middle column you’ll find an additional selection of works, which can be found online. This website will be updated once more with all added content and data obtained during the exhibition.

The opening of #isthemessage takes place on Sunday 18 December at 16:00 with the participation of De Bubbelebim, an (anti)literary and absurd theater-stage-performance-viduo from Rotterdam. De Bubbelebim appears to have something to say about sociale media as well.

This morning I finally completed a project I have been working and waiting on for a long time (due to many unforeseen circumstances). About a year ago, I was asked by Kunstenlab to design and produce four benches for the Landtonen project in Okkenbroek. Practically the only requirements in this assignment were that these benches should blend in with the rural surroundings and incorporate a few lines of selected text in the design. The budget was extremely tight.

I decided to go with tree trunks (how can you go wrong with lumber?) and contacted IJsellandschap to provide me with a local harvest of trees. It took some time but eventually I had four weighty pieces of wood I could work with (thank you Gerben). I removed the bark, chisseled square holes in the logs and fitted them with four classic coffee table legs each. I planed the seating area and surface milled the provided texts (by hand).

Oh well, you can see the results in the pictures below.

Special thanks go out to Josien in ‘t Hof (at Kunstenlab) and Ap Haverslag (for initiating the Landtonen project, helping me with the positioning of the benches and providing me with all sorts of insights in the local community of Okkenbroek).