World Art Delft

Op zondag 27 oktober 2008 werd er weer een tentoonstelling geopend in de expositieruimte van World Art Delft. Het thema is dit maal: Recycling.

De deelnemende beeldende kunstenaars zijn afkomstig uit Japan, Indonesië, Egypte, Irak, Italië, Duitsland, Nederland.

Ieder van hen toont een op het centrale thema gïnspireerd werk, in hoofdzaak gemaakt tijdens het internationale symposium dat ter plekke in de afgelopen maand oktober is vervaardigd. Een fantastische formule, want op die manier zijn de makers, ieder van één artistieke bijdrage, uit de isolatie van hun ateliers gehaald en komen ze met elkaar in contact. Je kunt je voorstellen hoe die communicatie in een sfeer van gelijkgestemdheid, een plezier en een stimulans is.

Dat kan alleen lukken als alles goed georganiseerd is en plaats vindt in blijmoedige samenwerking. De organisatoren hebben precies de noodzakelijke talenten en eigenschappen om dat voor elkaar te krijgen. Dat geldt met name voor hen bij we de leiding berust, de Nederlandse kunstenares Paula Kouwenhoven (zie de afbeelding) en de in Nederland werkzame Indonesische kunstenaar Dodog Soeseno. Samen met hun team maken ze van zo'n symposium en van zo'n tentoonstelling met kunstwerken in de open lucht en ook in een grote binnenruimte, een feestelijk en leerzaam iets.

Eerlijk gezegd ervaar ik het als een groot soelaas temidden van allerlei lelijkheid en ellende in de wereld dat er zulke goedwillende en energieke mensen bestaan. Ik heb een eindeloze bewondering voor ze.

Het woord 'leerzaam' heb ik niet voor niets gebruikt. Want er vinden daar op die plaats even buiten Delft ook educatieve activiteiten plaats, waarover op de site www.worldartdelft.nl de gegevens te vinden zijn.

Waarom ik er bij was, bij die opening? Omdat er ook een boekpresentatie was. Een boek werd gepresenteerd over Recycle Art, magnifiek uitgegeven door Quantes, vol gegevens en illustraties, betreffende de exposanten. Met een inleiding van de rector magnificus van de Technische Universiteit Delft, die over recycling met kennis van zaken spreken kan. En ik sta er in met een bijdrage, hierna afgedrukt om een idee te geven. Men vergete niet: het boek is beter.

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THE ART OF RECYCLING

When I visited the compound of World Art Delft during its international art symposium ‘Recycle Art’ one August day in 2008 I got the feeling ‘there is still hope for the world’. The studios and their surroundings were filled with artists working on creations which fitted into the general topic of recycling.

One could not escape this feeling of wellbeing. It was generated by the general ambiance of relaxed concentration, shared by everybody on the spot. In a big studio, painters were busy making their artworks on the basis of used materials, that average people might call garbage. Outside, constructions could be seen: open air art with sometimes a hundred percent decorative function, but often with an intriguing deeper meaning, inviting the visitor to proceed into symbolic, even mystical meditation. When they were not concentrating on their creational activities, the artists were talking to each other about their art and about the theme that had brought them together, recycling.

I had an opportunity to talk to a certain number of them. They came from Egypt, Iraq, Japan, Indonesia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands. No discussions about politics. No economy. No proselytism. No competition. Just an exchange of views, meanings, concerning their work in relation to the future of the world, of mankind. And they talked abundantly about their contribution to all this, through their works of art. Mohamed Abou Al Naga showed the textile materials he had brought to Delft from his hometown Cairo. He also presented his harrowing video showing an imprisoned lion, which reminds us fatally of the panther in Rilke’s poem, symbol of the offense that lack of freedom is to the dignity of a living being. Wolfgang Brenner showed his personal messages, imbued with his very specific personal humour. Michele Scaciga explained, standing by his video, how he recycles Greek mythology into a message about the brainwashing we are subjected to by today’s world media. Joyce Bloem was building her spiritual hut, not far away from open air recyclate-constructions by Horiki Katsutomi and Sarantis Gagas.

When I read the notes written down on the basis of the interviews which Maria Scali held with the participating artists in the exhibition’s symposium, my first impression was confirmed: here were brought together people who shared a strong and extremely sympathetic concept of what our planet needs, in reaction to the destructive tendencies in our world, even in art.

In the field of art, modernism, with its concentration on immediate reality, be it social or individual, was followed by post-modernism, first structuralist, later completely empty of references to psychological or social realities. This new trend looks like fitting extremely well into an overall triumph of hedonism and its running mate commercialism. It may seem that fine art becomes predominantly decorative, not asking for reflection or commitment.

It is a relief to meet artists who refuse such imperatives. The artists who show their works in Delft are men and women whose positive intentions are opposed to the careless attitudes of the general public. They commit themselves in their ideological positioning in the contemporary art world. They do not turn away from the problems of the world; their interest in recycling proves their concern. Joyce Bloem has expressed it explicitly: ‘I want this world to be changed, by art. I want people to look in a different way, to see other connections, which are shown by artists.’ And Simone Ten Bosch expresses the same idea in a poetic and convincing formula: Art is a light for the world.

The concept of ‘recycling’ involves a new conscience in men’s way of treating the world. Since our societies have met serious problems with all kinds of waste, be it because of its overwhelming quantities or because of its qualitative risks (pollution, toxic effects, radioactive radiation), recycling receives the attention of scientists and of our social decision-makers, the politicians. And even of economists, who see a possible profit in intelligent waste management.

But, all this is of secundary interest to our artists. As Andrea Sampaolo put it: The word ‘recycling’ can be seen not only as being in relation to industrial use, it may also be seen as an artistic concept, in connection with our reinterpretation of reality.. It is an amazing and marvellous surprise to see that this artistic approach is common to so many different artists, young and old, coming from very different parts of the planet. It is wonderful that they feel generally the same way about the basis of their creative motivation.

On the one hand there is the spiritual side of their existential and artistic starting point. Randolph John Schwidder: Recycling is a spiritual thing. By association, thoughts and words are changing. Every thing that is in a state of decay is a semen for new life. Wolfgang Brenner: Recycling is a loop, that goes from ‘becoming’ to ‘dying’. Nature teaches us that. On the other hand there is the relation between art and commitment, which artists and the general public should assume towards the earth. Gagas Sarantis expresses this idea saying Recycling is a mecanism of correction of the mistakes humanity has made during the last hundred years. We have lived without taking care about what we leave for future generations. We must think in a different way. Collaborating artists in a symposium like this create a chance for discussion. Marisa Cortese: Recycling is an answer that can be given to consumism. The culture of ‘use and throw away’ is morbid; it applies not only to objects but also to people, to friendships. Paula Kouwenhoven: Recycling is a way of ending the exploitation of the earth. This idea asks for a new way of thinking.

Recycling may take place on a material level. Jan-Clemens Lampe brief definition is: Recycling is leaving less garbage. Others refined this concept in thinking about objects that have a cultural specificity or refer to the past, providing us with priceless information. Obsolete objects are a source of information about our roots (Alessandro Wesch). Used material has a story, always. Using it, you reanimate the material. (Bianca Tangande). That is animism revisited. Isn’t that a wonderful idea? It reminds us of Marcel Proust’s masterpiece A la recherche du temps perdu, in which the memory of Marcel brings back a past reborn out of the taste of cake (the famous madeleine) dipped into a cup of tea. Gagas Sarantis declared that objects carry a memory. And he gives this example: Mocassins, shoes of American Indians, tell the story of what happened after 1492. In that year of Columbus’ so-called ‘discovery of America’, the European invasion of the continent started and with itt the crimes committed towards the Indians.

Michele Scaciga defines his recycling as a mental affair. My recycling is recycling of the world of ideas. For instance: the myth of Medea, I take it as a metaphor of what happens in the world of media. And how does he find these ideas? He uses a surprising but very poetic and significant metaphor to explain that. My way of working is like that of a man who collects wrecked objects along the shore (a ‘strandjutter’, as such a man is called in Dutch). I recycle material that swims isolated and without destination in the currents of the ocean of virtuality.

It is very significant that the compound of World Art Delft, where the art of the Recycle-artist is exhibited, is outside town, in a green environment – fields, trees, bushes. Significant, because nature gives an exemple to art. As Paula Kouwenhoven puts it: Recycling implies reuse. It is something we see at work in nature. Nature can be considered to be a ‘mirror that is a consultant’. We see a tree. It is young. It will be adult. It will grow and it will dye one day. This is a mirror of our condition humaine, with all its phases, death included. We can read it on the gate when we enter the zoo in Amsterdam: Natura artis magistra. Nature is the teacher of art. It is a teacher who has an endless story to tell (Wolfgang Brenner).

Nature and life itself impose the laws of recycling on us. Quaraish: Without recycling there is no continuity of life. Nature recycles in its own way – oxydation, color-change by the years – and this gives new beauty. And there is light, that depends of the place where the object stands. The reflection of the light represents the new life. This last little sentence is worth being tasted carefully, being cherished in our minds, being ruminated on in our souls. Think of the light that we can see in the sky and upon the ground. On the paintings, photographs and films made by the visual artists present in Delft during the days of the Symposium.

The feeling of wellbeing which I experienced when visiting the Symposium finds its justification in the philosophical notes which I quoted. I am sure that it was generated by the togetherness of the artists who have in common their artistic and spiritual commitment. The artists at Delft deserve to be called ‘engagés’, just as some great artists from the twentieth century, like Käthe Kollwitz, Pablo Picasso, Otto Dix. The artists felt this commitment. And expressed feelings of happiness about the inspiration they received from their friends. Simone Ten Bosch said that she considered the Symposium ‘a week of happiness’, because she had the opportunity to concentrate on ‘her idea’, without caring about everyday sorrows. It empties your head; body and soul get new inspiration. Marius Quee: Working here is a meditation. And Nao Ishizaka’s personal appreciation in a righteous statement expresses perfectly a general feeling of all participants: A week long working between international artists, with an eye-opening theme, RECYCLING, has given me beautiful ideas.

THE ART OF RECYCLING

When I visited the compound of World Art Delft during its international art symposium ‘Recycle Art’ one August day in 2008 I got the feeling ‘there is still hope for the world’. The studios and their surroundings were filled with artists working on creations which fitted into the general topic of recycling.

One could not escape this feeling of wellbeing. It was generated by the general ambiance of relaxed concentration, shared by everybody on the spot. In a big studio, painters were busy making their artworks on the basis of used materials, that average people might call garbage. Outside, constructions could be seen: open air art with sometimes a hundred percent decorative function, but often with an intriguing deeper meaning, inviting the visitor to proceed into symbolic, even mystical meditation. When they were not concentrating on their creational activities, the artists were talking to each other about their art and about the theme that had brought them together, recycling.

I had an opportunity to talk to a certain number of them. They came from Egypt, Iraq, Japan, Indonesia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands. No discussions about politics. No economy. No proselytism. No competition. Just an exchange of views, meanings, concerning their work in relation to the future of the world, of mankind. And they talked abundantly about their contribution to all this, through their works of art. Mohamed Abou Al Naga showed the textile materials he had brought to Delft from his hometown Cairo. He also presented his harrowing video showing an imprisoned lion, which reminds us fatally of the panther in Rilke’s poem, symbol of the offense that lack of freedom is to the dignity of a living being. Wolfgang Brenner showed his personal messages, imbued with his very specific personal humour. Michele Scaciga explained, standing by his video, how he recycles Greek mythology into a message about the brainwashing we are subjected to by today’s world media. Joyce Bloem was building her spiritual hut, not far away from open air recyclate-constructions by Horiki Katsutomi and Sarantis Gagas.

When I read the notes written down on the basis of the interviews which Maria Scali held with the participating artists in the exhibition’s symposium, my first impression was confirmed: here were brought together people who shared a strong and extremely sympathetic concept of what our planet needs, in reaction to the destructive tendencies in our world, even in art.

In the field of art, modernism, with its concentration on immediate reality, be it social or individual, was followed by post-modernism, first structuralist, later completely empty of references to psychological or social realities. This new trend looks like fitting extremely well into an overall triumph of hedonism and its running mate commercialism. It may seem that fine art becomes predominantly decorative, not asking for reflection or commitment.

It is a relief to meet artists who refuse such imperatives. The artists who show their works in Delft are men and women whose positive intentions are opposed to the careless attitudes of the general public. They commit themselves in their ideological positioning in the contemporary art world. They do not turn away from the problems of the world; their interest in recycling proves their concern. Joyce Bloem has expressed it explicitly: ‘I want this world to be changed, by art. I want people to look in a different way, to see other connections, which are shown by artists.’ And Simone Ten Bosch expresses the same idea in a poetic and convincing formula: Art is a light for the world.

The concept of ‘recycling’ involves a new conscience in men’s way of treating the world. Since our societies have met serious problems with all kinds of waste, be it because of its overwhelming quantities or because of its qualitative risks (pollution, toxic effects, radioactive radiation), recycling receives the attention of scientists and of our social decision-makers, the politicians. And even of economists, who see a possible profit in intelligent waste management.

But, all this is of secundary interest to our artists. As Andrea Sampaolo put it: The word ‘recycling’ can be seen not only as being in relation to industrial use, it may also be seen as an artistic concept, in connection with our reinterpretation of reality.. It is an amazing and marvellous surprise to see that this artistic approach is common to so many different artists, young and old, coming from very different parts of the planet. It is wonderful that they feel generally the same way about the basis of their creative motivation.

On the one hand there is the spiritual side of their existential and artistic starting point. Randolph John Schwidder: Recycling is a spiritual thing. By association, thoughts and words are changing. Every thing that is in a state of decay is a semen for new life. Wolfgang Brenner: Recycling is a loop, that goes from ‘becoming’ to ‘dying’. Nature teaches us that. On the other hand there is the relation between art and commitment, which artists and the general public should assume towards the earth. Gagas Sarantis expresses this idea saying Recycling is a mecanism of correction of the mistakes humanity has made during the last hundred years. We have lived without taking care about what we leave for future generations. We must think in a different way. Collaborating artists in a symposium like this create a chance for discussion. Marisa Cortese: Recycling is an answer that can be given to consumism. The culture of ‘use and throw away’ is morbid; it applies not only to objects but also to people, to friendships. Paula Kouwenhoven: Recycling is a way of ending the exploitation of the earth. This idea asks for a new way of thinking.

Recycling may take place on a material level. Jan-Clemens Lampe brief definition is: Recycling is leaving less garbage. Others refined this concept in thinking about objects that have a cultural specificity or refer to the past, providing us with priceless information. Obsolete objects are a source of information about our roots (Alessandro Wesch). Used material has a story, always. Using it, you reanimate the material. (Bianca Tangande). That is animism revisited. Isn’t that a wonderful idea? It reminds us of Marcel Proust’s masterpiece A la recherche du temps perdu, in which the memory of Marcel brings back a past reborn out of the taste of cake (the famous madeleine) dipped into a cup of tea. Gagas Sarantis declared that objects carry a memory. And he gives this example: Mocassins, shoes of American Indians, tell the story of what happened after 1492. In that year of Columbus’ so-called ‘discovery of America’, the European invasion of the continent started and with itt the crimes committed towards the Indians.

Michele Scaciga defines his recycling as a mental affair. My recycling is recycling of the world of ideas. For instance: the myth of Medea, I take it as a metaphor of what happens in the world of media. And how does he find these ideas? He uses a surprising but very poetic and significant metaphor to explain that. My way of working is like that of a man who collects wrecked objects along the shore (a ‘strandjutter’, as such a man is called in Dutch). I recycle material that swims isolated and without destination in the currents of the ocean of virtuality.

It is very significant that the compound of World Art Delft, where the art of the Recycle-artist is exhibited, is outside town, in a green environment – fields, trees, bushes. Significant, because nature gives an exemple to art. As Paula Kouwenhoven puts it: Recycling implies reuse. It is something we see at work in nature. Nature can be considered to be a ‘mirror that is a consultant’. We see a tree. It is young. It will be adult. It will grow and it will dye one day. This is a mirror of our condition humaine, with all its phases, death included. We can read it on the gate when we enter the zoo in Amsterdam: Natura artis magistra. Nature is the teacher of art. It is a teacher who has an endless story to tell (Wolfgang Brenner).

Nature and life itself impose the laws of recycling on us. Quaraish: Without recycling there is no continuity of life. Nature recycles in its own way – oxydation, color-change by the years – and this gives new beauty. And there is light, that depends of the place where the object stands. The reflection of the light represents the new life. This last little sentence is worth being tasted carefully, being cherished in our minds, being ruminated on in our souls. Think of the light that we can see in the sky and upon the ground. On the paintings, photographs and films made by the visual artists present in Delft during the days of the Symposium.

The feeling of wellbeing which I experienced when visiting the Symposium finds its justification in the philosophical notes which I quoted. I am sure that it was generated by the togetherness of the artists who have in common their artistic and spiritual commitment. The artists at Delft deserve to be called ‘engagés’, just as some great artists from the twentieth century, like Käthe Kollwitz, Pablo Picasso, Otto Dix. The artists felt this commitment. And expressed feelings of happiness about the inspiration they received from their friends. Simone Ten Bosch said that she considered the Symposium ‘a week of happiness’, because she had the opportunity to concentrate on ‘her idea’, without caring about everyday sorrows. It empties your head; body and soul get new inspiration. Marius Quee: Working here is a meditation. And Nao Ishizaka’s personal appreciation in a righteous statement expresses perfectly a general feeling of all participants: A week long working between international artists, with an eye-opening theme, RECYCLING, has given me beautiful ideas.