West wind
I am standing on a windy beach in Hook of Holland, Netherlands.
By text message I contact a friend who is walking in Bond street in Brooklyn, NYC.
I ask him to turn up the volume of his phone, as loud as possible. I then call him.
We don’t speak a word but we let the buffeting wind noise of my phone
sound through that street on the other side of the ocean.
About A Scene #23: Acceleration
(Published on Facebook a day after the performance)
The structure was very simple and sculptural: an acceleration in one continuous line, from running, to cycling, to driving.
As in almost every Scene, passers-by will be without prior knowledge, nothing of a predetermined design will be recognizable. People just walk and cycle and drive cars and no one ever wonders why and whereto.
But there may be some people among the passers-by who did read something about the plan, who are aware of the order of events, and who decided to participate in the scene through their own parallel plan. I have no knowledge of this and will not recognize their actions, among all other movements.
Even though the performance consists of a very minimal structure, numerous actions did take place to make this acceleration possible in all its simplicity. The actual process is formed by a series of necessary activities and events, that are not part of the actual public performance.
This is what happened:
I planned the date, made publicity around it, announced it on my website and on social media. On June 27, 2020, I left home at 12:30 PM, put my bike in the car. To make space, I first took some things out of the car and temporarily stored them at home. I stepped in the car and drove to the Blaak in Rotterdam. I parked the car (13:10), took the bicycle out of the boot, cycled to the Beursplein and there I attached the bicycle to a pole with a chain.
I then walked back to the car, got in and drove to the Wilhelminaplein. There I looked for a parking lot, I parked the car, left it and entered the metro station. I had forgotten to take my public transport card with me, so I had to enter the station illegally, I had to ask someone to go together with me through the turnstile.
In the metro I pulled my shirt up over my mouth and nose, as I had also forgotten a protective mask.
At the Stadhuis station I got off the train and again went together with someone (unasked now) through the turnstile, to leave the station. Up the stairs on the street, I walked from the station to Hofplein and turned around until I was facing Coolsingel.
I waited 10 minutes until it was exactly 2:00 PM,
the performance started.
A Scene #24: Leave the place
This is an invitation to join a scene! Be at the exact spot at the exact time and contribute to the scene with your own simultaneous activity (or inactivity).
On Saturday July 4 2020 at 2 p.m. (CEST) I will be standing in front of the bronze doors of Blaak 10, Rotterdam (5155.1223,N, 00429.3217,E).
At exactly 2.20 pm I walk towards the train station (Blaak), descend the stairs, go to platform 3 and take the first train in southern direction.
A Scene #23: Acceleration
Acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time.
On Saturday June 27, 2020 at 2:00 PM (CEST), I will be at Hofplein, Rotterdam (5155.4866 N, 00428.6858 E), facing Coolsingel.
I walk in the direction of Beurs metro station, where I earlier parked my bicycle.
I take my bike and cycle on in the same direction, Schiedamse Dijk. I pass Erasmus bridge, Wilhelmina square and stop at Kop van Zuid, where I earlier parked my car.
I put my bicycle in the boot, get in the car and continue my way in the same direction.
The Nieuwstraat is an average street in the city center of Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
The Nieuwstraat Festival took place on an undisclosed day in 2020 (June 20), between sunrise and midnight. The performances were carried out by volunteers, unannounced and with no explanation.
Taking place in everyday settings, the performances involve hiding the unusual within the usual. Passersby perceived the actions, but might not have recognised them as performance art.
The program consisted of works by:
Annie Abrahams
Karina Beumer
Jessica van Deursen
Guillaume Dufour Morin
Ienke Kastelein
Jonathon Keats
Laura Hyunjhee Kim
Stefan Klein
Frans van Lent
Deirdre MacLeod
Javier Mansilla
Maria Martens Serrano
Andrew McNiven
Janet Meaney
Nico Parlevliet
Mikio Saito
Elia Torrecilla
Albert van der Weide
Kamila Wolszczak
Continue reading
A Scene #22: Double
On Saturday 23 May 2020 at 2:20 PM (CEST), I will be standing in the middle of the food market at Statenplein, Dordrecht, the Netherlands (5148.8870 N, 00440.1692 E).
I look around until I recognise someone, and while I am looking at this person I grab my phone and call him/her to ask how things are. After a while, I will make clear that I am within visual distance, stop the conversation and raise my arm to say goodbye. I leave the market.
Silences
I invited twenty artists to make a ten minutes long audio recording of Silence.
Each one of them decided where, how and in what conditions they wanted to do this.
I superimposed all submitted recordings as layers into one combined file.
Continue reading
¿CUÁNTO ES 1KM?
This day, May 2, 2020, the first day after a 40-day Corona-quarantine, residents of Spain will be allowed to go out for sporting or hiking on fixed time slots. This is only permitted within a radius of one km from home.
The Spanish government opened a website (https://1km.geomatico.es) where residents can find exactly what this means concerning their own situation.
On this website I discovered where a comparable circle would reach, starting from my home in the Netherlands, in case our government applied the same rules.
Elia Torrecilla and I agreed to take a parallel walk. Continue reading
Call lll
Some time ago I published an open invitation to call me on Friday, May 1, between 1 PM and 2 PM (CEST).
That first day in May I walked in a rural area in the southwest of the Netherlands.
When the phone rang I did not answer the call. Instead I took a picture of what I was looking at on that moment.
I then sent that picture to the number that appeared on my phone. I sent 48 photos.
Level
Two 30 minute digital audio recordings of the North Sea,
made simultaneously (16:00 UTC, 23.04.2020)
on the East coast of Scotland, (56° N.);
and on the West coast of the Netherlands (52° N.).
Synchronised and mixed together into one stereo file.