The Adobe Boombox (2015)

During this year stay at the Tsarino art-residency in Bulgaria I wanted to experiment building with natural construction materials. I used the ancient adobe technique to make a loudspeaker for a sound performance.

First it took me quite some time to find the wright type of consistancy of clay and earth. I made a clay/mud/straw brick to learn about the porpotions between using clay/mud and straw.

Then I made the skeleton with found pieces of wood and branches.

For the electric sound equipment, small amp, loudspeakers, keyboard and loop-pedal I used rechargable batteries. I charged my 9v batteries with a self-made solarcharger made out of solarcells from garden lights.

An offspring for thought, 2015

My curiosity in mobile living was an instigation for this project. Initially I wanted to buy a second hand camper van but the Renault Kangoo is a very good alternative. Its big enough for the family and it has a smaller engine (1.2) and uses less petrol. Tax wise it is also cheaper (in The Netherlands).



The challenge was to make something out of this car and use the space in a most efficient way. Having this idea, it started my investigation. I researched on the internet and found some interesting designs of all types of people and created something by myself instead of buying it.



Platform or Box? Well, the work became a sort of modular system, a wooden box. The box can turn into a bed, seating area plus table and a drawer that contains the kitchen.


















The box fits exactly in the boot and doesn't influence the original interior design of the car when not used.



We wanted to go to England and Wales. Thinking about how much our carbon footprint would rise by flying which seem quite complex to measure because of its multi-dimensionality, we decided to take the ferry and make a road trip. We went to meet family and friends. Two couples who both just had babies. I wanted to experience some sort of temporal form of mobile life. We would be flexible and have the ability to stay anywhere we choose to. Of course there is more to this idea of liberation and the feeling of freedom. But the drive through the country, moving through the urban and the rural was definitely a great experience.

Besides meeting the two family households in their homes, they live also in interesting towns or communities. In Forest Row the first Anthroposophic school was established in the UK. There we went to Tablehurst Community Farm. It's a small scale biodynamic farm, making a self-sustainable organism out of the farm. They have a shop on the premises and deliver there crops and meat to another organic shop in the village centre. Emerson College is also an interesting institution. You can follow different courses such as Sustainable Agriculture Management, Anthroposophic Health Care or in the field of Arts.

After England we went to Machynlleth in Wales. Our friends decided to reside there because of several reasons. For starters, the environment is beautiful but the main reason is CAT, the Centre for Alternative Technology which was established in the 1970's. Since then a community has been formed.

The centre has developed and grown into a renown place for anything that has to do with sustainability and self-sufficient living. They offer Post-graduate studies and courses in farming, building or renewable energy. This was the second time I visited the site. Again I was impressed and got enthusiastic about the idea of what I could learn at this centre. Lets see what the future brings.

Blue Duvet at Post Norma's Adobe Climax - Coalescence Party (2015)

Last weekend François Dey and I made a performance at Post Norma in Amsterdam Noord.

It is a squat-art space initiative run by Sandberg Institute students.
Explained in a few words, their project is about blurring the borders between the daily and art.

Here is a home-made video clip,

Music: Blue Duvet (Live performance)

Video: home video footage (recorded without any music played)

And below another videoclip made by François Dey,

Music: Blue Duvet (Live performance at Post Norma)
Video: manipulated footage of the eco city site near Beijing, China

Raft Blues (2015), Invitation to the Blues, PuntWG, Amsterdam

Within this series of four nights. The PuntWG was transformed in a Juke Joint. To give a personal summary on the descriptive text on the PuntWG website, the space became a meeting spot for different people, artists, art lovers and musicians. It offered concerts, performances and art. The Juke Joint functioned as a hide out, a place were daily problems and existential thoughts were being shared, got rid of and neutralised.

From origin the Juke Joint is an informal happening where music, dance, jokes and tales, food and drinks, and occasionally some gambling were present. Especially in the 19th century it was run and visited by afro-americans in the south-east of the US. It was an alternative for the, only whites allowed places. They were mostly situated on crossings at the periphery of the city or located deep in the woods.

I took the opportunity to use the space for my own blues. The Juke Joint became a multi-functional place for me, turning my Raft Blues perhaps into something more brighter and positive. Something to look forward to in the process. I approached the show and used the situation to create a practical solution for my blues. This was part of the concept, blurring the daily life and art (as an abstraction of life) and reversing the two. Making my art more part of my daily life. Placing art, utilising it, in the context of daily life, as a continuation and part of the whole.

Also this work is connected to my empirical research/performative work in alternatives in domestic living. A search and idealism in ways of living can be seen as a form of struggle. So I dealt with the situation that appeared itself. I used this opportunity to store the materials that were on the raft and brought them into the gallery space. From these materials I made a temporary sculpture or structure. The sculpture resembles the initial purpose of the materials, to make a shelter on the raft. At the same time this show gave me the opportunity to replace a leaking barrel and work on the raft.

The sculpture was also build with the intention to use it as an instrument within a sound performance. With a straw bale I created a seat for individual contemplation. Playing and making use of the structure in which the struggle with my raft echoed on through sound, creating a Raft Blues song.

The performance was together with François Dey, I used a contact microphone connected to my circuit bended secondhand Casio keyboard. Using the sonorous qualities of the physical object, applying the contact microphone to different materials. Having in mind the relation between timbre and material, thinking in terms of form, length and tension. I made on the standing pillar some sort of mono-chord. The whole process was exposed, gradually building a sonic structure were pulse went in and out of phase, improvising and being in dialogue with François. We were physically separated. It was something of an experiment, something we hadn't tried yet. He was located with his tape-machine and synthesiser on the other side of a separation wall within the same space.

The Blue-print depicts my raft and was printed on a piece of paper of an old notebook, found in the deserted village Tsarino. I recently learned this printing technique from a friend. You draw lines in fine styrofoam, apply paint and print.

"Raft as a Shelter" (2014/15) Amsterdam

The idea to make a mobile home has been lingering in my mind for some time. It derives from many thoughts within the social, ecological, political, economic, environmental, philosophical and historical sphere. I am interested in a self-organised pragmatic approach part of a process of personal change. Actualising my ideas in the present and performing them in the everyday. My family is a huge motivation. Due to my current living situation and the problematic of housing, I am curious what mobility has to offer in the context of domestic life. Initially the idea was to find out on wheels. But as I didn't have a driving license yet, the idea to make something on the water started.
















Of course the Netherlands has a long term relationship with water. I imagine how nomadic people (from around 8000 - 5000 BC) where living in this geographical area in coherence with the seasons, climate and the tides. This raft life could be seen as a continuation of this relationship with water.

The thought of a possible escape scenario also came in mind. Referring to the alarm bells which have been ringing by scientists for a while now. Due to the current dangers of rising water levels as a result to the rapid melting of polar ice caps. Part of the Netherlands will then become the Underwater-lands.

To me life on water seems legislatively still not as much defined as the rules on land. Even in the Netherlands. But perhaps it's my ignorance, not knowing enough about it. The raft is something interesting though. There is this indeterminacy about the direction your going, the lack of control, drifting along with the current. See where life takes you.

I wanted to make a raft where my family and I could temporary life on. We would experience and explore Amsterdam on the water. Moving within, through and on the periphery of the city. Enjoying the city and the 'rural', the quiet and the social, the practical and beautiful. Finding some freedom in mobility. Being mobile, able to look for new spots in the city. Looking at things from a different angle, getting other perspectives. Daily activity would continue, going to work, bringing my son to pre-school, doing shopping or meet up with friends.

Due to financial reasons and ethical principals, I wanted to use exclusively recycled materials. So from the beginning of the summer (2014) I started with my carrier cycle to search the streets of Amsterdam for materials. Actually, I picked up a lot of things in the neighbourhood commuting between work and my home. But also from the containers of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy during the end exam period.

It all took quite some effort and there was quite some struggle to find the base for the raft. So I asked two companies for un-new materials that were hard to find on the streets, plastic barrels and long wooden beams. Kesbeke B.V. and Stichting Stadshout Amsterdam were so kind to sponsor these. I was able to store all the materials at my friends temporary anti-squat home. In this same industrial area I was able to get a significant amount of pallet wood, some car tires and straw bales. 

With my family I was planning to make the raft in mid summer, in a period of 10 days. They would leave on vacation to see family and I would work on the raft. Unfortunately I got an bronchitis infection. So I had to postpone it. Then two months later, out of the BLUE, my friends wrote to me they had to leave there place. I was to build the raft within a week but daily life also continued. Next to working and taking care of my children I just managed to finish the raft's platform within the deadline. It became a few square meters smaller but I was happy with the result. Together with the help of some kind friends we succeeded to lay it in the water. I stored some of the remaining materials on the raft, having in mind to create a cabin/shelter on it. But the circumstances forced me to get rid of some important collected materials.

With a motorboat I managed to take the raft to the other side of the city. Its been laying at the back of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. It has been there for a while, about two months. I have been passing by occasionally to check up on it because some material got lost due to weather conditions. I was hoping to start working on the shelter/cabin early spring. But then I noticed that the raft was starting to lean deeper in the water at one corner. Water was entering in one of the corner barrels which must have got damaged while putting it in the water.

Now I am trying to find a solution to this problem and find a way to replace this barrel. This opportunity has come in the form of an exhibition, named "Invitation to the Blues". The curator/artist of the exhibition, was able to transport the materials to the exhibition space. With the materials that were on the raft I will make a sculpture for the show. The raft will be lighter this way. Hopefully light enough to lift out of the water from one side and replace the barrel. After the exhibition I will return the materials back to the raft and continue the work in progress.

"Staying and walking along the Priessnitz" (2014), springhouse art residency, Dresden, Germany

This year's springhouse residency took place in an office building from the GDR times. The building was used as planning office for design and industrial architecture. Now there are different offices located in the building.
All residents were living and working for about a week long on this site. During the residency I made a performance work including my son but also the other way around, moulding my art according to my son's influence and presence. Blurring the boundaries between my art and daily life. I was challenging myself how much I can let go of things, something like an intervention in my artistic practice, putting my ego and will aside, letting go of certain forms of aesthetics choices or my own rhythm.

I was very much drawn by the Dresden heath and consequently the stream that runs through it. The stream is called Priessnitz which - in turn - got me to Vincent Priessnitz. He is considered the founder of modern hydrotherapy and emphasized the use of natural remedies, such as water, rest, air, exercise and suitable foods. As part of the forest, there is this little peninsula shaped strip that reaches out to the office building. The Priessnitz flows a street or two away from the location of the residency which was just a 5 minute walk to the border of the forest.














In contrast to the industrial building it felt wright to do something in a more Wordsworthian way, being in a more natural environment. Focussing on my relationship and interactions with my son and creating some 'spots of time'. Walden by H. D. Thoreau was a big inspiration because of the intervention he made in his own daily urban living, going to the forest and live in his self-made shelter. Another influence were the collective actions set up by Andrey Monastyrski in his trips to the countryside. In between my application and the actual residence I also started reading the book the Tao of Pooh. The book explains very nicely the principles of Taoism through the character of Pooh bear. It directed me to make some playful free form actions. Finding a way in the flow of things being together with my son and my family.













The work turned into symbolic play situations in which we chose a location along the Priessnitz, made a hut/shelter, looked for snails/slugs, had stick races in the water, made a forest song, went fishing, made a fire, took a bath/swim and rest in our shelter. Something reminiscent of The Right Way by Fischli and Weiss.













When the making of the architectural structure was in progress, I started to invite different people that work in the building to join me for a walk and talk towards and in the forest. As a continuation on the work I would take them to our little settlement and suggest a cold foot bath. In doing so taking them out of the industrial building and their routine and into the "nature". Amongst these individuals were an architect working on residential projects, an architect who works mainly with ecological construction materials, a Tai-Tchi teacher and the two main organisers of springhouse. The dialogue was framed by my interest in alternative modes in domestic living, the background of the person and the surrounding. The walks were for me some kind of attentive sensory experiences, paying attention to details in a similar manner as John Ruskin addresses in his word-paintings. Not just to the surrounding but also the differences between the persons I was walking with. Lets say dictated by their rhythm and tempo. The conversations were all recorded and will be used as material for my ongoing research.

While the preparations went on at the office building site, the work started to grow through word of mouth at the residency. The other residents as well as some visitors were curious and interested. So I suggested a group walk. During this walk a conversation grew between some of the residents, visitors and me. Next to the growth of a myth at the residency, the work itself was also going through some alterations with added layers by children and at some point complete destruction in orderly fashion. It was done by some organized hands as if it was done by the forester. So my son and I decided to rebuild a new structure out of the same material at the same place.

This residency work was part of my ongoing empirical research and performative work exploring alternatives in domestic living through action. It is an investigation in my autonomous and family's relation to structures, systems and orders in the broadest sense. Breaking down or building on my own structures and systems, challenge my habits and routine and finding out my potentials and limitations.

"la Fortuna" (2014), Jonas en de Walvis, St. Josephkerk, Amsterdam

La Fortuna was a video installation during the exhibition made by François Dey and me. But it is more then just a video work or sculpture. It is visualisation, an echo, of the actions we did in the church which resulted into this video work. The installation was made with found materials from in and around the church.

Before the other artists of the show started preparing their works we wanted to make use of the space, its emptiness and the acoustics. On the video you can see us moving around, making some actions in the church but it is not really clear what we do. These play-actions were improvisations, showing the process in the making, the playing, waiting and hanging or bumming around.












Our actions referred to the different functions and situations occurred in the church, the religious practice, shelter for refugees and immigrants, a climbing wall arena for climbers, future plans for an indoor children's playground and at the moment a temporary cultural space for artists.

The title derives from a picture that François found, depicting a man blowing his own sail on his "ship" of fortune. The video is sped up and shown on a small screen. The speed alteration not only changed the image but also the pitch of the sound and reverberation time. The echo becomes shorter and thus the space is shrinking with it. The screen size and effect gave the video a miniature slapstick feeling. It reminds me of the children animation show Buurman & Buurman which my son watches occasionally.























As part of our continuous actions we made a sonic performance during the finnisage of the exhibition. We positioned ourselves in the upper part of the church were the organ was situated. You could hear but not see us and the acoustics were pretty spectacular. François verbalised texts written on the wall by refugees. He recorded them on tape and modulated it into a modern choral instrument. With my modified Casio sample keyboard I mimicked at times the grand church organ and sampled tiny fragments from tapes of Terry Vreeburg which he brought to listen too during the build-up of the exhibition.