Captain Caribbean Tirzo Martha
Merijn Oudenampsen page 4-5
and Postpolitical Politics
Populism
The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Portugal & Turkey: € 2,00
München, 24.06.11-09.07.11 Issue-1
Hans van den Ban (Amsterdam), Johannes Brecher (Munich), Nada van Dalen (Dordrecht), Fabian Hesse (Munich), Daan den Houter (Rotterdam), Tassilo Letzel (Munich), Tirzo Martha (Curaçao), Filippo Minelli (Brescia), Federico d’Órazio (‘sHertogenbosch/ Bangkok), Abner Preis (Rotterdam), Remote Words (Köln), Yvo van der Vat (Dordrecht), Extrapool: Anna McCarthy (Munich) and Rumpeln (Munich)
24 June 2011- 9 July 2011: adios HOLANDA in whiteBox Munich:
Federico d’Orazio and Noordkaap previously worked together on the group exhibition ‘Super La Tief’ (2008, Dordrecht, guestcurator Hans van den Ban), Federico d’Orazio in which artists responded to various aspects of popular culture. On the opening night, D’Orazio appeared in a boxing match against Christian Daghio, the World Champion Muay Thai boxing. In preparation for this fight D’Orazio trained in Thailand, where his opponent trains and teaches (www.kombatgroep.com). As a continuation of this project, in Munich, D’Orazio shows two large photographs showcasing Thai martial arts, among other.
2 EDITORIAL
Munich, 24.June 2011- 09.July 2011
Noordkaap is taking on Europe! N
oordkaap is an artist-run organization from Dordrecht, (NL), that investigates and translates current issues in society into an engaging, activist, visual art program for a wide audience. In our 2011-2013 program we investigate the influence of populist movements in European society.
In seven cities (Munich, Istanbul, Cologne, Budapest, Lisbon, Brussels and Rotterdam) a series of exhibitions will be realized, with artists producing new work on location. The participating artists are encouraged to respond to local phenomena, folk customs and current social developments. Each hosting city will have its own accompanying newspaper, with columns, previews, feature stories, design sketches, and so on. We hereby proudly present the first edition of the newspaper, which appears in conjunction with the exhibition in Munich. Artists Federico d’Orazio and Arturo Hernández Alcázar each contribute a preview of the projects they’ll carry out during the European program. Art critic Machteld Leij reflects on the way in which the Dutch art scene has responded to the rise of populism. Sociologist and political scientist Merijn Oudenampsen attempts to explain the rise of populism in the light of the work of political theorists Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau. Also included is a preview of The Voice of Dordrecht, a series of seven workshops in which young people from the vicinity of Dordrecht are invited to respond to the projects that are created elsewhere in Europe. Amsterdam illustrator Enkeling presents a comical illustration, and rapper Risskant from Dordrecht writes about people who claim to speak in the name of “the people,” while forcing a wedge between different groups of citizens. In short, we think you’ll find something that speaks to you. We hope you’ll enjoy your visit to whiteBOX, one of Noordkaap’s collaborating partners, where the exhibition will be on view until July 9, 2011. Of course we’d love to hear your feedback on the exhibition content and newspaper. You can write us an email, postal mail, or leave a comment on our Facebook page (look for Noordkaap Artspace). On behalf of the Noordkaap team, Lennard Dost - Editor Noordkaap Times
The authors’ opinions taken up in this publication do not necessarily reflect the view of the editors. Copyright is held by individual authors. No part of this publication may be reproduced, presented, or published otherwise without the prior written permission of the authors. The authors and artists reserve all rights, including image rights, to submitted images. Colophon Noordkaap Times Issue 1, Munich Editorial Address c/o Noordkaap Spuiplein 3 | 3311 GS Dordrecht | NL info@noordkaap.org www.noordkaap.org Content Management Katja Diallo: diallo@Noordkaap.org Jan Kryszons: jan@Noordkaap.org Marleen Oud: marleen@Noordkaap.org Production editor: Lennard Dost graphic design: niet vouwen a.u.b. translation Dutch-English: Inge Hoonte (texts: Arturo Hernández Alcázar, Federico d’Orazio, Machteld Leij, Risskant) Contributing Authors Arturo Hernández Alcázar, Federico d’Orazio, Enkeling, Extrapool, Machteld Leij, Tassilo Letzel, Merijn Oudenampsen and Risskant.
Advertisements - 13,6 cm x 4 cm (width x height) = €108 - 10,7 cm x 6 cm (width x height) = €128 - 8 cm x 8 cm (width x height) = €128 Advertisements will only be published in English, and in black and white. Please send your advertisements to: post@nietvouwenaub.nl Advertising deadline Noordkaap Times Issue 2- Istanbul: July 18, 2011 Circulation: 3000 Print: de Maasstad, Rotterdam
3 SKETCH
In SKETCH, curators, museum directors, art critics and artists will reflect on the way in which their project, program or presentation relates to the rise of populism. Responding to previous Sketches, an engaging conversation between authors will unfold.
Populism
L
et me start by saying that populism is not an easily defined movement or concept. I’ll try to give you a brief, colored sketch. Populist politicians claim to be the voice of the people. That claim is not necessarily justified, but no one seems to care much for that. Political takes on opposition are replaced by the notion of an enemy, among political opponents and beyond. Populists call for commands and prohibitions. For example they’re against headscarves on the streets, against cultural or intellectual elites, and against spending money on art, culture and social projects in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The populist’s default attitude seems to consist of a strongly simplified world view, a rigid us-them mode of thinking, and a sense of fear and rejection of anything unfamiliar. He’s adrift, the sense of one’s own identity is blurred, and the answer to all questions seems to present itself in a protectionist attitude, and a nationalist revaluation. Such populist views are more or less exactly the opposite of visual art’s starting points. More precisely, art and artists want to add nuance to our worldview. They want to raise questions, and stimulate reflectivity. Art sometimes requests your time and active engagement. For the audience, it can be helpful to have some previous knowledge, that you can utilize to interpret what’s displayed in front of you. Art often aspires to be cosmopolitan. When one compares art and populism, an image comes to mind in which art represents the values that bring out in a populist, what a bright red rag brings out in a bull; art would be elitist, unnecessarily complicated, and too liberated. Museums, art venues, and artists alike try to unravel the phenomenon “populism,” in which art is utilized as a means to generate knowledge, or as a research model. In particular, the notion of a national identity sets a lot of things into motion. The Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven (NL) organized a series of programs about national identity in 2008, aptly titled Be(com)ing Dutch, while Museum De Paviljoens in Almere (NL) investigates Dutch identity through a series of exhibitions that runs until 2012. The Van Abbemuseum sought to foster a dialogue by programming art that questions rooted, rusted customs and traditions. De Paviljoens chooses artists with a less pronounced political agenda. The series mostly seems to showcase art by somewhat established artists who can be identified as Dutch according to their cultural heritage or place of residence. Overall, the exhibitions seem to want to communicate that the exhibiting artists have a broader geographical reach than just the Netherlands. Which is of course a valid approach, but the exhibition format
itself mostly seems to be a response to the political discourse that doesn’t know what to do with contemporary art, culture, and itself anymore. De Paviljoens is located in Almere, where the populist Freedom Party (PVV) embodies the majority of the council. That should be reason enough for the institution to take a stand. However, they choose an institutional approach: informed choices and beautiful presentations. But the question is whether De Paviljoens achieves the desired effect. Because nowadays the majority of politicians don’t go to museums anymore. The government, which increasingly abides by the wishes of the Freedom Party (PVV) in hopes to maintain its connection to the people, attempts to focus its cultural policy on consolidating a national identity built on a glorious history. Art and culture can only claim and continue to exist if they’re able to give shape to this idea. It was only recently that a plan was devised to build a National Historical Museum deep in the woods of Arnhem. No one really knew what its purpose would be, other than exhibiting the Dutch “canon,” the fifty themes that together form the chronological summary of the history of the Netherlands. That plan has since ceased to exist: there was no money for the new building. But the idea for the museum is still on the table. The directors still haunt around and occasionally make themselves heard. One of them, Eric Schilp, published an opinionated article in the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant on April 16, 2011, seeking to define “The Dutchman.” According to him, analyzing history would push several archetypes to the forefront, which can then be used to define The Dutchman. This would then naturally arouse active and engaged citizenship, which should be able to rescue a society that’s adrift. This sounds cliché and nationalistic. The image of a nation based on an idealized representation of the past is the result of a simplified, emotional world view. With such a narrow vision certain people and perspectives are bound to be excluded. And this is where visual art comes into play. She can ask difficult questions, and magnify and undermine clichés. The government however has stopped considering this as a useful advantage of art, something that society as a whole can benefit of. The government only sees the costs involved to create and maintain art. The reason for budget cuts. The idea that art can be a valuable addition to our existence has evaporated. And that’s exactly where the challenge lies. It’s up to the arts to keep from being silenced by a government that’s going through an identity crisis. Machteld Leij In Part II: Macha Roesink (Director of Museum De Paviljoens, Almere, NL) on the interdisciplinary research project “De Nederlandse identiteit?”
4 YOU’RE EITHER WITH US OR AGAINST US
P
opulism is no longer either an isolated or a marginal phenomenon. In the past decade, a wave of populist movements has swept over Europe and the US, gaining institutional foothold in a variety of governments. In order to try and understand the present populist resurgence, this text takes its recourse to the work of political theorists Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau.
5
Munich, 24.June 2011- 09.July 2011
Populism and Postpolitical Politics
The cause of the recent emergence of a wave of populist movements in Europe lies, according to the Belgian political philosopher Chantal Mouffe, in the postpolitical nature of present day liberal democracy. After the fall of the Berlin wall, and the conversion of the Social Democrat parties to (neo)liberalism under the banner of the Third Way, polarity between left and right, what was until then the defining opposition in politics, all but ceased to exist. Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the end of history and the ultimate triumph of liberalism over all its contenders. Those on the left abandoned their ideological stance for a pragmatist approach that would become known as the Third Way. In the years that followed politics became increasingly expert administration, technocratic governance and public management, the domain of a breed of politicians that spoke in the exclusive jargon of policy pundits. Triumphant was the liberal conception of politics. It believed politics to be a rational deliberation of interests. In her book On the Political (2005) Mouffe constructs her argument on the basis of the distinction in political theory between ‘politics’ as a separate sphere - party politics, or institutional politics - and ‘the political’ as a conflictive logic of identification and positioning that occurs through all of society. We can think of the feminist slogan the ‘personal is political’, as a neat description of the ubiquitous nature of this latter concept. The thesis that Mouffe develops through a close reading of Rawls and Habermas, is that the inability of liberal democracy to understand and incorporate the antagonistic logic of the political within politics, is part of the reason for the present success of right wing populism. Hence, the term ‘postpolitical politics’, which refers to a political sphere without political and ideological conflict: the ‘end of history’ consensus politics that came to dominate the 1990’s. The eviction of the political from politics that occurred after 1989, and the resulting move towards the political middle (the ‘radical middle’ or ‘radical centre’ as claimed by Giddens, Blair, Clinton and Schröder) that came to define so much of the political culture of the nineties, gave right wing populists the possibility to radically rearticulate the political landscape, now no longer defined by socio-economic divisions between left and right, but largely by a cultural opposition between a cosmopolitan multicultural ‘elite’ and a more conservative, nationalist ‘people’. Mouffe relates this incapacity to deal with antagonism to the limitations of the liberal conception of politics. Broadly stated, within economic liberalism, social harmony and the greatest good for the greatest number is the logical outcome of the free competition between self interested, rational actors. It is quite similar in political liberalism, where the optimal outcome is produced in the free exchange and competition of opinions and interests. The result ought to be a rational consensus that presents the common good. One of the big problems of this view is that it is predicated on the idea that both voters and politicians act according to their rationally conceived interests. In this way, the liberal conception of politics creates a strict division between the public and the private domain. Politicians are supposed to leave their emotions, ethics, morality and religion at home, in the public domain and the political arena they are only supposed to be rational negotiators, debating
remains confined within the legal order. However, there is also a different contemporary reading of Schmitt. Authors such as Simon Critchley point towards the influence of Schmitt on the politics of the neoconservative camp, where the Islam has been reinvented as a ‘total enemy’. To look at the practical implications of this philosophy we only have to look at the politics of the Bush Administration after 9/11. It is as if they used Schmitt’s work as a political guideline.
In addition, total war implied that obedience to international human rights treaties was no longer necessary.
found in Munich: Michael Jackson, King of Pop, memorial shrine, Promenadeplatz technical and procedural issues. The result is that the most controversial identity questions are left outside of the political realm. Mouffe, in her book The Return of the Political (2006), traces this back to the thought of Rawls: “Rawls explains that ‘a liberal view removes from the political agenda the most divisive issues.’ What is this, if not the drawing of a frontier between what is negotiable in a liberal society and what is not negotiable? What is this, if not a decision that establishes a distinction between the private and public spheres?” Since the end of the nineties, this particular division of public and private (labelled by right wing populists as political correctness, censorship or liberal taboo) increasingly found itself under attack, either under the rubric of free speech, the problems with immigration, or the immanent threat of Islamic fundamentalism after 9/11, and all too soon came crashing down. Divisive identity questions have occupied centre stage in the public debate ever since. An additional and significant problem Mouffe points out is the undemocratic nature of a rational consensus. Everything that falls outside of the scope of what is negotiable in any given political balance of power, is simply excluded from the political sphere, ostracized for its lack of ‘political realism’. The result is a political reality where all parties sell dissimilar tastes of the same brand of policies, where the capability for voters to choose any kind of alternative agenda to the status quo is severely restricted, allowing populist parties to monopolize the anti-systemic vote.
Politicians are supposed to leave their emotions, ethics, morality and religion at home, in the public domain and the political arena they are only supposed to be rational negotiators, debating technical and procedural issues.
As Mouffe argues, politics involves much more than a rational assessment of interests. Politics is ontological, it defines the very identity of a political community; it involves emotion or the “passion and affects” of politics. It necessarily entails conflict and antagonism. Since identities are relational, every community formulates a ‘we’, by formulating a ‘them’. As Mouffe has argued, with the fading away of the polarity between left and right, antagonism is bound to resurge on other lines, that of ethnicity, religion or other forms of cultural identity politics. The consequence of the ideological implosion that took place under the rubric of the end of history, is that a clash of ideologies has been exchanged for a clash of civilizations.
photo: Marleen Oud
Mouffe derives much of her critique on liberalism from Carl Schmitt, a controversial German law philosopher whose work played an important role in providing the juridical underpinning of the Nazi regime. Schmitt was a fervent critic of the liberal idea of politics. In his book The Concept of the Political (1927) he stated that the tendency within liberal politics to “deescalate and neutralize” conflict - to push it into the private sphere - is in fact an attempt to do away with the political all together. Conflict is inherent to politics, according to Schmitt, and inherently human. It is part of human nature to create group identifications on the basis of the distinction between friend and enemy, us and them. In that distinction, according to Schmitt, lies the essence of the political, and it will always return, no matter how hard liberal democracy tries to suppress it. “The specific political distinction to which political actions and motives can be reduced is that between friend and enemy. [...] This enemy need not be morally evil or aesthetically ugly; he need not appear as an economic competitor, and it may even be advantageous to engage with him in business transactions. But he is, nevertheless, the other, the stranger; and it is sufficient for his nature that he is, in a specially intense way, existentially something different and alien, so that in the extreme case conflicts with him are possible.” In Schmitt’s philosophy, conflict can rapidly assume very extreme forms, which is the reason he is known as a ‘dangerous thinker’. The everyday enemy, with whom one can do business but who is simply existentially different, can easily develop into a ‘total enemy’: an absolute evil. One does not talk with evil; juridical and humane treatment is no longer necessary; to demonize the enemy becomes a moral imperative. In this way, conflict takes on an existential form, it becomes a question of life and death. In the time of Schmitt, during the Nazi regime, firstly the communists and secondly the Jews were dehumanised and demonised in this way. The total enemy legitimized a total war, making it necessary, according to Schmitt, to declare the state of exception and to rule by emergency decree, whereby the executive power came to usurp all power of the legislative and judicial branches. In addition, total war implied that obedience to international human rights treaties was no longer necessary. The legal order could thus be bypassed. Schmitt is being read in different ways these days. Chantal Mouffe attempts to ‘think with Schmitt, against Schmitt’, to learn from Schmitt’s critique of liberalism and the human tendency towards conflict and antagonism without taking up Schmitt’s Manichean friendenemy thinking. Mouffe ‘tames’ Schmitt, so to say. She domesticates Schmitt’s ‘enemy’ into an ‘adversary’ whose ideas are fought but whose rights to voice them are nonetheless respected. Schmitts antagonism becomes Mouffe’s ‘agonism’, where conflict is present but
The slogan ‘you’re either with us or against us’; friend or enemy, is an almost literal reiteration of Schmitt, with the Muslim fundamentalists as an absolute evil to be destroyed. An enemy one tortures (in the juridical limbo of Guantanamo Bay) but won’t talk to or negotiate with. In the ‘War on Terror’ the expansion of executive power through all sorts of emergency decrees, to the detriment of the legislative and juridical branch, has been a constant. It is therefore no great surprise that Schmitt is very well appreciated in the neoconservative camp in the United States, and is also cited approvingly by Dutch neoconservatives such as Afshin Ellian and Bart Jan Spruyt, both closely related to the political career of the Dutch populist Geert Wilders. The similarities between the ideas of Schmitt and the political practice of right wing populists are quite apparent: ‘the people’ has been reinvented with the help of a double friendenemy distinction: on the one hand a naturalised ‘us’ is contrasted with an immigrant other: ‘them’. On the other hand, ‘the people’ is defined in contradiction to the liberal elite in politics and media. The new political divide that right wing populism has successfully managed to create is that of a popular, nationalist conservatism against the progressive cosmopolitanism of the postpolitical elite. It is to this divisive nature of populism that we now turn.
The Populist Front
A commonplace notion of populism is that it simply means to listen to the people and to enact the popular will. Populism is thus turned into some form of neutral transmission device of popular wants and needs. This notion ignores everything that is particular about populism. What do we understand by the word populism here? Let’s start by giving a definition: populism is a politics continues at page 6
6 WER NOCH WAS SEHEN WILL, MUSS SICH BEEILEN
7 THE VOICE OF DORDRECHT
Wer noch was sehen will, muss sich beeilen, Alles verschwindet.....
around Europe with Noordkaap’s exhibition program. This way the artists who create work on location in Europe, are in their turn also stimulated by the work that the young people from Dordrecht contribute.
3 verschiedene Radtouren zur Veränderung der Stadt, von Tassilo Letzel entlang „nicht-mehr“ und „noch-nicht“ Orten, vom RestMünchen zum künftigen München....Wohin geht die Stadt? Was siehst du, wenn du schaust? Und was sagt uns das Gesehene über die Stadtentwicklung?
In the following editions of The Noordkaap Times, this column will look back on the workshops that took place in Dordrecht. As the first workshop of The Voice of Dordrecht starts on August 21, 2011, we can’t print a report in this edition yet. Instead we include a contribution by Dordrecht rapper Risskant. He will perform at one of the final meetings that conclude each workshop, in which the results of The Voice of Dordrecht are presented in a local neighborhood in Dordrecht. Risskant wrote a text about people who claim that they speak in the name of a nation, or “the people” if you will, but in the meantime force a wedge between different groups of people.
Tour 1 Peripherie München: 19.06.11 Konzentriert sich auf die Veränderung der nördliche Peripherie Münchens zwischen Fröttmaning und Panzerwiese Tour 2 vom Bahnhofsviertel nach Freiham: 03.07.2011 Führt entlang den Bahngleisen über Baustellen und Brachflächen vom gewachsenen urbanen Bahnhofsviertel in den durchgeplanten und noch nicht ganz fertiggestellten Stadtteil Freiham. In Zusammenarbeit mit der Reihe lim (n ∞) Populismus vom Lothringer13_Laden
Speaking in name of the people at least that is what they claim. Speaking in name of an interpreter who sees problems sustain.
Tour 3 wer noch was sehen will.... 16.06.11 & 26.06.11 Wohin geht die Stadt? Wichtige/typische Orte in München die über die Stadtentwicklung und den aktuellen Status quo unserer Gesellschaft Auskunft geben. Von der Theresienwiese durch die Innenstadt bis zur Panzerwiese Alle Touren sind je max. 40km lang und mit einem Tourenrad gut zu schaffen. Treffpunkt jeweils 12.00 Theresienwiese vor der Bavaria mit eigenem Fahrrad (Leihräder nur auf vorherige Anfrage) Ende mit Bier und Grillen (auch veg.) am Noordkaap Komplex auf dem Optimolgelände, Tour 2 Ende am Lothringer13_Laden. Ausführliche Tourbeschreibungen liegen am Noordkaap Komplex aus, oder im Internet unter www.noordkaap.com oder unter www.tassiloletzel.de/project/ Bitte vorher anmelden unter: tassiloletzel@gmail.com “Radfahren ist für mich eine gute Möglichkeit sich treiben zu lassen, viel besser als zu Fuss gehen, denn man sitzt ja und das Rad trägt einem in einer angemessenen Geschwindigkeit vorwärts... So bewegt man sich zwangsläufig durch Räume, die der Mensch irgendwie besetzt hat. Diese Räume erzählen von den Bedürfnissen einer Gesellschaft, aber auch von den vorherrschenden Maßstäben und Gewichtungen. So fängt man an nachzudenken, warum das Alles eigentlich so sein muss, oder wie es sein könnte....” O-ton T. Letzel that speaks in name of the people and opposes itself to the establishment. Regarding the so-called ‘people’, however, there is something particular going on with populism: the term is never equivalent to the entire political community, there are always groups that are excluded from it – starting with the establishment. This splitting up of the political community into different components is precisely where the essence of populism lies, according to Ernesto Laclau in his book On Populist Reason (2005): “An institutionalist discourse is one that attempts to make the limits of the discursive formation coincide with the limits of the community. [...] The opposite takes place in the case of populism: a frontier of exclusion divides society in two camps. The ‘people’, in that case, is something less than the totality of the members of the community: it is a partial component which nevertheless aspires to be conceived as the only legitimate totality.” Let’s take a current example. In the US elections of 2008 we have seen two ways of appealing to the people. A clear example of an institutional discourse is that of Obama. He appeals to the entire American population with the American Dream as a unifying symbol. On the website of the Obama campaign stickers were to be found: Latino’s for Obama, farmers for Obama, gays for Obama, dog-owners for Obama. Of all imaginable sorts of groups, stickers and facebook groups were to be found. No one was excluded from beforehand. On the other side of the political spectrum John McCain and Sarah Palin also appealed to the people, but in a radically different way. They were appealing to the Real America, (similar concepts are Small Town America, the Heartland and the Silent Majority), which was contrasted with the Unreal America, that of the liberal elite on the East or West Coast. What we see here is the populist logic, where a partial component (the pure unspoiled rural or suburban America) becomes a symbol that functions as a stand in for the US as a whole. The logical conclusion of this type of political discourse is that parts of the community are excluded from the people and consequently from political legitimacy. The same typical populist operation take place with the appeal to virtual categories such as the average Joe, the man on the street, the normal people, the hardworking, law-abiding, taxpaying citizens. They are symbolic elements that function as a stand-in for the community as a whole and are articulated in opposition to other elements (eg the left/liberal elite, the Muslim migrants or the deserving poor) that are excluded from political legitimacy. An illustration of this front dynamic within Dutch populism is the Two
Netherlands speech of Geert Wilders at the Budget Review of 2009: “The realm of Balkenende is a realm of two Netherlands. [...] On the one hand our elite, with their so called ideals. Of a multicultural society, the mega high taxes, the lunatic climate hysteria, the unstoppable Islamisation, of the Brussels super state and the senseless development aid [...] It is the left wing canal elite and its smug friends. The other Netherlands consists of the people that have to pay the bill, literally and figuratively. Who are being threatened and robbed. Who are suffering from the havoc caused by the street terrorists, that are toiling under the height of the taxes and desire for a more social Netherlands. These are the people that have build up our country.” A front divides society into two camps: the Netherlands of the left-wing elite and that of the ‘ordinary’ taxpaying citizens, the people. It is the ‘plebs’ – a relatively excluded and undervalued part of the community – that are declared to be the only legitimate ‘populus’. The front that is created by this technique is what Laclau calls an ‘internal frontier’. The conclusion of Laclau’s work is that populism is not so much about giving voice to the will of the people – for that remains largely a virtual entity. It is more about shaping ‘the people’ and the will of the people, through the articulation of an internal frontier; the creation of an imaginary of the people and its enemies. First of all, through negative identification, by placing certain groups out of the community, the so-called ‘constitutive outside’. ‘The people’ take form by the disqualification of certain groups, by determining what it is not. Being opposed to the liberal establishment, or the ‘estranged elite’, and to the other (the enemy) – in the case of right wing populism, usually Muslim (terrorists), or immigrants – provides an identity for an otherwise formless and very heterogeneous electorate that shares no clear ideology or policy preference in the positive sense. Secondly, its symbolic politics revolves around the appropriation and politicization of cultural symbols that might be able to express such a limited idea of ‘the people’. Think of the politicization of the Boston tea party in order to reduce the essence of America to an anti-tax and anti-government sentiment. It is the deeply postpolitical contamination of the established political parties that explains their wavering response to the populist resurgence. After two decades of postpolitical business as usual, they have simply lost the capability of understanding the nature of ideological conflict. Merijn Oudenampsen
Munich, 24.June 2011- 09.July 2011
Problems that the breeding of fear has originated. Problem are they who full power has created. It is that we are expected to do what they say. But I myself just can not take account for that way. I stand up for the people and speak through their mouth. Step back into the circle do not bullshit around.
I
t’s the latest sensation on Dutch TV: The Voice of Holland, a talent show searching for new Dutch vocal talents. You’re probably thinking: now, that doesn’t really sound like an innovative concept. A singing contest. Aren’t there enough of those as it is? Yes, there are. The last decade, the world has been one big, televised competition. In addition to Big Brother revivals, we’ve seen top models, dancers, fashion designers, survivors on deserted islands, people eating bugs in the dark, and master chefs competing for first place on every channel. But apparently there’s room for one more. The main difference with other vocal talent shows such as Idols, Britain’s Got Talent, and X Factor is that The Voice of Holland has introduced the concept of blind auditions in the first round. The jury members have their backs turned to the stage when contestants perform, making their initial selection “blind” and based on vocal talent only. When pleased with the quality, the juror can press a button that turns his or her seat around, thereby exposing the candidate. If multiple judges turn their seat, it’s up to the candidate to decide which coach (s)he wants to team up with.
Do not make people fear but make people wise. With knowledge that sees light without the sunshine. Every word is fenced off by not wanting to name it. But fighting like a warrior I head to war, brave it! Can not keep bleeding badly looking at an open wound. Can not keep writing sadly about what is not attuned. We will only stand united if united we stand. With all people who don’t want change to be banned! This text was originally composed in Dutch, and has been translated into English for this newspaper. Riss Rissema aka Risskant the Spokesman www.risskant.nl | www.twitter.com/risskant
Noordkaap makes a tongue in cheek reference to this formula with their project The Voice of Dordrecht, through which young people from Dordrecht voice their talent. The Voice of Dordrecht is a subproject of Noordkaap’s 2011-2013 program that examines the influence of populist movements in European society. During the two-year program, Noordkaap will produce a series of exhibitions in seven European cities (Munich, Istanbul, Cologne, Budapest, Lisbon, Brussels and Rotterdam) showcasing new work that artists create on location. The participating artists are encouraged to respond to local phenomena, folk customs and current, social developments in the host city. The Voice of Dordrecht consists of seven workshops in Dordrecht, in which young adults from the vicinity of Dordrecht will respond to the art and interventions that have been created in the European cities, from their own specific, perceptive viewpoint. The workshops will be guided by artists, who extract topics from the range of artworks that are created in the European program, and stimulate the young people to respond to the material. Noordkaap has joined forces with several partners in the local, social sector to establish The Voice of Dordrecht. One of them is DordtMij dAKAdemie, an organization that helps young adults (ages 18-23) who collect unemployment to re-enter the regular work force. dAKAdemie offers training programs in six-week increments, with each group containing approximately eight participants. Noordkaap will guide seven groups during their 2011-2013 program. The youth’s reactions will be filmed, and broadcasted on the local TV station RTV Dordrecht after each workshop (the first broadcast will take place in the week of October 17-23, 2011). In addition, their response material is taken up in the Noordkaap Complex (NKC), a converted shipping container that serves as a presentation, work, and archival space. The NKC travels
photo: Lilly Photography
Arturo Hernández Alcázar
Later on in the European tour, Hernández Alcázar will present new work based on the notions of negation, self-organization (as described by artist/philosopher Manuel de Landa) and sedimentation, in other words, the process in which sediments deposit and accumulate to form a rock-like substance. His work will also reflect on the way in which nationalism seeps Especially for this edition of The Noordkaap Times, Hernández Alcázar through the cracks and into everyday created a design for a ‘Negative Flag’, life. (see other side) a flag assembled from 55 symbols of ultranationalist organizations. Hernández Alcázar (1978, Mexico) and Noordkaap have previously worked together. For example in 2008 when the artist literally made money from dust for his project ‘Dust Devil’. Hernández Alcázar placed an advertisement in a Dutch newspaper looking to buy dust, which he then transformed into a new currency.
ART
Munich, 24.June 2011- 09.July 2011
page 9
Noordkaap’s first stop: Munich
Noordkaap’s first stop: whiteBOX at Kultfabrik, the youth culture district
“Europe’s largest party district,” is how the area liked to describe itself at the start of the new millennium. Some years later the pretentious, megafied term has been pushed to the background. From 1996 until about 2003, the ongoing stream of party people kept flowing steadily, while after 2003 the disco-trek moved away from the center at the Munich Ostbahnhof, and back into the city. A brief history: in 1991 the potato processing company “Pfanni,” founded in the 1950s, closed its doors. Their main product: the famous Pfanniknödel (potato dumpling). The medium-sized family business relocated to Mecklenburg and sold soon after. The Pfanni company’s empty buildings stayed behind in Munich. In 1996, Wolfgang Nöth, the mogul behind many halls in Munich, discovered the site at the height of warehouse-culture. In a short time, the area changed into one big party district complete with “Areas,” over 30 clubs and three live music stages. The massive agglomeration was unprecedented, and in fact a premier for all of Europe.
“My installation is a little disturbed environment.” Nada van Dalen
The first years after 1996, the Ghetto Disco at the Ostbahnhof was the biggest attraction in Bavaria. On weekends, the premises regularly had a crowd of 25.000 party-seekers. In addition, the revocation of curfew laws, brought an unbeatable trump card. But by the early 2000s a process of transformation began. Every two to three years, the partying youth of Munich leaves their party playground to move on to something new. The trek of the more experienced club consumers also occurs in other neighborhoods. Relocation is unavoidable after a certain time. The vacant space they leave behind is filled by youth from the region and the surrounding areas. The district has always been popular among young adults. The first generation of club kids. At the same time, high-culture venues started moving to the Kultfabrik (Culture Factory), such as the whiteBOX in 2003, and the independent Theater Halle 7. Cross-fertilization among people of different generations and cultural backgrounds however is non-existent. Both groups stick to their own kind. Culture blends in perfectly with shoe stores and trattorias, and the disco kids can roam around undisturbed.
Michael Wüst
photo’s: Roel Weenink
10 GUTEN ABEND!
Munich, 24.June 2011- 09.July 2011
Passengers read the opening speech, recorded in Munich Ostbahnhof, http://hotglue.noordkaap.org/
videostills: Jeanne van der Horst
And welcome to the opening of the European tour presented to you by Noordkaap.
Starting with this exhibition in Munich, Noordkaap will highlight, challenge and research the influence of populist movements on Europe’s diverse societies, through various activist and conceptual art forms. Precisely because of the program’s complex, socially relevant theme, the foundation deems it necessary to incorporate an international pool of artists and institutions, who closely develop and collaborate on projects, events, and various exhibition models. While some of the artists contribute existing work, others spend time on location to research and/ or integrate local phenomena, and apply their concepts and modes of working in response to the city environment, its inhabitants, and the exhibition location. The rise of populism in Noordkaap’s home country, as well as in many other European countries, is all around us. Populists offer simple solutions to very complex problems and situations. They claim to speak in the name of the people, while at the same time fostering polarization between groups of people through fear and exclusion. We only have to take a glance at the current situation in The Netherlands, to see what powerful influence populist strategies may have on society as soon as populists gain power. I quote Dirk Schümer von Frankfurter Algemeiner, März 2011: “Drastische Sparmaßnahmen drohen, sind aber nicht einmal das Schlimmste: In den Niederlanden macht sich demonstrative Kulturfeind-lichkeit breit. Populismus ist ein hehres Schimpfwort. Wenn man es beispielsweise gegenden niederländischen Politiker Geert Wilders richtet, der im Ausland oft als reiner Anti-Islam-Agitator dargestellt wird, dürfte sich der Gescholtene geschmeichelt fühlen. Geert Wilders sagt ohne Unterlass, dass
gerade er - und nur er - das Volk endlich wieder an die Macht bringe: Schluss mit linken Experimenten, Schluss mit der Verschwendung hart erarbeiteter Steuergelder; Normalität an die Macht. Was das für die Kultur bedeutet, hat die neue, von Wilders geduldete und maßgeblich beeinflusste Rechtsregierung bereits klargemacht: massive und schmerzliche Kürzungen.” While at this very moment the destruction of our cultural and social landscape is taking place, Noordkaap joins forces with artists from various disciplines.Taking the first step in our aim to enforce new positions in today’s society, we say: Adios Holanda! Presenting to you: Hans van den Ban, Johannes Brechter, Nada van Dalen, Fabian Hesse, Daan den Houter, Tassilo Letzel, Tirzo Martha, Filippo Minelli, Federico d’Orazio, Abner Preis, Remotewords, Yvo van der Vat and Extrapool with: Anna McCarthy and Rumpeln We hope to see you, talk to you, exchange ideas, strategies, critics and thoughts. Our gratitude goes out to all the artists for teaming up in Munich and for making this exhibition possible. To our founders: the Mondriaan Foundation, the city of Dordrecht, the Kulturreferat München, Lothringer13_ Laden, to the whiteBOX and especially to Michael Wüst, for providing us with a wonderful exhibition space and lots of helping hands. On behalf of the artists and the team of Noordkaap: Adios Holanda is now officially opened! Katja Diallo, director foundation Noordkaap - 24.06.2011
“Captain Caribbean conquers the Netherlands”, Tirzo Martha
photo: Tirzo Martha
“Nowadays, politicians are very concerned with their public image. They are more concerned with how appealing they are, and how to address the public in general, than with the content of their speeches. Most politicians simply don’t care about adding value to the development of the community anymore.” Tirzo Martha
11 SKETCH
In SKETCH, curators, museum directors, art critics and artists will reflect on the way in which their project, program or presentation relates to the rise of populism. Responding to previous Sketches, an engaging conversation between authors will unfold.
BLACK MY STORY, 2003, Museum De Paviljoens
T
here is this common Dutch expression: His (or her) thoughts arose in a steady flow. Imagine you could multiply parts of your identity as fluidly as you can switch of thoughts in a second? In the previous six stories you could read how all the artists and authors that contributed to the publication BLACK MY STORY already know how to do it. What if society could respond as easily to this fluidity and multiplicity of identity? Unfortunately marketing experts, politicians as well as policymakers still look out for every niche in the market and society for target groups to find out what they have in common, instead of approaching the uniqueness of everyone. The media landscape reflects this approach by publishing magazines and broadcasting programmes for groups instead of individuals. The vicious circle of the representation of an oversimplified worldview continues. BLACK MY STORY is published by Museum De Paviljoens. Some of you are familiar with the institution Museum De Paviljoens in Almere and some of you only with the buildings of De Paviljoens from Documenta IX by artistic director Jan Hoet. These pavilions designed by the Belgian Architects Hilde Daem and Paul Robbrecht, are a perfect example of mobile architecture, and not only in theory. In 1994 the train wagon like buildings travelled all the way from Kassel to Almere as if the buildings emigrated from Germany to the Netherlands. Museum De Paviljoens concentrates on contemporary art and architecture and thrives to reflect socio-cultural developments of urban life around the world since the 1960s. In 2001, when I started to work in Almere, I realised that the city where Museum De Paviljoens is based has a completely different demographic structure than historical cities I was familiar with such as Amsterdam or Brussels. Almere is a young city of barely 27 years old [NB in 2011, 35 years]. Looking at the demographic, Almere has a relatively small population of habitants between 20 and 30 years old. In contrast to other cities in the Netherlands, Almere has the highest percentage of young people under 18 years old comprising the whole population. Besides that, no one can claim to belong here because everyone is a new settler in this city built on reclaimed land from the former Zuiderzee. Why all this information about the city? Historical awareness of the local sociocultural and economic structure is an important parameter to take into account when curating. This structure influences my choice of artists for setting up a project like BLACK MY STORY. Museum De Paviljoens aspires to enable artists to develop their work in and outside the museum space and sometimes acquires that work for safekeeping. To collect art is an important way of showing commitment to artists. The survival value of art reflects what a society perceives important to keep for upcoming generations. It reveals how we look upon society today. Museums tell us who we are. When I am curating I keep this concept of the museum being a witness of time for future generations in mind. The museum of art is not just the building, it is a mental space that creates the infrastructure to preserve, exhibit and collect everything that reflects upon society, whether they are real objects, installations, almost ephemeral web sites or archive material. It is as if a museum can distillate society by exhibiting just a few art works. Artists reflect upon life and it is the role of a museum to show these reflections as opposed to showing life itself with events like partying in the museum. Occasionally an architectural setting of a museum cries out for entertaining people. But the primary role of a museum is such that these kind of activities should happen when they are part of a performance approach, like when Chikako Watanabe is serving chai in her chikahome-2003/ALMERE/NL and inviting Yuka Kawabe to sing Zuiderzeeballads as part of her installations or when Samson Kambalu kicks his Holy Balls around the museum. My first exhibition in Museum De Paviljoens was called NONLINEAR EDITING. It was meant as a statement on how I see the function of curating in a museum. Programming the content for a museum is a non-linear story that can be edited over and over, and still keeps a coherent mentality of crossover references linked to the collection, art history, political issues or the country and city where the museum is based. It is an ongoing process to enliven the collection and to look after its cultural heritage. With the project BLACK MY STORY in Museum De Paviljoens the acquisition for De Collectie Almere of Flattened Toad Force (2000) by Remy Jungerman in 2000 is embedded in an international context with work by artists like Jimmy Durham, Samson Kambalu, Shirana Shahbazi and Chikako Watanabe. Each of these artists gives an individual comment of their cultural background. They show awareness of the traps of social behaviour and communication in modern times of urbanisation and immigration. In short, the linkage in Museum De Paviljoens between contemporary art and contemporary architecture with contemporary graphic design in a contemporary city is a continuous bond in time. You can interrogate this museum as a witness for everyone who wants to know more about contemporary culture in Almere, and Flevoland in a Dutch and international context since the 1960s and 1970s until now. Since 2000 the city council of Almere publishes the so-called Social Atlas of
Almere which among other statistics categorises habitants on the basis of their most significant cultural background. Defining someone is always a hazardous exercise. The exhibition of publication BLACK MY STORY is not primarily concerned with non-western artists reflecting non-western issues. For me the term Western or Non-Western is just a geographical indication where someone lives in the world when you put Africa in the center of the world map. Since the 20th century these terms no longer reflect whether someone takes part in a modern urban society or in a more rural traditional culture. A citizen from a metropolis like London probably has more things in common with someone in Bombay than with a farmer in the south of Italy. […] Your father is Dutch and your mother from Surinam or the other way around – how would you define yourself? What if you were born in Tehran but grew up in Germany since the age of ten and pursued your whole art education in Switzerland. What to do with someone who knows Tokyo inside out but as a participant at art academies like the Sandberg Institute and the Rijksakademie is familiar with both the Amsterdam and the international art scene? What if you are Japanese and your little daughter learns to sing an old Dutch children’s song like Kabouter Spillebeen because your husband is Dutch. What if you were a boarder at a public school, the ‘Eton of Africa’, since you were thirteen? You only received lessons from English teachers, learned Greek and Latin and had to walk 45 km to the nearest village where the rest of your population would speak Chewa or Tumbuka as well as English. Who would you be(come)? BLACK MY STORY questions how the first most dominant idea of representation of someone persistently stays in your mind, instead of just simply accepting and investigating the multitude of identities that someone develops in time, both as an artist and as an individual person. BLACK MY STORY researches the complexity of art, a person, nationality, religion or race and favours multitude instead of a worldview based on dichotomy. Black My Story? What is your story?
Macha Roesink, Epilogue: Flow of Identity
postscript
I wrote this text in 2003 for the exhibition Black My Story.
At that time I could not have imagined that a day would come in the Netherlands when two passports for one individual would be politically problematic. I could not have imagined that the central government with political parties like CDA, VVD, SP and PVV would vote for a quota of popular Dutch music on the national radio, while simultaneously preaching for less government interference in the public domain.
Things have changed radically in the Dutch political landscape and this is something that a single cultural institute cannot change in the present. What we can still provide however is the reflection on the representation of ideas in society.
From 2008 through 2012, Museum De Paviljoens programmes under the general title The Dutch Identity? Each selection within this project offers a specific perspective on contemporary Dutch art and the social, cultural, and geographical setting in which this art has its origins. The project’s title was derived from the art history publication The Dutch Identity in Art since 1945 (edited by Geurt Imanse), which appeared in 1984 to accompany the exhibition with the same title at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. In that exhibition and publication the writers were searching for manifestations of a Dutch identity within contemporary art. I added a question mark to encourage my audience to rethink their notions on (national) identity, within the present context. This program was conceived in 2007, and even though a lot of signs were already visible, I did not think it would lead to this sweeping populism (at least in the political debate) we see today. For me this means that the notions I want to address in The Dutch Identity? became ever more relevant.
In The Dutch Identity? Museum De Paviljoens shows parallel histories in Dutch art since 1960. Social developments as migration, interculturality, new towns and the (post)colonial history of the Netherlands in an international perspective play an important role. We don’t show these developments on their own, but in and through the artworks. If it is one thing I hope to get across, it is the ambiguity of apparently simple notions and I hope this stimulates reflection and debate within all different groups of audiences that visit the exhibitions and read about it. The Dutch Identity? is accompanied by an intensive educational programme for primary and secondary schools. Even if we cannot change the current generation in power, we can do our best to change the future generation and enable them to reflect on their surroundings, on representation, and the dynamics of identity and belonging.
.................................... Macha Roesink, artistic and managing director Museum De Paviljoens
12 MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
Munich, 24.June 2011- 09.July 2011
13 “It’s popular to talk about populism these days.”Yvo van der Vat
“I changed € 400 in 40.000 1 cent coins, and spread them over a path where joggers usually run. The funny part is; 1 cent is almost worthless. But when you see so many of them, you get the idea that there is a lot of money. Still you have to bend like 200 times to get one beer. It looks like a lot, but in fact its hardly worth bending for.” Daan den Houter Why spend so much money on things that only a little group of people enjoy? Such as art. We all pay taxes. But 90% of society never goes to a museum or art centre. So again, why spend so much money on art?
photo: Jan Kryzons
That’s precisely the way Dutch Minister of State Halbe Zijlstra reasons. We can easily cut 200 million out of the available budget for the arts, he reckons. But in reality, these cuts will destroy art and culture. How should an individual artist respond to Zijlstra’s motions? Should one join the protests? Should all artists unite? Should we make art about populism? Would that help? Just recently, there were big demonstrations against the changes in Dutch government policies. But in the end, all those demonstrations didn’t influence Halbe Zijlstra and his fellow politicians. So again, what can we do, if anything? Personally, and that might sound cynical, I think doomsday can’t be avoided. All European governments have to cut the costs, because of the financial crisis (which was in fact not initiated by artists, but by bank employees). For ‘Adios Holanda’ artist Daan den Houter reflected on the current situation in a wonderful way. He exchanged €400 for one euro-cent coins, and threw them on the streets of Munich’s city centre. It’s as if he wants to show us that art doesn’t only cost money, but also has the potential to give something back. And what could be more fitting in terms of contributing to society than in the form of money? Of course, throwing away the money is in itself a strong statement. Especially in these times. When joggers ran into the small change that was thrown on their path, I don’t think they realized that all these coins were part of an art project. And more importantly, that they were part of the project themselves as well. But one thing was clear: if you have to choose between your health, and money, money comes first. So, every jogger stopped, and began picking up the coins. Like I said: it’s all about the money. Even in a city like Munich, which is considered to be one of the wealthiest cities in Europe.
“Life is a nurse...but the meat is weak, hit dead and admire”, Nada van Dalen, Grafingerstrasse, Munich, June 2011
photo: Michael Wüst
Artist Abner Preis responded to the theme of populism from a different angle. Preis is known throughout the world for his superhero performances, in which he disguises himself as a superhero. In Munich, he organized a superhero bootcamp. Young children were given the opportunity to become a superhero for one day at the small beach next to the whiteBOX. A really good idea. We could use some more superheroes these days! People that watch over us, and come to the rescue when the government no longer cares. The young superheroes seemed to like the idea as well. In addition to the work by Den Houter and Preis, Noordkaap among other showcased photos of flags, and martial art fights (Filippo Minelli and Federico d’Orazio, respectively), videos on how the city of Munich has changed during the last few years (Tassilo Letzel), an installation that reflects on the symbols that the populist movement in Holland uses in her TV commercials, such as traditional clothing, flowers, bikes, etc. (Tirzo Martha), and a performance by Fabian Hesse, who read the German ‘Grund Gesetzbuch’ out loud during the second week of the exhibition. “Maybe you are more free if you do not know all the rules and regulations that are in the Grundgesetz. But then again, if you know all those law articles, you know exactly how to behave within the system, and maybe that will give you more freedom” Fabian Hesse
“Money path”, Daan den Houter Intervention Thalkirchen Munich
photo: R.Weenink
We are constantly talking about rules and regulations these days. At the same time, most of us don’t even know which rules constitute a democracy. Hesse made us aware of these rules again. Although he gave us the opportunity to hear them all, he didn’t convey if the many, many rules are necessary or not. The audience has to decide for themselves. Lennard Dost
“If you have an imagination, you can be a superhero.” Abner Preis
“GRUNDGESETZ”, a marathon performance by Fabian Hesse. He read the Germany’s Book of Civil Law aloud without intermission.
detail instal. “Ist es eine Nation oder bin ich allein”, Yvo van der Vat, Englischer Garten, Munich, June 2011
14 CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE “The idea of the bike tour is to provide an opportunity for people to experience their own city from a new perspective. To get to know the city in a completely different manner. So that people look at what happens, how that has developed, and why the city really looks the way it does...� Tassilo Letzel
Letzel took the audience on a series of bicycle tours along places in the city, which are core examples of how the urban environment in Munich has changed in recent years. The aritst presented selected scenes from his documentary film project „Peripherie MĂźnchen“ focussing on the outskirts of Munich City. An area that gains his full attention, because it is somehow secondclass space in societies’ emphasis. It features all the ugly infrastructure that our society demands and that is being banned from the city’s centre. The peripherie, thus, provides certain creative opportunities, that the strictly defined city centre doesn’t offer any more. In this sense the periphery mirrors the pure status quo our western culture has reached so far.
15 I’M... COMPLEX Non-ambiguity sells. Be it as well constructed identities, perfect representations, well-known truths or intensive emotions. For example concerning fear, filmmaker/ theorist Steyrl writes: Fear is the LSD of the early 21st century. Fear is addictive and even makes you long for it. It is intensive, opulent, it proliferates, otherwise than humans, it can move freely and fast. Similarly to digital information, it can be copied, albeit without the loss of quality, but even with considerable amelioration. It is object of intensive enjoyment, a paradox desire in disguise. Fear feels real – reality doesn’t necessarily.“ (Hito Steyrl, Die Farbe der Wahrheit, 118) Closed categories, perfect models, clear boundaries, well-known truths, well-defined enemies and strong emotions allow for comprehensible politics, strong messages, good advertisements, non-ambigious information, efficent planning, an accurate guidance, high rates of return and lots of attention. And even the fact that in „extralinguistic reality“ things unsurprisingly aren’t always that unambigious, clear and planable, (or, to say it in cultural studies language: aren’t always that representative, homogenous, stereotypical, identical, closed or natural) hasn’t – except for some niches – really lead to a fundamental change of the hegemonic position of this principle. Instead, a market for deconstruction, demystification or more generally speaking critique was constituted, due to which, at least by now, everybody knows that there are bad things happening in our world. But eventually, much more interesting than this game of identites, representation, traditions and emotions, or as the case may be that of deconstruction, demystification and critique; that is much more interesting than trying to reach ever more greater publics (only to have reached them), to break down ever more abstract subjects into plausible, preferably provocative catch-phrases, to communicate and look ever more professionnally, or as the case may be wanting to deliver the ever more perfect deconstruction (bruno latour: „deconstructing means to destroy in slow-motion“), the most accurate critique or yet another exposure of perfidious backgrounds; so eventually, much more interesting than all of this, could be strategies as for example enduring and not at all or only difficultly to resolve arguments, ambigious or too complex (maybe changing?) positions (and we’re not talking about hybridity here!) or also obscuration, non-communication and disturbance. The disruption with the normal, the halting of the usual flow of communication, the not wanting to carry on with the conventions, the not wanting to continue existing within the given forms makes possible – besides a certain making visible of this „normality“ – a certain distance and thereby opens up the possibility to reflect the given situation and, in another step, to change it and to create something different. The possibility to ask: what do we actually want? and if that’s not so clear yet: what is it, that we actually don’t want (anymore)? These questions (and their answers) could in a next step help to create new forms of perceiving/thinking/speaking/feeling/acting. In our contemporary hyper-spectacular-consumption society, these disruptions/refusals/disturbances will surely not be very much noticed. And even if the media should somehow discover them, they will at once be appropriated and thus neutralised through the existing descriptions and explanations and be declared something like subversions, guerilla or, easiest thing to do, art – as many of their historical precursors already have been. In this respect, it is not so much about the outside, communication, mediation (with or to whatever we understand of „a public“). These practices are less tentatives to activate spectators, to turn them into participants, to enlighten them, to create a public awareness. But what persists as a chance in these practices, is the building of a community of the people who really engage in these disruptions/refusals/disturbances. Through such an engagement there is the possibility for a real argument, for another existence outside of that in the well-known identity-boxes. It is here, where something like situated micro-politics could occur, where the guattari/deleuzean molecular could be renegotiated, where other forms ot togetherness or of perceiving/thinking/ speaking/feeling/acting differently could be put to the test. It is here, where notions and concepts like informal networks, the becoming, instituent practices, Paolo Virno’s exodus, coming communes and similar ideas could be filled with concrete meaning, so that socio-political forms different from the non-ambiguity paradigm could develop. Comittee of Lothringer13_Laden
“The fun part about the High Tea Table is that it literally gives you a new perspective on the world. Because you are sitting really high, you have an overview. Everybody is allowed to sit at the table. It’s meant for the people. Maybe, in that way, you can consider it a populist sculpture.�
Munich, 24.June 2011- 09.July 2011
‘I’m...’ (Remotewords) is a growing piece that began in Munich. Starting point is the message ‘I am’ on the roof of the Noordkaap Complex. photo: Achim MohnĂŠ During the tour the sentence will be completed on rooftops in the next cities of our tour: Istanbul, Cologne, Budapest, Brussels, Lissbon and Dordrecht. I’m ... is a project by Remotewords from Cologne
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Noordkaap Complex, Munich, June 2011
A VERY SPECIAL OFFER:
photo: Jiri van Dalen
Each hosting city will have its own local edition of the Noordkaap Times, a newspaper featuring columns, previews, feature stories, design sketches, and photos of the exhibitions. In total, seven different versions of the Noordkaap Times will be published during the European tour (2011-2012), which together form the catalog of our exhibition program. As a subscriber, you’ll receive each newspaper, mailed to you in a limited-edition envelope that’s been designed for the occasion by one of the participating artists.
“Riessenstammtisch�, Daan den Houter, am Flaucher, Munich, June 2011
photo: Daan den Houter
For subscription 2011 (Munich, Istanbul and Cologne) please sent an email to: nktimes@noordkaap.org with your name and address.
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“Hotel Europa”, Hans van den Ban, 2011 / photo: Roel Weenink