BOOK LAUNCH ROLLABLE RAMBLINGS december 18The new tapestry heavy book of Koen Taselaar Book initiated by Block C,
texts by Katalin Herzog, translation Jenny Wilson, texts by Katalin Herzog, translation Jenny Wilson, typeface by @orangeslicetype, printed by @zwaanlenoir, published by @japsambooks, design by Team Thursday.
Price €30,00 The book can be picked up in the art space by appointment
A spider named Feather has a lot to say but has no ears
Recently I came across a situation of three species who were stuck in a loop, a painter, a spider and a bird. The painter was afraid of the spider, the spider was afraid
of the bird, and the bird was afraid of the painter. The painter thought, ‘how to get out of this loop? I should overcome my fear and be like a spider myself. What kind of spider knows about arachnophobia anyway?’
The painter kept on thinking for a long time. ‘What makes a spider a spider? How to become one?’ Then she realized how the spider’s web is like the painter’s canvas. The beautiful thing about the spiderweb is that it’s a trick invented to catch things. It’s setting out a trap, not knowing what will end up inside of it, similar to the fishing net, or the white canvas. Sometimes twigs, leaves or dust end up in the web, and the spider cleans it. Other times a bug flies into it, and it’s a great catch. The painter decided
to mimick the spider’s way of being. She stretched her canvases, cleared her mind, and was sitting down in the corner of the room, waiting. The painter waited for ideas to fall into her mind that she could paint onto the canvas. She realized that to be like a spider is to be non judgmental and to be honest about the fact that ideas are gifts that you get.
The painter waited for a long time, so long that she started doubting, why should she be a painter that wants to be like a spider? ‘Who wants to be bound to a rectangle for the rest of their lives?’ the painter said. ‘Maybe I should stop painting. But then I would have given up before I even started.’
The painter waited more and thought about it for a long time. After a while she thought, ‘wasn’t the plan to paint thought that came to mind? I had many thoughts, but how to paint a painter who doubts whether they should be a painter?’
The painter started to get very hungry and decided to go outside to find food. On the way, the painter found a feather on the ground. She thought ‘this looks like food is nearby!’ Then a woman appeared, the painter couldn’t see her, but she could hear her. The woman said, ‘you’re vegetarian.’ The painter realized that’s true. ‘The bird doesn’t belong in my stomach but in the sky.’ The painter realized that she should paint a sky, so she went back to the studio and painted a sky. She glued the feather onto the painting. ‘Now the feather is back in the sky, where it belongs,’ the painter said.
What a stupid painter, can’t she distinguish a real sky from a painted sky
But at least she does not claim the sky as her creation, as Yves Klein did when he declared that the sky above Nice was one of his paintings, which he then signed.
He must have been confused that he was the one who made the sky.
Then the painter heard the woman speak again. ‘I’m a spider named Feather, I have a lot to say but have no ears.’ The painter thought, ‘finally the spider-woman
I waited for so long is coming to show me what to paint!’
The painter also thought, ‘what a coincidence that this spider-woman is called Feather.’ As Feather in French is Plume. And did you know that Nom de Plume means a writer’s pseudonym? The painter thought again, ‘Is the woman I’m hearing my Nom de Plume?’ The painter said, ‘Woman come out and help me, show me what to paint! Together we would have a lot of limbs, that would make a quick and crafty painter.’ The woman didn’t reply. The painter called out again, ‘spider-woman, come to help me, together we can make great fortune!’
‘I take 50% and you take 50% of each sale!’ The woman didn’t reply again. Then the painter realized, when the spider-woman named Feather spoke, she said she has a lot to say but has no ears. ‘She can not hear me cry,’ the painter said.
A spider named Feather has a lot to say but has no ears
Recently I came across a situation of three species who were stuck in a loop, a painter, a spider and a bird. The painter was afraid of the spider, the spider was afraid
of the bird, and the bird was afraid of the painter. The painter thought, ‘how to get out of this loop? I should overcome my fear and be like a spider myself. What kind of spider knows about arachnophobia anyway?’
The painter kept on thinking for a long time. ‘What makes a spider a spider? How to become one?’ Then she realized how the spider’s web is like the painter’s canvas. The beautiful thing about the spiderweb is that it’s a trick invented to catch things. It’s setting out a trap, not knowing what will end up inside of it, similar to the fishing net, or the white canvas. Sometimes twigs, leaves or dust end up in the web, and the spider cleans it. Other times a bug flies into it, and it’s a great catch. The painter decided
to mimick the spider’s way of being. She stretched her canvases, cleared her mind, and was sitting down in the corner of the room, waiting. The painter waited for ideas to fall into her mind that she could paint onto the canvas. She realized that to be like a spider is to be non judgmental and to be honest about the fact that ideas are gifts that you get.
The painter waited for a long time, so long that she started doubting, why should she be a painter that wants to be like a spider? ‘Who wants to be bound to a rectangle for the rest of their lives?’ the painter said. ‘Maybe I should stop painting. But then I would have given up before I even started.’
The painter waited more and thought about it for a long time. After a while she thought, ‘wasn’t the plan to paint thought that came to mind? I had many thoughts, but how to paint a painter who doubts whether they should be a painter?’
The painter started to get very hungry and decided to go outside to find food. On the way, the painter found a feather on the ground. She thought ‘this looks like food is nearby!’ Then a woman appeared, the painter couldn’t see her, but she could hear her. The woman said, ‘you’re vegetarian.’ The painter realized that’s true. ‘The bird doesn’t belong in my stomach but in the sky.’ The painter realized that she should paint a sky, so she went back to the studio and painted a sky. She glued the feather onto the painting. ‘Now the feather is back in the sky, where it belongs,’ the painter said.
What a stupid painter, can’t she distinguish a real sky from a painted sky
But at least she does not claim the sky as her creation, as Yves Klein did when he declared that the sky above Nice was one of his paintings, which he then signed.
He must have been confused that he was the one who made the sky.
Then the painter heard the woman speak again. ‘I’m a spider named Feather, I have a lot to say but have no ears.’ The painter thought, ‘finally the spider-woman
I waited for so long is coming to show me what to paint!’
The painter also thought, ‘what a coincidence that this spider-woman is called Feather.’ As Feather in French is Plume. And did you know that Nom de Plume means a writer’s pseudonym? The painter thought again, ‘Is the woman I’m hearing my Nom de Plume?’ The painter said, ‘Woman come out and help me, show me what to paint! Together we would have a lot of limbs, that would make a quick and crafty painter.’ The woman didn’t reply. The painter called out again, ‘spider-woman, come to help me, together we can make great fortune!’
‘I take 50% and you take 50% of each sale!’ The woman didn’t reply again. Then the painter realized, when the spider-woman named Feather spoke, she said she has a lot to say but has no ears. ‘She can not hear me cry,’ the painter said.
Bernice Nauta, September 2021
Eng.
Bernice Nauta
A spider named Feather has a lot to say but has no ears
06 November - 11 December 2021
Block C, Groningen
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Bernice Nauta (1991) graduated from KABK in The Hague in 2013, and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree ‘F for Fact’ at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. Based in The Hague, she is part of the artist-run gallery Billytown where she previously organized several exhibitions. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions around The Netherlands, and in such cities as Brussels and New York. Bernice also followed residency programs at NIKI in Hannover (DE), Orbital Residency, Cantabria (ES), and Sundaymorning@ekwc, Oisterwijk (NL).
//
Exhibitions in Block C do not often have such long titles as A spider named Feather has a lot to say but has no ears. The title was created by the artist and refers to the myth that she wrote for this exhibition. This myth does not refer to a distant past, nor is it a prevailing thought that needs to be debunked. Instead, it is a narrative in and of itself that reveals Bernice’s internal dialogue.1
The myth was written in response to a struggle of two conflicting perspectives that constantly clash with one another: the fear of making more paintings and the strong will to paint. Looking for a way out of this spiral, Bernice came up with the idea of putting herself in the shoes of the object of one of her fears: the spider. The sculpture titled What kind of spider knows about arachnophobia? (2021) responds to this transformation.
Near the heater, at the right-hand side of the entrance in the exhibition space, a broom leans against the wall. In between the wall and the broom, a thread of headphone cables has been stretched in the form of a spider web. An excerpt from the song ‘Free Will and Testament’ by Robert Wyatt is playing through the headphones. We can hear the words “what kind of spider knows about arachnophobia?” It is a well-known fact that spiders do not fear their own kind. By imagining herself as being the spider, Bernice tries to outsmart her fear.
Bernice Nauta
A spider named Feather has a lot to say but has no ears
06 november t/m 11 december 2021
Block C, Groningen
//
Bernice Nauta (1991) is in 2013 afgestudeerd aan KABK in Den Haag, en volgt momenteel de master F for Fact aan het Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam. Ze woont in Den Haag waar ze deel uitmaakt van de door kunstenaars gerunde galerie Billytown. Ze organiseerde er tentoonstellingen en haar werk is in verschillende tentoonstellingen te zien geweest. Ze volgde daarnaast residency-programma’s in NIKI in Hannover (DE), Orbital Residency, Cantabria (ES) en Sundaymorning@ekwc in Oisterwijk (NL).
//
Exposities in Block C hebben niet vaak zo’n lange titel als deze: A spider named Feather has a lot to say but has no ears. De titel is bedacht door de kunstenaar en verwijst naar een mythe die zij geschreven heeft. De mythe gaat niet terug naar een ver verleden en is ook geen heersend gedachtegoed dat ontkracht moet worden. Het is een vertelling die de interne dialoog van Bernice blootlegt.1
De mythe is geschreven naar aanleiding van een constante strijd tussen de angst om nog meer schilderijen te maken en anderzijds de sterke wil om te schilderen. Twee tegenstrijdige perspectieven die elkaar continu afwisselen. Zoekende naar een uitweg uit deze spiraal, kwam Bernice bij het idee om in de huid van een van haar angsten te kruipen; de spin. Het werk What kind of spider knows about arachnophobia? (2021) haakt in op deze gedaanteverwisseling. Bij de verwarming, rechts van de ingang van de ruimte staat een bezem tegen de muur. Tussen de bezem en de muur is een draad van oordopjes in de vorm van een web gespannen. Uit deze oordopjes komt een fragment uit het liedje Free Will and Testament van Robert Wyatt, waarin we de woorden “what kind of spider knows about arachnophobia?” horen. Spinnen kennen geen angst voor hun eigen soort. Door in de huid van de spin te kruipen, probeert Bernice de angst slim af te zijn.
opbouw
A spider named Feather has a lot to say but has no ears
Bernice Nauta
Bernice Nauta poster
ontwerp: Hansje van Halem riso: Jo Frenken
zaaltekst Getallen en Patronen door katalin Herzog
‘VIEW ON THE WORLDMAP’, een veelomvattend project van Annesas Appel
Annesas Appel heeft een beetje ruzie met de werkelijkheid, althans met die versie ervan die we gewoonlijk als echt en waar ervaren. Als zij bijvoorbeeld een boom ziet, plakt zij er niet meteen het begrip op – zoals we dat meestal doen – maar zij wil zowel naar de boom, als om de boom heen en ook door de boom heen kijken. Vaste betekenissen en manieren van doen zeggen haar weinig, omdat ze niet met haar eigen ervaringen overeenkomen.1 Om greep op de wereld te krijgen, probeert zij ‘schoon’, dus zonder aannames, naar haar omgeving te kijken en een soortgelijke houding neemt zij ook aan tegenover de vele systemen die we hebben bedacht om de wereld te ordenen. De meeste van die systemen kloppen voor haar niet en zij vraagt zich dan ook af hoe ze in elkaar zitten en of ze veranderd kunnen worden.2
Net als iedereen tracht ook Annesas de chaos die ons omgeeft te bedwingen, maar zij is niet bereid om daarvoor willekeurige aannames en conventies te accepteren. In de omgang met mensen is zo’n houding echter niet erg praktisch; we hebben nu eenmaal ‘afspraken’ nodig om met anderen te kunnen samenleven. In het dagelijks leven moet dus ook Annesas van conventies gebruik maken, terwijl zij in haar beeldend werk vrij is om haar wereld te laten gelden. Daarvoor analyseert zij aspecten van de conventionele werkelijkheid en komt een soort ‘geheime kennis’ op het spoor die zij met behulp van methoden tot eigen systemen bewerkt.3 Analyseren, methoden gebruiken, nieuwe bewerkingen maken en daarbij veel tellen en meten zijn belangrijk in het werk van Annesas Appel.
Dergelijke analyses en bewerkingen heeft zij ook op het systeem van de wereldkaart toegepast. Van kaarten maken we gebruik als we ons in een vreemde omgeving willen oriënteren of op reis willen gaan naar een land dat we slechts vaag kunnen lokaliseren. De wereldkaart laat ons zien dat het land van bestemming bijvoorbeeld in het westen van Zuid-Amerika ligt, een langgerekte vorm heeft en zowel aan de oceaan als aan andere landen grenst. Aan deze informatie twijfelen we niet, omdat we aannemen dat de kaart betrouwbaar is, dus dat de continenten, landen en wateren erop getoond worden, zoals ze echt zijn en zich tot elkaar verhouden. Maar is dat ook zo?
Annesas was altijd al gefascineerd door wereldkaarten. Zij vindt ze overzichtelijk en handig in het gebruik. Voordat zij met de computer ging werken – het gereedschap dat zij nu bij voorkeur gebruikt – trok zij al de landsgrenzen van kaarten in het Bosatlas over. Zij weet echter ook dat voor deze kaarten de driedimensionale aarde in twee dimensies omgezet en geabstraheerd moet worden, waarbij methoden en systemen gebruikt worden. Een wereldkaart toont dus niet het ware beeld van de aarde, maar één van de vele systemen die mensen maken om de aarde te begrijpen en te kunnen gebruiken.4 Uit de fascinatie met de wereldkaart en het besef dat zo’n kaart mensenwerk is, heeft Annesas de twee voorlopers van het omvangrijke project ‘View on the Worldmap’ gerealiseerd, namelijk ‘Atlas in Lines’ in 2007 en ‘Border Frequencies’ in 2012. In deze werken laat zij aspecten van de wereldkaart op een geheel nieuwe manier zien.
‘Atlas in Lines’ is een boek van 20 x 24,8 cm, waarin de bekende vormen van alle 232 landen op de wereldkaart zo ver geabstraheerd zijn dat ze verdwijnen. Hoewel de methoden die Annesas gebruikt voor haar zeer belangrijk zijn, zien beschouwers alleen het eindresultaat: een op Japanse wijze gebonden boek met daarin een uit meerdere delen bestaande lijn die bij wijze van spreken één lange, onleesbare schriftregel vormt. Omdat de lijn op en neer danst en ook verschillende diktes, structuren en hiaten kent, biedt elke bladzijde een verrassend beeld van hoe grenzen er uit zouden kunnen zien. Daarbij komt dat de lijnen enigszins door het dunne papier heen schijnen, zodat in het boek landschappen ‘beschreven’ worden die we op aarde nog niet gezien hebben.
expositie Annesas Appel 4 september tot en met 9 oktober
ontwerp, zeefdruk Michiel Schuurman
