flat dogs - pragmatism on ice (2015)
for Open Avonds, De Appel (2016)
(turn to face camera. always looking south. stroke side of ladder)
I want to show you a video of me with my bichon frise. I am in the park with my bichon frise and I cuddle him in my arms and I turn to the camera to say, yes sometimes my husband gets jealous. we are companions and best friends. Just like a human, a bichon’s hair never stops growing, and they must be groomed every 8 weeks. It’s a rare human who can resist the charm of the bichon frise, lots of owners swear their bichons smile (a human smile!), but he’s not al-ways happy. \ The bichon hops onto their hind legs and I say good dancing buddy and feed it a treat. \ I love my dog I love my dog I love my dog I love my dog he is naughty sometimes but then again who isn’t which actions are inscrutable what is transparent in actions \ can’t you read his face? can’t you find the signifiers? can’t you break down the taxonomical divisions of our relationship and print it on a tea towel? sometimes he barks and says grandma, and can also speak to me I love you. Reciprocity or imitation, and who tells the truth, what am I lacking that I try to find? what am I looking for?
I suppose there’s also the question of why or what meaning can be asserted from abstract sound? I suppose there’s also the question of why or what meaning can be asserted from a sequence of gestures. Um, this harness, is it training or restraint?
(climbing a little more)
The view here is very nice. Ei Arakawa’s work has been described as somehow on an ice rink, like it is slipping away, potentially colliding. If I look in the sky and I see a plane across the evident ice of the sky…
photographs Carina Erdmann
A proposition from the archive of de Appel arts centre, OPEN AVOND(S) is the kick-off of a series of events, which aims to revive a concept, presented at de Appel arts centre between March 1979 and October 1980. Every first Wednesday of the month, de Appel offered artists the opportunity to show their work between 20:00 and 22:00. Artists had to register their contribution at least one day in advance so that the programme could be compiled. Such a stage connected established practices with more experimental ones. Would this relatively improvised and fast ‘route’ still be viable?
De Appel has been considered one of the first supporters and promoters of performance art in Europe. Looking backwards to this period is a fundamental step in a process of re-identification.
Works from the archive by artists Vito Acconci, Hezy Leskly and Edmondo Za will be introduced by Emma Panza in collaboration with sound artist Gunnar Gunnsteinsson during a rambling evening connecting past with present through humour and tragedy. Archival resources will intermingle with the performances or contributions by artists Ivan Cheng, Andrius Mulokas, Ohad Ben Shimon, Urok Shirhan, Ieke Trinks. The selection was done in order to host a variety of formats and contents, which will create a dialogue among them.