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Traveling art projects on location

One of the first projects that arose, was: ‘Omtrent melancholie’ (= About melancholy) in the ‘Campagne’ in Drongen. Curator of this project was Filip Van de Velde, who invited Geert Vermeire and Stefaan van Biesen to realize a 24 hour exhibition in dialogue with Marie Snauwaert and Virginie Agemans, two younger artists. This concept of an exhibition as an event, a process in a short time span, integrates both showing the works of art and having performances take place, which are inspired by the place or the happening itself.

A philosophical path was created during this exhibition. This path is at the centre in the works of the three artists and is always followed by them. In this exhibition a nocturnal walking performance is realized with the visitors being taken along an imaginary path through the castle park.

The visitors are invited to participate in the event; they complete the exhibition by their presence. The composition is also a fundamental part of the event: here dialogues start between the artists, searching and finding of the right spot is already a part of the exhibition and a cooperative  atmosphere is created via the talks,  the public becoming a part of that. So it is not only about exhibiting but also about performances, which come about in the interaction among the public and the artists. The artists remain present during the whole exhibition from morning until late evening.

Because of this the interaction comes about, which is necessary for the success of this artistic undertaking. Here the idea of a travelling exhibition has its origin, in the temporary nature of the event, an exhibition as a living process of interactions at a specific place at a specific point in time. The further development of these projects is also based on the nomadic aspect typical of the former renaissance artists, who did not only travel with their works throughout Europe, but also made connections with the places they visited.

Dürer for instance visited the printer Plantijn in Antwerp, these great renaissance persons found each other via their common interest for the new Hermetic and humanistic thinking. Through their travels they moved boundaries, they made inner journeys, travelled with and via ideas. Through exchanges of ideas with artist friends, whom they visited during these long journeys, they created a network of solidarity and affinity

The concept of a 24 hour art project is an interesting premise. The temporary nature and intensity of such events do not work as a mirror of the contemporary informative transience. But by creating a field of timelessness within a measured time in which concepts like 'silence', 'slowness', 'the body as unit measure' among others get a place, these 'instant projects' answer some of the questions it poses, those which live within the Milena.

At the end of July 2006 the Milena was invited to be the guest of the German artist Niki Fröhling in Amsterdam. This ‘Tafel der Ontmoetingen’ (= Table of Meetings) was the provisional first tailpiece of their collective ‘Gepäckträger’ (= Luggage carrier) Project (how long is now) that started in Berlin in the beginning of July 2006. The artists of the Milena saw each other again for the first time in Amsterdam after their wanderings in Europe. A 24 hour exhibition was realized starting from interaction and dialogue, taking advantage of place and time. The theme was 'Bewoner van steden' (= Resident of cities). Again this exhibition was realized as a laboratory. In this exhibition new works of art were realised with minimal means in situ, forming part of an easily transportable and light travelling exhibition. The day before Geert Vermeire had described drawings of Stefaan van Biesen, which they had made during their stay in Berlin. Printed photo material of the ‘Watercurtain-performance’ in the Bellevuepark and the 'Grunewald Variations' in the Grunewald in Berlin were described and provided with notes and then hung on the walls of the rooms.

On Sunday morning 23rd July Niki Fröhling opened her house for the invitees. Hundreds of strips of paper from the pages of a book were scattered on the parquet floor. Everybody walked on these words. A few hours earlier Geert Vermeire had written one word on several of these strips of paper. These were lying on a table, around which the guests could sit, talk and eat together.

The art and the house merged, the centre of the exhibition was a big table in the living room, where the artists and visitors exchanged ideas. The sensual elements and enjoyment was reflected in a feast, that was shared with the visitors coming and leaving the table of meetings.

Geert Vermeire and Stefaan van Biesen staged a (sitting) performance 'Unisound'. Their silence imposed silence upon the people present. After this long silence the first word was spoken, they then conversed with each other by means of short poetic sentences. They gave literary improvisations, illustrating expressive landscapes and provided a dreamy reflection on their visit to this city and past ‘Gepäckträger’ (= Luggage carrier) experiences. This was something that was very much appreciated.

A number of fragments from the letter cycle ‘Bewoner van steden’ (= Resident of cities) was read by Stefaan van Biesen and Geert Vermeire. One of these letters had been written on the spot by Geert Vermeire the day before this occasion.

Filip Van de Velde gave an explanation of his E=Mc² performance as well as a lecture on phenomena with the cloister of Le Corbusier in Evreux in France as the central idea.

After the art happening, the past Milena-projects were explained and discussed. The account of the simultaneous double project ‘wij dragen onze paden’ (= We carry our paths) of Jan De Wachter in Portugal and Geert Vermeire in Berlin was recounted after which this Sunday ended with a pleasant chat with those present and with a deeper elaboration of some of the ideas. Apart from that everybody enjoyed the summer heat and the city full of sounds.

The affinity which arose spontaneously during the project ‘Omtrent melancholie’ (= About melancholy) brought the artists together again in a new, this time small-scale exhibition on Easter 2006 in the house of Geert Vermeire in Bruges, the town inspired by renaissance. Here again a 24 hour exhibition was realized starting from interaction, dialogue, taking advantage of the place and the time. The theme was Maria Magdalene. Again this exhibition was realized as a laboratory. Stefaan van Biesen, Filip Van de Velde and Geert Vermeire realized some works of art there: a number of walls were filled with texts and sketches. The library was filled with dozens of small pots, from which vulnerable words revealed themselves. A space was touched by art from the cellar to the attic.

The art and the house merged. The centre of the exhibition was a big table in the living room, where the artists and visitors exchanged ideas. All artists gave a lecture about their experiences with their vision on Maria Magdalene as a starting point. The sensual elements and enjoyment were reflected in a feast that was shared with the visitors coming and leaving the table.

The philosophical path in this exhibition was crystallized in an installation in the castle of Cortewalle. The philosophical path and travelling exhibition are inextricably connected. The philosophical path is about an inner journey, a searching trip, the nomadic elements of being on the road.

The straight path from A to B is by definition uninteresting: this is both a conclusion and a point of departure. It is the philosophic steering on this line which gives us the possibility to experience, to live through and to recognize the spirituality of the moment, necessary for insight and creative growth. The journey is a continuous, swinging movement in a changing, imaginary landscape, a flux which accompanies the traveller throughout all doubts on this road, in all seasons which symbolize all aspects of human emotion.

A way to or from is imaginary, being on the road is the experience to which the path defines and determines. It is the road of Friedrich Nietzsche, the road that is shared by the artist and the artist in every human being. It is moving and being moved by the touch of another which incites us to interact, to create, create a world in which a home comes about.

In this way a thought is expressed which exteriorizes a form of art that does not want to explain but rather becomes an instrument of experience, a form which does not pretend to want to fight its existence or run from it, but one which values experience. This form of art is not based on exhibiting the human sorrow in our society, a sorrow that is unmistakably present in our environment and in political world events. It is a form of art, which is autonomous and tries to offer alternatives, which based on the thought for fellow man want to give a positive impulse to society.

The aspect of the artist as a ‘playing human being’ leads to conditions which enable the artist to discover and grow. This laboratory, the search as an interiorized process, results in wanting to see more in the reality surrounding us, with the work of art as an end result that gives shape to these thoughts.

Every gesture which makes sense is evidence of the extra element in reality. We want to consider this gesture artistically and let it grow. The creative energy does its job.

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