On Werner Hertzhog’s ’The Wild Blue Yonder’
So basically what I am trying to say with my art here at Cabo Verde, Werner has already pointed out brilliantly in his documentary ’The Wild Blue Yonder’. I don’t really know what to do now. It is quite interesting in the terms that I can now look back at a monumental project that only existed in my mind and see what I did wrong, what I should do better. A thing I really need to avoid is the movie taking itself too seriously. I think that it is easier said then done.
My own project is ridicously amateuristic. I am even tired of the theme that popped into my head when I came here. As if there was not enough people pointing out what is wrong with the western world already. Fuck it, fuck it fuck it fuck it. I guess the lesson learned is that I should down grade my ambitions (nothing new under the sun there) and also the whole ’taking vantage point in the materiality angle instead of ideas’ is a dead end.
I interviewed Uli today. Uli is 65 years old and every day around 10am he pedals his moon car with a trailer to kite beach. Uli does not believe that anything we experience is reality and therefore we are free to just enjoy. He spends the summers in Sicily and the winters in Cape Verde. He is also a very skilled wave-rider . I haven’t looked at the footage yet but I have a hunch that it is going to play a key role in the exhibition. I am thinking about calling it ’Motor Planet’ after a garage here. It is definitely a theme that I am going to let go of when I come back. I am sick and tired of it, and worst part is that I don’t feel (if I succeded really well) that it would do any difference to anyone.
I am also tired of the fact that I have not found a place to set up the exhibition yet. I planned with the thought that I was going to exhibit in the Glass Pavilion. I did not hear from them for two weeks after I send my proposal and then I sent a notification (hvad hedder ’rykker’ på engelsk ?) and got an answer 3 hours later saying that the pavilion is completely booked for the rest of the semester. I could really have done with that message after my first email. I am really frustrated of the general attitude at Rietveld. I get a feeling that the employees just don’t take us seriously – over and over. Anyway – I am going to go through with the exhibition for the doorloop (rundgang) and then I will change theme and start painting again. After I’ve made a couple of kinetic sculptures. I really want to make this toy-size elephant, paint it pink, suspend it in a string from the ceiling and then stick a propeller out from its arse and make it spin in circles really fast. Absurd and ridiculous as it should be. I’ve actually been scared to write it down in a public forum fearing that someone would steal the idea. I decided that it had probably been done before and that no idea is sacred. Just look at Olaffur. I don’t think any of his installations are his own ideas. When I took 10th grade I did it at an animation school. My most sacred learning from there was to understand to Kill Your Darlings. Focusing on one idea is not making for any creative processes. That is not my worry though. I have the same problem now as I had then – I am not incapable of getting ideas – it’s the other way around. I have trouble believing in the potential of my ideas. I should be more of a megalomaniac, I definitely should.
