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All I see is freedom

October 5, 2021 | Selin AYDINOL

EN | PLUS-ONE GALLERY | Carole Vanderlinden & Carlos Caballero | 4 September - 10 October

Open


All I see is the freedom of a painter when I look at Carole Vanderlinden’s work. The satisfaction of the knowledge that she can paint all the things she desires and keeps being inspirational. Visiting her exhibitions for me, is like opening a door which was closed and forgotten for a long time. Reminding me the innate intention of why I wanted to become an artist. It’s no wonder how I cannot but write when I see her artworks. Of course at this rate I must give credit to the space showing and allowing this freedom to be experienced by us. Plus-One Gallery. It can be exhausting to try to meet galleries’ expectations as an artist. If you are an active social media artist then it’s a similar story trying to meet the expectations of the algorithm. Maybe there isn’t any expectation to meet at all but a fine, thick line that shows you your limit. Within the territories of your gallery, you are obliged to do certain things along with that you can only do so much. It’s then the responsibility of the gallery that represents you, to blur that fine line. It seems that the way Plus-One Gallery blurs the line is a good example when it concerns Carole Vanderlinden. Letting the artist be herself and not try to mold her into legislations of traditional galleries, art buyers and other interested parties = Expectations


You can expect the unexpectable when looking at her work. Each has the Vanderlinden’s core element: Confidence 


Making choices determines the level of your confidence. During this exhibition, what can be seen is a broad fortune of differences that is bound by her choices. I don’t believe that Vanderlinden is asking similar questions as most of the other artists ask before beginning a new painting. Therefore the choices she has to make differs from those with the wrong or unnecessary questions. Right or on-time questions enabled her to choose to show her confidence in the best way. Making paintings without repercussions. The size, the style, and the technique also makes you wonder who curated this? Which right and on-time question led the curator to choose this combination? Ambition. This show is a mixture of Carole Vanderlinden’s ideals and Plus-One Gallery’s ambitious unexpectations on Vanderlinden. What a beautiful way to read about freedom.


I haven’t read the exhibition text.


I don’t know the dynamics or the ideas behind this collaboration. I can only tell what I observed during my time there. After I saw all the artworks, It seemed that the gallery was divided in two parts. One part for each artist. The reason I excluded my thoughts on Carlos Caballero’s artworks in this text is, because It has been a long time since the last time I saw Vanderlinden’s work in person, which I admire greatly. I was more focused on her part. I needed to be honest with myself. I cannot write about a subject which I couldn’t pay the needed attention to. There is a second thing to admit here as well. I remember an exhibition text I once read a long time ago in Plus-One Gallery. It taught me not to be hasty in reading exhibition texts. I value this teaching. 


Selin AYDINOL

selinaydinol.com

artist_selinaydinol

selinaydinol94@hotmail.com

Future Of Art Through Jonathan Meese

March 11, 2020 | Selin AYDINOL

EN | Tim Van Laere Gallery | DR. 50/50FITTYMEESE (Pump Away Reality) | 23 January - 12 March

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As I entered the exhibition space I looked to my right. In Tim Van Laere Gallery, when you turn your back on the entree and your face to the space, right is where the wall sort of continues and welcomes you with a new work of art. I prefer to start exhibiting from one side and end up on the other. So I can tour the space with the least waste of time while making sure to not miss any work. However, if the show is engaging as this one, you end up being all over the place after one complete tour. “FIGHT: ART” writes on top of the first painting. Jonathan’s desire to fight for art is evident as I read pass the text to the figure in the middle. The gestures are so assertive. Right arm tries to reach up, touching the end of the cloth. Left hand formed in fist, comes towards the audience. It’s ready for a fight to reach the future. At least that’s what I see. 

According to Jonathan Meese, artists must look to the future instead of the past. He believes that art should be the one thing that rules us. ‘The dictatorship of art’ as he said it. I can see that art dictates his life and style. His ensured brush strokes are wild, effortless. The freedom and playfulness which he defends what art should be like, are there in every layer. When you know the background of the painting; artist’s state of mind, his ideas about execution, his characteristics, it is all consistent. You can see what kind of a brain shaped this painting. Sure, the idea behind the image can also be important, but when I look at a painting… I don’t care. I can only appreciate that till some point. The very first moment when I look at an artwork belongs to me. What thrills me is the connection I make with an image which is made from a different human being. That’s art and this exhibition is a strong example of it. I look at this first painting ‘‘SWEETIE DE LARGE!’’ and layers seem to me the most effective factor. The relationship of each of them shows determination, skill and joy. It’s exciting. Somewhat challenging. I can see that he used the same type of black he used on every other. It’s a harsh black along with a harsh technique. It’s direct. It’s fast. I am glad that the tempo is bound by this rectangular shape which we call a painting. So I can keep coming back and relive it. At first glance the uneasy faces can look horrifying. Symbols are provocative but Jonathan is on such a level that you can see through those factors. They are more (or less) than what they seem. They are there to play with your mind, to question you and for you to question your own perception. I do wonder why I like this kind of imagery when Jonathan paints it. Why am I mesmerized? Can it be that this show is pushing me to break free from my prejudice created by our reality?

I generally don’t like these artificial colours right out of the tube. It’s fake and ugly. Nevertheless, as I’m looking at this  ‘‘ICH BIN DAS LIEBE KUNSTSTUNKIGE!’’ using the tube as a brush and smearing the paint directly on to the cloth seems like the best way to use these colours. Then it creates its own identity which I can respect. The image is complicated. I can relate this to most of his paintings that are in this show. It’s these harsh blacks and uneasy faces again, trying to tell you something. Letting you know that they don’t care about what you might think about them. They are in their own harmony. Then you see these (provocative) symbols that you already gave up on trying to put meanings upon, actually give you comfort. Because now they are familiar, familiar in a good sense. In this particular painting there is a different familiarness, a text. Saying ‘More Than A Feeling’ which I’m sure that can represent anything, but for me it’s the song by Boston. The song which I enjoy singing the most and also fail to sing it epicly, but it’s definitely an amazing way to ‘‘pump away reality’’.

My favorite:  ‘‘LADY-HEIDI-HEIL-HEIDE-HEIDA-HEIDOC’’ I wish I could have bought it. I want to start selling my paintings as soon as possible so I can start buying paintings. This painting I kept coming back to. It’s plainness let’s you breathe from the rest of the series. Every little detail is spontaneous and spot on. The black on this one attracts me more than the rest because of it’s deliberate aesthetic values. How can it be this simple yet it’s taking an odd lot more time for me to look at? Other paintings in the room might have been needed but this one is just beautiful. The crucial piece of the show. 

I can not really describe the next room, you have to experience it. Portraits on the wall were series of masterpieces. There are so many works in this show. It could have easily been two different exhibitions. It is a consuming process to write about these many works, yet I couldn’t stop myself. (I also didn’t know until I did it.) Sculptures outside...I’m trying hard to find the beauty of these sculptures but it’s difficult. Yet again the choice of symbols corners me like a friend forcing me to face my phobias. Statues are puking ideologies. Waterfall of ideologies… I really have to question myself and the object I’m looking at. I don’t think he is trying to show any beauty here. No. Instead, the statues are having fun gazing back at me while I question my perception. I think the statues of Jonathan Meese show his protest the best. He is sick of reality and the constraints that come with it. He wants to reach to the future when art and artist can finally be free. If along the road to this future he is going to make masterpieces like these, then I’m in. 

Tomorrow is the last day of the exhibition. See this show while you can!

Selin AYDINOL

selinaydinol.com

artist_selinaydinol

selinaydinol94@hotmail.com

Art of remembering

January 2020 | Stefan BAKMAND

EN | What is it that connects us?

Open

like the haruspex 

cutting up stomachs to see stars 

the poet with words 

sees the landscape of imagination 

like the memory palace 

walking through along collumns 

beside empty black pedestals 

with thoughtforms on top 

the objects escape like fog 

out of vitrinic animals 

like the bard singing lost tales 

of burnt pagan pasts 

those stories that travel through history 

like rings in water 

that one story 

that one myth 

it is all one 

walking through the woods 

branches spell out the ancient phrase 

know thy self 

as above apolllons temple 

i puke outside of the temple 

before entering like Alice into 

the gamers cave of simulated reality 

to be continued...

Stefan BAKMAND

stefanbakmand

too candid of me?

June 21, 2019 | Selin AYDINOL

EN

Open

Yesterday I criticized a work of a wonderful artist who happened to perform in a way that I didn’t like. I want to write down exactly what I said because everyone heard it the way they wanted to hear and some of them manipulated it in their minds. It’s so sad and disappointing how eager people are to seek drama instead of good. I just wanted to share my idea, my discomfort and simply asked why the artist chose to do her performance this way. Of course most people there didn’t know me so there were more possibilities to misunderstand but as to let everyone know, I defend what I said. I believe in it and I didn’t have any bad intentions. 

The presentation/performance/activation:

The artist started laying certain objects on the floor. While she was placing them, she was also telling what they were, the material, where they came from and what she thinks they are. She is a writer so she also placed some books that contained her stories. She said what the stories were about and so on. So there lies a cloth and it's filled with many little objects that are visually very interesting and have so much potential to discover and play with but unfortunately every little detail about them was told the moment they were placed in front of us. Throughout this presentation I was really annoyed and I couldn’t help but say this: 

“You put all these little objects here. So you give us information. Then you tell every little detail about them. So giving even more information. You leave me with no space for imagination. You bombarded me with information and now I have no space to discover, imagine, have my interpretation. I’m so annoyed. I’m really annoyed. Why did you choose to do it like this?”

She is the artist. She can do whatever she wants. Maybe she wants to annoy us, maybe she is researching a certain reaction from the audience. Maybe she wanted to change her way of performing this time. I don't know. But that’s why I’m asking right? She did something - I felt annoyed - I asked why - Then she told me why. What’s wrong with this? I heard from many people that it was so harsh. The way I said it was bad. That I humiliated her. One even inclined that I was being sexist. My intention was not to hurt her. I’m not saying “Oh your hair is ugly” or “Your clothes look weird”. Her artwork made me feel a certain way, made me react and ask this question. You can even take this as a compliment. It’s not that she told too much or showed too many objects, it’s just with the amount of objects that were displayed it was too much detail to tell and vise versa. She answered my question and that was fine for me. It was also nice to hear what other people thought. Some said that it was just a criticism and there wasn’t any humiliation. Some said it’s good that I said it because he was thinking the same thing. Some said it was too candid of me. 

The important thing is, I talked to her and said, “If I somehow broke your heart or put you in a bad state of mind I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, I just wanted to share my feelings and wondered why.” She said she was fine with it. Only that it was a bit too harsh but still she was okay with it. Maybe she is right, maybe I could have said this not in front of everyone but after the performance when I’m alone with her but there is something even more important here. There should always be a possibility to give your honest criticism without seeking evil. Art is an experience between the artwork and the audience. People’s manipulative minds or artists’ emotional reactions shouldn’t censor the critics. We should never forget the value of an innocent and upfront criticism. Art is there to be shared. Art is there to be celebrated, liked and disliked.

Selin AYDINOL

selinaydinol.com

artist_selinaydinol

selinaydinol94@hotmail.com

Rediscovering the already existent

June 2019 | Selin AYDINOL

EN | About series of paintings on wood

Open

As someone who moved in and out of different houses countless times throughout her life, Selin never really had a place that she could call home. This forced habit of the past defined her lifestyle as she grew up. Even though in her heart she desires to call Antwerp her home and emerge as an artist there, she still mentally struggles to stay in one place, as it almost became an innate act to her. In the moment of questioning, the comprehension of life occurred. She decided to set aside her exaggerated complaints that triggered these feelings and rediscover the city the way it is. Similar approach to her work was the motivation behind her paintings. 

Each of her works is a part of a bigger picture. A fragmented image which has been rediscovered by the artist. As soon as the picture is divided into sections, they become independent territories that artist needs to integrate into. The division creates random and unique compositions for each piece. It was not in her control which she respected and accepted as a challenge. Not making any changes to the lines or shapes but only intervene by deciding colours, textures and the making. Creating pieces, which once were part of a whole, that later became powerful and beautiful enough to hang alone. Trying to find potential in what is given became a fun study that she enjoys doing. Selin values the impact that basic shapes and textures can have. She mostly cares about the image being lookable than trying to define it. That is what she likes about art. Any work can mean many different things to each and everyone. So why limit it by defining it? 

Selin AYDINOL

selinaydinol.com

artist_selinaydinol

selinaydinol94@hotmail.com

The circular research

June 2019 | Stefan BAKMAND

EN

Open

A patient says to the therapist: “It feels like our conversations are going in circles, like a carousel.” And the therapist responds: “That is exactly what they are. We need to go around again to catch what we didnt get the last time” 

The couch where Sigmund Freud analyzed a lot of people 

The atlas is a circular structure, coming back to itself to catch what it didnt get the last time. 

to re-search 

to re-flect 

to re-visit a memory 

These stories told over and over around the fire. 

These two white laboratory rats, test subjects of science, if they didnt fail every night, they wouldnt be able to try again the next day. 

Here is a quote from Worstword Ho! By Samuel Beckett: 

“First the body. No. First the place. No. First both. Now either. Now the other. Sick of the either try the other. Sick of it back sick of the either. So on. Somehow on. Till sick of both. Throw up and go. Where neither. Till sick of there. Throw up and back. The body again. Where none. The place again. Where none. Try again. Fail again. Better again. Or better worse. Fail worse again. Still worse again. Till sick for good. Throw up for good. Go for good. Where neither for good. Good and all.” 

Close to Antwerp central station there is a street with a lot of casinos, and I saw this sign above one of them. 

And then when you get into a circular thinking, you become a detective and you start seeing shapes that spiral everywhere. 

Detective Rust Cole in True Detective season 1, where he sees a spiral of birds in the sky 

A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading . 

Vincent Van Gogh, Wheat field with crows, 1890 

Benoit Mandelbrot referred to himself as a "fractalist" and is recognized for his contribution to the field of fractal geometry, which included coining the word "fractal", as well as developing a theory of "roughness and self-similarity" in nature. 

Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson (January 2, 1938 – July 20, 1973) 

Apohenia is the tendency to mistakenly perceive connections and meaning between unrelated things. The term (German: Apophänie) was coined by psychiatrist Klaus Conrad in his 1958 publication on the beginning stages of schizophrenia. 

Jacobs ladder by William Blake and dna string 

Aby Warburg suffered from manic depression and symptoms of schizophrenia, and was hospitalized in Ludwig Binswanger's(a student of Freud) neurological clinic in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland in 1921. 

As Carlo Ginzburg analysed the Morellian method, the art historian operates in the manner of a detective, "each discovering, from clues unnoticed by others, the author in one case of a crime, in the other of a painting". These unconscious traces— in the shorthand for rendering the folds of an ear in secondary figures of a composition, for example— are unlikely to be imitated and, once deciphered,serve as fingerprints do at the scene of the crime. The identity of the artist is expressed most reliably in the details that are least attended to. 

“A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on. ” 

William S. Burroughs — 

In PI, By Darren Aronofsky, the protagonist is convinced that he can find the truth to reality through mathematical pattern recognition- that it all comes down to this one number being the word of god. 

Among the notes and sketches for Walter Benjamin's last work, the "Theses on the Philosophy of History," we find the following statement: "Historical method is philological method, a method that has as its foundation the book of life. 'To read what was never written,' is what Hofmannsthal calls it. The reader referred to here is the true historian." Giorgio Agamben is perhaps the only contemporary thinker to have assumed as a philosophical problem the task that Benjamin, in these words, sets for historical and philological "method." What does it mean to confront history as a reader, "to read what was never written"? And what is it that "was never written" in the "book of life"? The question concerns the event that Benjamin throughout his works calls "redemption." The essays collected in this volume can be said to elaborate a philosophy of language and history adequate to the concept of this event. A single matter, truly something like the "thing itself" of which Agamben writes in his essay on Plato's Seventh Letter, animates the works gathered together here. Whether the subject is Aristotle or Spinoza, Heidegger or Benjamin, what is at issue is always a messianic moment of thinking, in which the practice of the "historian" and the practice of the "philologist," the experience of tradition and the experience of language, cannot be told apart. It is in this moment that the past is saved, not in being returned to what once existed but, instead, precisely in being transformed into something that never was: in being read, in the words of Hofmannsthal, as what was never written. 

-Potentialities: Collected Essays in Philosophy By Giorgio Agamben, Daniel Heller-Roazen 

Jung's primary concern in Flying Saucers is not with the reality or unreality of UFOs but with their psychic aspect. Rather than speculate about their possible nature and extraterrestrial origin as alleged spacecraft, he asks what it may signify that these phenomena, whether real or imagined, are seen in such numbers just at a time when humankind is menaced as never before in history. The UFOs represent, in Jung's phrase, "a modern myth." 

Jung came to the conclusion that UFOs were examples of the phenomena of synchronicity where external events mirror internal psychic states. As usual, he saw the UFO situation in a broader perspective than most. For Jung the UFO images had much to do with the ending of an era in history and the beginning of a new one. In his introductory remarks to Flying Saucers he writes about the UFO events: 

"As we know from ancient Egyptian history, they are manifestations of psychic changes which always appear at the end of one Platonic month and at the beginning of another. Apparently they are changes in the constellation of psychic dominants, of the archetypes, or 'gods' as they used to be called, which bring about, or accompany, long-lasting transformations of the collective psyche. The transformation started in the historical era and left its traces first in the passing of the aeon of Taurus into that of Aries, and then of Aries into Pisces, whose beginning coincides with the rise of Christianity. We are now nearing that great change which may be expected when the spring point enters Aquarius." 

Stefan BAKMAND

stefanbakmand

I AM A DRAWER - THE BYBLIOMOEBICK

April 2019 | Stefan BAKMAND

EN | Sketchy notes about drawing

Open

To undertake a thorough investigation of the phenomenon of drawing as a nomadic, animist and magical creation of reality. To deal with a history of mark-making, and arts relation to magic. Drawing is thinking with the world, an embodiment of the will of the imagination, taking different forms as paper/printed matter, text, installation, sound and ritual. 

why were they drawing on the walls of the caves? 

Drawing, from drauen, of old english dragan "to drag, to draw, protract", from Proto-Germanic draganan "to draw, pull" with a further source from Old Norse draga "to draw, drag, pull," 

Like pulling out the drawer, you drag the subconschious out and pull the world in. The inside becomes the outside. Micro to macrocosmos, as above so below. 

Escaping a mental head-space, and embodying a broader sense of mind, drawing participates with the languages of the conschious world of nature, using materials from it and being within it.

that the drawing on the site’s surface physically and conceptually grounds the drawing in the site and does not depict nor hide a surface but draws attention to the surface of the site as content and context. 

No attempt to create representative or illusionary drawings, rather, the goal is ambiguity itself: an uncertainty, an indefinite space where wonderment may be sustained. The drawing doesn’t facilitate a representation of an aspect of human life but opens up a different realm on human existence. The research posits that the simplicity and accessibility of the materials ensure the drawing avoids any sense of awe or curiosity. 

And how can these projects in drawing be situated in the insides and outsides of art-spaces, libraries and museums towards squares and parks and further into forrests and caves? 

Merleau-Ponty writes that we find the true meaning of phenomenology within ourselves (Merleau-Ponty 2005, viii). Therefore, to awaken a deep sense of wonder in the viewer, the drawer must first be filled with wonder and be empathetic to the lived experience of the site (Merleau-Ponty, 2005; van Manen 2014). By taking a phenomenological attitude in wonder, drawing becomes a device for perceiving and understanding the world as it appears. 

To create networks around drawing and magic with other artists, and discover commonalities with scientists, psychologists and anthropologists.

Bybliomoebick:

βιβλιοθήκη βιβλίον βύβλος (bibliothḗkē, “book-room”), from (biblíon, “book”) - (papyrus) and amoeba, a microscopic organism. The language that you cant see, but which is still there.

Drawing as partipation in the imagination of the land and the poetry of nature. drawing as a participation of seeing, feeling and thinking, with the world, with nature, with reality. A feedback between the drawer and the drawn, the perceiver and perceived, to a point where it dissolves and you cant tell the difference. Everything is drawn. It is like the hen and the egg, which came first? 

Drawing as touching. But also being touched. Being touched by the world. 

the rooms with the arrangement of things to be drawn still life, things on a table or on pedestals or boxes you display, you show, you study, you look, you draw the history of drawing from life and the drawing emphasizes this ”being alive” the drawing makes alive

Animism

perception

display

get in contact with nature

our relation to nature

sprituality and memes

expressing ourselves through memes

Stefan Bakmand

stefanbakmand

Occupied City. Antwerp & Avant-Gardes

January 2019 | Selin AYDINOL

EN | Prolific & Insistent Existence of Artist-led Initiatives: Pinkie Bowtie

Open

Foreword                                                                          

I don’t know which one is more fascinating. Generations of artists trying to free art from it’s period or as a newcomer discovering the treasures of Belgium. In this class, they come in one package and I enjoyed every discovery. Back in the grade schools of Turkey, what I recall was that the history lessons were one of the most difficult ones. They were intense, cluttered and if one wasn’t interested in it at all, they still had to preserve this intensity till the university. It would be a lie if I said that I never really was interested in history. Even though what they taught was only about Turkey/Ottoman Emperor. Neither in middle school nor in high school, I couldn’t enjoy it. Wars of men, invasions and terror… Whenever I got too excited about a topic, it always proved me that no historical event came without blood spilling, rape, deception, harassment and greed. Either “how” it always had been taught, or “what” was taught was the reason why I exaggerate my despise on general history. What history ended up teaching me was how horrible humankind is and I really do not think I need the past to verify me that. 

However, the crucial need of knowing what happened is a basic way to get to know how societies became the way they are today. The past is not only the beginning of things but also growth and endings. Being conscious of evolutions and repetitions of the past is what makes today more meaningful and comprehensible. In personal terms, history can undoubtedly be an engaging territory to wander around if only one could scrape the brutality off it. If we downsize the frame from history to art history, the ferocity of life is still present but less bloody and less intimidating. At least around the subject of this class anyway. So yeah! Instead of tricks and games of warfare and loss that came with it, let's talk about creative solvings of artists who faced walls of underdeveloped ideas, either from the art world itself or from the government. Let's get excited about their eagerness to express and change. Their wills, desires and needs that led them to occupy. But where? Where would be the best place for me to learn more about? The answer was my explicit purpose for this years’ theory class: Occupied City. Antwerp & Avant-Gardes. 

After deciding that staying here would benefit both me and my husband, the only way I thought I could enjoy Antwerp was to learn the city behind the city. I felt alienated for a long time already and unless I started learning more and became acquainted with it’s history, I could stay alienated. After all, knowing a certain building’s former purpose to assist artists along the way to reforms, or crossing a street while pointing at a place where one knows that it was occupied by artists are the colors of the city. In passing, let’s not forget the fact that I’m also an artist who is established in Antwerp. I think as a student in the painting department of The Royal Academy of Antwerp, it’s crucial to be familiar with former students’ contributions, the challenges that they had to face and their footprints in our lives that traces back to them. It feels almost as though I owe it to the Academy and to the city of Antwerp. Also, engaging in such subjects combined with the relations of the Academy and it’s former students that took part in shaping the art back in the 20th century till now, was irresistible. What makes it so different for me, for someone who had a misfortune with general history, is that it was exciting! Not to mention my teacher Johan Pas, who was as passionate as sharing this knowledge as the subject itself, it was overall an intriguing experience that led me to research more. The more I dug the more I found information that was valuable to me. I know that I made a good decision before graduating, by selecting this essencial course and I really appreciate it existing.

Research Question: As an artist of today, is it possible to free art from the corporate system?

Introduction

This research was the most engaging thing I ever did so far since my time here in Antwerp. I for sure didn’t feel like I was in any situation where I could experience a collective working method. Especially in the first few months after I arrived here. The sky was dark and cloudy most of the time. Causing lack of sunlight which isn’t helping the grey roads and buildings of the city. A psychological influence that one cannot avoid, that the reflection on the people is so evident, as people were as cold as the weather; No intention of reacting to their surroundings. Am I in danger? Is she being harassed? Does anyone care? Unwillingness to connect with others; A simple “Hello” or look in the eyes and smile… Seeing people not willing to interrupt the group of friends they built in long years and there I’m, trying so hard to engage. I’m often shy, an asocial person in situations of introducing myself compared to my other friends. But I thought that this amount of disconnection was not healthy. Missing so much content by not knowing Dutch. At the academy, I misunderstood half of the things that were said. The other half was in Dutch and I worked my brain so hard to find similarities in English to understand it. Gathering in the atelier to talk about our works and of course not everyone is going to explain themselves in English for two students. Explaining your work or methods are already a nervous act especially in front of a group. At that point they might think that it’s more important to transfer their thoughts in the best way possible than making sure that every single person understands how they are doing what they do. Some lessons were in English thankfully, like the class of Hans Theys. Then I was aware of some-things. Let’s not forget people’s constant reactions to my story: “Oh! You left your family and came all the way from Turkey to study in Antwerp. In another country? How did you do it? Don’t you miss your family? Etc. Reminding me that I can not see my family as often as they do. Visiting home every weekend if they choose to. The next closest city is how far? Like an hour by car? It was just terrible. I’m already in a discussion with myself about my artistic growth and contribution to the world as an artist, yet the pressure of the new system, school, culture wore me down the most. I haven’t felt any lonelier. Until I realised that the people here are not that different than what I was used to. I learned the language, worked at a student job in the city and went to some cafes/bars. Got harassed from time to time. Similar issues were happening but in an Antwerp customized format. You need to know where to hang out, where to smoke, where to complain and when to interfere. If you hang out at certain places and spend enough time on your relationships, you can find people who are open to change. Who reacts to each other and things, while others walk like zombies. Who is not shy to take a stand, while others stare like cows staring at a train. Who creates just to be able to answer a basic question, while others wonder artist’s income.

When I look through a wider frame concerning social issues and artists’ approach on them, I see no major differences between what Antwerp today is facing and what 20th century Antwerp had to face. With the urge to find new ways to artistically strengthen the communication between artist-art-people, they discovered the use of books and catalogs as their new exhibition places, then later simplistic yet powerful acts of mail art pushed the boundaries of collective actions in the 1980s. Whether encouraged G58, creating the zero exhibition in Hessenhuis or at the times of Gunther, Dennis Tyfus and Vaast Colson’s collective attempt of showing art in a hexagon structure, glass for walls, both questioned the gallery as a space and the place of contemporary art in the city. Since the 1960s, ongoing initiatives of artist-led organizations and project spaces such as Wide White Space, De Zwarte Panter… then, LLS Palaeis, C A S S T L or Pinkie Bowtie now shows that, the space insufficiency for contemporary art is still an obvious problem. In addition, the explosion of America’s commercialized art caused a mad profit driven contemporary galleries to appear. Pushing artists to question their self worth along with their art works’. While history keeps repeating itself in spite of new titles and names, the common events that they all share are the inevitable efforts of freeing art from it’s time. The binding point for me was the way they do it. Panamarenko and Dr. Hugo Heyrman occupied the Royal Museum, as an answer to “Where do Antwerpen artists go to, when an art related problem occurs?” Under the name of Vaga (Vrije Aktie Groep Antwerpen), demanding an exposition space for contemporary art, represents the very essence of what artist do; Being sensitive enough to question acts and happenings, focusing on the origin of the problem by having the courage to interfere, moving collectively to change/evolve the current... By the way, ICC, De Zwarte Panter and Club Moral were resolving the need of time’s emerging artists. It took about 20 years after the occupation to see a contemporary art gallery being established in Antwerp. They hoped to change people and their ideas and after years, looking back and realizing how they “partly made the city what it is and looks like today.” (1)

In the past, whether the long period of Renaissance dominating artists for what and how to paint in order to gain recognition and considered successful or, throughout the modern art where the numerous isms indicated the attitude of the time, some artists from each period have always proved to society and art organizations who shaped the society that, there will always be oppositions. Years of conservatism must have ended one way or another or, evolve until it became the past again. What was there to do if the artists didn’t want to depict religious stories or paint what they were commissioned anymore and yet be known and respected? Would the public pay attention and support those artists who rebelled against the time’s Salons? People don’t just obey circumstances do they? Without questioning or listening? We are beings who observe, learn and think. Who have opinions to discuss and ideas to express. Unfortunately, it’s way easier nowadays to numb our minds and accept without question to whatever is happening around us. Just submitting, now that we have more distractions than ever compared to other ages but, that’s why artists and thinkers are needed. A crucial part of nations. As Ataturk once said: “A nation devoid of art and artists cannot have a full existence.” If art and philosophy wasn’t the way to attain freedom (thinking and a way of living and earning the way you choose to), then what was? It wasn’t just about creating a space to show your artwork and make money off of it. It was a contumacy of the perception on the purpose of art and the role of artists in societies. In no way I’m saying that ordered paintings of elites, portraits of royalties and depictions of religious events were badly executed or less important but, I think the Mannerism was the most beautiful initiative and a milestone in 16th century that indicated what we owe to those who made today’s artist the way they are now.

Thanks to artists, art is a living thing and it will react to whether wars, regimes, isms or organizations. As results of uncountable disputes, what private collectors left for the public eye were masterpieces and partly well protected history. History of beauty. History of people, politics, religion, passion... For generations, people whether elite or common folk, admired artworks. Some wanted to buy and hang them on their wall. Some just wanted to stare at them and appreciate the artist's effort and some, wanted the possession of it for investment purposes. As everything became a market, as soon as contemporary art became a commercialized market, it didn’t take too long for opportunists or better to put “very smart people” to catch up to this market. To build their own even, where signing contracts were involved. Where artists must pick from “to be paid monthly” or “each art piece that was purchased”. This attitude of the market made some artists feel like merchants or as “reduced to a product”(2) This convention of the gallery system commercialized the artwork and the artist until any potential artistic transactions died. Without questioning the relationship between artist and the audience before the transaction happens. Exposing this gap between the uniqueness of an artist's contribution and marketing, that were inauthentically executed by corporate acts. The idea of independence and free expression in organizing oneself however, are more natural and pleasing. From this page forth, we’ll examine a group of artists who want to fill that gap by establishing a collective space that challenges, encourages them and others around.

Peter Fengler, Vaast Colson, Dennis Tyfus (Pre-Pinkie Bowtie Period)

Before the idea of researching the Pinkie Bowtie settled in my mind, I was already fascinated by Antwerpse artists’ passion of managing their own space, exhibition, catalogs and books. Numeros artists found the support they needed from this passion and processed it in collaborative manners. Leading them to experience different aspects of making and showing. Sharing a space while doing acties with no audience, making underground magazines... Solidarity was how I used to define an artist until I got familiar with Antwerp and its Avant Garde artists. As Vaast Colson mentioned during our class’ visit, he didn’t know why he didn’t have “the reflex in visual arts to directly organize” himself, as he did with skateboarding and music. Without boundaries, daringly creating a collective project to gather under an utopian idea. Like Frigo, an aktie group that was built by the academy's former students including Vaast. It was after graduating that he participated in Frigo akties. In the academy years, he was more focused on the traditional values of visual arts and the academy. Respecting the structure that the academy provided, he immersed himself with information before he wanted to become vocal. Visited every exhibition every week, found himself in libraries and bookstores around the city. Once he graduated, he felt lucky that he was immediately adopted by his first gallery. They cherished and spoiled him. Like an artist in a “golden cage” was maybe the reason he formed Frigo with his friends. Students from different departments coming together with another who was majoring in philosophy, to not just do an exhibition, but something that they share a process with. Without the presence of “other”. Almost like a private research group. Designing  a context, sharing the experience, then let go. So the result wasn’t as important as the process. It would be akties such as inviting the group to a space like stage. Performing small tasks that were given from the current leader who have switched time to time. Such joyful and experimental events under a conceptual context. By inviting the audience, the context formed more solidly, that everybody’s reflex on akties was disturrupt. Everybody fell into a different mood, which led them to go off the rails. The idea was broken as Vaast puts it. When they tried to reunite after years, they were even further away from each other. The moment wasn’t there anymore so it didn’t work. Once the moment was gone, you couldn’t push it anymore. How I would like to narrate this, that once the akties gave all that it could to the individuals of Frigo, it completed its task of shaping them. And at last, as they let the idea go at the end of every akties, the idea left them. They needed a new goal, a new target to follow and Vaast claims that he found it with Dennis.

Dennis Tyfus’ and Vaast Colson path were about to cross. The duo’s collaboration series started with Scheldapen in 1998. Scheldapen was for a while an unauthorized collective organization which united artists and free thinking people in one place. They designed their own magazines. Performed experimental gigs, where Vaast and Dennis met often. Back then, Dennis, who spent years at the Radio Centraal, had the Ultra Eczema for a year already. Ultra Eczema is a record label in an untraditional way which was established by Dennis Tyfus. As he describes: “A place that draws a line through all of my activities that connects the points.” His ideal place to combine interests and influences with his work. A center for Dennis to thrive. It releases all sorts of things for over twenty one years. Such as books, t-shirts, flyers…. When Scheldapen became more organized and well supported by the government, they could feel the change in the effect of the place. After it shut down, the duo felt like they fell in a gap. The lack of space for art and the fondness of collective acts, pushed them to create Gunther. Duo’s first collaborative space, where they gave numerous concerts and performances. Another project space where you could challenge the ways of showing, created an atmosphere where friends and loved ones were involved. Long nights with music and deep conversations, experiencing and sharing together. As naive  as to share a utopia together, one has to confront the end of things. Working hard to keep the place functional and busy schedules that requires travelling, caught up with Gunther. The relationship with the owner was also not going any better. They left the building along with Gunther.

Having reached the end with Gunther, only fired up the energy that the duo shared. It didn’t take too long for them to find a new place in the city. Even smaller than Gunther, De Stadslimiet was situated opposite the castle at the river Schelde. With De Stadslimiet, (also called Vansteensel & De Caigny Gallery) Vaast and Dennis kept on pushing the boundaries of artist-led initiatives, while LLS Paleis and other project spaces supported the variety of showing art in the Antwerp scene. Together with Ultra Eczema, De Stadslimiet became a point in the city where you could hear independent and non-commercial music. Self built cassettes and instruments, unheard, quality music. Now and then a solo show by Vom Grill… It’s also where Peter Fengler enters the pre-Pinkie Bowtie scene, if not already entered by collaborating with Ultra Eczema or exhibitions he held in M HKA and Middelheim. With his own production platform De Player, he is creating an alternative space for artists to cherish and share the mutual influences of visual arts and music. Progressing the contemporary scene in Rotterdam and the world. With the network they have; Vaast’s environment from the music industry and the Academy, Dennis’ Radio Centraal and Ultra Eczema roots, they created an atmosphere in the city that beats like a heart. They invited so many artists, hosted so many shows but not so much of their own work. They did more than the Gunther times but still not as much as they should, as Dennis Tyfus puts it. With Peter’s presence, once again the idea of organizing selfworks with less of being supportive of others and more of concentrating on your own practise emerged. Looking back at Gunther and Stadslimiet, they needed an artist who could also figure out the financial side of the next big thing: Pinkie Bowtie

Pinkie Bowtie

Pinkie Bowtie is a collective gallery in the center of Antwerp. It was founded January 1st, 2017 by three artists: Vaast Colson, Dennis Tyfus (Faes) and Peter Fengler. It is their idea of colliding their practices for collaborative work methods under one roof which created the Pinkie Bowtie. A way of seeking power from each other, a different type of dynamic which only would arise from group effort of three. As Fengler puts it: “a potential”. Potential of experimentation. Potential of unexpectant of when three artists come together. When we look at the founders individually, the only feature that they have in common is organizing, creating a sort of social environment. The rest do not meet. And it’s almost as though it is the reason why the Pinkie Bowtie is made out of them. They don’t want to be sorted or separated by their differences. Quite the contrary. By pushing the range of variety, they could only increase the quality and the uniqueness. As another definition by Fengler: “the opportunity to meet each other” He might or might not meant it as literally, I understand it figuratively. Meeting point for their practice and mediums. A potential to define, question and show art as Pinkie Bowtie. It’s the attitude of Pinkie Bowtie that shows the habit of hosting is still present. There is not only one type of exhibition that you can witness. There is not only one medium that you would get familiar with seeing. It is difficult to define it in one word. “Pinkie Bowtie is a personnage” The place is as liberal as the artists that represent it. Artists who don’t like to be stuck in one technique, that don’t want to stop thinking and questioning what they are doing. How and why? Their approach on life and art is the reason why they are not attempting this kind of initiative for the first time and won't be the last if they somehow happen to close. Exhibitions; installations, drawings and paintings. Performances that include concerts and experimental music. Participations in festivals, art fairs and open studios.

As becoming the Pinkie Bowtie, they experience the freedom of not having to do anything if they want to. Stumbled by De Stadslimiet’s tempo, they spent more time in the studio, focusing on their own work. That’s why the first three events were solo exhibitions. After a few collaborations, because of course the Pinkie Bowtie obtained the collective qualities of it’s artists, they began to feel the Pinkie Bowtie persona that thrives from the energy between the trio. Playing with presence and absence of organisms, proving that it’s not only a showroom but a place for them to experiment. Improvising with the form and  presentation. Sometimes put in situations where they need to have faith in one another that created an even stronger bond. While representing it conceptually, also trusting another to represent it without you. When Pinkie Bowtie was invited to the Kraak festival in Brussels, it endorsed an act with a certain attitude. They had to feel one to make the persona appear, as they all were representing the Pinkie Bowtie. The effects of the place were undeniable. Symbolizing the taste of contemporary initiatives of Antwerp since the 1970s. Pinkie Bowtie Artists knew long ago about the location they reside now. Dennis wished to have a place there on Wolstraat 31 as soon as he got familiar with it’s history. ERCOLA (Experimental Research Center of Liberal Artists) was established by Jean-Claude Block, Jean-Claude Buytaert, photographer Piet Verbist and author Dominique Donnet in 1968. Once active and prolific ERCOLA, had a multidisciplinary approach including performance and music. Creating a rich network of artists that dealt with sound, color, light, time and space. Supporting the tradition of entrepreneur Antwerpen artists to organize their practise, they became non-profit in 1971. They have an ambition that influenced artists to get things done. ICC later M HKA, Radio Centraal, Club Moral couldn’t be without the awareness of ERCOLA in the city. 

The purpose of Pinkie Bowtie’s existence comes down to carrying on that ambition. Even evolve it; “organize things from our own practice at any time and with every rhythm”, filling the gap between artist-audience-marketing. The time period to establish the Pinkie Bowtie was also an opportunity. Antwerpen artists and art lovers were confronting a strange time in the city when the three big organizations: The Royal Museum, M HKA and Extra City closed for restorations. The hopes then were turned to single galleries or artists’ initiatives such as C A S S T L which emerged around the same time as Pinkie Bowtie. Not selling nor representing any artist. They focus on showing  art and the enjoyment that comes with it. Reopens the idea of switching the contemporary art scene to more a creative contemporary art experience. As encouraging as it sounds, the economics and maintenance of taking initiatives should not be mentioned lightly. if one doesn’t have any experience nor interest, the invisible tasks of the organization will obstacle the artist and the practice. Management, commercial, social media, take so much mind space to be focused on self. Galleries that represent artists however, will do everything else that they wouldn’t do. Create a platform on the internet for one’s image, publications and news. Any kind of effort to provide them the economic freedom as artists work for them. Giving artists “the space”, that eventually becomes “the gap”. The absence of authenticity, the malfunction that generates from “being” represented by other, were one of the reasons of Pinkie Bowtie, “but the economic aspect remains difficult” As a successful entrepreneur both as in quality of material and financial manner Peter Fengler, added his contribution to the group with his managing skills of De Player. Vaast Colson: “He is not only ten years older than us, but also very pragmatic, and that is what we sometimes miss.” 

Designing and more importantly updating the website, hiring photographers for every event, the maintenance of the space costs money or time. As far as one could see from outside, Pinkie Bowtie is doing well with its time. Guessing that the past experience of all three artists, had the perfect chemistry to bring out and manage this initiative successfully. With current and upcoming events of Pinkie Bowtie and its artists individually, they seem on track. Continuing on expressing collectively and creating experiences both for themselves and the audience. Having the non-commercial point of view lets them co-exist with their fellow organizator artists and share the enjoyment of wide variety in the city. All together freeing art from its time once more.

Conclusion

Throughout the research and writing process, what I learned and experienced along the way was the most valuable outcome. Constant repetition of life that feels unique every time, influences of revolutionary individuals’ presence in the city and in its artists. Reminding the need and power of connection and reaction. Defining the very nature of humankind and everything else related with it. Joy and unity of sharing utopic perspectives to ease the tensions that don't need to exist. It’s pleasing to see two artists who had to break down a literal wall to collaborate together and end up organizing their own space over and over. Keep on creating in every manner possible, preserving their characteristics of self organizing and free thinking. Pushing the boundaries until there is none left. These traditional characteristics of Antwerp artists tells us, “that as long as there are limits, there will be many more walls to break down and we will break them down”. I can never look at the city again as I looked before this class. Emptiness that I felt during my time in this strange city is now filled with knowledge and curiosity. Once again I learned that art is a living thing which needs artists attention and care. Artists that don't let it be suppressed or labeled by any. Every young, emerging artists, especially the ones whose history is as full of akties and infinitives as Antwerp, must have an idea of the past.  Engaging an enjoyable adventure of research to be able to comprehend today’s art world. Gaining an insight of the city by experiencing the spirit of the past. Generations of artists and artist-led initiatives showed that art can be free from its time if the artists cherish the value of collective methods. 

The Pinkie Bowtie Explorers’ Club

Explorer’s club is the secret society of Pinkie Bowtie. If paid the membership fee, you can become a member which includes a personalized, framed bowtie and access to the beautiful minds of other members. Come together to discuss ideas or brainstorm in a familiar and dynamic environment.

Selin AYDINOL

selinaydinol.com

artist_selinaydinol

selinaydinol94@hotmail.com

DONALD DUCK IS DEAD

June 2018 | Stefan BAKMAND

EN

Open

In the Disney cartoon from 1947, Donald Duck is a photographer in the South American jungle. He wants to take pictures of exotic birds. His Kodak-moment is disturbed by the Aracuan bird, who sings and dances in front of the camera, a hypnotic song with its dadaistic comparisons. Donald Duck wants to kill the Aracuan bird, but is tricked by the bird into weird situations and illusions. Donald Duck realizes he has lost, and becomes insane, imitating the bird's song, dancing around as the Aracuan bird. The end.

Kim Kardashian duck face selfie “Duck Face”, also known as “Myspace Face”, is a pejorative term for a facial expression made by pressing one’s lips together into the shape of a duck’s bill. It is often associated with selfies of teenage girls posted on social media.

THE PHOTOGRAPHER: 

When you travel anywhere you see people taking pictures of sites, monuments, statues, ruins, panoramic views- they want to capture themselves being there... “See... I was there!” The relation they are in with the place, in a picture, kodak moment....click...moving on to the next. It is not only important to have the picture, then we might as well find all the pictures on the internet in better quality if that was the case. And you could learn to photoshop yourself into them, and save the money. It is important that we take the picture ourselves, no matter how much we do it in the same way as others, from the same position. We know we are not being original... We can see the amount of other people around doing the exact same thing.

We are doing it by ourselves, as our self. It is an act of performing the person we are and our own point of view. And the camera is becoming the act of performing the self. For Donald Duck the act of photography became impossible. The Aracuan bird was always in the way as a screen in front of the object of his desire. I can identify with Donald Duck. I think he is the prototype of the western white male. imperfect, losing his temper, not able to contain himself, stupid, and a failure. He is more possible and real than Mickey Mouse. Mickey is too idealistically perfect. Mickey is what men once thought they were; heroic, brave, good sensible men, taking things into their own hands and saving the day. Mickey is the american dream, where you of course have to be asleep. Mickey is the Apollonian and Donald the Dionysian force. Donald Duck as Donald Trump.

Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach. Their dreams are our dreams, and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home and one glorious destiny. We will shine for everyone to follow. The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action. We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way. That all changes starting right here and right now, because this moment is your moment. It belongs to you. This is your day. This is your celebration. [Excerpt from the presidential election campaign of Donald Trump]

THE DISCOVERER:

What is it that you want to see when you travel? I saw a guy in Panama city at a backpacker hostel, wearing a tank-top on which it said on the back: “Get off the beaten track” A Paul Gaugain-syndrome: The white rich male artist that goes to a faraway island to seek divine inspiration and also have sex with the local women. Hipi (in Wolof meaning to open ones eyes) Hippie to hipster.

Brain-coral from Guna Yala province, panama with its print in my palm, with drawing from Gustave Dore’s “the confusion of tongues” To see the authentic, something that has not been touched by western civilisation. To eat local cuisine with local villagers. To go where nobody else has been, the first to step in the grass creating a path. To be the first to see something. To be the first at a certain site. In a world where every land on the planet has been mapped, there is a high value on real untouched nature. Like Columbus who discovered America, or the English discovering Australia. They also strongly believed in being the first. For them there was not anybody there before, not even the indigenous. Discover, invent, agree in signifying to find out; but we discover what already exists, though to us unknown; we invent what did not before exist... [Century Dictionary] That man is not the discoverer of any art who first says the thing; but he who says it so long, and so loud, and so clearly, that he compels mankind to hear him—the man who is so deeply impressed with the importance of the discovery that he will take no denial, but at the risk of fortune and fame, pushes through all opposition, and is determined that what he thinks he has discovered shall not perish for want of a fair trial. [Sydney Smith, in Edinburgh Review, 1826] Can you discover something which is already there? That a discovery is a discovery of something that has always been there, but now revealed by you. It is the realization that you have not seen it before, allthough it has been there the whole time.

Stefan BAKMAND

stefanbakmand

Pinecone and pineal gland

2017 - ongoing | Stefan BAKMAND

EN

Open

Look See the relations between images 

”Men om dig, Odin, sagde de, at du sejdede på Samsø, og du kogled på vølvers vis, i troldkarls lignelse for du hen over folkeskaren. Det mener jeg, er vidnesbyrd om tvekøn” -Loke 

Ordet "vølve" stammer fra norrønt vǫlr, der betyder "stav", dvs. at "vølve" bedst kan oversættes med "stavbærer" eller måske snarere "bærer af hellig stav", vǫlr stammer fra det protogermanske *walwōn, som den engelske wand (tryllestav) også stammer fra. 

“First the body. No. First the place. No. First both. Now either. Now the other. Sick of the either try the other. Sick of it back sick of the either. So on. Somehow on. Till sick of both. Throw up and go. Where neither. Till sick of there. Throw up and back. The body again. Where none. The place again. Where none. Try again. Fail again. Better again. Or better worse. Fail worse again. Still worse again. Till sick for good. Throw up for good. Go for good. Where neither for good. Good and all.” 

-From Worstword Ho! By Samuel Beckett 

I go down in my body, through its surface, and i release things from a subconschious realm that bounces back into the world, like a ball thrown to the floor, a feedback. And the world thinks back, another feedback. Call it a thingback. And this goes on and on, a circulatory animistic movement in my practice. And it becomes like the hen and the egg, which came first? Maybe that doesnt matter, and I think with the things. It becomes a symbiotic dialogue. 

Images are like humans something happens when you put them next to each other they talk together they exchange ideas they fight 

If our eyes had to literally eat the images we see every day as our mouths eat food, would we then choose to eat that many? 

Images are like food they are feeding back ideas a feedback 

People would be throwing up on the streets after seeing all this information 

You are the images that you eat 

The Bybliomoebick knows that everything is breathing. That everything has a voice, a voice that is speaking through us. 

Bybliot: papyrus-scroll, book, materialized language Amoeba: microscopic organism, mutable, hidden, secret, but still there The Bybliomoebick is an idea of a hidden language everywhere in things that you can communicate with, that still has a say in you and youre relation to it. That the world is made of language, and that you can twist reality with language. 

We stand hand in hand land is at hand landscape handscape hand in the sand 

Stefan BAKMAND

stefanbakmand

We have been given many names

 2014 - ongoing | Stefan BAKMAND

EN | A contemporary grimoire

Open

Etymology of Grimoire: A grimoire (/ r mwɑ r/ grim-WAHR) (also known as a ɡɪˈː “book of spells”) is a textbook of magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, deities and demons. The term grimoire originated from the old french word grammaire, close to the english grammar. Knowing grammar is knowing how to spell, likewise with magic: 

To do a spell is to actually spell To put the letters in the right place 

This resonates with a dream i had where my former tutor Jalal Toufic at Ashkal Alwan in Beirut was saying the sentence: ”We have been given many names”. That in nature, we have been given many names, other than our civilian names which says on our passports. 

I want to shortcircuit the meaning of my name. I want to find other combinations in my name Stefan Bakmand Andersen, only using the same letters. To make a text only with the letters of stefan bakmand andersen. To find hidden meanings in my name. To find all the other names that i have been given. Its like alchemy: as soon as find the right combination of the elements you will achieve extraordinary things. To activate old and lost esoteric knowledge. 

“The syntactical nature of reality, the real secret of magic, is that the world is made of words. And if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it whatever you wish.” -Terrence Mckenna 

There is some confusion as to what magic actually is. I think this can be cleared up if you just look at the very earliest descriptions of magic. Magic in its earliest form is often referred to as “the art”. I believe this is completely literal. I believe that magic is art and that art, whether it be writing, music, sculpture, or any other form is literally magic. Art is, like magic, the science of manipulating symbols, words, or images, to achieve changes in consciousness. The very language about magic seems to be talking as much about writing or art as it is about supernatural events. A grimmoir for example, the book of spells is simply a fancy way of saying grammar. Indeed, to cast a spell, is simply to spell, to manipulate words, to change people's consciousness. And I believe that this is why an artist or writer is the closest thing in the contemporary world that you are likely to see to a Shaman. -Alan Moore 

barkman and fastnes ende 

fat sandmann barken seed 

bannks are dead fast menn 

deaden fann bark steams n 

nest sad fan denmark bean 

dead bark fann steamnnes 

feedbakmann danserstan 

feedbarkmann dansestan 

feedbak madn sea strnnan 

feedbreakmann dansstan 

I have now mixed the text with a cut-up generator, that scrambless the words, similar to what William S. Burroughs did in Naked Lunch. http://www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk/cutup/text-mixingdesk/ output 

a deaf nest stab me deaf deaf nearnd sank men a nnest bark sand mannen manna fat seed nnear bannkmenns are sner barkmand and sad feedbak antmann are dead fast bark a nnest nest sad fan bark a nnest a deaf nnest dead men as fan nest men deaf neark dead fans fast deaden steamnnes sandmenn bark deaf sad menn feast esnen barkman bark steams n feed bark sand sad menn bark barkman and fastnes nneark sannd stab dead bark fann bark fann steamnnes and feast endnes menn deaden fann sannd stab men ende fat sandmann dead fans bark dead nets barkmenn stan feedbakmann danser denmark bean dead fanns bark steamn dad bseek fanntasm barken seed bannks a deaf nest stab me feast endnes menn deaden fann feast esnen barkman bark steams are sner barkmand and sad neark dead fast deaden steamnnes sannd stab men ende fatn feed bark sand sad sandmann dead fans bark dead deaf nnest dead fans men fan bark a nnest a bark a nnest nest sad feedbak antmann are dead fast sandmenn bark deaf sad menn manna fat seed nnear bannkmenns nets barkmenn stan feedbakmann danser as fan nest men deaf menn bark barkman and fastnes deaf deaf nearnd sank men denmark bean dead fanns bark fann bark fann steamnnes and nneark sannd stab dead bark steamn dad bseek fanntasm barken a nnest bark sand mannen a nnest bark sand mannen dead fast deaden bark fann steamnnes men ende fat fanntasm barken a stab me feast fan bark a nearnd sank men fann feast esnen sandmenn bark deaf steamnnes sannd stab as fan nest endnes menn deaden sad feedbak antmann men deaf menn and nneark sannd barkman bark steams fastnes deaf deaf are sner barkmand a deaf nest fat seed nnear bark barkman and nnest a bark dead fans bark bannkmenns nets barkmenn n feed bark steamn dad bseek nnest bark sand dead fans men denmark bean dead sad menn manna stab dead bark and sad neark a nnest nest dead deaf nnest sand sad sandmann mannen sad sandmann mannen a nnest stan feedbakmann danser are dead fast fanns bark fann fanns bark fann nets deaf dead bean a men a barkman nearnd fann endnes men antmann a deaden sand deaf me sannd ende fan bark and feedbak sannd steams stab feast fastnes fanns nnest bark mannen fastnes fanns nnest bark mannen bseek sner menn and stab fann sner menn and stab fann barkmenn a deaf bark as bark mannen deaf bark as bark mannen nnear nnest nest barken sand men sandmann dead fat fanntasm fast fan bark steamnnes barkman seed sandmann denmark fans dead a fann a deaf menn sad dead men nnest bark bark bannkmenns danser are stan sad sad fast fanns are nest fans barkmand dad sad manna nnest sank bark deaden esnen neark deaf menn deaf feast bark fat bark feed dead nest dead stab sad bark feedbakmann nneark n bark dead and nnest steamn steamnnes sandmenn and nnest steamn steamnnes sandmenn sad sad fast fanns are nest bark mannen bseek sner menn and mannen nnear nnest nest barken sand sannd ende fan bark and feedbak a barkman nearnd fann endnes...

som skidt fra en spædkalv i én køre én strøm som munke der oplæser tekster højt brødtekst uden pauser, indsatte pauser ordene virker kun når du siger dem ud i rummet 

en dans en barksaft en dam madbarken dansen fasten en madbark en dans en saft barkdans en nem andesaft banker en and snefad mast barkmanden sande stefan bank med fanden satan ser stanken fra badende dnams stanken fra denne adam denne adams bark af sten denne en adams barksaft stanken fra andebamsen stanken fra denne sabdam anden dens fantasmebark dansen den fantasmebark send anden fantasmebark denne tarmsnak af sebnad denne tarmsnak af besdan denne tarmsnak af sebdan denne tarmsnak af snabed denne tarmdans af senbak denne tarmdans af senkab denne tarmdans af baknes stefan sende ak barn mand kaster med and banan fnes anden dens fantasmebark feedbark man dansens nat 

og smidt igennem cut-up generatoren http://www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk/cutup/text- mixing-desk 

barn mand kaster med and banan bark af sten denne en adams senbak denne tarmdans af senkab denne en dans en barksaft en dam stanken fra denne adam denne adams dans en saft barkdans en nem den fantasmebark send anden fantasmebark denne madbarken dansen fasten en madbark en satan ser stanken fra badende dnams tarmdans af baknes stefan sende ak andesaft banker en and snefad mast tarmsnak af snabed denne tarmdans af besdan denne tarmsnak af sebdan denne fnes anden dens fantasmebark feedbark man tarmsnak af sebnad denne tarmsnak af barkmanden sande stefan bank med fanden barksaft stanken fra andebamsen stanken fra denne sabdam anden dens fantasmebark dansen sabdam anden dens fantasmebark dansen satan ser stanken fra badende dnams 

An ancient metaphor: thought is a thread, and the raconteur is a spinner of yarns -- but the true storyteller, the poet, is a weaver. The scribes made this old and audible abstraction into a new and visible fact. After long practice, their work took on such an even, flexible texture that they called the written page a textus, which means cloth. 

af en dans en barksaft en en besdan denne tarmsnak af sebdan banan madbarken dansen fasten en madbark dnams dans en saft barkdans en denne barksaft stanken fra andebamsen stanken adams stanken fra denne adam denne denne tarmsnak af snabed denne tarmdans denne andesaft banker en and snefad adams senbak denne tarmdans af senkab dam fnes anden dens fantasmebark feedbark af denne sabdam anden dens fantasmebark ak den fantasmebark send anden fantasmebark fanden barn mand kaster med and nem bark af sten denne en fra barkmanden sande stefan bank med dansen tarmdans af baknes stefan sende man tarmsnak af sebnad denne tarmsnak fantasmebark ak den fantasmebark send en saft barkdans en denne af sten denne en fra en en besdan denne tarmsnak barkmanden sande stefan bank med fnes anden dens fantasmebark feedbark af en dans en barksaft fasten en madbark dnams dans kaster med and nem bark af sebdan banan madbarken dansen denne tarmdans denne andesaft banker af denne sabdam anden dens sende man tarmsnak af sebnad adams stanken fra denne adam dansen tarmdans af baknes stefan denne tarmdans af senkab dam denne denne tarmsnak af snabed en and snefad adams senbak anden fantasmebark fanden barn mand barksaft stanken fra andebamsen stanken barkmanden sande stefan bank kaster med and fanden barn mand barksaft denne tarmsnak af denne andesaft banker af en denne af sten denne sabdam anden dens madbarken dansen denne tarmdans denne adam dansen tarmdans dans en barksaft fasten fantasmebark feedbark af en adams senbak anden fantasmebark send en saft barkdans snabed en and snefad denne en fra madbark dnams dans sebnad adams stanken fra af baknes stefan denne med fnes anden dens fantasmebark ak den fantasmebark en besdan denne tarmsnak bark af sebdan banan sende man tarmsnak af tarmdans af senkab dam denne andesaft banker af dans en barksaft fasten denne sabdam med fnes tarmsnak af madbarken dansen denne tarmdans fantasmebark feedbark af en baknes stefan denne fantasmebark ak den fantasmebark en madbark dnams dans snabed en and snefad barkmanden sande stefan bank kaster med and nem en besdan denne tarmsnak af sten adams senbak anden fantasmebark denne denne tarmsnak af send en saft barkdans denne adam dansen tarmdans bark af sebdan banan sebnad adams stanken fra denne en fra en fanden barn mand barksaft and snefad Barkmanden sande stefan bank tarmsnak af madbarken dansen denne tarmdans kaster med and en besdan sebdan banan sebnad adams stanken fra en madbark dans en fantasmebark feedbark af en af baknes barksaft fasten denne sabdam anden dens adams anden fantasmebark denne andesaft banker af dans denne adam dansen tarmdans bark af denne tarmsnak af sten stefan denne fantasmebark ak den fantasmebark denne fra fanden barn tarmsnak send en saft barkdans 

Stefan Bakmand

stefanbakmand