decreet 041 oktober 20101081
decreet 041 oktober 20101091
BACK IN HIS WUPPERTAL STUDIO SPIT STARTS TO WORK ON A BOOK CALLED: MALEREI OHNE MALEREI PAINTING WITHOUT PAINTING). IT WAS ALL ABOUT THE
TECHNIQUE OF COLLAGE. HOW TO MAKE COMPOSTIONS ON WALLPAPER. THEN IT HAPPENED. HOMMES INVITED A GERMAN GALLERIST FROM TRIER, CRISTOPH
MAISENBACHER. MAISENBACHER CAME UP TO WUPPERTAL TO REPRESENT NATURLABOR ON THE ARTFAIR OF STRASSBOURG, THE GERMAN-FRENCH BORDER-
TOWN CLOSE TO THE RHINE RIVER. THE GALLERIST DIDNT REALLY WANT TO REPRESENT NATURLABOR, BUT HE WANTED TO SHOW SPIT. WHAT MAENZ HAD
BEEN TO SCHOLTE, TEN YEARS LATER MEISSENBACHER WAS TO SPIT.WE EMBARKED ON A NEW DIRECTION: THE SNOWBALL PROJECT. EXHIBITIONS IN ART
ASSOCIATIONS EN MUSEUMS. I STARTED TO SHOW MY FIRST CLOUD PAINTINGS AT OBERHAUSEN, THE BADEN MUSEUM AT SOLINGEN, AND SOME TOWN IN
HOLSTEIN NORTH OF HAMBURGALSO I EXHIBITED NEW WORK IN THE TOWN OF TILBURG AT THE MUSEUM OF NATURE AND GALERY KOKON." SNOWBALL
STRATEGY? I WAS'NT SURPRIZED. GERMANY HAS KNOWN A SYSTEM OF ART ASSOCIATIONS FOR OVER 150 YEARS. ORIGINALLY THEY WERE PROGRESSIVE CIVIL
AND LOCAL INITIATIVES, DATING BACK TO THE BIEDERMEIER EPOCH OFTHE1830S. KUNSTVEREINE, AS THEY WERE CALLED, HAPPENED TO BE THE FIRST
CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS OF THE GERMAN LIBERAL BOURGEOISIE STRIVING FOR NATIONAL UNITY. THE GRASS ROOT MOVEMENT WAS A NOVELTY IN THE
POLITICALLY SHATTERED GERMAN LANDSCAPE OF THE TIME. IN 1830 GERMANY STILL WAS NOT A NATION. TOGETHER WITH SCHOLTE, I HAD VISITED THE
FIRST KUNSTVEREIN AT KASSEL(i83o) IN 1988, WHERE HE DID A BIG PORTRAIT SHOW. DOCUMENTAWAS A LOCAL POSTWAR OFFSPRING OF THE KASSEL KUNST-
VEREIN. LATER WE WENT TO KUNSTVEREIN HANNOVER (1991), WHERE SCHOLTE OPENED HIS HUGE SILKSCREEN MONEY SHOW. COLLABORATION BETWEEN ART
ASSOCIATIONS AND MUSEUMS IN GERMANY HAD BEEN THE NORMAL PROCEDURE FOR A CENTURY. THE CASE OF DÜSSELDORF KUNSTVEREIN IN THE 70S WAS
LEGENDARY. NEXT TO THE OFFICAL MUSEUM, ASOCALLED KUNSTHALLE WAS ESTABLISHED. A PURE EXHIBITION SPACE. IT HAD NO COLLECTION OF ITS OWN,
BUT THERE WAS A WELL CONNECTED NETWORK OF COLLECTORS, WHO BOUGHT THE WORKS.
MEANWHILE IN WUPPERTAL, THE BAD AIR CAUSES DANA SAPIRO TO STOP DANCING AT THE PINABAUSCH COMPANY; THE SMOG JUST BECAME TOO MUCH. IT WAS
IN HER LIFE INTEREST, THAT SHE STARTED TO MOVE BACK TO THE COAST. LEAVING THE UNHEALTHY ATMOSPHERE OF OPPRESSING CLOUDS WAS NECESSARY
FOR HER HEALTH. TO ESCAPE FROM THE STIFLING CLIMATE, THAT CAUSED ALLERGIC REACTIONS, BECAME A FIRST PRIORITY. THE WUPPERTAL CIRCUS HAD
BECOME A PRISON, DESPITE THE SUCCESS STORY OF THE DANCE COMPANY ALL OVER THE WORLD. DURING THE SPRING OF 1999 SAPIRO HAD BEEN RELAXING IN
THE HOUSE OF A FRIEND ATBRUINISSE, ON THE ISLE OF SCHOUWEN-DUIVELAND, PROVINCE OF SEALAND, NETHERLANDS. FIRST DANA CONSIDERED MOVING TO
BRETAGNE, BUT THAT WAS A BRIDGE TOO FAR. IN SEALAND, ONE DAY DRIVE FROM WUPPERTAL, PROPERTY AT THE TIME WAS RATHER CHEAP. SO THE COUPLE
BOUGHT A HOUSE IN FAROUT FLUSHING. IT TOOK THEM TWO YEARS TO RENOVATE THE HOUSE. UP TILL 2001 THEY DROVE BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN
WUPPERTAL AND FLUSHING.
ONE YEAR INTO THE NEW MILLENIUM THE COUPLE CUT A DEAL. DANA WOULD LIVE IN FLUSHING, WHEREAS SEB ASTLAAN WOULD REMAIN IN WUPPERTAL.
SO SPIT AGAIN CONSIDERED HIS CHANCES. THEN ON 9/11 2001, DURING THE FESTIVAL: FILM BY THE SEA, SPIT CUT THE GORDIAN KNOT. HE APPLIED FOR A JOB AS
A DIRECTOR OF THE WALCHEREN ART EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE (MIKV) AT MIDDELBURG, CAPITAL CITY OF SEALAND. BACK TO THE COAST AT LAST! MIGRATING
FROM THE CITY OF ZWOLLE, I HAD BEEN RENTING A STUDIO AT W3 COMPLEX, ORANGE STREET, IN FLUSHING MYSELF. SEPTEMBER 2001, THE FLOOR OF THE LEFT
WING OF THE W3 BUILDING WAS RECONSTRUCTED FOR SOUND ISOLATION FROM THE THEATRE BELOW. NO PLACE TO WORK, I HAD GONE TO BERLIN WHERE
DOKOUPIL HAD INVITED ME TO DO ANOTHER COLLABORATION IN THE FIELD OF PAINTING. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, BUT THE TOPIC WAS CLOUDS. WHAT EXACTLY IS
A CLOUD? A VISIBLE BODY OF VERY FINE DROPLETS OF WATER OR PARTICLES OF ICE DISPERSED IN TFIE ATMOSPHERE ABOVE THE EARTH'S SURFACE AT VARIOUS
ALTITUDES RANGING UP TO SEVERAL MILES. CLOUDS INCLUDE STEAM, SMOKE OR DUST. CLOUDS CAN SMALL BE OR BIG. THEY CAN BE IMMOBILE OR MOVE WITH
RAPID SPEED LIKE A SWARM. THEY CAN BE BRIGHT WHITE OR DARKEN INTO ALL OF SHADES OF GREY.
BY THE SPRING 2002 I HAD STARTED AN INTENSIVE COLLABORATION WITH DOKOUPIL, BASED ON A SINGLE POEM BY THE BRITISH ROMANTIC POET PERCY BYSSHE
WALK THE WHOLE SHOW. TOO MANY BORING PHOTOGRAPHS.
CONCERN ART AT ALL.
CURATED BY CATHERINE DAVID, A PARIS ART THEORETICIAN, WHO
PROCLAIMED ANOTHER VERSION OF THE DEATH OF THE ART OF PAINTING. ON
THEIR WAY DURING THE FIVE HOUR DRIVE TO KASSEL THROUGH THE ROTHAAN
MOUNTAINS, NATURLABOR FORMULATED THEIR NEW LANDSCAPE PROJECT.
SPIT DECIDED TO PAINT EXCLUSIVELY CLOUDS. THE ORNAMENTS HE PAINTED
UP TILL THEN, HAD GRADUALLY STARTED TO LOOK LIKE CLOUD FORMATIONS
ANYWAY. HOMMES DID MAINLY PLOUGHED LANDSCAPES, WHEREAS
GRUMBKOW LET HIS PAINT FLOW. KASSEL WAS,- EXPECTEDLY-, A COMPLETE
DISSAPOINTMENT TO THE BOYS. LOTS OF TACKY INSTALLATIONS MADE UP OF
RUBBISH, MANY BORING SOCIO-POLITICAL VIDEOS, A MULTITUDE OF
UNREADABLE MANIFESTOS ON PERSONAL OBSESSIONS. WELCOME TO THE
INFANTILE HOBBY ART OF THE NINETIESTHE ONLY ART SEBASTIAAN
REMEMBERS FROM THE 1997 DOCUMENTA WAS A HOLE, DUG BY ANISH KAPOOR
AND A BIG WAT T. WITH THOUSANDS OF PHOTOGRAPHS, THAT HAD BEEN
GERHARD RICHTER'S INSPIRATION FOR HIS PAINTINGS. I WAS AT KASSEL TOO.
I HAD TO AGREE WITH SPITS OBSERVATIONS. IT TOOK ME THREE HOURS TO
ACCOMPANIED BY TOO MANY STATEMENTS ON TOO MANY UNIMPORTANT THINGS, THAT DID NOT
SHELLEY (1792-1822), WHO DROWNED OFF THE LIGURIAN COAST IN ITALY, WHEN HIS BOAT "DON JUAN" (NAMED AFTER A FAMOUS POEM BY LORD BYRON) WENT
DOWN IN A STORM DURING A CROSSING IN THE GULF OF SPEZIA FROM SAN TERENZO TO LERICI. THE BASIC ODE WAS TO BE SHELLEY'S "THE CLOUD", WRITTEN IN
PISA 1820. THIS CLOUD POEM HAD BECOME AN INTERNATIONAL EUROPEAN SYMBOL OF UNRESOLVED DESIRE, THAT HAD INFLUENCED, A WHOLE GENERATION OF
DUTCH POETS IN THE 1880'S DE TACHTIGERS) AS WELL AS A SCHOOL OF OPEN AIR PAINTERS FROM THE HAGUE. ITS OPENING LINE: "I BRING FRESH SHOWERS
FOR THE THIRSTING FLOWERS /FROM THE SEAS AND THE STREAMS /I BRING LIGHT SHADE FOR THE LEAVES WHEN LAID/IN THEIR NOON-DAY DREAMS" SEEMED TO
WORK LIKE AN INDIVIDUAL EXPRESSION OF THE MOST INDIVIDUAL EMOTION. ITS CLOSING LINE: "LIKE A CHILD FROM THE WOMB, LIKE A GHOST FROM THE
TOMB 1I ARISE AND UNBUILT IT AGAIN" REMINDED THE READER OF THE RHYTM, ALLITERATION AND ASSONANCE OF RENAISSANCE POETS LIKE PETRARCA AND
DANTE ALLEGHIERI FROM FLORENCE, WHO IN TURN HAD INSPIRED CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS LIKE GIOTTO, BOTTICELLI, GIORGIONE, AND TITIAN TO PRODUCE
MASTERWORKS LIKE PRIMAVERA, VENUS OFURBINO, JUPITER AND 10, BACCHUS AND ARIADNE, JUST TO MENTION A FEW.
AFTER DOKOUPIL AND I HAD DISCUSSED THE DEVASTATING IMPACT OF THE FUNDAMENTALIST ATTACK ON 9/11 AT GROUND ZERO IN NEW YORK, THE ROMANTIC
QUEST FOR TRUTH AND BEAUTY BECAME THE GUIDING SPIRIT FOR OUR FUTURE COLLABORATION. RIGHT-WING POPULISM HAD RISEN IN THE U.S.A, RESULTING
IN A WAR ON TERROR IN IRAQAND AFGHANISTAN. ON A LOCAL DUTCH LEVEL THIS MILITARY DEVELOPMENT LED TO THE BRUTAL MURDER OF THE OVER
NIGHT POLITICIAN PIM FORTUYN IN THE MEDIAPARK OF THE DUTCH TOWN OF HILVERSUM, SOMEWHERE BETWEEN AMSTERDAM AND UTRECHT.
I HAD KNOWN PIM FORTUYN SINCE 1972 AS THE SPOKESMAN OF THE STUDENT PROTEST POPULATION AT THE CALVINIST FREE UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM,
WHERE HE ORGANIZED A SUCCESFULL SIT-IN OCCUPATION OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE BUILDING. FORTUYN AND HIS STUDENTS DEMANDED THE RIGHT TO
PARTICIPATE IN THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND EDUCATION. AS A DEMOCRATIC STUDENT ACTIVIST FROM THE SOCIOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF GRONINGEN UNIVERSITY, I WAS SENT TO AMSTERDAM TO CONTRACT FORTUYN FOR A COURSE IN APPLIED MAOISM WITHIN A LIBERAL AND
PLURALISTIC MASTER PROGRAM ON THEORY-CONSTRUCTION. TO DISCUSS THE MATTER WE HAD A SESSION IN FORTUYN'S APARTMENT AT AN OLD SHIPMENT
BUILDING NEAR SHIPHOL AIRPORT, WHERE THE CHILDREN OF SKIPPER FAMILIES WERE LODGING TO FULLFILL THEIR OBLIGATORY SECONDARY EDUCATION.
ON BARE FEET, LONG HAIR OVER MY SHOULDERS, DRESSED IN STONE WASHED JEANS AND A WHITE TEESHIRT, FORTUYN LOOKED AT ME WITH AMUSED DISDAIN.
"YOU LOOK LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD", HE SAID. I AGREED. IT WAS EXACTLY THE WAY I FELT. I LOOKED AT HIM. HIS HAIR WAS SHORT AND WELL DONE. HIS FACE
WAS SHAVEN CLEAN. HIS GARMENT, A LEVY'S JEANS SUIT OVER A WHITE BUTTON DOWN SHIRT WITH A TRADITIONAL FRATURNITY TENNIS TIE, WAS PERFECTLY
IRONED. OVER HIS WHITE SOCKS HE WORE BLACK DR. JOHNSON SHOES, WITH PATTERNED HOLES AND STRINGS. ALWAYS A GENTLEMAN, I THOUGHT. NEVER A
DULL MOMENT. "WELL, HOW ABOUT IT?," I ASKED. FORTUYN RHYTHMICALLY TRIPPED HIS FINGERS ON THE TABLE. "I WILL DO IT," HE SAID. "YOU WILL
BECOME MY FIRST ASSISTANT. I WILL TEACH AN APPLIED MAOIST COURSE ON SOCIAL IDEA ACTION. BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO DROP YOUR HIPPIE IMAGE.
START LOOKING LIKE A NORMAL SOCIALIST. CUT YOUR HAIR. BUY A CORDUROY GREEN SUIT AND PUT ON BROWN PENNYSHOES. BUY WHITE SOCKS. YOU WILL
START SELLING A HUNDRED COPIES OF THE MAOIST ROTTERDAM HARBOR NEWSPAPER "SERVE THE PEOPLE" (DIEN HET VOLK) EVERY SATURDAY AT THE MAIN
SHOPPING STREET OF GRONINGEN. WHEN YOU SURVIVE THIS TEST, YOU WILL WORK FOR THREE MONTHS AT THE CARDBOARD-INDUSTRY AT OUDE PEKELA
NEAR THE GERMAN BORDER. YOUR MISSION WILL BE TO TURN ALL THE MOSCOW-DISORIENTED WORKERS INTO CHINESE FARMERS OR FISHERMEN. I WILL
GIVE A COURSE ON THE PRIMARY DIVISION OF LABOR IN THE DUTCH WORKING CLASS. LAND VERSUS WATER. THE BRIDGE TRAFFIC SITUATION. THE FARMER
HAS TO WAIT FOR THE FISHERMAN, WHEN THE BRIDGE IS UP. IN TURN THE FISHERMAN HAS TO WAIT FOR THE FARMER WHEN TFIE BRIDGE IS DOWN. OTHER
TFIINGS BEING EQUAL, THIS SYSTEM OF TURNTAKING IS THE SOCIAL ECONOMIC BASE OF SOCIETY.I WAS FLABBERGASTED. THEN I SAID: WHY WAIT UPON EACH
OTHER? WHY NOT MAKE A HIGHER BRIDGE OR EVEN BUILD A TUNNEL. THEN NOBODY HAS TO WAIT.
BACK TO DOKOUPIL AND THE CLOUD PROJECT. AFTER HIS SHOW: EVERYWAY IS A CLOUD, IN THE CENTRAL MUSEUM OF UTRECHT, GEORG SUGGESTED WE WOULD
EMBARK ON A TOUR OF EXHIBITIONS, TAKING US TO MILTON KEYNES UK), PRAGUE CZ), LAS PALMAS GRAN CAN ARIA) AND RIO DE JANEIRO BRAZIL).
ALTHOUGH THE UTRECHT SHOW HAD BEEN A SUCCESS, PRACTICALLY NO DUTCH ARTISTS SHOWED UP AT THE OPENING AND THE EVENT WAS IGNORED BY TFIE
DUTCH MEDIA. INSTEAD, DURING THE ARTIST DINNER AT THE ESTATE OF AMELISWEERD, THE CAR WINDOWS OF MOST VISITING GUESTS FROM COLOGNE, PRAGUE
AND ZÜRICH WERE SMASHED AND VALUABLE BELONGINGS WERE STOLEN. WFIY? ALTHOUGH THE POLICE INVESTIGATED THE CASE, NO CLUES WERE FOLLOWED.
THE VIOLENT ROBBERY WAS EXPLAINED AWAY BY REFERENCE TO "CUNT MAROCCANS" KUTMAROKKAANTJES) AND THAT WAS IT. DOKOUPIL AND I COULD NOT
BELIEVE IT. WE WANTED TO HEAR AN EXPLANATION OR AT LEAST A JUSTIFICATION. IF NOTHING ELSE MAYBE AN APOLOGY. IT NEVER FFAPPENED. SO WE
CONSTRUCTED AN EXPLANATION OF OUR OWN, BASED ON COMMON SENSE.
THE CLOUD WAS A STRONG CONCEPT. IT MARKED A SPOT IN THE SKY, ACCORDING TO GIOTTO. ALTHOUGH PAINTED IN A NAÏVE WAY, GIOTTO DEMONSTRATED A
SIMPLE COMPACT CLOUD IN OPPOSTION TO A GRAND BLUE SKY. IN UTRECFIT I HAD PERFORMED AT THE OPENING OF THE CLOUD SHOW IN A BLACK AND WHITE
PICASSO-SHIRT. PERFORMING THE POEM "MISS CLOUD", I FUT A TENNISB ALL WITH AN EMPTY RACKET, SO THE BALL HAD TO BE CAUGHT BY TFIE OTHER HAND.
IN MILTON KEYNES, HALFWAY BETWEEN LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM, I PERFORMED TFIE POEM "A CLOUDLESS WAY" IN A JAPANESE BLACK SCHOOL UNIFORM.
THE POEM DESCRIBED A COMPOSED LANDSCAPE, ACCORDING TO SHELLEY'S LINE:FROM CAPE TO CAPE, WITH A BRIDGE-LIKE SHAPE,/ OVER A TORRENT SEA."
ACCORDING TO A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE BRITISH COUNCIL, I SHOULD APPLY FOR A GRANT IN CLOUD-POETRY, STRESSING THE ROLE OF BOTH LORD BYRON
AND JOHN KEATS, WHOM SHELLEY HAD MET IN VENICE, NAPLES AND ROME. I STARTED TO READ KEATS. EVERYBODY SEEMED FAMILIAR WITH HIS LINE: "EVERY
CLOUD HAD A SILVER LINING". I PREPARED FOR PRAGUE AND GRAN CAN ARIA. BUT THE "CLOUDY CASTLE (WOLKENSCHLOSS) WAS WRITTEN IN GERMAN. TO
DOKOUPIL IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO PERFORM A GERMAN POEM IN PRAGUE. SO THE PERFORMANCE WAS CANCELLED. THEN I WROTE THE GRAN CANARIA POEM:
"CLOUDY KINGS". AGAIN DOKOUPIL OBJECTED. TFIE POEM SHOULD FIAVE BEEN WRITTEN IN SPANISH. SO WE CALLED IT A DAY. THE PROBLEM WITH POETRY
PERFORMANCE OBVIOUSLY WAS THAT THE LOCAL ART ELITE WILL ONLY PAY ATTENTION TO THEIR OWN NATIVE LANGUAGE. RATHER DISAPPOINTED I CALLED MY
