Some thoughts after the Heusden- Zolder meeting

It is widely agreed upon that art functions as a bridge between different times and cultures. It is a common language reaching beyond all frontiers it encounters. Besides skillful technical realizations and knowledge of materials art conveys feelings and expresses ideas. It is a vehicle for shared experiences and relating to people with varying customs and diverse viewpoints in life.

It was a wonderful experience to take part in the Charles Robert Darwin inspired exhibition titled as “On the Origin of Humanity” in Belgium. Darwin as the jubilee of the year functioned as a great source of inspiration both for the exhibition and for the ReThink meetings. The possibilities offered for linking and discussion with people from such different cultural backgrounds made the events so fascinating.

For the exhibition I tried together with a photographer Karel (to whom I was introduced to at a ReThink meeting in Forssa) to combine photographic images with calligraphy, this done as a joint effort being something new for both of us. The collaboration formed to be achallenge solved to a great extend with intuition.

To start with we had to map out the technical possibilities, then adjust individual working methods in order to balance our contributions. Due to the distance the working process found its instructions and idea sharing squeezed into the format of emails. This again lead to a rather slow tempo and a range of diverging interpretations. The exhibition, organized by Artikel 27, was the first place where the fruits of our labor were at view in their final form. In the future we hope to continue our experiments and find different ways to approach the matter. Perhaps join other exhibitions.

Producing works for a large group show is usually a job done in solitude. One may see the final result of what has been created only when the work has been placed among others and entered a dialog with them. Until that moment you feel as if it’s the final form constantly fleets and shifts. In Belgium the moment of seeing the work in midst of its companions was a very positive feeling. "On the Origin of Humanity" was a large and high quality compilation presenting a wide range of contemporary artistic aproaches. I was proud to be to be contributing to it.

The day of visiting the exhibition was continued with workshops that functioned as a good follow-up and were a nice form of being and creating together. New experiments with colors and collaboration took place, much in the same way like we had worked together with Karel.

What makes these get-togethers so enjoyable is not only the time and place but in particular the network, that has presented them to us. Through these people that host us we become aware of different issues and values of importance together with different ways to organize, think and act. Events like this, concrete inter-cultural co-operations, are the best places to think things over again.

Vivian Majevski

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A short report on the 2 days meeting by Herwig

 Please, come back later

Frank's impression in images

Heusden November 2009; a report by a few pictures by Karel

Hopefully people will allow a photographer to give his impressions by pictures of the meeting in November, and, of course, some comments.

Rethinkit is, halfway its realization, a several things, which I would like to illustrate.

Download the document, please .....

Impressions from Belgium by Pertti Munck

009804 RETHINKING IT 

This headline is printed in prochure of Wahren academy. http://www.transnationals.eu I had already earlier learned about this era of RE-thinking when I met Belgian ”Art 27” artists as well as German ”Arbeit un Leben” artists here in Forssa. Of them, Herwig and Thien visited our home and saw some parts of Finnish REthink thinking, namely old pictures, and especially statues. After that it was our turn to pack our bags in Forssa and head to Brussel. Four of us, namely Eliisa, Vivian, Mari, and I took a ride with a white and blue airplane and with open minds, and flew to the heart of the European administration to figure out what and what kind of work ans life are today when spiced with art. Our ecpectations for the journey were high but but we got even more. Here are some clips from my diary on that journey:

”Hanging at the airport. Same uselessness every lazy second. Being on the line to be in the next line. Breaking by thoughts. Not to swallow them but to re-arranging them. After the wheels leave the ground the clock started to click a new time and mind started to seak a new place somewhere under the clouds. ” 

To exit the Brussel airport felt like free falling from 11 000 metres. I fel directly towards the traffic chaos and at the same time cars windows shadowed of humidity. I could not stop anymore. I managed to make a small clear spot on the windshield and the only thing I saw was thousands of red backlights in flight. There were flashing bright light in mirrors and between the gaps of the luggages in the backseat. It felt like the lights penetrated from the backbox and  to the gaps between the luggages. In one second every thought had stopped. I could hear some noise that sounded like good advices. I had passed the panic zone. I was just as calm as the dried sweat under my arms. Rethink it. My inner voice told me to think it again. I tried to catch any of my reasonable thoughts. I ws grasping air and trying to fall slower. If you just let it fall you are gone by the time you stop. In falling you have to keep on moving by not stopping on thinking. In the traffick you have to fall with other people and with the same rules. Half f the people in Brussel were on their way somewhere and the other half was on their way back from somewhere. I’m sure somebody knew from where and to where. I did not know neither of them. Somehw I managed to re-position the wings of my thoughts and started to fall into the new direction. I sensed that this move of my thoughts clarified our journey towards the salvation. In the darkness, all four of us made it with mental bruises only, and made it to Hasselt only two ours later than plannes. After the nightmares in the early morning hours it was supposed to get easier. However, the ring road of Hasselt twisted around my consciousness like rings of the Saturnus. Hasselt was staying at the place but I was circling around it, as I had been told to do,  in cycles if fifteen minutes. However, us being late soon was forgotten in warm wellcoming. Friedship deepened in our hearts. We were there and present.

After we first found each others as individuals we were able to continue our journey as pairs towards being Europeans, and towards the  multidiciplinarity of nationalities. Soon in threes, fours, towrds the greater internationality. In groups of six and seven, together with other similar groups we came up with new questions instead of trying to give our wise answers to the questions nobody had even asked. We were faced with the right questions. Next questions will be created in Berlin.

009804 RETHINKING IT

Otsikkoisesti lukee Wahren-opiston esitteessä. http://www.transnationals.eu  Olin jo aiemmin tutustunut tähän uudelleen arvioinnin aikaan tapaamalla belgialaisia ”Art 27” taiteilijoita ja saksalaisia ”Arbeit un Leben” ryhmäläisiä Forssassa. Taitelijat Herwig ja Thien käväisivät meillä kotonakin tutustumassa vanhoihin suomalaisiin kuviin, erityisesti veistoksiin, jotka ovat osia ikiaikaista suomalaista REthink IT ajatusmaailmaa. Oli vuorostaan hetki pakata forssalainen nelikko Eliisa, Vivian, Mari ja minä Brysseliä kohti nousevaan sinivalkoiseen koneeseen ja lentää Euroopan hallinnolliseen ytimeen pohtimaan avoimin mielin, mitä ja millaista on työ ja elämä taiteella maustettuna tänään. Matkasta piti tuleman huikaiseva, mutta se ylitti toiveet, jopa tavoitteet. Otteita matkapäiväkirjasta, sen ensi sivuilta:

Lentokenttänotkuntaa. Samaa turhuutta jokainen laiska minuutti. Jonotusta seuraavaan jonoon. Katkoin ajatuksiani. En nielläkseni, vaan saadakseni ne uuteen järjestykseen. Pyörien irrottua kiitoradasta kello lähti käymään uutta aikaa ja mieli etsimään uutta paikkaa jossain tuolla pilvien alla.

Ajo ulos Brysselin lentoasemalta tuntui hypyltä suoraan 11.000:sta metristä vapaaseen pudotukseen. Putosin suoraan kohti liikennekaaosta auton ikkunoiden vetäessä samalla sumppuisen kosteiksi. Enää ei voinut pysähtyä. Sain etulasiin pienen läikän, josta näin vain tuhansia pakenevia punaisia takavaloja. Taakse pakattujen matkalaukkujen raoista ja peileistä vilahteli kirkkaita valoja. Valot tuntuivat tunkeutuvan takaluukusta sisään matkalaukkujen joukkoon. Hetkessä jokainen ajatus oli pysähtynyt. Kuulin ympäriltäni huminaa, joka kuulosti hyviltä neuvoilta. Olin ohittanut paniikkipisteen. Olin rauhallinen kuin kuivunut hiki kainaloissani. Rethink it. Sisäinen ääni käski ajatella uusiksi. Yritin ottaa kiinni järkevistä ajatuksista. Haroin ilmaa ja päätin hidastaa putoamisvauhtia. Jos vain annat pudota, olet mennyttä heti pysähdyksen tullessa. Putoamisessa on liikettä jatkettava katkeamattomalla ajatuksella loppumattomuudesta. Liikenteessä on pudottava muiden joukossa yhteisillä säännöillä. Puoli Brysseliä oli menossa jonnekin, toinen puoli palaamassa jostakin. Joku varmaan tietää mistä ja minne. Minä en tiennyt kumpaakaan. Sain kuitenkin ajatusteni siivet uuteen asentoon ja putoamiseni uuteen suuntaan. Vaistosin ajatusten liikahduksien selkeyttävän matkaa kohti pelastusta. Selvisimme pimeässä koko nelikko pelkillä henkisillä mustelmilla vain tuntia suunniteltua myöhemmin Hasseltiin. Aamuyön jälki-väristys-painajaisten jälkeen kaiken piti olla heräämisen jälkeen helpompaa. Hasseltin tiestön sisäinen kehä, ring, kiertyi tajuntaani Saturnuksen renkaan tavoin. Hasselt pysyi paikallaan ja minä kiersin saamieni ohjeiden mukaan ympyrää neljännestunnin sykleissä. Myöhästymiset saavuttivat kuitenkin pian kohteliaisuuden rajat. Ystävyys syveni sydämissä. Olimme paikalla ja läsnä.

Löydettyämme toisiamme yksilöinä aloitimme ensin kaksikkoina matkamme kohti eurooppalaisuutta, kansallisuuksien moninaisuutta. Kohta kolmisin, nelisin kohti suurempaa kansainvälisyyttä. Kuuden, seitsemän hengen ryhmissä yhdessä toisten samankaltaisten ryhmien kanssa saimme aikaan uusia kysymyksiä sen sijaan, että antaisimme omia viisaita vastauksiamme kysymyksiin, joita kukaan oikeasti ei ole edes tehnyt. Olimme oikeiden kysymysten äärellä. Seuraavat kysymykset luodaan Berliinissä.

Look, I'm painting

  Martin learned us how to express ourselves in paint / colours ...

Concentration ... everyone painted it's own painting : colours for everyone !

Afterwards, we painted with 2 on 1 painting : colaboration across cultural borders ?!

And here are some results ...

Mieke shows us our multitudes

Report on the visit to the Antwerp Palace of Justice November 5, 2009

 In Forssa we were pleased to hear the life stories of elderly people. In Antwerp we reflected on the situation of children.

On Thursday afternoon, November 5, 2009, we left in three cars -on account of a railway strike- to visit the Antwerp Palace of Justice, which was designed by the renowned architect Richard Rogers.

The object of our trip was to see the temporary exhibition, intended as a tribute to the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on November 20, 1989 by the United Nations. Only Somalia and the United States abstained from voting.

75 pillars for 20 years of children's rights

75 pillars, each 2m high on a 40x40cm base had been painted by hundreds of children and youngsters from ages 6 to 18, all of them pupils of the 75 classes of the Municipal Academy of Fine Arts of the city of Hasselt, under the direction of director Luc Steegen.

The direct cause of this exhibition was a Unicef campaign on malnutrition as a worldwide causal agent of child death. The pillars were positioned in an awe-inspiring arrangement in the promenade hall of the courthouse. The four sides of each pillar were painted in one of the basic colours, red, yellow, blue and black and white, giving the total exhibit a uniform basic character. The incredible creativity of the makers was revealed in a terrific colourfull diversity.

We all were quieted down while we walked in the midst of these high, imposing pillars, and possibly -hopefully- the other visitors -especially the lawyers and judges- will feel small again, perhaps learning something from the children.

As a matter of fact, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a powerfull human rights tool, which is often applied in this building.

During the exhibition (October, 23 till November, 18) a permanent stall of Unicef demonstrated, among other things, the condition of children in developing countries:

•              Programmes concerning nourishment, health, baby alimentation, the importance of drinkable water, hygiene, education, the improvement of the situation of girls in some developing countries.

•              The Millenium Goals of the United Nations.

•              The Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Later that day, during a visit to the Antwerp pedestrian's tunnel under the Scheldt, I experienced the resilience and the permissiveness of our group. Part of the group audaciously went up all the way at the far end to enjoy the view of the city, while the others patiently waited 30m below the surface in order to go back together.

Other anniverseries of note:

•              November 24, 1959 (150 years ago): The Origin off Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, by Charles Darwin

•              The famous painter Renoir said that impressionism wouldn't exist without the invention of the paint tube 150 years ago.

•              Just born: De Wilde Black: a new kind of black that is a 144 times blacker than ordinairy black, invented by and named after the Belgian artist Frederik de Wilde. He is now looking for a whiter than white.

Workshop - me and the others

Karel mad black & white picture of all of us ...

Mieke invited us to "complete" the others, to give them what we see / like to see ... and at some colour to the black & white images :

To be continued ...