application

for me both sounds ok. the question is - who's gonna write the concept?

and is there enough time to do so before the first application date?

i could write it, but not in swedish... :)

any volunteers?

i think writing it could be a good step anyway... even if we should decide to applicate for next year.

*m

application!

hello everybody!

I just wanted to check with everyone if you think we should make an application for the gallery this spring, the last date to hand it in would be the 3 of May, which is quite soon. Then we would apply for a show this fall. Or do you think we should continue in this slow way and maybe wait with the application for this fall instead?

I could go either or the other way, but if we choose to try to make an application now I think we need to speed it up for a while, just to get a more clear vision for the application.

So, what does everybody think?
/jorun

I totally understand! I knew that you didn't mean it like that, I just wanted to clear it out.

I think it sounds possible for one to be a flaneur in mind! I mean, if we are trying to make a female version of the flaneur maybe historically she would have to be it in her head, I mean since women where supposed to take care of the domestic space she couldn't really walk about like the male flaneur.

It could be nice to work with the mind of the flaneur, and then if it is taking place within the mind you are able to work a lot with lies and possibilities, and thing that are not possible in the "real" world! And maybe that opens up how to work in a group? I mean, everything doesn't have to fit together, and there could be errors and unexplainable!

you're right, of course... i didn't mean to create a mentally ill character, but when i thought about a person being built by several people i came to the idea of a split character, not in a sick way but as a puzzled character... schizophrenic is not suitable at all... didn't think about that properly, sorry.... you brought up the term "memories - merorabilia" which i find very interesting.
what about the strolls we take in our own head, in our memories?
sometimes i see memories as a huge landscape inside of our brain.

can a flaneur also be someone who is travelling in his mind?

*m

my drawing!

Melanie; I really like your scheme for the flaneur! I find it all interesting. But I do think that we should avoid the term "schizophrenic", if you are schizofrenic you hear voice (among other things), and it is not the same thing as having multiple personalities. I think it is a very difficult thing to relate to a mental illness, and I would not be comfortible doing that in this project, I would feel that we won't be able to handle it in this format. But I do think that our different ideas will have an interesting impact on our character! Do you understand what I mean?

This is my drawing on the modules I think we could include in the exhibition/piece:

The Past: memories - memorabilia (thoughts and objects)
The Present: thing happening - actions (what we can do during the exhibition time)
The Future: the unknown - plans (what we plan and don't plan for the exhibition/piece from the first place to the next (think that will happen that we can plan and we can't)

/jorun

Mel, you asked me about "altar" thing. Well, I couldn't do it. Don't know why. I just thought it might be wrong to do the same thing as he does. And if it disturbs me…

I had a talk. Twice actually. The first time I told him that I saw the pictures he had hided in each corner of his computer. His reaction was relaxed, other than I expected. I knew I had to say more. But I couldn't. Didn't know how…

The second talk was much more complicated. I started to tell about the pictures of his ex girlfriends on the wall and that I have problems with that behave…. First he was confused. Totally. He didn't know what to say and what to think about. I told him that it would be one of my biggest fears that his picture about me could change. And I was sure to loose him because of what I was saying. But that was only the beginning of a long talk...

With the time I could say more about my feelings and he began to understand what I was trying to say. And at the end he cried and said, that this would be like a prove for my love.

I felt so much lighter after this...

And now I feel safe. Safe in a way that I know that I am able now to talk about everything. To open myself in a way I never could before. And that he understands. He's so kind and patient. I always wanted to open myself 100%, but I never could before. This is the first time. And it feels so good in one way.

Now almost all these pictures are away and that feels good. I feel so good. So much in love...

I gave him a little gift for his mishmash he needs around him. But now it's something from me.

Mel, I like your draw. You named everything what is important.

And I would like to come to the concert with you. Have to look for an outfit, but it seems a nice idea to go there dressed up as a sailor girl.

hey there, i'm happy about the development we're in. i'm really
looking forward to work toghether in reality, as well. but i also like
this experiment to discuss on a blog. and now that we'r going to a
certain direction, i think it will work, if we just keep going.


i tried to draw a scheme:


MIND OF THE FLANEUR


here all the pictures, influences, words, people, are collected. in a
very open, stream of consciousness - way. nothing rational.


could be what we collect now!


CHARACTER OF THE FLANEUR


his way of clothing, his language, his eyes, arms, legs. his character
could also be a split personality. my thought was, that if we all
become a part of him, everyone of us would be part of him, a
multiculural, split, maybe therefore schizophrenic personality.
intersting? i do think!!


could be us!


HOMEBASE OF THE FLANEUR
the place he always returns to, he doesn't lead a nomadic life. he has
a base from where he starts for his strolls. it is also the place
where he brings his trophies back.


could be the exhibition place!




CITY OF THE FLANEUR
his surrounding, the landscapes, the architecture he knows, it is his
own culutural surrounding.
his hunting ground, his field of interest.
could we say that a flaneur is hunting for details, beauty, in well
known surrounding?




could be malmö, lund, zurich, or every other city!






THE UNKNOWN
the rest of the world, in which the flaneur is forced into the role of
a simple tourist, i guess.




could be the rest of the planet!






tell me what you think, maybe someone else wants to draw a scheme too?










lily: i love your films/videos. they are so silent but explosive at
the same time. wow.
and your thoughts about the desert, which is not offering the
perfect picture to your camera.
i recently saw a film by wim wenders called "tokyo-ga", in the
beginning he is sitting in an airplane and says someting like this:
"why is it not possible that we can take pictures with a camera, in
the way we sometimes open our eyes? just looking, not wanting to
explain."

jorun: tell us about your exhibition!

gaby: what happened to the altar of revenge? maybe you could tell us
this story, if it is not too private...
i think it can also be connected to the flaneur topic, in a
way...
plus: would you like to come to the port o' brien concert with
me, thursday 22nd in stall 6? they're great!
if we dress up as sailors the entrance is only 15 fr. :)

susanne: are you still with us?




*m

the character builds up

hi, I was thinking about how we could make the actual exhibition the character, maybe we could see it as the "mind" of the flaneur? and we can fill it with memories, real ones and made up? and the exhibition/character's memories would change depending on where it was. Like how different events makes us remember different things and old memories could change when time is passing? That could be the different moduels that could change throughout the exhibition? what do you think about that?

untitled

I think it could be interesting if we somehow could make the exhibition/piece the female flaneur, instead of making a exhibition about a character, I don't know how we could do that, but do you understand what I mean?

I also like the idea of having modules that could be changed when the exhibition/piece travels! maybe one of these modules could be language? So if we show it in Sweden it could be in Swedish and if we show it in Switzerland it could be i Swiss and so on... What do you think about trying to make it travel to all our home countries? And we can make a camp before the openings?

I also agree with Lily that the flaneur and the turist are very different characters that we should not mix up, the turist has set places to visit and to check of their "to do list", the flanuer has no such obligations, the flaneur has no expectations, the flaneur is free (or trying to be? Isn't that the interesting part? especially put in the context of the image of the male vs. female) I think... What do you think?

/jorun

mobile

melanie: art camp, yes please! i think it is a good idea to incorporate the locality of where the exhibition takes place into the piece. and to make it mobile. if we make a sort of diagrammatic structure of the project we could have a changeable parts (variables) that are dependent on the exhibition town/city.

susanne: where are you?

gabriella: beautiful pictures! are those the ones with the macbook? i can't wait to see the medium format ones. what were you up to in tuscany?

jorun: it's been about 470 days since i last saw you. :-(



every that camera i own (super8, nikon dslr, flip video, video dv, tiny digital canon, AND even macbook) has either broken down completely or begun to malfunction quite often, all during the past month.
of course this all happened just after graduation, so i no longer have access to the school cameras. this has greatly changed the way i work. i now have to rely either on generating images through the computer (in after effects or sketch up) or by using the camera on my cellphone.
i visited LA a couple weeks ago for the first time. i travelled to the desert and saw some truly fantastic things that i could not sufficiently capture. it made me think about the frustrating moment that happens quite often when visiting a new place and being in a state of wonder. the optical properties of lenses and putting a frame around your view are incapable of capturing your state of amazement.









[figure 1,2,& 3: a rainbow stretched across the entire mojave desert for a brief moment. i was lost on a dirt road trying to find a hot spring. it was an awe inspiring moment, that was impossible to capture. these photos were taken with my cellphone]

Being in a new place is not necessarily acting as a flaneur, is it? that is more the role of a tourist. A flaneur is more of an acutely aware urbanite, scrutinizing his own city. not necessarily in a state of amazement and awe, but more in a critical state of mind- attempting to unpack the details of his surroundings, rather than capture the panoramic landscape.


-lily

character - development

jorun, i like your suggestion of developing a single character.
i think that is an interesting way of fulfilling what was discussed a while ago of having a unified group show. where the difference between artists is hard to distinguish, and instead forms an unstoppable eclectic force.

i'm at a loss as to how we can develop this as a group on a blog.
let's all meet at my house on friday to discuss. new york, ny.

-lily

shall we decide and diagram a structure that we can all begin to fill in?



-lily

Hello Ladies!!!

Just back from Tuscany, Italy. What a wonderful time...

Made many new pictures with my middleformat-camera. I will develop the films this thursday. Junst wondering....

Sometimes I was on the road with my Mac-Book and took some pics with the photobooth-programm, without seeing anything because it was so sunny. But I was acting as a flaneur and I wanted to it by the way. And though the eyes of a female beloved girl.

I like the idea doing an art-piece together. Nice! An art-camp: what a nice thing Mel!

As soon as I get the pics I will put it in here.

Now everything is growing. Like that!

Hugs

Gabriella

love it!

melanie! all your ideas sounds great! I really like the idea of the exhibition flaneuring aswell (going from place to place), and it could be like chapter one, two etc... in the same way I flaneur travels from place to place and developes during the journey! I also like the idea of the exhibition developing during the exhibition time, I will work like this on this years exhibition at my school. I will write about that in my next post!

It feels like we're finally getting somewhere!

/jorun

for me the idea of slipping into the role of female flaneurs sounds
very temptating,
each one of us could start to collect in their city, surrounding,
pictures, drawings, ideas... and the blog could be the cupboard, or
the table to gather all of the collected things. a flaneur is in a way
a hunter too. an urban hunter. let's start to discuss about this very
subject!
we, or someone of us should then maybe start to write a concept for
this project to present to different art spaces.
gaby and i could as well find one here in switzerland... ? if it turns
out to work in sweden we could move on with it to switzerland... or do
something like part two over here. which i'd like when we choose the
figure of the flaneur... cause our project itself would wander.

maybe it coul be great to produce toghether, just shortly before the
exhibition in a week's "camp" or something like that, or maybe we
would all work inside the exhibition so that in the beginning, the
opening, there is nothing but us and during the time of exhibition we
would let our project grow toghether... so we would be in there and
one could watch the piece growing.
i like the idea of showing the process to the viewer.
so blog for collecting, developing, discussing.
exhibition for building.
?
have a beautiful sunday!
*m

let's go!

I am glad that you like the idea Lily! what does everybody else think of it? do you think we could work like that? I also feel that we could develope the idea of the female flaneur more and maybe make a group art piece about that, we could all start something about that "character" or "image" and maybe post something that we think we would like to do, and then maybe see how it can fit together? should we invent a character or should we ourselves (pretend to) become flaneurs? Let's do something or decied on something!

/jorun

Excellent idea Jorun. I think things will move faster if we begin inventing and working, rather than seeking an abstract commonality or theme. Editing can always happen later.

The model of exquisite corpse drawings is usually the cliché method for collaborative art projects. However, its formula insures a humorous and cohesive outcome. Maybe if we combine the process of equisite corpse with the model of a puzzle, we can start generating GROUP-ART.

While it maybe frustrating, I think it is funny how slowly this project is going. I think it demonstrates the value of person-to-person discussion, which moves much more rapidly. I think the results of our distance and slowness can be echoed in a reflective way in whatever ends up being the final piece.

Incongruity and contradiction are the interesting parts of when individuals merge as one. I hope that by unifying the piece, a potent and disjunctive whole will be created.

I just emailed my friend Jordan Burgis to see if there is any documentation of a group project he did several years ago. It was one of the most interesting and successful collaborative pieces I have seen. A bunch of different artists made pieces under the name of one fictional deceased artist/inventor. The prompt given was his name and biography, and each one made a sort of artifact/piece/relic of his work and life. The fact that the show was fictional and made by many was kept secret, and was a really smart choice, it made for a very uncanny exhibit.

I am still intrigued by what we could produce in response to the FEMALE FLANEUR. Any ideas of how that could factor in here?


SINCERELILY

new idea to make it come together...

I just had a new idea; what if we instead of trying to find a common theme for the exhibition, tried to make one piece together? Could that be interesting? I don't really know what the difference would be but I think it could be fun!? And maybe it would make it more like we worked together in a way, instead of working seperatly and force it to be within the same "theme"? What do you all think of this? I mean, the piece could consist of different elements, but if we saw it as one piece maybe it could be more consistant but with more levels and "voices"... I think it could be interesting to do one piece and work on it on different places! (I am sorry for the picture, but it could be like a puzzle...)

/jorun

congratulations

to lily for being a graduate!
I really liked your films. are they shot at dubble speed to get that nice slowmotion effect?

I also wanted to say that the next deadline to send in an application to the gallery is the 3 of may. Should we agree on that we should try again and now have a more clear view on what we want to do with the exhibition? I really think we could do something good, but we have to get going. Maybe we should just decide on a theme or something? And after that figure out how to install it in a interesting way? But I think that the instalments of the pieces should connect to the theme, because that sounds interesting to me... But I would like to hear everyones opinion!

/jorun

WORK FROM MY SHOW

HELLO HELLO.
please excuse my extended absence.
i am now a graduate!

here is a bit of documentation from the show, which was called LIL' MEGAPLEX.
i'm still building my website that will house the installation shots, but here are two of the videos. both are silent.


Explosion (1 of 3). 16mm neg transferred to DV. 1 minute loop. Silent. 2010.



Peer Pleasure. 16mm transferred to DV. 2 minute loop. Silent. 2010.

"The Damocles of the anecdote was an obsequious courtier in the court of Dionysius II of Syracuse, a fourth century tyrant of Syracuse. Damocles exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority, Dionysius was truly fortunate. Dionysius offered to switch places with him for a day, so he could taste first hand that fortune. In the evening a banquet was held where Damocles very much enjoyed being waited upon like a king. Only at the end of the meal did he look up and notice a sharpened sword hanging directly above his head by a single horse-hair. Immediately, he lost all taste for the amenities and asked leave of the tyrant, saying he no longer wanted to be so fortunate.

The Sword of Damocles is frequently used in allusion to this tale, epitomizing the imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power. More generally, it is used to denote the sense of foreboding engendered by a precarious situation, especially one in which the onset of tragedy is restrained only by a delicate trigger or chance. "

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown"

" Damokles tatsächlich gelebt hat, ist nicht gesichert. Er wird als ein Höfling beschrieben, der mit seinem Leben unzufrieden war. Er beneidete den Tyrannen um dessen Macht und Reichtum und hob in seinen Schmeicheleien stets deren Vorzüge hervor. Dionysios beschloss daher, Damokles anhand des sprichwörtlichen Damoklesschwerts die Vergänglichkeit, vor allem die seiner Position, zu verdeutlichen. Der Herrscher lud Damokles zu einem Festmahl ein und bot ihm an, an der königlichen Tafel sitzen zu dürfen. Zuvor ließ er jedoch über Damokles' Platz ein großes Schwert aufhängen, das lediglich von einem Rosshaar gehalten wurde.

Als Damokles das Schwert über seinem Kopf bemerkte, war es ihm unmöglich, den dargebotenen Luxus zu genießen und schließlich bat er darum, auf die Annehmlichkeiten (und die damit verbundene Bedrohung) verzichten zu dürfen. Damokles hatte seine Lektion erhalten, dass Reichtum und Erfolg keinen Schutz vor Gefahren bieten.

Das Damoklesschwert wird auch heute noch als Metapher der bestehenden Gefahr in einer scheinbar komfortablen Situation gebraucht. Cicero weist in seinemGleichnis jedoch auch darauf hin, dass Dionysios wegen dieser allgegenwärtigen Bedrohung gezwungen sei, seine Macht durch Unterdrückung zu sichern."

 my idea  is to take the viewer into a situation which is at first sight of great beauty (the slightly glowing globes in the dark, floating dream like in the room) but if he/she stays in the situation longer, those globes become a heavy weight hanging over his/her head. plus (don't know if it'll need this) the light in the room starts to go off and on on an irregular base, representing the rythm of our planet which is getting out of order more and more.

i don't want all this to be too obvious and of course it is all in a conceptual state at the moment, i'll just have to try out to see how it looks... 

but still i'd be glad to hear your opinions!! 

*m

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melanie kempf     

idaplatz 4

8003 züri

tel: 079 633 57 14

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http://www.fraeulein-m.ch

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Am 05.03.2010 um 10:55 schrieb the blog:

Hi melanie!
I think it sounds like it is going to be a nice and mysterious experience walking around in a globe lanscape, but could you please explain more about the title choice? I don't really know what that means...

/joru

--
Upplagd av the blog på on the blog 2009 den 3/05/2010 01:54:00 fm

title

Hi melanie!
I think it sounds like it is going to be a nice and mysterious experience walking around in a globe lanscape, but could you please explain more about the title choice? I don't really know what that means...

/jorun

i might call it
"damokles" or "damokles' disco"

and the globes would maybe hang down quite far, so that the viewer has
to bend down a little...but just a little

what do you think?

hello again,
an idea i'm working on:
i will collect glowing globes, turn them into some kind of lamp that i
hang down from the ceiling of a room. so if you come into the
room(maybe dark, or maybe the light would switch on and off in an
unregular rythm) the ceiling is full with them, those earth balls
would float over your head, maybe, at best, one hundred of them.
the problem is, that they are terribly expensive... so if you happen
to have an idea how to get them, tell me!
*m

Hello to everyone!

Look at me! Jorun: we had the same injury, I suppose.

Funny, but strange faces... Doesn't look like me.

Hope it gets better soon...

Talk to you soon.

Gabriella

activity!

hi again. I'm sorry to hear about your tooth gabriella, I hope you feel better soon. I also had some problems with a tooth one year ago, the doctor had to remove it and it was very painful. My chin got so swollen that the skin got really streched out. I will include a picture of me after surgery! I look so funny! But I hope that won't happen to you! Right now I am writing a case study by Freud (in Swedish) for my bear project. I have based it upon the case study of "the wolf man" and am now writing of "the bear woman". But her fear for bears in a young age turns out to be a fear of herself as she turns into a bear as a young woman! It is hard to write like Freud, I am trying to make as much as possible turn into symbols and have different meanings, but it is hard! I have also included the fact that she turns into a bear as a sign of "penis eny" since the bear has a very short tail... This is based on the fact that Freud thinks that the "wolf man" has a fear of castration because he dreams of wolfs getting their tails cut off... Hope to hear more from your short story Melanie, it sounds very dramatic! /Jorun.

the start of a short story i'm writing on (badly translated to english):
federico nahm zwei stufen auf einmal und doch schien die alte,
steinerne treppe kein ende nehmen zu wollen. treppen erinnerten ihn
immer daran, dass er älter wurde, von tag zu tag, mit jeder stufe,
stellte er sich vor, dass der sekundenzeiger seiner lebensuhr
weiterhüpfte.
tick. tock. tick. tock.
federico took two steps at once but the old, stoney stairs seemed just
never to end. stairs always reminded him of of getting older, day by
day, with every step, he imagined, the second hand of the clock of his
life would jump forward.
tick. tock. tick. tock.




to be continued

*m

hi there!

i agree with gabriella that it would be best, if we all just are
active on the blog, posting whatever is coming to our minds, whatever
projects we are working on, ideas, concerns, exhibitions we have and
so on.
i think it is great to have the flaneur as figure in the background,
and maybe - when we get closer to the final organisation, he could get
more important and maybe help us to realise the exhibition.
in the meantime let's get some action done here! i think the more each of
us is present, the more interesting it gets.
so:


allez-hop mesdames!


*m