2012 (random but in order) flow and drift and perform and sit
publication and solo show, Onopatopee, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Sit Walk but is he an artist? maybe. he's standing in some kind of studio, between all kinds of things; a kind of loft with an oil heater, a few tires, a saw table, a few glue clamps attached to a wooden rail, a broom, a power strip, a vacuum cleaner, a bin, a laptop, a dustpan and brush, some paper towels and that's it. very sober, almost poor. but it's also very precise, the way everything is so neat... it's very basic: the image is so pure, so pristine, almost too fake but also too boring perhaps: it seems constructed... it appears ascetically styled. but do artists have such sober studios? and if the man would not be an artist, would the image still be an artwork or is it just a film, a kind of a documentary of a man meditating, perhaps a research study? who would do such a thing... it could be some kind of artistic research but why would anyone film this image for that long? perhaps an academic, but no: there is nothing in it for him and what would anyone want to use it for anyway? meditation is about concentration, tranquility, purification of mind, physical relaxation, things like that, but what does that have to do with art and why should it have to do anything with art, especially now? doesn't the art world have anything better to do than to meditate? after all, these people have no money; shouldn't they go out to protest or just go to work, instead of creating images of meditating artists, if an artist made the image in the first place? in addition, the film is rather long. you just sit there wasting your time looking at a guy who doesn't do shit: this pastime doesn't amount to anything. for anyone. it doesn't make you smarter or dumber, unless you consider watching a film of a man meditating to be meditative (which might be the case, but what does that have do with art). as a spectator, I am basically… hopeless. the only thing I can direct my inquiring gaze at, yearning to find answers to my questions, is the man in the film. but he is not to be disturbed; his introvert attitude and expression command respect. never mind him then. that bastard. meanwhile, I have done nothing but concentrate on… nothing? a meditating man, a plain loft, a motion of nothingness, an infinite gaze. while the world is exploding we're just sitting here apathetically: doing nothing and being aware of it too. indeed, we're guilty. let's just swallow it. accept it. how easily we trust an honest face: such obscenity. if this was a poor monk, or if I didn't pretend to want anything in life and would not bother anyone, it would have been ok, but it's not like that: people still have to see and listen to all of this. is this a supplement to life? as if people can't decide for themselves whether or not they want to meditate: it does not require an artist or an exhibition to make this apparent, let alone a book! maybe, for once, I have been silent... maybe I haven't said anything. finally I have been innocent, simply serving time, I haven't found any weight to cling on to except for the weight of a serene burden right in front of me: jeroen as a dial. thank you. (Freek Lomme) For four hours in a row, Jeroen Doorenweerd performed a sober Vipassana retreat in his studio: 40 minutes of sitting and 40 minutes of walking alternately, without interruption. Installation with two synchronized media players and two HD-beamers, length 4 hours. Onomatopee Publication made possible thanks to Municipality of Tilburg