Personal Statement
& example projects
(in relation to my personal statement)
Eef Veldkamp
www.eefveldkamp.nl
1.
Personal statement
2.
Example projects
1.1
Synopsis
2.1
Additional information
1.2
Contextual
2.2
Vakbond voor Transgressie (VvT)
1.3
My practice
2.3
Met Andere Woorden (MAW)
1.4
Why MA Art & Politics
2.4
Surprise Art Rentals (SAR)
To see my complete portfolio please visit:
www.eefveldkamp.nl/portfolio.html
Please log in with:
accprtfev
In the following document I will make my
personal statement, in which I introduce my
practise and motivate my choice of study.
In addition I give some examples about
my practise in part two.
My current
PERSONAL STATEMENT
*
Eef Veldkamp, 2017
1.1SYNOPSIS
My current practice is based on a three pillar foundation.
The first one is political engagement, which formulates
the content of my practice. It provides the necessary
subjects with which I work. The second is philosophy,
which functions as a method to research and think
about my subject. It is a way of comparing and relating
my subject to our time, history, culture and so on. Third
is my artistic practice, to which all of the former lead:
this is the realisation in or relation to the world. It offers
a transgressional method of art about which I will tell
more in the following pages, and beyond. I will also
try to provide an insight in the other two pillars of my
practice in an appropriate way. I will start by introducing
the question that occupies my current artist practice – a
political question. Followed by a philosophical deduction
and thirdly I will try to translate it to my practise, which
I will illustrate with brief examples.
Introduction
How is it possible that we are still facing the same
problems which we are already facing for thousands and
thousands of years? Do they arise from of our seemingly
bad nature? Or do they arise from the way people interact
and live together? I would claim the latter. As society
grows more complex – bigger mostly – relations between
people and consensus on how we see the world also grows
more complex and even more abstract. The consequences
of these tendencies can be very useful, in fact our whole
scientific development and current interpretation of
democracy came into existence through this notion of
polemics. But a side effect is that we, as a society, have to
face wars, terrors, all sorts of psychological diseases and
cope with scarcity and inequality.
Before this al sounds too much like an aporia, I
want tell something about the nature of this thought and
how I try to address it at this moment, for there is a great
difference between something that we are, and something
that we have become. Neither are bad, nor good – nature
is neutral – though they have consequences and those can
be bad or good. About one thing I am sure: that we are
still at the age of young children, in regard to the way we
live these days. Especially in relation to how we have been
living for millions of years before that.
1.2CONTEXTUAL
About 12.000 years ago some very interesting things
started to happen: the first people ‘invented’ agriculture
and started living together on fixed places, which is also
called the Neolithic revolution. After millions of years of
living as hunter-gatherers this ‘revolution’ would function
as the cradle of what we would now call modern society.
It made it possible for people to commit their lives to a
specific cause, generating wealth, science, comfort and
stability. Though one sacrifice had to be made. People
had to divorce from living a natural, free life and commit
to sculpture a cultural identity. The material of this new
commitment, artificial as it may be, is what I call politics:
the structure of relations between individuals and groups.
Society came into being. Of course this seems trivial, for
we don’t know anything else than society and we are social
creatures to the core. It is safe to state that it has become
our new first nature, switching with our former first
nature which will now be second. To visualise the impact
of this change I would like to sketch, in a philosophical
narration, how it could have happened.
So imagine, while under a 'veil of ignorance’, you
end up being a hunter-gatherer. You live in a small group,
mostly family, about 12.001 years ago. You are chasing
the seasons and the seasons are chasing you. Interaction
with anyone outside of your group is unnecessary, for
everything one needs lies within or just about it, in nature.
It is a tough life, chasing animals – especially in winter,
when also most edible plants and berries are under a thick
layer of frost. While running into the circulation of the
earth, staying on the same place would seem a death wish.
You could even say that nature determines you, in every
sense, for it almost always decides what to do and where
to go. Going against that would be a death wish as well.
Then, at the end of the year, you reach a place which we
would now locate somewhere about Israel. A group has
put up tents which weren’t just made of animal skins,
also big rocks and boulders were placed around it. All
grass surrounding the tents had vanished, probably due
to repeated walking. Than suddenly you hear someone
scream, at the far south of the 'village'. Prone to curiosity
you walk south and take a look. On your way there you
see strange straight rows of plants, which you have never
seen before. The screaming becomes louder and you see
a man waving his hands at another man standing in
the opening of the tent across him. You pick up words
about his stone standing to close to his tent, on which
the man in the opening of the tent replies by saying that
he shouldn’t have pooped on his 'fields'. You hear words
you have never heard before, something like: because ‘it’s
mine’.
Here you have just read about the first fight
between neighbours ever, which was caused by the idea
of having something that is completely outside of oneself:
land, property, capital, neighbours, relations. Since this
moment the first war has been documented, about 10.000
years ago in Kenya, which was fought over farmland.
The first forms of scarcity appeared, due to the fact that
goods that had been produced through ‘labour’ had to be
divided. Even the first kinds of psychological conditions
due to stress were recorded, more than 5.000 years ago in
Egypt.
Of course the most important question is yet
again, how it is possible that after these 12.000 years
these ‘fights between neighbours’ still happen, on
all levels? You would have guessed, just as with most
problems, that we would have found solutions – that’s
what human beings are good at. Though maybe we’re just
consequently cleaning up the mess after a fight that has
been temporarily ‘resolved’, instead of preventing fights?
What if we would ask ourselves where these problems
originate? What was the fundamental cause of the first
fight between neighbours? How did they even get to
be neighbours? Could it be that the way people come
together, how we form societies, has been corrupted from
the start?
The French writer and philosopher Georges
Bataille (1897-1962) would state that just as with any
other animal, human beings were also once completely
dependent on nature. At this sudden point in history,
about 12.000 years ago, we started realising that this
could work the other way around: labour was discovered.
We started to use nature to achieve our own goals, we
started domesticating earth. We started using nature
as a method instead of a goal. We started to exchange
things with others and before we knew we had a whole
set of rules and guidelines on how to live a civilised life.
One consequence Bataille noted is that we had been
disconnected with nature due to labour. Nevertheless,
according to Bataille, we are and we will always be natural
beings.
1.3 MY PRACTICE
This is where I would say my practice to focus on at this
moment. A reaction Bataille formulated was transgression:
the urge to be reunited with nature. This urge is to break
with ‘labour’ which would be best described as all artificial
systems and structures that depict our lives: rules that
make us do or not do certain things in a certain way. In
this process of breaking with these systems and structures
our most fundamental and natural ‘self’ reveals itself.1
This doesn’t mean that the whole notion of society is bad
and unnatural, it is just that the way we organise it goes
into our nature, causing defections.2 I do believe that
in essence society is fundamentally necessary, for being
‘social’ beings means having a structure in which a being
could be social: for what is being nice to someone if there’s
no general conception on what it is like to be nice – like
with solitary animals.
In reaction to my question, how it could be that
after thousands and thousands of years we still haven’t
found real solutions to recurring problems in society,
I think transgression could be an answer. It shows us
which systems and structures do not correspond with our
nature.3 It can also be used as a method to think outside
the systems and structures we live in, in the hope to find
better ones.
In my practice I try to distillate the problems
generated by these friction points in these systems and
structures that dictate life that cause problems4 which
I artistically research. I try to engage with them in a
way not complementary to the problem itself, but in an
alternative way.5 This is where art shows itself to be very
useful, for it can firstly show the ‘will’ behind things,
their most fundamental being.6 Secondly it methodises
‘transgression’ – for it mostly searches for something
unique or alternate. I try to use this idea of art as a method to
‘sublimated’ transgression in my practice by using this
distillate to subsequently search for a fitting method
of engagement to solve it. Usually this results in small
companies7, platforms7, initiatives7 and events which are
specially erected, designed and organised to address one
specific problem or phenomenon. With these ‘countersystems’, as I use to call them, I generate a semi-sandbox
mode in which the rules of our lives are estranged and
questioned in the hope to find alternatives. Eventually
I try to bring back to reality a fitting, conclusive shape
with which the aim is to bring about something that
counteracts the problem.
In the end, all this doesn’t mean that society is
always ready for fundamental questions and alternatives
– besides there are a lot of thing that are working just
fine. But I see it as my task to sublimate this form of
transgressional art in order to, on a good day, dispose it:
for it is mostly a way to engage with things we can’t just
yet cope with.
1.4 WHY THE MASTER ART & POLITICS
According to me the relation between art and politics is
not as absent as most people often think it is. On the
contrary, I think it’s essential. I think, as famous art
criticism notes, that the retraction of art out of the society,
has resulted in a bipolar relation between the two. When
crisis strikes politics and art divorce, while art is needed
the most right at this moment. When consensus is found,
art suddenly sees itself as a necessity but risks becoming
decorative. I do believe this relation can be restored, and
it has to in order to make process as a society because I do
see art as a method to enhance what it’s eventually about
in life: our relations with other human beings, which next
to all of it’s wonderful aspects, often leaves much to want
for.
This master could be a fundamental part in my
process of reuniting art with politics. I want to research
where to start, how to engage and which forms fit best.
I admire the artistic wink and form but I often notice
it conflicts with it's content – I want to find the right
balance. Also between practise and theory. Therefore,
I would like to develop a way stronger notion of what
politics is, how it works and how it has developed through
time – also in a psychological and sociological way. But
mostly in relation to how art functions in this process,
in the historical sense but also regarding the future: how
it could function and how we could work towards this
future notion of art. Therefore I want to understand the
political landscape and actualise my knowledge about
what's going on in the world – and how people already
respond. I am very convinced this master could play a
fundamental role in helping me to find answers to my
questions, and to hopefully help me become better as an
artist that can bring about real change.
to see my complete portfolio please visit:
www.eefveldkamp.nl/portfolio.html
and log in with:
accprtfev
* =
I chose to resign from using references
because I see this as a personal statement, not as an
essay. Of course I can provide you with the sources
the of things I mention; as well as with essays I
have written on these subjects.
X = The notes you will find in the text refer
to examples, which you can find on the following
pages. Click on the bluesh text to find more
information and images - it will redirect you to (a
page in) my portfolio.
Vakbond voor Transgressie: in part 2.2 I will tell
more about the 'Union for Transgression'.
4:
Examples of these problems with which I in
general engage are media, power and their
relation to society. Underneath three examples.
1:
Plakzuilactie: is an experiment in which I tried
to engage people to express themselves through
a medium which is often associated with the
forbidden. The results showed some peoples'
intent is in public space and how they express
anonymously - in a very positive way. Though
showed no critical thinking.
2:
Relief: is an almost empty vending machine
selling stress balls in the shape of the earth. It's a
visualisation of a relation that has started to skew
due to globalisation: our relation to problems of
the 'other' - especially when the other is abstract
or not a person. People can relief this stress by
buying one.
3:
Connection Lost: about the absurdity of the form
from which we receive most of the information
which we value - the news studio. You will
find it empty, with a staring, silent reporter on
the screen: it shows the absurdity of the place.
Connection Lost is based on real news studios,
which I researched.
12,80m3: a project in which my companion and
I examined how stereotypes come into play and
how they function. People could lock themselves
up for 8 hrs. and read letters by real inmates in
return for two free nights at a hotel.
of an important part of human existence: the
forbidden.
7:
Die Fröliche Wissenschaft: a series of old Christian
statues draped in Mylar blankets. About
how crisis strikes even the most fundamental
believes - and it should. It is a way of visualizing
the power shifts we are already facing for
decades and how we ourselves can be seen as
refugees from old ideologies and religions.
5:
Subversive Future Development: a series of
workshops in which I engaged participants to
solve problems by using forbidden methods.
Results were plans which proposed solutions to
their problems.
6:
Arc de Triomphe: is a film with which I tried to
examine the 'mystic' alley: which is often a place
people try to evade, yet it's a very typical part of
our urban structures. Next to that it's the theatre
ruru buitendienst: Dutch for fieldwork. It's
a research group erected by me and Sanne
Oorthuizen in addition to the exhibition
SONSBEEK 2016 curated by ruangrupa. We
did artistic research, organised public events and
did artistic interventions al in relation to public
space, in the broad sense.
Vakbond voor Transgressie: I would like to give
this extra attention, so please see example projects
part 2.2 or my portfolio.
Wikipseudia: is a platform which researches
seemingly irrelevant questions in artistic ways, to
offer an alternative to the dictatorial regime of
the 'scientific method'. We work on project basis
or when needed.
Met Andere Woorden: is a foundation which I
erected with my companion Johannes Kronenberg
a few years ago to use art outside of the arts to
be able to address social, political and societal
questions. For more about the MAW please take
a look at example projects part 2.3 or my portfolio.
De Visionarissen: is a discussion platform
which organises all kinds of events to enhance
interdisciplinary cross-pollination for personal
and professional development. This mostly
results in lectures, workshops, discussion-groups.
For years it functioned autonomously, organising
events about every month. Now I use it to work
on project basis with partners.
Example projects
2.1 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
I am very aware of the fact that my ideas of art and
transgression need some elaboration, especially when
explained in brief. Besides, with my statement I don't
want to criticise my colleagues: indeed, the diversity in
art is what gives it lots of value. Nevertheless, I do believe
that even these forms of art carry a very strong political
potential, and I feel called to actualise it.
Underneath I will try to offer a more specific
insight in the way I formulate and execute my practise, also
in relation to my personal statement. I offer this insight
mostly in a theoretical way. To see the corresponding
visual examples, I invite you to take a look in my portfolio
– to which I will elaborately refer (click on the blueish
words). All the following projects come forth out of
or relate to what I've told in part one. Next to that all
examples contain a proposition which is based on the idea
that for me art can and should be more than static art – it
should try to 'mean' or 'do' something in the real world,
in relation to real subjects.
2.2 THE VAKBOND VOOR TRANSGRESSIE
The Vakbond voor Transgressie (VvT – Union for
Transgression) is an artistic institute that researches
transgression and the 'darker' sides of human existence in
relation to contemporary and centuries old problems. It
tries to stimulates people to think outside the lines, rules
and social rules in order to engage with fundamental,
personal and societal problems. It started from the idea
that when people started living together, about 12.000
years ago (Neolithic revolution), also most problems we
face today as a society came into existence. Examples are
war, scarcity and some kinds of psychological diseases.
For example: the first war happened about 10.000 years
ago and was held over farmland.
A question that typifies the VvT is: how it’s
possible that after these 12.000 years we haven’t found
a proper solution to these problems which occur only in
the gathering of people? (i.e. Why do we still wage war?
Why is there still so much division between wealthy and
poor? Why do we get overwrought?). In particular, when
taking into regard that people are group animals and thus
tend to come together. The synopsis of this question lies
at the foundation of the VvT, for maybe the answer is
that something has been corrupted in the gathering of
people, at it’s first occurrence, and we are still building
on these principles. Even more than ever before due to
globalisation. Nevertheless, people do come together,
usually with very good motives and outcomes, so we can
use this positive natural force to engage in a new way of
solving the most fundamental societal problems – yet
we shouldn’t do it as we are used to do it: we should
offer counter-systems to question, transcend and change
recurring problems like inequality, war, shortages and
power distribution. In short, we need people that dare to
address this natural power in themselves to transgress the
borders that typify our society, to be able to create a new
and better one.
On transgression
Transgression is the counterpart to what a lot of thinkers
call the life instinct, namely the death instinct which
came into being, according to Bataille and Freud, when
we first started to systematise our lives through labour.
The death instinct is a reaction to these systems which
restrict our life and separate us from nature. Therefore,
it’s a great force to re-examine existing systems: for really
good arrangements and systems in society correspond
with our nature and do not trigger the death drift, they
just magnify our life drift. Therefore, one could say that
the ultimatum of the Vakbond voor Transgressie, is to
eventually abolish itself.
To reach this goal the VvT aims at stimulating a
consciousness in which the idea is central that to be able
to change problems for the good, it is essential to think
outside borders of the problem. Next to that the VvT agrees
on the fact that transgression in its common sense can be
very destructive. Therefore, it tries to get transgression to
a higher level, for anyone who is able to urinate in public,
is also able to change the world (in contrast to the more
common idea that to change something one should walk
the same path that created the problem). Great examples
of people and initiatives that do this are: WikiLeaks, Jonas
Staal, Martijn Engelbrecht, most street artists, buurtzorg
and way more.
To stimulate these principles, the VvT organizes
all kinds of events and projects which all, in their own way
and with their own target audience, touch these principles.
The VvT distinguishes four types of transgression, of
which the first one is mostly known, most destructive and
most prone to be changed. These types of transgression are
hierarchical and follow up to each other in chronological
sense. Some practises function in more types at the same
time.
Bodily/materialistic transgression:
Think about anything of which the body is the subject.
For example: drug use, sex, urinating in public and so on.
As already said most people fall in this category and it can
be very destructive, both in method and intention: yet it
does show the ability to think outside borders.
Aesthetical transgression:
Here the physical world around our bodies is the subject.
Street artists are good examples, for they usually try
to beautify the world around us or let us rethink how
it all works, though their method is often regarded as
destructive, their intentions are mostly positive.
Ethical transgression:
Here our notions of morality and on how we function
as a part of society is the subject. Good examples are
WikiLeaks and Panama Papers. Ones that function in this
type usually receive the most counterforce, for it mostly
effects us all and changes the ideas we have about each
other and actual circumstances. Ethical transgression has
a more theoretical character though the implications or
execution eventually makes a change.
Metaphysical transgression:
Here our general notions, concepts and definitions are
subject. For example, how we see ourselves, the world
or democracy. A good example is Galileo Galilei who
experienced great counterforce when he offered a better
but controversial view on our world and solar system on
which most of our ideas are now build. Metaphysical
transgression transcends most of the others on the long
term for our patterns of thinking are most prone to
change: they eventually direct how we act and how we
do. Nevertheless, metaphysical transgression can’t exist
without the other three kinds of transgression, the others
can exist without metaphysical transgression.
Transgression is often used to describe a
phenomenon, but it’s not a good word to describe a
practise for it is a noun, not a verb. Therefore, the VvT
often uses grensverleggen or grensverlegger (boundary
shift(-ing/-er). Most boundary shifters function in one
or more types of transgression at once. For example,
Galileo Galilei changed our thinking of the world
(metaphysically), through materialistic transgressions also
facing real ethical counterforce. Another example is the
LGBT movement, which tries to reshape our ethics about
the usage of our bodies.
On the role of the Vakbond voor Transgressie
A method, central in all practises of the VvT, is sublimation.
Through this principle the VvT tries to prevent this more
destructive notion of transgression and helps to transcend
it to a more constructive power. Sublimations is often
typified as creating a context in which a transgression
is depoliticised and prone to self-reflection, and just like
a rough diamond it can be polished and shaped into
something very valuable.
For the fact that the VvT is a union it supports
these processes without becoming them. The VvT
informs, supports and reflects on boundary-shifters
and transgression in general with the aim to artistically
sublimate it in order to eventually try to find better ways
of living together.
Exampleprojects
are:
De
Plakzuilactie,
Desublimatie, Graffitiwandeling, Steegjeswandeling,
Kleurwedstrijd, Dag van de Grensverlegger and
Subversive Future Development. For more, please visit
www.vakbondvoortransgressie.org or see the page of it’s
spokesman, Eef Veldkamp: www.eefveldkamp.nl.
2.3 MET ANDERE WOORDEN
Met Andere Woorden (MAW – proverb which means:
in other words) is a foundation my companion, Johannes
Kronenberg and I created in 2013 and formalised in 2016.
In essence we try to use the artistic practise, outside the
arts, to engage with social problems.
We started the MAW in 2013 due to managerial
problems at the university we were currently studying,
ArtEZ University of the Arts. Some processes took place
that threatened to influence everyone, in a bad way. For
most people the most important ones were future plans
that would force some faculties to quit or move. My
companion and I notice the growing fear at our university
and asked ourselves what our part in this play could be:
we were both at this moment exploring what art could
offer, without just being a static piece.
So we decided to investigate. After a while we
discovered what was going wrong: multiple interimdirectors, scandals regarding payments of officials and
conflicts of interest in the supervisory board and the board
of directors. In short, according to us the supervisory board
was responsible for these problems. After encountering
some protests which made us nauseous (just drinking
beer isn’t a protest) we decided it would be time to try
ourselves, so we erected the MAW.
Through investigation, conversations with
stakeholders and most importantly: artistic action (click
for examples) and about a years work we managed to
get the former Supervisory Board to step down and we
helped to select a new one – which was our demand. This
new supervisory board only consisted of members from
the educational and artistic field and in addition, a visual
artist: Renzo Martens.
What art can do when used for activism
What was most interesting to us about this process was
that something quite alike was happening in Amsterdam
meanwhile, at the University of Amsterdam (UvA).
Though there was one big difference, these students didn’t
use an artistic medium but they tried to solve the problem
by following the structures the university offered, like the
college board and sub-councils. In the end, they were
subject to the same problem they were fighting against,
and eventually they didn’t quite win.
What we noticed that worked really well was that
because we erected this company, and used artistic means,
we were very slippery for the structures of the university
to get a grip on. We used methods they didn’t really know
how to cope with. For example, we made a headquarters
which we placed in front of the main building of our
former university, in which we invited guests and did our
work. We also made news videos about the problems and
we made a live stream with security cams which we aimed
at the office of the Board of Directors, so that anyone
could play Supervisory Board.
MAW Today
Our latest project was 13,80M2. When we were invited by
Jurgen Bey to do a project regarding social design, we felt
a certain unease with the term, for in our experience it is
mostly focussed on the visualisation of a certain problem,
therefore it's mostly reflective. For us it is mostly about
the systems of interaction between people or different
groups: and how those can be designed. Nevertheless, we
found a discourse which would fit really well: prisons and
prisoners. The concept of a prison is to secularise and make
interactions with the outside world fairly impossible. The
fundamental idea of the prison is that 'normal' citizens
will never be there or get into direct contact with prisoners,
therefore we mostly depend on movies and imagination
to form an idea about this domain. In the forming of
this idea a lot will be speculation and assumption; it
shows really well how most of our preconceptions and
stereotypes are formed. These are not necessarily wrong,
though they are often one sided and can be nuanced.
We decided to engage with this phenomenon by
harvesting our presumptions about what a prison is and
looks like, we exemplified stereotypical ideas like bars and
absurdified them. The result is a small cell made of wood:
a material that's prone to growth and very fragile: as
with stereotypes, it has to grow, being determined by the
ground it's growing on and the conditions it is growing
up in. We invited people to lock themselves up for eight
hours for which they received two free night stays in a
hotel in return. The interesting part is that people were,
despite the fakeness of this cell, quite afraid to enter it. It
showed how important imagery is in showing what we
believe and think.
To close the circle, we started visiting prisons
throughout the Netherlands, to get into conversation
with prisoners which was (and is) completely eye opening
in itself. We invited the prisoners to send letters to society
named 'vrijbrief' (free-letter or open letter). These letters
were send to the wooden cell. Only people in the cell can
read them. These letters give an insight in how it is to be
a prisoner, and how the prisoners think about society.
To see some pictures please go to
www.eefveldkamp.nl or www.metanderewoorden.org
2.4 SURPRISE ART RENTALS
(under development)
One of the subjects I often come across when examining
the systems and structures that dictate our life is the
media. Due to the fact that there are more and more
platforms these days, in coherence with globalisation.
These media bear a bigger and more important function
in knowledge distribution, education and determining
moral since they are our most important source of
information – and this trend keeps growing service area
grows as well. Unregarding of the fact that we are to
see incoherence’s between different media and it’s more
possible, the political programme seems to become a
more behind the screens thing. Nevertheless, we depend
on them in gathering our daily information and when
imaging a general conception of the time and world we
are living in.
Often it is not hard to find conflicting or
contradictory stories, yet choosing which one to believe in
is a very significant struggle these days. For the fact that
state news is owned by the state, which also decides it’s
programme and because most commercial (news) media
are owned by just a few big companies (like Reuters) it’s
hard not to think there’s a programme behind it. A last
resort seems to be social media, though the information
it’s users provide often shows to be incorrect, in addition
to what the algorithms decide for us.
So how should we cope with the distribution
of information, for it’s so diffused and hard to see the
motives behind what’s broadcasted and what’s not? And
how do we see what kind of influence it has on the way we
see and value the world?
Artistic magnification
One way I try to address this contemporary subject is by
magnifying it, because some details will only be visible
while under a ‘microscope’. When magnifying an aspect
of media, it’s pulled out of it’s context and it becomes
an absurd phenomenon. Through multiple projects as
Connection Lost and Con-paign I tried to magnify the
absurd environment of the news studio and the way
shapes and colours are used in political campaigns.
With this new project I try to address a subject
which is more related to on the one hand propaganda,
and on the other hand the self-glorification often seen
in social media. Next to that it carries a deep personal
message, which I think a lot of people share with me.
Through time I ask and pay fellow artists to make
staatsieportretten (Dutch word for official portraits) of me.
They sign a contract in which the sell most of their rights
regarding the artwork to me. Meanwhile I have collected
about 8 of them, and the collection keeps growing.
Eventually I want to start renting these portraits for free,
through a not yet existing ‘shell’ company named ‘Surprise
Art Rentals’. Potential renters can’t really see what they are
renting: the portraits are blurred – therefore it’s a surprise.
My hope is that through time these portraits will spread
around the world, by which my face will be seen by many
people in many countries, though they don’t know who it
is they see on the portrait. This way I hope I will get a sort
of mythical status.
Through this action I want to address three
things. Firstly, the drift for success people can have,
including me. Though I know that my greatest ambition,
being a world leader, will never be true: so there’s only
a method of artificially generating the status symbols
which are an accident of high office. Secondly I want to
show how much people we see around us, for example in
marketing, who we don’t know but yet glorify as a perfect
version of ourselves, which we will never reach. Thirdly
I want to research the effects this can have, for I have a
feeling that in the way media functions these day, mostly
the abstraction it implies, generates a genuine friction
between content and shape.
The eventual goal is to generate an idea about
‘who is this guy on the paintings?’. This idea can have
many outcomes, of which one is that people will start to
think ‘well, if he is on all these paintings, he must be
important.’ Next to that I would like to sublimate the
effect of this new identity that has been shaped, which
has implications on how people value the people they see
but don’t know.
Images of these artworks can be found in a blurred
state by clicking this link. Of course the real artworks
are not blurred. The reason for this is that when people
link it to me, the effect I aim for will be lost. This is an
ambiguous effect of the project, for I will never reach the
appreciation for the status I hope my image will gather.
to see my portfolio please visit:
www.eefveldkamp.nl/portfolio.html
and log in with:
accprtfev