I would like to end this month with a quote from Anaïs Nin. Here she describes something that I know very well, apart from hibernating, which can also mean as much as going into retirement, since I am now receiving my AHV (that is how the pension is called in Switzerland). No, I mean waking up. You are in a rut and then suddenly an experience wakes you up and you ask yourself what am I doing basically, didn't I seek a different life? Traveling in particular caused this in me, which she also mentions.
You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living. Then you read a book… or you take a trip… and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating. The symptoms of hibernating are easily detectable: first, restlessness. The second symptom (when hibernating becomes dangerous and might degenerate into death): absence of pleasure. That is all. It appears like an innocuous illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it. They work in offices. They drive a car. They picnic with their families. They raise children. And then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, and it awakens them and saves them from death. Some never awaken.
Anaïs Nin The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1, 1931-1934 goodreads
Thursday, 19
Today I posted Susan Sontag's book Against Interpretation and Other Essays (front cover) on the fb group page Artspace (Tintinto) under #artspacelibrary. Yes, actually posted - with no comment or additional information, just the year of that particular post. I've been doing this for a while now, presenting books from the Art Space's library. When I held the book in my hand, I felt the need to leaf through it. In her essay Notes on "Camp" I found the following section on the taste and especially the ideas of her essay very intriguing.
Most people think of sensibility or taste as the realm of purely subjective preferences, those mysterious attractions mainly sensual, that have not been brought under the sovereignty of reason. They allow that considerations of taste play a part in their reactions to people and to works of art. But this attitude is naïve. And even worse. To patronize the faculty of taste is to patronize oneself. For taste governs every free - as opposed to rote - human response. Nothing is more decisive. There is taste in people, visual taste, taste in emotion - and there is taste in acts, taste in morality. Intelligence, as well, is really a kind of taste: taste in ideas. (One of the facts to be reckoned with is that taste tends to develop very unevenly. It's rare that the same person has a good visual taste and good taste in people and taste in ideas.)
Taste has no system and no proofs. But there is something like a logic of taste: the consistent sensibility which underlies and gives rise to a certain taste. A sensibility is almost, but not quite, ineffable. Any sensibility which can be crammed into the mold of a system, or handled with the rough tools of proof, is no longer a sensibility at all. It has hardened into an idea. . . .
(page 276)
We had to leave the car in the garage overnight because they couldn't finish it. Luckily a friend picked us up. First we looked for a place to stay, but finally I decided to go home. Before we went to Palma Rima though. Very nice, we had a table right on the beach, more or less on the sand. I haven't been to the beach, let alone for dinner, in a long time. There was even a good band at Solomon's. Yes, that was a cool evening after a day in the garage. Hopefully we get the car back today - in a decent condition.
Tuesday, 10
...then I would have had an appointment yesterday at 10 a.m. for the final filling. Point 10 I manage to be there when I am told that the dentist is pregnant and cannot come. A bit annoying, but such is life. When exactly she can come back, one cannot say. Since I'm not in pain, I'll just wait and see. But the hole is very big, half the tooth is gone. Maybe it needs to be pulled after all, I think. In the meantime, Ous has even found the right oil (5 W 30). So we drive to Mansour's workshop for an oil change. The car has been making strange noises for some time and we ask the car mechanic for a test drive. It turned out that the car drifted to the right. A bigger issue that we're going to explore today. Yesterday afternoon I took another walk to the beach respective sandmining lagoon. I can't reach the beach anymore, but I think I wrote about already.
Thursday, 5
...and then I lost the temporary filling without realizing it. Now I'm worried if it will hurt my stomach. So far I haven't noticed anything, no stomach pains or anything like that.
As for drinking beer, don't worry I'm not going back in time. I just enjoyed it yesterday and felt liberated. Sometimes that's good, just sometimes.
Wednesday, 4
Today I ate more or less only chips and beer - against all reason. The dentist made me a temporary filling and I didn't have to pay. On the way there - to the Clinica - I saw four completely wrecked cars. I haven't had a chance to take photos, but I've long wanted to document the crashed cars because the many car accidents here aren't just talk, they're terrible fact.
Tuesday, 3
Art Space Work of the Month
WOLS (Wolfgang Otto Schulze 1913-51)
Untitled, Pavillon d'Élegance, Paris, 1937
photography, from the estate 1995, 40 x 30 cm
Monday, 2
The first time I was at the CCA in Yaba was on a Monday, May 5th, 2014. When I got there, I found that I had missed the El Anatsui exhibition Playing with Chance, which had its last opening day the day before. Actually, I should have known from my museum work that Monday is not a good day.
I started my journey very spontaneously and self-determined. I wanted to meet someone I knew from my residency in Johannesburg and who I had reconnected with through Facebook. Dissatisfied with my relationship at the time, I looked for another happiness. The South African artist was living on Bananas Island, one of the most expensive areas of Lagos at the time. He was not at all enthusiastic about my travel plans and had made it clear to me that there was no way I could live with him. I found a room with Andrew Esibio (who is mentioned in the article of the link below), a photographer that artist Victoria Udondian had put me in contact with. I had met her in Winterthur, where she had an art residency.
At that time everyone was extremely busy, nobody really had time for me. I was lost and had to find my own way. During my stay in Lagos I took a lot of photos, but I missed the important things of contemporary art - also the opportunity to meet Bisi Silva.
There is always first the mystery of the universe, and then the explanation behind it.
As an institution, the CCA wants to remove barriers of entry to artistic practice, yet ensure that artistic practice is elevated and revered, both critically and intellectually. Free access is central, as is the creation of a space that teaches about the institutional framework behind artistic practice, like: How to write a grant application? How to apply for a residency? How to research? How to curate a show? How to write about art? How to talk about your work? How to collaborate? What to do about materials?
It wants to not just shape a local scene and resurgence of contextual artistic practice; it also wants that to be visible globally.
The CCA has always celebrated and championed work and programming that moved away from the painted canvas and traditional formats; art that allows for a more visceral and engaged audience participation and requires a lower barrier to entry.
Removing Barriers, Elevating Practices, Papa Omotayo, e-flux architecture
Sunday, 1
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******** HAPPY NEW YEAR *********
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