“Delicacies” is my incoherent, irregular, unpredictable collection of interesting sparks I came across online. Handpicked by a human, no robots, no AI. A form of tripping, wandering, dérivé, with some loosely undefined theme holding them together. Delicacies have no fixed frequency: I hit the publish button when there is enough material. That can be after a week or after 3 months. No pressure, literally. Just click the image below. Enjoy!
Here, on my blog, I only share a couple of links. If you can’t get enough of these and want more, you can hang on to the firehose, the extended version of Petervan’s Delicacies on Substack with loads of videos and visual sparks. Subscribe on the Substack Welcome Page.
Petervan’s Musical Ride November 2023 – 70+ songs, 95% new releases. Discovery in the past: Rhythm & Sound Remixes. Discovery in the now: A Grisaille Wedding by Rainy Miller & Co > Play in shuffle mode to increase the surprise factor. Enjoy!
As most of you know, Petervan Studios is the melting pot of three studios: The Art Studio, The Interventions Studio, and The Scaffold Studio
The Art Studio
My latest artworks are on the artworks section of the Petervan Studios site. Here is my cousin Joost standing in front of one of my recent paintings: 4 panels together measuring 240cm x 200cm.
I am also working on a VR implementation of the New New Babylon (NNB) Project: a network of urban youth city districts that are connected through standard interfaces.
We are working with Spectracities to launch a design challenge by April 2023. I am doing an intro talk on this project during the Spectracities meet-up on 9 March 2023.
And here is the recording: starts at minute 7:32
NNB will also have a number of virtual Art White Rooms that will host my latest artworks.
NNB will also host a New New Babylon TOWER, and I plan to make a physical model of that tower as an example of materializing my metaphors.
A new “Performance Lecture” will consolidate all of the above in a compelling multimedia narrative and performance.
Target date for the performance and the supporting NBB material is 1 Nov 2023
The Interventions Studio
Two interesting experiences with the Zen Bricks Project
One client asked me to run a 30 min online session, where all the participants are drawing little bricks in complete silence. I was very surprised to learn how this zen moment unleashed quite emotional reactions among the participants.
Another client invited me to do something similar in real life, as part of their corporate event that was organized around the theme of mental wellness and the importance of calm moments.
The Scaffold Studio
The Scaffold is a transdisciplinary learning studio for the never-normal.
We are working on two interesting leads.
Lead #1 is a services company that owns a beautiful physical building/campus with meeting rooms, study rooms, a library, auditoria, lush gardens, etc. They run it as a private infrastructure for the public good. We look at it as an imagination infrastructure. The hardware. What The Scaffold offers is the software: the expertise, network, and practice to curate and design a series of learning studios and expeditions. The study topics are non-hierarchical organizations and new democracies.
Lead #2 is a globally operating organization trying to get its head around the topic of corporate governance. Like the first lead, they own world-class real estate, including an auditorium and a museum. We are also looking to design a physical journey between cities leading toward a major event in 2024.
We have a great coalition of advisors. Last month, Lene Rachel Andersen joined our advisor’s group as the twelfth apostle. She specialises in Bildung, Metamodernity, and Libertism. Give Lene a warm welcome.
So, that’s it for this edition. If there is something worth reporting, the next update is for Sep 2023.
Petervan’s Music Ride September 2022 > almost 90 songs, most new releases, but also some classics > from Ozzy Osbourne to Tamino and everything in between > play in shuffle mode to increase the surprise factor. Enjoy!
As I was very focused on professionalizing my art practice, I did not produce much artwork during that time. On the website, you can discover some of my existing work by selecting a method, dynamic, and outcome. You can of course also sort per container: canvas, video, audio, etc.
As part of the inventory work, I stumbled upon some older works and played around with DALL-E
Since the last update, I visited the following art exhibitions:
Dhondt Dhaenens, Deurle, April 2022
Berlinde De Bruyckere, Studio visit, Ghent, April 2022
Castle of Laarne, Laarne, May 2022
Storycon, BOZAR Brussels, May 2022
Nick Ervinck, Skins, K.E.R.K., Middelkerke, July 2022
8th Biennial of Painting, Dhondt Dhaenens, Deurle, July 2022
8th Biennial of Painting, Mudel, Deinze, July 2022
8th Biennial of Painting, Raveem Museum, Zulte, July 2022
Jonas Gekhiere, MUSEE, Oostende, July 2022
Christian Dotremont, KMSKB, Brussels, August 2022
Tanya Goelen, KMSKB, Brussels, August 2022
(Un)Common Values, National Bank Belgium, Brussels, August 2022
Nick Ervinck, Studio Visit, Lichtervelde, August 2022
Wim Opbrouck Open Hart, Dr. Ghislain Museum, Ghent, August 2022
Splendid Isolation, S.M.A.K., Ghent, August 2022
Outdoors
We had a fantastic spring and summer. We basically had sunny weather from March till August. At least that is how I recall it.
Spent quite some time outdoors: some gardening, some walking, some bicycling, some doing nothing. Got a nice tan, and people asked me where I spent my holidays. At home, but many don’t seem to believe me 😉
I have not traveled abroad since October 2019. Cannot say I miss it.
Since July 2019, I have published every month a Spotify List with new releases combined with some oldies from the 60ies, 70ies, and beyond. Search for “Petervan Ride” and select “playlists”. Selection is driven only by my personal taste (or lack thereof).
In July 2022, we entered the fourth year of this experiment. Here is the latest Ride from September 2022
I suggest you play it in shuffle mode, it enhances the surprise experience.
Family
The most important news is that Astrid passed and is now starting her last year in high school! Where has the time gone?
What else?
Horses
Astrid is still enjoying horse riding very much. And so do I!
I have three roles in the horse riding adventure: being her All Bundy, her taxi driver, and her photographer
Astrid with Cienta
So, in summary, what’s next?
The plan for the next mile is to work/play on:
Support Astrid in her last year at high school
Professionalizing my art practice
Pitch and realize my project “The Scaffold”
So, that’s it for this edition.
If there is something worth reporting, the next update is for Feb 2023.
Since March 2022, I have focused on the professionalization of my art practice. As part of a grant for the innovation of cultural business models, I invited Kurt Vanbelleghem from Amy-Art and Present Future to be my coach in that endeavor.
Kurt is a curator, critic, and publisher specializing in the field of contemporary artistic practices. He received a MA in Psychological Sciences and a MA in Art History from the University of Ghent, Belgium, and a Master in Visual Arts Administration from The Royal College of Art, London, UK.
Whereas we initially started looking at my artwork only, Kurt was great at pointing out that the output of my artwork was less important than the methods and dynamics applied. And that these methods were also underpinning my other work in the area of interventions, provocations, and interruptions. In other words, all my work was about similar forms of artistic and aesthetic expression and experience. Kurt set me on a path of better articulation of my ambitions and offerings. It also led to a new vocabulary and a new set of aesthetics to describe and share what I do and why I do it.
I have now consolidated my creative undertakings into Petervan StudioS (plural).
Petervan Studios is the melting pot of three studios: The Art Studio, The Interventions Studio, and The Scaffold Studio. The Studios have the following methods, dynamics, and outcomes in common:
The three studios share the motivation and desire for societal, moral, and aesthetic advancement.
I just launched a brand new website with all details about the three studios: www.petervanstudios.com .
The Website is designed by WebIt. Thanks, Ruben, Joke, and team for your patience. Thanks also to Peter, Kurt, Janne, and Tijana from Amy-Art for help with the archiving and API integration.
Below is a quick summary of the three studios
Studio-1 Artworks
This studio is the home of Petervan’s art experiments: a mix of analog and digital artwork and productions, writings, poems, installations, video scapes, soundscapes, recordings, documentaries, and time capsules.
Studio-2 Interventions
These interventions build upon my experience and capability as a translator/interpreter of your specific challenges and designer/architect of intellectual collisions. Most of the interventions involve private or semi-private tailor-made provocations and include: Conversations, keynotes, performances, and curations
Studio-3 The Scaffold
The Scaffold is a brand-new transdisciplinary learning studio for the never normal. This unusual learning studio invites participants into a fresh break from the day-to-day. It allows participants to think, sense, learn, ànd act together with a brilliant, curated non-conformist tribe about a specific collective challenge. Not to solve the challenge, but to identify pivotal insights and a new way to position it.
We also brought together a coalition of exceptional individuals as advisors for The Scaffold. A unique mix of strategists, futurists, engineers, entrepreneurs, experts in classic and contemporary arts, masters in narrative environments, philosophers, licensed architects, and VR developers.
Petervan’s Ride July 2022 > starting the fourth year of Rides > Only 33 songs this month, summer vacation I guess > mostly new releases > play in shuffle mode for more surprise
If you can’t get enough of these and want more, you can hang on to the firehose, the extended version of Petervan’s Delicacies in REVUE with loads of videos. Subscribe here: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/petervan
Petervan Studios 