Here is the latest version of my Delicacies newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter on the top of that page.
These are articles/posts that for some reason created a spark in my memory.
Teaser: this fantastic video by Joao Pombeiro
Larry and Sergey in hot tub bubbles in 2005 – picture by William Mercer McLeod
In my previous post, I played with words on Descartes’ “Je pense, donc je suis” – “I think, therefore I am”. In the background, you will notice my always-restless search for who I am. It is an everlasting search for (digital) identity. But maybe “Who” I am is a less critical investigation than “Where” I am?
I always have been intrigued by spheres. From my exposure as an youngster architecture student, through the discovery of Buckminster Fuller’s Geodesic Domes, from my thinking about digital identity being a sphere of fragments of influence that one could share with others, till my recent discoveries in exploring 3D drawing and sculpting software, where meshes of polygon meshes and NURBS primitives can be found and molded-in in abundance.
It should therefore not come as a surprise that – as mentioned in my Dec 2019 update – I became absolutely fascinated by Sloterdijk’s “Foams”, part-3 of his trilogy on Bubbles, Spheres and Foam.
I probably – with a probability of 100% – only understand a very small fraction of what is written and meant by Sloterdijk, or by some of the authors of essays introducing and contextualizing his work. I did some homework for this post by reading and reading again the excellent introduction by Jean Pierre Couture on the work of Sloterdijk in general, and Charlie Huenemann’s “Sloterdijk’s Spheres: Bubbles, Globes, and Foams”. And then starting the real thing by the master himself. It is not a page-turner: 900 pages of solid philosophical writing. I can do a maximum of 5 pages/day and need time to let it all sink in. That should do as far as the disclaimers are concerned.
Indeed, this is just a personal thought experiment – and maybe an art experiment or performance as well in the near future – re my evolution on thinking about (digital) identity, and daring to propose a different, radical and spherical perspective.
It’s a baby-idea, just out of the womb, waiting for parents and caregivers to be nurtured, and made alive. There is no practical application for this as far as I can think of, but it just feels I am onto something.
My latest contribution was The Cambrian Explosion of Identity from February 2019, already intended then as the start of a series on the subject, but other priorities distracted me from further development. Let’s add some “spherology” to the mix now.
„Peter Sloterdijk’s celebrated „Spheres“ trilogy is a 2,500-page „grand narrative“ retelling of the history of humanity, as related through the anthropological concept of the „Sphere”,… a lengthy meditation of Being and Space — a shifting of the question of „who we are„ to a more fundamental question of „where we are.“
“Foams are masses of little bubbles, of course. As a metaphor, foams represent smaller zones of inclusion filled with the air of hope.” Huenemann, Charlie.
“And this, in essence, is what Sloterdijk sees as the project of the modernity: the business of constructing bigger and bigger shells, with more Lebensraum for the soul.” Huenemann, Charlie.
I used to think of a robot as an entity that has a body, a mind, and sensors for input/output computation. A computational machine. But to me, it seems just a bit too easy to separate the mind and body, and to replace the mind with some form of artificial intelligence.
It feels like Sloterdijk describes “being” – being in the world, coming into the world, creating your own world and make it become alive, worlding – as acting as-a-foam, not as a “body”, a body with a brain on top that thinks. He is after the wholeness of foam and its integration and relationships with upper and lower levels of spheres and bubbles.
The metaphor of foam is a very solid one: what was before foam, what happens after the foam disintegrates? Where does foam go, what caveats is it trying to fill? All interesting avenues for research and investigation.
It also made me think of this strange creature – the blob with 720 sexes – that foams over old wood trees as a monster we can all learn from?
Because of this sudden focus on foamy shapes, I see bubble-structures everywhere. I see foam in this discovery of Christian Mio Loclair’s art installations, interventions, and interpretations. His studio “Waltz Binaire” works for the biggest brands in the world.
He explores the harmonic friction of human bodies, movement, and nature colliding with digital aesthetics. Using cutting edge technology in interactive installations, audio-visual experiences, visual narratives, and dance performances, he continuously illuminates the beauty and drama of human identity.
Enhanced Motion Design - Waltz Binaire Studio
I see foams in Spheres Journal:
“Yet the vision algorithms have of our future is built on our past. What we teach these algorithms ultimately reflects back on us and it is, therefore, no surprise when artificial intelligence starts to classify on the basis of race, class, and gender. This odd ‘hauntology’1 is at the core of what is currently discussed under the labels of algorithmic bias or pattern discrimination.”
Current identity thinking is based on past data. On graphs. On connections and relationships between “nodes”, “end-points” of a relatively fixed and static structure. With the extraction of value built on top of that past, amplified by AI. The past amplified.
But we did not notice that the nodes have become overlapping cells of belonging. The attractiveness of a “foamy” group- or individual-identity is that it is not fixed and static. It is “expansive”, not “extractive”. It adds value. It grows unpredictably into the future. Not like extrapolations of last year’s revenue growth. More like fruit maturing into a juicy ripeness.
Foam is dynamic. Made of bubbles, it lives within and across spheres of influence (both in the sense of actively influencing and passive being influenced).
Foam is not static. It is alive. In search of higher levels of aliveness. Until it dies. And only blobs of dust and air are left.
I see foam in Paul Baran’s network models:
Centralized, decentralized and distributed network models Paul Baran (1964)
What’s the impact of foamy logic on organizational models? How does a foamy organization look like? What’s the shape of D?
Are we moving from Graphs to Foams? From Nodes to Bubbles? What would nodes and endpoints be called in the foam-world anyway? Are we foam? It feels like I am going down a rabbit hole of foam. From fuzzy to foamy logic?
Petervan Artwork © 2019 – Little man on canvas – Acryl on Canvas – 10x10cm
Ik luister, dus ik ben
Ik kijk, dus ik ben
Ik teken, dus ik ben
Ik schrijf, dus ik ben
Ik componeer, dus ik ben
Ik creëer, dus ik ben
Ik loop, dus ik ben
Ik rust, dus ik ben
Ik huil, dus ik ben
Ik dans, dus ik ben
Ik schilder, dus ik ben
Ik peins, dus ik ben
Ik de-peins, dus ik ben
Meen je dat echt?
J’écoute, donc je suis
Je regarde, donc je suis
Je dessine, donc je suis
J’écris, donc je suis
Je compose, donc je suis
Je crée, donc je suis
Je cours, donc je suis
Je me repose donc je suis
Je cris, donc je suis
Je danse, donc je suis
Je peins, donc je suis
Je pense, donc je suis
Je dé-pense, donc je suis
Vraiment?
I listen, therefore I am
I look, therefore I am
I draw, therefore I am
I write, therefore I am
I compose, therefore I am
I create, therefore I am
I run, therefore I am
I chill, therefore I am
I cry, therefore I am
I dance, therefore I am
I paint, therefore I am
I pense, therefore I am
I ex-pense, therefore I am
Really?
This post is the start of a short series of posts on who and where I am/you are, and a set of new interventions and provocations to renew aliveness and alertness in what we observe and what we hope for. Looking forward to creating spiritual, moral and aesthetical advancement together.
You can subscribe via email to these posts via the “Follow blog via email” in the upper right corner of this page. Enjoy!
Petervan Artwork © 2019 - 3D Sculpture in Forger for iPAD Texture own painting acryl on canvas 50x50cm
An irregular update on what happened since my previous August 2019 post and some updated plans. With lots (!) of images and videos 😉 Looks like I have been busy, but it did not feel that way.
The Artschool Project
The Artschool academy year started again in Sep 2019, and I decided to do a cross-over year combining Painting and Digital Visual Arts. Progress has been a bit slow as I need to find a good rhythm to combine these two areas, and the abundance in creative apps has overwhelmed me a bit, to be honest. Some examples:
Canvas work
Petervan Artwork © 2019 – Dancers – Acryl on canvas – 50x50cm
Petervan Artwork © 2019 - Abstract#1 – Acryl on Canvas – 120x100cm
Combined Canvas-Digital work
Petervan Artwork © 2019 – The Boxer – Canvas and Digital – 50x50cm
Videoscapes
Some other videoscapes here (playlist):
With thanks to my Academy coaches Chris, Inge, and Patrick
Time Capsules Project
The Time Capsules Project (see my previous update) is still on hold. The plan is still to have at least a prototype of our Beyoncé project, before further engaging with other commissions
Delicacies
Delicacies is an irregular, unpredictable, incoherent, unfocused publication of mind-sparks that got me thinking. There have been three issues of Delicacies since Aug 2019. Check-out them out here:
https://www.getrevue.co/profile/petervan/issues/petervan-s-delicacies-issue-124-188170
https://www.getrevue.co/profile/petervan/issues/petervan-s-delicacies-issue-125-193906
https://www.getrevue.co/profile/petervan/issues/petervan-s-delicacies-issue-126-205279
Blogs
I published a number of reflections related to ambiguity, worlding, and hierarchies:
https://petervan.wordpress.com/2019/08/09/on-the-ambiguity-of-kayakers/
https://petervan.wordpress.com/2019/08/17/imagining-worlds-you-believe-in/
https://petervan.wordpress.com/2019/08/24/who-is-the-composer-who-wrote-the-score/
https://petervan.wordpress.com/2019/08/30/breaking-hierarchies/
https://petervan.wordpress.com/2019/10/30/ebb-and-flow/
I also queued up a huge list of reflections, and there are some juicy pieces in preparation for identity and – what is he now thinking – about “foam”. I will try to post them at a rhythm of 1-2 per month.
Petervan Rides
Lots of fun putting together some monthly Spotify Lists. Most fun when you choose shuffle play:
Petervan Ride July 2019
Petervan Ride August 2019
Petervan Ride September 2019
Petervan Ride October 2019
Petervan Ride November 2019
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0I3BQot79HxMHF0gHd0VmE?si=l0FFPNl8R9Sbs9YL6YsCPQ
Petervan Mixes
https://soundcloud.com/peter-vander-auwera/petervan-mix-james-brown-david-bowie-25-nov-2019
Mix by Petervan Scapes © 2019 – With algoriddim DJ Pro Version 1.4.5
More music
Check out Neil Young’s book “To Feel Music”: the book is related to his efforts to let you re-discover high-res sound, as most existing streaming services only offer low quality sound. These days, young people who never heard vinyl analog sound through a decent HiFi kit, have no idea what really good sound sounds like. Neil Young wants to fix that.
With his book and the Neil Young Archives, you can enjoy again his full collection and much more in high-res. There is also a dedicated App for iPhone, iPad, and Android, but the best listening experience is on your PC/Mac connected to a good amplifier and speakers. Highly recommended.
Visual Collisions
I started collecting a number of “visual collisions”. Most of these are videos, a minority are pictures. These visual collisions are intended to de-frame an audience before introducing something new.
Check out this YouTube Channel:
New toys
I added some new toys to my studio, most of it is software (and most of it free of charge, at least for art students):
Books
I have been reading quite a lot. Noteworthy are “The Aesthetic Imperative” by Peter Sloterdijk, and “How to Speak Machine” by John Maeda.
I am fascinated by Sloterdijk’s “Foams” (more about that later)
„Foams „completes Peter Sloterdijk’s celebrated „Spheres“ trilogy: his 2,500-page „grand narrative“ retelling of the history of humanity, as related through the anthropological concept of the „Sphere.“ For Sloterdijk, life is a matter of form, and in life, sphere formation and thought are two different labels for the same thing. The trilogy also together offers his corrective answer to Martin Heidegger’s „Being and Time,“ reformulating it into a lengthy meditation of Being and Space — a shifting of the question of „who we are „to a more fundamental question of „where we are.“
The absolute #1 recommendation is Sad by Design by Geert Lovink. If you want to go beyond the worn-out opinions of Silicon Valley libertarians vs. Humanity, this is your book.
You can find a link to all the books I am reading in my Goodreads
Exhibitions
I visited a couple of art exhibitions:
Sarah Baker – Portrait of Bill May – Museum Dhondt Dhaenens End Aug 2019 – Picture by Petervan
Lace is more – PiKANT exhibition about Lace in Aalst. Video and soundscape by Petervan
Jannis Kounellis – Untitled – 1983 - Arte Povera – SFMOMA Nov 2019
My own exhibition
Angel in Chapel of Mater Location of my upcoming exhibition end May 2020
Since I started academy some years ago, I produced something like 500 drawings, paintings, sketches, soundscapes, and video experiments. Many have asked whether I even thought of setting up an exhibition of my own work. That’s going to happen end May – beginning June 2020:
Location: Chapel of Mater (a small village in the Flemish Ardennes, Tour de Flanders territory)
For regular updates on this exhibition via a mailing list, you can subscribe here.
Outdoors
Great summer morphing into rainy Sep-Oct-November. Not too bad. We visited a vineyard close to Aalst (Belgium) and biking tours continued at irregular intervals; small distances (20-40 km) at a very low speed. Maintenance of the garden also kept me busy. I have about 150 meters of hedges (x2 both sides), so by the time you get to the end, you can start again 😉
Vineyard in Aalst, Belgium - August 2019 - Picture by Petervan
Life of a Sunflower from 26 Aug till 30 Sep 2019 - Montage by Petervan
Bike tour along a very green Dender (river crossing Aalst)
Freelance
Main project was a leadership immersion for a client that took us to Shenzhen and Hong Kong the first week of October 2019. Think of an Innotribe @ Sibos but then in a intimate retreat format for small private audiences; with artists of course. A good example of Imagining Worlds That You Believe In – aka “Worlding”, a term coined by Ian Cheng in his book.
Hong Kong Peak Tram Oct 2019 – Picture by Petervan
Reflections
Retirement is coming closer. I will be officially retired as from 1 May 2020. Not that I plan to stay idle, on the contrary. Within limits, I will stay available for interesting freelance work and plan to stay very focused on my artwork.
In other words, no time for too much social media engagement (I put some blockers on most of my devices) or making selfies.
Graffiti in Ghent Citadel Park 16 Sep 2019 – Picture by Petervan
All the above helped me getting sharper on what I am and what I do: create artistic interventions, interruptions, and provocations that lead to higher states of alertness and aliveness. Formats can be analog and digital artwork, performances, writings, poems, blogs, installations, exhibitions, immersions, soundscapes, recordings, documentaries, and time capsules.
So, what’s next?
The plan for Jan – Mar 2020 is to work on:
As you can see, a labyrinth of choices. The red thread may be the solution: stay hungry, stay foolish, stay focused.
So, that’s it for this edition. If there is something worth reporting, the next update is for Apr 2020.
Merry Christmas and Happy New-Year!
Video play with Videoleap by Petervan – Music James Brown “I feel good”
Warmest,
Petervan Artwork © 2019 - Abstract#1 - Acryl on canvas - 100x120cm
Petervan Artwork © 2019 - Walk In The Park Video mix based on Insta360 One capture
I am still reflecting on some feedback regarding an event that I recently designed and facilitated. One of the comments was that “there was too much ebb and flow”, and that we should create more “pressure” to keep the highs at maximum volume at all times.
But is ebb and flow such a bad thing? I don’t think so. On the contrary, the tension between ebb and flow is a requirement for growth and creativity. Adding more pressure will not keep the flow on, it could create exhaustion and fractures and breakages.
Instead of pressure, I believe we need to design opportunities for expansion, probably in the form of silence or more in general, reflection moments in the absence of inputs and triggers.
Like in Jan Chipchase’s expeditions: “Long trekking days were spent in meditative solitude or long conversations depending on personal preference, as energies ebbed and flowed”
Petervan Artwork © 2019 - iPhone 11 Pro - Soundscape in Garageband
Petervan Artwork © 2019 - Insta360 ONE camera - Soundscape in Ableton Live
Petervan Studios 