Pair The Fine Chap, The Monk and The Cartographer 2013

P.A.I.R.

An i to cl ntro ickin g:

2013

Landscape Library

THE FINE CHAP, THE MONK AND THE CARTOGRAPHER Three artistic representations of a small rural region Abby Buwalda

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Content P.A.I.R. - an intro to 2013

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What happens when you drop a Spanish illustrator in a rural Dutch village?

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Kaart (googlemaps)

The Peruvian shows that it is all about the missing data

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‘All people who live in Peest, really want to be in Peest’

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The end of the story about ‘the fine chap’, ‘the monk’ and ‘the cartographer’

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Extra: 5 years of P.a.i.r. locations

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P.A.I.R. - An intro to 2013 ‘Portable Artist in Residence’ is the residency project of PeerGrouP: the side-specific theatre group in the North of the Netherlands. The P.A.I.R.project promotes artistic social commitment while focusing on humans and their surroundings. It offers artists the opportunity to dig themselves into local life at different locations in the northern provinces in the Netherlands. The artists are expected to relate to the local inhabitants and to involve them, to seek out links with scientists, historians and/or writers. The end result of the artists’ stay in the P.A.I.R. can take any form the resident feels is suitable: it doesn’t have to be a physical art object. The artist’s stay is meant to contribute to the artist’s and the P.A.I.R.’s creative development. Their stay should be meaningful for the local community.

The call for proposals was answered with a large amount of applications: from all over the world 57 proposals were send to Donderboerkamp (home base of the PeerGrouP). The cooperation of the Transartists network was essential to reach so many artists. Apparently the idea of living for about two months in two sea containers, in a rural area to research the locality seemed appealing to many artists. It is a prove of the need for residency programs in general and - more specific – for projects that invite you to relate to and involve the local community.

The P.A.I.R. wants to give artists the opportunity to work from the inside of a community. In order to be able to explore different landscapes and have the artists as near as possible to a community, the curator (Henry Alles) has created a portable accommodation: two sea containers on top of each other.

Antoñio Fernandes Latorre, one of these years’ artists, made an animation of the P.A.I.R. accommodation.

1 Antoñio Fernandes Latorre: fire fighter and illustrator from Madrid, very social and always in for a drink, stayed from 24 March till 12 May in Donderen. > Project flyer

The P.A.I.R. project has started five year ago with ‘landscape’ as it’s main theme. In 2013 again three different locations were visited to meet local inhabitants and to investigate their surroundings. The curators choice for this years’ approach of the theme was: Landscape Library. Aiming ‘to create a visual/audible and readable library as the next step towards a deeper understanding of what this landscape means to people’.

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P.A.I.R.

From all proposals, three artists were welcomed in this years project:

2 Blas Isasi Gutiérrez: painter from Lima obsessed with detail and with an impressive disciplined working rhythm, stayed from 9 June till 11 August at Donderboerkamp, a small residence area in between Donderen and Peest. > Project flyer 3 Anthony Barilla, the musician, writer and theatre artist from Texas, now living in Georgia and with a fascination for maps, stayed from 18 August till 6 October in Peest. > Project flyer

What happens when you drop a Spanish illustrator in a rural Dutch village?

Sunday 12th of May, in the village of Donderen, the first P.A.I.R. artist of this year, Antoñio Fernandes Latorre, a Spanish illustrator, is presenting his work. Today is also the last of the four-day-long event to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the village. They’ve had busy days – with a parade, children’s activities, a medieval market and many performances – so this last day they take it easy. The villagers just had an enormous medieval brunch, with soup, beans and meat. After the lunch Antoñio and Henry (the P.A.I.R. curator) invited all the villagers for the P.A.I.R. presentation. Considering the amount of people showing up after this invitation, around 150, all villagers seemed to be up for this.

To create an exhibition, Antoñio printed many of the drawings he made during his stay on A3 paper and he put them in the sheds of his neighbour in Donderen. In one of the sheds, he gives a short presentation of himself and his work. Antoñio clearly had a good time in Donderen and is pleased about the warm welcome he received from the villagers. All the visitors take their time to look at the drawings in the sheds and everybody can have a look in the downstairs P.A.I.R. container, Antoñio’s workshop. Antoñio has printed 4

Antoñio Fernandes Latorre

Antoñio Fernandes Latorre, 24 March until 12 May, Donderen

many of his drawings on postcards and posters; he invites everybody to take what they like. The villagers are clearly pleased they now own the drawings of the to them so well known places and people. Although, all the villagers look a little tired after four days of celebrating the 600th anniversary of the village, most of them stay to have some food and drinks.

They look back satisfied on the whole weekend and have a last chat with Antoñio, since he will be leaving the next day.

How did the Spanish illustrator manage to embed so well in this small Dutch village? When Antoñio had just arrived in Donderen, 25th of March, I went with him for a bike ride to ask him about his project plans. We end up at the ‘Paasvuur’ (Easter Fire) in Peest. When we arrive, the large pile of wood and branches had just been set on fire. On top of the pile they have placed a humansize doll, symbolising the exorcism of evil spirits and demons. The fire itself symbolises fertility and spring. Antoñio and I watch how the flames spread and we speak with some villagers, who are satisfied that their yearly tradition could continue: ‘Up until the last moment it was unsure if we

would get permission from the local authorities, it has been very dry lately, so they were afraid the fire would spread to the surrounding forest’.

For his project, Antoñio is interested in getting to know about the local environment, so I translate everything the villagers tell me. However, his P.A.I.R. research is not the only reason why he is interested in the fire.

Besides illustrator, Antoñio is a fire fighter: ‘I work as a fire fighter to eat. I don’t need to make money with my drawings; I can draw what I like. This way I can do interesting and crazy things, like the P.A.I.R. project.’ The illustrator took three empty drawing books with him and he is planning to fill them in the coming weeks. He’ll live in Donderen, try to integrate and observe how the village is preparing for the event: ‘600 years Donderen’. At this moment he already made a couple of drawings from the surroundings.

It doesn’t always easy: chatting and getting to know people. Antoñio hopes to have a good starting point with the local fire fighter who are keeping an eye on the fire: ‘Hi there, nice to see you, cause I’m a fire-fighter in Madrid’ ‘Oh… Ok.’ is the brief answer of the local fire fighter. He doesn’t seem to keen on having a chat. Remaining positive Antoñio tells me: ‘I guess he is too busy working…’ However, a little later I hear the fire fighter telling his colleagues: ‘How nice, the guy over there is fire-fighter in Madrid!’

It seems sometimes it takes a while for the ice to break.

However, there are places where this is easier for Antoñio. After the fire, Antoñio and I are heading to cafe Hoving: the only cafe in Donderen. The illustrator has only been in Donderen for one week, but everybody seems to know him 5

Antoñio Fernandes Latorre

already: ‘Hey Antoñio, you want a beer?’ It turns out that many of the people who welcome him warmly, only see him for the first time. This is thanks to PeerGrouP and the owners of the pub, who took care of spreading the news about his project plan before his arrival.

Café Hoving is packed with drinking villagers, young and old, who had been occupied all afternoon with ‘nootje schieten’ (shooting nuts): another local tradition on Eastern Day. Everybody is curious about Antoñio’s work, so he let his book pass around over table. Cleary some beers were spilled on the table this afternoon, but the illustrator doesn’t seem to worry about this. The cheerful villagers look amazed at his drawings of the surroundings. Earlier this afternoon, Antoñio already explained me how this is part of his strategy: ‘People don’t feel comfortable if you just walk in and ask to draw them. However, if they have seen your work already, even if it is just drawings of the surroundings, like landscapes and animals, they trust you more easily. They see you can draw and that you are honestly interested in the community’.

It seems his strategy is working according to plan. Rob had just looked at a couple of drawings, when Antoñio asks if he can draw him. First this

makes Rob laugh, but he is all right with it. While Rob is posing he constantly talks to me, about the village, the shooting-nutsgame and the organisation of ‘600 years Donderen’. People are curious and look over Antoñio’s shoulder and tell Rob: ‘It is going to be beautiful Rob!’ and ‘Well, he can draw me too if he likes!’

Later on in the process, 2nd of May, I visit Antoñio again to see how his project is enrolling. I join him to a shed where group of villagers is working on a ‘wagen’ for the parade on the opening of ‘600 years Donderen’. Aiming to draw all the preparations of the event, Antoñio tries to draw all groups that build a ‘wagen’. People are clearly pleased that Antoñio is interested in drawing them and hear their stories. Willem tells us: ‘the event is as much about the preparations as it is about the actual party. Most people in our

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Antoñio Fernandes Latorre

neighbourhood have work outside the village, so we don’t see each other to often. However, thanks to the ‘wagen’ project we – from high school teacher to banker – come together.’

The group is quite on schedule, so they decide to stop early tonight.

‘Otherwise we don’t have anything to do coming week!’

We have a beer with the ‘wagen’ crew and go for our last drink to café Hoving. Tonight I learn a bit more about the village, how it is much more than a picturesque village preparing for their anniversary. Under the cheerful surface you can find several issues that the villagers have to deal with. Donderen is a region with little employment opportunities and it lacks affordable housing. This causes the population to be relatively old.

The village has less and less facilities, there is no school and no shop. The only building that is not a house or a shed is the nice and lively café, which therefore functions as a community centre too. Lieke, the daughter of the owners of the cafe, is one of the first villagers that Antoñio drew. I wonder: what future will this 4 year old girl have if she wants to stay in Donderen?

Will she be able to get a house? Will she have any other opportunity to make a living other than taking over her parents’ cafe?

Art is potentially the perfect medium to ask these kinds of questions,

to be critical or to – creatively - twist the perspective. However, Antoñio doesn’t feel the need to ‘be political’ with his work. He explains how he approaches his work. In other words: why he draws… ‘(…) It is another way of communicating when you are drawing. You really need to stop and pass time somewhere, which makes you feel closer and more related to a place. It is something energetic; it is nice for your mind, like an exercise. Drawing completely changes the place and the way you look at it. If I wouldn’t draw in Donderen, it would be a totally different trip. I learn more about what is happening because I’m drawing.

It is an exercise to organize my thoughts, to make a certain memory.’

‘It is a common Spanish expression to say: “Dibujo lo que veo”. I draw what I can see.

However, I like to say it the other way round: “Veo lo que dubjo”. Meaning: I can see what I draw.’

Antoñio continues explaining: ‘it is amazing to what places you get if you are there to draw.

For example the other night when I went to Hoving, there were only women practicing for their dance performance.

I could feel it was a private moment, but because I was there to make drawings of them, it was all right, they accepted my presence. So, I tried my very best to make beautiful drawing of them, so they would not regret 7

Antoñio Fernandes Latorre

having me there, ha!’

‘Also, it’s interesting to see how I have the time to let the relation with the locals develop. For example Bert Wiekema, I live on his terrain, but it took a while for me to dare ask if I could draw him. This morning, when he came to my container, I told him: ‘Bert, you look so nice in your work clothes, can I draw you?’ First he was not eager to be drawn, but few hours later he came back and said it was ok. So, for half an hour we were sitting in front of each other and I drew him. To me, this is a special moment. It is totally different from taking a picture of someone, it is much more personal. It is a creative process, but though I’m drawing, Bert is the protagonist. He feels special that I draw him, I feel special because I can draw him. It is a beautiful moment.’

Clearly, for Antoñio it is more about building a relation with the community and to illustrate everything he observes, instead of diving under the surface and ask difficult questions. Which is probably part of the reason why the villagers like him so much: he is easy going, down-toearth and not critical. Many people describe him as ‘toffe peer’, a Dutch expression best translated as ‘a fine chap’. He is an artist, but his work is easy to digest for everybody. Even though there is a language barrier, people easily understand him and his work. ‘600 years Donderen’ is going to be an ode to the village, and Antoñio is contributing in an artful way to this.

Harry, another villager I spoke with in Hoving, elaborates a bit on why somebody like Antoñio turned out to fit so well in their community: ‘Besides being an artist, which he does very well, this guy has a real profession too, he is a fire fighter. We can identify more easily with him than with a full time artist. And of course we feel special he is using up all his free days to be here with us for 6 weeks. It was clever of PeerGrouP to drop such down-to-earth guy like Antoñio in the village. Despite the

language barrier, we understand him.

We cannot always relate to the other of PeerGrouP, it often makes me think: so our pensions are getting less and less, and at the same time, this is what the Dutch government spends their money on?’

The trust people put in him as a person and in his artistic qualities helped him to undertake his other work to: large wall paintings in public space. In cities this kind of work is referred to as ‘street art’, for his work in a rural village Antoñio made up the word ‘farm art’. He started with some murals of animals in the last weeks of his stay. Antoñio: ‘When I saw the large doors of the shed of Wiekema, I immediately liked the idea of doing a large mural of cows there. However, you need to be a little patient. People need to see your work first, and trust you, before they feel comfortable with this idea’. Antoñio made three murals of animals: cows, goats and a shrew. This way, he became not only a ‘well known figure’ in the village, but you can see his artistic signature in several place in the village. Villager: ‘The murals are literally amazing, I wish he had time to make us one too’ To conclude, Antoñio’s presentation fits perfectly in the whole event of ‘600 years Donderen’. It shows what happens when you drop an openminded Spanish illustrator for 6 weeks in Donderen: he gets to know everybody and he illustrates everything he observes. Willem, whom I spoke to when we visited his crew while working on their wagon, gave the best and briefest summary of Antoñio’s project: ‘We benne vereeuwigd’ (‘We 8

Antoñio Fernandes Latorre

are made history’). Whatever might happen in the future for Donderen, Antoñio contributed to writing history, and will probably be in the archives of ‘Oud Donderen’ forever. One of the main organisers of the event concludes: ‘it has been a unique opportunity for the village to be documented in this way. He has drawn so many places and people! Unbelievable! I mean, how many villages have such artful documentation of their community?’

Note by the editor: in the autumn of 2013 Antonio send two identical copies of his sketchbook ‘Donderen’ to café Hoving and the PeerGrouP. One book for the villagers and one book for the Landscape library.

The Peruvian shows that it is all about the missing data On a sunny day in August a group of fifteen people leaves Donderboerkamp in western direction, taking with them a ‘wagen’ with a bill-board-sized landscape painting and a delicious picnic. Two persons are pulling the car and four are pushing, the other walk around and sometimes they swap positions. People they meet on the way look at the group curiously and a little confused: where are these people going? Also, it seems the painting is not finished? One of the persons pushing the wagon is Blas Isasi Gutiérrez, a painter from Peru and the second P.A.I.R. artist. For seven weeks he worked - unbelievably patient and with an obsession for detail - on the landscape painting. Today, on the final day of his project, he has organized a ceremony: together we bring the landscape painting to the original landscape, a creek (Oosterveldse Diepje) in between Norg and Donderboerkamp. His plan is to put the painting in such a way that it will seem to merge with the original landscape: the place where Blas decided seven weeks ago ‘this is the decor of my painting’, took a picture and went to the P.A.I.R. workspace to start painting.

Why does an artist from Lima apply for a residency in a rural part of The Netherlands? Blas: ‘Last year I decided to shift the focus of my work from social issues like ‘gender’ and ‘identities’ towards nature and landscape. Before, my work had been rather figurative, a bit explicit and sometimes controversial. I did want to remain political with my work, but I realized there was a broader spectrum of ways to do so. I wanted to explore this and develop a more poetic and lyrical language.’

10 Blas Isasi Gutiérrez

Blas Isasi Gutiérrez, 9 June till 11 August, Donderboerkamp ‘The Netherlands has an interesting history of landscape painting. It started to develop in the 16th century, after the independence war with Spain. I think the Dutch were looking for a way to build their national identity, and landscape paintings seemed to fulfil this need. Paintings weren’t anymore only about representing the bourgeoisie, or social events, but about landscape. Through landscapes the national identity was build and represented. Considering the direction I wanted to take with my work and this rich Dutch history of landscape painting, it fitted perfectly for me to do the P.A.I.R. project: it is all about research in the local community, nature and landscape.’

Especially in the first few weeks, Blas has been cycling around to do research in the local environment.

He visited the archives in Vries and talked with ‘Oud Donderen’, the local history club of Donderen.

Blas explains: ‘the local people around Donderboerkamp have been very kind and helped me in so many ways. Soon I noticed that they are

quite proud, not only of being Dutch, but also of their local identity. They shared many stories about the local history.’

Blas took a fair bit of time for his research, but he did have to slightly adjust his initial idea for the project. ‘My first proposal was to do a mix of drawings and painting.

I’m intrigued with the difference between them: drawing doesn’t conceal anything; you can see the mistakes of the artist, whereas painting is an art of concealment.

My plan was to collect pictures from the local environment about the local environment. I would then make drawings of these pictures and place them in the landscape painting. It was meant like an experiment: the landscape painting as official representation and than overlap them with the drawings, which are about personal experiences.’

‘I had to change my plans because it turned out difficult to find historical pictures of the landscape. The locals were not very eager to share personal photo’s and in the archives I mainly found picture of social events.’ Though, Blas was prepared already that his plans might not work out: ‘Most plans work perfectly in theory, but when you arrive in the field the situation is quite different.’ He considers P.A.I.R. as a laboratory, a good place to try out for the first time how to involve the local community in your work. He doesn’t know the answer yet how to do this more successful next time, but at the same time he is convinced he’ll figure out once he has time to reflect on the project.

Blas continued his research in a different direction. He spoke a couple of times with mister Sieben, an inhabitant of Peest: ‘He is positively obsessed with the local history, especially the Second World War. One day he took me to a pond that was build by the Nazi’s as water reservoir. This pond has a very geomet11 Blas Isasi Gutiérrez

rical shape, however on ground level, you just see a beautiful pond with lots of plants it and horses running around in de meadow.’

‘I think it was then when I started to reflect on the impossibility of learning about the real history behind the things you see in front of your eyes.

Reality is very complex. The methods for representation we have developed since the beginning of history have been obsessed with trying to get to the essence of things, but this is actually something impossible to do.’ Blas continues ‘I moved my research to this ‘impossibility of representation’ and I started to make obsessively detailed drawings. I meant to make a statement of how - despite being as descriptive as you possibly can - you can never get the full essence of matters.

You cannot tell the full story behind the picture. You cannot represent the missing data. I consider making these drawings as a breakthrough in my project.’

Besides exploring the ‘impossibility of representation’ through drawing, Blas also continued to find out about how the Dutch deal with landscape and nature. ‘Main thing I learned: it is all about control. We – people in general,

not only the Dutch – have this illusion about nature being something pure and untouched. But the imprints of human activity are everywhere: agriculture, roads and cities. We have changed completely our environment and landscape. You find human prints and traces everywhere. However, in the Netherlands, you have taken this concept to an extreme. Most obvious example is the amount of land you managed to reclaim from the sea. But during my research I learned that also Drenthe originally looked very different. It used to be mostly fields of hay and straw, cattle and not very much agriculture and trees. The Dutch managed to change this into what Drenthe looks like today.’

‘I found out many examples of how you drastically changed your landscape, but the most striking one was to learn about a creek couple of kilometres from here.

This natural creek was canalized in the 70’s, apparently at some point they regretted this and recently they decided to restore it again to its original stream. To me, this is almost conceptual art by it’s own right. I assume there are a thousand technical reasons for this, like the need of natural meanders to prevent soil erosion, but the plain fact of canalizing and than restoring it just seems irrational to me.’

‘I knew already about this creek – I drove pass it with Henry when he picked me up from the airport – but later mister Mulder, a man from Donderen, showed me the place again. We walked a bit and he explained me that the boulders and rocks in the creek are bought from the farmers by the local government. To me, this was way too much; the local government is buying stones! It was then when I thought: this is the place.

This is the décor of my landscape painting.’

Having decided on the landscape to be depicted, the painting 12 Blas Isasi Gutiérrez

started for Blas. On a plexiglas of about the size of a billboard he painted the creek and its surroundings. In order to find a way to deal with the impossibility of representation, he decided to leave part of the Plexiglas open.

Since, though painted very detailed and really descriptive, filling the whole space would still not tell the whole history of the creek. For weeks he was continuously painting in the workspace of the P.A.I.R. He pretty much only left his workspace to eat and went to the upper container to rest. During my visit there, I see his schedule on the wall, which tells him exactly how many days he has left. When I wonder out loud if he is comfortable with this solitary life, he replies: ‘A painter should be prepared to be bored…’

I admire Blas for his craftsmanship and patience. However, it does strike me that at the ceremony there are only few people from the local community. This might have to do with the fact that the first weeks of his stay - when he was cycling around and talking to people - are too long ago for people to connect to the project. It is a shame that the dedication towards his painting didn’t allow him to do a bit more ‘participatory research’: like going to the local pub to hear stories. Which, building on Antoñio’s residence in Donderen, has proven to be an effective way to connect to people. This was a missed opportunity for Blas to integrate more with the local community and get to know more – first hand – about how people relate to the landscape. The other way round, the locals miss the opportunity to participate in this worthwhile experience of the ceremony today.

Back to the ceremony: we continue our way towards the exact landscape on the painting. Since part of the Plexiglas is left open, you see a different landscape through it all the time. Depending on where we walk with the ‘wagen’ and from which angle you look, you either see more trees, houses, the sky, the road, horses, cyclist or people on a terrace. In other words: during our walk the missing data is all the time filled with data from the local landscape. On the way we stop every now and then, to take a breath, have a bit of water or hear a story from Blas or Henry about the local surroundings. For example Blas tells everybody the story about how surprised he was when he heard the local government has bought boulders and rocks for the creek. It makes us laugh, because we know: ‘yes, this is so typical for us Dutch’. Or, as Henry put’s it: ‘God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands.’ An artist from Peru, a stranger to the local context, is capable of making us aware of this peculiar way of dealing with our landscape. It shows the advantage of being alien, an opportunity facilitated by the P.A.I.R. project so well.

When we arrive at the place, everybody is a bit tired, so the suggestion of first having the pick-nick and then continue to place the painting is received positively by everybody. Blas prepared us a traditional Peruvian dish for us with fish, avocado and potatoes. Combined with a wide variety of vegetables, different sausages, chocolate, strawberries, cherries, juices, wine and beer prepared by the PeerGrouP’s food artist Elles Kiers. People make themselves comfortable and enjoy the food. Once everybody is recovered from the walk, we start to take the painting from the ‘wagen’ and carry it together. Blas points us out the exact place to put the painting.

The effect of putting the landscape painting in the landscape is fascinating.

On our way we could see many different landscapes in the ‘missing data’ space. But now, this space is filled with the actual landscape that belongs there. Only difference: in the painting we see the very bright spring-colours 13 Blas Isasi Gutiérrez

of seven weeks earlier and in reallife we can see the warmer summer-colours. Having the painting in this exact place, invites the participants to walk around, look at it from all different angles, pose in front of it and behind it. It invites to play.

After having played around, main question is: now what? There is no permission from the local authorities to leave the painting. Will they notice? What if they notice? Shall we just leave it with a PeerGrouP card?

Shall we take it back? Meanwhile a thunderstorm is coming our way so we don’t have too much time to discuss anymore. We decide to take it. The painting is put back on the ‘wagen’, together with the leftovers of the picnic and together we go back to Donderboerkamp. The ceremony is finished.

What was the advantage for the development of the ‘landscape library’ to have an artist all the way from Peru research this? Blas is from a country that consists for over 60% of Amazon rainforest, yet only 5% of the Peruvians live in this area. The rainforest is one of the most bio diverse areas on the planet. You cannot find landscapes with a stronger contrast than the Peruvian rainforest and the Dutch nature. For the Dutch it might be impossible to fully understand the size of the Peruvian wilderness. Whereas

from Blas’ point of view it is unbelievable how much time and money the Dutch spend on organising every square meter of the ‘natural landscape’.

The Dutch might be so used to these kind of projects, that we don’t see the contradictio in terminis of restoring a creek to its natural meanders anymore. Blas’ representation of the landscape invites us to think about these ‘missing data’.

Note by the editor: the painting by Blas is now part of the PeerGrouP collection and can be seen and taken on a wagon to the represented location on request.

14 Blas Isasi Gutiérrez

‘All people who live in Peest, really want to be in Peest’ ‘It’s a real gift to the village…’ says Pieter, the treasurer of ‘Dorpsbelangen Peest’ (village interests Peest). Pieter refers to the atlas made by Anthony Barilla: ‘The World According To Peest’. Anthony Barilla has lived in Peest for seven weeks and today, the 6th of October, he presents his work. You can walk along 51 panels, which together form the pages of the atlas. Each audience member received an envelope with 51 stories: a story for each panel. On the panels we can find symbols, maps, pictures and sounds. The weather is nice, people take time to read the stories, look at the panels and talk with each other: ‘did you see number 16 already? That one is definitely about you.’

‘Really? I didn’t recognize myself yet.’

‘Of course it is, it is about a tall farmer, must be you! Apparently the artist’s neck was hurting after talking so long with you!’

The tall farmer in this story is Mr. Dussels, I walk along with him and his sons. The walking tour Anthony has set up is nearby the P.A.I.R. containers and takes us around Mr. Dussels potato field. Since Anthony lived so nearby Mr. Dussels field they got to know each other quite well: Mr. Dussels and his field are returning subjects in Anthony’s stories.

Peest is a village of 45 households, four streets, many horse fields and some woods, so a new villager, especially when it’s an American artist in two containers on the ‘Paasbult’ (location of Easter fire previously mentioned in What happens when you drop a Spanish illustrator in a rural Dutch village?), easily catches the eye. ‘None of the villagers could have missed him’ says Pieter ‘the village is really small and we have a strong community, everybody knows each other, it is part of the reason why me and my wife moved here’.

16 Anthony Barilla

Anthony Barilla, 18 August till 6 October, Peest Anthony is a diverse artist: composer, writer, theatre maker and cartographer. For about seven weeks, he lived in Peest to do research, write stories and create maps. His other recent work has been mostly about places, how people relate to it and how to map them: ‘I get obsessed with learning about a place, and then talk about what I’m learning. You could say that the way I make art is a lot about this process of learning. It is one of my favourite things in the morning to sit down and write for a couple of hours what I learned from yesterday’ The process of creating the maps is an important part of learning about a place. ‘People tell about the stones and boulders in the village, so I decide to map all the stones in the village. It is another way of representation, of telling the story and it can give you new insights in the story’ But, how does one start with finding stories in a village?

Earlier in the process, I speak with Anthony about this: ‘in the first week I randomly went around,

knocked on doors and talked to people. Also, some people came to my container and invited me at their house. Some people took a lot of time to help me. And some just talked with me briefly. This way I found out which people were willing to help and were I could go more often with questions.’

Anthony is very open about his process; he tells me initially he was a little nervous about approaching people. The working method of PeerGrouP, to involve the local community in your creative process, has been an inspiration for him to approach the locals more than he would usually do: ‘In another project I work on back home an atlas of disputed territories - I tend to write a lot about myself, it’s very personal and the places I write about are more vague. In this project I try to be less self-obsessed, make myself just a silly character in the stories and make it more about the place itself. P.A.I.R. allows me to research the balance between the place and me.’

The initial idea of Anthony was to make an atlas that was solely about how Peest perceives the rest of the world. However, soon as he got started, he also got interested in how people experience their immediate environment.

Anthony explains: ‘I came in with this very specific idea, I even planned to do a survey to find out what places the villagers had been. However, in my first weeks 17 Anthony Barilla

I had many random conversations, from which I learned many interesting things about Peest, the direct environment and the history. When people told me about a place they had been, I took note, but I never directly asked.’

Anthony decided to continue the way he accidently got started: using the stories that came to him spontaneously instead of digging them up in a structured way. He found stories about both Peest itself and about the places people had been to: ‘I decided to make the atlas half about Peest and half about how people perceive the world around Peest.’ This way, the final atlas represents both the villagers’ relationship to Peest and to the world around the village. However, Anthony underlines: ‘it is just “a story” about this relationship. It is my take on what people told me and what I saw. It is a lot about me and what I think of Peest. It is not an objective representation. Like all art is subjective.’

Although Anthony slightly adjusted his focus along the way, the leading theme ‘The world according to Peest’ remained the same. He researched how people perceive the world around Peest and also how people (re)construct their immediate environment.

What did Anthony find out about how the villagers reconstruct their world? ‘For a start, all people

who live in Peest, really want to be in Peest. Most people aren’t originally from here, they made a conscious choice to move her: this is where I want to live. This is unusual, normally you always meet some people that really don’t want to be in the place they are in. In Peest I didn’t find these people, which is almost odd.’ Anthony continues: ‘People came here with clear reasons, they wanted to keep horses, start a Bed & Breakfast, a restaurant, or just find a calm place to enjoy their retirement. People in Peest live a very nice and secure life, they made themselves a nice world.’

This observation of Anthony can be understood literally: the physical environment of Peest is beautiful. People spend a lot of time to make their houses, gardens and fields look nice and pretty. The village as a whole looks very picturesque. Anthony: ‘Though, I’m struggling with finding a way to phrase this better, because it sounds like I’m criticizing their welfare, which I don’t mean to do. I would, if they were insulated, but they are not. I found they are very aware of the rest of the world, much more than Americans.’ Most villagers of Peest are retired or have a small business, and ‘(…) for the very few farmers that are left in Peest, it is also a conscious choice to be here: they love to be farmer, that’s what they want to do with their lives and their children are probably going be farmers too’ The final product – ‘the world according to Peest’ – is at the same time eclectic and well balanced. Some parts make you laugh, for example the map of ‘places where I drunk alcohol’, including an arrow that points out the direction to the nearest liquor store. Some parts make you think, like the story about how Germany is both close and far away. From some parts you learn about the village, by reading the exact amount of horse fields.

Around fifty villagers visit the presentation, which means half of the village’s population. They recognize themselves and almost every story is an incentive to talk with each other. Pieter: ‘It is like a mirror for the village 18 Anthony Barilla

and therefore a very valuable document’.

Mr. Dussels, the down-to-earth farmer, comments: ‘it’s quite funny, isn’t it? To learn how an outsider sees us.’

Sometimes they are not sure what a story is about: ‘This is about somebody who went to Santiago de Compostella, who went there?’ or ‘This is about another artist, do you know whom?’

Through discussing with each other, they always find an answer.

I speak with a lady that perfectly fulfils the image I got from the villagers so far: she and her husband are retired and they keep horses. She gives me some interesting numbers: in Peest there are 138 horses and only around 100 people. Furthermore, she is very pleased to live here: ‘I live here for 18 years now and I’m planning to leave in my coffin!’

It seems Anthony has reached what he aimed for with his presentation, since earlier he told me: ‘I don’t need people to make sense of it, because it is a weird atlas. In the first place, I make it for myself. I don’t feel it is my job as an artist to make something people will like, neither I want to teach them something.

You should believe your audience is smart. They will take what they take. I feel the need to report, although in a subjective way. I can only hope my audience will be able to connect to it in some way. Some will just find it cute and pleasant, others

will find something deeper in it. I personally find it difficult to think about this too much. If you have a fixed idea what you want people to take from it, you have to seriously plan it, come into a community with a fixed agenda, which is something I just don’t want to do’ All together, Anthony’s project tells the story of how people reconstruct their world and how the artist represents this. Surely, all the people from Peest connected to the atlas, as the artist aimed for. Like Pieter told me, the atlas can be considered: ‘a real gift to the village’. It functions ‘like a mirror’, but the villagers don’t seem too surprised with their reflection. Which is logical, considering that Anthony mainly used ‘data’ that came towards him. This is a comfortable way to do research in a community, since you won’t touch upon sensitive issues if you let people share what they want to. However, it is also a way of researching that won’t bring about too many difficulties and contrasts. It won’t create a mirror that leaves people with too much to reflect on.

For an outsider, Anthony’s well-written stories are an enjoyable read and combined with the maps, it gives us insight in the Peest community.

However, main thing we learn is: ‘all people who live in Peest, really want to be in Peest’. Which leaves me wondering: is this really the main feature of the village – being comfortable in your constructed world - or is there more to find out?

Note by the editor: the 51 panels come with a wooden cabinet that is designed especially to be part of the Landscape library in the workshop of the P.A.I.R. Extra note by the editor: Anthony Barilla and PeerGrouP artist Merel van Dijk collaborated and published 6 songs 19 Anthony Barilla

The end of the story about ‘the fine chap’, ‘the monk’ and ‘the cartographer’ ‘A deeper understanding of what the landscape means to people’ was the aim of Henry J.Alles with the theme: ‘landscape library’. Furthermore ‘(…) the artist’s stay is meant to contribute to the artist’s and the P.A.I.R.’s creative development. Their stay should be meaningful for the local community.’ Is it possible to say something in general about whether the three projects succeeded in the above?

On first instance, the projects seem very different. Antoñio’s project was very explicit and connected strongly to the Donderen community. In contrast, Blas’ project was more philosophical through researching the way Dutch control their landscape and how to represent ‘missing data’.

The last project, Anthony’s creation of an atlas, researched how people perceive the world around them and how this can be mapped. Though very different artists, with very different methods and different presentations, their projects did – whether it was conscious or not – build on each other.

By first making contact with the people living in the landscape, secondly describing the landscape itself and thirdly showing how the people actually live.

You could say, Antoñio’s project was about documentation: illustrating everything you encounter in the landscape. Though lingering a bit on the surface, he did create a beautifully illustrated representation of this surface. His project showed the value for a village population to be documented: it underlines the significance of their landscape and lives.

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Blas’ project was about how to represent what’s beyond the visible landscape. Antoñio explored the surface, whereas Blas mainly investigated what’s under. His work underlined the interesting way we control our landscape and through doing so try to make it look more natural. It made me more aware of how every square meter of our landscape is planned.

Though having developed the project proposal on his own, in an interesting way Anthony’s project seems to continue what Antoñio and Blas started with. His stories about what he encounters are sometimes very descriptive. Though, through map making he investigated how to give insight in phenomena that are not visible at first instance. In other words, just like Blas, he searched for ways to present ‘missing data’.

To summarize, the evolvement of P.A.I.R. 2013 worked with every project towards a deeper understanding of what the landscape means to people: it went from illustrating data, to researching a way to represent missing data, towards finding new ways to represent both visible and missing data.

Not only did the artists provide me with insight in the meaning of landscape, thanks to the openness of all three of them, I could also learn from their research process. All artists have considered P.A.I.R. as a ‘laboratory’ and a period to explore new methods. The projects did not only contribute to their own creative development, through sharing their working method, strategies and process, they contributed to the development of the P.A.I.R. library too. I have seen how it is not always

easy to involve the local community in such a relative short period and on top of that having to work through a language barrier. I got insight in the research process that goes ahead of making a landscape painting. I realised atlas making is a journey. I know now that for people to connect to an artists’ work, they should be able to connect to the artist too.

On different levels, all three projects have been meaningful to the local community. As said, Antoñio and Anthony succeeded quite well in connecting with the local community, both through their work and in person. Whereas Blas decided after his research period to focus full time on his painting and did not gave it another try to connect with the locals.

However, he did get involved with the PeerGrouP by contributing to one of their performances. His presentation was appealing for all people present: a community of people that connected through their personal interest or profession already with the arts.

Being able to connect to an artists’ work, makes the work meaningful for the community. Though Antoñio and Anthony succeeded very well in making this connection, I wonder if they could have taken it a step further. The P.A.I.R. facilitates the artist to dig themselves into the local community, which could potentially result in more than only using the locality as subject of your work. If the locals are so close to your creative process, why not involve them in it? The P.A.I.R. is the perfect laboratory to research the possibilities of not only making art ‘about’ and ‘for’ the local community, but also to make it ‘with’ them.

To conclude, according to me we did get deeper understanding of what the landscape means to the people and the open attitude of all artist provided me with valuable insight in their process. P.A.I.R. 2013 can surely be considered a fruitful year of artful and creative research about landscape.

Though, considering the level of involvement of the local community, 22

there is definitely room to experiment more. Which can only be considered a good thing, since I assume the curator is planning to have the P.A.I.R. run for many more years.

Extra: 5 years of p.a.i.r. locations 2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Landscape and memory > pdf

Chorography > pdf

Location and Knowledge > pdf

Erik Alkema > pdf Paul Wiersbinksi > pdf

donderen AntoĂąio Fernandes Latorre

sleen Vesta Kroese

nieuw buinen Erik Alkema

donderboerkamp Blas Isasi GutiĂŠrrez

ambonezenbosje Louie en Jesse

hoge veluwe Katja Draper, Jeroen Doornweerd

peest Anthony Barilla

allardsoog Miguel Angel Melgares Maarten Heijkamp former camp westerbork (westerbork) Hans Visser valtherbos (emmen) Maurice Meeuwisse

smalle ee Matthew Mazzotta (and Cory Vinyard) Video coevorden (nl) / emlichheim (de) Elles Kiers en Sjef Meijman ambonezenbosje Louie en Jesse

scheveningen Esther Polak en Ivar van Bekkum

donderboerkamp Paul Wiersbinksi + Schawarma + Schawarma Trailer (3min) password: swarmshort

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Maurice Meewisse

Paul Wiersbinski

Abby Buwalda Abby studied (BSc) International Development Studies at Wageningen University (2010). After an internship in Mali at a cultural centre, where she worked on a theatre production with local youth, (2010) she decided to continue to focus on the cultural aspect of ‘development’ and went to Winchester University for the MA Theatre and Media as Development (2012). She is now working on several projects that relate to community art.

For example for Stichting de Vrolijkheid she is involved with organising theatre workshops and other creative activities for children in refugee centres. Being fascinated by the – developmental - potential of art in local communities she wrote about the P.A.I.R. projects of 2013. At the end of this year she will continue to work in Mali and be involved in developing an artist in residence project.

This E-Book In January this year, the curator of the P.A.I.R. project, Henry Alles, invited me to ‘follow and write about this years P.A.I.R. projects’. This is why I found myself cycling around in the area, asking many question to the artists, having coffee and beers with the locals and visiting the three very different presentations. All together this resulted in a large amount of notes of interviews, observations and interpretations. Having that much information is a challenge, but it enabled me to write three articles that cover all the main aspects of the projects: the process of the artists, the final presentation and the way the local community connects with the work.

note by the editor: P.A.I.R. program 2014

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Thank you: Jenny Vrieling Fonds, Family Wiekema , Nana, Ricardo and two dogs, Christian and Marine, Boermarke Peest, Historische vereniging Norg, Joop en Cristel Steijvers, Jan Sieben, Monique Kalfsbeek, Pieter de Roo, Merel van Dijk, Family Dussel, 600 jaar Donderen, Henk Doldersum, PeerGrouP, PeerJonG and everybody we forgot. editorial texts Henry J.Alles photo’s Emily Warmerdam, Monique Kalfsbeek, Antoñio Fernandes Latorre, Blas Isasi Guttierez, 600 jaar Donderen, Henry J.Alles, Anthony Barilla production PeerGrouP pr Petra van der Meer food and drinks Elles Kiers design pdf Sgaar general managment P.A.I.R. Henry J. Alles Contact PeerGrouP / P.A.I.R. t.a.v. Henry J. Alles, Norgerweg 219, 9497 TC Donderen henry@peergroup.nl, tel: 06-23185923, www.peergroup.nl For up-to-date information see: www.peergroup.nl/pair

The meaning of landscape noun 1. all the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal. “the soft colours of the Northumbrian landscape” 2. denoting a format of printed matter which is wider than it is high. “a landscape format sketchbook” verb improve the aesthetic appearance of (an area) by changing its contours, adding ornamental features, or planting trees and shrubs. “the site has been tastefully landscaped” p.a.i.r. was made possible with the help of:

LOCATIETHEATER NOORD-NEDERLAND

600 jaar donderen

That’s how it works, now go back.

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Antoñio Fernandes Latorre