Was he a wicked man, a giant Canaanite or a true martyr?   There are many theories, but we can at least state with certainty that he evolved into the patron Saint of travelers in the West;  Saint Christopher.

One of the people of Performing Pictures, Robert Brečević, has brought Saint Christopher in a interactive video-shrine from Stockholm to Brussels.  And a safe journey it was.  This little devotional object is the first of a series of Saints (Exemplary Individualities) that the PP bring back to life.

Through time, all of these characters have been doomed to stillness, in some cases the subjects have been exposed through more than a thousand years of inert fixation!  PP believes it’s time to set them free, one by one and motion by motion.

On Sunday, nadine, Geska Helena Brečević (PP) and a whole community of church- and culture lovers came together in the Eglise Notre-Dame de Bon Secours in the city center of Brussels to perform a ritual for St. Christopher.
Jérôme Porsperger chanted beautifully and performed several actions before opening the artifact.  Christopher appears and carries a small, yet almost unbearably heavy child across a river.
The legend continues.  When he finally reached the other side, he said to the child: “You have put me in the greatest danger. I do not think the whole world could have been as heavy on my shoulders as you were.” The child replied: “You had on your shoulders not only the whole world but him who made it. I am Christ your king, whom you are serving by this work.”

You too can set Christopher in motion by standing in front of the shrine at the Eglise Notre-Dame de Bon Secours until December 09, during the church’s opening hours (8:30-17:00).

Click for more pictures

9 labs joined forces with the 6 resident organizations in the Rue de la Senne 17, in the bid to infect it with more experimental art.  Pictures from this amazing event can be found here.

Something is cooking in the arts laboratories.  Several lab’s are joining forces and team up with the Z17 residents to offer you a superb event during the BRXLBRAVO weekend.

In Zennestraat 17 Rue de la Senne, a former labo of the Ministery of Economic Affairs, a temporary artistic hub was opened in May this year.  During BRXLBRAVO, a cross-over of contemporary work from all disciplines will be presented, in the bid to infect the building with even more experimental art.

The platform arts-lab.be will use the occasion to display an artistic cartography.

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List participating organizations:

Bains Connective, Constant, Croxhapox, De Pianofabriek Werkplaats, FLACC, Galerie Fortlaan17, Het Entrepot, Josworld, Komplot, L’L, Lokaal01, Margarita Production, nadine, Q-O2, SECONDroom, SoundImageCulture, WP Zimmer

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The ARTLAB² – BrxlBravo@Zennestraat 17 program will be announced shorty.

Experts in the field came round to explain the technicalities behind this exciting technology and to help develop the ideas of the artists.  Not only did the artist have helpful one-on-one sessions with these tech wizards, they also had a great opportunity to exchange thoughts with the other participants.

It was intriguing to see the interaction between scientists and artists, both of whom build worlds, but in a very different way.  Pictures of the workshop can be found here.

They will be sharing one last intense week together at P-af at the begining of September during a third hands-on session.

Artslab nadine acts not only as an organiser, but also as an active partner that lends its support to artists who are interested in this matter and want to apply it to their work.

–Below you can find a Dutch resumé of the workshop by Loes Jacobs, one of the participants:

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De workshop Autonomous Energy Systems is gekaderd in een reeks van drie modules, geïnitieerd door bartaku. Tijdens de vorige workshop werd er onderzocht wat de mogelijkheden van photovoltaics zijn en hoe we zelf zonne-cellen kunnen bouwen. De conclusie was toen vooral dat opslag van energie van groot belang is om natuurlijk gewonnen energie daadwerkelijk te kunnen gebruiken. Deze volgende workshop had de opslag van energie en het maken van autonome energie systemen als onderwerp en hoe bijgevolg zonne-energie praktisch gebruikt kan worden.
Deelnemers presenteerden eigen projecten die ze autonoom wilden laten werken, i.e. zonder gebruik te maken van het elektriciteitsnetwerk. nadine treedt als platform op voor deze workshops om artiesten, die interesse hebben voor deze materie en ze praktisch willen toepassen in hun werk, ondersteunen.

Begeleiders Patrick De Koning en Jan De Capelle van de Katholiek  Hogeschool in Gent. De eerste dag trokken we naar Gent naar het labo van de technologiecampus waar het team van dr. Jan De Capelle een algemene introductie gaf tot energie-opwekking en de opslag ervan, allerhande manieren om energie op te wekken demonstreerde, alsook een inleiding over
verschillende soorten batterijen gaf.
Het werd een boeiende ontmoeting en informatie-uitwisseling was tussen technologists en artiesten. Beide werken echter op een zeer verschillende schaal, de ene op industrieel en theoretisch niveau en de andere op kleine praktische schaal voor artistieke toepassingen.

De twee volgende dagen vonden plaats bij nadine in Schaarbeek, waar Patrick De Koning en Bart Vandeput optraden als begeleiders. Hands-on werd iedereen persoonlijk begeleidt bij de uitwerking van de projecten die zeer divers bleken. Thomas Laureyssens probeerde photovoltaische cellen te hergebruiken en in specifieke vormen te maken voor een installatie en
werkte ook naar een bepaalde esthetiek die in zonne-cellen te vinden zijn. Olivier Meunier en Wendy Van Wynsberghe voedden een Arduino board via zonne-energie en kijken in de toekomst naar mogelijkheden met windenergie. Tim Rottiers ontwikkelde audio en licht modules die autonoom kunnen werken. Alexander Nieuwenhuis deed vooral research naar mogelijkheden met

zonne-energie in de theaterwereld. Christina Stadlbauer en Loes Jacobs voedden een camera en microfoon met zonne-energie. Cindy Janssens en Maarten Coppens ontwikkelden muziekkasten die autonoom in de open lucht kunnen spelen.

Hoofdreden om autonome systemen te maken was vooral om overal installaties te kunnen laten werken en uiteraard binnen het gedachtegoed van milieuvriendelijke projecten op te kunnen zetten.

De laatste dag werd een roundup gegeven van ieders project om te weten hoever iedereen stond en welke problemen iedereen tegen was gekomen.  Daarnaast werd er nog gepolst naar mogelijke projecten die in de volgende
workshop in St-Erme uitgewerkt kunnen worden.

Click for more pictures.

Julie Vulcan will also be continuing research into Canticle/Anthem in October 2009 as part of a residency at Bundanon Artist Trust in Australia.

At the end of each residency Unreasonable Adults will present in-progress live ‘reports’/screenings, where some dangerous admissions will emerge and the line between private versus public information will be crossed…

Sound came from two sources: the main soundtrack came from the speakers and included a sort of movement manual.  The other was broadcast through a FM frequency and came from Eleni who had two sound modules linked to radio channels attached to her body.  Working on solar cells they could only function when the light on stage was on.

The audience could chose to which of the two they wanted to listen.  If they chose Sjoerd’s main soundtrack, Eleni had to obey its instructions, if not, she could move about freely.

The makers conveniently spoke about ‘free time’ and ‘rigid time’. But very naturally the three different elements were fighting for their right to exist.  Had every element the chance to show their complexity the way they really should?
They stayed somehow close to ‘rigid time’, offering still a wide range of options in ‘free time’.

This was a thorough research and experiment.  We are curious what time and further research will bring as opportunities, to develop some ideas further and steer their fascinating technical processes (see bulk log) in the right direction.

Six month’s can come to an end so easily… On the 1st of february we celebrated a new year and a new residency.  bolwerK the housekeeper and curator, chose to name the house in the Rue Gallait:  The Ever Mass Land.

The Ever Mass Land rested on an open structure with a number of core links:

‘La Réünion’ made particular use of the penthouse where international artists were invited who are part of bolwerK’s network. It provided the time and space to go further into individual and collective interests within the current flux of work movements.

‘Platform 3′, the project that was aimed especially at direct action and radical exploration in the public urban space, developed, among other things, into The Ever Waste Land, a fallow ground behind the community centre De Kriekelaar. It led to various eco-artistic projects in a temporary (or permanent) autonomous zone.

Under the heading ‘Framing the Image,’ the Antwerp-based organisation Logement put the emphasis on the documentation of site-specific work and temporary projects. Their Brussels intervention is structured as a space for their first international production.

‘D’office’ emerged from the idea that a physically divided studio space with a reliable logistical infrastructure promotes the work dynamic.

This weekend we celebrate our Belgian national holiday and The Ever Mass Land.  A celebration of art, then, with a jam session, performance, music, library, storytelling, etc.  You can find the programm here.

We need 5 consecutive days of 25° Celsius of which 3 consecutive days of 30° Celsius to have a heat wave.
Well.., we’re not there yet, but we’re melting already.

To keep The Ever Waste Land fertile and healthy we’ve installed a big water tank in the garden.  Projects such as ‘spira-dye‘ by Bartaku, ‘Playground 0:1:1,2‘ by Isabelle Pauwelyn and ‘the Brave Little Forest’ by Bernard Leroy really needed that.

Spira-dye is a plant spiral that contains a selection of plants (mainly berries) with strong color dye used for the production of solar cells.

Playground 0:1:1,2 is an architectural intervention that opens urban space by gardening.  The aim is to create meeting places where people can come together in a temporary and ambiguous and ambiguous haven.  Where the projects lead to, is not that important.  The participants are outside. That’s enough in itself.  Here, the people can play in all earnest, and play with the earnestness, if necessary.

The Brave Little Forest wants to nurture 10 000 trees that had accidentally started growing in bad areas (for trees anyhow) such as in gutters or between the cracks in the concrete.  In The Ever Waste Land they can find home in a daycare where they can grow bigger and bigger until they will be planted elsewhere.

I propose a toast.  Here’s to them!

To provoke inspiring & playful situations around us, we need a mixture of different skills from a variety of disciplines: artistic, technological and scientific.

gRig is a group of European cultural organizations that have come together for this purpose.  nadine and FoAM are the Brussels partners of this group.

gRig is an ecological guild with a common quest; a guild for:
(1) Those who generate realities: bringing that which can be actually experienced into existence;

(2) Those who integrate realities: combining one world (or state of affairs) with another so that they may become whole. After an unknown time of underground activity, the guild has decided to become more public and formally support its members. gRig found this necessary as the present consensus reality is becoming thinner and grayer, with a pressing need for reality generation and integration in all spheres of human activity, while imagination still exists.

There is a new website online where you can read all about the different activities such as research, workshops, symposia, meetings and gatherings, public presentations, artistic installations and performances, ….

http://grig.info