"Room of Memories" on location

18 June: Robbert Pauwels (sculptor in another of the OpenMaker studios) helped and Jennefer took photos. First we worked without ladders and with 3 directors.

After we had the first eave in place, a manager from the Concert Hall emerged, worried that we might be silly enough as to put nails into the wooden terrace.

He then lent us a ladder and gave Sonja a mini-tour of the Concert Hall Chambers while we looked for the ladder. A truly impressive building (see their programme on this website (in Dutch only).
The front entrance dates from 1826 (see photo of this on wikipedia) and the terrace at the back is a later extension. Next to this is the "Gasthuiskerk" (visible in the photo on the left - the church was part of hospital and poorhouse in the middle ages but these days serves as part of the concert hall chambers), and while we were working we heard an organ being played which was from either this church but more likely from the one next to this, the Waalsekerk which has amazing organ which Tama played on once a week in 2008-9. The two buildings (see photo on left) on the northern side of this courtyard also date from the middle ages and were part of what was known as the Aalmarkt school which in turn served as part of the "Sint-Catharinagasthuis" complex for the poor of the city of Leiden.

And now the framework for our "room of memories" is almost finished we will work on the bed and bed covering, which will fit exactly into the inner space. The window that hangs above bears engraved texts: "Trees that yield no fruit have been and will ever be for the fire." and "Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting." (these and the other texts you can see in part if you stand underneath the window and look up, come from the Hidden Words by Baha'u'llah, and on the left there is a mirror which turns reflecting the inner and outer memories :)

"Room of Memories" tryout in a studio

Try-out in the "OpenMakers" studio in the centre of Leiden (an old shop building at Aalmarkt 15).

June 15th: The mirror swivels and makes a nice "trick of the eye" play with the oval on the opposite side of the structure. Beyond you see the roof which will be added on top.

We then dismantled it on June 17th for rebuilding it on location on the Leiden concert hall terrace in a courtyard at the back of Aalmarkt 15.

Our "bed-sculpture" for the OpenLuchtHotel in Leiden

12 June 2012: Change of plans now. We cannot build around the tree as planned so we chose to mimic the forms of some of the 15th century houses in the courtyard instead. What you see in the photo here is a church building from the 16th century. All going well we can start putting it together on Friday.

New Temporary Sculpture in Leiden

Room of Memories 2012

Our proposal for the OpenLuchtHotel for 21 June 2012

We will change this photo or add another underneath as we work on this project.

We will post the days we will be working on location here as well as any information or progress.

Our plan is to work on this between 3 June > 21 June and we will organize a few events for volunteers and friends, including a sleep over and possibly other events in consultation with the surrounding neighbours (the LVC (contemporary/pop music theatre), gehoorzaal (Leiden concert hall), OpenMakers (artist studios), residents).

We are still waiting to hear word from one of the neighbours, the Concert Hall (gehoorzaal) before we actually start building anything.

1 June: 4.30 - 6.30 p.m.: 15 Aalmarkt, Leiden, All Welcome (directions)
4 artists + a cultural advisor will give presentations in Dutch (Nederlands >>).
I will give a presentation in Dutch of our plans, a showing of a few past projects we have made and possibly a short film clip from footage Sonja took at the OpenLuchtHotel 2011 opening of performances and bed sculpture.

1/6 OPEN MAKERS ONTMOETING
1 JUNI 2012
16.30-18.30 uur in Aalmarkt 15

iedereen welkom
* Michaël Roumen, de nieuwe cultuurmakelaar over plannen voor Leiden
* vertelt zwitsers kunstenaarsduo Van der Plas en Albrecht alles over de “braun Cube” in Aalmarkt 14,
* Bram Schrijnen laat zien en horen hoe ver ze zijn met het kinderboek.
* Diane Lepelaar vertelt waarom zij vandaag al die lege glazen potten in OPEN heeft neergezet
* Sonja van Kerkhoff over de nieuw skulptuur dat komt in de binnenplaats te liggen voor de open-lucht slaapplaats.

Daarna is er genoeg gelegenheid om elkaar informeel te ontmoeten met een drankje. Meer info op de OpenMakers website

A herd of elephants in a Leiden park

Photo: Sonja herds elephants into
the Yuchengco Museum,
Manila, The Philippines,
Nov. 2011.
About the "Nothing to Declare" art event

Performances: 10, 11 May 2012,
starts at 8:30 p.m.
Bos van Bosman, Leiden, along the path opposite the Roodborst street entrance.

This "caravan" of origami elephants, first aired in Istanbul as part of ISEA Istanbul are made out of print material collected in the countries the artist, Sonja van Kerkhoff, travelled through to get to Istanbul. Then she took the herd to the Philippines, New Zealand and then Australia. New elephants were added en route while others were retired from the herd. They will be aired for a walk for the first time in her home city of Leiden as part of Fields of Wonder's Vergezichten I open air theatre project.

Vergezichten I
Openingsvoorstelling
Bos van Bosman (entree tegenover de Roodborststraat), Leiden
10 t/m 13 mei 2012
aanvang 20.30 uur
gratis entree

More information and more photos

New video: Transit in a green landscape

"On this plane, the traveler meeteth with many a trial and reverse. Now is he lifted up to heaven, now is he cast into the depths. As it hath been said: "Now Thou drawest me to the summit of glory, again Thou castest me into the lowest abyss."

Baha'u'llah, The Four Valleys



Music: "This Is Not All There Is" by Mark Laurent
http://marklaurent.co.nz

Caravan From Istanbul gets a Christchurch airing

On Saturday December 24th starting at 12 midday New Zealand-Dutch artist, Sonja van Kerkhoff will give a herd of origami elephants an airing along the Cashel Street Mall.


Photo: Sen McGlinn.
Dec 7th, 2011, Sonja with her herd in the Octagen, Dunedin, Aotearoa / New Zealand. Click on the photo to see a larger view in a new window.

Otago Daily Times article, Dec 8th

The performance, “Caravan to Istanbul,” was performed in Istanbul while she was there as one of 8 artists in the New Zealand exhibition, “Te Kore Rongo Hungaora” (Uncontainable second nature), at the international new media festival, ISEA Istanbul.


To see photos of the Istanbul performance to go "Caravan to Istanbul"


As she was driving to Istanbul, via a number of other art-related projects, she was thinking of a way to represent a kind of globalism not dominated by money or economic policies. Caravans, in days of old, were dominated by the practicalities of getting from place to place, by politics and by cultural conditions. Van Kerkhoff believes this is still the case, only that so often what we read as ‘international news’ in our newspapers emphasizes the doings of the global elite. Each elephant in her international herd originates from a particular location in one of over 20 countries she has travelled through with this herd.


Photo: Sen McGlinn.
Sonja with the herd from Istanbul in the Nelson Saturday Market, Montgomery Square, Dec 17th, 2011.


Art and culture have been the main influencing factors here. For example one elephant in this herd is made from an Italian village church newsletter, from a church Van Kerkhoff visited. Others use printed material from the Venice Biennale, and from galleries in the Philippines. Come see how the herd is faring at its third airing in the country. Previous locations were Dunedin, Murchison and, last Saturday, in between downpours, Nelson.


Photo: Sen McGlinn.
Three of the herd in the Nelson Saturday Market, Montgomery Square, Dec 17th, 2011.

More photos in various locations: www.sonjavank.com/caravan.htm