Europe 2017. Are we dancing on a volcano? Are renewed nationalism, xenophobia, the distrust of politics and democracy, the arrival of refugees, and economic insecurity preparing us for a terrible meltdown? It is well possible. This should give us hope for this project, since the best art is produced on the verge of despair, when civilizations crumble and we’re about to shift into a new world order.
Marres Maastricht produced a spectacular mural about Europe by nineteen artists who have painted all rooms, corridors, the stairwell, floors and ceilings of the historic Marres House. The Painted Bird depicted a series of beautiful and frightening environments. Like a high-tech clone supermarket, the last surviving piece of primeval forest, a Berlin love and hippie fest space, a spider portrait corridor, a new life festival in the year 2050. But also paintings of Charlemagne, the shisha girls, PJ Harvey and the Romanovs, the naked sages. A soundtrack led visitors from room to room, from dream to nightmare.
The artists Frank and Kim Koolen David Bots developed a comprehensive soundtrack with personal commentary voice, music and sound effects. The soundtrack was part of the exhibition and can be listened to online. Artists Gijs Frieling and Aukje Dekker gave a Training the Senses session on the intersection between painting and the sensory experience. Painting is such an obvious visual phenomenon that we rarely experience it as a call to sensory action. We don’t smell the paint, touch or lick it. We don’t allow our bodies to follow the brushstrokes. Paintings are thus radically emancipated from bodily movement or broad sensory perception. Why is that?
