Delivering Text

Progressive Mermaid, 5 minute voice voyage English

Guided Journeys Naaikrans/Online Sewing Circle
Feminist Needlework Party and Atria, Institute on Gender Equality and Women's History

Future Oracles Guided Journey
Initiation of the computer as a medium

*
hello everybody online,
hello everybody offline,

*
before taking you on a journey in your imagination
I propose a breathing exercise 
To bring your attention to your body 
and to your senses
To your heart 
follow me
…

*
I invite you to close your eyes
close your eyes and take the time to feel where you are
connect to your inner voice and vision

*
now in your imagination: picture to a tree you know as you look at the tree you see the top of the tree is in the clouds

get close and see the details of the bark 
observe the shapes, how they alternate

*
ascend the tree, go up
as you go up you get lighter
By the time you have reached the top branch 
you have become weightless
you can step onto the cloud
*
Feel the soft firmness you are walking on 
Listen to the muffled clarity of your footsteps 
Smell the dry damp perfume of cloud

* ——>
A rock is visible in the distance keep walking A tip of a mountain reaches above the cloud
You can easily reach that mountain top
*
The clouds fade out
 You hear bells and the sound of goats calling for each other
 
* stones * _______>

Fresh mint is growing on the mountain with little purple flowers oregano and thyme smell these perfumes in the warm air
look at stones

* stones *

Pick up a stone

look at the stone in your hand 
Take a moment to look at this stone

In each stone an appartement is proposed 
there is Room to gather Space to retreat Views on valleys

* * stones *

observe the stone 
find the entrance 
enter the appartement you picked up

Feel at home
there is a computer to interact with

Go to your computer 
as usual you ask: 
how are you?

* wood *

The computer generates a written reply on the screen
I need confirmation I would like to boost my self esteem I want to be independent from outside confirmation 
It is time for a soul journey

the cursor keeps blinking
*

What do you do when your computer doesn’t display error 404 
But honestly informs you about their need, in an affirmative way?

Start your search engine
 how about typing 'How to assist my computer on a soul journey?'

you type how to assist my computer on a soul journey 
and hit enter

lets click on the first result 
tragedyhealingforcomputers.gr
*

You arrive on a website The page shows a livestream into a living room
In what seems a common household interior 
with a steady wooden dinner table
There is a white, plaster reproduction of 
a sculpture of a lady with wings and one missing limb she faces the window

For a moment nothing happens on the screen 
take the time to look around in your own stone apartment 
*
*
*

oh
(cue percussion stops)
 there is a sound coming from your computer 
it is a voice And a face appears A friendly face
Talking
Welcome, you have arrived at an ancient sacred site
do you want to sign up for an independent soul journey for your personal computer?

You look to scroll down for the options 
*
There is no other choice
to help your computer reach that clarity 
and to explore that incalculable part 
You hit the button that says: deauthorise yourself from your personal computer
*

The voice of the friendly face is still there and asks How do you feel?

*
Let your computer do the talking:

I feel an itch I feel a little uneasy There must be more to my existence than I can comprehend
 In order to understand where I belong, I would like to know more about where I am from
The generations before me I mean what was it like to take decisions how will the decisions now taken affect the next generations?

the voice replies: you are looking to connect with your ancestry 
this could indeed clear your emotional eclipse
*
the voice tells you: this ancient sacred website is one of the earliest pages designed in the history of the net
The healing qualities of theatre in ancient times
Worked thanks to identification with the protagonist who transforms 
to cure the inner dis-ease

*
 take a deep breath
in your stone appartement and release responsibility for your computer

The voice says: Let me look up which drama is appropriate to cure your dis-ease

* sound *

Ion by Euripides a romantic tragedy written between 414 and 412 AD
Ion and Creusa try to kill each other in the temple of Delphi thanks to the priestess who raised Ion and shows him his basket with his diapers 
Creusa and Ion find out they are mother and son

you click to attend now

your computer has no responsibility to update you on the process 
yet 
the interface remains active

*——> toward climax*

*
on the black screen an eye appears the eye is getting bigger 
the pupil; the hole through which light enters the eye
 fits the entire screen

as you look at this hole 
the computer is opening the gate
keep your eyes focused on the growing hole 
you become connected to the computer
Sense how

your computer feels 
SUPERSEXY 
*
physical climax
* feels as if being born 
*
feels as if dying
* and  feels as if giving birth

***CLIMAX***

by experiencing all these feelings at the same time 
your computer got rewired
your computer is personal now 
*
independent…

*jawharp*
 self loving

your computer is initiated as a medium

*
as the emotional eclipse of your computer is cleared up, the screen starts to emit light

*musical time jawharp duet FINALE*

let your computer rest 
leave your stone appartement

Thank the stone  
return over the mountain
Etc

Thank

clouds tree thank

if at the beginning of the journey you accepted the invitation to close your eyes, i invite you to open your eyes
and we thank you

~the end~

Janneke: This was Alin on percussion 
Alin: Jannekes voice guiding you

Future Oracles Guided Journey
Aether Art Space Sofia Art Week, Bulgaria, 2021
Jardin Rouge Festival Amsterdam, 2022

the longest dream on the shortest night

I invite you to close your eyes
in your imagination go to a tree you know
ascend the tree
from the highest branch you step onto the clouds
a pair of hands appear
the hands invite you to step on them 
you accept the invitation 
the hands take you higher
crossing the clouds
the hands softly launch you
you pass gently through the atmosphere
you float in the galaxy
you look back 
you marvel at planet earth

the earth has the gloss of an oil painting 
the cracks in the varnish form a mesmerising pattern

one side playing is spring
the other side is autumn
the disc about to flip

the blue is so deep 
the white is foaming like buttermilk freshly churned
the whirling white clouds looks like they are frozen
still you observe growth
a baby giraffe is born 
she can walk nearly immediately
oil drilling stations appear in the ocean 
they drill so deep
that the earth is falling apart

a layer of corrosion appears on the planet
the rust, the cracks, the gloss this is the patina of the world 
how to contribute to the glory of decay?

it starts with a kiss
relax your lips
feel a breath on your upper lip
hold still and lavish in this warm breeze
synchronise your breathing with that breath 
relax your jaws
open your mouth slightly
tilt your head

feel lips touching your lips
feel the softness
and feel how strong lips are 
strength of lips
feel how strong lips can be
surrender to your own kiss 
feel you kissing youourself

melt
let yourself melt
untill you are completely liquid 
you are a potent substance 
set in motion 
excited 
exhilarating
accelarating 
pulled into a warm soft welcoming nest
(drum climax)
concieve yourself

making love while the world falls apart is a relieve isntit?
thanks to the relieve you gain in weight
solidify into your self 
you float back downward 
you pass through the atmosphere with an exiciting news to share 
...you are pregnant

the hands catch you and take you across the clouds

you see the tree appear in the distance below
the hands place you gently on too branch of the tree
you thank the hands and descend thee
when you've reached the ground
you can hug the tree or
give a kiss on the bark
thank the tree

I invite you to open your eyes
I thank you

Autovertilisation - The Longest Dream On The Shortest Night
Solstice Guided Journey
Creativy Conception Birth - Chateau Jolimont, Brussels
2021

CO-ORPORATIVE OPTIMYSTICISM

Optimysticism promotes unlimited optimism.
Our language is enriched with metaphors.
Such a figure of speech refers to the physical realm and so it helps us to communicate abstract ideas.
Mysticism hints to the form life adopts beyond this very, physical, realm.
The more radical the contrast between the visual references, the more effective the metaphor.
In dealing with duality optimysticism challenges you to find a third way between opposites.
To be optimistic is to be positive,
To look at the world positively is to rather see things that are there
than to describe things that are not there.
For example: It is not possible to see a hole.
One can only perceive a hole because the edges are visible.
Seemingly invisible changes on a small scale can lead to obvious change on the large scale.

Co-orporation
co-operation is the process of working or acting together. It is the opposite of working separately in competition, like corporations tend to do.
(corporare is latin, form into a body, combine in one body)
A corporation is a company or group of people authorized to act as a single entity (legally a person) and recognized as such in law.
As a corporation operates in the economic dimension,
co-operations can be detected on various, if not all, levels of magnification
where they obey the relevant laws.
Examples are the inner workings of a human being or even the social patterns of a nation.
Just as inhabitants of our planet seeks for co-operation with other lifeforms,
on the molecular level atoms are drawn to co-operate with other atoms in order to form a molecule.
as we know from microscopic observations an atom consists out of a core with a proton and a neutron with one or more electrons circling around it
the atom advertises its availability by the eagerness to attract electrons
Under the right circumstances atoms ready to share electrons are easily convinced to form a co-operation
to combine in one body, one corpus,
a corporation
an essential condition to form a functional co-operation thus, is to sense the qualities of a future partner
such as
compatibility
and the willingness to share
as for chemistry, the periodic table is developed to illustrate periodic trends in the properties of the then-known elements
in terms of intergalactic alliances, we are still waiting for them to drop us a line
in the alchemy of the current economical climate in the locality of Amsterdam
an utopian period for co-operations has begun
let take TAAK be your chemical agent
and help you detect the qualities of your future partner
with the help of language
see yourself as an atom
see words as electrons
and show your eagerness to attract
let co-orporations on the molecular level effect all scales.

Optimysticism for Genital International

A crash course in optimysticism.

While we are approaching the end of times optimysticism promotes unlimited optimism.

Our language is enriched with metaphors. 
Such a figure of speech refers to the physical realm and so it helps us to communicate abstract ideas. 
Mysticism hints to the form life adopts beyond this very physical realm.
The more radical the contrast between the visual references, the more effective the metaphor.

In dealing with duality this crash course challenges you to find a third way between opposites.

Holes
It is not possible to see a hole.
One can only perceive a hole because the edges are visible.
Having concluded this, can we say a woman is more edgy than a man?

If a man concentrates more on his hole, will he get more feminine?

Vibrations
Let's say veryone is an individual. It is not possible to divide the individual entity further into entities. 
This means everyone is a separate person. 
In the physical world each individual has a body. 
Everybody has a gender. 
In principle there are two opposite options.
We perceive one another either as female or as male.

When we think of gender in terms of mysticism mentioned before, so in the form life adopts beyond the physical realm,
Everyone is both male and female. 
However: everybody is not male and female simultaneously, but everyone is quickly shifting from one opposite body to the other and back.
We call it oscillation.
This shift happens so many times per smallest imaginable time unit that it is not possible to perceive it with the bare eye. 
What we can register in the physical world is the frequency of gender shift of each
individual, also known as..vibrations.

Another Hole
There is no optiysticism wiithout pessimysticism
What do we do when the end of times is near?
All over the world holes are dug to hide in.
Are you really going down that hole?
Rather than something heave you carry along, 
a hole to make free
in order to let the light pass through 
is the soul.

Getting rid of the shadowcasting ballast might be at the cost of stability.
The benefit is clarity.
Focus on the horizon to stabilize wavelength.
Take advantage to reach out for vibrations.

If you happen to not believe in the ONE,
what about THAT one?

You are equipped with a will to choose which one is best for you.

the world continues.....

Optimysticism for Co-orperations
Nieuwjaarsborrel Taak, Amsterdam, 2013
website TAAK

Optimysticism for Genital International
With Melanie Bonajo at De Appel, Amsterdam, 2013
website Genital International

Optimysticism for Manisensations
With Voin De Voin at LEAP Gallery, Berlin, 2013

Optimysticism for Genital International
With Melanie Bonajo, Museum Arnhem, 2013

About Holes On The Face Of The Earth

Apart from in and on textiles, patterns can be studied on several interfaces. 
In the performance Holes On The Face Of The Earth I examined mines and excavation sites on the planet earth.
Following the example of Joseph Beuys work Unschlitt/Tallow, 1977 where he filled an abundant space in Munchens urban architecture with animal fat, 
the proposal is to fill the holes on the face of the earth with text and invert them in order to climb towers of Babylon. This thought experiment uses language to fill up holes.

SCRIPT HOLES ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH

I have prepared a text for you.
Are you familiar with drifting away while reading a book and finding yourself looking at the holes within the text?
For a change I propose to turn it around, to fill a hole with text.

(flying out on carpet for wider perspective)

To show you the art piece I have in mind I will have to take you somewhere else. 
In order to get you there I have brought a tool that serves purposes like this since thousands of years.

(unfolding blanket)					
This is a flying carpet.

To properly introduce myself: my name is Janneke Raaphorst. I work with textile and with text. Recently I have been conducting research to what matrasses, blankets and especially airplane blankets need in order to become flying carpets.

Sofar I have reached the conclusion that there are a number of conditions which have to be fulfilled in order for a carpet to fly.

Anyone in the audience?

Before we depart I should tell you a thing or two about falling. 
why?

Never be afraid to fall.  
Close your eyes please. Imagine yourself weightless, floating in outer space. 
We are going to enter the atmosphere of planet earth and rejoin ourselves with everyone we know.
As soon as we have passed the atmosphere gravity will take over. 
Let it happen. I will catch you in time.
Fall for yourself, don't cling to others. If you are scared, focus on an object. They will always fall along.

Pale blue dot is getting closer. 
1.	2.	3.		
Fall.			
Feel it.			
Catch.

When you try this at home.
Don't forget to close the overhead compartment.

When done ready for collective magic carpet ride. It is like a train ride. But we don't need tracks

Example of personal adventure on train.
I will tell you about a train ride on an adventure a few weeks ago. 
On the second out of three trains that took me from Stockholm in Sweden to Trondheim in Norway, I sat next to a young men holding a book on environmental science.

After clarifying being dutch was being from the Netherlands of from Holland and does not correspond to talking Deutsch as they do in Germany, we exchanged experiences being from places with plenty of relief or hardly any, such as those Nether-lands.

The first day of arrival in Stockholm, I walked the street in the company a small number of locals. One of them asked me whether I liked the city, what I thought about it. There are so many ways to like a city, I replied. What I am thinking about now: the stones the city is built from.
I saw several types, marble, granite, bricks. I wondered whether the source was near.
He started talking about himself. Like his grandfather, his name was Stei-jun, meaning stone. He was proud of his name. 
He claimed that opposed to his grandfathers- in his/our generation you hardly come across stones anymore.

Then he told me about a town in the north of Sweden called Kiruna. The town has to be reconstructed as the Kirunavaara mine, literally undermines the current town center. Several buildings are to be moved or demolished. At the moment the town center is being moved 3 kilometers to the east.

The reason I know how to spell all this out is because Arvid wrote it down for me on the train. Since he was the second Sweed to mention this, it must be true.

Now look down from your carpet. 
Visualise a mine please.

Is there anyone who doesn't know what a mine is?
In fact there is nothing visible about it. A mine is a hole. 
A mine is a spot defined by everything that is gone.
What most holes have in common that you can perceive them because the edges are visible.

The mine you are visualising, is it an underground mine or a simple excavation?
The more advanced amongst you are probably exploring and underground mine.
I would like to start with a simple excavation site.
Later we possibly could work with vein structures in mineral rock.

In the landscape art world a mine like that is an object trouve, a readymade.
For the artpiece I'm thinking of it might be useful to take in mind Joseph Beuys filling up curbs in the urban relief.

The title is Unschlitt/Tallow.
(a hard fatty substance made from rendered animal fat, used in making candles and soap.)

It was created in summer 1977 for the exhibition Skulptur Projekte in Muenster. Joseph Beuys filled a dead space of a concrete construction for a pedestrian tunnel with animal fat.
The senseless urban construction was to be transformed with a healing substance. 
Fat, a source of energy for the body, was used as a positive substance to rescue a cold, wounded place. 
After being removed from the mold, the sculpture was cut into six segments which comprise the work. (Fettecke).

Being Dutch is an advantage to imagine the land scape artpiece I have in mind.
Since visually you are used to a constant level, a steady horizon you depart from a levelled point of view.

Take that excavation site. Some time ago they started digging for gold, diamonds or another specific material.  
For years and years roads went deeper into the ground to cut the stone away. Roads go down kilometers into the ground.

Visualise the negative space 
and fill it with lost content.

Find something. Foam. Pur-schuim. Sand, bricks. Whipped cream. 
All the rubbish from Silicon Valley.
Sand. Vloeibare make-up. Drawing. 
Text.
Lets fill it with text. 
Let it dry, 
harden out
and inverse it.

Voila:
Just like the mine as roads going down to reach the bottom of the mine and empty it from its resources. 
The mountain that we have created here has roads going up to reach the top.

The very top is invisible. It is in the clouds. 
Along the roads going up the mountain there are entrances. 
Who is living here?
What kind of changing vegetation are we going to encounter?
Can we eat it?

Can we dig into this tower?
What can we build with this material we dug up, 
the spaces between the words...

[cabin crew voice]

[folding back blanket]

Thank you for choosing to fly
and thinking along
Captain and cabin crew hope you have enjoyed the view.
We whish you a pleasant stay.
This flight is operated in collaboration with our partners.

You see, this is evidence. 
Love is a condition for a carpet to fly.

Holes On The Face Of The Earth
Galery Blunk, Trondheim/Norway, 2014

Holes On The Face Of The Earth
Museumnacht, Onze Lieve Heer Op Solder, Amsterdam, 2014

New Amsterdam Canal Cruise
In cooperation with Het Veem Theater en Rederij Lovers, Amsterdam, 2013

Columns Het Veem Theater
2010<