| I
remember pretty good how I got to know about hilma af klint. back in 2016 I visited
an off-space in essen placed in a backyard but being hilariously hip. as I´m pretty
much into off-mainstream I have to admit that this place was far too hip for me.
the art was shitty by just copying the posture of a work without dealing with
anything, frequented by demonstratively non-styled people drinking cheap beer
celebrating a hermetic scene. this hipster oasis has already vanished without
anyone missing. however, even when the space was not really cool, I liked the
idea of it, but it did not work out. back then standing around in the backyard
drinking cheap beer one of the art historians I was heading to do a project with
showed up. (her boss (a curator) made her appear as there was a hip artist present
who was to be shown in her space. once again it was all hilarious.)
and there
we were standing in the backyard, feeling overdressed in casual clothes, talking
about art and projects, trying impress one another. she told me to have visited
a show by agnes martin. that name rang a bell, but I could not imagine a work
fitting to it. later that night I googled the name and remember knowing the work
of martin. but a lot more striking was what google additionally offered: hilma
af klint. I did not know here before and I had to ask myself what went wrong?
klint´s
paintings are colourful, big and abstract. what makes it so special is the story
behind it. having painted these pieces back in the 1920ies in sweden, knowing
the pieces are way to futuristic to be accepted, so she demanded here work to
not be shown until 20 years after her death have passed by. actually, the paintings
have been rediscovered in the 1980ies (ca. 40 years afterwards) and put a shockwave
into art history. is it possible that a woman from the north has invented abstract
painting decades before mondrian & malevich came up with their constructions?
you can be sceptical about it, maybe art history has to be rewritten,
maybe all of this is a big fake licking all these experts who have no clue. (as
usually) however, this is enough stuff for a movie.
my fascination for
hilma af klint and her work is different. I am not interested in her meaning for
art history, because the whole thing is pure construction. I am interested in
the idea that she was interested in occultism and modern technology (I can hear
boards of canada tunes in the back), did not marry but focussed on art which lead
to work which is carrying meaning beyond the visual. her work is abstract and
even decorative, but it is also innovative, original and exploring deeper truths.
this is what makes it special to me and it still looks seductively fresh.
 
german director halina dyrschka has created a documentary about klint coming to
cinama in germany this spring which is on my list. I cannot advertise this movie
to you because I haven´t seen it yet and I am not paid for it but I will hopefully
join one of the rare screenings, let my know if you want to join.
set
your schedules:
jenseits des sichtbaren - hilma af klint
directed
by halina dyrschka
update 2020-03-02: as there is a lot of stuff
going on recently we have correded the time and place for the screening to be
assembled:
sunday, march 29, 6 pm
filmforum duisburg
screening
event
also
you should not miss to see the 2016 record of tides video for the track 'the ten
largest/evolution' as teaser for the 'swan ep', inspired by the work of hilma
af klint. the ep also lead to the album 'solna'. enjoy!
hilma
af klint knew that her work was only available after her passing which makes her
even more fascinating giving me shivers. on the other hand her passing date is
far enough in the past to make her work public domain. this is not the only reason
I have adapted it, but things fell into place here. above you see an installation
view of my solo show ‘adaptation (you´re mine)’ at galerie gublia in spring 2018.
the work explores the occult or the invisible in the image by cgi merging four
of her lager works while hiding one in every rendering.
the conceptually brilliant constructed pieces can also be found in the catalogue,
here you can have a closer look on her and my work.
 
the swan is an iconic
and striking piece. it inspired my to do the ‘swan ep’ as record of tides and
made me do a cgi version of it. as you can see in the head picture, the digital
swan sculpture also ended up in a mini series turning around and in a music video
for the record of tides ep. there is pretty much you can draw from a single work.
being deeply impressed by her work and biography, an inverted and bluish version
of a portrait photograph was used as cover artwork for the record of tides album
‘solna’. as much of the klint legacy is connected on her death and the rediscovery
afterwards, I wanted to focus back on the beginnings, solna is the place where
hilma af klint was born.
recordoftides.com
this
a funny picture the internet brought up. it looks quite non-special at first sight
but even more strange on deeper consideration. you can see richard d. james (a.k.a.
aphex twin) obviously harddeejaying next to a boy in a party decoration surrounding.
the meme text pretended that the dj the cousin´s aunt had hired for the party
wouldn’t stop mixing up nineties to contemporary electronic music for three hours
so they cannot sing ‘happy birthday’. however, this is fun and not the actual
context of this picture but I know nothing about the picture. the well appreciated
and worshipped richard appears so misplaced in private context. the genius is
only possible in context. even hilma af klint might have been aware of the fact
being misplaced in time, space and maybe gender to present her work and being
accepted. I remember reading an interview with legendary jazz guitarist allan
holdsworth telling about his hobby craft beer ambitions and the fact that even
his close friends do not really know what his profession is. how weird is that?
it works the same thing with status: you might be the boss of your company, but
it does not mean anything outside the company or - if you like so - in the rest
of the world. fame, ability and position only belong to a small scene or society.
scaling it up makes it mainstream and hollow as there is no more substance but
more surface. watching ‘tracks’ on arte has taught me that there are well attended
scenes I have never heard about before. and there is a truth in it: you not irrelevant
only because a small group of people follows your work.
recordoftides.com
here
is an extra instant classic, not a shot of my face but of my feet in the pfaffenthal
lift. always fun, i have collection of these pictures already. there is a bunch
of luxembourg-based pictures in the line of production. to much of everything,
recently, usually.
 
 
update
2020-02-08: even if there isn´t time for anything I decided to visit the rundgang
at kunstakademie düsseldorf instead of spending the afternoon asleep on the couch.
fortunately matthais danberg was spontaneous enough to join me, we haven’t met
for weeks now. nevertheless is the annual students show a must visit for everyone
in düsseldorf and I cannot go there without meeting people while stepping from
small talk to small talk. the show reveals nothing unexpected and unfortunately
no highlights, just a few works can stay in mind. we agree that our perception
of the students has changes from admiration to pity as their ‘work’ has turned
from gesture to pose. the flowers in the sink always appear as proof of a celebration
but immediately turn into a symbol of something having left the climax of life
and beauty.
 
update
2020-02-08: something to be remembered was the room ‘filled’ with a work by
yael kempf. the room was empty while the work which was supposed to be found was
called ‘open up’. (refreshingly diffentent in comparison to all the other fillen
and crowded rooms...) an old-fashioned book on the window sill appeared to hold
empty pages only except for one page delivering a phone number and the order to
call. nowadays we are not calling people so easily anymore, so I decided to write
a sms when I finally hit the couch. the contact attempt ended in this strange
conversation ending in transmitting time and place for a meeting (or whatever).
I decided to check the coordinates but not to show up.
update
2020-02-14: I have reported about discovering the minimal artwork by yael
kempf at this years rundgang at kunstakademie düsseldorf which led to an awkward
and arty sms conversation ending with handing over date and place. as I a have
reported in the last snippet on this thing I did not plan to show up and so I
didn’t. in fact I was curious but also mainly aware of decoy flares, I´m simply
not chasing every squirrel that crosses my way – mostly because you are aware
of the unbalanced relation of effort and chance of success. however, shortly after
the given date has passed by a new sms came in, see above. the words are even
more strange and less decodable, still exerted arty giving the innuendo of a romantic
date or arty performance but without showing up. as you see I cannot end this
without having the last line, so mine also sounds deep like a suicide note but
is actually a futurama quote, additionally it is the most gently way to end contact,
sometimes even with a whole universe. as the conversation ended the thinking about
this artwork ended. actually, I am disappointed, I think a single work (which
could be the door opener to the artist´s burrow) should not do it. what
was the anticipated aim of this journey? while the minimal arrangement of the
work in the kunstakademie room has lead to this one possible next step of getting
in contact, the interaction turned out to be without direction, cryptic but pointless
in the end. you have put me on a treasure hunt but you do not have a treasure
to offer. so what!?
update
2020-02-08: above you see gelsenkirchen based artist sandra
kunce-haurand and me at the kulturempfang gelsenkirchen last night. we have
exhibited together at the jahresschau gelsenkirchener künstlerinnen und künstler
at kunstmuseum gelsenkirchen and are obviously important enough to have received
an invitation. so here we are, the culture makers of (and for) gelsenkirchen.
as I have assembled the event accidentally last year I know it is made for getting
free beer and appetizers and to connect with the scene. I have learned to not
expect too much (I have just showed up for a good time away from work) but I might
have made some new friends incidentally. however, you should have us on your list.
and yes, we had a good time, as you see!
(plus: the szeniale is supposed to
return in 2021 and I am in again)
update
2020-02-08: I have been quite surprised realizing that kunstgebiet.ruhr is
down recently. research has shown that the company running the site are recently
seeking for a new financing concept, so it might return one day. running this
website (svennet) for about 20 years now I know that there is a lot work in making
it, but keeping it available is a question of a very small amount of money. culture
and art are usually connected with money but it is dangerous to connect everything
with profit…
I know that this site is just a project of a media company generating
money with it but on the other hand it was also an instrument to present the ruhr
area scene and giving importance to it. it is not about me, I think I am well
represented in the internet, but it was great to be part of something meaningful.
I have even used the website for research on certain artworks, even if some data
appeared to be false (I have never found the marta pan sculpture in duisburg)
or outdated. by simply making it vanish the site might reveal its own irrelevance.
on the other hand I know that you cannot do everything for free, especially in
the art scene. it is a dilemma as usually, but it is also easy, you can make something
meaningful or profit.
update
2020-02-09: and here is a picture I wanted to share for a long time now, simply
because it is surreal and symbolic. it was taken while I was on holiday four years
ago in oostkapelle, netherlands. when I was straying around after breakfast I
discovered this funny architecture and seminar rooms as well reminding me of the
work ahead. holidays are just islands, but you have to back into your rescue boat
in the ocean. there is a sublime humming of the everyday mash-up of stupidity,
wasting time, hierarchy issues and lack of idea. you´ll get used to it, finally
you end up ignorant giving up the effort for change of things you cannot change.
is this old, wise or whatever?
back then finally finding myself on days-off
(taken out of everyday routines) I read about the passing of roger willemsen.
he is missed for different reasons, mostly for his ability to state precise comments
on the unacceptable taking place by being taken as normality. he was and still
is the proof that being clever must not be a disadvantage. a big footprint in
a flat world.
update
2020-02-14: I have quite incidently discovered this article
on nzz.ch, questioning indices for quality in art and the absence of these
indices in the (commercial) art scene. I have been working on a book on this issue
as well but I have lost interest in it as the result will lead to no consequence.
(also I have dawdled the sketches...)
however, I think the triangle idea works
pretty well and it even helps me to detect bad art apects in my work, which surprised
only the narcistic part of me. what I miss in the triangle is the the aspect of
relevance. for me the biographic aspect is alway secundary as I use art not to
express my unique and gifted self but to create works handing over a question
to the audience or visitor which puts him or her into focus actually. (I am just
the genious mind behind the creation).
the text is pretty good and
nailing stupid truths. once again a relevance is given to read this, even if you
are not into art: once again art and the art scene function as playground or petri
dish for all the other stuff happening in world which is usually a lot more far
away from traceability.
I guess there is also a phenomenon concerning the
fascination of art: usually people who are not into art might dislike contemporary
or conceptional art, probably because they believe not to understand it and feeling
that it might be made for 'smarter' people.
if you are into art you start getting
a fascination for the discovery of new ways of expressing and looking at things,
you will like everything strange and new.
after a while the whole thing might
flip back: you have seen everything before, you know the archetype of the copycat,
well, you have seen it even better before. the gesture turns to pose, artists
may show pieces they do not undersatd themselves, they are just 'arty'. often
these works are described with empty words like important, deep or imersive. you
do not feel to stupid in front of the work anymore, you feel too clever for it.
at this point you are actually able to detect bad art, in case that you are able
to leave your own frustartion out of the equation.
once again this has an universal
validity: you cannot criticise a system from the outside or from the bottom of
the hierarchy. people will not take you seriously for the right reasons as you
do not have an idea. if you have done the full circle and went through the career
and climb up the hierarchy, you know what you are talking about and your critic
is way more reliable. the question remaining might be if it would still be clever
to be critic on top of the system?
update
2020-02-25 ...a reliable disaster: I have been waiting for these few days
of for weeks now, unfortunately a bad cold arrived. after discussing pros and
cons and our condition (we appeared to be both sick for holiday), we made our
way to zeeland again. watching the sea is always helpful, the weather made us
only check the shore quickly, the storm blew us away, our condition was not helpful
to stand the rainy weather. back to the hotel after a little snack…
update
2020-02-25: this picture of our hotel room looks classy, actually it was horrible.
indeed there were two big windows giving a view on the dunes, but also a view
inside for people parking the car checking what is going on inside. also, the
parking lot illumination made it impossible to keep the curtains open over night.
the beds appeared to be completely deformed for human beings, while forcing you
into three possible but uncomfortable positions. plus, while we still have winter,
the room was not heated, not really a warm welcome. (also the closed curtains
blocked the heated air form circulating…) everything seemed to be mounted together
in a completely false or mindless way. to come up with spoilers first: we booked
just for two nights but stayed only one. this is the first time we decided to
break up a holiday stay before time. i´ll keep it fair, as we have stayed here
for the second time, i´m not telling the hotel´s name. hold back, best is yet
to come: usually the toilet or bathroom is a reliable disaster.
update
2020-02-25: the toiled room was a separated little ‘room’, too small to be
photographed or to bow down for pulling up the trousers afterwards. so lets have
a look at the architectural finesse of the bath room: to place a bathtub in the
bathroom, they had to use a tub with a cutaway to make sure that you would not
have to enter the room through the tub. I had to call the tub immediately the
‘tub for the one-legged’, reminding me of andreas
slominski´s 'die hose des einbeinigen trocknen' (2000) for it´s laborious
senselessness. let´s be honest, who would like to take a bath in this mini room
without windows?
a shower would have been suitable and fully appropriate.
but even more funny: if you take a shower (what I did) you will end up having
big problems to leave the tub again, as the small room, the protection glass and
the tub shape make it an artistic masterpiece to escape the construction. lessons
in contemporary dance might have helped.
 
 
update
2020-02-25: after a while you feel like an idiot, probably because they want
you to feel like an idiot. welcome to act 3:
in the bathroom are many stickers
and papers telling you about how to use shower gel or towels because of the environment.
(do they really care or is this contemporary and expectable fashion?) our room
had an additional plaque wishing a good day in four different languages. I remember
not really realizing it but being subconsciously confused. why would you have
to add another plaque to all the stickers and papers just to wish a good day?
(they did not really seriously care for it in general so far…) when I found myself
starring at it the problem became obvious: the effort for this wish appeared to
be far too high, so why did they do it? when I touched the plaque I was holding
it in my hands immediately, as it was just glued on the tiles, covering a hole
and electric cables for a socket. this did not really feel save, but I felt fooled
again. this is somehow annoying and funny at the same time, for sure it is a typical
contemporary archetype. the plaques´ purpose was disguised by a fake purpose.
that fake purpose was so flat that it draw my attention. I hate when people lie
to me but do not even try hard, it is like a double insult: one for my reputation,
one for my intelligence.
update
2020-02-25: one of the reasons to return to zoutelande was our newly found
fascination (or should I say addiction) for crispy garnalen as served by ´t harinkje.
unfortunately the restaurant was closed off-season. (fortunately our other favourite
in domburg was open as expected). as you know our fish addiction is usually best
described by futurama quotes (‘full of fish?’ – ‘not entirely.’), so the crisply
prawns are also referred as ‘popplers’, a well-tasting discovery from another
planet, delivered by planet express and served by ‘fishy joe´s’ on planet earth.
(maybe you know how the futurama episode ends, in case not, I will tell later,
but not now.)
update
2020-02-25: the sequence of leela gulping the popplers is the perfect image
in our heads while driving down the road to zoutelande while concentrating on
the taste and the crispiness.
update
2020-02-25: and of course we made the attendance to the tiny house in biggekerke
to take a picture from the car. just like dropping a coin to the fountain for
a future return.
well, future, here we go.
 
update
2020-02-25: after the terrible racism inspired terrorist attracts german chancellor
merkel declared racism to be poison, obviously not a new cognition to us. it was
interesting to see merkel´s speech mirrored in the stories of mira calix´ instagram
channel. mira calix is
for me the most important woman in british idm who was also able to connect it
to visual art. she is known to be an anti-brexit-campaigner and as you can see
in her comments pretty critical with the british government. it is good to have
a view on yourself from the outside sometimes. merkel´s statements appeard flat
and obvious to me, but obviously that´s not understood anymore, not in europe,
not these days.
update
2020-03-07: the SG1 is doing a show called 'waldbaden'. even if I am not connected
to the show in any case, I would like to put your focus on this art exhibition
escorted with performances. have a look on the schedule over here.
I haven´t seen anything yet, but I promise to show up when possible.
sg1-kunstraum.de
update
2020-03-07: here is another lovely shot of me as done by rebecca gottschick
at beats im bunker about a month ago. I was not happy with the event and my performance
as I could not perform the way I wanted to. this has led to a bunch of consequences:
I will do a pause with record of tides av live sets and have to find out for myself,
which context could be suitable and how I can turn it into what I want it to be.
also I am considering to put out the bootleg, once again in a reconstructed and
extended version to show you what it was supposed to be... also there will be
new album on kreislauf.org hopefully. I am delaying the deadlines recently, too
much stuff to do. there will be great stuff available this year!
update
2020-03-08: the art cologne will be open from april 23 to 26 and I am happy
to have received a press ticket again. the fair staff seems to like my blog even
if it is quite critic sometimes, or they do not really read it while enjoying
the pictures. however, I am happy to come back as I could not join it last year
because of my proceedings on appeal on questions of law took place in that time,
so was too tired to go there. (no, I was not getting sued, it was just the legal
name for an assessment for a new position I was heading for, actually the most
complex and exhausting examination I ever did so far… and it is not over yet.)
above you see me mirrored on the fair in 2018, which I have enjoyed a lot.
this year I hope to roam through the fair halls, enjoying the good and the bad
art, the scene people and some horribly expensive sausages. it might be stressful
for many people, for me this is supposed to be relaxation and an opportunity to
blog. unfortunately, the coronavirus is recently floating around in germany. even
if we cannot say how dangerous it might be, many concerts, soccer games and fairs
are recently cancelled, so an upcoming cancellation might be possible. cross your
fingers and let´s see, it will be a didactic play on the balance of profit and
danger, fear and greed.
 
 
even
if thing is fixed, I am working on complex rendering using new software. the next
solo show should be called ‘needle in the multiverse’ or ‘the last known artefact
of mankind’. let´s see how far we´ll take it. pushing the borders! weird!!!
studio.svenpiayda.com
sven
piayda
#
H O W D E E P I S Y O U R L O V E
galerie
tellerrand, gelsenkirchen
2015-11-01 — 2016-01-31 (archive)
sven
piayda @ galerie tellerand
#howdeepisyourlove
(archive of complete online show)
galerie
tellerand
karla
köhler with sven piayda | k-city
HOCHHAUS - HÜTTE - HINTERHOF
DER REITZ
DES UNGELIEBTEN
galerie treppenhaus, erlangen
2019 permanent exhibition
opening hours mo—fr 9am to 8 pm
consulting and sale wed 4 to 6pm
and
by appointment
fon 0177 7299 665
galerie treppenhaus
henkestraße
91
91052 erlangen
galerie-treppenhaus.de
sven
piayda | heliodorus
JAHRESSCHAU GELSENKIRCHENER
KÜNSTLERINNEN UND
KÜNSTLER
kunstmuseum gelsenkirchen, gelsenkirchen
2019-11-15 –
2020-02-02
gelsenkirchen.de
    
          
questions? complaints? ideas? contributions? collaborations?
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