Dear reader,
I hope this September newsletter finds you well on this first Monday of October.
This past month marked the start of the academic year and, for those of us not actually enrolled or teaching in schools, the end of holiday work-life. Time to take things seriously again and put in the hours – or at least that’s what my internalised capitalism is telling me.
Last month Jack wrote about the intrinsic need for non-commercial pursuits in work and education and how university degrees that don’t offer economically viable career prospects are in danger of getting phased out. It got me (Kirsten) motivated to continue this thread since, as you may know, matters concerning the value of labour and time – specifically those kinds that do not necessarily deliver financial profit or anything ‘productive’ at all – are what I ponder over daily. I had big plans for it. I wanted to include something about Curriculum Veto, the performance by Art Goss we went to see in The Hague on September 16th in which Marthe rolled around the stage while contemplating the artist’s CV and ‘course of life’. What accomplishments do you fill those 2 pages with, and what do you leave out that is perhaps more important and meaningful to you? Then also something about Groot Rotterdams Atelier Weekend on the 24th and 25th, where like last year we were again confronted with visitors that expected to be served art in tangible form but mostly had to make do with verbal representations of our individual and Extra practice(s). What if you don’t have much to show for what you did in the last year? In general, how to manage or entirely refuse expectations or standards, while still trying to participate?
Unfortunately I once again found myself lagging behind and trying to squeeze out the words on the day of the self-imposed deadline. At around 6 PM I thought “tomorrow, tomorrow”, closed my laptop and left the studio.
Then the next morning instead of having another go at writing, I made a parmigiana.
