The following section is shaped as a long strip larded with images, descriptive texts, essays and scores [selected for you from the present back to 2010] and followed by extensive resume 2023 – 1980 including a substantial amount of images
THE PACK OF TING
[Blind Dates With The History Of Mankind / ONLY FOOLS DIE]
1989>97>01>13>20>27>49 [work in process // UNDER CONSTRUCTION]
Ongoing performance project featuring chosen objects interwoven with both short and durational actions
During WHAT REMAINS. On the Sacred, the Lost and the Forgotten Relics of Live Art. ARC Gallery, Chicago [February 2020] a live installment, with imagery and texts, as part of THE PACK OF TING was carried by proxy Cristine Cooper. The project in Chicago was possible thanks to DFBRL8LTR for the use of these items from its collection. [see 2020 Chicago documentation below]
The performance series BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND [2013-ongoing], as a multi-sensory work, searches for a common ground between sensual bewilderment and operational suffering, challenging the constructed nature of our ideas on progress, identity and memory, derived from our social and cultural circumstances and territories.
Due to the international pandemic [2020 – 2022] most presentations mentioned below were shown online or postponed till further notice / In progress [ ]
Expected: CROSSING BORDER_BORDER CROSSING festival of intermedia. Hong Kong HK // El Rule Centro Cultural. Lecture, Mexico City MEX [details follow] // la-bas. Experimental live art. Kiasma Museum Helsinki FI // BLAUVERSCHIEBUNG performancefestival. Leipig DE
NEWS 2023:
Bratislava, Slovakia – 19 October – Lecture [Location details follow] / 26 October – Performance during Prologue. 12 Colours of Reality, the opening exhibition in the reconstructed Slovak National Gallery SNG
Athens, Greece – National and Kapodistrian University in association with University of Athens. Lecture on BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND [details follow]
Performances and other presentations sofar, include:
2023
September
Performances and other presentations sofar include:
Sao Paulo, Brasil – PERFORMANCE. around MASP and Av. Paulista [10/9]. Curator: Rodrigo Munhoz.
August
Tiradentes, Brasil – PERPENDICULAR Project#19 – Museo Casa Padre Toledo and rainforest [3/9] São João del Rei – presentations in Universidad Federal / Theatre Dep. and Galeria Adro – live work [31/8]. Curator: Wagner Rossi Campos.
RAGE AND TIME. Former cellar for keeping slave [house of Padre Toledo]. TRAVELER. Museo Padre Toledo. THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF HOPE. Rainforest around T
Buenos Aires, Argentina – OPEN FIELD / CAMPO ABIERTO – presentation and performance in Peras de Olmo ARS CONTINUA in association with the Institute for Research in Visual Arts – Universidad Nacional de las Artes [19 and 26/8] Performance – on traffic island near Obelisk [25/8]. Curator: Graciela Ovejero Postigo.
The entire project in Buenos Aires, Tiradentes and Sao Paulo was supported by Mondriaan Fund for visual arts & cultural heritage
Graz, Austria. May 2023
Very pleased that steirischer herbst is going to use my site specific work ECHO OF HISTYRIA as logo for the recently released Werner Fenz Grant Art in Public Space.
In honour of art historian and internationally renowned curator, theorist, and educator Werner Fenz (1944–2016). Organisation by Steirischer Herbst. First commission for work in Graz, will be taking place in 2024.
This piece was produced for the highly acclaimed and main exhibition BEZUGSPUNKTE 38 / 88 – POINTS OF REFERENCE 38 / 88 of steirischer herbst 1988 festival, which Werner Fenz curated.
Dordrecht, The Netherlands. 26 March.
EQUINOX – Same But Different. Group performance at location Hof.
Equinox – same but different is an international event for public action for freedom for all people. Every year on the Equinox (around 20 March and 21 September), the duration of day and night is roughly equal around the world. In the spirit of cosmic equality, the event is a global connection for people performing together in public space.
This sharing of time and space brings us closer together, as a temporary (global) community to encourage, through performance art, non-violent expressions for locally specific conditions.
Everyone was welcome to participate with openness and in solidarity, embracing and embodying diversity while acknowledging each other’s individual circumstances, difficulties and conflicts.
There was no programme of consecutive performances but everything occured simultaneously, collaborations could arise spontaneously.
Participating artists: ieke Trinks, Peter Baren, Ienke Kastelein, Yvette Teeuwen, Lotte Werkema, Kirsten Heshusius, Kamila Wolszczak, Geerten Ten Bosch, Yvo van der Vat, Kathrin Wolkowicz, Gerwin Luijendijk, Anne Kolbe, Topp & Dubio, Ellen Rodenberg, Maarten Schepers, Jolanda Jansen, Liesje van den Berk, Marita Bullmann, Nico Parlevliet and Frans van Lent.
Organized by 222lodge in cooperation with: https://equinox2equinox.org Photos: Nico Parlevliet.
Start
Athens, Greece. December 2022
THE WeighT OF LOVE. The History Of Now
5 December 2022 – Performance around Akropolis area, Athens. Photos: Evangelia Basdekis.
1 December 2022 – National and Kapodistrian University of Athens – Lecture Blind Dates With The History Of Mankind.
30 November 2022 – National Theatre of Greece – Lecture Blind Dates With The History Of Mankind.
Buenos Aires, Argentina. 12 November 2022
2. CINEplusPERFO 2022 Festival Internacional
Participated as a jury member for 2. CINEplusPERFO 2022 Festival Internacional – Buenos Aires. November 12: The link shows the live streamed presentation of the special mentions of the jurymembers with the selected artists involved- Total duration is 1.43.18. My 2 special mentions are put forward starting at 1.25.48 mins.
Vilnius, Lithuania. August 2022
BEGGARS BANQUET performance proposals for the city of Vilius to be performed during 1st Vilnius Biennial of Performance Art 2023.
A native speaking performer shows examples of THE WeighT OF LOVE and talks about them around the city of Vilnius. When people show interest they may select one jigsaw image of their choice. A streetwise restrospective of my live work. Photos: Geurt Imanse [Venice], Lehel Toth [Nove Zamky]
Rotterdam, The Netherlands. 4 September
Brutus. Final day of the exhibition Wild Summer of Art. – Participated in CROSSING a group performance by Toine Horvers.
Buenos Aires, Argentina. 27 August 2022
analytical CONVERSATION No. 2.
Peter Baren, Noel Molloy, Tzu-chi-Yeh. Conversation with selected artists 1. FIPFA audio/visual festival – December 2021: Ideas about submitted video and Body of work. You Tube Channel: CINEplusPERFO. Produced by Peras de Olmo, Buenos Aires AR. LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oidKFGSLcYw – Duration: 175 mins.
OVERLAPPING KASSEL.
Kassel Germany. 16 – 26 June 2022
THE WeighT OF LOVE [RAGE AND TIME AND HOPE], performed for Overlapping Kassel alongside the opening week of documenta fifteen. [Photo: Wolfgang Traeger]
Performance series through different walks around the city of Kassel with black tears, white handkerchiefs, book Rage And Time and deep sighs. Photos: Yeon Jeong, Ludwig Moeller, Wolfgang Traeger, Michiel Leezenberg, Eliu Almonte.
1 minute recording by Yeon Jeong to be viewed in VIDEO section.
Mexico – March 2022
PETER BAREN. PERFORMANCE SUITES. [Artists pages – No. 25 March issue] El Rizo Robado – Online art and poetry magazine, Mexico.
Text by Jennie Klein.
Grace Exhibition Space, New York US. May 2022 – September 2021
15th ANNIVERSARY & EXHIBITION 2006-2021: WILD/ALIVE! Home of the Avant-Garde.
Every Friday: 9:30 -11:00 pm. Celebrating 15 Years of Presenting Performance Art in New York City! Artifacts, Images, Videos & more. Works by Non Grata Group, Miao Jiaxin, Geraldo Mercado, Peter Baren, Poppy Jackson, Martin O’Brien, Nicole Goodwin & more
PB presentation on display – one of the stained shirts and balaclava with rainbow colours used in 2010 performance with Graeme Wilson. Grace, Broadway Av. Brooklyn.
Below: photos of 2010 performance by Galya Feierman
Amsterdam NL. May – March 2022
On Friendship / (Collateral Damage) IV – I Am The Resistance. May 24, Deutsche Bank Headquarters – May 14, Maarten Luther church – March 12, in Lumen Travo Gallery, Amsterdam NL. Taking part in performance –
On Friendship / (Collateral Damage) is an ongoing project by Joseph Sassoon Semah 2021 / 2022.
Video 13.58 mins at Deutsche Bank Amsterdam
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq-8yHgjqv0&feature=emb_rel_end
2021
Buenos Aires, Argentina December 10 – 19.
CINE+PERFO Festival I. Internacional de Performance-art y Formatos Audiovisuales. Produced by Peras de Olmo – Ars Continua. The program consists of complete performances or audiovisual fragments that were produced from 2011 into the past. Very pleased that my video ARK [Unknown Pleasures] from 2007 is screened from Dec. 10 – 19.
You are invited to click on the link: ARK [Unknown Pleasures] 4.50 mins. B&W, no sound
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5-NwcQBmBw…
Video summary: For four days in a row the performance starts at CCA/Center of Contemporary Art and consequently left the space to proceed in a processioned walk to several sites in the city of Tel Aviv where assassinations took place in the past: market, shopping street, crossroad, busstation, seaside. Every walk ends with the first figure tearing his shirt after facing the other figure, in the vicinity of one of these sites and leading it back to CCA. During the last walk (to the seaside) a boomerang is thrown towards the sea with the word SPIRIT written on it.
Es un nuevo brazo institucional de Peras de Olmo – ARS CONTINUA, espacio dedicado a la exhibición e intercambios en Performance y otras prácticas artísticas de base temporal, surgido en 2011 como obra expandida de la artista Graciela Ovejero Postigo, su fundadora y directora.
2021 July
Carecentre De Hartenberg/ sHeerenLoo, Wekerom NL Commissioned in 1996 by SKOR, Foundation Art and Public Space.
WEKEROM [RED HERRING] FOLLY AND PENGUIN [IN ECSTASY]
Maintenance and replacing one of the rotating steel blades, covered with enamel, so [Red Herring] FOLLY AND PENGUIN [In Ecstasy] is complete again from August onwards and can be visited daily, all year around. Woonzorgpark sHeeren Loo, Wekerom.
So if you are going to visit Kröller-Müllermuseum in Otterlo, it’s only a 5 – 10 minute drive away from Otterlo.
Photos: Geurt Imanse, Peter Baren archive
2nd Nieuwstraatfestival. Dordrecht NL
19 June 2021
Op een onaangekondigde dag in mei 20121 vindt, tussen zonsopgang en middernacht het 2e Nieuwstraat Festival plaats. De performances in dit festival zullen worden uitgevoerd door vrijwilligers, onaangekondigd en zonder uitleg. Ze vinden plaats in de alledaagse omgeving en verbergen het ongewone binnen het gewone. Voorbijgangers zullen de handelingen waarnemen, maar herkennen ze mogelijk niet als kunst.
The 2nd Nieuwstraat Festival took place on June 19, 2021, between sunrise and midnight. The performances were performed by volunteers, unannounced and without explanation.
Performances involved took place in everyday environments and hid the unusual within the usual. Passers-by will have observed the actions, but may not have recognized them as performance art.
WINK OF AN EYE [organizer AND CUT!], my prososal, was performed by Hans Bossmann in between passers-by. Essential was the fact that the performer felt completely at ease with this concept of making eyecontact and uses A WINK OF THE EYE as sincere and open gesture as possible, combined with a smile.
Shot below was taken just for camera, outside he performed with great clarity and no grimace
https://unnoticedartfestival.com/2nd-nieuwstraat…/
THE ARTIST WAS PRESENT [below] is carried out by yours truly during the entire day as proxy for Andrew McNiven, due to travel limitations for the latter caused by the corona pandemic. Meeting other artists, performers and people around. Also at the table Jolanda Jansen and organizer Frans Van Lent. Photo: Hans Bossmann.
June
THE LIVING ROOM AS TERMINAL BODY. This photowork needed a minor repair to be fixed at the house of befriended collector. Action photo as showed, was performed right after the closing of The Living Room as a gallery. Amsterdam, September 1993.
2021 Chengdu China
Lushan Art Museum, Chengdu presents the exhibition: Twelve Years: The Archives of A Scene. UP-ON International Live Art Festival 2008-2020.
Curator: Tian Meng.
Duration: 28.2.2021 – 22.11.2020
Documentary show with a selection of artists that was presented in 8 editions of UP-ON Live Art Festival over a period of twelve years.
Several PB performance studies, see below [for the 2019 #7 edition], video PROGRESS PROGRESS [STRANDED] and monography on performances 1980 – 2013 are on display.
Below: performance studies for UP-ON Live Art festival. Coll. Lushan Art Museum. PROGRESS PROGRESS [STRANDED] 2019 – this video was also on display in the exhibition.
Goethe Instituut, Amsterdam NL November / October 2021
On Friendship / (Collateral Damage) IV – How to Explain Hare Hunting to a Dead German Artist [The usefulness of continuous measurement of the distance between Nostalgia and Melancholia].]
November 11 and October 28: Guest appearances in performances as part of this new project of Joseph Sassoon Semah (September 2021 – June 2022).
Also 11 November meeting between Rick Vercauteren (publicist, arthistorian) & Joseph Sassoon Semah and 28 October meeting between Mati Shemoelof (Poet, Author, Editor, Journalist) & Joseph Sassoon Semah.
A critical project concerning post-war artist Joseph Beuys, created by Joseph Sassoon Semah, curator is Linda Bouws © Stichting Metropool Internationale Kunstprojecten.
2020
8th UP-ON International Live Art Festival. Chengdu, China
20-25 November
Due to the corona pandemic PB’s March 2020 residency at Luxehills Art Museum, live performances and lecture during this year’s festival are postponed to 2022.
In stead the UP-ON organisation decided to change the live program [for the international artists] into a presentation of online performance videos.
My videos PROGRESS PROGRESS [STRANDED] from 2019 and RAGE AND TIME (2017) are shown in the Wu Temple in Chengxiang’s Old Town.
Primera Trienal de Performance DEFORMES 2020. Santiago, Chile
[9 – 13 November] online performance program.
I will present PROGRESS PROGRESS [STRANDED / NO REQUIEM] 2019 as part of the performanceseries BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND.
Tuesday 10 November: 17.45 h – Chile timezone / 21.45 h [CET]
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUnuK44_Efg [9.46 mins including introduction]
Full program can be found on www.performancedeformes.cl
Performances are transmitted through the Triennial’s YouTube channel.
60 performance artists from all around the world will be part of the online version of the first Triennial of Performance DEFORMES in Chile, which also have the participation of renowned scholars and action art researchers.
Thank you Gonzalo Rabanal, Graciela Moreno and team!
PROGRESS PROGRESS [STRANDED – NO REQUIEM] 2019 video. Photo: Jacques Martens
El Mercurio newspaper, 22 November 2021
3rd CROSSING BORDER_BORDER CROSSING International festival of intermedia. September 30 – October 20. Mong Kok district, Hong Kong. Different locations and venues. There was an adjusted program 2020 [due to the current corona pandemic] with only artists presenting live work who were already in Hong Kong and China.
Curator: Andrew HK Lam. PB Live performances are postponed to the next edition [2023]
The Hague NL
June 2019
PROJECT ID – In Between Identities. Produced by Performance Site, VestAndPage and Marilyn Arsem
BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND [NO REQUIEM] performance together with Imke Zeinstra.
video 3.32 mins. color sound PLAY IT LOUD
Video online since 7 September 2020
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCUpMPVC9Tg#action=share
Part of Project ID In-Between Identities 2019. The complete Live performance program can be found on:
http://www.performancesite.nl/artists-project-id/
Corona-archives Passage. Exhibition. Amsterdam, the Netherlands 2020
Date: 12 July – 30 August
Location: Nieuw Dakota
PROGRESS PROGRESS [STRANDED]
PROGRESS PROGRESS [STRANDED] 3delig werk- het onderste bestand is als digitale druk op papier gepresenteerd tijdens de tentoonstelling Corona-archives Passage in Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam. 12 juli – 30 augustus. Foto’s: Jacques Martens.
The digital print [right above] on show during the exhibition Corona-archives Passage.
Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam. Photos: Jacques Martens.
12 July – 30 August.
Part of 3piece PROGRESS PROGRESS [STRANDED].
18 May 2020 – dreamideamachine ART VIEW featuring in greek online artmagazine with BDWTHOM performance series, Venice 2013.
Link to online presentation http://www.dreamideamachine.com/?p=57967
PERFORMANCE: Peter Baren – Blind Dates With The History Of Mankind [Struggles, Loss, Absence]
Four days in a row a figure walked very slowly up and down Garibaldi Street. Dressed in a grey suit, censor bar painted across its face, holding a boomerang in one hand and a dirty, torn shirt in the other. While walking, he held one foot next to the other for just a second, and then continued. Every walk took about two hours. The first day TAI HE (Chinese for Harmonious Operation Of All Things On Earth) was written on both sides of the boomerang, the following days respectively STRUGGLES, LOSS and ABSENCE were written on the other side. The walk started at Garibaldi monument and continued in a straight line towards the bridge close to Giardini. Arriving on the bridge, the figure came to a standstill and held the boomerang above the other hand holding the shirt. The end of the daily performance was marked by having the boomerang tied to the fence surrounding the monument. Venice, Italy 2013.
CV Peter Baren (1954) The Netherlands and lives in Amsterdam. He studied painting at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam from 1972 to 1977. Since his first public performance in 1980 his work has been shown frequently in the Netherlands and at an international level during the mid-eighties. In 1989 he was one of the the recipients of the PRIX DE ROME Art & Theatre.Baren’s work is often collaborative; other artists he has worked with in an early stage include a.o. dancer, choreographer Truus Bronkhorst, poet Koos Dalstar and artist Marion Gadiot. Baren’s multimedia practice includes site-specific public performances which he refered to as ‘temporary explorations’. He uses video both for documenting these performances and to create works which are more medium-specific examinations revolving around the history of mankind, cultural objects and space. Many of Baren’s pieces commemorate the notion of ritual and the way it functions in various socio-cultural contexts. This is conveyed in his art through the use of concepts of otherness and ancient cultures in works that also employ ‘body art’ techniques although in minimalist settings constructed with historical props. “PETER BAREN Blind Dates With The History Of Mankind Performances1980-2013”, the monography, was presented during STAGE IT! Series of presentations and lectures on performance art. at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, May 2014. “Blind Dates With The History Of Mankind” (2013- ongoing) as a multi-sensory work, searches for a common ground between sensual bewilderment and operational suffering, challenging the constructed nature of our ideas on progress and memory, derived from our social and cultural circumstances. Recent invitations arrived from China, Chile, Brasil, Germany, Slovakia, Finland and Greece.
Chicago US. 7 – 28 February 2020
WHAT REMAINS:
On the Sacred, the Lost and the Forgotten Relics of Live Art.
ARC Gallery, Chicago, US
[produced by Defibrillator.org – WHAT REMAINS was also presented in part at Zhou B. Art center]
https://youtu.be/_9WfNp-w12Y
video by Frans van Lent: duration 2.30 mins. color sound.
Massive in scale and retrospective by nature, What Remains: On the Sacred, the Lost, and the Forgotten Relics of Live Art is the first exhibition of Defibrillator Gallery’s 10th anniversary year. Curated by Netherlands-based ieke Trinks, this visual art exhibition and performance art series features a cohort of artists from around the world who responded to reanimate Defibrillator’s collection of objects from performances that took place over the past nine years – Joseph Ravens. Director of Defibrillator Gallery.
What Remains takes place from February 7th to the 28th, 2020 at Defibrillator’s former home in Noble Square – framing the site itself as a relic or record of ephemeral practices. Now ARC Gallery, the storefront is located at 1463 W Chicago Avenue, Chicago IL 60642.
What Remains is divided into FOUR CHAPTERS, each with a specific theme that features a suite of performance art events.
CHAPTER ONE: FIXING / TWO: MERGE / THREE: REFERENTIAL / FOUR: CONSUME
WEEK 2: MERGE. Live installment of PB contribution by Christine Cooper on Thursday 13, Friday 14, Saturday 15.
PB PROJECT: STILL WAITING/NO REQUIEM
For Baren STILL WAITING/NO REQUIEM is an outstanding occasion to be able at the one hand to indulge and at the other hand to transfer this project [THE PACK OF TING] that never saw the light of day, onto Marilyn Arsem’s table and chair used in her performance during the 2015 Rapid Pulse edition including the 4 dry flowers.
Studies were texted and drawn in white onto burned surfaces in situ of both table and chair, hanging down from the ceiling.
They include make overs of pieces by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Gerrit van Bakel, Joseph Beuys, Martin Disler and Kiki Smith.
Eventually to bring them together in full scale with short and durational PB performances, to be executed on a later date…
“MERGE” literally means the bringing together of different relics into a new object, as we will witness in Doro Seror’s piece as two relics are woven into one. But merge also stands for the meeting of the past with the present, by bringing new ideas to a relic that already has a history as we will experience with Peter Baren’s performative installation. Merge also is a form of transition and mutation into something other, as Esther Neff & Kaia Gilje are going to explore between animating relics and embody them with their bodies. For the larger part this chapter’s focus will be on the body of the performer in relation to the object.
Last image is taken on the ocassion of PB performing during RAPID PULSE#5 edition in 2016]
2019
LOCUS SOLUS [Artists Practice in Progress]. Amsterdam, NL
16 November – 7 December.
Exhibition CONFRONTATION II. franck gribling reacts to the work of Joseph Sassoon Semah. Part of his project: ON FRIENDSHIP [Collateral Damage] III.
The Third GaLUT. The Guest becomes Host.
ON HOPE AND OTHER TERMINAL BODIES. Peter Baren series of 3 performance stills.
Below: Peter Baren’s contribution exhibited in Locus Solus.
Color prints mounted on aluminium, 3 pieces ttl 85 x 242 cms. Edition 1/3. 2006.
Joseph Sassoon Semah, PB and Franck Gribling preparing
ON FRIENDSHIP. [Collateral Damage] III. The Third GaLUT
PB participation in a project by Joseph Sassoon Semah with several performances, spread out over Amsterdam in 36 locations [1 in Jerusalem and 1 in Baghdad].
Period: September 2019 till February 2020
Met zijn kunstmanifestatie On Friendship/(Collateral Damage) III – The Third GaLUT: Baghdad, Jerusalem, Amsterdam maakt Semah een poëtische en kritische zoektocht naar deze drie steden. Alle drie van oudsher gastvrije en tolerante toevluchtsoorden, maar zijn ze dat vandaag nog? Wat is de plaats van de ‘gast’ op het moment dat die zijn plaats opeist en van gast gastheer wordt? Op deze manier onderzoekt Semah de aard van ballingschap en balling, van diaspora en terugkeer.More information: http://rozenbergquarterly.com/
-16 January [2020], Jewish Historical Museum
-3 November 2019, Freemason foundation
-2 November, MUSEUMNIGHT. Hermitage
-20 October, De Domijnen, Sittard
-12 September, Goethe Institute [all locations in Amsterdam except De Domijnen]
Being Touched By An Angel Just Before Birth.
Museum Hedendaagse Kunst De Domijnen, Sittard
Performance during opening of the retrospective exhibition by Joseph Sassoon Semah from 20 October – 16 February 2020
Video by Bob Schoo.
Duration – 12:43 mins
www.youtube.com/watch?v=keNnNkJRrsE&feature=youtu.be
RED PLEXUS/ Préavis de Desordre Urbain#13.
Friche la Belle de Mai. Marseille, France
Burial of Préavis de Désordre Urbain festival and Rebirth of RED PLEXUS
12/13/14 September 2019
Red Plexus, death and birth of an event.
Article in La Provence newspaper. 11 September 2019.
Text on board: Everything must disappear!
ON FRIENDSHIP COLLATERAL DAMAGE III.
Lumen Travo Gallery, Amsterdam NL
7 September
[PB taking part in] performance and first presentation of Joseph Sassoon Semah’s project, running from September 2019 till February 2020 in 36 locations spread around Bagdad, Jerusalem and Amsterdam.
Video by Bob Schoo.
Duration: 7.21 mins.
LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNhciC-BW
PROJECT ID. In-Between Identities.
Different locations. The Hague, The Netherlands
A co-production between P.S. PerformanceSite, VestAndPage and Marilyn Arsem
25 June / 7 July
PB LECTURE and PERFORMANCE
More on the participating artists: http://www.performancesite.nl/artists-project-id
DATES & VENUES
Evening lectures and artist talks Stichting Ruimtevaart:
June 28 and June 30, 7:00 – 10:00 PM
Residency Class tutored by VestAndPage & Marilyn Arsem: June 25 – July 3
Study Movie Room Stichting Ruimtevaart:
July 5, 12:00 – 6:00 PM – July 7, 12:00 AM – 11:30 PM
[produced by LADA/ Live Art Development Agency, London and VestAndPage]
Collective Performance Opera at Maakhaven:
July 5, 7:30 – 11:00 PM
Live program at De Helena and De Barthkapel:
July 6 / 7 July, 7:00 – 11:30 PM
Evening lectures and artist talks Stichting Ruimtevaart, Den Haag
Sunday, June 30th 7:00-10:00 pm We cordially invite you to an interview/ lecture with guest speaker Peter Baren, artist and Sanne van Driel, PhD student, Tilburg University Department of Culture Studies. To conclude the evening, artist Andrea Pagnes(VestAndPage) will give a lecture on social progress, gender and identity within Project ID – In Between Identities.
SILHOUETTES LIKE SHIVERING ANCIENT FEELINGS
[Origin – Change- Identity].
The lecture by Peter Baren was larded with a wide range of examples from his performance practice.
Witnesses of ever changing identities in between social actions and behavior outlet.
Sunday 30 June.
Image [L]: Kirsten Heshusius
Sunday, 7 July 7:00 PM. Location: Barth chapel
LIVE performance with Imke Zeinstra.
Images: Jacques Martens
BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND [NO REQUIEM]
3.32 mins. Sound / Color
VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCUpMPVC9Tg#action=share
ABOUT PROJECT ID IN-BETWEEN IDENTITIES
Stuart Hall outlines in the essay “Cultural Identity and Diaspora” (1990) that modern identities are no longer fixed but emerge as “unstable points of identification or suture, which are made within the discourses of history and culre.” In his words, life stories are not determined exclusively by class, race, gender, and religion, but instead there is a mixed ancestry; an identification with diversity in countries, traditions, values and beliefs. While the raised global interactions are causing a re-evaluation of traditions and lifestyles, an awareness of individual and collective change springs from the urgency to find new modes of shaping our identities and life stories. Performativity as a language calls for continuous transformation and functions as a form of social action, while contemporary performance art as a logical art form shapes, communicates, confirms and honours the value of differing life stories in multiple contexts.
More detailed information on www.performancesite.nl
UPDATE. Groupshow.
Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
29 June – 28 July.
On show a selection of performance studies and handscripted scores [first time ever on display – from the period 2007 – 2019] and monography performances 1980-2013
Below a few examples.
2018
ART ACTION 1998 – 2018
Quebec, Canada 2018
RiAP/ Rencontre Internationale d’Art Performance is organized by LE LIEU.
September- December: Exhibitions, conferences, publication ART ACTION 1998-2018.
Continents presented are: Canada, Americas and Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania.
11 November – section: EUROPE. Ieke Trinks produced a lecture on PERFORMANCE ART AND ART[ISTS] INITIATIVES IN THE NETHERLANDS.
A couple of PB performance stills were shown in her presentation.
During this EUROPE exhibition, a survey of documentation: videos, artifacts etc. by a great variety of artists is exhibited in Le Lieu. PB’s videos of 2007 and 2017 plus photo material and monography PERFORMANCES 1980 – 2013 are on display.
A text with the same title, written by Trinks, will be featuring in the new publication that will be released on a later date. It is the follow-up of ART ACTION 1958-1998.
TAC#30. Transart Communication festival.
Celebrational edition. Nové Zámky, Slovakia
Exhibition and performances on different locations across the city
Date: 6 – 9 September
TAC#30. 1988-2018. The exhibition. September/October.
Curated by: Helena Markusova.
Ernest Zmetak gallery. Nové Zámky, Slovakia.
Including selected PB photos and videos in documentary exhibition: PROGRESS PROGRESS [1997 Nové Zámky/ Budapest- below] and BEGGARS BANQUET / DISCOVER HEAVEN [2002 Nové Zámky]
Catalogue: https://issuu.com/rokkojuhasz/docs/transart30-exh.vat.2018
[page 55 and 43]
Guided tour through the exhibition:
During TAC festival 2002 – policemen showed up since I was performing BEGGARS BANQUET [DISCOVER HEAVEN] around this catholic monument on Main Square. Photos: Lehel Toth
a.o. Adina_Baron, Julius Koller, Andre Stitt, Elvira Santamaria, Ben Patterson, Skip Arnold, Roddy Hunter, Esther Ferrer, Wladyslaw Kasmierczak, Istvan Kovacs, Roi Vaara, Mongkol Plienbangchang, Helge Meyer, Zbigniew Warpechowski, Bartolome Ferrando
BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND [THE WeighT OF LOVE]
TAC#30. Nové Zámky, Slovakia 2018
Score: During the beginning of the performance I walk along the people present and look everbody straight in the eyes and smile. After that round I put out my socks and shoes. Followed by putting lots of balsam on my lips and spray an overload of parfum around my head. Next action is laying myself down on the tiled floor where hands and feet are covered with heavy stones from the region. The fifth stone is placed against my head by an intervention of one of the people around. Slowly and softly I start whistling MISA LUPA [Lone Wolf by RIP RIG AND PANIC] and alternate between whistling that melody and increasingly louder and louder the words:
TIEž SOM T’A MILOVAL! [I Loved You Too!].
After shouting at the top of my voice, the stones are removed again from the hands and feet. Slowly I get up and walk out, off balance.
Performance: Peter Baren, Mads Floor Andersen, Sebastian Bechinger, Rokko Juhasz, Sara Lanner
Location: Csemadok [Hungarian Cultural Center]
Date: 9 September
Images: Ondrej Berta, Lehel Toth
Making eye contact and smile towards every person present
Taking shoes off
Lots of lip balsam used [commemorating all missing kisses] by Cellcosmet
of perfume by Azzaro: Wanted By Night
Stones from the region
People’s participation with fifth stone
louder and louder: AJ JA TA MILUJEM! [I Love You Too!]
Leaving the despair behind…9-22 July
FRACTURED BODIES. TEMPTING FAILURE#18.
Biennial of International Performance Art and Noise.
Different locations around Croydon.
London UK 2018
Performed by: Peter BAREN, Anna BOGOS, Lise BOUCON, Gemma JONES, Rob HESP
Date: 21 July
Location: Braithwaite Hall
Images: Julia Bauer
https://www.temptingfailure.com/events
TheParallelShow [#1-10]
Rotterdam, NL 2018
Book presentation and spoken-word performance
Visual works by Verbal means, a compilation of texts of participants recited by ieke Trinks, Peter Baren, Ienke Kastelein and Frans van Lent.
Date: 22 april
Location: Kunsthal – auditorium
Images: Theun Okkerse
Between July 2015 and January 2017 TheParallelShow took place unexpectedly and left no traces at and around public exhibitions in the Kunsthal, Rotterdam (NL), Naturalis Leiden (NL), M-museum Leuven (B), Tate Britain London (UK), Art-Rotterdam Art fair Rotterdam (NL), the Apollo Sanctuary Delphi (GR), Huis van Gijn Dordrecht (NL), IVAM Valencia (SP), Stasi Museum Berlin (D) and Met-Cloisters NewYork (US)
Participants in TheParallelShows were:
Peter Baren, Karina Beumer, Jeroen Bouweriks, Irina Danilova, Daniela Degen, iwbdjdyatmvezdmnekzawvb, Mr. & Mrs. Gray, Timo van Grinsven, Alexia Karavela, Erin Helsen, Emma Waltraud Howes, Jolanda Jansen, Ienke Kastelein, Frans van Lent, Steef van Lent, Andrew McNiven, Joana Mollà, Marnik Neven, Henk Overdevest, Nico Parlevliet, Jello Reumer, Ellen Rodenberg, Pepe Romero, Rafael Sanchez, Maarten Schepers, Ursula Scherrer, Joshua Schwebel, Lisa Skuret, Elia Torrecilla, ieke Trinks, Gijs Velsink, Ventiko.
heParallelShow is a series of impromptu performances of occasional collaborations of performance practioners
TheParallelShow takes place unexpectedly at and around public exhibitions at art venues
TheParallelShow is never announced, no invitations are sent
TheParallelShow leaves no traces
Project and book are initiated and compiled by Frans van Lent within the framework of Unnoticed Art – TheParallelShow.com
PB contribution:
Different speakers across the room calling out:
ARE WE BLIND PEOPLE? KEEP YOUR VACUUMS CLEAN! PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER! PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER!PEACE WILL COME TO ME!
The Gallerists series at Rijksakademie, Amsterdam
THE LIVING ROOM
interview on 20 February 2018
link: https://www.jajajaneeneenee.com/shows/konrad-fischer-galerie-the-living-room/
Peter Baren [in the audience] explains his opening performance THE LIVING ROOM on 1 Feb. 1981
[min. 13.00 – min. 15.55]
BLAUVERSCHIEBUNG NO10
Leipzig, Germany 2017
10 jahren internationales performance kunst festival Leipzig
Galerie KUB / Museum der bildenden Künste
BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND [HOFFNUNG, EXIL UND TOT]
Date: 2 December
Performance: Christopher Utpadel, Peter Baren
Location: Galerie KUB
Images: Christian Liefke
Last station: PB stands upright in floor texted capital [HOFFNUN]G.
Slowly steps up to PROGRESS PROGRESS and kisses him on the mouth.
The dark figure buckles out of skis and leaves the space.
PB descends again and produces the sound of a choking throat.
People present are requested to leave…
ON FRIENDSHIP [Collateral Damage] II – Guardians of the Door.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2017
Participation with several performances in a project by Joseph Sassoon Semah.
Stedelijk Museum (October) and The New Church [June – during the exhibition Journey In Time/500 years Maarten Luther]. Other partners and presentations in: Jewish Historical Museum, Goethe Institute. Photography: Ilya Rabinovich, Linda Bouws.
During this long-term project On Friendship / (Collateral Damage) the main question is how western art and culture are presented and why. In Part I (2015) Semah searches for the specific Jewish implications in Kazimir Malevich’s (The Black Square) and Barnett Newman’s work, and also critically researches the claim by a growing group of people that refer to the Jewish-Christian origin of European culture. Through his lawyer Bob Vink, Semah made contact with Beatrix Ruf, director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, asked her to account for the ‘empty page’ in art history on behalf of the art world. Her answer was publicly called out [by PB] during the Stedelijk Museum performances on 20, 21 and 22 October
ON FRIENDSHIP [Collateral Damage] II – Guardians of the door.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2017
Performances in a project by Joseph Sassoon Semah
Date: 22 June, 13 July [during exhibition 500 years Maarten Luther / Journey In Time]
Location: Dam square and De Nieuwe Kerk
Other partners: Stedelijk Museum [20 – 23 October], Joods Historisch Museum, Goethe Instituut. Photography: Ilya Rabinovich.
BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND (RAGE AND TIME)
Amsterdam, NL 2017
FLAM #7.
Forum of Live Art. A Week of Performance Art.
Arti et Amicitiae and Theater Frascati
Date: 1 June
Performance: Aurelien Lepetit, Peter Baren, Fazle Shairmahomed, Levi de Kleer, Franziska Menge
Location: Arti et Amicitiae
Duration: 40 minutes
Photography: David Cenzer, Renata Daguerre
Peter Baren (The Netherlands) is a visual artist who has been working internationally
since the late 80’s. His works have a collaborative streak and often revolve around
the notion of ritual and the way it functions in various socio-cultural contexts.
This is conveyed in his art through the use of concept of ‘otherness’ and ancient cultures.
The performance presented at FLAM, is part of the recent series called BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. This multi-sensory work searches for a common ground between sensual bewilderment and political commentary, challenging the constructed nature of our ideas on progress and memory, derived from our social and cultural circumstances -FLAM 2017
PB performance was made possible also with the financial support of Fonds Kwadraat below: walking to performance space and Amsterdam score
WE THE BLIND PEOPLE? PEACE WILL COME TO ME!
Rotterdam, NL 2017
ART ROTTERDAM. INTERSECTIONS
Date: 8-12 February
Performance: Peter Baren
Location: Van Nelle fabriek
Duration: daily between 1 and 2 hours – different actions
Photography: Geert Broertjes (GB), Mariana Lanari (ML), Olivia Reschofsky (OR)
Produced by FLAM / Forum of Live Art amsterdaM
score 1: WE THE BLIND PEOPLE? PEACE WILL COME TO ME!
Durational walks with textboard and censor bar – around the artfair
score 2: PEACE WILL COME TO ME! I’M GOING TO LIGHT UP THE WORLD:
Floortext with blow-up letters torn from dutch constitution papers – around FLAM booth [2. performance]
BLIND DATE WITH MICHAEL GIBBS (SECRET IT IS)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2016
LET IT KEEP SECRETS (project around the early work of Michael Gibbs 1949-2009)
Other institutions involved: Stedelijk Museum, de Appel arts centre, Soledad Senlle Art Foundation, Rietveld Academie, Boekie Woekie, Michael Gibbs studio, WG Kunst.
Date: 18 December
Performance/concept: Peter Baren with Eva Gonggrijp
Location: Soledad Senlle Art Foundation
Duration: 20 minutes
Photography: Gert Jan van Rooij and Frank Gribling (FG)
Camera: Eva van Heiningen
Editing: Eva Gongrijp
SCORE:
The performance lingers amongst the exhibited work from the estate of Michael Gibbs.
At first two pieces are taken down from the wall. A carrousel slide projector is set in motion on the empty spot. I step into the projected light and it shows ALL on my back [the next slide shows WITHOUT when stepping out of the light]. Walking towards the exhibited box with cut out book. Every time when standing opposite a chosen work, I open the book, hold it up in front of me and close my eyes for a short period of time. The excerpt that follows is voiced by Michael Gibbs.
The whole of the trajectory also includes a communion dress, used by Gibbs as part of an installation, and brought in especially for this performance. After several stops I stand in front of Cancelled Letters, the book is opened, again close my eyes, pull out a white handkerchief from chestpocket and stretch my right arm, hold the handkerchief for a short period of time and let it fall on the floor. Right after this action the book is returned into the box.
The ending of the performance takes shape when I slowly walk backwards next to the long showcase. One by one 3 boomerangs are picked up from the glasspanel and pressed against my forehead. They read: EXTINCTION, MIND and on top OPEN. Walking backwards and stop close to the fallen handkerchief, I kneel and the boomerangs are laid down around it. Last position is carried out from behind the communion dress, lift it and stand motionless inside. Michael Gibbs voices SECRET IT IS
Last action [VOICED:] SECRET IT IS
STATIONS OF NAMELESS ENERGY (1987) Amsterdam 2016
Monologue audio recording of 1987 performance by Peter Baren at Rijksacademie archive, Amsterdam (2016)
Performance Monologues is an ongoing collection of audio recordings and live recitations that started in 2016 by Ieke Trinks. She visits artists and asks them to describe one of their performances from memory while she records them. The recordings help her to recite the monologues from memory before a live audience. This is often done during an art event, but also in more intimate situations with one or more listeners. She recites the monologues in the first person because they are in the first person when delivered to her.
DISCOVER HEAVEN NOW
Amsterdam, The Netherlands (and connected worldwide) 2016
SAME DIFFERENCE: Equinox to Equinox.
(1 moment of equal night and day, world wide)Organisational body: BBEYOND, Belfast
Date: 22 September
Performance: Peter Baren, with Rose Akras
Location: Observation deck, A’DAM Tower, Amsterdam
Duration: 50 minutes
Camera/Edit: Peter Franken/ Weiblick Films
BLIND DATES WITH HISTORY OF MANKIND
(TOUT DOIT DISPARAITRE! EVERYTHING MUST GO!)
Marseille, France 2016
Preavis de Desordre Urbain #10. On borders and migrations.
Date: 6-17 September
Performance: Peter Baren
Locations: Friche la Belle de Mai, Kiosque Canebiere, Old Harbour, Kiosk Esplanade J4
Duration: variable, from 1 – 1.5 hrs
Photography: Elea Terodde, Antoine Chipriana, Camille Perrin
SCORE: A temporary kiosk on different locations, covered with black foil and security posted. Circular walking inside with text board (TOUT DOIT DISPARAITRE!/EVERYTHING MUST GO!) and shouting at the top of lungs – in french-: ARE WE THE BLIND PEOPLE?! Cutting holes in black fencing- holding up slips of papers reading DISCOVER HEAVEN in different languages- tear them up after showing around- cover face in book (RAGE AND TIME) followed by deep sigh- pulling a long string of white handkerchiefs from chest pocket. Last circular walk with textboard inside the kiosk and shouting at top of lungs -in french-: ARE WE THE BLIND PEOPLE?
BLIND DATES WITH HISTORY OF MANKIND (RAGE AND TIME) Performance Suite Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo, Brasil 2016
VERBO 2016. 12. Mostra de performance arte.
Date: 28 July
Performance: Tatiana Abitante, Peter Baren, Andres Perez Barrera, Natalia Del Fiol and Carlos Monroy
Location: Galeria Vermelho, Sao Paulo
Photography: Edouard Fraipont
Several passages in the text below are part of a blog published by Jennie Klein for RAPID PULSE#5. Performance festival, Chicago, June 2016.
Peter Baren’s performance from his newest series Blind Dates With The History Of Mankind (Rage and Time) addressed politics as well, albeit in a less literal, more metaphorical manner. The performance, which takes its name from Barens’ book of the same title, references a history of revolutionary ideas and actions. Originally trained as a painter and visual artist, and also with a background in theatre productions, Baren created a Gesamtkunsteffect, or total artwork that involves all of the senses in a transdisciplinary spectacle of movement, language, text, and texture. Baren’s Blind Dates With The History Of Mankind addressed political language. In this case, it was the Socialist/Marxist language of the avant-garde. Blind Dates grew out of the Ark series. These performances, which harked back to the spectacles of the Vienna Actionists/Hermann Nitsch, included fog, saran wrapped performers, dervishes/dancers, blindfolded performers (including Baren), molasses, and mopping the floor. Blind Dates With The History Of Mankind drew specifically upon several of Baren’s earlier works, including Ark: Featuring Blind Dates, Orphaned Whisperings And Other Unknown Pleasures from 2007-12 and Blind Dates With the History of Mankind (Venice, Italy 2013–the first performance in the BDWTHOM series). The former included a man, eyes covered with a censor bar reading while riffling Peter Sloterdijk’s Zorn und Zeit (Rage and Time), in which Sloterdijk characterized rage as a psycho political force throughout history, while the latter distilled the earlier pieces into a molasses stained white shirt which Baren carried along with a texted wirra (Australian boomerang) for four days.
BDWTHOM (Rage and Time) began with Baren’s trademark fog. Entering the space, Baren, his eyes covered with a black censor bar, wrote the word Hope on the floor, in several languages, making a kind of spoked wheel-like diagram. “KEEP YOUR VACUUMS CLEAN!” (1) was heard during the process.
Periodically Baren would lead other performers into the space, at first two saran-wrapped and molasses drenched runners (PROGRESS PROGRESS), who move sideways alongside the asclepius (infinity sign) untill clashing into eachother, untill the next clash, again and again.
Next a figure, also with censor bar, in a suit who moved from spoke to spoke and read riffled fragments from Rage and Time. Shuffling from one spot to the next one, after every repetitive action this figure would finish the fragment with bringing the book towards the face and a deep sigh was produced. A (string of) white handkerchief(s) was pulled out of the chestpocket, one by one. At the end of performance the string ended up on the floor. When one of the runners would be in front of the reader while speaking aloud, this figure would stay running on the spot until no more text was exclamated… and continued sideways again.
“NOS, O POVO CEGO?!” (translated: ARE WE THE BLIND PEOPLE?! (2)) was heard in between actions. Last a sock clad whirling dervish was lead in to rotate slower and faster on the spot.
The performance ended when the man in the suit had completed the circle of spokes. Baren led the running figures out of the space first, then the reader and as last figure the dervish.
Baren’s performance concluded with a meditation on labor, ideas and political action. The audience began to clap, but it turned out that the performance had not yet ended–Baren returned with a mop and bucket, exhorting again the audience to consider “PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER!”(3) while cleaning up the mess. Dripping molasses, sweat, politics, rage and frustration–all was mopped up at the end, cleaned up and sanitized. But can rage, politics and revolution be so easily washed away with the sweep of a mop? The answer is NO. Baren emphasized his refusal to capitulate by singing aloud “THERE IS A GARDEN AT THE BOTTOM!” (4) when the mop and stained shirt were held up. As the audience huffled around, moving in and out of the space, unsure of whether or not the performance had ended and no doubt hoping to be included in the festivities that followed the final performance, Baren stood alone, continuing to insist that he will keep texting on!
(1) “KEEP YOUR VACUUMS CLEAN!” Songline by Nasmak
(2) “NOS, O POVO CEGO?!/ARE WE THE BLIND PEOPLE?!” Songline by Moyseis Margues
(3) “PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER!” Titlesong by Patti Smith
(4) “THERE IS A GARDEN AT THE BOTTOM!” Songline by The Associates
SCORE:
KEEP YOUR VACUUMS CLEAN!
PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER! PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER!
THERE IS A GARDEN AT THE BOTTOM!
BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND (RAGE AND TIME)
Performance Suite Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte, Brasil 2016
MIP3. III Manifestacao internacional de performance
Date: 7 August
Performance: Peter Baren, Italo Augusto Moreira, Jairo Moser, Pa Ma, Diego Nonato Dos Reis
Location: SESC, Palladium
Photography: Victor Galvao
SCORE:
BLIND DATES WITH HISTORY OF MANKIND (RAGE AND TIME) Performance Suite Chicago
Chicago, US 2016
RAPID PULSE #5. International Performance Art Festival.
Date: 4 June
Performance: Peter Baren, Beth Fiedorek, Zach Nicol, Josh Samuels, Charles Smith
Location: Defibrillator Gallery, Chicago
Photography: Jeremy Sublewski, Vela Oma
Blog text by Jennie Klein during RAPID PULSE#5, Day 4.
Chicago, June 2016.
Peter Baren’s performance from his newest series Blind Dates With The History Of Mankind (Rage and Time) addressed politics as well, albeit in a less literal, more metaphorical manner. The performance, which takes its from name Barens’ book of the same title, references a history of revolutionary ideas and actions. Originally trained as a painter and visual artist, and with a background in theater productions, Baren created a Gesamtkunsteffect, or total artwork that involves all of the senses in a transdisciplinary spectacle of movement, language, text, and texture. Baren’s Blind Dates With The History Of Mankind addressed political language. In this case, it was the Socialist/Marxist language of the avant-garde. Blind Dates grew out of the Ark series. These performances, which harked back to the spectacles of the Vienna Actionists/Hermann Nitsch, included fog, saran wrapped performers, dervishes/dancers, blindfolded performers (including Baren), molasses, and mopping the floor. Blind Dates With The History Of Mankind drew specifically upon several of Baren’s earlier works, including Ark: Featuring Blind Dates, Orphaned Whisperings and Other Unknown Pleasures from 2007-8 and Blind Dates With The History of Mankind (First performance during Infr’ActionVenezia 2 in Venice, Italy 2013). The former included a blindfolded man reading from Peter Sloterdijk’s Zorn und Zeit (Rage and Time), in which Sloterdijk characterized rage as a psycho political force throughout history, while the latter distilled the earlier pieces into a molasses stained white shirt which Baren, his eyes blacked out by a censor bar, carried along a texted wirra (Australian boomerang) for four days.
Blind Date With The History Of Mankind (Rage and Time) began with Baren’s trademark fog. Entering the space, Baren, his eyes covered with a black censor bar, wrote down the word Hope in several languages, making a kind of spoked wheel-like diagram in the process. In between the floortexting he sang aloud “KEEP YOUR VACUUMS CLEAN!” (A line from a song by Nasmak).
Periodically Baren would lead other performers into the space, including two saran-wrapped and molasses drenched runners, a sock clad whirling dervish, and a blindfolded man in a suit who moved from spoke to spoke and read from Rage and Time. The performance ended when the man in the suit had completed the circuit of spokes. Baren led the dervish and the running figures out of the space.
Baren’s performance concluded with a meditation on labor, ideas and political action. The audience began to clap, but it turned out that the performance had not yet ended–Baren returned with a mop and bucket, exhorting the audience to consider “PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER” (Title song by Patti Smith) while cleaning up the mess. Dripping molasses, sweat, politics, rage and frustration- all was mopped up at the end, cleaned up and sanitized. But can rage, politics and revolution be so easily washed away with the sweep of a mop? The answer is NO. Baren emphasized his refusal to capitulate by singing aloud “THERE IS A GARDEN AT THE BOTTOM!” (an excerpt of a song by The Associates) when the mop and stained shirt were held up. As the audience shuffled around, moving in and out of the space, unsure of whether or not the performance had ended and no doubt hoping to be included in the festivities that followed the final performance, Baren stood alone, continuing to insist that he will keep texting on!
BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND (RAGE AND TIME)
Gent, Belgium 2015
LIFE/LIVE. Interactive performances and installations.
Date: 12 July
Performance: Peter Baren
Location: Ledeberg square, Gent
Duration: 1 hour
Photography: Johan Guirnaert, Snezana Golubovic, Monali Meher
Produced by Monali Meher for Achturenhuis, Gent
SCORE:
…walk…across the Sunday market on Ledeberg square…with each step one foot is held next to the other, for a second…regular stops facing…church, number of different stands, cafeteria, bus stop, World War 1 monument…finally brasserie… during this walk is riffled through the book by Peter Sloterdijk (RAGE AND TIME)… and, at random, one paragraph is read aloud while bending back and forth…the open book is held against the face…a deep sigh follows….book is closed… from the chestpocket a white handkerchief is pulled out..and walking again…this action is repeated untill there is a long string of knotted handkerchiefs almost touching the ground…
BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND (RAGE AND TIME)
Dordrecht, The Netherlands 2015
PERFORMANCEFESTIVAL with traces
Date: 13 June
Performance: Peter Baren
Location: Pictura, Dordrecht
Duration: 20 mins
Photography: Nico Parlevliet, Yvo van der Vat
SCORE:
…entering the main exhibition room, smile on face…with each step one foot is held next to the other foot, for a second…walk towards one of the walls…riffle through the book by Peter Sloterdijk (RAGE AND TIME)…choose, at random, one full sentence and read it aloud while bending back and forth…
…the open book is held against the face…a white handkerchief is taken from a pocket…stretched arm…and dropped…one deep sigh in the book follows…turn around, smile and walk crosswise towards one of the opposing walls…riffle through the book and once again crosswise through the space and again untill the pockets are empty…
BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND (RAGE AND TIME)
Neuss, Germany 2015
ANDERS SEIN. Six artists, 2 countries, 5 nationalities
Date: 9 May
Performance: Peter Baren
Location: Neuss city centre
Duration: 2 hours
Photography: Geurt Imanse, Andreas Woitschuetzke
Peter Baren curated Monali Meher and ieke Trinks for this event. Produced by Klaus Richter for Kulturforum Alte Post
SCORE:
…walk…with each step one foot is held next to the other foot, for a second…
hold…facing object…riffle through the book by Peter Sloterdijk (RAGE AND TIME)…
choose, at random, one full sentence and read it aloud while bending back and forth…
…the open book is held against the face…
a white handkerchief is taken from a pocket…stretched arm…and dropped…
one deep sigh in the book follows…book is closed and walk again…
this action continues around the city…and is performed facing…
Hessen Turm remains…
…romaneum excavations…
marketplace…
…Quirinusmünster…
shopping street…
…Deutsche bank …
city wall…
…bus stop…
city wall…
…city gate…
roundabout…
…city wall…
Kulturforum.
Amsterdam NL. 18 May 2014
Stedelijk Museum. STAGE IT! Series of presentations and lectures on performance art
PETER BAREN BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND PERFORMANCES 1980-2013
Booklauch with Speakers: Marga van Mechelen, Bart Rutten, Koos Dalstra, interview with Alex de Vries
Performance: Peter Baren/Koos Dalstra
Location: Stedelijk Museum, Teijin Auditorium
Photography: Gert Jan van Rooij
BLIND DATES WITH THE HISTORY OF MANKIND (STRUGGLES, LOSS, ABSENCE)
Venice, Italy 2013
DEFRAMED. Infr’Action Venezia 2. Alongside the preview of 55th Venice Biennial
Date: 27, 28, 29 and 30 May
Performance: Peter Baren
Location: between Garibaldi monument and Viale Giuseppe Garibaldi (bridge), Venice
Duration: 2 hours (daily)
Photography: Joakim Stampe, Jean-Claude Coté, Wolfgang Traeger, Roland von der Emden
Also performed during 11th MALAMUT Performance Festival. Ostrava CZ. Durational walks connecting public sites around the city of Ostrava. 30 and 31 October 2013
SCORE:
Four days in a row a figure walked very slowly up and down Garibaldi Street. Dressed in a grey suit, censor bar painted across the face, holding a wirra (boomerang) in the one hand and a stained, torn shirt in the other. While walking, he held one foot next to the other for just a second, and then continued. Every walk took about two hours. The first time TAI HE (Chinese for Harmonious Operation Of All Things On Earth) was written on both sides of the wirra, the next few days other words appeared, respectively STRUGGLES,LOSS and ABSENCE. The walk started at the Garibaldi monument and continued in a straight line towards the bridge close to the Giardini. Arriving on the bridge, the figure came to a standstill and held the wirra above the other hand holding the shirt. Ending the daily performance was marked by having the wirra tied to the fence surrounding the monument.
