The making of Atlantic Transformerz during residency at tembe Art Studio, February, 2011

My last week at Tembe Art Studio AiR program and the completion of 'MOVT nr.3"

Best to do this one in pictures;

Placing and finishing "MOVT nr.3" on location in Moengo.

title: MOVT nr.3
year: 2011
size (in cm): 354 x 246 x 212
medium: wood and galvanized aluminum

1 year Tembe Art Studio Celebration

The truck that moves the sculpture to the final destination.

Hooking it up

Problems with the electricity lines

Placing it on location

3 days later the completion of "MOVT nr.3"

The man and the object; Tree, Revolution, Sculpture

The rain was coming down like there was no tomorrow. As if the skies needed to empty out all that was good for the land. Rain, rain and more rain for several days in a row. Apparently Paramaribo was flooded and fortunately Moengo is on a bit of a hill thus letting the water flow to the lower grounds.

The rain stopped us in our tracks on Monday and Tuesday. The only thing left to do was sit on the porch; discuss the weather and reply to overdue emails. It felt like autumn without the cold.

On Wednesday the whole thing cleared up. With renewed energy I started working on the sculpture. Trial and error. The exact working method for smaller sculptures doesn’t hold up when working on this scale in the outdoors. It is absolutely impossible to cut perfectly straight strips of aluminum let alone attach them to the wood leveled. Nails go in crooked or bend and replacing those without ripping the material is undoable. Cut and hammer, bend and twist and meanwhile the sun is taking another shot at your body. Punch, slap, smack,.. c’mon be a trooper about it and as we say in Rotterdam ‘Don’t complain, but carry (it), fast as the fireman and pray for strength’ (Niet klagen maar dragen, gaan als de barndweer en bidden om kracht). And then it’s lunchtime!

Later that day I went to Ricanau Mofo to work with the kids. I already told you about that. The experience is more or less the same, but different kids, different exercise. The most memorable thing about Ricanau was the enormous Kankantri. It most have been at least 40 meters high. The Kankantri is the holiest of trees in the Suriname rainforest. It is considered the God of the forest and is seldom chopped down. Research shows that within Afro-religious context it’s ancestor is the Baobob from Africa. I was happy to encounter one in real life rather than seeing it from a distance. Hugging it was impossible because trying to do so my arms would still be stretched and would make the smallest of angles. I was glad to meet the personification of the great God in person!

Friday was a day off for the people of Surinam. It is the day that commemorates the Revolution/ Coup d’Etat/Liberation of February 25, 1980. It was a remarkable day because of the documentaries that were on TV the day before. I remember I was in Surinam in that period with the excitement of a 9 year old. In school we, the children, knew something was going on. Military men took the Memre Buku barracks in the city. They were glamorous and tough with machine guns and reflecting shades.

Then they took parliament or something, people were talking, no going out in the evening. Then all of a sudden an uncle that worked at the Fernandes bakery came home with large amounts of cakes and sweet pastries. Apparently they could not be sold because of the ‘situation’ (whatever that meant). We as kids were just happy to eat cake until we couldn’t eat any more. One or two days later a truck arrived at the school bringing cases and cases of bananas. All children could bring home two cases, again because the ‘situation’ did not allow them to be exported. We ate bananas for a week. A lot was discarded because it went bad. Anyhow, that is what I remember. It was a fun period with things happening that I only knew from books.

The documentaries on TV last Thursday showed what happened form different angles, hence the ambiguity about Revolution, Coup d’Etat or Liberation. I did not grow up in Surinam, but seeing what I saw on TV I can see why the people would choose the leader of February 25^th as their democratic leader today.

Ken Doorson, Charl Landvreugd, Sculpture

Picture by: Nancy Hoffman

Back to the sculpture;

When I used to do clubs in the 1990’s and we were building environments, one of the first lessons I learned was Big Gestures. The people would be too visually impaired to notice small details anyhow, so big forms was the way to go.

With a sculpture on this scale it’s the same thing. You can only grasp the total form from a distance and from a distance there is no way you will notice a nail. Realizing this I started treating it with more force and rawness. Now that it is getting covered the size of it becomes more of a reality. It is not finished yet. Tuesday it will be moved to the final location. It is there will the finishing touches will be made and the final presentation will occur. For now it is just a man dealing with his object.

Today Tembe Art Studio exists for One year. There will be presentations and festivities. Tomorrow or so I will post some pictures of the event online. Or in other words;

I’ll keep you posted.