SAIC Camera Arts 2012: Day 7

Day 7.5 - That Brussels State of Mind

Today marks one week of traveling now and Brussels is definitely an amazing place. If you like texture in your architecture, you are sure to be amazed. The city has offered up the best of everything so far, as you can plainly see from the previous posts. Some things I haven't mentioned yet include beer, chocolate and the general atmosphere of the city and its environs...so here we go...

Brussels seems very crunchy to me. I can only elaborate on that to the effect that the architecture is very ornate and the streets are heavily laden with cobblestones, so the effect is one of enormous and varied textures colliding with each other to produce this "crunchy" feeling as you move through the neighborhoods and streets. The closest comparisons I can draw European city wise are Prague in the Czech Republic and Krakow in Poland. All three are these architecturally rich cities with intricate histories that whisper to you every step of the way. You definitely feel as though you've stepped into the past in some sections and in others you're astounded by how things just mesh and work out...much better than they seem to in The States for the most part. I couldn't even draw a comparison to a U.S. city from the three I mentioned...I suppose the closest would be Washington D.C. or New Orleans...and that's still quite the stretch of the imagination.

As for the beer...if you're a beer drinker, you should already know that the Belgians have got it down to a science. There are sooooo many different styles, flavors and of course alcohol contents that often it's impossible to make a choice and you just end up drinking several kind in one night. There are so many in fact that I'm not even going to attempt to go into any kind of detail. I'll just direct you to the website of the Delerium Cafe, which has over 2,000 beer selections on its menu...and no, that's not a typo, there are really TWO THOUSAND beers on the menu. See it HERE. By the way, the place is huge too and just across the alley way, there is an absinthe bar that falls under the same corporate roof?

NOW, on to the chocolate. You can't even imagine how good the chocolate is here...seriously. People always describe insanely good chocolate as melting in your mouth. If that's the case with the best chocolate I've had prior to experiencing Brussels, then the only apt description is that it melts into your soul. It is seriously THAT good! And just when you thought a praline was a praline...actually, a praline in The States is something completely different, which involved sugar coated pecans. A Belgian praline is chocolate wrapped around something...anything, as long as it's a soft fondue center. Imagine those packages of candies that your parents used to get when you were a kid during the holidays. You picked a square, pulled out a piece of chocolate and prayed for caramel, only here, caramel is a waste of time when there are so many other varieties. You're just going to have to trust me on this one. My personal favorite is the raspberry flavored one I found somewhere and hazelnut comes in a close second...and I used to not even care for hazelnut. That's how good they do it here. Like anything else in life, you'll have to experience it for yourself.

Now that I've written my appetite up into a longing for beer and chocolate (not at the same instance), it's time to end this post and move along before I really do some damage to my psyche by discussing things currently out of my reach.

Day 7 - Left Overs

Didn't I tell you that left overs were delightfully tasty?!

Abstract Portrait of Jessica

Heather's bag and coat juxtaposition of abstraction

Strip club window maquette, enticing, isn't it?

Another maquette aims to please!

Carlos Ruiz in profile

Day 7 - Part Two - Constant

Welcome back to Day 7 on the tour and blog. We're at the Constant Association for Art and Media. Constant is a non-profit institution which specializes in multi-disciplinary new media and functions as a lab to provide not only the space, but the technology and expertise to artists in Belgium and from abroad. Their knack is especially unique because they prefer to us open-source software for the creation of their media base projects. They are constantly defining and re-defining the creation of all types of digital work, ranging from print to web to installation based video and sound exhibits. It's really amazing what they do and the workflow that they've championed is to be admired and functions as an outstanding example to many artists and global entities who strive to produce contemporary thought provoking work. Check them out HERE.

Introduction to sound by Constant technician

Discussing the ins-and-outs of open source tools

for the creation of all things in digital media

Old-school analog fonts. These are actually available

on the Argos website in digital format for your use

My own artistic rendering of what else, but "P"s

Day 7 - Argos & Constant

It's officially the one-week mark and we've already seen and done a ton of stuff. There's still much more on the menu, so why should today be any different than the last six? It's go go go and those two letters are even in the title of the first place we'll see today; Argos. Later, we'll be visiting a place called Constant, which specializes in contemporary digital multi-media and more specifically with open source software and coding used by artists.
Argos is an internationally renown contemporary art institution here in Brussels whose primary focus is in the audiovisual and visual arts. The have an immense library that can be used for artists or other institution to research art theory, artistic practices and methodologies, and of course various disciplines throughout the twentieth and current centuries. It's almost worth the trip to check out the library alone. I found it hard to pull myself away from the bookshelves, so if you're interested in anything since around DaDa, you'll be smitten as a kitten. They also are a space for exhibitions, performances and installations. According to their website: "The essence of the operation consists of an audiovisual collection, supported, completed and contextualised by a full-fledged functioning as centre for the arts and area of expertise."

While there, we had the great experience of viewing a trio of wonderful videos from the Argos collection. The first was an experimental documentary type film which was simply in progress drawings of Palestinian camps near Jerusalem with voice overs of residents and their experiences in what were once simple camps and became full fledged neighborhoods controlled by the Israeli state. The stories were poignant and enlightening as children, teenagers, and elderly "inhabitants" relay their experiences.

The second video tugged a little on the heartstrings in a very unexpected way. A home for the elderly in Roundhay, England has been visited by a donkey on loan from Leeds's Elisabeth Svendsen Donkey Centre as a morale boosting effort. Reports show that the results are extremely encouraging and the video provides direct evidence as we view an old man with a condition that makes him unable to move and use his mouth. The two just seem to get each other as they interact on screen and there's a moment where the relationship is simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking. An article published in 2007 on the piece in the Yorkshire Evening Post recalls, "It's quite a surreal thing seeing a donkey getting led in and backed out
of all the rooms, but I think it's a great idea. Simon is quite a star here and they love him to bits."

We screened work by Shelly Silver entitled 5 Lessons and 9 Questions about Chinatown. Silver's experimental style is at once invigorating, informative and humorous while generating thought-provoking dialogue free of judgement or criticism. It's a little hard to explain it in depth, but you can see some of it HERE. It definitely makes one want to learn more about Silver and her ground-breaking methods.

Lastly, we were treated to a home slide show of sorts by Herman Daled, a great friend (and collector) of artist and experimental filmmaker Marcel Broodthaers. Broodthaers' work fits perfectly in with our trip and several of his works are actually on display at the Art Institute of Chicago right now in an exhibit on conceptual photography entitled Light Years: Conceptual Art and The Photograph, 1964-1977. If you have the time and means, I highly recommend this show. It will make you think of photography and art in
general in a whole new light. Pun Intended!

Stay tuned for information on our visit today to Constant!