| About the makers
Linda Bannink just finished a postgraduate degree in Visual
Arts at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. She sometimes works at nights
for the Dutch postal service, and at times in her mother’s lingerie
shop. She also coordinates programming for an alternative TV station in
Amsterdam. Yael Bartana (visual artist) lives in Amsterdam but frequently
visits her native Jerusalem, which she worries a great deal about. Bibo
recently returned to her native Rotterdam, after a four-month residency
in an Australian town of 7000. She wound up giving the residents a tour
of the region. Joris Brouwers interviewed a possible friend and activist
about a week ago, in an art space in Amsterdam. His friend said that art
is expressing what’s close to one’s heart, and that only ten
thousand people are necessary to change the world, and that there were
many people listening to them on the air. The following day, Joris awoke
to find that the world was still the same, but that this said nothing
of tomorrow. Sebastián Díaz Morales wants to return to his
homeland in the Argentinean Patagonia: Comodoro Rivadavia. His plan is
to condition an abandoned petrol tank, and convert it into a refuge for
artists and friends, in a spot in the midst of a rough, vast lunaresque
landscape, where the wind doesn’t stop whistling; however, big projects
in Europe keep him away (for now, he’s thinking about a new film).
Jeannine Diego is a writer and co-pilot of the “el despacho”
projects. What’s she doing now? She says: “on occasion writing,
on occasion taking pictures, on occasion making disguises. Never a writer,
never an artist, never a designer. All the time talking, trying to dismantle,
trying to get rid of what occasions me to.” Aldo Guerra lives in
Tijuana, where he studies at the Visual Arts University. On weekends,
he works illegally “on the other side”, at a fast-food joint.
On a weekly basis, he visits his therapist and on a daily basis, the gym.
He says he does everything except coffee, and that he’s trying to
save himself, to mature. Diego Gutiérrez invents and heads the
“el despacho” projects. At the moment, he lives obsessed,
trying to devise the next “el despacho” project. Bárbara
Hin is a film editor and assistant director living in Amsterdam along
with three cats. One of them sleeps on her head. Kees Hin also lives in
Amsterdam. He’s a documentary filmmaker. At the moment, he’s
working on two films: one, about the Dutch poet, Hans Faverey, the other
about a Buddhist monk living in the Hague. Kees has made over eighty films.
He advises Diego on “el despacho” projects. Patricio Larrambebere,
besides painting and being obsessed with the history of the Argentinean
railroad system, also collects old train tickets, brings other rail-o-philes
together, walks through and takes over the train tracks, reconstructing
the history of his country. Patricio says that the attitude of the erring,
immutable artist, who “swims between two waters” and judges
from his fleeting and superficial paternalism, has an antidote: the capacity
of awe.
Diego Gutiérrez March 2003 |