Dutch Art Institute

For we are where we are not

Workshop at Villa Noailles
Hyères (France)
January 20th-26th 2007


Dear all,

We are about to visit the Villa Noilles, a cultural space with an amazing history. I am curious to see the original building by Robert Mallet-Stevens and what they have added to it. Some great artists have manifested themselves there, got inspired by the place and created remarkable works of art. It would be very difficult to go to such a place and not consider the history of it although the danger is that one might get a little too impressed with it and feels stifled by the creative minds who have occupied this place for so many years.

I have never been to this area and wanted to get into the mood and the atmosphere of the Cote d’Azur before arriving there. I started to read the wonderful novel ‘Tender is the Night’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which describes the social scene at the Cote d’Azur during the 1920’ies in great detail. Check it out!

Obviously the history of the Villa and its surroundings will be a critical part of the creative process. Therefore I do not want you to go there which too much of a preoccupation but I would like you to think about the following:

How do we manifest ourselves in space? How are humans interconnected to other matter in space? What is the function of the reflective eye and the daydream? How closely related are reality and fiction when desire comes into play?

Gaston Bachelard writes in his book ‘The Poetics of Space’: Daydream undoubtedly feeds on all kinds of sights, but through a sort of natural inclination, it contemplates grandeur. And this contemplation produces an attitude that is so special, an inner state that is so unlike any other, that the daydream transports the dreamer outside the immediate world to a world that bears the mark of infinity.

The title of the workshop will be: ‘For we are where we are not’, relating to the above questions.

I understand that all of you work in different media. As far as I am concerned you can use any medium you want but I will encourage you to expand your own roam of experience.
Photography and video, installation, performance and writing seem most apparent to me considering the time span and context. I will encourage collaboration.

Here a couple of more phrases, which might help you to get into the mood:

You know that something has happened here, but you don’t know what. You are by yourself and inside a strangely beautiful space … continue

This is your first wonderful day …. Your legs contain some of the largest muscles in your body. For the purpose of weightlifting, most experts divide the legs into four separate muscle groups: quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and anterior tibialis. The quadriceps and hamstrings act at the knee joint and the calves and anterior tibialis act at the ankle joint … continue

I would like to receive some feedback on this from all of you. This will give me an idea of who you are. If I haven’t seen your work yet during a studio visit, please give me a short description of your work.

Margret Wibmer