John Heartfield in De Fundatie

Gisteren bezochten we museum De Fundatie in Zwolle. Ik kom niet vaak in Zwolle. De stad verrast. In mijn herinnering is Zwolle een saaie plattelandsstad, in werkelijkheid zag ik een behoorlijk hippe, modern stad. De mensen zijn van deze tijd, de winkels zijn fleurig en modern en er is een boekwinkel waar je U tegen zegt, en De Fundatie.

Vergelijk dat met Alkmaar, de stad waar ik dicht bij woon, en die van vergelijkbare omvang is. Dan is Alkmaar een stad met een armoedige saaie uitstraling, de winkelstraten zijn oubollig en saai, er is geen fatsoenlijke boekwinkel meer sinds Feijn (toch al niet te vergelijken met Waanders in de Broeren in Zwolle) zijn deuren heeft gesloten, het museum van Alkmaar, het Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar, is onvergelijkbaar met De Fundatie, afgezien van het waterige mengsel van kunst en geschiedenis dat het Stedelijk biedt.

In de Fundatie zien we de expositie over John Heartfield – PHOTOGRAPHY PLUS DYNAMITE. John Heartfield is een Duitse dadaist (geboren als Helmut Hertzfelde) en communistische activist die fotocollages maakte, uitvinder was van het concept fotomontage. Hij was een vroeg en scherp criticus van het opkomend fascisme van Hitler in Duitsland.

Het werk van Heartfield is creatief, grimmig, meedogenloos verrassend. Hij maakte vele affiches, illustraties en boekomslagen.

John Heartfield - Hitler
John Heartfield - helm - collage

Het werk van Heartfield doet nog steeds modern aan. Het mist een beetje humor, maar dat kan zijn omdat ik de dadaïstische stijl associeer met Duchamp en Monty Python.

De aanpalende expositie van moderne Nederlandse moderne Nederlandse activistische kunstenaars in de serie Whose is the World? is indrukwekkend. Het mist de consistentie van Heartfield, en eigenlijk is dat ook best fris.

Ik vind een fantastische site over Heartfield https://heartfield.adk.de/en.
https://www.museumdefundatie.nl/nl/john-heartfield/

Loetje, geen gezeur en een pleit voor CO2 compensatie (en vegetarisch eten)

Gisteravond gegeten bij Loetje Gorssel. ‘s Middags konden we niet reserveren, ‘s avonds zaten ze vol en konden we niet naar binnen want we hadden niet gereserveerd. Kregen we toch een tafeltje.

Loetje Gorssel is merk ik een restaurant waar de would-be gemeenschap van Gorssel en omstreken zich graag laat zien. Van Loetje Gorssel krijg ik de indruk dat ze daar graag aan mee willen doen. En mensen die niet bij die would-be crowd horen een beetje achteraf neerzetten.

Er wordt heel hard gewerkt in Loetje Gorssel. Ze hebben door hoe bediening werkt.

wij worden geholpen door een ober die de achterneef van Lee Friedlander zou kunnen zijn.

Het eten is goed. Biefstuk bali, dat willen zeggen met jus die is aangemaakt met spaanse pepers. Voor de geringe omvang van de biefstuk zou je in veel landen celstraf krijgen, maar ik vind het een prima stukje.

Veel beter dan een klein stukje biefstuk is natuurlijk helemaal geen biefstuk. En als ik Loetje zou zijn, zou ik milieu-compensatie verkopen bij hun biefstukken, zoals KLM hun CO2 uitstoot compenseert. En nog beter zou ik zelf natuurlijk geen biefstuk moeten eten. Wat ik overigens ook vrijwel nooit doe, kan ik als slap excuus aanvoeren, beter wetend dat ik vegetariër zou moeten worden.

Ook de ‘biefstuk’ tonijn van mijn partner is erg goed. Veel salade, geen gezeur. De achterneef van Lee Friedlander waarschuwde ons al dat 1 salade voldoende is voor twee personen. Goede patatjes van zoete aardappel, waar we aioli bij krijgen. Dat had van mij gewoon mayo mogen zijn.

De cheesecake toe is erg goed, de rekening alleszins acceptabel.

Niks op aan te merken. Ze zouden zich alleen wat minder aan mogen trekken van de geblondeerde dames en hun heren in rose polo-shirts; er wordt wel wat heftig geknipmest.

Finse hut

het is iets van -25 Celsius. Wij zitten binnen na een run met sneeuwscooters over winderige Finse heuvels. Met 25 graden onder nul is dat een uitdaging. We stopten een paar minuten op een heuvel om foto’s te maken van het indrukwekkend winterlandschap. Toen de minuten voorbij waren begon onze gids eerst beleefd, daarna minder beleefd, aan te dringen dat we weer in beweging moesten komen. Anders zouden we hier iets laten bevriezen, waarschijnlijk onze ogen.

In de hut maakte hij een vuur en braadde worstjes. Alles goed.
We roken de rest van de dag naar gerookte makreel.

Marker Wadden – zee, bijna land, natuurgebied

Deze week verblijven wij op de Marker Wadden. De Marker Wadden zijn een groep kunstmatige eilanden in het Nederlandse Markermeer. Aanvankelijk was het de bedoeling het Markermeer in te polderen, net als andere delen van de voormalige Nederlandse Zuiderzee. In 2003 werd besloten deze plannen niet door te zetten.

Ongeveer 10 jaar later werden plannen gemaakt om in het Markermeer “wadden” te creëren, eilandjes die regelmatig met water overspoeld worden en een onbewoond natuurgebied vormen.

In 2016 werden de eerste eilanden gevormd. Sinds een jaar kan één van de eilanden worden bezocht en zijn er beperkte faciliteiten voor bezoekers om te overnachten in kleine huisjes of in een boot in de kleine haven.

Het gebied ontwikkelt zich prachtig. Honderden soorten planten en vogels hebben hun weg naar het eiland gevonden.

Een aantal planten schijnen door Natuurmonumenten te zijn neergezet. Een bioloog op de boot terug spreekt er schande van. Maar over 10 jaar is de hele kunstmatige archipel toch dichtgegroeid met wilgen en riet, voorspelt hij.

Islands – text by John Fowles, photos by Fay Godwin

I bought this second-hand book (cheaply). Admittedly, I was primarily interested in Fay Godwin’s photographs in the book. Her photographs of the Scilly Islands landscape are monumental. The texts from John Fowles I find difficult to follow.

Islands - Fowles and Godwin

The island atmosphere of Fowles text reminds me of Tim Robinson’s books, especially those on the on the Aran Islands. Tim Robinson’s work put a lot of detail on the landscape, in this book Godwin’s photos provide a similar visual detail to Fowles meandering texts.

Fowles texts follow a historical and mythological sort of baseline. He discusses the characteristics of island communities: solitude and emptiness, independence of any legal power, a unifying feeling that sets people from the islands apart from mainlanders. Islands, withdrawn from common law and ethics, provide a unique magic. Fowles weaves a quite diverting story touching many topics. He mixes Homeros’ Odyssee (was it really written by a man, or must this have been a woman) with Joyce’s Ulysses, Shakespeare’s work, historical deviations, Robinson Crusoe, and other Greek mythology.

Fay Godwin The Shags
Troy Town Maze, St. Agnes, Isles of Scilly, 1977, Fay Godwin

How To Live – Derek Sivers

Being on the private email list of Derek Sivers has some advantages (anyone can be on the list, it is not something elitist, just go here: https://sive.rs/list). One advantage is getting early access to Derek’s new work. How To Live is Derek’s new book, he pointed me to through the email list. I bought it and read it.

book cover

The book is a great guidance to life, as the title suggests. It is packed with great advice, categorized into 27 topics. The advice is sometimes contradictory, and Derek does not hide that: he gave the book the subtitle: “27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion”. And I don’t care either; life is contradictory.

Much of the advice Derek has thought up or gathered in this book may have its origins in Buddhism and Stoicism, and I think it also build on folks like Nassim Taleb (Antifragile), Kevin Kelly and Seth Godin.

The book is way too dense to summarize in anyway. Just some parts by topic that I found useful for myself.

Be independent.

Instead, do what you’d do if you were the only person on Earth.

Commit.

You and your best friends don’t decide anew each day whether you’re friends or not. You are friends, without question. You’re committed to each other, even if you’ve never said so. That’s what’s wonderful about it. Commit to your habits to make them rituals.

Fill your senses.

Never have the same thought twice.

Do nothing.

Expressing your anger doesn’t relieve it. It makes you angrier. Actions often have the opposite of the intended result. People who try too hard to be liked are annoying.

The stock market takes money from the active traders and gives it to the patient.

Think super-long-term.

Imagine your future self judging your current life choices. When making a decision, ask yourself how you’ll feel about it when you’re old.

We overestimate what we can do in one year. We underestimate what we can do in ten years. If you take up a new hobby at the age of forty, or whatever age you think is too late, you’ll be an expert by the age of sixty.

Your future self is depending on you. Your descendants are depending on you. Our future generations are depending on us. Use the compounding amplifier of time.

Make memories.

Remember them all. Document everything, or you’ll eventually forget it. Nobody can erase your memories, but don’t lose them through neglect. Journal every day.

Turn your experiences into stories. A story is the remains of an experience.

Master something.

Pick one thing and spend the rest of your life getting deeper into it. Mastery is the best goal because the rich can’t buy it, the impatient can’t rush it, the privileged can’t inherit it, and nobody can steal it. You can only earn it through hard work. Mastery is the ultimate status.

Concentrating all of your life’s force on one thing gives you incredible power. Sunlight won’t catch a stick on fire. But if you use a magnifying glass to focus the sunlight on one spot, it will. Mastery needs your full focused attention.

Define “success” for yourself. Describe the outcome you want. You can’t hit a target you can’t see.

You need to understand something very counter-intuitive about goals. Goals don’t improve your future. Goals only improve your present actions. A good goal makes you take action immediately.

Once you get momentum, never stop. It’s easy to continue, but if you stop, it’s hard to start again. Never miss a day.

Take tiny breaks when working, to go longer than most.

Pursue your mission at the expense of everything else.

You do it for the journey, not the destination.

Let randomness rule.

Let the random generator decide what you do, where you go, and who you meet. When doing creative work, let the random generator make your artistic decisions, shaking up your usual style.

Random stuff happens. All you can control is your response. Every day, you’ll practice how to react to chaos: with dignity, poise, and grace.

Pursue pain.

Comfort is a silent killer. Comfort is quicksand. The softer the chair, the harder it is to get out of it. The right thing to do is never comfortable. How you face pain determines who you are. Be a famous pioneer.

This is the power of the pioneer: To enable the impossible. To open a new world of possibility. To show others that they can do it too, and take it even further.

Chase the future.

Work as a futurist and technology journalist. Stay on the cutting edge of things so new they barely exist.

Old friends and family see you as you used to be, and unintentionally discourage your growth.

Value only what has endured.

Be aware if the Lindy effect I mentioned in a previous post – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect and Grandmother’s wisdom of Nassim Taleb.

The longer something lasts, the longer it will probably last.

The world of news is noisy, because they have to hype it.

Learn.

Get out of your room and try out a new skill in the real world. Go to the physical place where it’s happening, and put your ass on the line with something to lose. A vivid, visceral feeling of danger will teach you better than words.

Follow the great book.

Rules must be absolutely unbreakable. If you try to decide, each time, whether it’s OK to break the rule or not, then you’ve missed the whole point of rules.

Discipline turns intentions into action. Discipline means no procrastination. Discipline means now.

Choose the pain of discipline, not the pain of regret. Self-control is always rewarding.

Laugh at life.

They win by being playful, creative, adaptive, irreverent, and unbound by norms.

Comedy is tragedy plus time. Time belittles anything by showing it’s not as bad as it seemed. Humor does that instantly.

Prepare for the worst.

Vividly imagine the worst scenarios until they feel real (Seneca of course). Accepting them is the ultimate happiness and security. Realize that the worst is not that bad.

Live for others.

The best marketing is being considerate. The best sales approach is listening. Serve your clients’ needs, not your own. Business, when done right, is generous and focused on others. It draws you out of yourself, and puts you in service of humanity.

The most extreme version of living for others is becoming famous. Do everything in public, for the public. Share everything you do, even though it’s extra work.

Get rich.

Money is nothing more than a neutral exchange of value. Making money is proof you’re adding value to people’s lives.

Create your own business. Come up with a brand name that can be attached to any business. (Perhaps it’s your name.) Use it for the rest of your life on everything of quality. A recognized brand can charge a premium price, earning more than unrecognized names.

Use other people’s ideas. Ideas are worth almost nothing. Execution is everything.

Be separate—in a category of your own.

Nothing destroys money faster than seeking status. Don’t show off.

I meet this young salesman he had a good year. From the bonus he bought his wife a Landrover for shopping. The car cost him more than 2000 euro per month. Quickly he realized his mistake and sold the car, 10000 down.

You only need to get rich once. When you win a game, you stop playing. Don’t be the dragon in the mountain, just sitting on your gold. Don’t lose momentum in life. Once you’ve done it, take it with you and do something else.

Reinvent yourself regularly.

Your past is not your future. Whatever happened before has nothing at all to do with what happens next. There is no consistency. Nothing is congruent. Never believe a story.

At every little decision, ten times a day, choose the thing you haven’t tried. Act out of character. It’s liberating. Get your security not from being an anchor, but from being able to ride the waves of change.

In other words – be Antifragile.

Love.

Break down the walls that separate you from others and prevent real connections. Take off your sunglasses. Don’t text when you should talk.

The hardest part of connecting with someone is being honest.

Notice how you feel around people. Notice who brings out the best in you. Notice who makes you feel more connected with yourself—more open and more honest.

Create.

Calling yourself creative doesn’t make it true. All that matters is what you’ve launched. Make finishing your top priority.
Suspend all judgment when creating the first draft. Just get to the end.

Most of what you make will be fertilizer for the few that turn out great. But you won’t know which is which until afterward. Keep creating as much as you can.

Stay in situations where you’re forced to show your work to others.

Keep a counterweight job. Something effortless that covers your bills. Something you can do a few hours per day, but otherwise not think about. It gives discipline and regularity to your life. It gives deadlines and freedom to your art.

Let the deadline of death drive you. Create until your last breath.

Don’t die.

Avoiding failure leads to success. The winner is usually the one who makes the least mistakes. This is true in investing, extreme skiing, business, flying, and many other fields. Win by not losing.

Most of eating healthy is just avoiding bad food. Most of being right is just not being wrong. To have good people in your life, just cut out the bad ones.

Make a million mistakes.

People who avoid mistakes are fragile, like the robot that only walks. Your million mistakes will make you someone that can’t be knocked down.

Make change.

Don’t accept anything as-is. Everything you encounter must change. Preservation is your enemy. Only dead fish go with the flow.
Begin by righting what’s wrong. Look for what’s ugly: ugly systems, ugly rules, ugly traditions. Look for what bothers you.

If you can fix it, do it now. Otherwise, aim lower until you find something you can do now. Make it how it should be.
Don’t worship your heroes. Surpass them.

Balance everything.

All bad things in life come from extremes. Too much of this. Too little of that.

When you’re balanced, you’re unlikely to get stressed. You’ve got a stronger foundation and a resilient structure. You can handle surprises, and make time for what’s needed.

Schedule everything to ensure balance of your time and effort. Scheduling prevents procrastination, distraction, and obsession.
Even creative work needs scheduling. The greatest writers and artists didn’t wait for inspiration. They kept a strict daily schedule for creating their art.

As said, this is the things I found important. The book is fully packed with things for you. Get the book through Derek’s site: https://sive.rs/.

Wild Silence – Raynor Winn

I read The Salt Path and immediately bought Wild Silence, its sequal, sort of. I read Wild Silence in the same blow I had read The Salt Path.

I cried a little. I never cry reading books. But it was so good.

Raynor continues her story after a lucky finish of walking the coastal path, and finding a friend that could rent Winn and her husband a small house. Moth is studying at his old age but his disease seems to get hold of him now.

I closed the book, overwhelmed with the sadness of the thought that the day would come when Moth couldn’t remember what we did. The day when CBD had crept so far that the clear, magical, wild experience we’d shared was lost to him forever and I’d be left alone with the memory. The day when the guidebook would be the only record that our walk had ever happened. Where the hell was he?

As a last resort to retain their shared memories she decides to write the story of the coastal path. As a present for her husband.

‘What is this? Is this what you’ve been doing?’ ‘Yeah, I’ve been writing it for you.’ I felt shy and nervous, as if it was the first present I’d ever given him. ‘All that time and it was for me.’ ‘It’s the path, the book of our path. So you can always keep the memory.’

Even more than in The Salt Path itself, the detailed description of nature and surroundings Winn creates, remind me of the beautiful rigorous details that Tim Robinson uses in his books.

Following the coastal path down from the skylark fields, through the gorse, to the steep dip in the land where winter storms funnel high winds into a jet-powered blast of air, making it hard to stay on your feet.

The health of Moth, the shyness of Raynor, the death of her dominant mother, the development of a writer, her love for Moth, many threads run through the books, that could make the reading cheesy but that never happens.

Don’t ‘be careful on the stairs’, run up them, run as fast as you can, with no fear of clocks ticking or time passing. Nothing can be measured in time, only change, and change is always within our grasp, always simply a matter of choice. I closed my eyes and let the sounds come, let the voice come.

The Salt Path – Raynor Winn

the salt path

A few years ago my wife and I spent our holidays in Cornwall. We traveled from north of Cornwall through Plymouth to the south of Cornwall, back up to Minehead, passing places with the names Lizard’s End, Mousehole and Land’s End. We walked parts of the Coastal Path. The lanscape is rough and beautiful.

A week ago I got a novel about this area, The Salt Path. It has become a famous book, I read on the back and then on the Internet. I loved the book. Immediately after finishing it, I bought its sequal, Wild Silence.

In the Salt Path Raynor Winn tells how she and er husband walk the coastal path of Cornwall that I had seen parts of that summer. They follow Paddy Dillon, a travel writer and experiences hiker, who followed the path a few decade before them. Dillon wrote a book about his trip, South West Coast Path – Plymouth to Poole.

Winn and her husband Moth have just went bankrupt and lost their house to a untruthful friend and Moth has been diagnosed with an incurable disease of the nerve system.

Their view of life changes as they follow the path. Stangely, Walking seems to improve Moth’s health.