Fear and Loathing in Alkmaar: Part I

After waking up in a strange bed and walking out the door I wander round the streets of urban Alkmaar, the day after the private view party with a mild headache.

I walk into the city proper, with the aim of getting more coffee. Meandering into a local Dutch brasserie, (is there is such a thing?) it occurs to me that my location could be taken as a literal wink to the theme of the show in the church I am part of. 'Global Village' is an exhibition curated entirely online. Remembering I had promised to write a review, I order more coffee and immediately use the wrong toilets in the coffee house. After paying the bill, (15.50 Euros... that’s gotta be a record!) I decide it's time to walk the short distance back to the church. I wanted to visit the studio of another artist in Utrecht but the press opening started at 3, and I needed time to try and mackle together some form of a rough review in my notebook. The random scribblings I had discovered there from the night before seemed to have no bearing on reality and I don’t think people wanna read a purely visual review.

I walk in the door having shown my artist's pass. I should mention the fantastic job Jeroen and Baer have done with the overall curation. It can’t have been easy for them getting over 75 artists to deliver work to one place on time, let alone considering the artists have come from 6 continents.

But logistical genius aside, one of the first things which hits you on the way through the church, is the site of Le Survivant by Rainbow Productions. A battered rusty grey 2CV with Tiffany glass windows glowing to the sound of the sea coming from some disembodied speakers, juxtaposed below the huge church organ set of by the site of Joan Priego’s life sized wooden sculpture entitled Saint Sebastian, a Modern Martyr. The saint's got a dartboard painted on his chest and you can play a game on him. Now, that’s an image a good Christian boy should take to the grave.

This sort of playful flirting with the themes of religious iconography continues when I look behind the solid wood of the sculpture to the installation by Swiss artist Regular Kaeser Bonami, which consists of sand arranged in a square over the all pervasive graves stones on the church floor. From this, seemingly struck by shafts of light, and suspended from the rafters by dental floss, are over 180 individually fired porcelain feathers forming a beautiful visual metaphor in a church setting. It brings back visions of classical Renaissance paintings to me, which feature similar 'Biblical' light, cascading onto the main characters.

The highly crafted installation piece of American/Peruvian artist Marc Barreda is a testament to a triumph of skills over conceptual thinking. He's an all round nice guy too. Each individually hand blown glass city skyscraper is installed side by side the burnt out wooden moulds used to create them. This is presented atop a table in the centre of the church, covered in newspapers. Each one from a different country and put together to make a rough map of the world. I wondered if this was some sort of comment on capitalism or commerce, but when asked the artist, he made a simple and honest reply:

 “ I just thought that the moulds after being used were easily as interesting as the actual glass blown pieces...”

Still Life, by Australian artist Anika Evans, from the title alone, could be percieved to be a little naive. I thought this, until I read the materials list and realised that both the fruit and the bowl have been constructed from frozen black ink. Sitting on a small white tablecloth plinth, the ink slowly bleeds into the cloth as the day goes on. Situated in the middle of the church with a small museum barrier around it evokes images of fragile ancient alter pieces.

Religious iconographic themes continue to feature heavily. Technically perfect in its oil painted perfection, it is not immediately obvious what the whole significance of Albert Van Loon's Christ is dead is until you read the printed explaination. It reads verbatim:

"The church was the first corporation with offices all over the world, like modern multi-nationals the church brought her product uninvited to every corner of the globe. The one true religion caused and still causes a lot of misery all in the name of our good lord but Jesus is dead."

The theme of globalised suffering continues on the other side of the church with the video work of Nindityo Adipurno from Indonesia. The video entitled Lets Du Barpekyu (Let's Do Barbecue) truly begins to give you an idea of the length and breadth of the international element of this show. The video features a performance by the artist, as he cooks a barbecue on the municipal dump. Its in a place that has become so polluted no one is meant to be there, something the locals know well, but still they go there to collect junk to use. These people are so poor they live on a toxic waste dump. They refuse the free food offerings given out by the street vending artist, knowing it is better to remain hungry than accept food cooked on a toxic dump. An ironic statement on the spread of globalisation, this piece really would not look out of place at Documenta (in fact in some ways this is what this show reminds me of but with a cheaper more useful catalogue.)

Part II of this review will be featured next week...