“Art is the lie that reveals reality.” Jeroen Brouwers - “Culture, considered as a process, means acquiring a vast deal of useless knowledge, and then forgetting it.” Albert Jay Nock - “The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.” Douglas Huebler - “In life and in art one has to begin each day anew.” Louis Couperus



Title: Balcony scenes
2000








photos by: Pier Pennings

Project commissioned by artists- initiative Archipel, Apeldoorn.





APELDOORN – The Balcony Scenes event was a series of speeches made from eight different balconies in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn. On Sunday, October 15th 2000, these speeches created a route through the centre of the city. Visitors to the event followed a route through the city from one balcony to the next. Sjaak Langenberg was responsible for the concept and the organisation. The Loo Palace, which belongs to the Dutch royal family, is in Apeldoorn. Instead of the Queen or the President addressing the populace from the balcony, ‘ordinary mortals’ spoke to the people. Participants came from various perspectives and disciplines: photographer Hans Aarsman, architect Wim Cuyvers, designer Hans Venhuizen, documentary film maker Digna Sinke, mountain climber Bart Vos, blind cabaret artiste Vincent Bijlo and the writers Kader Abdolah and Piet Meeuse, commented on the view over Apeldoorn - a vanishing primeval forest in the distance; the emptiness of municipal slogans; the audible view during a minutes silence; and the illusion of solace through the view of a church, were all part of it.
© Sjaak Langenberg