Newsletter  204
September 2021

Within the limitations of the COVID-new-normal we were able to start up the residency program.
This newsletter tells about the residents and their projects of May and June. Residencies earlier in 2021 are presented on the 2021 page.

Tim Gleason (USA) was sketching every day: sometimes abstract, sometimes objects from his direct surroundings, sometimes conceptual. He fixed every work on the wall of his studio until he had filled the full surface of 10 to 6 m. The video gives an impression. At the end of his residency he put all works in his suitcase, because they are meant to be building stones for big paintings that he will make at home.
The music in this video is an improvisation by a fellow resident: Stefano Falcone (see also elsewhere in this newsletter). 

Bobbie Esra Pertran was working on several projects. One was the story of her family: a true example of global nomadism during the past two centuries. She just got an invitation for an exhibition in Norway.
Bobbie was also fascinated by the wind. She started a collaboration with a fellow resident and composer: Tetsuya Hori. It may result into a music video.
And she made video and photo recordings of sunset at solstice.  

Tetsuya Hori (Japan, living in Germany) was working on a composition for piano for four hands. In addition he was collecting sounds from the surroundings, ranging from marble sawing machines to bells of cows, sheep and goats, for which he lent a set from Almerindo, the local shepherd.

Gerry van der Linden (Holland) did the final editing of her newest poetry album: "Niemand blijft het langst" (nobody stays the longest), which is scheduled to be published in September. In addition she made many new poems, some of them contemplative and others hilarious. During her artist talk she also showed a collection of observations and small objects from her direct surroundings.

Peter Bremer  (Holland) generally paints abstract, but this time he decided to make a series of portraits in oil paint of his fellow residents. The one above is of Sebastiaan van Bijleveld.

Cathy Rose (USA) was working on a novel that tells about a hippy community, living in yurts. She is intrigued by the impact of unconventional lifestyles: the idealism, misunderstandings, blurred values, clashes and disillusions. She made use of her own youth experiences as well as her background as psychologist.
A nice co-incidence was that, near to us some yurts are used as part of an eco-village. During her artist talk Cathy showed her talent as a reader. Especially a short story about a lunatic who got fascinated by a Buddha necklace, was both moving and funny.     

Nora van Dam (Holland) felt that she has nearly completely recovered from a serious health problem. This motivated her to restart her theater activities. She made a video in which she recites part of Joie de Vivre, a story written by Albert Camus that tells about a fat young woman who sings in a pub surrounded by over-exited drunken men. The way Nora brings this monologue is very touching (see Nora´s Facebook site, although only spoken in Dutch).

Victoria Gosling (UK, living in Germany) was writing a novel, a work of literary fiction, using the structure and story line of the 5th century legend of King Arthur. But Victoria´s story is about the power of the big tech companies, spy ware and hackers. In her story Lancelot became Lance Alett, an Afghanistan war veteran who suffers from PTSD. Just like the legend of King Arthur, it is about heroism, betrayal and addiction to power, but Victoria´s story focuses on two female characters. Victoria worked very hard with few breaks (her daily swim) and managed to finish her first draft the day before she left.

With an amazing creative power Katia Wille (Brazil) was working on Trans Figura, a long term project that examines the emotions caused by risks (such as the pandemic) and the potential of these emotions to trigger change.
Katia took supermarket bags: she cuts, paints, embroiders and re-assembles them into a new bag that she offers to people to use it half a year and then return for to be exhibited. She thereby connects a social object with an art object.
Another part of Trans Figura is exploring robotics. Using Artificial Intelligence she made a painted canvas making movement depending of the emotion of the viewer. At OBRAS she used the breeze over an oat field to let a canvas move that laid on top of it.  
She also explored cork, marble and cactus leaves as mediums for her artwork.
Katia forms strong team with Hans Blankenburgh (Holland, Living in Brazil) for getting ideas and feedback, as well as for solving technical and logistic problems.   

Jane Flett (UK, living in Germany) worked on her 100-words-stories project and presented some of them. They were close to poetry: highly condensed, partly abstract and metaphorical, and triggering the imagination. Jane also started a new novel
(and she proved to be an expert in explaining tarot cards.)

Nuno Santos (artist name Chullage) had a short but highly productive residency, for which he brought a complete sound studio. He was working on a new album: he mixed electronic music (such as Hip Hop) with African music on traditional instruments and with the sounds of sheep bells. At the end of his residency he invited all fellow residents for a jam session. He proved to be an excellent composer, conductor and animator. Everybody was excited.

Nico Huijbreghts used several of his artistic talents. He composed a few pieces for piano and made a poem about the bench under an oak tree, near to the Casa Principal. Have a look on Nico´s Facebook site for a video impression and the full text (spoken in Dutch, subtitled in English). And he started a new project that has a link with the novel he is working on (see 2021 page): he asks people to imagine that you are a collapsing bridge: you loose your base and connections that gave your life a meaning. Nico intends to make a compilation of these interviews in the format of a newspaper.

Stefano Falcone (Italy) is jazz pianist and composer. During his residency he composed nine pieces for piano solo that will soon be released on CD. These nine pieces will be premiered on the Piano Festival in Lecce, Italy on 24 September. Stefano granted his fellow residents a wonderful short living-room concert. He improvised after having collected the wishes of his audience on aspects such as mood, tempo and tonality. 

Yvonne Halfens (Holland) made sculptures by gluing thin tree branches together into more or less geometric frameworks. Some were painted in bright colors. The sculptures seem fragile but in fact they are amazingly strong. You nearly do not dare to touch them, but there is little risk of damage. This inherent contradiction gives them extra quality. Yvonne also painted imaginary figures and made a paper collage that reminds to a Portuguese tiled wall.

Merritt Tierce and Julia Dyer (USA) worked on the outline and a script for WALK WITH ME. It is a mega project: a television series over three seasons and seven episodes per season. The first layer is a crime story full of twists of the plot. A university professor is killed, seemingly as a me-too revenge. But obvious explanations prove not to work. A second layer is the exploration of an unknown world, partly pre-Christian, partly supernatural, a world that may provide solutions for the current social and environmental collapse.  And a third layer is the existential question: are we going to self-destruct or are we going to change?
In their artist talk Merritt and Julia invited the fellow residents to imagine and play several characters and happenings, resulting in an experience that was informative and very exciting.
Earlier scripts of Merritt and Julia were bought by Netflix and HBO.

Residents in September are Tim Glease, Wilma Geldof. Merritt Tierce, Julia Dyer, Cathy Rose, Stefano Falcone, Rob van Weegen, Anna Maria Achat, Gunnthora Olafsdottir, Holly Osborne, Natacha Carlos, Floriane Colas, Nazaré Soares, Chloé Schemoul and Rolf Straver.

also good to know:

Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is putting on the biggest show of his career, and he is doing it in a country he’s fallen in love with: Portugal. The artist ticks off what appeals to him about Portugal: the slow pace of life, very open” people, very acceptable food and abundant sunshine.
Ai arrived in Portugal in 2019 and has no plans to return to Germany or England, where he has also lived since leaving China in 2015. He bought a house near Montemor, 40 kms from OBRAS. “I always make decisions by my personal instinct. I feel comfortable here. Remaining in Portugal was probably the best decision I ever made,” Ai said.
His new exhibition, “Rapture,” opened in Lisbon on 11 June in the Cordoaria Nacional (Avenida de India; until 28 November). It shows 85 pieces including some of his iconic works, as well as new ones produced in Portugal. “Forever Bicycles,” from 2015, a giant sculpture using 960 stainless steel bicycles as building blocks, stands at the entrance to the building. Ai's 16-meter-long (52-foot-long) black inflatable boat with human figures, which alludes to the migration crisis, is also in Lisbon.
Ai has traveled across Portugal visiting craftspeople and manufacturers who use traditional Portuguese methods and materials such as marble, textiles, hand-painted tiles and cork.This resulted in a self-portrait sculpture in cork, a cut-out world map in fabric (1.5 meters high), a 40-meter-long rug, and a marble cylinder of 2 meters high.
Ai Weiwei has another exhibition planned for this summer in Porto.

(with Andrea Brasch)