The Manifesto of the Tape Player

Karel Nepraš "Great Dialogue", 1966 

wire, textile, laminate, varnish

The Manifesto of the Tape Player

1. How to talk.

1.1 Tell a story.

2. How to ask.

2.1.Tell a story.

3. How to listen to us.

4. How do we listen to each other.

4.4. It is like looking into the mirror.

1.2. Never lose the tempo

1.1.1. It does not have to be short.

1.3. Present the topic as problematic, but never lose enthusiasm.

1.2.1. Do not allow pauses, when talking about one thing always hook it with the next topic.

7. How to choose the topic.

5. How to know the other.

1.3.1. Do not get melancholic.

2.2. The purpose of the question is to avoid topics getting exhausted.

2.1.2. Ask in a way that the other one has to tell a story.

6. How to listen to the other.

6.1. (Look again  at 2.1.2.) So you can rest while listening to a story, rather than having to concentrate on direct answers.

6.2. Never give direct answers.

1.4. Always illustrate your story.

1.4.1. Use your facial expressions, your hands, if necessary you legs, and all the items in your bag.

0. Monologue is the new religion black.

1.5. Talk about your self

1.5.1. I did..., I heard..., I know..., I thought…, I went… etc.

1.6. Do not be afraid to dominate.

1.6.1. Be nice.

1.7. You are not a mediator.

1.6.2. Do not expect others to agree. (Look again at 1.5.) It is a monologue.

1.8. Know what interests the other.

1.10. Do not be ashamed to be a tape player, but be aware.

1.9. Every conversation you have can end up as a starting point for a project.

1.9.1. Talking is a medium not a method.

1.9.2. This manifesto describes talking as a medium as well as a method.

4.1. When I know the story, I ignore the story and search for where it is leading me this time.

4.2. I listen only when it is interesting for me.

4.3. It is not about listening, but keeping the tempo.

3.1. Do not forget you are participating in a play.

3.2. The purpose of the monologue is not to keep quiet.

3.1.1. You are part of the play.

3.1.2. If you try to step out of the play, the tape breaks.

3.1.3. When the tape breaks, the monologue turns into an inner monologue.

3.1.1.1. You can choose the role and you can win, but do not forget it is a story, not a competition.

5.1. Do not care.

7.1. The topic does not matter.

7.2. You have to care about the topic. (Look again at 1.9.)

Indrek Grigor and Šelda Puķīte

Prague, 2013

In August 2013 we visited Prague, and, among other things, did talk, behind a few glasses of beer, our local contact Rita half unconscious.

The next morning, feeling a bit guilty, we happened to visit Jaroslav Kučera’s exhibition  "How I met people" (Theresian Wing of the Old Royal Palace at Prague Castle). Among other photos from the genre of social street photo, in which Kučera is working, there was one particular portrait of a man sitting in a shabby beer bar. The photographer had added a story about him, saying that this man was called by the others the tape player, because he would always and constantly tell stories, never shutting up.

The feeling of total solidarity overcame us, and we decided, in search of redemption, as well as justification, to write “The Manifesto of the Tape Player”.
First part of the manifesto was composed in the morning of August 16 at Grand cafe orient (cafe situated in one of the most famous cubism influenced houses in central Prague) and the second part in the evening of the same day (which was our last evening of staying in Prague) in Cafe Rybka.

Jaroslav Kučera Prague, Družba buffet at Václavské square; 1975

From time to time I had a little beer with him and he was talking and talking all the time. 

They called him Record Player.

Voldi lahti / Unfold

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Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk "Shadows of a Doubt"

Curator Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk talks about the exhibition "Shadows of a Doubt".
Questions by Indrek Grigor
Recorded in Tallinn 03.10. 2013

Shadows of a Doubt
Tallinn Art Hall
2 -- 27 October 2013


Tallinn Photomonth presents Shadows of a Doubt, a group exhibition at Tallinn Art Hall that brings together works by seventeen international artists, proposing different ways to engage with the experience and conditions of the present moment.

According to the curator of the exhibition Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), Shadows of a Doubt aims to provide an active space for "an appointment with thought".

"The present moment is always unstable and fleeting," said Lekkerkerk. "I'm inviting the viewer to reflect on how individual memories, collective histories, fears and hopes inform and obscure the experience of the present."

Whilst Shadows of a Doubt is a central part of the programme of Tallinn Photomonth, it is not a photography exhibition. "The concept of time is essential to the way we think about photography; and photography, in turn, is instrumental to how not only our memories, but also our expectations for the future are formed," said Kristel Raesaar, artistic leader of the festival.


Curator: Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk. Participating artists: Nina Beier, Persijn Broersen & Margit Lukács, David Raymond Conroy, Filip Gilissen, Ane Mette Hol, Toril Johannessen, Flo Kasearu, Gert Jan Kocken, Laura Kuusk, Oliver Laric, Gabriel Lester, Katja Novitskova, Magali Reus, Meriç Algün Ringborg, Jani Ruscica, Mario García Torres, Tarvo Varres

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The young technician. A male gaze at Arturs Bērziņš exhibition "Rodamība"

Indrek Grigor takes a look Arturs Bērziņš exhibition "Rodamība/ Origination*” in the Office gallery at the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art 26.09.–25.10.2013.


The young technician. A male gaze at Arturs Bērziņš exhibition "Rodamība"

Arturs Bērziņs exhibition presents an evolutionary selection of machines that originate from the author’s biography, depicting the way how the relationship to the complexity of the machines he has been using has changed hand in hand with the technical knowledge he has gained of how these machines work. In this process the mystical and holistic world of childhood has faded into a greyed out memory and has been replaced by a complex but overdetermined reality. The wonderful thing in this seemingly sad process is, that the author senses the fading of the nostalgic mysticism through the discovery of the poetry and beauty of complex machines - this is the secret that drives the young technician.

According to the poetical interpretation that the author has given to the laws of thermodynamics, when something is called into life something else is dismissed. The earliest memories of Bērziņs’ encounters with machines are represented as a vague holistic memory through the use of a molded copy of a toy car that has no moving parts. The sledge from a bit later is still there in its original form, but has lost its reality by being preserved as a gray memorial monument of a device leaning against the wall. But the skis, even though the wood has rotted away, have already left a memory of a mechanism that played a crucial part in allowing fun on the hills through their primitive metal clips.

Entering teenage years our young technician finally got access to the world of fully mechanised devices. At the beginning in the form of a bicycle that the author has spent many hours working on in his basement and that has left a remarkable amount of grease collecting on his hands. But the world of the bicycle has already lost a lot of its mysticism. Even though Bērziņš has referred to the early childhood as something that is as complex and as inaccessible as a bee farm, the mechanical knots of the bicycle are something that he has found access to. Whats going on inside the mechanism isn't anymore closed away from our eyes since Bērziņš has cut it open.

As a final step in the evolution of the experience of the world determined by the laws of thermodynamics the artist presents us an internal combustion engine. Here the machine is not only cut open, laying bare its mechanism, but is also disassembled and systematized. The complex but holistic mystical fairytale of childhood has turned into the black and red world determined by the laws of thermodynamics.

----------------------------------------------------

Arturs Berzins „Origination*”

1. For instance, within philosophy engines are considered as expansion of a body. Prosthesis. They expand options of usage of a body, facilitate performance and protect the body. At the same time there is something mystical in it. Even with knowledge in physics and chemistry it contains something preternatural. Most likely it is attributable to appearance in a strange imagery. One can recognize beauty, too. The peculiar beauty of engine.

2. Origination is a contemplation devoted to the engine. Engines were selected by applicability. They relate to the field of the motion (movement) of the body or thing. All works derive from subject's personal experience regarding the chronology of personal development.

3. Five exhibited works are not made by someone. They have occured. By something appearing, something else disappeared.

4. In this case one can find a certain understanding about particular engines or their junctions.


*There exsist no direct translation form Latvian word „rodamība”. Origination is closest, derrived form verb originate.


Laws of thermodynamics**

First law of thermodynamics: The first law establishes a notion of internal energy for a thermodynamic system. Heat and work are forms of energy transfer. The internal energy of a thermodynamic system may change as heat or matter are transferred into or out of the system or work is done on or by the system. All the energy transfers must be accounted for to see that there is strict conservation of the total energy of a thermodynamic system and its surroundings. The law implies that perpetual motion machines of the first kind, which would do work without using the energy resources of a system, are impossible.

Second law of thermodynamics: An isolated physical system, if not already in its own internal state of thermodynamic equilibrium, spontaneously evolves towards it. In an isolated physical system, there is a tendency towards spatial homogeneity. In particular, when an isolated physical system reaches its own internal state of thermodynamic equilibrium, its temperature is spatially uniform. When work is done on or by a thermodynamic system, a certain amount of that energy is lost to inefficiency, related to the difference between the energy level of the input and the output. This loss is described by the notion of entropy, which is often used to express the law. Some of the loss is due to friction when work is done, and some of it may be due to the relaxation of the system towards spatial homogeneity. The law says that these two mechanisms occur always and inevitably. The law implies that perpetual motion machines of the second kind are impossible.

Third law of thermodynamics: There are various ways of expressing the third law.[8] They derive from the statistical mechanical explanation of thermodynamics. They refer to ideally perfect theoretical models of physical systems. A common expression of the law states that no practicable means can bring a physical system to an exactly zero absolute thermodynamic temperature.

** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics

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Manifesta tiim Eestis

Fotod Sten Ojavee, tekst Liisa Kaljula

10.-12. oktoobrini külastas Kultuuriministeeriumi ja Kaasaegse Kunsti Eesti Keskuse kutsel Eestit Manifesta kunstibiennaali tiim direktor Hedwig Fijeni, haridusprogrammide juhi Sepake Angiama ja publikukoordinaatori David Smeuldersi isikus. Kohtuti eesti kunstitöötajatega, külastati piirilinna Narvat ja reede õhtul peeti Rüütelkonna hoone suures saalis kõikidele huvilistele avatud loeng. Hoolimata Lääne-Euroopa kunstitöötajate augustikuisetest üleskutsetest Venemaad hiljutiste geivastaste seaduste tõttu boikoteerida, on nüüd vist ikkagi kindel - järgmine Manifesta kunstibiennaal toimub 28. juunist 31. oktoobrini 2014 Peterburis ning kui välja arvata Guggenheimi sihtasutuse pikale veninud läbirääkimised Helsinki linnaga, on siiski tegemist üle pika-pika aja Ida-Euroopas aset leidva maailmamõõtu kunstisündmusega. Muidugi on Manifesta tiimi toimumiskoha valikus ja kõige kiuste selle juurde jäämises läänelikku misjonit ja soovi tuletada Venemaale meelde euroopalikke inimõigusi ja kodanikuvabadusi, ent Ida-Euroopale on Ermitaažis toimuv Manifesta 10 kahtlemata võimalus end regioonina tutvustada ning lõhkuda või kinnitada iseenda kohta käibel olevaid müüte.