In this publication, multidisciplinary artist Wim Wauman presents the results of his artistic doctoral research on the tension between art and (traditional) craftsmanship “Making Waves: A Play with Arts and Crafts.” The author sought (and found?) A learning path ( skill in applications with wood veneer), in collaborations, brainwashing, and in increased (personal) engagement which ultimately led to the experimental ‘Blauwhaus’ complex. At first sight an installation / exhibition designed to work with a “dream team” of guest artists, but also a purifying “twilight zone” that was created to create a creative “flow” and stimulate the imagination.
In the spring of 2019, Wauman initiated a series of activities in and around the ‘Blauwhaus Castle’ in Waasmunster, with the central theme being the exploration of local peculiarities and heritage (a mermaid with a turnip, the Roosenberg Abbey, ‘Sole Mio’ blankets, …) . The workplace was concluded with a public walking tour that was created in collaboration with his guests.
Wauman then compiled the (Blauwhaus) GetijdenBook Book of Tides, in which a selection of his own recent artworks and projects is documented, supplemented with new Dutch or English texts (including hermetic pieces of prose, free verses and letters), a whimsical ‘FenceCrossPhilosophy ‘, an encyclopedic’ Wikileaks’ section and ‘A Play with Arts and Crafts’. The book also contains a Dutch poem by Leen Huet and illustrated reports on the interventions of dream team employees such as Alice McCabe, Hadewych Becuwe & Kelly Schacht, Hilde Borgermans, Ilse Van Roy, Isabel Bouttens, Maria Degrève, Pieter Léon Vermeersch, Robbert & Frank Frank & Robbert, Veerle Verschooren and Warre Mulder.
The book ends with an epilogue to the multidisciplinary 'Blauwhaus project: The Tidewrack Series (A Mermaid’s Tale)'. The ingredients of these photographic still lifes all refer to events and themes that are addressed in the book and / or to the overarching research project that was successfully completed with the publication. In between the lines, the pulsating “GetijdenBoek” provides insight into the lived-through (thinking) processes that give rise to Wauman’s unique fabric of visually attractive visual work, quirky ideas and deliberate contemplations.
This publication is a Track Report.
