Too many Mickeys around here

Now, how to shove?

The first technical drawings for the “Monument for transition” are dated on November 2010. At that moment I was working in my studio in Amsterdam, and my mind was not yet in Moengo. You could tell, because I drew Mickey with his feet in the Dutch soil. I proposed to dig a great hole into the ground to shove the treetrunks in. At the end of the trunks I drew “cross trunks” with a length of 6 meters, to get extra strength, so that the hole in the ground had to be at least seven by seven meters and four meters deep, it would come close to the size of the local swimmingpool.

My proposition to start mining in the citycentre of Moengo

When I arrived in Moengo I showed my drawings to the bauxiet mining experts of the Suralco company. These people are professionals when it comes to making holes in bauxiet ground. They were quite amused to see my plans - to start mining in the citycentre of Moengo. So we laughed a little, made new plans and we all went along.

 

Now, how to put the treetrunks into the ground?

 

Those new plans had to do with a fine piece of equipment, a 550mm drill that would split open the earth to make way for mister Mouses feet.

“A regel”. Yesterday a view months were passed, and I had a good talk with the men of Suralco again. It was a talk guided by two kinds of gestures: For the first gesture we only needed one hand, we would make a space of about 100 mm between our thumb and our index finger. This points out the diameter of the only drill that the company of Suralco is using and has ever been using. For the second gesture we would have to change position, find stability in the body, use both arms and hands, spread them out as far as we could, lean the head a bit to the back and then make the arms round, but not being able to let the fingertips touch. This points out the size of the drill that we would need for Mickeys gentle but comprehensive legs.

Finally we'll connect the two other parts to the treetrunks

But in Suriname language there is no word for “problem”. Though there is a word for “try” (pruberi). Tomorrow, on a Sunday morning, the wonderful people of Suralco will pruberi to find a spot in Moengo that does not consist out of bauxiet ground but out of pure soil. We will check several locations in Moengo, dig as much holes as needed, until we find a place that only exists out of soil, the soil that is in my mind already for so long.

A bit of a belly

Studio view

This is how David Linga started

Now it's ready to be put in the ground

The body of Mickey Mouse

Rastu is helping me a great lot

A bit of a belly

David Linga

David Linga contributes to the Mickey Mouse project. A giant Mickey Mouse will rise up, in the public space of Moengo, Suriname. Many people will add their ideas to it, and put them into practise.

David Linga is one of the best woodcarvers of Surinam. Linga is taking care of the legs. Two tree trunks, both with a length of 12,5 meters will be chainsaw-modelled. Together they depict the habitants of Moengo through the years.

 

 

David Linga

Moengo Brass Band

The Moengo Brass Band is practising for the grand day.

Dantapu

An interesting thing about residing at TAS, is that there’s the opportunity to travel to nearby villages, to teach the children. Every week I get to meet about 15 kids that are very enthousiastic in developping their creative skills. I already got to travel to Ovia Ollo, Rakinau Moffo and Dantapu. Dantapu is an adventure on itself and to get there is really quite something. The village is only accessible by Korjaal, a kind of canoe. It takes a breathtaking 40 minute tour on the beautifull Cottica river, through the jungle, to get there. Once arrived I asked the older children to carve a figure in a piece of soft wood with a chisel and a rubber hammer, that I had brought with me. I explained them that later their piece will be added to the giant Mickey Mouse, in the city of Moengo. Fortunately they were quite happy to become part of the sculpture. 

During the class I saw in the distance a little monkey jumping around. Before leaving I asked the kids if they could show me the petmonkey. When I arrived I noticed that the owners of the petmonkey not only liked to watch monkeys, but also fancy the taste of it. They had one monkey to play with and one to eat. 

 

(Please be aware that there is a dead monkey in this video!)

 

As a child my mother did not allow me to play with the food. Anyway, it makes a very funny sight to let a dead chicken walk on the dining table by giving it a hand. And to be honest, I once did so. No shock, you would say. The kids in this video are most probably also being nurtured not to play with their food, but still they did so. I went home before dinner got served.

Building a Mickey Mouse in the jungle

I decided to build a Mickey mouse in Moengo, completely made out of wood.

It seems like the country of Surinam is in some sort of transition. Many of daily peculiarities that I run into here, have somehow to do with this. But how the country was, and how it will become is quite unclear to me, as a visitor. Mickey Mouse counts as a symbol for a certain kind of transition - the progression of Western society. 

I'm asking habitants of Moengo, and children from the surrounding villages, to think along with me and to add elements to the sculpture. In this way eventually it'll become a customized symbol for the transition that the country is in.

 This is a scetch of how the sculpture of Mickey Mouse, with a height of 14 meters, will be positioned in the field

 The first weeks I spent on searching for good wood.

 

Before making a Mickey Mouse the kids have to learn how to make their own guitar

Residing at Tembe Art Studio

From Januari to April 2011 I am residing at Tembe Art Studio (Moengo, Suriname)

During my stay I will make a sculpture in public space. The process towards the realisation of this work will be put into photographs, and presented on this blog. I will also try to picture matters that attract my attention during the proces and share it with you through this blog.

When I just arrived in Suriname, I made a series of photo's of Moengo.

 

 

 

There's lots of activities for the kids in Moengo at Tembe Art Studio. These boys are peeping at the dancing girls.

This is the view from the window of the Tembe residency.

Floating with the tourists on the Cottica river. On our left hand we see a ship that is on its way to a bauxiet mine.

These kids I ran into on the streets of Moengo.