Walter van Rijn, Off-Site Desert Showroom Superform{ance} On-Stage On-Line A Blue Cobra Collects Death Like (2013) §R, SymLogiDIN font, ink, handmade paper 525 mm x 410 mm

Dutch, b. 1960, playing from Chichester, England, UK

Walter van Rijn’s art practice deals with the conventions of art. It questions the making, showing and collecting of art, using traditional and digital art forms, public art, or a combination of these media. A cross media practice dispersed through audio, blogs, books, fonts, videos, web sites, 2-d work and installation exhibitions. His current work has the form of projects, inspired by ecologies and symbiosis. The symbiotic works are positioned within a circulation of other works, exploiting the movements of artworks themselves or secondary works (e.g.: documentation, exhibition, publication, archiving, collection) to hybridize and disperse itself opportunistically.

The web site www.symbiotext.net forms an archive of current work, which takes place as part of his practice based research at the University of Southampton, Winchester School of Art, researching dispersion as strategy and the dispersed object of art.

Contact: symbiotext@gmail.com

Thoughts on the Telephone process

I suggest Telephone is one artwork, like a play is one work. All the participating artists and their pieces play a role, as does the internet, and the creators of the concept. The viewers/users experience I hope, because I haven’t seen it functioning yet, is one of a performance with one act following on from another. Maybe it is one sentence repeated over and over by everyone involved.

If this is the case Telephone should have only one credit, one copyright notice that includes all the artists/makers/etc. Another consequence is that Telephone should ideally be shown with all the artworks or as separate strands of artworks to keep this conversation intact. If it is ongoing or restaged it could be shown with the new additions. To sell an individual piece from Telephone could be seen as cutting a still from a film. Only a copy or document can be sold during the performance. If individual pieces are taken out, the lines are broken and this particular event of Telephone ceases to exist. But then another Telephone conversation might start up....