Back Home in Amsterdam

Our last week in Dallas was pretty hectic, with my talk at the Dallas Museum of Art on the 8th of January, the resurrection of Dreamyourtopia on the 10th at Centraltrak, dismantling the installation the next day, packing the overseas container with the whole project on the 12th, and last but not least packing our seven US months in suitcases and leaving on the 14th.

But all went pretty relaxed. The event on the 10th was a great success, with over 200 "immigrants", who needed to be processed, showing up with their filled out immigration forms and photos in hand. It was a challenge to translate the Dreamyourtopia installation from the surreal desert to the very urban environment of Dallas. But it worked surprisingly well, using the whole building and concentrating more on the theatrical than visual aspects.

Some pics here and in the image gallery of the Dreamyourtopia site.

And Charissa Terranova, director of the Centraltrak artist residency wrote a theoretical essay about the Dreamyourtopia project, which can be found on the 14+1 blog :

Yours Dreamingly and Jetlaggingly.

Dadara

Invitation for the 10th ( and 8th ) of January

This is the flyer for the Dreamyourtopia events here in Dallas.

And here is the info in written text:

THE DEPARTMENT OF DREAMLAND SECURITY AND DADARA INVITE YOU TO
CHECKPOINT DREAMYOURTOPIA
A BORDER CONTROL CHECKPOINT TO ENTER YOUR OWN DREAMS
DATE AND TIME : JANUARY 10TH 2009
5.00 PM - 10.00 PM (DOORS CLOSE 9.00 PM)
CENTRALTRAK, 800 EXPOSITION AVENUE, DALLAS, TX 75226, PHONE 214-8249302

Bring a passportphoto, 4 dollars administration fee,
and Immigration Form WXRZYQ SFG 23587-492 A
(www.dadara.nl/checkpoint/immigration-forms.htm)
to obtain your Dream Passport stamped with the right visa.

Dadara will give an Artist talk on the 8th of January
7.30 PM at the Theater in the Center for Creative
Connections at the Dallas Museum of Art,
1717 N. Harwood St, Dallas, TX 75201

click here for info about the talk

Dreamyourtopia in Dallas and Beyond

After almost six months spent here in Dallas ( and in the Nevada desert ) our stay is coming to an end. I already started preparing for the Dreamyourtopia performance at the Lowlands Festival in August 2009 in the Netherlands, rebuilding the interrogation house in a sturdy, movable, better designed and waterproof way. But first the Checkpoint will still operate here in Dallas at Centraltrak on the 10th of January and I'll give a talk about the whole project at the Dallas Museum of Art on the 8th. A few days later everything will be packed in an overseas container and on its way and we'll be in a plane heading for the Amsterdam rain

First version Dreamyourtopia Trailer online

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MqDLClb6nw

Please provide us with feedback; positive and negative!

More exciting news coming:
Beginning of January I'll present the Dreamyourtopia project as a performance at Central Trak
and with an artist talk at the Dallas Museum of Art, just before leaving back to Amsterdam!
Stay tuned...........

At the moment no more organizing though.
I started painting again and am happy to be just dealing with paint and brushes :-)

Photos from the desert ( Back in Dallas )

After a long road trip we arrived back in Dallas today and unloaded the truck.
Being back "home" again I wanted to take the opportunity to get behind the computer and share some links of photos of the project.
These sets are from Birdman and Smashy who have both been involved in building the project.
Here they are:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cptsmashy/sets/72157607195601582/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mvoorzanger/sets/72157607084188148/

And I uploaded some pictures on the dreamyourtopia site as well:
http://www.dadara.nl/checkpoint/image-gallery-burningman-1.htm

more to follow.........

TV Free Burning Man

Check out the item done by TV Free Burning Man on the Playa at:

http://current.com/items/89252184_checkpoint_dreamyourtopia

Dustyourtopia

An extremely dusty last weekend made the Checkpoint appear even more surreal and ghostly.
Luckily the storms laid down, so we could dismantle the Checkpoint, leaving no trace in the process. Ashes to Ashes, Brains to Brains, Dust to Dust.

Another 1800 miles to go and we'll be home.
Once I'll wash all the dust of my brain I'll try to collect my thoughts and experiences and will post those on this blog.