What's Going On?
I've moved from Buurtstation to the
Jan Huijgen Galerie next door, to continue working for
Marcel Pinas' Children's Art Center in his
hometown Moengo, Suriname and curate exhibitions and so on at the same time. Many thanks to The City of The Hague for supporting
the KKC Moengo project financially. Follow the blog here.
Recently Maldoror made a new friend, Shirley Charoe, who will help us with communications in general. Here she is.
In August I have officially been diagnosed with ADHD, and started taking Concerta in October. I felt like twenty five all over again... for a week.
Then an asthma attack followed and I was in bed for five weeks. And now it's freezing. I need to get to the Amazone a.s.a.p.
Old news: Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
About this website
First of all, I wish to dedicate it to my
fellow-members of the board, Boudewijn Pronk (bp, left) and Raoul de Vries (rdv, right),
and to my webmasters, Boyd Noorda and Dani-el Rodenburg.
Our first language is Dutch. Nonetheless, we've chosen to use English on this website. Our aim is to reach as many people everywhere.
The photograph was taken on November 20 2002, Stichting Maldoror's fifteenth birthday celebration at the
Illusie / Casuariestraat, The Hague.
All texts and images on maldoror.com by me (middle); © Stichting Maldoror,
unless stated otherwise.
Stichting Maldoror
is a non-profit art foundation
since November 20 1987, located in the City of The Hague in The Netherlands.
This small country with about sixteen million inhabitants is, along with Belgium and Luxembourg, surrounded by the North sea (United Kingdom,
France) and Germany. In Western Europe.
From 1987 to 1997 Stichting Maldoror mainly published books in Dutch by a.o. French poet Charles Baudelaire,
American novelist / painter William S. Burroughs, our friends' and our own writings, including an 'occultural' magazine. We also
organized multi-media events on subjects as 'Art in the Eighties' and
Austrian art collective the Viennese Actionists, and contributed to tv-shows and festivals about Georges Bataille, Samuel Beckett
and Antwerp, Cultural Capital of Europe. Furthermore we ran a gallery showing works by
dozens of artists from all over the world. Many travels were made to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Budapest and London.
In 1997 a major split within the organization took place, and after inviting Boudewijn Pronk and Raoul de Vries
as new members of the board,
I more and more started to use the foundation for art-projects with children and teenagers
in The Hague's Painters' district, such as recording rap and traditional music, producing mural art and promoting other
forms of artistic expression.
At the same time the website maldoror.com was launched, starting off with a series of web-based exhibitions,
and in real life from 2000 on we organized
several events and supported others at the Illusie / Casuariestraat artists' squat.
Travels brought us to Marrakech, Rome and many other exotic places in the south of Europe and the north of Africa.
In 2006 Stichting Maldoror temporarily moved to Suriname in the north of South-America, setting up
a media library at the Nola Hatterman Art Academy in Paramaribo, as well as helping
setting up a location for artists-in-residence. Unfortunately we never made it to Jonestown, Guyana.
2008 brought Maldoror back to Europe unexpectedly, now focusing on several new projects
all over the world, including two projects connected to Suriname and the current 2084 series in The Hague itself.
Why choose the name 'Maldoror'?
Revisiting the year 1984,
when I was twenty years of age, I clearly remember two different living sources leading to my interest in 19th century
gothic novel and bible of the surrealists Les Chants de Maldoror; Anne-Mie
Van Kerckhoven and David Tibet.
When Erik Lindner, Ruud Vermeer (the other two original founders of Stichting Maldoror)
and myself made practical
plans to set up a foundation for our individual- and collaborative works in the Summer and Fall of 1987, I was in the
midst of reading it and everyone involved agreed the title of the book would be a good name, without giving it too much thought.
Only much later I realized the main topics of the book could sum up a lot of my personal difficulties (and solutions) in a
continuous stream of cultural schizophrenia, especially at night time, when I beat the drum.
"There is no future", but we are still making plans.
In 2010 we are supposed to round off our Suriname projects and head for Indonesia, Malaysia and New Guinea. By the time
Stichting Maldoror reaches the age of Maldoror's
author Isidore Ducasse on June 12 2012 (an estimation), I might retire as Chairman of the Board.
Is 'maldoror.com' truly a commercial website?
Here a gain, there a loss,
just as is to be expected from any other foundation.
Are you people Satanists?
I can only speak for myself here. I might consider believing
in The Creator(s), I just don't believe in Jesus nor in any other religious leader any more than in the first bum around the corner. (...)
I found Karen Armstrong's A History of God more inspiring than Bill Maher's Religulous. Should I even bother to ask the others' opinion?
I'm currently reading a book on Chandri Borobudur, would that make me a Buddhist?
Can I collaborate with Stichting Maldoror on some sort of project?
Yes, by sending us an informative letter by email: maldoror.com [at] gmail.com. You may even comment on the FAQ and add further questions.
THANK YOU
FONDS 1818,
STICHTING BEVORDERING VAN VOLKSKRACHT,
STROOM DEN HAAG,
THE CITY OF THE HAGUE,
VILLA NUTS,
ZUID-HOLLANDSE POPUNIE
and many Anonymous Individuals
for your financial, material and willful support over the years.
