[Nettime-bold] Carsten Höller - The Baudouin/Boudewijn Experiment

["geert lovink" <geert@xs4all.nl>]

From: "roomade" <office@roomade.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2001 8:10 PM
Subject: Carsten Höller - The Baudouin/Boudewijn Experiment


ROOMADE PRESENTS

CARSTEN HÖLLER

THE BAUDOUIN/BOUDEWIJN EXPERIMENT:

A DELIBERATE, NON-FATALISTIC, LARGE-SCALE GROUP EXPERIMENT IN DEVIATION

ATOMIUM, EEUWFEESTLAAN, B-1020 BRUSSELS

27.09.01 ­ 28.09.01 ___ 24 HOURS FROM 10 AM TO 10 AM

SUBSCRIPTION BEFORE 15 SEPTEMBER OBLIGATORY !

SUBSCRIPTIONS AND INFORMATION:

ROOMADE, KOOPLIEDENSTRAAT 60-62, B 1000 BRUSSEL.
T: +32-2-223 26 73, F: +32-2-219 12 79, E-MAIL: OFFICE@ROOMADE.ORG

The Baudouin/Boudewijn Experiment will take place in one of Belgium's most
famous architectural landmarks: the Atomium. Built as the Belgian Pavilion
for the 1958 World Fair in Brussels, the Atomium imitates the structure of
an atom, and is made up of nine spheres connected by tubes. In the Brussels
and European Conference Rooms, situated in the central sphere, a space will
be set up to accommodate 100 people who are invited to spend twenty-four
hours in the space, stepping out of their usual, "productive" lives for one
day.

>From 10.00am on 27 September until 10.00am on 28 September 2001, the space
will be closed to the outside world. Public access will be denied, and the
inhabitants will be allowed to cease their normal activities. They will do
nothing at all, and they will do it collectively.

The necessary infrastructure such as furniture, food, sanitary installations
and safety measures will be provided. Though no particular programme or
means of entertainment will be suggested, participants are free to bring
with them what they wish. Essentially, the experiment will be to experience
what happens when people are freed from their usual constraints and yet
collectively confined to a particular space and time.

The Baudouin/Boudewijn Experiment will not be documented by means of film or
video; the only "recordings" will be the memories of the participants, and
these will be disseminated through the stories they may tell after the
event. The experiment will thus be completely unscientific, since
objectivity is not the aim. Rather, it will be a unique opportunity to
experience together the possibilities of escape from one¹s daily routine, to
participate in a unique event with an unclear outcome.

Those taking part in the experiment will be following the example of the
late H.M. Baudouin, King of Belgium, who was declared incapable of governing
the country for twenty-four hours on 4 April 1990, and thus suspended his
royal activities during this period:

"Belgium's political system is based on discussion and compromise between
different interest groups, without clear central control. The king has no
real power, and the prime minister generally implements agreements. However,
all laws accepted by the Belgian parliament must be signed by the king
before they can be applied. The expression 'Belgian compromise' has been
applied to this characteristic process of problem solving: complex issues
are settled by conceding something to each party concerned, through an
agreement that is often so complicated that nobody completely understands
all of its implications. In spite of the apparent inefficiency of these
settlements, they do work in practice, because they resolve existing
conflicts and thus allow life to go on without argument or obstruction. The
ambiguities and confusions that arise from such compromises are usually
solved on the spot, due to the Belgian talent for improvisation.

A memorable and internationally renowned instance of such improvisation
occurred when a law legalising abortion was due to be passed. On religious
grounds, King Baudouin concluded that his conscience would not allow him to
approve the law. The government discovered a small paragraph in the
constitution stating that the approval of the king is not required in
situations where he is deemed incapable of governing, a provision for
exceptional circumstances such as the mental illness of the ruler. The
compromise reached between government and king was that he was declared
incapable of ruling for long enough to pass the law without his signature.
When the time came and his signature was requested, he resigned from his
duties for the space of a day.

Though people who respect formal rules might be shocked by such a pragmatic
treatment of a sensitive issue, the problem was solved in a way that was
acceptable to everybody: the king's conscience remained intact, and the
democratic decision was implemented with a minimum of delay. The solution to
this dilemma was ingeniously simple. It was a short-term deviation from
one¹s usual behaviour, a shift or suspension of ones' normal professional
role. In contrast to the king's singular project (which aimed at solving a
particular dilemma), participants in The Baudouin/Boudewijn Experiment will
collectively 'deviate' from their everyday lives and roles in a certain
space and time. As if interrupting the continuous line of their existence,
they will suspend their activities to include an alien moment of 'not
doing'."

Jens Hoffmann, Carsten Höller, Barbara Vanderlinden



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