Jolanda Jansen


INTEREST ------


Voerman & Vermeulen
http://www.sandberg.nl/~vv/

Kippenvel
Copyright V&V
Foto : GJ Hunnink
Tekst : J Dietvorst



Hundreds of feature films have been made and complete libraries have been written on the relationship between animal and man. Visual artists Willemijn Voerman and Katja Vermeulen Ð also known as V & V Ð have taken a different route to exploring this often problematic, sometimes harmonious relationship. In one project they made clothing with more than sixty chicken skins and put it on. On top of that, they decided to make a rooster's comb into the kind you use for your hair. Roosters, they discovered, are affordable but hard to find- they paid a farmer in distant Nederlangbroek three euros for a rooster they named Petrus. When they left the farmer asked if V & V were looking to start a business of their own. Petrus lived the good life in their house until the neighbours complained, so V & V moved him to the Sandberg Institute. There he lived on seventh floor, but could be heard through solid concrete all the way down to the front entrance. Artists and art students have a reputation for being daring and inquisitive, but V & VÕs colleagues were soon fed up with the beautiful, self-conscious and noisy bird. Quiet finally came when Petrus made his way into the duo's next artwork. A Turkish butcher in the Javastraat transformed the colorful rooster into consumable meat. And on the Friday before Easter, Voerman and Vermeulen had Petrus for dinner, drinking to his memory with a red Burgundy wine. Petrus is commemorated and cherished in this work of art. A print of the photo Ð 100 x 150 cm Ð will be the prize in a lottery for which proceeds will go to improving relations. People and institutions with outstanding qualifications in this field are kindly requested to take part in this lottery by applying to willemijn@sandberg.nl





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