I like James Hillman's writings, even though I often find them disturbing and not so easy to read if you don’t know what he refers to (here : alchemical psychology). They always bring new perspectives into my thinking and imagination and seem to be echoing deeply within me. In his book, The Dream and the Underworld, he brings new perspectives to the “conventional” interpretation of dreams. Here is for “water”. Bodies of water Concerning bodies of water in dreams (oceans, rivers, lakes, pools, baths), let us bypass the symbolisms of lustration and baptism, of doctrinal wisdom and uterine mother, and also the too general meanings of life energy, Mercurius, and the unconscious. Instead, let us take a lead from Heraclitus (frg. 36) : "To souls, it is death to become water ...," and (frg. 77, Freeman): "It is delight, or rather death, to souls to become wet..." Jung has expanded upon the death of the soul through water in his classical work on the Ro...
This month, I visited the AfricaMuseum in Tervuren, near Brussels. The context in which this museum was created is very heavy. I started with a walk along the site where the 1897 colonial exhibition took place and where "African villages"/"human zoos" were built. Ce mois-ci, j'ai visité l'AfricaMuseum à Tervuren, près de Bruxelles. Le contexte dans lequel ce musée a été créé est très lourd. J'ai commencé par une promenade sur le site où l'exposition coloniale de 1897 a eu lieu et où des « villages africains »/"zoos humains" ont été construits. Aerial view of the site where the 4 "African villages" were built. Vue aérienne du site ou les 4 "villages africains" étaient construits. Sites of the "villages" - site des "villages View of the park - vue du parc One of the cast-iron statues that were displayed at the international exhibition in 1897. Une des statues en fonte qui était exposée à l'exposition I...
While the museum shows work and efforts in decolonising some of its content, I found that the most powerful criticism and change of perspective was in the artworks of the artists they invited to respond to the museum. The artwork I most prefered was the site specific installation RE/STORE, a collaboration between Aimé Mpane and Jean-Pierre Muller, a series of 16 semi-transparent veils that half hide statues which couldn't be removed from the museum, even though they communicate very problematic colonial propaganda. Bien que le musée fasse preuve de travail et d'efforts pour décoloniser une partie de son contenu, j'ai trouvé que la critique et le changement de perspective les plus puissants se trouvaient dans les œuvres d'art des artistes invités à réagir au musée. L'œuvre d'art que j'ai préférée est l'installation in situ RE/STORE, une collaboration entre Aimé Mpane et Jean-Pierre Muller, une série de 16 voiles semi-transparents qui cachent à moitié des ...
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