The Beggar's Diary, 10.09.2007.- Filch finds on the street a chalk drawing, probably the work a child, as it is lying near a home full of toys in the garden. Filch likes the drawing, which reminds him of Picasso. "I hope I'm not offending anyone by thinking that.” Its drizzly and cold, so he heads to the fyal, and once there he doesn't feel much like leaving. He’s really enjoying his hot coffee. "Why not take a bath upstairs," suggests Tommy, the owner, "your brother left you shower gel and all that stuff." Filch says he doesn’t have a brother, but Tommy smiles and says: "Yeah, yeah." It’s all a bit strange, but when Filch checks the bathroom, he finds nothing new. On his way back down, he catches a woman scratching her back against the wall. Now, here’s a movement he hasn't seen in a long time.
By 11:30, Filch feels a little anxious at the thought that dozens of people might be waiting at the Spiekerhof just to meet Dora Garcia’s Beggar, so he decides to go there after all. A car drives by, a green sticker glued to the side window (size: 10x5cm) proclaiming: "Achtung! Falschparker."
"That’s a scary idea", thinks Filch. "Suppose they create stickers for my wrongdoings":
Achtung! Does not pay for the toilet.
Achtung! Puts extra salad after weighing in supermarket.
Achtung! Runs red lights with a bicycle.
Achtung! Doesn't tell secrets to the press.
His only public at the Spiekerhof is a group of small children in a pram [all in one pram, Filch? strange, but true! look at the picture!], taking shelter from the pouring rain under the "Arkaden". They’re playing a game which seems to consist in saying "hello" in different ways. They’re all quite into it, and the possibilities seem endless. They would probably have gone on and on, but the lady left with the pram. Now he's left alone with two adults, all of them sheltered from the rain under the "Arkaden". No one says a word. Filch tries to start up a conversation: "Would you like to buy an umbrella?" They find this amusing, and all three quickly find themselves discussing the weather, Muenster, umbrellas, and dialects. Yes, as Filch can speak Flemish, they talk about an old dialect they call "Platdeutsch," which resembles Dutch and used to be spoken by farmers; there are only a handful of old people around who still speak it. There is even a dialect typical of Muenster called Masematte, a mixture of Yiddish and Platdeutsch. It was spoken amongst farmers, and also by traders. That’s quite interesting, thinks Filch, and he asks whether the men know any words in the dialects. They do, and here are some examples:
Tiftelturm: Kirchturm (church tower)
Seeger und Kalinen: Mann und Frau (men and women)
Kabache: Haus (house)
Masminem: Schuhe (shoes)
bicken: kaufen (to buy)
achilen: essen (to eat)
nerbelo: nervös (nervous)
His new friends leave him between two downpours, and the only people who pass by are a Japanese and a Lithuanian couple, and none of them speaks English, German or French. Only pointing at himself and showing the number 06 seem to help. Next comes a couple from Hamburg (Michel Chevalier and Rahel), who were very eager to see him, as they read a newspaper article about him and did not like it. When Filch reads it, he also sees a picture of a real beggar next to a picture of the artist of The Beggar's Opera. It has been some time since he’s had to do this, but here he is again explaining that this is not a social project. This leads to a discussion about art, and Filch is getting along with the couple pretty well, especially now they’ve understood him a bit better. "Did you know that there is a biennial in Paris where the projects are presented, but not the names of the artists?" Filch wants to ask if that means that Dora Garcia's name would no longer be mentioned, but would be replaced by: "Filch, The Beggar from The Beggar's Opera." But perhaps that is a name too, he thinks, so doesn't mention it. The man asks if Filch knows where he can find some stones from Gustav Metzger. He walks with them to the Prinzipalmarkt and Filch explains a bit about the work and about the system of having random generator where the stones are placed everyday. This reminds Michel of a book called Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pinchon. It's a story about a US Army lieutenant whose sexual encounters in London during WWII are always followed by a V2-rocket hit. Filch is not sure what Shattered Stones has to do with this idea, but probably the randomness could make people start to believe that it all has a meaning and is a symbol for something.
Filch leaves the couple to enjoy the Shattered Stones and heads to the Landesmuseum. On his way he meets two girls who explain to him what British people mean when they point two fingers at you (essentially, a variation of giving someone the finger). When the archers of England were fighting against the French, they showed the two fingers to the enemy as if to say: with these two fingers and my bow I will kill you.
A little further down the street, he sees Dr. Carina Plath. This is the time to ask about the acquisition committee and whom they recommended, but all she’s willing to tell him is the name of one artist. "One name out of thirteen, is that all?" asks a disappointed Filch. "How am I going to make a living here on the streets, if I can't even know inside information I could sell?" Carina resists Filch’s charms and says she was surprised the newspapers already had some names. "I know, I know," says Filch, remembering his encounter with the press after his meeting with the President. But Carina is not Filch’s only contact, and by the end of the day he has managed to complete the list. Seven artworks have been recommended:
Der Adler (Martha Rosler)
Square Depression (Bruce Naumann)
We are still and reflective (Martin Boyce)
Less Sauvage than Others (Rosemarie Trockel)
WC-Anlage am Domplatz (Hans-Peter Feldmann)
Münsters Geschichte von unten (Silke Wagner)
The plate at the center of the Zone (Mark Wallinger)
and six others are still being discussed:
Roman de Münster (Dominique Gonzales-Foerster)
Blume für Münster (Marko Lehanka)
Modell für ein Museum (Thomas Schütte)
D&F.Anlage-Y.E.S(Ü) (Manfred Pernice)
Archaelogical Site (A Sorry Installation) (Guillaume Bijl)
The Lost Reflection (Susan Philipsz)
Filch understands and doesn't spend too much time on the thought that he's not one of them. But one thing does stick in his mind: THE PLATE AT THE CENTER OF THE ZONE? AND WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE REST OF IT?
Add new comment »
