Message in a Bottle: Memory 4
Multimedia installation by Saskia Boddeke
LENNUSADAM - Seaplane Harbour
08.03.2019 – 19.01.2020
Tallinn- Estonia
An Immersive multimedia art-installation: Sex & The Sea by Saskia Boddeke about the sexual desire of the seaman. After its showings in The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland this exhibition in Estonia is an extended version of the installation specially design for Seaplane Harbour - Tallinn. A new Chapter has been added: The Message in a Bottle installation.
Voor de camera van zijn echtgenote Saskia Boddeke onthult filmmaker en manusje-van-alles Peter Greenaway zijn verfijnde, ludieke en prettig gestoorde universum. Hij speelt met de camera, drijft de spot met zijn personage en vertelt over zijn obsessies. Maar als het van hun dochter Zoé afhangt, is de speeltijd voorbij. Door de vragen en de pijn van de 16-jarige worden de kaarten opnieuw geschud. The Greenaway Alphabet is een ludiek, maar raadselachtig portret, nu eens druk en levendig en vaak vrolijk, dan weer somber hier en daar ...
The fascinations of filmmaker Peter Greenaway, whose motto is "art is life and life is art,"are captured like butterflies and arranged in an alphabet, a form that suits him perfectly as an encyclopedist. In intimate conversations with his perceptive 16-year-old daughter Pip, we discover the who's, whats and whys about Greenaway.
Peter Greenaway constructs an alphabet for and with his daughter Zoë as a blueprint of his life. The fascinations of filmmaker Peter Greenaway, whose motto is “art is life and life is art”, are captured like butterflies and arranged in an alphabet, a form suiting him perfectly as an encyclopedist. In intimate conversations with his perceptive 16-year-old daughter Zoë, we discover the “whos, whats, and whys” about Greenaway. They begin with A, which stands for Amsterdam, but could also stand for autism, Zoë suggests. Greenaway’s boundless creativity and unconstrained flow of words brings this to mind indeed, and he admits to wearing the label with pride. The playful conversations don’t shy away from painful topics: we hear that Greenaway hasn’t seen two other children of his for years. Later, heartbroken and in tears, Zoë asks him if for once he can stop talking like a commentator. Zoë’s spontaneous questions penetrate Greenaway to the core, enabling his wife, multimedia artist Saskia Boddeke, to make a deeply personal portrait not only of the artist, but also of Greenaway the father in his battle against time.
NYC PREMIERE Acclaimed filmmaker Peter Greenaway – perhaps best known for The Cook, The Thief, His Wife andHer Lover – is a lover of patterns and sequences, a motif that recurs throughout his work. In this playful portrait by his wife, multimedia artist Saskia Boddeke, Greenaway engages in an autobiographical alphabetic word association led by his perceptive 16-year-old daughter, Pip. As the father and daughter run through their ABCs, illustrated by scenes from his lavish body of work, a deeply personal, and surprisingly revealing, portrait of Greenaway emerges.
The fascinations of film maker Peter Greenaway, whose motto is "art is life and life is art,"are captured like butterflies and arranged in an alphabet, a form that suits him perfectly as an encyclopedist. In intimate conversations with his perceptive 16-year-old daughter Zoë, we discover the whos, whats and whys about Greenaway. They begin with A, which stands for Amsterdam, but could also stand for autism, Zoë suggests. Greenaway’s boundless creativity, unconstrained flow of words and passion for collecting certainly bring this to mind, and he admits to wearing the label with pride. The playful conversations don’t shy away from more painful topics; we hear that Greenaway hasn’t seen two other children of his for years. And later, heartbroken and in tears, Zoë asks him if for once he’ll stop talking like a commentator. Zoë’s spontaneous questions penetrate Greenaway to the core, enabling his wife, multimedia artist Saskia Boddeke, to make a deeply personal portrait not only of the artist, but also of Greenaway the father in his battle against time.
The Greenaway Alphabet by Saskia Boddeke
November 21 22.15 Premiere IDFA Amsterdam
Opening 2 July - Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto
The natural state of man is of peace and amity - otherwise how has man survived for so long? But we must be vigilant. Despite all injustices, grief and violence, the civilisation of man works, otherwise we would not be here. But we must be vigilant, very vigilant. Nature is neutral but it will not tolerate disaffection. There is a concept for our human purposes we might conveniently call Evil, which is destructive, but Evil can be conquered.
Evil is traditionally represented by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. For human society they traditionally represent the imbalances of disease or pestilence, hunger or famine, violence or war. We struggle to contain and destroy them. We always in the end seek and find peace. Until, that is, the next calamity. Then we have to start all over again. When peace reigns, the four horses of the apocalypse are put away, are stabled, kept quiet and controlled.
The four horsemen are kept quiet in a cellar in Spoleto. And God should be their controller, but is hiding in his/her private hiding place. The last room of the fourth horseman of death, is occupied by a mild creature representing Hope. We can visit the horsemen of the apocalypse in Spoleto and we can consider and contemplate all their many implications, especially for all of us just now - at this historical moment.
This installation will tell in a poetic and metaphorical way about the right for children to be raised in a safe and healthy environment, the right to be educated, the right of the freedom of speech and freedom of Press, the freedom of any religious belief or no religious belief at all as long as it remains peaceful and does no harm. And it hopes to demonstrate universal rights for all.
Concept, Film & direction: Saskia Boddeke
Text: Peter Greenaway
Music: Luca D'Alberto
Horse men: Hendrik Aerts
Hope: Pip Greenaway
Dancer: Dunja Jocic
Festival dei Due Mondi, Spoleto
2 July - 16 July 2017
Ex Museo Civico Spoleto
Exhibition Paintings Peter Greenaway - Curated by Saskia Boddeke
Chtchoukine, Shchukin, Sjtjoekin. Icônes de l'art Moderne. La Collection Chtchoukine. Icons of Modern Art. The Shchukin Collection.
On September 9, Saskia opened the exhibition Sex & the Sea.
Sex & the Sea has previously been shown at the Maritiem Museum in Rotterdam and at the Maritime Museum of Sweden.
Saskia Boddeke about this exhibition:
“The exhibition Sex and the Sea can be seen as a poetic immersive experience. The signature of my work is that it scratches at places you do not expect. It might look and feel beautiful and melancholic, but the message I bring can be painfull. I use the esthetic to open up the audience, so they can embrace the message. The theme of the exhibition is the love and hate relation sailors have with the sea. It is about emotions like loneliness, homesickness, but also about the exploitation of women abroad, but also those left at home”.
September 9, 2016 - August 13, 2017
M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark
Ny Kronborgvej 1 - DK-3000 Elsinore
Tuesday – Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Writing to Vermeer Saskia Boddeke
Photo: Igor Mandic
The story of forefather Abraham, who is willing to obey God's command and sacrifice his son, is one of the most puzzling passages of the Bible. In the three monotheistic religions, it is among the most significant and most popular stories and among the first that were ever depicted. The text that is handed down in Judaism as the "Binding of Isaac" to this day still raises questions that are answered differently by the three religions.
British film director Peter Greenaway and multimedia artist Saskia Boddeke understand the sacrifice of Isaac as a human drama. Which is stronger – God's command or the love of a father? And where can the modern subject be found between the priorities of obedience and trust?
