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The seeding season and the seeding season only
This collaboration has been an adventure and I realize how courageous Trinca has been to invite me into this when they have only started rooting themselves two months ago. While many people dream of having their own bar or restaurant only few realize how much it really takes.
It is inspiring to feel how we all share our joy in the beauty of ingredients, the importance of knowing their origin, both literally and culturally and our belief that creativity is crucial whether we talk restaurant or studio. Many seeds have set, back and forth. Stories and backgrounds of the Trincazinhos made my mind run wild with possibilities, as have kitchen utensils, mean machines, fruit arrangements, guests and the stimulating interior and I hope that my cookbooks and tales of the food I remember from childhood left a lovely trace in their kitchen as well. I was afraid to be confronted with my fears. Fear to show my work, for it not to be appreciated, not be able to produce at a life painting session and yes, fear for the social media circus in general. These fears turned out to be unfounded, or more precise, secondary and fueling a process of growth for which I am grateful: Flow* is at the core of this, the state of mind in which we are most creative, slightly out of our comfort zone, challenged but still feeling safe. Looking back I feel that Neeltje, as an artist, has completed part 1, Seeding, by defining this context for collaborations to come. By defining this it became clear to me that the changeable circumstances inherent to starting a restaurant and the pressure this put on my co-creators were in the end not compatible with my creative process. As a friend I wanted to be flexible but as an artist I should have been conscious of my limits in order not to break my creative thread which is, like it or not, vulnerable and which I can not initiate over and over and at the same time arrive at the projected harvest in the relatively short timespan we had. To me this was not an exhibition but a collaboration. A fertile one too though much remained undiscovered on a deeper, process level which feels a bit like a lost chance but is also a valuable insight for future projects where I intend to have a stronger incline of how to live them together till the harvest. In 'Roots' language: We did some serious growing and I made valuable progress discovering what is needed to reach full bloom. *Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi |
Neeltje's Roots continuation (updated Jan 2020):
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