Page 20 - Studio Internatinal - October 1974

(Left) Jacques Charlier's cartoon-caricature of the 8 January 1974 party at the Daled
home in Brussels. At the top left is Daniel Buren (complaining of having stopped
travelling) and Cadere (with his painting-stick) from Paris and (top right) Lawrence
Weiner from Amsterdam. Below them (I to r) is Mme Ronna and her two children
(Belgians notoriously addicted to attending exhibition openings), Gilbert and George,
Pierre Daled (announcing that he is going to bed), then (I to r) the bearded Carl Andre
(thinking of money?), the soignée Lilli Spillemaeckers of Brussels MTL gallery ('Oh la
le), Nicole Daled (asking 'Doesn't anyone want coffee?'), Marcel Broodthaers (as an
eagle taking its temperature rather than alcoholic drink), and Niele Toroni with his
no.50 brush (asking who wants a brush stroke of cocoa). Below them is (I to r) Marc
Poirier (of the late X-One gallery in Antwerp), Düsseldorf's Konrad Fischer falling
into the Daled's glass-topped coffee-table., and Panamarenko. Along the bottom is
Yves Gevaert (shyly asking if he can take some photos), Issy Fiszmann (and his dog)
selling Pour, Gislind Nabakowski holding Heute Kunst (which announces that I
cannot sleep here), the German sculptor/painter Bernd Lohaus ('Nichts?') and his
wife Anni de Dekker (who runs Antwerp's Wide White Space Gallery), Richard Long
(drinking mineral water 'on the rocks') and MTL's Fernand Spillemaeckers
(appreciating the 'ambiance' and proposing some dancing).

Europe (and who looked like the youngish and how did they get there without heart-attacks? international exhibition for its general lack of
tattered-Bohemian people they are) were mixed Would this experience change their lives, or adventure, this criticism is as much aimed at
with the beautifully-coiffed and shod, dark their pocketbooks? No time to find out, for the the artists as at the organization and selection.
suits and 'little dresses' of a much older and cars were taking people to the big event of the For while I fantasize about Hercule Poirot
more prosperous-looking more usual Brussels evening: an open-to-all buffet meal at the home directing this exhibition, I cannot forget that
'art-scene' (i.e. vernissage —seen) crowd many of the Daleds. And here there was everyone who the realities of the situation's organization had
of whom had been at the other (Nevelson) was or wanted to be anyone. By 11 pm the food some extremely positive characteristics: I have
vernissage in the Palais/Paleis that evening. And had run out (chili-con-carne, cheeses, salad, never known a group exhibition of these
that crowd was crowded. Very soon a garlic bread, for 100) and their apartment was international avant-garde artists where the
revolutionary-looking hand-out was passed crammed with over 300 people swilling wine, artists were treated with such financial and
around inviting all to see Carl Andre's 'A Work mineral water, whisky, and comments like personal respect and diplomacy, where there
& Working' in the offices of Pour, that smugly 'where's the art? I only came here to see the was such a supple and sophisticated co-
`Marxist'-leftist newspaper for 'the people' collection' on the part of people (mostly operation between organization and artists.
published by the diamond-millionaire Issy Belgians) to whom the collecting activities and This supple sophistication in the realities of
Fiszmann who had strolled through the first friendship-with-artists of Nicole and Herman day-to-day personal politics was one of the
opening with long beard and overalls, with large Daled are only a myth of gigantic proportions. most engaging characteristics of the Belgians I
dog and small baby, selling Pour to selected Although the Daleds had locked up their art- met during my two visits this summer. By
friends. The crowd trotted over to the offices, works in drawers, cupboards and filing cabinets, politics I don't mean an interest in (or respect
climbed through the printing presses and up I've they lost a coffee table and all surface-finishes for) the government, but rather a sensitivity and
forgotten how many flights of stairs, to see a through friendly drunken demolition — and realistic honesty about how things are, or can
piece made and given by Andre in support of people are still talking about the night that was. be (or not) accomplished in complex sociological
this 'workers' newspaper' along with a tiny All of which reminds me of something some situations. Perhaps this ability is related to the
portable video-pack recording of the artist 'at Belgian civil-servants told me this summer over Belgian experience of nationality with two
work' on the piece amidst laughing and lounging lunch: that about the only thing Belgians distinct language-cultures, with historically
friends. When I arrived at that office, my heart automatically agree upon is the value of living changing boundaries and foreign dominations,
pounding from cigarettes and stair-climbing, the good life. 'What's that?', I asked. 'Good and with economic prosperity which was as
the surrealist fantasy began in earnest: for there food, good drink, and a festive celebration often hidden ('black money') as not ('white
were at least a dozen mink-coated, overweight, whenever possible.' This particular occasion, money'). It may also be related to the very
elderly 'art-lovers', gazing with rapt attention mixing politics and potential commerce with complexity of the government itself — say, for
and asking serious-looking questions amongst the good life, seems incredibly Belgian to me the visual arts. There are local counsellors for
themselves. Where did they come from, and now. And although I have criticized this the arts, provincial committees, and then of
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