We were so poor I had to take the place of the bait in the mousetrap
from the poem “We were so poor...”
by Charles Simic
DE project is an experiment of trust.
We are the bate in the mousetrap, the mice too.
We're in search of whatever unites us, advocating all that divide us.
DE project is an experiment of collectivity.
An open question about the role an artist has, the importance of art, the potential of politics.
Both an effort and the failure to overrun narcissism.
The DE project is a process of accountability.
It is a denial of the dominant narrative, a disbelief in the use of images
- not only from the spectral "Media" but also from ourselves.
It is a process of mourning, but also a dream's work .
It is a denial to do what we are told to.
- and even more intensively - what we're told from our very own selves.
If our images stand out for something, it's for acknowledging personal responsibility.
They don't portray the others. But even when they do, they recognize their own Self in the Other, they don't observe, they don't record, they acknowledge relations, they suggest dynamics, they seek conversations.
More than looking at, they're listening in.
DE project is not a comparison of sufferings, a recounting of dramas, or a complaint report. It is - even if it's irrelevant to our intentions- an affirmation of what's visible, a meditation on the present, a footnote about the future.
It is the effort to describe the clouds:
Ι 'd have to be really quick to describe clouds-
a split second 's enough for them to start being something else.
Wislawa Szymborska
But also the mountains :
I 'd have to be light on my foot to shift mountains-
they distract your view if you are not standing on the top.
Lara Zumblovka
And we're not standing on the top.
Non serviam. I will not serve.