Guido van der Werve

L'artiste Guido van der Werve est né en 1977 dans la petite ville de Papendrecht. Peut-être que la musicalité du nom de cette bourgade néérlandaise (ce shithole comme il l'appelle lui-même) lui a-elle formé l'oreille, car il insiste beaucoup sur l'importance du fond sonore de ses vidéos (ce que ce film-ci, nummer acht, intitulé Everything is going to be allright ne montre pas).

Guido van der Werve est un artiste plein d'humour, comme le révèle cette interview.

Ainsi, il parle des cours d'échecs qu'il suit à NY, car il est en train d'imaginer une oeuvre mêlant musique, piano et jeu d'échecs:

"Yeah, the Marshall Chess Club on West 10th Street. I think it’s the oldest one in the States. That’s where Marcel Duchamp went when he was living in New York. Fisher was also there a lot. I was looking for someone to work with on this chess variation, the King’s Gambit, so I looked at the bulletin board at the club where all these Grand Masters advertise. That’s how a lot of them make a living, by teaching. So I phoned up this guy to ask if he had any time for new students, and I heard this massive Russian accent, which I thought was really funny. And then when I met him for the first time, I realized he was this full-on Orthodox Jewish guy. We chatted a bit and he asked if he could see some of my games. I showed them to him, and then he looked at me and said [affecting a comically thick Russian accent] “You play chess like Hezbollah.”’

De même, lorsqu'il parle de sa vidéo "Walking Pigeon", Guido van der Werve révèle un regard plein d'ironie et de fantaisie:

'I was just hanging out somewhere in Amsterdam and staring at this pigeon walking by and I thought: It’s so fucking sad in a way that they have to move their head every time they take a fucking step. [laughter] It looked really painful, almost. So I made a thing that would push my head back and forth every time I took a step.
Maybe he walks in a way like Beckett describes it, how it’s sort of abstract, or a metaphor for struggle. But I also like to keep that very unclear. When I saw this pigeon walking by, I thought: This is a great metaphor for the mood I’m in. I didn’t know exactly why. I just knew it was.’

Toutes ses vidéos sont visibles sur le site de Guido van der Werve.

Je pense que je suis amoureuse de Guido van der Werve.