Peers, Dirk

(1957–2003]

23. DE MAALTIJD [The Meal. December 1994 January 1995. Opening speech by Vana van.
40. Duo presentation with Ruth Mentens. March 1996. During this opening night a performance by van, Het Mosseldiner [The Pan of Mussels], and a solo concert by Raymond Van het Groenewoud.
51. Open Deuren [Open Doors. 1996.
80. June 1998. Presentation in the basement of Aannemersstraat 54. Simultaneous a presentation upstairs by Ignace De Vos. Critique Edith Doove.
crox-card dirk peers.jpeg crox-card 71

104. THE FIRST 10. Summer 2000. Final show at Aannemersstraat 54 and release of a small edition concerning the first decade of croxhapox.
120. HOMAGE. Coproduction with Galerie Jan Colle (Gent) and In Den Bouw (Kalken). May 2004.
145–1. BASICS 2. Group show at Lucas Munichstraat 72. June 2005. Works from the crox-archive.
145–2. BASICS 2. Sequel at Abdij Maagdedale, Oudenaarde. 2006.
VERZAMELWOEDE [Collecting Mania. Group show at Abdij Maagdedale, Oudenaarde. Works from the collection of Ruth Mentens. 2007.
crox-card 71. Les choses (c1998), linocut. 2008.
crox-card 72. 73. 74. Untitled (c1998), linocut. 2008.

EEN TEKST, TWEE WOORDEN, DRIE BEELDEN – [ONE TEXT, TWO WORDS, THREE IMAGES] Hans van Heirseele wrote the text for the catalogue of a triptych in Campo Santo chapel, C.C.St.A. The triptych consisted of solo projects by Lucy Slock, Philip Aguire, Dirk Peers. Similar to what happens during the - at that time (in)famous - crox opening speeches, van Heirseele entirely goes against the discourse which is used customarily in catalogues. De Brakke Hond NR 37 (1993) publishes a more or less identical text, the seventh fragment of 'Le Cadavre Repris', a loplop-poem Joris Denoo and Peter Verhelst also contributed to.

"Verpeersen. Slockomotion. Aguirratie. Key concepts for a better understanding of. Words that. Irresistibly without content. That are not in the dictionary. A dark reason why. Not to be in a dictionary.
Which means more or less: to be free of meaning.
The dictionary signals this wee bit of content./ Digital emptiness annex a crate of lager versus content: a bridge to the deer, to the toad a tunnel, to the author of  trilogies a prop, a handkerchief to the pile of suet, inconsequences of the physical object.
There are dictionaries and dictionaries./ Some dictionaries even know all about the ubiquitous and very useful word "prat":
prat, bn. bw. (-ter, -st), fier, trots, hovaardig: prat gaan op zijn geld [proud, boasting, … To be showing off with one’s money.]
Some dictionaries apparently don’t agree:
prat, prats. If you call someone a prat, you mean that they are very stupid or foolish.
Or consider "prop".
op de proppen komen: met iets op de proppen komen, over iets spreken, daarvan gewagen, enzovoort./ While Collins Cobuild (Harper & Collins London 1991) says the following:
prop is 2.1. an object, for example a stick, that you use to support something in a particular position. EG (bijvoorbeeld) He used two sticks as props for the rope./ Or: Juan put a prop in the troubadour's arse.
According to one dictionary it would mean, I quote: 1. A ball of compressible, soft or string like material, or 4. The rounded end or pedestal supporting some turning object or even 6. Human leg, in the expression. “op de proppen komen”: to bring something up, talk about something, mention something, etc./ While Collins Cobuild (Harper & Collins London 1991) have the following to say:
2. A prop is 2.1. an object, for example a stick, that you use to support something in a particular position. E.g. He used two sticks as props for the rope./ Or: Juan put a prop in the troubadour's arse.
But also, and one wonders what to think of this:
2.3. an object or a piece of furniture that is used on a theatre stage when a play is being acted, or when a film is being made.
A prop here doubles as a theatrical object.
This tiny bit of content sets one (a) to laugh, (b) to weep, (c) you scared us, (d) you feel tricked, (e) you think it’s sweet, (f) the meaning is lost.
Under multiplication, the factor zero reduces everything to naught.. Nil./ Starting point, end point. Zilch, gone, lost, over and done. Here = there. Closed = open. White = black. Content = 0.
In the long run, all marginal bits of content taken together equal zero../ Zero balances mathematics and prospection.

CONTENT RAISED TO THE POWER CONTENT = 0

This is no law, even if it could become one after emptying this or another bottle.
Meaning, meaning, I tend to think I can conclude from this, is not only temporary... essentially it is also flat out indecent./ After having effectuated the essential purchases, every message ends up in the waste bin.
Let us now take a better look at the following sentence which simulates meaning: The girl’s attention was drawn willy-nilly to a blotch on the wall./The breathless starting point of imagination? This blotch appeared to be…/ (a) the voice of another love-affair… illuminated, painted,/ craved Nirvana. Chaos. (b) the abstract and visceral middle between things that are not. I quote. But it is not (c) gruesome, none is gruesome, none is (d) wonderful, none is wonderful.
"Gruesome joys are there," I thought, quoting Manganelli for a while, "one can only experience in hell.
The blotch electrified me. So, I had hammered a nail into the wall... During the few hours that I didn’t spend sleeping, to be sure... And then? The method was of an extreme simplicity, the act didn’t seem to represent anything in particular... until... suddenly... I noticed that I had used my bare hands./ Afterwards, I ended up in the emergency ward of a local museum which I left a few weeks later, skipping joyfully homeward past the peersed abattoir of the local squatters./ This blotch, this unrecognised, humble masterpiece, (a) endeared me, (b) made me roll over with laughter, (c) I looked askance, terrified, and, (d) terrified you, (e) I coughed and hurriedly went nowhere." (October 1995)

SCHRIFTUUR Edith Doove, Criticism of the projects by Ignace De Vos and Dirk Peers. “Recensie over de projecten van Ignace De Vos en Dirk Peers. Published in “De Standaard”, Wednesday 17 June 1998.  "--- The tension between figuration and abstraction is extended in the work of Chris Peeters which is shown in the cellar./ Peeters is gradually becoming an important cornerstone of the repertoire of Croxhapox. The room is filled with coloured paper, covered by all kinds of stencils.1 It could be patterns for dyeing fabrics, and Peeters probably could be a good illustrator. For the moment, he gives these drawings the freedom to reach out on their own.”
croxcard 72 Dirk Peers crox-card 72 untitled

[1] Spoons and knifes, and knifes and forks. The forks are missing. The pattern beneath it is that of a skull.