Netherlandia Archives - Museum of Photocopies

PINS – Rule Fifty: Despair

Despair is all around, as we know, even in PINS, though maybe the maker of the game tried not to think too much about that, as there had been plenty of *that* over the years. You can peruse the images below, or read about despair, here.

A photograph a screenshot from a 1970s Dutch-Belgian art film filmed in different Dutch homes that look like anywhere in the 1980s. This was taken on location in an art gallery, using an iPhone pointed at a small TV screen. The image that is ripe for photocopying in the correct circumstances and using the correct paper (we suggest a grey or pastel variety).

A Twitch on the Thread

What does time teach us? Placing remembrances of time over the detritus of other times doesn’t bring much it seems, except more confusion. Who knows? Beware those with answers.

A Twitch on the Thread #2 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photograph of a private party of bulb workers relaxing. Superimposed on a photocopy of a family war record. What do we do with old artefacts and information?

A Twitch on the Thread #3 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photograph of a pensive Photocopier waiting for a train. Superimposed on a photocopy of a family war record. What do we do with old artefacts and information?

The Memory Vortex – Stasis #2

In the Spring of 2000, the Photocopier left England to live in a caravan in the Netherlands. He took a lot of pictures before leaving and on arriving.

Back then, photographs were taken on a camera. Some turned out well, some didn’t. Some are of a Lancashire long gone, some of a Holland just discovered but now disappeared for ever.

What remains in these photocopies of photographs is the stasis, the time that never existed, the time that floated around not asking to be captured. That’s the time that stays with us when we see it again.

An A4 photocopy of a photograph taken just before the Photocopier moved to the Netherlands. Treated with filters and adjustments on his ASUS laptop. Where do we go when everything is closed to us?

An A4 photocopy of two photographs, taken just before and long before the Photocopier moved to the Netherlands. No filters or adjustments. Memories of sitting down and staring into space. Another form of stasis.

The Memory Vortex – Stasis #1

In the Spring of 2000, the Photocopier left England to live in a caravan in the Netherlands. He took a lot of pictures before leaving and on arriving.

Back then, photographs were taken on a camera. Some turned out well, some didn’t. Some are of a Lancashire long gone, some of a Holland just discovered but now disappeared for ever.

An A4 photocopy of photograph staken just after the Photocopier moved to the Netherlands. Treated with filters and adjustments on his ASUS laptop. FEBO, Pearle Opticians and terraces. Staples all. And all still here. But just not these ones.

An A4 photocopy of photographs taken just before and after the Photocopier moved to the Netherlands. Treated with filters and adjustments on his ASUS laptop. Abandoned promotional lorries in Dutch fields. Plastic coated netting surrounding a sump pit near Accrington Stanley, all now long gone.

SleepLife Dream Log #3

A few weeks ago the Photocopier collated some answers about the sleep life of important professionals in the music business, in the upstairs room of a Groningen pub. Some of those answers (spread over four separate posts) are to be seen here. One can only wonder; what does sleep really mean to us, during our never-ending lives?

Sleep_Life_Sleep_Log_1 — The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Russian. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Sleep Life Dream Log 3 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photocopy of a form found in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Belarusian. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Sleep Life Dream Log 9 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photocopy of a form found in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Dutchman. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Sleep Life Dream Log 17 — A photograph of a photocopy of a pencil drawing. The Photocopier once started drawing images that made him sleepy or had an inherently tiring element to them. These images – taken from various sources (the suffering of WW2 prisoners, young people being young) make him very sleepy.

Sleep Life Dream Log #2

Sleep Life Dream Log 12 — A photograph of a photocopy of a colour photocopy of a drawing. The Photocopier’s friend Charlien asked him about any recurring nightmares he may have. The Photocopier doesn’t like to think of eyes under water.

Sleep Life Dream Log 11 — A photograph of a photocopy of a form found by the photocopier in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Dutchman. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Sleep Life Dream Log 7 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photocopy of a form found in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Slovenian. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Sleep_Life_Sleep_Log_2 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photocopy of a form found in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Russian. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

A photograph of a photocopy of a pencil drawing. The Photocopier once started drawing images that made him sleepy or had an inherently tiring element to them. These images – taken from various sources (the suffering of WW2 prisoners, young people being young) make him very sleepy. This particular image is a favourite of Estonian popstar Mart Avi as it reminds him of his grandfather.

Sleep Life Dream Log #1

Sleep Log 10 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photocopy of a form found in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a German. I think… The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Sleep Life Dream Log 16 — A photograph of a photocopy of a pencil drawing. The Photocopier once started drawing images that made him sleepy or had an inherently tiring element to them. These images – taken from various sources (the suffering of WW2 prisoners, young people being young) make him very sleepy.

Sleep Life Dream Log 4 — A photograph of a photocopy of a photocopy of a form found in the office of WORM Rotterdam. The Photocopier asked some of his friends in the music business how they slept. Some of the answers are very revealing, some tug at the heartstrings and make The Photocopier want to illustrate their experiences, others are brief to the point of emotionally stunted. What do these answers hide, or tell? This is from a Belarusian. The makeshift questionnaire came to being when The Photocopier found a strange printed set of forms in his works copier; the fields filled with what looked liked a number of stuck keys, specifically z’s and i’s. This seemed appropriate to use in Sleep Life.

Bubbles #3

Sometimes I think my life, especially that part of my life I have spent living in the Netherlands is akin to being stuck in a bubble. Or sitting in a greenhouse floating through an endless void. Of course, both situations have their advantages.

The curator found this photocopy in his coat pocket after a night out in Blackburn, Lancashire. Mid 1990s. Given its unknown provenance this slip of paper must be a contender for the most forlorn wish never granted.

Photocopy of a fairly perfunctory pencil sketch of a photograph of a woman sitting on a designer couch. Image taken from a glossy magazine. Imagine if this image was the sole remnant of how we lived in the 2000’s. The silent, unseeing mystery pointing towards the void, akin to looking at a painted sarcophagus.

Photograph of a sketch in byro and felt tip and pencil. The subjects of the drawing are diverse. One is from an advert promoting one of the many devices of the “Nokia Years” (aka early internet, pre-smartphone era) where modern people needed a whole array of digital aides to go about their business. The other is from a photocopy of a famous photograph of three girls crossing a road in Amsterdam in 1970. The (almost brazen) sense of nothingness of this image whispers something to me about the Netherlands. I’m not sure what.

Bubbles #1

Life seems to be led in a bubble of our own current fancies. This is true in the Netherlands, where I live, where my longstanding obsession with images of the descent from the cross and the last judgment are often put politely to one side.

Over the summer, I decided to throw out all my old papers and photocopies and paintings. My friends Paul and Dan rearranged them for me and added their own mark. The resulting works were shown – and remained – in Rotterdam.

The three new works somehow managed to have an air of the Baroque, and Northern Renaissance images I have long admired. Details of two are shown here in black and white. I wonder what’s going to happen when giving answers to everything stops being a going concern.