origami republika - info - what

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1.1 WHAT is the origami republika network, framework and artwork

"They say seeing is believing, but you know, you gotta believe before you can see." - Bob A43

+ origami republika is an including and informal network of people interested in the sharing of expressions; in music, text, video or on stage and in galleries. It now counts nearly 300 agents, who in turn have published hundreds of releases and performed well over a thousand concerts and actions live, all more or less obscure according to "the almost invisible art of" meme.

= origami republika agents work alone or together in temporary or long-term subunits - some work even appear to be in direct opposition to other work, and there is an impressive spread in social and educational backgrounds among the agents; some are working as artists, others are just people feeling up to add something. Inspiration and trust might be the glue of the collage. It is an open situation, and people are invited to join.

- origami republika is indeed very active outside the web archive. The participants have become actors, roles are exchanged, understudies made, and again a celebration of life and potential through abstract and concrete creativity is the drive. The meme was planted firmly in the soil of the international cultural exchange network, and from there it was intended to grow in its own pace. As it did. The alchemical uniomystika or the cultural workers' utopia is achieved as if willed, in instants of bliss. Ad Infinitum?

"Mitten in der Nacht Träumen die Origami's ein anderes Atlantis." - Rinus van Alebeek

+ After having hosted our online web archive for ten years, kunst.no closed down - and thus all our links on record covers and the www died. We have generously been given a new hotel room at TEKS.NO, of which we are very thankful. You might find it too massive and too detailed, but keep in mind that these are not promotional websites, but a way of sharing our entire archive between all members of the network and anyone else who might find it interesting.

= These days people are getting used to clicking around for tiny pieces of expression, and to share tidbits of information on a no-need-to-know basis. This need should be well-fed within these pages. Many texts and photos will be zipped in download-folders instead of html-ed on pages, and along with the expanding archive of free sound downloads, this version might inspire further interest in collecting, reconstructing & remixing origami material - and thus spur desire to participate.

- Yes, our ultimate (utopian) aim is to archivate every piece of sound, text, foto, action, wordgame or artwork that are all equal enzymes within the origamism. Much of our "digital" output and exchange over the last decade is now neatly collected and listed, but the great work of digitalising the cassettes, papers, diary entries and such from the first decade still remains.

"The beauty of origami is to shorten the distance by folding the space." - Lei Yang

"The creative process knows no purpose. The work of art develops from its means alone. And these means are unambiguous. Art is equilibrium obtained by relating all parts to one another." - Kurt A96

In the beginning of the origamism we created "moredan music" through cassette cut-ups and extremely lo-fi walk-man recordings. Soon it expanded as visitors to the Origami HQ or "KomKol" office, backstage at the dBUT record shop were invited to bring "an object and paint it blue". These objects were put in a pile in the corner - according to the "two sticks in a corner" definition most people have of modern art. Of some strange reason shoes seemed to be "object d'art" of that time.

The break from purely musical activities was effectuated, the focus on contrast between methods was set, and the burning snowball started rolling uphill. Origami republika became a combine painting, an assemblage. It became a "living sculpture" based on interaction; faxes, inivites, interactions - much of it through the "mail art" scene. Merging germanic logic with dissenter abstraction as a natural development of the Merz-stage ideas of Kurt Schwitters. This went far above the heads of the people who could have helped us out, and still does twenty years after. There is little on this planet as single-minded as an art critic.

Early on we reframed merz ideas to also allow playing various art movements and even individual artist rosters up against each other. By stealing and cunning we mashed up existing styles and created new fake "movements", labels and headings like THE ART AND MUSIC EXCHANGE NETWORK (a.m.e.n.), EASY MEDIA MAXMALISM, IN LOVE WITH DISCARDED SOUND and CULTURAL EXCHANGE WITH A FRIENDLY SMILE (c.e.w.a.f.s.).

Merz was a personal art movement verving on the mystical. Through poetry, collage, constructions, it evolved into a Cathedral. The Hannover Merzbau grew from pictures hung on a wall in an artists studio, that was intertwined with threads, then wire, then plaster, then wood, in a constant process of change and reframing. Two rooms, the basement, the hallway, up the skylight and out down to the ground, stopping inches over the watertank surface. From including a myriad of allegorical items carefully placed in "grottos" and on "columns", often by visitors, it was all covered and painted over so that the original material was no longer visible. Yet still present. ALMOST INVISIBLE ART OF...

It ended as Kurt A96 had to flee with hos son Ernst to seek refuge in Norway. His original Hannover Merzbau was later bombed - ironically by the allied forces. He tried a new Merzbau - Haus Am Bakken outside Oslo, but again had to flee. This time trying to hide on the west coast, starting another less known Merzbau on Hjertøya outside Molde. Not working. (i am living...). Going to England, spending over a year in prison camp where he was well-known for his smelly glue-pot and love for merzing beauty from the little they had. Released, travelling north to Ambleside, where he started his last Merzbau, the Merzbarn. The remains of this is stacked away safely but unseen by a museum in Newcastle.

It is a great pleasure to tell that no less than four origami agents have seen and touched a piece of this wall. That happened in 1997, as a starting point in the middle is within conceptual consistency, origami seem to cut up time.

"AIA is Art made for the sake of its own, without any explanation or excuses. AIA does not seek publicity and is not made for the sake of money. AIA is experimental in its approach, and seeks to approach complexity in its own terms. AIA is about Action, not Re-Action, the Self of the Artist having Control over the production, working with hirself and others. AIA seeks to play with the idea of Invisibility. AIA is fiercly independent, yet designed for interaction with other performers. AIA is a form of Art available to everyone, working in a no budget/low budget setting just as well as with ample funds." - or_/ballistika

"like our first tape which was limited to 0 copies,
and our first concert which had an audience of 0 people."
- or_/urethrika

Zoorealistic activities and expressions from in and around the Merz Village.Let it be known that the origamism can be seen either as the village and scenery surrounding the church, or as the inhabitants there. All professional and non-professional parts filled. In the earliest stage of the origamism, one even considered to rename it The Village People, only to find out that that name had already been taken. Because:

The more recent zoorealist approach came as a gut reaction to yet another wave of misogynic nothing worship. A new round of endzeit in sight. Well, if mankind fails, the cockroaches will take over. Hiding behind your speaker, between the open gallery door and the wall. As a pop-cultural theme it can be seen as an extension of the disneyfication of the animal world; in the origami merz village the animals don't speak much, but they surely find ways of fitting in the concept. Tiny toy figures as readymades, where the sealion lies down with the lamb.