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Although I'll be celebrating my 62nd birthday shortly and have every intention of doubling the number of years of the anniversary that is coming up (35), I can't help wondering how much longer I'll be able to follow the continuously changing social idiom. It's always about vested interests, I know, and that's never going to change, but there must come a point where I'll be defeated by the smokescreens put up by one generation after another. I'm finding the "sourcing of follow-up care" by employers confronted with occupationally disabled workers quite enough of a challenge - in my view it's simply another attempt by the authorities of getting someone else to pay for commitments from the past having spun out of control. And although I'm perfectly happy to go along with the notion that 40-year-old power outlets are capable of providing access to green power, when I see an organically grown apple at least I know the wormholes to be genuine. Could it be that I'm resisting the tendency to convert social issues into merchandise so as to preserve the illusion of control? Even the theme of this exhibition (Silence - contemporary still life in terms of a social phenomenon) is far from safe: a recent editorial in Het Parool* reported on the civilian option of sourcing silence from airports by having these suspend their duty of making lots of noise for the term of the contract. Sourcing silence, that makes me speechless even though I can spot some perspective. My proposal is that lovers of still lifes should be granted an additional right entitling those who condone the nuisance caused by aircraft noise - which neatly brings us back to the silent majority - to be presented with the still life of their dreams. * This original idea was featured on the "Opinions" page dated 19 September 2003. |
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