Dear Bauke,

Dear Fran,

Dear the vast all-around and intimate in between of your bodies, persona’s, thoughts and desires,

A letter is a space and I’ll call this space mine (at least until it’s finished)

My rules for the space are as follows:

I’ll draw a card.
Based on that card, I’ll write five sentences, followed by an image, followed by five sentences, followed by an image…
I continue this procedé until I’m sick of it
Or, run out of time
Then I’ll write: “have a lovely summer, cheers to leisure, can’t wait to start again. Vincent”
I’ll email this letter to you to share the space.
To close the practice from my side, I’ll have an iced coffee from my favorite cup, no matter the weather.

For you, there is just two rules:

Listen to Lyra Pramuk – Tendril while reading this letter (on repeat if necessary)
Drink something that makes you happy

XIII DEATH

Death marks the end of a period. This painful experience is going to be liberating and now is the time to let go. This card represents transformation and change, which will create room for new impulses. Death does not bring success, but clears the way for new efforts and a new round. In a relationship, this card is a messenger of changes. For work, the card represents the end of some not very pleasant, sluggish situations and/or overcoming the crisis.

let go, it’s
to the
situation

Flemish language death tarot card reading de dood depicting two crossed stakes covered in vines

time

death tarot card depicting a knight on horseback

to say goodbye
current

For once, I wish this card to not (only) be about us. How come so many days in our practice have taken place in the proximity of the thought of death, but we have not spoken about rebirth once? What’s up with our cyclical account of time? Where is it that death is manifesting in our practice and where can we find rebirth hiding? I think I’m interested in the ending, the no, the refusal, the ceasing of death and its possibility of transformation.

What more is there in the

Two blue earbud headphones curled in the shape of a heart

space that we are not seeing?

What does death mean to circus? What is (an) ending? What needs to die in order for us to overcome? How can a rigged dialogue be a space to collectively linger in this liminal moment of the card ‘death’; a moment in the all around of business as usual, outside of fixed structures? What could it mean for us to see the rigging practice as a death ritual, some sort of funeral?

What have we
we becoming? What
towards?

A close up of microbes which looks like a tundra landscape

become? What are
are we moving

I have spent a lot of time thinking about the process this summer. For the moment, this thinking was not very fruitful. But I start to like being close to these ideas again and that makes me feel good. I feel a desire to be specific. Maybe our division of tasks and research strands could help with that? Maybe we need to pick a clearer focus, for all of us or individually?

What does this
you?

Green text on a blue and white background reading where do we find shelter for the big bad things that haunt us in our dreams? What keeps us apart? Why are we worried? Where are we? What else is there to do? Are we porous? Can we feel? How to keep our bodies from shivering when we think of tomorrow?

space mean to

I feel I’m getting closer to the end of the letter. I’m stuck thinking about everything I left unsaid. Some things I didn’t want to say, some I couldn’t say, some I can’t even detect. I hope this letter left some space for you to inhabit. I’m closing while thinking of change, about making space, about leaving open space, about the predetermination of a space, about whether or not to fill in the blanks.

Have a lovely
cheers to
wait to