mind over matter, or perhaps the other way 'round

yesterday a couple of friends and I attended the BRAINWASH festival in Amsterdam; an entire day (from 1 pm to 1 am) dedicated to philosophy,
OMG and whew and wow!
We heard Michael Sandel - from Harvard University no less, and partook in a Socratic discussion on what is just, on what is the right thing to do, some more than others as there were 1600 of us in the audience! Anthrophologist/journalist Joris Luyendijk, whose most recent book Dit kan niet waar zijn about the London bankers world is a bestseller, which I too happened to have read making me feel worthy at being present; Laura van Dolron, theatre maker/performer, philosopher Marli Huijer, who spoke to us about Hannah Arendt's 'inter esse' and how there is always an in-between-space which defines what we think, see, hear, feel, are......Brooklyn based Guardian journalist Oliver Burkeman, who pleaded passionately in favour of inefficiency, I wholeheartedly concur; Farid Tabarki, who was introduced as one of the most influential persons on our planet*, although to be honest I had never heard of him, which probably says more about me; he is a trend watcher who has been travelling the globe observing and predicting where we're heading! His main claim is that in our so-called modern, fluid society what we need to do is LISTEN to each other, amen to that. Joep Schrijvers, author of international ever seller Hoe word ik een rat? or How do I become a rat? joined a discussion on the future of capitalism and a couple more whose names I can't recall.   

fortunately the talks were situated in various locations, so we were not just sitting and absorbing, we got to walk and talk a bit as well; en route from one theatre to the next we stumbled upon this cute book stall, I have never seen these in Amsterdam before, they always remind me of Paris....so romantic

and here in the Theatre 'De Brakke grond', yet another bookshop: with an incredible selection of second-hand books and exclusive limited editions; I simply couldn't resist and bought three slim volumes to rinse my grey matter after such an enervating day

I am attracted by book covers, so the choice was made with my eyes rather than my mind:
the first I feel speaks for itself, or rather Herself: 'a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write' the one and only Virginia Woolf 

the second is an interview with the German author Rainald Goetz an unknown to me, the bookseller told me Goetz, during a televised literary tournament in 1983 said 'Ich schneide ein Loch in meinem Kopf' and adding action to words, he slit his own forehead with a razor blade and as the blood ran down his face he continued reading until finished, I became intrigued; the title suggests a passionate nature as it translates into "Anger = Energy' 

Book number three by Jean Cocteau, visual and word-artist, took me back to a framed poster of this exact same image we had in our family home, so this was my madeleine for the day and as the title refers to children, albeit terrible ones, quite fitting I think. 


* I exaggerate a petit peu

meanwhile back at the studio, tiny stitches connect dike to water