Call me Ishmael / Noem me Ismaël
'Whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball.'- Ishmael in Moby Dick, 1851
In the summer of 2014 artists, Doris Denekamp and Geert van Mil, worked and lived in the artist in residence Het Vijfde Seizoen in Den Dolder. The residency space is an old pavilion on the terrain of the Willem Arntsz Hoeve, a psychiatric institution.
Together with the patients, Denekamp & Van Mil read the epic story of Moby Dick. This novel written by Herman Melville in 1851, tells the story of revenge by Captain Ahab on the white whale Mody Dick and the protagonist Ismael. Inspired by this classic novel, the artists and the patients came up with new stories. These are being processed in a contemporary version of Moby Dick. The title of this new publication is Call me Ishmael, and it will be published by Jap Sam Books spring 2015.
Doris Denekamp (1984) and Geert van Mil (1983), both artists, have been working together under the name informal strategies since 2011. With their work, they investigate the role of stories in society today. Their (video) installations, publications and performances come into being in constantly changing, collaborative exchanges, and often have a direct relationship to the location where the work evolves.