AUCTION / ACTION
9 juin 2007
ABSTRACT
The first version of a collaborative scenario.

1. Entrance of a museum of contemporary art. An auction is about to begin. Shot of the big hall.

2. Camera pans through the people assembled. Camera zooms in on faces. No art works on display.

3. Camera zooms in. No objects are for sale. A DVD is put in a computer. A sentence appears on a LCD screen.

4. Camera zooms in on the sentence.

1.WHERE I AM CALLING FROM.

5. The auctioneer starts the sale of the sentence. Public seems to feel a kind of uneasiness. Some of them stand alone, some talk.

6. A mobile phone is ringing. Camera zooms in on the person answering his phone. Person talks very loud. Public listens in. A bid on the sentence is done by the person representing the caller.

7. Another mobile phone is ringing. And yet another one… and another one… all the people picking up their phone talk loudly in the middle of the people around them…

8. More bids on the sentence. Prices go up rapidly. Close shots of people and the sentence.

9. Shots of various landscapes. In rapid progression the shots zoom in on small structures in different environments.

10. Next to abandoned border infrastructure a person is talking in his mobile phone, gesticulating fiercely.

11. The atmosphere in the auction hall is tense. The bidding subsides. The sentence is sold.

12. Camera zooms in on the DVD being taken out. Screen fades to black.

13. A new sentence appears.

14. And yet another one… and another one…

2.SLEEPING WITH THE PEOPLE FROM BELGIUM (TWELVE IN A ROOM IN AMERICA)

3.CHOOSING THE LANGUAGE OF THE PRESENT MINORITY : POTENTIAL ESTATE’S CONTRIBUTOR ADAM LEECH (US)

4.ENTERING THE KINGDOM OF COINCIDENCE.

15. Camera shows different shots of the people on their mobile phones. Each sentence being offered for sale. They have started a competition among each other.

5. 9:00 PM : A GIFT FOR THE VILLAGE

6. BUILDING THE "OUT INN", AN OPEN AIR BAR AND CHILDREN’S PLAYGROUND.

7. GOOD TIMES, BAD TIMES. PROPOSING A COLLABORATIVE SCENARIO AND A PUBLIC MOBILE SCULPTURE.

8.READING THE RANDOM LAKE YELLOW PAGES IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE BELGIANS.

9. BRINGING A POSTCARD FROM OUR HOMETOWN. BUILDING A HOUSE AROUND THE POSTCARD IN BELGIUM, WISCONSIN.

10. ORGANIZING ’THE OUTSIDERS’ INTERPLAY FESTIVAL’ WITH LOCAL FOLK BANDS.

11.BELGIUM… SHIT I’M STILL IN BELGIUM

12. INVITATION OUR NATION STARTS HERE. BE PART OF IT. NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE IS NEEDED.

13. SEARCHING FOR THE UGLIEST GIRL IN BELGIUM WISCONSIN, AND WHEN I SEE HER, CLOSING MY EYES AND PRAYING THAT SHE WAS PRETTY.

14. SEARCHING FOR THE PRETTIEST GIRL IN BELGIUM WISCONSIN, AND WHEN I SEE HER, CLOSING MY EYES AND PRAYING THAT SHE WAS UGLY.

15. STUDYING AND DRAWING THE PATTERNS MADE BY LAWN MOWERS.

16. MAKING A CLANDESTINE BOWLING, THE DARK SIDE OF THE VEGAS’ FLAMINGO. USING OLD BOTTLES, ENGINES, TRASH FOR THE BALLS AND GAME’S STUFF. MAKING BEAUTIFUL SHIRTS WITH PERFECT LOGOS LIKE "POTENTIAL FLAMINGO HARDCORE BOWLING BAND"


Flemish Bastard

Flemish Bastard aka Jan Smits aka John Smiths aka Canaqueese : metis Mohawk chief whose birth and death dates remain unknown. Son of a Mohawk mother and a Dutch father, he led war parties against the French and served as an intermediary between the French, Dutch, and English circa 1650-1687.

Source : Perrot, Nicolas. Ch. 15 of "Mémoire sur les moeurs, coustumes et religion des sauvages de l’Amérique Septentrionale" at Turning Points in Wis. History) ; see also "The Role of Chief Canaqueese in the Iroquois Wars" by Peter Lowensteyn

Congress on boat
The fourth CIAM congress (1933) was held on a boat (the S.S.Patris) going from Marseille to Athens and back. They discussed the theme of the functional city. Moholy–Nagy shot a film on the boat : Diary : Architects’ Congress.

17. WRITING A NOVEL AND BEGINNING BY QUOTING : THE PAST IS NEVER DEAD, IT IS NOT EVEN PAST.-WILLIAM FAULKNER

18. SEARCHING FOR THE MOST POPULAR BOY IN BELGIUM WISCONSIN, AND WHEN I SEE HIM PRAYING THAT HE WOULD SHIT IN HIS PANTS.

19. SEARCHING FOR THE MOST ALIENATED, UNPOPULAR BOY IN BELGIUM WISCONSIN, AND WHEN I SEE HIM PRAYING THAT HE COULD IMAGINE A BRIGHTER FUTURE.

20. TAKE A LEFT AT THE PLACE WHERE THEY‘RE THINKING OF BUILDING A HOMEMADE BOWLING AND KEEP GOING UNTIL YOU HIT THE BORDER. YOU CAN’T MISS IT BUT IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, IT’S TOO LATE.

21. FORMING A PUNKBAND IN THIS HUGE PLACE, WHERE EVERYBODY IS DRINKING, FUCKING, DANCING AND PLAYING DIRTY MOVIES, A PUNKBAND THAT WILL NEVER MAKE MUSIC BUT CONCEPTUAL ARCHITECTURE.

22. PROPOSING THE COMMUNITY TO CONSTRUCT A ROLLING WOODEN BOARDWALK, IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO WALK ALONG THE BEACH WITHOUT TRESPASSING PRIVATE LAND.

23. SETTING UP A FERMENTATION IN A CLOSED SYSTEM AND CAPTURING THE GENERATED CARBON DIOXIDE TO CARBONATE OUR HOME MADE SOAP !

24. ORGANIZING FLYING CABINETS.

16. Each sentence is sold faster and faster...

25.BEFORE CONSTRUCTING THE ROLLING BOARDWALK, WALKING ON LAKE MICHIGAN’S WET SAND.

26.WRITING A LETTER TO THE VILLAGE CLERK.

27. INVITING THE MILWAUKEE-BASED ARTIST AND CRITIC DAVID ROBBINS, THE AUTHOR OF ’ICE CREAM SOCIAL’, TO TASTE THE UTOPIA ICE CREAM BRAND IN ONE OF THE VILLAGE OF BELGIUM’S FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS, DISCUSSING THE POLITICS OF ENTERTAINMENT.

28. TRAVELLING FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTY (AND BACK AGAIN).

29. USING THE CORPORATE SWEAT-SHIRT FROM THE NEW BELGIUM BEER COMPANY (COLORADO) AS A FLAG.

30. INSERTING LOCAL NEWS INTO THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE VILLAGE OF BELGIUM.

31. MAPPING OUT FLATLAND STREET PATTERNS.

32. SETTING UP A CAR RACING CLUB INVOLVED IN D.I.Y. ENGINEERING, THINKING ABOUT THE STATUS OF CONTEMPORARY SCULPTURE.

33. STUDYING AND DRAWING DAILY POLICE ROUTES.

34. BUILDING A PIER ON THE LAKE FOR BOWLING USE ONLY.

35. PAINTING PEOPLE’S HOUSES EVERY MORNING AND TALKING WITH THE OCCUPANTS ABOUT REAL ESTATE.

17. Last sentence for sale. Camera shows the screen fading to black.

36. ASKING A DRAUGHTSMAN TO DRAW A STORYBOARD OF POTENTIAL ACTIONS.

18. Camera zooms in on the auctioneer. He is still not closing the auction. He starts taking down the screen and is moving the furniture around. People in the auction hall are confused.

19. Detail of auctioneer. He opens the bidding on the screen, the furniture, and his auction hammer. Camera zooms in on the objects put up for sale.

20. Rapid shots of the people on their mobile phones who are gesticulating wildly.

21. After the hammer is sold, the auctioneer claps his hands and starts the selling of the camera. Camera registers uncontrolled movements, unfocused images, than stops recording. Camera is sold.

22. No images, no sound. (It is rumored that) The auctioneer declared the auction closed. He and the people on their mobile phones, who continued talking loudly, started to pack all the sold items in wooden crates, which were numbered.

23. No images, no sound. (It is rumored that) Later on, they drove off in a truck, picking up their band of outsiders from the different borderline structures.

24. This scenario is put up for sale by POTENTIAL ESTATE.


Other articles in this chapter

Cities : The Grand Suburban Tour - Visit those locations
If It’s Tuesday It Must Be Belgium ! - Nine countries in eighteen days... impossible. But not for some hapless American tourists who, during a whirlwind trip to Europe, come up against a lot more than just a language barrier.
Elisée Reclus : About and From - Born 1830, died 1905. Geographer and anarchist, lived in exile in Belgium.
About Utopian Communities - In 1803 George Rapp, a Lutheran separatist from Germany came to America in search of religious freedom. Along with 800 people from Pennsylvania, Rapp carved out a utopian niche in the wilderness.
Creationism Was Not Invented In Europe - Fantasy is a situation imagined by an individual or group, which does not correspond with reality but expresses certain desires or aims of its creator. But fantasy is also another name for Gamma-hydroxybutyrate, a date-rape drug.
Story Number 505739 - Seminole Tribe of Florida buying Hard Rock cafe business.
Tape Number: EF06/1189
Duration: 00:03:22
Intime: 10:40:12
Date: 2006-12-072006-12-07 GMT
Source: AP TELEVISION/ Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment
Nova Belgica - From 1615, the region between Virginia and New-England was equally named New-Belgium or New-Netherlands.
Projet de construction d’un Globe Terrestre à l’échelle du Cent-millième - Le géographe Élisée Reclus projette la construction d’une mappemonde de plâtre de 120m de diamètre pour l’Exposition universelle de Paris.
Statement - "East West at home best"
Statement - An office during closing hours.

"We speak belgian"
Walloons from Wisconsin don’t use the word "walloon" to define the dialectal langage they speak ? They say : "we speak belgian".
If It’s Tuesday It Must Be Belgium (1968)
"I’m Europe, Baby. I sent you Dutch Elm Disease, German Measles, and Russian Roulette. You sent me World Wind Vacation Tour #225. Now we’re even." Read more
Nova Belgica

According to the legend, New York was founded in 1626 by the Dutch in the southern part of Manhattan Island. Some schoolbooks, history books, television broadcasts - and down to cigarettes makers - even say that the founder of New York was named Peter Stuyvesant.

The reality is somewhat different... (read further)

Historic Brussels
Welcome to Historic Brussels
Belgique : a ghost town
Belgique is an unincorporated community in eastern Perry County, Missouri, USA. It is located about five miles south of Chester, Illinois. Its post office has closed and its mail now comes from Perryville. The community was founded in 1890 and is named after the French name for Belgium. In 1970 it had more than 20 occupied residences and a large building. Since the flood of 1993 there is no longer a town, but the cemetery remains.
Shop New Belgium
Shop New Belgium, Co
Mon les Walons d’Amerike

Old Walloon stories found back in Wisconsin.

Viyès racontroûles ritrovêyes e Wisconsin

Proposing a radio publicity
On the occasion of Cabinet Reclus, Potential Estate was offered the opportunity of broadcasting a radio publicity on national radio. The outcome of incorporating this format in Potential Estate operations was a reenactment of VRT announcement style by American native speaker Adam Leech in Dutch. Ultimately the proposition was rejected, and replaced by a VRT employee reinstating the VRT announcemnet style. The score for this publicity was provided by DJ Elephant Power. It consisted of a remix of Walloon folk songs that were interpreted by Belgian immigrants settled in Wisconsin since the 19th Century. The score was reworked unauthorized by VRT. Potential Estate offers you the possibility to listen to the original proposition HERE.
Venturi in Milwaukee

Robert Venturi’s early professional work was in the office of Eero Saarinen, where among other projects, he worked on the design of the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center.

Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour collaborated on another book, published in 1972, "Learning from Las Vegas," a further exploration of urban sprawl and the suburbs in relation to their architectural theories.

Floating Island
Floating Island to Travel Around Manhattan Island (1970-2005) is a project by Robert Smithson that was realized posthumously. Produced by Minetta Brook in collaboration with the Whitney Museum of American Art, Floating Island features a barge landscaped with earth, trees, shrubs and rocks : a "non-site" of Central Park. Towed by a tugboat, this fabricated "island" circled the island of Manhattan for a week in September of 2005. A video documents the evolution and realization of this project.

The Potential Estate website • www.potentialestate.org • Confirm your interest here!