It is not the treasures that have stirred in me such an unspeakable longing;
I care not for wealth and riches. But that blue flower I do long to see;
it haunts me and I can think and dream of nothing else.
From: Henry of Ofterdingen: A Romance.
Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg) 1772 – 1801
Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg) 1772 – 1801
AUDIO: THE BLUE FLOWER
Himmelsblume – Skyflower – Duranta erecta
Ochsenzunge – Oxtongue – Anchusa
Vergissmeinnicht – Forget-me-not – Myosotis
Sonnenwende – Turnsole – Heliotropium
now
I am lying in a circle of stones at the vale’s very end;
I am lying in a circle of stones at the vale’s very end;
a coiled sleeping animal
sounds of a restless roach, a nervous shiver
thoughts surface, disquieting and exhilarating
the debris is not sinking into the earth
but slowly rising towards a stone-filled sky
an eternity passes
this night her leathery skin still glistens with life
this night her leathery skin still glistens with life
she is buried within herself
how many people died to make us possible?
(more than you can forget)
how did they kill time before it was invented?
how did they kill time before it was invented?
one day we would stand together
our eyes travelling over wide velds
far past where the village was
our eyes travelling over wide velds
far past where the village was
towards the invisible, where it will be again
a village...two villages...
the old path through the marsh
the old path through the marsh
a million canyons’ worth of earth have been removed
down here the sea ground is scattered with the tools of ancient hunters
down here the sea ground is scattered with the tools of ancient hunters
who raised our parents and the parents of our children
soon we will be like them
bones lime stone cement
soon we will be like them
bones lime stone cement
if I were mud, I would rise as a monster
you are not of this world, but of a world to come
the flower is blue, your eyes are blue. blue is the flower
we crawl into the sewer pipe
life will never be the same
Jungfer im Grünen – Love in the Mist – Nigella damascena
Strandflieder – Sea Lavender – Limonium
Jakobsleiter – Jacob’s ladder – Polemonium
Immergrün - Creeping myrtle - Vinca
Wegwarte – Blue sailors – Cichorium intybus
Eisenhut – Wolf’s bane – Aconitum
Notes on The Blue Flower
I.
While refining the ideas of the Gezeitentümpel - Tidal Pools project, Philipp Aldrup was attracted to an area which reminded him of an extract from an influential unfinished Romantic novel in which a blue flower represents a beautiful but unobtainable world.
While refining the ideas of the Gezeitentümpel - Tidal Pools project, Philipp Aldrup was attracted to an area which reminded him of an extract from an influential unfinished Romantic novel in which a blue flower represents a beautiful but unobtainable world.
II.
‘Still life’ is something like a theme in these works. The subject matter here is the ground; dirt. Nothing in the frame seems to have ever moved. But Aldrup presents this lack of motion as one moment in the complex chronological loop that we call ‘life’. Like Tidal Pools, The Blue Flower is the sharing of an absurd challenge: how can the brief action of pressing a shutter capture eternity?
‘Still life’ is something like a theme in these works. The subject matter here is the ground; dirt. Nothing in the frame seems to have ever moved. But Aldrup presents this lack of motion as one moment in the complex chronological loop that we call ‘life’. Like Tidal Pools, The Blue Flower is the sharing of an absurd challenge: how can the brief action of pressing a shutter capture eternity?
III.
The images are precise yet chaotic; detailed recordings of the interactions between chemistry/physics and the wildness of plants, animals, wind and weather.
The images are precise yet chaotic; detailed recordings of the interactions between chemistry/physics and the wildness of plants, animals, wind and weather.
IV.
The sights and smells of a blue flower tell us little about how or why “it happened.” The short-lived glory of blue petals masks the dull and brutal timeless cycles we call survival. Instant. Moment. Eternity. Blue flower, blur flower.
The sights and smells of a blue flower tell us little about how or why “it happened.” The short-lived glory of blue petals masks the dull and brutal timeless cycles we call survival. Instant. Moment. Eternity. Blue flower, blur flower.
V.
The best way to define The Blue Flower may be to use sound. The Blue Flower sounds like the pounding of two wooden sticks slowly cross-dissolving into the sound of Voyager moving beyond our solar system. Aldrup’s images sound like Bach becoming car horns becoming the sound of melting glaciers. The ticking of a watch as loud as a jungle beneath a thunderstorm. Children’s laughter, factory sounds, birdsongs and funeral marches. These audio waves and more, all traveling in all directions at once; both an overwhelming, frightening cacophony and a seductive whisper: the sound of The Blue Flower.
The best way to define The Blue Flower may be to use sound. The Blue Flower sounds like the pounding of two wooden sticks slowly cross-dissolving into the sound of Voyager moving beyond our solar system. Aldrup’s images sound like Bach becoming car horns becoming the sound of melting glaciers. The ticking of a watch as loud as a jungle beneath a thunderstorm. Children’s laughter, factory sounds, birdsongs and funeral marches. These audio waves and more, all traveling in all directions at once; both an overwhelming, frightening cacophony and a seductive whisper: the sound of The Blue Flower.
Exhibition at Artistry Gallery, Singapore from 15 November - 8 December 2013.
