Various Artists

Everything is Four

Temporary Information Center, section Watou

In 2024, the organization of the annual arts festival in Watou became part of a collective and horizontal process for the first time. This organization took on the name Temporary Information Center, section Watou. After the 2023 edition, an open call was launched addressed to local residents, artists, non-artists, writers of short texts, writers of long texts and anyone else who felt called. All interested parties were brought together and a group of 44 members, including individuals and collectives, was formed. Each human member of the group also applied in the name of a non-human entity from Watou. Thus, animals, watercourses, plants and social constructs were also given their place in the organization, which thus consisted of 88 members represented by 44 people.

In the period between October 2023 and June 2024, the group met four times. In these meetings, the main decisions regarding the organization of the festival were made through collective compromise.

In the first meeting it was decided to create  4 workgroups: Money; Programming; Infrastructure; Embedding; Production and Decentralization and Sustainability. These four specific workgroups were made up of varying formations of members who were all part of the group of 88.

Instead of publishing a single catalog, a pluralistic form of information flow was chosen this year. The choice was made to un-bind. Several publications emerged from the various contributions to the festival and can be consulted in [1] Art Exchange. The publications include texts and images related to the arts festival, appear both online and offline, and include reports of meetings and e-mail correspondences, among others. These publications led to a series of multiples that can be exchanged in [1] Art Exchange. Practical info about the festival was summarized on a free map, which you can download at the bottom.

A direct consequence of this reform of the arts festival was the inclusion of non-art works by the programming workgroup.  A second important consequence was that at the last meeting the workgroup on sustainability proposed that the way of self-organization that had led to this edition of the festival be applied to the organization of the village from September  2024 onward, to continue the experiment.

A is for... (Whathow 24)

Various Artists

Arts festivals might be the direct descendants of long-gone village festivals, where dignitaries paraded with giants, wild animals, majorettes, drum bands and more. Local farmers and artisans also joined in, selling their wares to an elated public. Over the decades and centuries, traditions like pigeon racing faded away, farmers were undermined by agribusiness and artisans became extinct.

With “A is for...” Various Artists imagines a future in which the Whathow festival unfolds in an undefined time and an imaginary environment. In their trademark registered chaotic manner, they amalgamate ideas and imagery to challenge the “festival” algorithm. Are we not also subjected to the rampant market economic forces pervasive in the arts sector? Have we become overly fixated on consumption and audience reach?

“A is for...” challenges us to rethink the value we place on art and urges us to reclaim the intrinsic value of creativity beyond its marketability. It calls for a renewed appreciation of art’s ability to transcend commercial constraints and forge deep emotional bonds within individuals and communities.

download:

Watou 24 (map and project descriptions)

links:

catalogue