Els Dietvorst

2009

Video, 00:15:00.
Materials: digital file

Collection: Courtesy of the Artist.

Years after she had lost track of him, Els Dietvorst tracks ACM down again. Together they walk to the places he stayed and where he was chased away. The film starts with a quote by Walter Benjamin, stayed extended metaphor for the poetic method, as Baudelaire practised it. ‘Ragpicker' and poet: both are concerned with refuse’.

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ACM is a ragpicker, a poet, a walker, philosopher, architect, sculptor, scavenger. He consumed whatever we throw away. ACM stands for Art-Coeur-Merci. Art-Heart-Thank you. ACM was born in Cameroon and ended up in Belgium for several reasons. The moment I met him, he lived, in an abandoned industrial housingstate near the canal Brussel-Charleroi, on the edge of the city. The moment I wanted to make a film about him, he disappeared. His shed was burned down and I had recuperated works, drawings and belongings. The film 'As long as the blackbird sings'  is a film based of what I could experience of ACM's life, mixed with experiences and stories out of Walden (Henry David Thoreau). I followed him through all this different periods of his life and portretted him in 3 different films. Never did I experience art, living and surviving so closely entwined. This shared experience is turned into the monologue 'I'M GOING TO SEE MY CHICKENS'. The monologue will be performed in May 2008 by the famous Belgian actor Dirk Roofthooft.