Shoe Flowers

The Buddha has two pairs of shoes. One is a pair of heavy waterproof boots. The other a pair of light and non-waterproof sneakers. To decide which pair of shoes to put on, the Buddha looks out the window. First, the Buddha looks at the ground to see if it is wet. If it is, the Buddha looks at a puddle to see if there are circles on the surface. If there are, the Buddha has seen enough and will put on his heavy waterproof boots. If there aren’t the Buddha looks at the clouds. The Buddha studies the clouds, and considers their hue, their position in relation to the earth, their size and the direction they are traveling. The Buddha puts the results of all these observations in his brain, the same brain as you and me, and based upon the capacities of his brain, the wisdom that is stored inside, and the capricious nature of the clouds, the Buddha decides which shoes to wear. 

You might of course wonder, why the Buddha, Buddha as he is, goes through all this hassle and does not simply wear his heavy waterproof walking shoes everyday? Or why does the Buddha care about something mundane as getting his feet wet? Or you might even wonder why the Buddha wears shoes in the first place?

All of these questions are valid, yet irrelevant. It does not matter what type of shoes the Buddha wears, or why. What matters is, the Buddha walks. Rain or Shine. 

Please join us for a reading with Martijn – on Wednesday evening 30. September, in Hordaland Kunstsenter’s new Project Room – where he will read from the work that he did and did not make during his residency at Hordaland Kunstsenter. 

His spatial presentation (available in the Project Room until 18. October) incorporates texts and images that were created as a reflection on the time he spent in Bergen.

Martijn in ’t Veld is a visual artist, writer, publisher and graphic designer from the Netherlands. He studied at the Willem de Kooning Academy and the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, exhibited internationally in sunny and rainy conditions and has released a wide range of publications through his own publishing platform @happypotatopress since 2019.