Lonely Planet: Campania Felix is thefirst part of a triptych in whichSusan Kooi [1988] travels to Italy,Portugal an Japan to work withvarious traditions of ceramic crafts.

The project reflects on how artefacts

signify meaning during their lifespanand are carriers of meaning foextraction in the future. Susan Kooi

seeks evidence of the object's useand meaning, both real andfictitious, with the resulting storiesforming a publication. Thisalternative travel guideaccompanies the objects on view inthe exhibition at MAMA [Rotterdam]and tells the tales of these artefacts

that are found and made by SusanKooi in the Italian region Campania.

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Lonely Planet ~ Campania Felixby Susan Kooi

With text contributions by

Hanna Bervoets

Maurits de BruijnNathalie HartjesVincent Hunink

Tommi Vasko

Marloes de Vries

Introduction~ Susan Kooi

Poetic Reconstruction, Or,The Making Of A Past That Is Yet To Come~ Nathalie Hartjes

Fomace As A Time Machine

~ TommiVasko

The Giant Mimas~ Susan Kooi

Bacchus ....

~ Maurits de Bruijn

Voices From Afar .~ Vincent Hunink

Objects From Fertile Volcanic Ash~ Marloes de Vries

Giulia Tofana . .~ Hanna Bervoets

.8

10

27

28

44

Bacchus the AsteroTd

~ Susan Kooi

... 60

. 76

80

VOICES FROM AFAR

Vincent Hunink

Ancient texts are coagulated human experiences - signs of life fromthe past. They testify to the thoughts, emotions, and ideas ofindividuals who have ever breathed and existed. Very often, we knowthem by name as great poets, famous thinkers, politicians, generals,and sometimes emperors.

In education and science, the acknowledged masterpieces ofclassical literature still play an important role. We particularly studythe most famous books over and over. Ancient writers such as

Homer and Virgil, the poets of Greek tragedy, andphilosophers, such as Seneca, are a constant

source of inspiration. The ancient writersstill have much to tell us in the rwenty-first century. Their voices continue to

resound generation after generation.But what if one was not a well-

known name? What if one's texts were not

transcribed as faithfully and stored as thoseof the great? What if one has written in a

language no longer so evident for latersubsequent readers? Then it is unlikely that

one's thoughts will make that great leap forward.Without bridging distances in time and place, they

I remain temporary and local.[^ For a long time, this sad fate seemed destined for theY approximately ten thousand examples of graffiti found in

Campanian Pompeii. The story is well known: the eruptionofVesuvius in AD 79 buried the town ofPompeii under ash, lava,

44

/

Voci da lontano

Itesti antichi sono un coagulato diesperienze umane. Sono dei disegni divita dal passato. Essi testimonianopensieri, emozioni e idee di individui cheun tempo hanno respirato e vissuto. Nondi rado li conosciamo per name: grandipoeti, famosi pensatori. Politici, generali,a volte imperatori.

In materia di istruzione e scienza. i

famosi capolavori della letteraturadassica giocano ancora un ruoloimportante. Studiamo ripetutamentesoprattutto i libri piu famosi.Dall'arrtichita abbiamo scrittori come

Omero e Virgilio, i poeti della tragediagreca e i filosofi come Seneca, checostituiscono ancora una costante fonte

di ispirazione. Ancora nel XXI secolo, gliautori antichi hanno molto da dire.

Generazione dopo generazione. Ie lorovocl corrtinuano a risuonare.

Ma cosa succede se non si e stato un

nome importante? Cosa succede se i tuoi

testi non sono stati trascritti in modo

fedele e conservati cosi come quelli deigrandi autori? 0 se hai utilizzato unalingua non familiare ai lettori posteri?Allora e improbabile che i tuoi pensieriarrivino lontano. Non riescono a superarevelocemente Ie distanze di tempo eluogo, rimangono temporanei e locali.

Per un lungo periodo, questo tristedestino sembrava esser riservato a circa

diedmila graffiti ritrovati nella cittacampana di Pompei. La storia e nota:I'eruzione del Vesuvio del 79, la citta di

Pompei sepolta sotto cenere, lava epomice, e solo nel periodo moderno lascoperta e gli scavi. Oro brillante, marmi,dipinti colorati e mosaici I'hanno vintafacilmente sui graffiti. Poiche questierano solo "ordinari" e di solito anonimi.

Saluti, maledizioni, comunicazioni o

LONEIY PLANET ~ Campania Felix ~ 45 [

Stemmen van ver

Oude teksten zijn gestolde menselijkeervaringen. Levenstekens uit het verle-den. Ze getuigen van gedachten, emo-ties en ideeen van individuen die ooit

hebben geademd en bestaan. Niet zel-den kennen we ze bij naam: grote ctich-ters, beroemde denkers. Politici,generaals, keizers soms.

In het onderwijs en de wetensehapspelen de erkende meesterwerken uit deklassieke literatuur nog altijd een be-[angrijke rol. We bestuderen vooral deberoemdste boeken telkens opnieuw. Uitde klassieke oudheid zijn schrijvers alsHomerus en Vergilius, de Griekse trage-diedichters en filosofen zoals Seneca een

blijvende bron van bezieling. Ook in de21ste eeuw hebben de oude schrijversnog veel te zeggen. Generatie na gene-ratie blijven hun stemmen weerklinken.

Maar wat als je geen grote naambent geweest? Wat als je teksten niet zogetrouw zijn overgeschreven en bewaardzoals die van de Allergrootsten? Wat als jeeen taal hebt gebruikt die voor laterelezers niet meer zo evident \s> Dan is de

kans klein dat je gedachten degrote sprang voorwaarts

kunnen maken Ze

overbruggen dan nietsnel de afstanden in

tijd en plaats, zeblijven tijdelijk enlokaal.

Dat droeve

lot leek lange tijdweggelegd voorde ongeveertienduizend

graffiti die zijnaangetroffen inhet CampanischePompeT. Met ver-

'A/<{r

At..'s*<

LONELYPLANET ~ Campania Felix ~ 47'

and pumice, only to bediscovered and excavated in the early

modern period. Glossy gold and marble and colourful paintings andmosaics easily took precedence over the everyday texts found on thewalls, because they were just 'ordinary and usually anonymous.Greetings, curses, communications or bans, funny refrains fromsongs, jokes, riddles, puzzles, sometimes with silly accompanyingdrawings; obscenities too, because they occur in all eras.

The Pompeian wall texts were written in the Latin thenspoken by the people. Misspellings, scrambled sentences, incorrectgrammar. Words that we do not know from literature and, therefore,cannot translate with certainty. And, to make matters worse, it isoften unclear why the graffiti were put on the walls, and for a largepart, why they have been only partly preserved.

Anonymous, erroneous, and plebeian, stripped of context,and full of holes. Pompeii's difficult text material wasj-emoved andstored in museum basements. Coldly described in unreadable,scientific collections, away from the general public. After theexcavations, many voices from Pompeii resounded, but only faintly.

46

divieti, ritornelli divertenti di canzoni,barzellette, indovinelli, enigmi, a volteaccompagnati da disegni abbozzati. Maanche oscenita, perche quelle sonovecchie come il mondo.

I graffiti pompeianisono scritti nel latino

volgare, nel modo incui la gente parlavaallora. Errori di '

ortografia, frasiconfuse, grammatica ,.scorretta. Parole che non

conosciamo dalla letteratura e

che quindi non possiamotradurre con certezza. E a

peggiorare Ie cose, spesso non e chiaroil motivo per cui i testi sono stati scrittisui muri e una grande parte e conservatain maniera frammentaria.

Anonimi, scorretti e popolari.Spogliati di contesto e pieni di lacune. Icomplicati graffiti di Pompei sono statirimossi e conservati nelle cantine dei

musei. Descritti freddamente in

un'illeggibile e scientifica collezione dilavori, lontani dal grande pubblico.Anche dopo gli scavi, Ie tante voci diPompei riecheggiano deboli.

Ma poi sono stati riscoperti: daarcheologi ed esperti di letteratura, iquali hanno nuovamente riaperto questafonte di vita romana. E ancora da

linguist!, poeti e artisti. II materiale dibase urla interazione. Gli scienziati

stanno cercando di descrivere e spiegaretutto dettagliatamente. Gli artistirinnovano i testi in altri modi. Susan Kooi

riporta in vita alcuni graffiti di Pompeinell'estraneo ambiente di una galleriaolandese. Testi riportati a grandi lettere ein grassetto, su muri bianchi e

istituzionali. E in questo caso tradotti,naturalmente, nel latino dei nostri giorni:I'inglese. Cosi facendo, Susan riempie Ielacune, come solo gli artisti possono

haal is bekend: de uitbarsting van de vul-kaan Vesuvius in 79, het stadje PompeTbedolven onder as, lava en puimsteen,en pas vanaf de vroegmoderne tijd

ontdekt en opgegraven.Glanzend goud en

marmer en kleurrij-ke schilderingen en

mozaTeken wonnen

het gemakkelijk vande gebruiksteksten

op de muren. Want die

waren maar 'alledaags' enmeestal anoniem. Begroe-

tingen, vloeken, mededelingenof verboden, grappige refreinen uit

liedjes, geintjes, raadseltjes, puzzeltjes,soms met flauwe tekeningen erbij.Obsceniteiten ook, want die zijn van alletijden.

De Pompejaanse muurteksten zijngeschreven in het volkse Latijn zoals dattoen gesproken werd. Spelfouten, ver-haspelde zinnen, verkeerde grammatica.Woorden die we niet kennen uit de lite-

ratuur en dus niet met zekerheid kunnen

vertalen. En tot overmaat van ramp isvaak onduidelijk waarom ze op de murenzijn gezet en is een groot deel alleenfragmentarisch bewaard.

Anoniem, fout en volks. Ontdaan van

context en vol gaten. Met lastige tekst-materiaal uit PompeT werd weggehaalden opgeborgen in kelders van musea. Kilbeschreven in onleesbare, wetenschap-pelijke verzamelwerken, ver weg van hetgrote publiek. De vele stemmen uit Pom-peT klonken dus ook na de opgravingenmaar zwak.

Maar ze warden herontdekt. Door

archeologen en letterkundigen, die dezerijke bron van Romeins leven weer aan-boren. Door taalkundigen, dichters enkunstenaars. En het elementaire materi-

aal schreeuwt om interactie. We-

tenschappers proberen alles precies te

They are, however, being rediscovered.Archaeologists and writers, as well as linguists,

poets and artists, are tapping into this richsource of Roman life. And the elementary

material is screaming for interaction. Scientistsare trying to describe and explain everythingexactly. Artists interpret the texts in other ways.Susan Kooi brings to life some graffiti texts fromPompeii in the alienating environment of a Dutchart space, inscribed on institutional white walls in

large, bold letters. And, of course, in translatedform, in this case in the Latin of our times:

English. In this way, she fills the empty spaces,as only artists can: in her way, using hercreativity.

Through the detours of place and time,language, and form, Lonely Planet (Campania)

reveals the thoughts of long dead Pompeians, asthey may once have been. As they could have been.

Fusing past and present. The ancient Pompeians are us.

farlo: con la propria forza, attingendoalia creativita.

Cosi Lonely Planet (Campania) cipresenta i pensieri dei Pompeiani, dalungo scomparsi, attraverso deviazioni diluogo e di tempo, linguaggio e forma,come forse erano. Come sarebberopotuti essere. Fondendo passato efuture. Gli antichi pompeiani siamo noistessi.

VINCENT HUNINK

LONELY PLANET- Campania Felix ~ 49

beschrijven en te verklaren. Kunstenaarsmaken de teksten op andere manierennieuw. Susan Kooi brengt een aarrtalgraffititeksten uit PompeT tot leven in devervreemdende omgeving van een Ne-derlandse kunstruinrrte. Groot en in vetteletters aangebracht op witte, institutio-nele muren. En in vertaling natuurlijk, indit geval naar het Latijn van onze tijd, hetEngels. Op deze wijze vult zij de openplekken, zoals alleen kunstenaars dat

mogen: op eigen kracht, vanuit eigencreativiteit.

Zo toont Lonely Planet (Campania),via de omwegen van plaats en tijd, taalen vormgeving, de gedachten van langgestorven Pompejanen zoals zemisschien waren. Zoals ze zouden kunnenzijn geweest. Waarmee heden en verle-

den versmelten. De oude Pompejanenzijn wijzelf.

VINCENT HUNINK

48

COLOPHON

Concept & ideaSusan Kooi

Translations

Italian: Maria Rosaria Di Lecce

English: Jason Coburn

EditingGuus van Engelshoven

Writers

Hanna Bervoets

Maurits de BruijnNathalie HartjesVincent Hunink

Susan Kooi

Tommi Vasko

Marloes de Vries

Graphic DesignTommi Vasko

PhotographyTomas Mutsaers

Made possible byCreative Industry Fund NLAFKFornace Falcone

Special thanks toGiada Fiorindi

II Ventre di Napoli

Printing & bindingTripiti, Rotterdam

MAMA is supported by the City ofRotterdam and the Mondriaan Fund

iniimjs]

City of Rotterdam

Publisher

EleonoorJap SamJap Sam Books, Heijningenwww.japsambooks.nl

Producer

MAMA

Director: Nathalie HartjesCurator: Marloes de Vries

Project Manager Talent Development:Margriet BrouwerJunior Talent Developer:Marel Jap-SamTechnician: Ivo Sieben

All rights reserved. No part of thispublication may be reproduced in wholeor part without permission from thepublisher. 0 2016 Susan Kooi, theauthors, photographers, MAMAand Jap Sam Books.

ISBN 978-94-90322-82-3

(ISBN Showroom MAMA

978-90-816473-4-2)

creative industries fund ML

amsterdamsfondsvoordekunst

ORNACEALCONE

(iffn-ina deflc terrewttf

fund

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