Re:code Re:cord Haarlem
Vinyl records have experienced a resurgence in popularity in recent years, with many music enthusiasts drawn to the tactile experience and warm sound quality they offer. However, not every vinyl record is destined to play music forever. Some may become scratched, damaged or simply outdated, making them unsuitable for their original purpose. Repurposing vinyl records has become a hot topic of discussion among vinyl lovers and industry representatives, mainly because the environmental impact of discarded vinyl records is a significant concern. One of the most popular ways to repurpose vinyl is through art. For many people, records are more than just a medium for music – they are symbols of a time and conduit for memory. By transforming records into new forms the sentimental value of the object can be preserved with a new purpose. The exhibition Re:code Re:cord at the Haarlem Vinyl Festival in 2024 was intended as a comment on these topics. I was one of a number of Artists, Illustrators and Designers asked to contribute work. The connection between us being our experience and understanding of the independent European music scene.
The subjects painted on of these records touches on ecological and philosophical subjects. The captions as they appear were written on the reverse of each vinyl.
DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD!
"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."
– Albert Camus
" A mycelial network is a map of a fungus' recent history and is a helpful reminder that all life forms are processes not things...
– Merlin Sheldrake
"Of human life the time is a point, and the substance is in a flux, and the perception dull, and the composition of the whole body subject to putrefaction, and the soul a whirl, and fortune hard to divine, and fame a thing devoid of judgment. And, to say all in a word, everything which belongs to the body is a stream, and what belongs to the soul is a dream and vapour, and life is a warfare and a journey in a foreign land, and the only lasting fame is oblivion. What then is that which is able to conduct a man?"
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.17
"The owl of Minerva spreads it's wings only with the falling of the dusk."
– G.W.F. Hegel
"People get hung up on happiness and joy, but fun will take you at least as far, and is generally cheaper to obtain."
– T. Kingfisher, 'What Moves The Dead'