Artist in Residence

Simon(e) van Saarloos:

I first met OTION (Guillermo Armand Blinker) during a queer performance night, concerning waterbodies. I discussed ecosexuality as a way to address environmental harm and questions of consent, OTION performed his musical magic: “Black man looks purple in the moonlight, I’m made of rainbows but that’s not my phenotype. Expose me to sunlight imma shine bright, cause I carry crystals on the inside of my punchlines. Got you diggin’ and diving for meaning. When you figure me out, I change my figure and I go...... back to my liquid state”. The loop-station amplifies OTION’s multitude of voices, ancestors and utopian dreams. As artist-in-residence at Het Hem, OTION will interact with the space to create new work. Expect a performance. One night, pre Covid-19, I bumped into OTION at Het Hem. It was during a performance by Nicholás Jaar, people were wandering around slowly and suddenly OTION and I ended up in front of each other. We could hug, then. Around his neck, he wore a bird with spread wings and when he saw me looking at it, he just said: “fly”. In his work, life and language, OTION conveys that flying, or flight, is not a detached transcendence, but actually a deeply rooted act. He voices futurity and commemoration.