Press File - Kunstenfestivaldesarts

Architects of the universe, we are miracle-workers... (Mayakovsky, 1918)
Following Agota Kristof’s trilogy presented at the KunstenFESTIVALdesArts in 2000, De
Onderneming is focusing its attention on the ideals and ups and downs of ‘the new man’. Their
inspiration is Vladimir Mayakovsky, the great futurist poet who committed suicide by shooting
himself in 1930, thirteen years after the October Revolution which he helped mastermind and of
which he was one of the most fervent propagandists.
Ca va! presents a world without solutions because there are no problems! Unless the reverse is
not true…
De Onderneming comes from (free) enterprise, a concept – as everyone knows – salvaged by
those western Yank-ropean capitalists. Er… let’s start again. De Onderneming comes from
“ondernemen” which means to undertake. There are several people who make up De
Onderneming: some of them like staging a repertoire, others insist on sticking to contemporary
works not made for theatre but which they then adapt: novels, novellas, poetry etc. They only
write at the very last minute because they don’t want to have anything fixed on paper, preferring
to try everything on stage first. This is why they are handing over here to the person who
inspired them: Vladimir Mayakovsky as described by himself in his own biography “Myself”.
The subject
I am a poet. And as such, interesting. This is what I am writing about. Like on the beauties of
nature in the Caucasian mountains when I love them or am excited by them – only if that can be
decanted into words.
Memory
Burliuk said, “With Mayakovsky memory is like the road to Poltava. Everyone leaves their rubber
overshoes on it. As for me I can remember neither dates nor faces. All I remember is that in
1100 there were some Dorians or other migrating to I don’t know where. I can’t remember the
details of it, but it must have been a big event.
Third memory
Practical basic knowledge. Night. Behind the wall my mother and father are always whispering.
Subject – the piano. I couldn’t sleep. There was a phrase that kept nagging away at me. In the
morning I started running: “Papa, what does “staggering payments” mean?” I really liked the
explanation.
The extraordinary
Seven years old. I occasionally accompany my father into the mountains when he has to inspect
the forests. A storm. Night. We are walking in a cloud. I can’t even see my father.
A winding path. It seems my father catches his sleeve on the branch of a wild rose. Held back,
then released, it crashes across my cheeks. Screaming a bit I pull out the thorns. I am
disoriented by the cloud, and by pain. Under my feet the cloud disappears – I see the sky lit up.
It is electricity. Prince Nakachidze’s riveting factory. Having seen “electricity”, I lost all interest in
Nature.
First book
In the genre of Dondon Agafia. Perhaps a hen. If I’d only come across books like that then, I
would have given up reading for good. The second, fortunately, was Don Quixote. Now that’s a
book. I made myself a wooden sword and armour and hit anyone who tried to encircle me.
Examinations
Have moved. From Bagdadi to Koutais. Entrance exam for the secondary school. Didn’t want to
do it. Asked me about the anchor (on my sleeve) – I knew the answer. But the priest wanted to
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