NOTHING by Cees Krijnen. No Soul for Sale Tate Modern, London

Cees Krijnen's practice has never shied away from controversial subjects. He has thrown himself in to such issues as cancer (The Cancer Chinaware), the Cosmetics industry (Cees Krijnen Cosmetics, whose products include the Nose Hair Conditioner) and the state of the divorce law in the Dutch legal system (Woman in Divorce Battle on Tour), his most extensive and international project, which he performed together with his mother Greta Blok. After his recent performances at Art Amsterdam 2009, 'Cees' Art Endearing and Conscious Women's Collective' in which he stands up for the position of women, now he is engaged in development of a new series of performances, to be titled Nothing, Anything and Everything.

The reason for these new works is the national restrictive policy regarding coffeeshops. As everyone knows, the Netherlands tolerates the use of cannabis, even to the extent that everyone is allowed to grow five plants solely for their own private use. But consider the situation in Haarlem, the city where Krijnen lives and works (a situation echoed in the rest of the Netherlands). In the last couple of months many coffeeshops have been forced to close their doors. Though not users themselves, Krijnen and his mother are annoyed at what they consider the inconsistent policy of their national government. While hard, highly addictive drugs like alcohol are for sale on every street corner, the sale of cannabis on the other hand is more and more restricted.

Take a look at the election programmes of CDA, PVV and the Christen Unie, (all rightwing parties ). Other parties like D66, PVDA, Groen Links and SP (all leftwing) stand for a much less repressive policy.The inauguration of this new project, in the form of the first performances of the series Nothing, Anything and Everything, will take place at Tate Modern, where Krijnen has been invited by his London gallery studio1.1 as part of the ‘No Soul For Sale’ festival in honour of the tenth anniversary of Tate Modern, and will pay his respects in the Turbine Hall of the museum of contemporary art. The direction is in the trusted and famous hands of Gerardjan Rijnders, former artistic director of Toneelgroep Amsterdam. Krijnen will perform of course together with his mother. Although they neither smoke pot nor drink its herbal tea they are constantly impressed by the emblematic beauty of the cannabis plant and its flowers. After the introduction of the latest tulip, the Princess Amalia at the world-renowned gardens of Keukenhof, Krijnen will launch the latest offshoot of the tree of Dutch national pride:
The Greta Blok Bloom on May 14 at Tate Modern 16.30 - 17.00.