Merlin uses art to drive change: ‘Bring art closer to the common man’

Twaalfhoven, who was born in Wapserveen in Drenthe, cannot and does not want to call himself a conceptual artist. “For a conceptual artist, the idea is the work, but I want to encourage the change force in society. So in that sense, art is more my tool boxand not the target.”

According to Merlin, the ultimate goal is to be meaningful. “Don’t just ask yourself: can I make a difference? But also how you can take people around you. I see that many artists have a lot of good things to offer, but that they are too much in their own world. It is also difficult, because you have your hands full making art.”

Forbidden and dangerous places

Twaalfhoven has been making progress for several decades now. In 2007 he moved into an old arms factory in Zaandam. By living in the old weapons factory he discovered the stories and the places that are in the area. ” Such an exciting area (Hembrugterrein, ed.) full of forbidden and dangerous places. It has now been cleaned up nicely, but we were really not allowed to enter the forest at the time because of the risk of unexploded ammunition and mustard gas. When we started on the Hembrug terrain It’s still very bare, but it’s nice that it has become a nice place.”

It was quite a search, says the composer. Not only to physical space, but also ‘to space to be able to connect people, to take them with you, and to embark on an adventure with people’. The consequence of this approach was that his concerts no longer had an audience, but only participants.

You might not immediately expect it, but Twaalfhoven had ‘quite a bit of culture’ around him during his youth in the Drenthe countryside. “There is an open-air theater in Diever where Shakespeare theater is performed every year. Great! But when I wanted to be involved with music, I came to the Randstad and studied in Amsterdam. And I have lived there ever since because there are so many lines, so many connections.”

His ambition to bring art closer to the common man arose from the realization that an expression of art has a different meaning for every viewer. “If you are a musician yourself, you are very precise with the notes of the music. What exactly am I saying? What am I expressing? What does that mean?”

“While people also come for a social moment, people also come to a concert to be out, or maybe to find comfort. While musicians know nothing about comfort. They think: this is Johan Sebastian Bach, and you can do that on this nice way to play.”

“Music therapy is a profession, I am not saying that I am a music therapist, but I have noticed that it is very important to use music to let people’s feelings flow in intense situations. Music is really part of your basic need, the It’s not something you don’t need until you’re completely okay.”

Out of your comfort zone

Twaalfhoven emphasizes that art can help to achieve things that require you to step out of your comfort zone. “The existing world, that is where your loyalty lies, you have invested in it, you are committed to it. But there is also a new world, which you want to go to, something with an ideal. How are you going to give up what you have, because you believe that something new may arise? We can use that artificial power in that process.”

Since his encounter-based performances in the Zaandam arms factory, Merlijn has been imbued with the idea that in our society we need more forms of encounter.

Search for meaning

“And not just going to the pub together, but also meeting about difficult questions. Not immediately: why are we on earth? But, for example, around the search for the meaning you have or the relationship you have with the other person in your environment. .”

“Can we search at all?” Merlin wonders, “Or do we all have to be successful and confident? Because that’s a value that dominates. We all try to raise our children so confidently and send them out into the world. But doubting might also be an art, and that’s you can also learn with your senses.”