“On Wind Knots” (2021) was created by artist Erien Withouck and traces a journey on a ferry to an island. The protagonist wonders about the stories she hears on women selling knots of wind and reflects on the role of women at sea. She jumps between past and present to imagine futures. This book is part of the brand new Oule series edited by Romy Delange and Othillia G——. This book is now available in the webshop.

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DeBlinkerdAsks a lot of questions in order to get to know the people we collaborate better! Erien Withouck answered the following…

What is your favourite cloud?

I’m afraid I will have to fall into cliché’s here… Altough I love the softness of stratus clouds, the liveliness of altocumulus clouds, the mysteriousness of the altostratus and the oceanlike ripples of the cirrocumulus, I do have to say that my favourite cloud is still the cumulonimbus. As the biggest type of cloud in our skies, it carries enormous energy and potential. And yet, they can also look innocent and fluffy (depending on the shapes you read into them.

What are your influences?

It’s a difficult question because my influences come from many different places. In this project, the main influences are definitely the stories I encountered both through conversations with people and through research. The second would then be archive.org. It’s amazing how much knowledge this platform holds, from the most obscure photographs to very famous pieces of literature which now belong to the public domain. One source leads to the next… I can really spend days browsing through books that were written at the end of the 14th century. There were a number of thinkers which influence this way of working, such as Ariella Azoulay and Walter Benjamin. In the film itself it’s also obvious that I admire the words and work of Derek Jarman, Rebecca Solnit and Chris Marker.

How do you see your artistic practice within the ideas De Blinkerd promotes?

I have been closely affiliated with De Blinkerd since the beginning, and I strongly believe in their mission to connect different disciplines in art and research as well as social engagement.