Order 'Noem me Ismaël'

"Noem me Ismaël" is the first sentence of Moby Dick, Herman Melviles's novel about the incredible capitan Ahab and the whale fishing just prior to the industrial revolution. When Ismaël finds himself increasingly depressed, he decides to embark on a whaling ship. He sees the adventures at sea as an alternative to suicide.

In their residency period of three months at the institution, Denekamp and Mil read Moby Dick together with the patients. During these joint reading sessions, it appeared that the described fears, obsessions and sorrows of the whalers were still very much recognizable. The novel of the 19th century  boasted as a new context in which personal stories could be told. On the basis of these discussion, Denekamp and Mil wrote 'Noem me Ismaël", a story in which fiction, report and delusion flow into one another.

"Noem me Ismaël" was published in June 2015 and was presented at Dolhuys Museum in Haarlem. Wouter Kusters, writer, philosopher and expert, was there and spoke with the artists about the book. Particularly for the patientroom of the museum, Van Mil and Denekamp made an installation of infra-red photographs, which were taken on the institution.

The exhibition was held from 5th till 28th of June 2015 at Het Dolhuys museum in Haarlem.

The Mondriaan Fund supported both the residency and the presention at the Dolhuys museum under the scheme of Tijdelijke Binnenland Ateliers. Additionally, Altrecht GGZ supported the residency period. Ars Donaldi - Yske-Walter Fonds, het Theodora Niemeyer Fonds and many individual contributors through crowd funding, contributed to the realization of the book.

Geert van Mil and Doris Denekamp form the collective Informal Strategies http://informalstrategies.org