View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UVH Repository from from from artist - as artist-as-leader - leader to to to leader leader-as-artist - as From artist-as-leader to leader-as-artist is a critical examination of - artist the image of contemporary leadership and its roots. Through the lens of modern management texts, Pieterse explores the the dutch Beat poet and performer link between contemporary management speak and the artistic critique of the avant-garde movements of the 1950s in the Netherlands, simon Vinkenoog as exemplar of leadership focusing specifically on the Dutch Fiftiers group, the Cobra movement and 1960s countercultural activism. Subsequently, a neo- in contemporary organizations management discourse is generated whereby the figure of the artist becomes the model for the modern leader: charismatic, visionary, intuitive, mobile, creative, cooperative, open to taking risks and strong at networking. Such a discourse appeals to the values of self- actualization, freedom, authenticity and “knowledge deriving from personal experience” (Boltanski and Chiapello 2007: 113), the very values of the artistic critique that have been absorbed into modern- day capitalism. Pieterse explores this transformation of the artistic critique into contemporary leadership rhetoric by unfolding the life and work of ISBN 978-90-818047-1-4 the Dutch Beat poet and performer Simon Vinkenoog, a highly influential leader in the artistic critique. In doing so he examines the dilemmas, paradoxes and contradictions present within contemporary leadership. Vincent Pieterse is a Program Director at de Baak Management Centre, one of the largest management training institutes in the Vincent Pieterse NUR 600 Netherlands. omslag proefschrift.indd 1 10-10-2011 12:12:11 from artist-as-leader to leader-as-artist the dutch Beat poet and performer simon Vinkenoog as exemplar of leadership in contemporary organizations Published, sold and distributed by Real Life Publishing/De Weijer Uitgeverij P.O. Box 202 3740 AE Baarn The Netherlands T. +31 35 54 16 376 F. +31 35 54 23 087 www.deweijerdesign.nl Real Life Publishing is an imprint of De Weijer Uitgeverij Coverdesign and layout: Joost van den Broek, Studio Markant, Delft en De Weijer Design BNO, Baarn Cover photo: “Love, love, love”, International Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall, London, 1965 Photographer: Wim van der Linden. © The heirs of Simon Vinkenoog Permission by Edith Ringnalda to reproduce and manipulate the photo as book cover Poems of Simon Vinkenoog translated by Donald Gardner Poem of Omar Khayyám translated by Mina Mirzaian This research is partly financed by de Baak Management Centre © 2011 Real Life Publishing | DeWeijer Uitgeverij This publication is protected by international copyright law. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-90-818047-1-4 from artist-as-leader to leader-as-artist the dutch Beat poet and performer simon Vinkenoog as exemplar of leadership in contemporary organizations Van kunstenaar-als-leider tot leider-als-kunstenaar Dichter en performer Simon Vinkenoog als voorbeeld van modern leiderschap (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit voor Humanistiek te Utrecht op gezag van de Rector, prof. dr. H.A. Alma ingevolge van het besluit van het College voor Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 17 november 2011 des voormiddags om 10.30 uur door Vincent Michiel Pieterse geboren op 12 april 1964 te Delft, Nederland Promotor: Prof. dr. H. Letiche, Universiteit voor Humanistiek Beoordelingscommissie: Dr. G. Lightfoot, University of Leicester Prof. dr. S. Lilley, University of Leicester Prof. dr. A. Maas, Universiteit voor Humanistiek Prof. dr. Y. Pesqueux, CNAM Paris Dr. B. Sørenson, Aalborg University Like God, if this world I could control Eliminating the world would be my role I would create a whole new world, Such that the freethinker would attain desired goal. Rubá’íyah of Omar Khayyám (late 11th century/early 12th century) Everything I know still needs putting in words, as though unexpectedly life awaits me letting me know what I am and why here and now, with whom and what. Everything I know by Simon Vinkenoog (1993-1996) Contents acknowledgements 9 introduction 11 The Leader 12 The Critique 13 The Framing 14 The Artist 15 The Chapters 17 Chapter 1.thanks for the opposition! 21 The New Spirit of Capitalism 23 The Role of Criticism 24 The Homo Ludens 27 The Magical Centre Amsterdam 30 The ‘Road Inward’ 32 So What? 34 interlude 1. an interludial space 37 Chapter 2. ‘Fast’ performances and ‘slow’ values 39 Introduction 39 A Theatre of Authenticity 41 Slowing Down 43 Authenticity, Flexibility and the Avant-garde Movements 44 The Poet Simon Vinkenoog 46 Practical Wisdom and Re-framing the Demands for Authenticity and Flexibility 50 Homo Ludens Simon Vinkenoog as a meaningful example 51 interlude 2. ‘Break me open’ 55 Chapter 3. simon Vinkenoog, the playing poet 57 Introduction 57 Huizinga’s Homo Ludens 59 Constant’s Homo Ludens 61 Homo Ludens Simon Vinkenoog 63 Vinkenoog’s Homo Ludens 65 The Homo Ludens as a Poet 67 Conclusions 69 interlude 3. again ‘in between’ 73 Chapter 4. the Performing Genius 77 Introduction 77 Organizational Theatre 79 The Tactics of the Performing Rebel 80 Performance as Experience 82 The Performing Experience in the Netherlands 84 The Dutch Answer to the San Francisco Renaissance 85 Vinkenoog’s Carnival of Tactics 87 The Redefinition of the Happening 90 Conclusion 92 Contents | 7 interlude 4. a ‘bad example’ 95 Chapter 5. theatre of Creativity 97 Introduction 98 The Aesthetic Insanity 99 Love and Hate as Creative Principles 100 Simon Vinkenoog’s Oeuvre 101 Vinkenoog’s Own Voice 103 The Voice of Artaud 105 The Space of the Subjectile 108 The Romantic Notion of the Leader-as-Artist 110 ‘The Example’ of Vinkenoog 111 Chapter 6. thanks to the opposition? 117 Introduction 117 The Theatre of Performativity 119 ‘The Paradox of Acting’ 120 ‘Staged authenticity’ 122 ‘Vinkenoog the Subjectile’ 123 The ‘Cheat’ and the ‘Spoil-sport’ 124 Chapter 7. the evoked spirit of Metis 127 The ‘Shakespearian fool’ 127 The Classical Concept of Metis 130 Metis and the Leader-as-artist 132 Learning or Not 134 The Story of Metis 137 After all, ‘it is only a story’ 138 references 141 samenvatting in het Nederlands (abstract in dutch) 155 about the author 163 8 | acknowledgements Although undertaking a project such as this thesis seems like a lonely job, a lot of people have contributed knowingly or unknowingly to the work. While I owe them all a great deal, there are a few in particular whom I would like to thank here. First, I would like to thank Hugo Letiche, who succeeded in putting me back on track each time I began to imagine that I ‘knew it all’, but who, in moments of despair, had the ability to point me towards an important article, an interesting author, or just asked the right questions. Working with him was both inspiring and a lot of fun. I would like to thank the tutors of the PhD program of the University for Humanistics; Jean-Luc Moriceau for our interesting conversations at conferences, Simon Lilley for his inspiring performances and Peter Pelzer for his insights. Furthermore, I would like to thank my fellow PhD students for their support, especially Maarten van Veen, René van Hattem, Samir Makarem and Ivo Blommaart. A special thanks must go to Harry Starren for his trust in me. By telling me that it would be an honour for de Baak if I graduated on the theme of this thesis, he provided me with a challenging opportunity. To the people who where involved in the interviews, a sincere ‘thank you’ to you all. And of course, a special thank you to the late Simon Vinkenoog and his wife, Edith Ringalda, for their important input, without which this thesis would have been very different. Nearly last, but not least, I would like to thank my parents, Trees and Rinus, and my sister Ingrid for always encouraging me to follow my curiosity. My son Kaveh, who, while I was working on this PhD, I saw grow into a confident psychology student, capable of asking challenging questions. And to my wife, Mina Mirzaian, who supported me through this whole project. Her participation as an academic in Chemistry doing research on ‘the development of an UPLC-MS/ MS method for determination of lysoglobotriaosylceramide (lysoGb3) and (lyso)-sulfatide in body fluids and tissues from patients with Fabry disease and metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD)’, and me studying ‘the Dutch Beat poet and performer Simon Vinkenoog as exemplar of leadership in Acknowledgements | 9 contemporary organizations’, provided us with lively discussions that were always amusing. Her disappointment when I failed to include Ernest Mandel in my research was mitigated by the fact that one of my main resources, Boltanski and Chiapello’s The New Spirit of Capitalism, was “as important and as sweeping in scope as Mandel’s Late Capitalism” (Boltanski and Chiapello, 2007: credits). On a personal note to her, again thank you. Without you I doubt I would have started this project, and I certainly would not have finished it. Amsterdam, July 2011 Vincent Pieterse 10 | introduction It is said that their aspirations are not satisfied, that they “expect more from their work”, that “through their work they want to play a useful role in society, to develop, to progress”, and that “the question is whether firms, with their traditional managerial style, are responding properly to these aspirations, and whether … [professionals and managers] can make a success of their life and not waste it.” (Froissart, cited in Boltanski and Chiapello, 2007: 63) The influence of the above text is a frequent subject of discussion among not only my colleagues, but also the clients of the company for which I work, De Baak Management Centre (DBMC).