Ron Jagers has been providing playful commentary on culture in Amersfoort and elsewhere for 45 years. His latest find is the 'Prince Bernhard Fanclub'. But the 63-year-old absurdist and multi-artist also made a gripping book about East Berlin before the fall of the wall.
'hop, two-three-four!'
He walks along in the Silent Fanfare, an orchestra that marches forward with much fanfare but does not play a note. Bystanders hear only the pounding of shoes and the "hop, two-three-four!" of the maître-tambourer. Recently, the Silent Fanfare was a resounding success at the big Veterans Day event in New York.
Security
He is one of the 'Gorillaas'; a group of black-clad security men, all wearing sunglasses and 'earpieces', who come to 'secure' random passers-by.
Orange condoms
He is the initiator of the Prince Bernhard Fanclub. Why? ,,The Prince can count on the sympathy of the entire fatherland, although without Juliana he would have ended up in prison immediately. Such a mythical person deserves a fan club.'' Last year, the Fanclub was denied access to a dance festival in the garden of Soestdijk Palace. Jagers had wanted to sell T-shirts there, as well as flyers with attached(!): orange-flavoured orange condoms.
Amersfoort resident Ron Jagers (63) has been causing 'central confusion' for decades, as another non-musician from the Silent Fanfare puts it. In the regional AD edition, he is usually portrayed as 'Amersfoort's alternative art pope'. But you would be selling him short by dismissing him as a clown. For he is also a cultural organiser, graphic designer and photographer.
Social criticism
His more serious, more enduring oeuvre includes a gripping photo book about East Berlin in the last decade before the fall of the wall: Hinter Der Stille, with texts by writer Andreas Apelt.
And: behind many a clownery is serious social criticism. The Silent Fanfare ridicules artistic pretensions and pointless rituals. The Prince Bernhard Fanclub criticises the money-consuming, above-the-law royal family. The orange condom obviously refers to the prince's loose morals.
Quality for a krats
Currently, Jagers is committed to preserving the 'War' for Amersfoort culture. The former factory building is in danger of becoming a purely commercial venue. Too often, Jagers believes, culture is seen as an extremely expensive affair; 'muddling our pennies'. In reality, the average artist delivers quality for next to nothing.
Small shifts
What is the common thread of all this feverish activity? ,,The mundane and its limits. I seek those boundaries but don't really cross them. An artist like Tinkebell does. She made a handbag from the fur of her own cat. People look at that with horror, that's how you create distance. I want to reach people, amuse and make them think with small shifts. Take that Silent Fanfare; it doesn't play and that's immediately obvious.''
Equally taken from life is the Prince Bernhard Fanclub. ,,I do what so many people do: choose an idol and become a 'fan'. On the site Prinsbernhardfanclub.co.uk I put the cars he wrecked, the wrong South American generals he shook hands with and the elephants he shot. But also pictures of me, as president of the fan club, on inspection. Because a president goes on an inspection.''
Looking east
Hunters can be seen dressed head to toe in orange, on inspection with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Matter of photoshopping, of course. "It's time to look eastwards now that the friends in South America have 'dried up'. That way we can have some fun with that money-grubbing royal family.''
His interest in former East Berlin also stems from his fascination with the everyday. ,,I was briefly a member of the CPN in the 1970s, but I soon realised that I thought differently about the organisation of society. What fascinated me was: how is everyday life there, under that absurd regime? I found friendly people who not only managed to survive, but also to shape their lives as they saw fit.
Squat
,,I hung out a lot with a cousin of Nina Hagen's there; she lived in a squat. Since squats didn't officially exist there, nobody bothered us. Early in the morning, we went proletarian shopping; then food was delivered to the shops and we could pick something for ourselves from the trucks without any problem.''
Away from the highway
Jagers has manifested himself emphatically in Amersfoort since his teenage years. His actions against urban planner Arie Rooimans' plans to build a motorway right through the city centre attracted a lot of attention. This would require the demolition of many historical buildings.
,,I was about eighteen and had joined TABAK, or 't Amersfoort Binnenstad Aktie Komitee. We had devised a race with a soapbox: 'The 24 Hours of Le 'Rooi' Mans.' On the back of the soapbox was a pot of whitewash, with which I already drew a white line where the motorway would be. The next day, I was called to the alderman's office as a brat for smearing the public space. Anyway, that motorway never came.''
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