[JEANSELLEM VIEWER] — WERNER BRENNER NU HAR VIETTIP 04-16.01.1974 — Categories: docs, letters, visual, press — Keywords: Galerie S:t Petri, Jean Sellem, archive — Category: docs — WE HAVE FOUNDED AN INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL PARTY - IP, the abbreviation of the International Party or in swedish Ickevålds-partiet (the Non-violence Party)IP does not have the human environment as a special point on the programme, but want to stand on both feet in the ecological context. We present a course, a basic thought which emanates from the idea of non-violence. More and more we wish to grow into this idea together with the members we are looking for. We will gradually realize a programme which in all is the consequence of that idea.We hold that the western slaughter-house cultures build its reason-fixed thought of evolution on a myth - the myth that everything exists in order to serve the egoistic motives of man, that her environment can be isolated to become a sterile "humane" Eden within a glass case. This comfortable dream will never be actualized because man lives in a permanent symbiosis with all that is living on the earth.She is relatively young as a species. Like a child she has by different means tried to dominate her environment and with unusual energy managed to get the world out of balance. Her behaviour so far can be explained by her youth-like lack of self-knowledge. A dependent irresolution has kept back the intuitive sensitivity in all contexts by looking for and trusting in so called scientific proofs to motivate an intervention in emergencies caused by this anxious attitude.From this conviction that man has misjudged herself, we are now in a party trying to gather sympathizers who wish to create this awareness which is the kernel of all true art, which is love, which is non-violence. This awareness that recognizes development for what it is: an illusion - that in an unending perspective there are forms only which are ever changing in an eternal circle: grow, mature, dissolve and are replaced by new versions on the same theme. "Highly developed" is a species when this process is heading towards ripeness. The species is mature when it has gained knowledge of itself, its natural dispositions and is living according to these.In a soft but still vigorous way we wish to stimulate a society that does not, in an unnatural way to the species, become a threat to the whole planet by legalizing certain physical and/or psychical murders on human beings, animals and nature in political systems, industrializing and exploiting projects, dogmareligious doctrines’ heretic persecutions and rapening of souls by dualistic value-systems of good and evil in the physical-psychical torture of preaching hell; further in all hunting on human beings and animals, in the destruction of land by overstimulated cultivation using artificial manure and poisons, plus every form of strain put on life through for example high effective raising and education of human beings and animals for slavery or any other humiliation; in concentration camps, mental hospitals, prisons, schools, nurseries, stables, circuses, animal factories, laboratories of vivisection, slaughter-houses or other institutions of manipulation.We are a reaction to violence that comes from man and which ultimately hits back at herself.IP WANTS TO STIMULATE THE AWARENESS THAT SEES THE INNER RELATIONS AND IN HARMONY WITH THESE TAKES THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ITS WAY OF LIVING AND ITS CONSEQUENCESWe have recognized the self-evident fact that you live your politics. Culture is politics, religion is politics, habits of eating are politics, care about nature is politics and not possible to separate from each other to be treated as uniques, as spices in a party programme.A party was lacking, a party that clearly outspoken the will to act - apart from national interests of profit - in line with the connection between these areas; that is why we founded IP, which is the abbreviation of International Party or in swedish Ickevålds-partiet (= Non-violence Party).Standard to us is not gold, but green forests and clean water, air to breathe. We wish to reduce the consumption of electrical power and luxuries instead of finding out new risky ways of exploiting more sources to satisfy the rising needs we are questioning. With the help of the party we wish to contribute to the adaptation of man to the biological circulation. Every unity (a continent, a nation, a family, an individual) should not be made dependent on outside aid to be able to survive, every unity should as simply as possible be able to manage its own way of life - has the right and confidence to do so if wished.A species under forced dogmas in the form of historicized myths (in a so called development) can only act the way it does. It does not see its negativism, does not see that the trend towards that dissolution the prophecies speak of, accelerates with the threat of hell, the growing guilt and the promises of the righteous’ salvation - afterwards, when the condemned have been separated out.The words Heaven and Hell do not to us represent antagonistic contraries, but complements of each other, two expressions of the same power. We carry them with us wherever we go. At the very moment when we act against our nature, we have already harvested the fruit that is what we call punishment, through the consequences of all things. At the very time we act according to our natural conditions we have Heaven materialized in something we call peace. This peace is non-violence or with a misused word: love. What you call evil is anything that has become depressed, because dogmas have cut it off from expressing itself within its natural conditions. Drugaddiction, illness, criminality are answers to the acting of destructive forces, contributes to their neutralization and the reestablishment of balance, throws back the accusations at the accusers. Thus, artists, poets and others who express themselves cleanly through such established culture patterns are aperients to themselves as for the dogmatic thinking whose tools they consciously or subconsciously are - this thinking which hinders self-knowledge. Truly aware (and intuitive - also apparently naive) art is non-violence. Non-violence is what man will find when she has become strong inside. In art which is non-violence is therefore that power which reflects and abolishes the dualism which through dogmas creates violence and permanents its continuation. — IP DOES NOT WANT TO SUPPORT DESTRUCTIVE CULTURE PATTERNS ESTABLISHED ON VIOLENCE, AN INSIDE-OUT INCLINATION FOR MANBecause of her relatively short existence on the earth, man has not yet found her functional form, but has borrowed her behaviour from other surrounding species that have influenced her. Her rapture over reason is not yet being balanced against her trust in the built-in sensitivity that has led her to the discovery of reason. An equilibrium between reason and emotion is necessary to obtain if this genus is not going to disappear.Around the rapture over reason the dogmareligions built the myth of man as the crown of creation. This was done in order to compensate her feelings of astrayment and inferiority compared with those animals who already mastered their life-functions. This myth learned us to consider other creatures around us as being our servants. On the flat earth we alone were the darlings of gods. We were the cause of the planets’ motions. If anybody questioned this we know what happened. - We gave us the right to respect no other life except those we could identify.Violence is to go outside your nature of species, which is a perversity.To raise animals for slaughter, to keep them in captivity is a cruel and refined way of violating life. In the case of beasts of prey the direct killing is a natural behaviour, necessary for their existence, depending on the constitution of their bodies and organs. They do not use violence in our sense of that word, above all they are not hypocritical in their way of living. Man is no beast of prey, her body is not functional for violence, that is why she suffers from it, overdoes and becomes brutal. This is a hysterical reaction to the patterns which the myth has supplied her with. That is why IP wants to counteract this reflex which gets us into leading our power into such aggressive tracks, that the illusion of our right to rule the world and its lives never will be revealed to us as an illusion.IP does not want to support violence whose manifestations are the slaughtering of animals for food, fur, skin and leather manufacturing, the additives in the production of different kinds of articles etc, the scientific experiments (vivisection) or ceremonial sacrificing. We do not support the keeping of animals in captivity to be used as slaves, through breeding become degenerated to unnatural cattle, racing, pets or circus animals. Our nutritional needs can in the future be satisfied by adequate cultivating methods on well organized areas of vegetables, fruit and grain. Diseases can thereby to a great extent be prevented because the human organism is adapted to this kind of food. It is also more economic to eat the vegetables directly instead of letting them be transformed into meat and milk. Grazing requires large areas and we have got substitutes for furs, skin and leather.IP also wishes to give the animals a chance to survive, to find a new free form of life; they control each other better without our supervision. Man has got enough trouble trying to restrict her own multiplication.OUR POLITICS IS HOW WE LIVEWe, the founders of IP, live with art that aims at non-violence. Through IP we wish to bring together those who are on their way to this awareness which is the kernel of all true art, which is love = non-violence, whatever you call it. With those who share our thoughts, we wish to search for a still more righteous way of living in accordance with the idea of non-violence. From this follows that we do not by violence try to change what we criticize. Violence creates violence. We do not want to force our opinions or ways of living on anybody, we want to stimulate a free, unprejudiced thinking, which at its own pace facilitates the growth of the awareness which gives us wish and ability to take the responsibility of ourselves in a world where written laws only coincidentally must be cited and acted upon.In an unconventional way IP wants to work for a way of living worth the name of human. It must take time, phases can not be jumped over without reverse, but we do not wait without doing anything, do not resign to what many believe is inevitable; readily we want to prepare a sound alternative in the place of that which is swaying still more violently towards its termination. We want to contribute to that there is a new chain when the old one is bursting.May 1972Barbro Carlman Werner BrennerBox 553, S-83101 Östersund, Sweden(Put this in an envelope to IP, Box 553, S-83101 Östersund, Sweden)I share the courses of action and basic thoughts that Werner Brenner and Barbro Carlman declare in the manifest of IP and sign myself as a member:(Name)(Date of birth)(Address)If you are not interested -do not throw this away butgive it to somebody else!Thank you!(date)(Signature) — — — Category: docs — Now we have an IPWE HAVE FOUNDED AN INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL PARTY – IP = ICKEVÅLDSPARTIET, I.E. FROM THE SWEDISH: NON-VIOLENT PARTY OR INTERNATIONAL PARTYIP does not regard the human environment as an isolated problem, but stands with both feet within the ecological context. We represent an attitude, a basic idea that proceeds from the principle of non-violence.We believe that the Western “slaughterhouse” cultures base their reason-fixated idea of development on a myth: the myth that all things exist only to satisfy human egoism. The person who believes in science thinks that his environment can be isolated and transformed into a sterile, “human-friendly” Eden inside a glass case. This comfortable dream can never be realized, because human beings live in an inseparable symbiosis with all things on this earth.Human beings are a relatively young species. In a childish way, they have attempted by various means to dominate their environment and, with extraordinary energy, have succeeded in throwing the world into disorder. Vacillation suppresses their intuitive sensitivity, because by searching for and relying on so-called scientific evidence, they create a pretext for intervening only in catastrophic situations, which in turn arise precisely from this fearful attitude.Proceeding from the conviction that human beings have misunderstood themselves, we are now trying to unite like-minded people in a party. It is intended to create an awareness that the true core of every art is love, is non-violence. An awareness that recognizes that development is an illusion – that, seen from a timeless perspective, it merely produces forms that constantly change in an eternal cycle, arise, mature, pass away and are replaced by new versions of the same theme. Human beings will have developed into mature human beings only when they know their natural conditions and live in accordance with them.In a gentle but nevertheless powerful way, we wish to promote a society that, through its behaviour toward other living beings, does not become a threat to our entire planet, through:Legalization of physical and/or psychological murder of people, animals and nature in political systems, industrialization projects, dogma-religious persecution of heretics through a dualistic value system of good and evil, physical-psychological hellfire-preaching torture.We reject: every kind of hunting of people and animals,the draining and acidification of soils through overstimulated agriculture using artificial fertilizers and poisons,every other form of stress imposed upon life, for example the highly efficient breeding and training of human beings and animals for slavery and other forms of degradation.This takes place in concentration camps, psychiatric institutions, prisons, schools, children’s homes, factories, military service, brothels, circus rings, animal factories, animal-testing laboratories (vivisection), in which animals are dissected alive, slaughterhouses and other institutions that torment and manipulate life.We are a reaction against the violence that emanates from human beings, a violence that ultimately rebounds upon them. — — — Category: docs — — — Category: docs — — — Category: docs — — — Category: docs — — — Category: docs — — — Category: letters — Galerie BEN WARGIN, BerlinJoseph-Haydn-Str. 1, Europa-Center – left-hand side[Illegible beginning] is very interested in the “HUNDERTWEISSE Bilder” by Börje [illegible]!!! Please tell him that. Perhaps [illegible].Wargin wants to organize an exhibition in Berlin fairly soon. Börje should, if he wants, send him his pictures etc., or photographic material of them. Wargin speaks only German.Tel.: (30) 392 60 49 – Herr [illegible].[Several lines partly illegible.] It has looked good at several exhibitions here in Sweden. So I have [illegible]. My address for the time being is:POSTFACH 120603D-1 BERLIN 4273– — — — Category: letters — 17.12.73Hi!Perhaps you might be interested in reading a couple of articles I have written and had published in a few publications. They concern IP-womens and my way of living, as well as a few things about children, which are in fact deeply connected with art and politics.During a brief appearance on regional radio in Umeå (a quick sketch of me as a cultural worker), I managed to get [illegible] into the part of the tape that was not cut out.I talked quite a lot about the IP-womens initiative and the publication — but, as I said, [illegible] did not make it into the broadcast.Greetings,Barbro C. — — — Category: letters — Lund, 15 September 1973Hello,We agree that the conceptual art exhibition will take place at Galerie S:t Petri during the periods 4–16 January and 18–30 January 1974.As for transport, I will collect and return the exhibition in Stockholm.In your letter you say that all the galleries should share the costs of printing a catalogue or book. Financially, it is completely impossible for us to contribute to these costs, since we operate entirely without profit and receive neither municipal nor any other support, and are certainly far poorer than any of the other galleries. But what we can do, in order not to withdraw from the catalogue and this collective effort, is to carefully produce a number of stencilled pages, a method increasingly used in serious conceptual-art contexts. I mean that we could stencil 3–4 or more pages of text. You only need to send me an error-free text and indicate the number of pages. I will then send everything to you in Stockholm.What I do not understand is why you have not already sent thank-you letters to the participants, asking those who want to be included in the catalogue to print one page themselves and send it to you by a specified date. You could then have assembled an original and valuable catalogue. Most of them would probably have agreed to this. You could surely ask an artist to screen-print the cover, which would cost him no more than his own work. It would also be excellent publicity for him. After that, all you would have to do is bind the sheets together.I have heard that there is a Nordic Cultural Council in Stockholm and that it gives support to exhibitions shown in at least three Nordic countries. From what I understand, the Cultural Council is quite generous. Perhaps you could inquire there about the possibility of financial assistance. If you need any help, I will gladly be of assistance.Greetings — — — Category: letters — — — Category: letters — Warm greetings from blooming and fragrant Norrland!Half a year ago you promised me the black-and-white film for making pictures. May I still hope?!Werner[Marginal note]The newspaper article has not arrived! — — — Category: letters — Lund, 28 March 1974We have received your application to participate in the Immigrant Exhibition at Lund Art Hall.Unfortunately, we must inform you that, because of the scale of the exhibition, we have to limit participation to people residing in Skåne.Kind regards,Lund Art Hall[Handwritten notes]Jean, how are you? And the gallery? And Strindberg?You can see the rejection above. I would very much like to have a picture — 130 × 130 — can you arrange that? Let me know! That crazy fellow is staying with me, etc. If you want. If you can.Regards,Werner[Left margin]It is cold here and there is still a lot of snow. [Partly illegible] keeps me alive.[Upper right, partly uncertain]Are you going to take part, Jean? You’re also a devil, after all!Werner! — — — Category: letters — — — Category: letters — Dec 10thJean,the post has cheated me. This is no surprise to me. I have spent a lot of money and nerves to get it so quickly to you.I'll try to make them again.I do not understand what you mean about — my oil paintings ??If you do not like them OK; but I think it will not be worth to spend so much money and energy for not showing the best I have.Has Göran done the job for me ??Greetings to allW — — — Category: visual — — — Category: visual — — — Category: visual — — — Category: visual — — — Category: visual — — — Category: visual — — — — — Category: visual — — — Category: press — <p>[Caption] This is what Werner Brenner looks like.</p> — Thursday, 3 January 1974Non-Violence Party presents itself at a galleryLUND: Werner Brenner, an Austrian artist, is exhibiting at Galerie S:t Petri in Lund from 4 to 16 January. The people of Lund and other interested visitors will then have the opportunity to become acquainted with the Non-Violence Party (IP), an international political party created by him and Barbro Carlman and founded in May 1972.Werner Brenner is also showing a series of photographs entitled “Happening Werner Brenner”.But most of the exhibition concerns the new party. In its programme, IP states, among other things:“We believe that the Western slaughterhouse cultures base their reason-fixated idea of development on a myth — the myth that everything exists to serve humanity’s selfish purposes, and that its environment can be isolated and turned into a sterile, ‘human-friendly’ Eden under a glass dome.This comfortable dream can never be realised, because human beings live in an inseparable symbiosis with all living things on Earth.We who founded IP live in and through art that strives towards non-violence. Through IP we want to bring together those who are moving towards the consciousness that lies at the heart of all true art, which is love, which is non-violence — whatever it may be called.” — — — Category: press — <p>[Caption] Happening Werner Brenner.</p> — SYDSVENSKA DAGBLADET SNÄLLPOSTENThursday, 3 January 1974Werner Brenner at S:t PetriWerner Brenner, an Austrian artist, is exhibiting at Galerie S:t Petri in Lund from 4 to 16 January. Together with Barbro Carlman, he founded the Non-Violence Party (IP), an international political party, in May two years ago. Among other things, visitors to the exhibition will become acquainted with IP. The photographic series “Happening Werner Brenner” is also being shown. — — — Category: press — — — Category: press — <p>[Caption] Werner Brenner, founder of the Non-Violence Party, appears at Galerie S:t Petri starting today.</p> — The non-violence artist visits a Lund galleryWerner Brenner, an Austrian artist, is exhibiting at Galerie S:t Petri starting today. At the same time, visitors to the gallery are given the opportunity to become more closely acquainted with the Non-Violence Party (IP), founded by the artist together with Barbro Carlman.IP aims to encourage an awareness that perceives the deepest interconnections and, in harmony with them, takes responsibility for the consequences of one’s way of life. In its programme, IP states, among other things: “We believe that Western slaughterhouse cultures base their reason-fixated idea of development on a myth — the myth that everything exists to serve humanity’s selfish purposes, that our environment can be isolated and turned into a sterile, ‘human-friendly’ Eden under a glass dome.This comfortable dream can never be realized, because human beings live in an indissoluble symbiosis with all living things on earth... We who founded IP live in and through art that strives toward non-violence.... We do not wish to impose our opinions or a pattern of life on anyone; we wish to encourage independent, unprejudiced thinking which, at its own pace, facilitates the emergence of the awareness that gives us the desire and the ability to take responsibility for ourselves...”A number of prominent figures have, over the years, praised Brenner, among them August Strindberg, who says in a letter to a colleague: “This is the man of the new age! Brenner has found la nouvelle formule! You know that formerly, as a catechumen of Nietzsche, I ended all my letters to literary friends with: ‘Read Nietzsche!’”“Like Nietzsche, Brenner has abolished the dualism between good and evil. He is ‘jenseits von Gut und Böse’ — but has drawn different and more radical conclusions. The essence of art is love, non-violence. Reverence for the ethics of life recognizes no relative ethics. Good is only that which preserves and promotes life; evil is everything that harms and destroys life.If the ethics of devotion are to unite with the ethics of self-perfection (à la Nietzsche), they must become universal and extend devotion not only to human beings but to everything that exists, all created beings, all life.”Thus: read William Blake, read Van Gogh’s letters, read Brenner! There you have the men of the new age!, says the advance presentation.Werner Brenner is also showing a series of photographs entitled “Happening Werner Brenner”.The exhibition is open weekdays from 3–8 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays from 12–5 p.m.SKD, 4 January 1974 — — — Category: press — A good exhibition on non-violenceGunnar Bråhammar at the vernissageThe Austrian artist Werner Brenner founded the Non-Violence Party, IP, in 1972 together with Barbro Carlman, with an international scope. This party is now being presented in images and text at Galerie S:t Petri in Lund. The core of the “party programme” is, naturally, that human beings should not use violence under any circumstances.The exhibition has focused primarily on the theme of man as predator: what, according to IP, is our ruthless and unnecessary slaughter and consumption of animals. We should not kill or make use of animals for any purpose whatsoever (fur, leather, horns, scientific experiments, etc.). This message is conveyed in the exhibition through paintings consisting solely of freely composed texts, collages (pasted-together images), and a series of photographs entitled “Happening Werner Brenner”.At times one wonders whether Brenner is making fun of his viewers, for example in the fictitious statements attributed to famous men praising him. Posthumously, August Strindberg writes: “Like Nietzsche, Brenner has abolished the dualism between good and evil. He is ‘jenseits von Gut und Böse’ — but has drawn other and more radical conclusions. The essence of art is love, non-violence. — So: read William Blake, read Van Gogh’s letters, read Brenner! There you have the men of the new age!”It has been a long time since I read Strindberg, but if I remember correctly, he writes somewhere, in connection with hunting or fishing, that human beings must not be sentimental and illogical and elevate animals to the level of human beings. — — — Category: press — Galerie S:t PetriAt 6 p.m., the Non-Violence Party (IP), created by Werner Brenner and Barbro Carlman, will be presented. In addition, a slide series on slaughterhouse culture will be shown, photographed by Werner Brenner, who is currently exhibiting at Galerie S:t Petri. — — — Category: press — LundGalerie S:t PetriIP — the Non-Violence Party — was founded in 1972 by Barbro Carlman and Werner Brenner. “We are a reaction against the violence that originates in human beings, the violence that ultimately strikes back at humanity itself,” they write, among other things, in their programme statement.The art Brenner is now showing is entirely in the service of the Non-Violence Party. The collages, with images of women cut from pornographic magazines and placed among various charcuterie products, are somewhat too simplistic; the same applies to the photographs and objects. But the posters are good. They are composed of words in different styles and sizes. The words are charged and typical of what Brenner is opposing. They have been assembled with a fine sense of the decorative qualities of lettering. The posters are simply beautiful, although perhaps that was not what Brenner primarily intended.SIMONA — — — Category: press — <p>[Caption] The Austrian artist Werner Brenner, who yesterday demonstrated at Stora torget in Uppsala against the excessive hunting of small birds abroad.</p> — UNT, Friday, 18 October 1974One-man demonstration:Stop the mass slaughter of migratory birds in Italy— Stop the mass slaughter of migratory birds in Italy! Soon there will be no birds left in Sweden. This appeal comes from the Austrian artist Werner Brenner. On Thursday evening he staged a one-man demonstration at Stora torget in Uppsala.Brenner is protesting against the excessive hunting of small birds on the Continent, in Spain and perhaps above all in Italy. The birds are hunted and then eaten as luxury food.According to Werner Brenner, this is big “business” in more southerly latitudes. He says that around 250 million birds are killed every year.— They are hunted with guns that scatter small pellets and with nets stretched between mountain peaks. The heavy concentration of birds along their migration routes makes hunting with nets very effective.Werner Brenner has lived for four years in Ångermanland. He is an artist — a painter and sculptor. But times have been hard and he has had to supplement his household by growing food himself.In doing so, he has had considerable help from small birds — swallows, larks and starlings, for example. They have kept parasites under control.But in recent years the number of small birds has declined drastically in Ångermanland. This summer Werner Brenner did not see a single swallow.He does not want to spray his crops with chemicals and has found it increasingly difficult to obtain any yield from his vegetable plots.— It pains me to see nature disturbed, he says. The number of birds keeps declining. I want to urge everyone who sympathises with me to show it by demonstrating on their own in “sensitive” places. I myself, for example, have demonstrated outside the Italian tourist office in Stockholm.