from artist-as-leader to leader-as-artist

166 Pages·2011·1.24 MB·English

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From artist-as-leader to leader-as-artist is a critical examination of -
the image of contemporary leadership and its roots. a
r
the dutch Beat poet and performer
Through the lens of modern management texts, Pieterse explores the t
lcirnitkiq bueet owfe theen a cvoanntt-egmarpdoer maroyv emmaennatgse omf theen 1t 9s5p0esa ikn tahned N tehthee arrlatinsdtsic, is simon Vinkenoog as exemplar of leadership
focusing specifically on the Dutch Fiftiers group, the Cobra movement t
in contemporary organizations
and 1960s countercultural activism. Subsequently, a neo-
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
Vincent Pieterse
Centre, one of the largest management training institutes in the
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. [phone]
F. [phone]
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