i proposed doing an event this time outdoors, what i thought of as a performance activity in celebration of our getting to know amsterdam. we settled on a spot in the park behind the rijksmuseum where we anchored string on the ground to make a grid. each of the 25 or so squares was about a meter in size. the plan had us lined up along adjacent sides of the grid and advancing on a signal from me. each of us was to find something in the square we entered and become it by empathizing with it. it is a strategy that hunters sometimes use when approaching deer. the participants were all men (the women having preferred to watch) five of whom were members of in-out. the other was klaas beeldman who i believe was a gallerist. he had taken part in 'changes' at hetty's studio the year before. if you asked how the piece in the park went i would confess that i had expected everyone in the grid to take the shape of whatever phenomenon they had chosen to become. participants who were dancers might have done that, but none of our group joined me in that way. our group took the activity more as a meditation.

jim melchert in an email to corinne groot on january 21 2015