Bio
I am attracted to all art that balances between the canonical and the experimental. I believe all composition is, in essence, curated improvisation. Everything of value emerges from intuition, and the guts of playing the risk.
I am a Belgian continental philosopher, a writer of novels, poetry and films; and a jazz-guitarist with a monstrous compositional curiosity -- basically resulting in: I am an anonymous neurotic.
Working on debut album, 'notes'
Author of novel 'Krank. Working on second novel: Geschiedenis van mijn woede//Anthologie van het enthousiasme.
Running a cosy studio: hit me up here, on Instagram or info@giuseppeminervini.be
Afbeeldingen
Video’s
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- Meditation on a novelists notebook, p.4
- notebook p4: motivation for participating in CELA. (CELA connects 165 literary artists across 11 European countries. Together, the partners and participants of the project are bridging the gaps between each other, the publishing industry and the European public.) My debut novel Krank (De Geus, 2023) is the result of a long search for my vision as a writer, for my style. In my own little room. The fact that Krank was received so well gave me confidence in my intuition and the certainty that my stubborn isolation, which seemed as necessary as it was dangerous, had not been in vain. But since then, writing has seemed more like entrepreneurship to me than ever before, and I hope that during the CELA programme I will learn how to create a flow between myself, the field and the audience in my literary work, which will counteract isolation and make writing more sustainable, both financially and emotionally. I would like to highlight one important discovery I made during my residency in Paris. I appear to be a sponge, an observer, a ‘method writer’, if you will. I seek out what intrigues me and have to make it my own in order to write about it. In that sense, the page is never really blank. Detectives always start with a case file. Perhaps writing is not speaking, but mainly listening. Krank — a letter to the judge from an orphan on death row — is a very claustrophobic book. The reader is presented with a world that is coloured by the narrator’s gaze. It demanded my undivided attention to coincide with that narrator. I fell into a hole in the pavement and disappeared. Performing that magic trick again requires more thought. Today, my mission is to lay out the blueprint for a body of work, but with the contract for the second book signed, the main question today seems to be not what the next book will be, but how the next book will be. In addition to my next work, I want to focus even more on the fertility of the ground in which that work will be planted. Over the past year, I have taken various steps in the search for creative collaborations and other media that can support my work: a website, a newsletter, with accompanying imagery and musical compositions to match the text. It is no secret that those who want to be heard must triumph in the content masquerade. Many see this as a tragedy, but it is actually nonsensical to seek a business-like state of exemption in literature. CELA’s offer seems to me to be the perfect opportunity to delve deeper into the many different possibilities for publishing, reaching an audience and, above all, learning from fellow writers. How does that work anyway, a position in the field? How do I expand my network without rushing; how do I strengthen it, what can I expect from it? Which medium is suitable for me besides books? I hope that CELA will give me the courage, confidence and security to stand up for my work both nationally and internationally; to radiate an energy that is my own and recognisable; to increase my connection with that energy and business acumen. And finally, with your permission, a second discovery about my writing. The most intriguing ideas arise for me in the margins, that is to say, outside the predetermined climax. My characters may be the result of life experience, but their inner contradictions are always something that escapes my initial understanding. If writing is listening, then I put my ear to the escape. Lightness and confidence are key here. The conditions in which one writes are crucial. After my debut, I feel more and more like a curator of the conditions of a text; within language and beyond, within the business. If I now commit myself to literary entrepreneurship, I know without a doubt that entrepreneurship also serves the writing itself. The broader your world, the richer your intuition. I want to build that entrepreneurship with a joy in my sights similar to the joy I took in writing Krank. It is therefore with that joy that I am embarking on CELA. sax by @jvdmofficial translation by Ibe Deturck
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- Meditation on a novelists notebook, p.3
- Yesterday, a slightly desperate email to a marketeer: Thank you for your email! I appreciate your honest commitment and straightforwardness. You provide a clear structure. This brings us to the point of our lunch a few weeks ago: I am looking for an outsiders' perspective that provides an overview and, based on that overview, reveals opportunities in the market. Someone who also knows how to implement those opportunities: which platform to use, how to leverage that platform, and how to increase the chances of the message coming to fruition. I have reorganised my website a little. The homepage feels like a welcome, a necessary starting point from which to begin exploring my world. I can certainly make that exploration even more exciting. `Now the question is: what will bring visitors to my website? : I know myself and my tendency to lose myself in all kinds of detours. Those detours are appealing — literary fruitful and so on — but sometimes counterproductive in business. (I suppose I don't need to explain this to you ;-)). I am convinced that my work process is enriched in all kinds of ways as soon as I build a model/machine/brand around my work that removes the obstacles between me and my audience. All theory that translates into practice as: a) continuing to work on projects, b) continuing to experiment with different media, c) having lots of coffees with people from the literary/musical field and remaining constantly alert to opportunities that come knocking, d) participating in the event parade with a megaphone. All the results of that a, b, c, d work must then be fed back into that model/machine/brand: so that it is clear to everyone what I have done, so that it is clear to everyone what message I have for them, so that it is clear what they can come to me for, so that the growth of my model/machine/brand persists. The challenge is indeed to capture this versatility under one heading, without confusion or paralysis. Every attempt I made to pin down my work from the outside — in the uncomfortable pose with which I distanced myself — always ended in wasted time with such a sympathetic detour. I do not sell Russian pineapples, nor do I reliably renovate roofs. The energy in my work stems from an inherent lack of clarity: it is an eternal search: while writing, I constantly balance between what I know and what I do not know, and I relate to this as much to an artistic tradition as to the need to distance myself from that artistic tradition, to digest that tradition, towards renewal. In that sense, deep in the chambers of my work, I feel compelled to reinvent the wheel, as casually as necessary. It is evident that I must clearly define Giuseppe Minervini. But in accordance with the natural//intuitive//capricious nature of my work. The boisterous curiosity that underpins my trademark must never appear transparent, let alone contrived. A description of my work always faces the same task: making what is difficult to access attractive. Revealing the basis of complexity: not pretentiousness, but a justified, multidimensional sensitivity that resonates with all sorts of people. At this point, it seems to me that it is mainly a question of the right infrastructure. Which platform should I use? And what is the best strategy for using that platform? My Instagram simply reports on the progress of my working days. On LinkedIn, I report on my (completed) assignments. I consider YouTube to be an artistic platform in its own right. I publish my guitar improvisations there and, in time, the films (or excerpts from the films). SoundCloud/Bandcamp/Spotify: album distribution. I still need to delve into the intricacies of those algorithms and the importance of pitching the project to the platform's gatekeepers. Buy me a coffee/Patreon: less ground to cover in the Dutch-speaking world. I do believe that there are opportunities here from YouTube — and possible translations into English. For that, my YouTube page needs to grow first. I see the opportunity to subscribe to the compost novel serial on my website (‘an investigation in text, image, sound’) as a bottleneck that brings together a widely diverse audience. On the one hand, it is a convenient way to inform many people at the same time about a new publication; on the other hand, such a loyal readership also serves as leverage during negotiations with a potential partner. Anyone who subscribes to the newsletter or buys a book via the future webshop will receive one of my empty ink cartridges, framed in a matchbox! So, here is a report of the thoughts running through my mind. Sometimes I lie in bed tossing and turning, then I get up and go for a walk, and then I think: the light at the end of the tunnel reveals the roundabout where I find myself repeating myself. I look forward to hearing from you! Best regards, Giuseppe @jvdmofficial translation by Ibe Deturck
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- Meditation on a novelists notebook, p.2
- How liberating it would be to play the vastness of a soundscape with the simplicity of a classical guitar. The focal point of pedals nowadays, Deleuze and Guattari would agree, is the ferocious need of the musician for the multi-functionality of these gains, reverbs, delays, modulation and loopers to translate in a unit interface for his feet. The musician wants to feel his pedalboard, and the result of this pricey cabling, like a flee feels the skin of his host. Just so he can balance in an interesting way on the derailment of sound. He doesn't want to sound like anyone but himself. He needs to surrender himself to chance, i.e. how the knobs occur to be dialed in.
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- Meditation on a novelists notebook, p.1
- How do you end up in a jazz club in Rome at two o'clock in the morning with a Peruvian critic of Emile Zola and a depressed hospital architect discussing shame, anger, mercy and suicide? “On spec”, like how an elephant decides to drink from a double bass. Hunting for a foundation in the material of the second novel, it has already been quite a summer for me. As preliminary research for my longer residency, I spent ten days at the Academia Belgica. (What a wonderful place!) I caught myself several times composing paragraphs in the middle of the zebra crossing: while walking: with two thumbs: in the notes on my smartphone. I exchanged the requirement I once imposed on myself to write a thousand words every day for the intention to spend no more than three hours on a text. Residencies like the one in Rome reaffirm that this in no way detracts from the quality of my work: on the contrary, it seems to free me from the doubts inherent in endlessly chewing on text in the tower, drawing on an unexpected strength. Writer, travel light. The page is never blank. Rumour has it that all Vespas will be wobbling on their front wheels this November. Everything you write, you must remember. For years, I fell into the trap of clinging to manuscripts that had yet to prove their worth in the world. Such a tight grip eats away at your presence of mind. I decided to comb through my archives, re-evaluate all my preserved finds, and house all the sentences that still filled me with pride under new roofs with different company. The maximum value of those texts: compost. In everything I ever produced, I looked for patterns and clear differences. Or: what I had to remember for a future oeuvre could not be translated into theory, but into colours, memories, utterances, more tangible material. The result was Geschiedenis van mijn Woede// Anthologie van het Enthousiasme [History of My Anger//Anthology of Enthusiasm; GvmW//AvhE]: a matrix of 110 texts created by linking together the novel projects that emerged on the margins of Krank: a literary monster with the face of a modular synth: a filter machine with a nose that becomes increasingly strict with every residue: but first and foremost, a way of life that promotes me from camel to a sit/stand/sit/stand/sit/stand desk thirsty for permission to an artist who demands his participation. GvmW//AvhE is the compost that adds relief to the overview of everything I ever wrote or wanted to write, and with that relief an intuitive direction in my writing pleasure//zest for life. (Subscribe to the compost novel feuilleton; the vulnerable behind the scenes of the construction of an oeuvre, at www.giuseppeminervini.be) For Uitgeverij De Geus, I am currently working on two options for a second book: (1) A list of suicides compiles the life stories of thirty-five fictional suicides. (2) Sex Link v.3 is an ego document based on an erotic nightmare that has been haunting me for five years. Both books originate from GvmW//AvhE; (1) I hadn't noticed before how ubiquitous suicide was as a theme in my oeuvre; why is that? (2) The dream is a crossroads where many thematic lines converge that I found in other novel projects. Such a shift in the writing process also extends beyond writing. It is no secret that those who want to be heard must triumph in the content masquerade. Many see this as a tragedy, but it is actually nonsensical to seek a business exception in literature. The literary talent that critics and gatekeepers say I possess only became truly tangible to me in a struggle that takes place outside of language. It is liberating to discover that the intuition that proved necessary to deliver a novel is enhanced in the production of music, film, an encounter, a friendship, and how it manages to create a casual idiosyncrasy in everything it touches. On giuseppeminervini-sound, you will find reports of my musical adventures that combine the laws of jazz, ambience, classical music and spoken word. I post both spontaneous improvisations on an acoustic/classical guitar and my dissociations on drum computers. The home base for this research is the studio space that I built together with Atelier Nooitgedacht, a place ten minutes away from the railway station in Kortrijk, Belgium. Welcome to all guest artists, young or old, who want to be part of this journey. Text and guitar: Giuseppe Minervini On sax: @jvdmofficial Translation: Ibe Deturck
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- Improvisation #1
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- Improvisation #2
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