V-Side - Objective Normandy (C-30 cassette with 40-page A5 booklet)

Although both sides of this cassette have distinctive separate tracks, the cassette nor the booklet list any track titles.

V,- aka V-Side aka Votnik are Dirk Paesmans and Koen Theys. This release is a documentation of a week of performances and installations by V,- on the beaches of Normandy in the summer of 1982, accompanied by Christine. In november 1982 we organised an exhibition and series of performances 'Slaughter Month' in Club Moral.

The following is a remindable report on the expedition. The atmosphere and tension brutally come forward. Besides that, it gives, next to the report of the risks, the failures and successes, a remarkable clear image on the outline of the expedition and the factors that had their influence on it.

South-station Brussels aug 6, 8.10h.
The Trans-Europe-Express will leave at 9.20 am. Paris-Montparnasse 12.10 am. Kolo Kolo by métro to Gare ST.-Lazaire. The turbo to Caen leaves in 20 mins. In the station in Caen we try to rent 3 bikes (Train + Vélo formulae) but they have only 1 mini left. At Bike-Rent-Company Robert we rent 2 ladies-bikes and 1 Sports-Motobécane, compelled by necessity. Caen 5.30 pm. We leave by bike in the direction of Riva-Bella, Objective Normandy Beaches. On the hunting-path next to the channel we cross the Pegasus-bridge, a bridge with a heroïc past. There's going to be a thunderstorm. It's getting dark. In Riva-Bella we find a hiding place right near a maïs-field.

Riva-Bella aug 7, 9.00h.
Whilst waiting for the commando museum to open, we send postcards. Inside. Forbidden to take pictures. We cycle near the coast in the direction of Arromanches. Right before Arromanches is Point Asnelles, which gives a panoramic view on Omaha Beach, with the reminders of an artificial harbor built on june 6, 1944. As tourists we stand on the edge of the falaise. The road to the centre is going steep downwards. Down in the centre we see a modern building surrounded by artillery-batteries. In the front memorial tablets: 'Les clefs de la libération reposent ici'. 'The keys of liberation of Europe'. A long row is going through the bronze gate on which is written in silver letters 'D-DAY june 6 1944'. On the beach still lay a few Phoenix-caissons, 1500 tons each. Washed ashore segments from the Mulberries. We cycle into the country, to Bayeux, where we spend the night in the 'Foyer des Jeunes Travailleurs de France'.

Bayeux aug 8, 8.50h.
Hot cocoa with butter-breads. 10.00 am. Bayeux Memorial with 2 tanks in front of it. Inside much music, much atmosphere. But we had to go very quick to the mass-grave in Colleville-sur-Mer. Cycling like beasts. The back-wheel of 1 ladies-bike is bend and trails against the brake. The sports-bike is missing 2 spokes. We reach the American Cemetery through a large avenue which continues midst the dunes. You can see them laying there. This is Omaha-Red-Beach, of which you can read in the Michelin-guide that here 'la bataille la plus coûteuse du jour J' happened. Charlie Dog, Easy Fox, Sword, Juno, Gold. Une Côte d'or pour eux. Here they lay, their bodies as first class lawn.
30 km westwards Exposition Omaha. Much music, much atmosphere. The night overtakes us on a busy Route Nationale without cycling-path where heavy trucks drive off and on. We spend the night in the football-stadium of Isigny.

Isigny aug 9, 8.30h.
We continue our search for the German soldiers-cemetery of 'La Cambre' which we were looking for yesterday-night already, without any result. Only at the last moment we buy Chicklettes in a Seca-shop we find out where it is. 'Versohnung über die Graben' is a German organisation which arranges the upkeep of German Military Cemeteries throughout the world. Young German volunteers are cleaning the graves. Arrival Utah-Beach 14.30h. The small 'Musée 4', an ex-Nazi blockhouse, you can see a slide-show there. We find a hiding-place in an open-air battery 5 x 5m.
Utah-Beach aug 10, 8.15h.
We are benumbed and the flood-tide is near. I start working on the Atlantik Wall and K. is doing an Emergency-test with his survival-packett. F. takes pictures.

Utah-Beach aug 11, 8.45h.
We continue our works during the whole day. At night we do a shadowplay.

Utah-Beach aug 12, 9.00h.
LANDING-PERFORMANCE.

Utah-Beach aug 13, 8.15h.
We leave for St.-Mère-Eglise, 20 km into the land. From the Airborne-museum we send postcards. Death From Above. We start at 3.00 pm for a 60 km ride against the clock to St.-Lo. La vie de la liberté. After 40 km it starts to rain and it's getting dark. At our arrival we're plain wet and cramped. L'auberge des jeunes warm, dry, cocoa and butter-breads.
St.-Lo aug 14, 8.15h.
Last etappe of 80km. Arrival in Caen 16.00h. With the Turbo to Paris. Arrival 21.10. Night-train to Brussels. Arrival 4.45 in the morning.
Zombies.
(this text first appeared in Force Mental nr3, november 1982)

On 7 nov 1982 V,- Division landed in the Club Moral spaces with 2 vans of equipment. The space is divided in several parts with heavy army canvas, each section portrays a different theme of the expedition with postcards, photos, objects . On 14 nov 1982 the exhibition opens, some 30 people witness the large projection of a movie on the outside wall of the factory building. V,- plays live bells from a balcony and from the roof. Later on inside, a documentary Super8-film and sound bits from the expedition are played.
The next day 12 people show up to watch AR/TE performs his infamous 'Power/Impotence' where he pulls the skin of a severed sheep's head over another sheep's head. The loud performance is stopped by the police. Next D. performs. He lights a fire in the room while drinking beer and rum. He throws some sausages and applesauce in a cooking pot and fries them. While the space fills with choking smoke he drinks more and eats the food, people run to our living room where K. awaits them with a pornographic resistance story.
On 19 nov 1982, 9 people show up to witness D. crawling under a large sheet of plastic in the courtyard. A howling dog is tied to a pole. Accompanied by a large floodlight D. gets undressed and crawls into the cage of a goose. The cold, stiffened and disgusted audience returns inside. K. shows a re-worked Euro-Chimique promotional film accompanied by loud synth music.
11 people are victim to a 45-min long dia-rite on 20 nov 1982. Violence, sex, religion, war, love, aggression and V,-. D spends the night on the concrete floor of Club Moral with 2 shortwave radios next to his head.
Finally 3 people show up on 21 nov 1982 to witness the apotheose of the slaughter-festival. K. stands on a platform holding the goose in his left hand, an axe in his right hand. Next to his head a porn movie is projected with a soundtrack of singing choirs. The sound stops, he chops the head of the goose and lets the blood spurt onto the projection. All the time D. sits naked under a black cloth with the image of a landscape projected above him.

Those were some of the days at the Club Moral....