Lenka hat auf der US-Seite selbst ein Manifest gepostet, das wir euch nicht vorenthalten möchten. Um den Wortlaut hier nicht durch Übersetzung zu entstellen, haben wir uns dazu entschlossen es im Original-Wortlaut zu belassen. Aber lesen wir selbst, was LENKA zu sagen hat.

Hi,
wenn wir nächste in Tokio sein werden, wird zeitgleich auch eine Ausstellung eröffnet - mit Werken von mir und von James Gulliver Hancock  (der alle meine Artworks und sonstige Grafiken kreiert).
Es macht Spass!


Und dazu haben wir ein Manifest verfasst, das diese Ausstellung begleitet und erläutert und auch einen Einblick gibt, aus welchemem konzeptuellen Umfeld meine Musik kommt:


WE WILL NOT GROW OLD 

A Manifesto by LENKA and James Gulliver Hancock.  

This is a statement about the collaborative and individual work we make as artists. It is the philosophy behind our crafts, spanning from visual art to pop music. 

We embrace childhood and the unconfident mark, we revel in it. Within the work there is a playfulness and a conscious naivety. The work seeks to involve people, invite reminiscence and familiarity, pulling from common experiences and aesthetics to generate new experiences.   It is practiced oddness. It is a purposeful childishness.

As children we try to be accurate and adult-like. We copy words, sounds, mannerisms and marks in an attempt to join the world around us. But the lines we draw come out wonky, the songs we sing come out shaky. We play with them and through this process we make them ours. When we become adults we are able to hone our skills, but we feel a kind of emptiness and a longing that lacks in that perfection. In our striving for accuracy we miss that child-like innocence, playfulness and wonder.  

There is comfort in this universal nostalgia. We look back to our childhood to find some sense of peace and simplicity. We surround ourselves with icons of reminiscence to feel some lightness in this heavy world. Our aesthetic revels in this. 

Indeed, there exists a cult of cute, an obsession, world-over, with the child-like. Are we embracing nature’s use of ‘cute’ for survival, like baby animals? Or perhaps the inherited wisdom we once had as children is what we miss. A cellular, mystical wisdom. Maybe the naïve is a passport to the divine.  

Our work appropriates the childlike into adult intentions. This cuteness is utilized seductively, it manipulates, and introduces heavier adult concepts. Wisdoms and adult emotions are hidden beneath this child-like veil. Ancient philosophies are made with fuzzy felt and crayons. Mature concepts are expressed through lullabies. Crafty tactile materials and nursery-sounding instruments are juxtaposed with the technical wonders of the computer.  

“We will not grow old”. Physically, of course, we will, but we will never lose the spirit of the child. We will keep it alive through our aesthetic, our surroundings, the words we speak, the melodies we sing and the thoughts we ponder.