Medusa: explorer in a world between reality and fantasy
Posted 18 September, 2009 - 19:00 by Truelove
Party archive
You'll probably have met her before, being one of her many appearances at her own, or at another party. Her name is Medusa and versatility, adventurous, warmth, engagement, but also a razor-sharp view on what's happening in this world, are synonymous with that. Witness our breathtaking interview with her here. From her love for the 'mysts of the gothic underground', her (sometimes dicey) African adventures, to the description of an average day of her life that doesn't turn out to be that average after all. That's her! In fact she's even more and of course... every inch a true fairy.
Truelove: Medusa, for what reason may we wake you up in the middle of the night?
Medusa: Mmmm, don't just wake me up like that... just start rubbing my back slowly, add some candlelight, some incense... that will surely make me open my eyes and than we're all ready to start enjoying ourselves...Wink Furthermore it very much depends on where we are. I prefer being woken up for adventure!! In the desert one can see the stars... being on a safari, one can spot the wildlife... or someone at home pampering you... living the good life! But a great party or an exciting ritual are good reasons as well.
Truelove: You're a cultural anthropologist with a preference for the 'mysts of the gothic underground'. Where does this interest derive from and how would you describe yourself as a child?
Medusa: My father used to show me the little people in the woods, the fairies, where they lived and how they where playing together. He used to read to us by candlelight, Tolkien and stuff like that. I absolutely loved it! We went to England for our holidays, visiting castles, climbing trees and rambling a lot. My liking for the gothic genre originates from those castles as well as from the literature, the music and the art of that era. I was very much impressed by fairytales and a visit to the Efteling and my father reading from 'The Historie of Reynart the Foxe ' was enough to make me shiver. This fox Reynart, what a genuine sadist that was... hah! Yes, my father very well knew how to stimulate my imagination. We used to play chasing at, and escaping from games. That was really exciting. Boys chasing the girls. Pfff... we used to run our heads off, in those days. I also admired my elder nieces who lived in squats or were 'Punk'. They where different, 'tough guys' with green Mohawk haircuts, mad clothing and stuff like that. And their houses were always different from the ones I knew. They were a kind of Pippi Longstocking-houses where everything was allowed. Well everything... not really, but one could climb around and everything was a little dangerous and old and... well, you know.
I myself, as a child, was reasonably normal to look at... I'd say. I was an ordinary girl with long, blond hair in braids and wearing pink clothes. But I was always hungry for excitement and adventure, that feeling has never vanished. My nieces gave me music tapes with their favourite music, like the B-52's, Siouxie & the Banshees, Madness, The Virgin Prunes, etc. And sitting in my room, playing with my Playmobil, I used to listen to that music. Later on, when I was asked to prepare bread rolls on a party, I found out that a whole world was hidden behind this music. This was my first gothic experience. There where chains and army gear everywhere and people looked terribly cool. I didn't know where to look and, as I was still a little shy in those days, I only lsaw everybodies shoes. Those shoes, that I could see when I was dancing and there wasn't too much stage-smoke on the dance floor. Later on... as I grew less shy, I started selling beer and eventually organising my own parties. And that's about where we are at this moment in life!
That 'myst', where the gothic underground is concealing itself in,is also compared to masks, curtains, stage-smoke, veils, windows, cobweb, tombstones and so on. It's actually synonymous to what has been covered up. And what it really is and what it will be in your imagination when you're not able to observe enough. Is there actually something behind that myst or is it a creature originated from your own fantasy. Is there a corpse hidden under that tombstone or not? What does a veil conceal... or tells for that matter. Your desires? Your perception is one of total freedom. That's what I like so much about it. The voyeurism and your own vision are playing a main part in my parties, in the gothic genre... The freedom that one can find in there, totally loose, in a dream, in ones fantasy... away from the world... I love it, it's great!
Truelove: You've been travelling through Africa for two years for your study. Which experience has made the deepest impression on you there?
Medusa: I think it was the honesty of the people over there. The straightforwardness of the communication. Not having to fill in hundreds of forms and permits, no hypocritical networking thing, no endless talking and bla-bla, but just the plain honesty of life, the necessity of poverty, of having fun and of life as it is. And time, being the other factor. Time is such a relative notion. We're all so busy, we think. But the worlds that are hidden in arrest, are full of endless possibilities. And those worlds are unknown to us, here in the western world. But there's a lot of wisdom hidden in these worlds. And yes... what's more...The AK-47's, the Kalashnikovs, the minefields, the wars, the crooks, the whores, the wild animals, the tribes, the poverty, all kinds of diseases, malaria, AIDS and the fact that everything is always braking down, over and over again. Well, that's also Africa. The Heart of the Darkness, a continent... forgotten. A part of this world that has already been given up, and that's why I think it's beautiful and why I will go there again.
Truelove: You're organizing Bal du Masque, your own party. What, in your opinion, makes a good party?
Medusa: Haaah, good question! Well, if I would reveal all secrets about that in this interview, we would certainly have a lot more good parties (but this is pure arrogance of course and as I utterly dislike that... so here it is): What I think is very important is that everybody feels that he/she is welcome. And I think that if you approach people with dignity, the whole party is more dignified. I like etiquette, good manners and decorum. I like to see how people that are attracted to each other, playing a game of courtesy through the secret language of the ladies fan, the body language behind the mask, succeed in making themselves more and more exciting for one another. That's great, isn't it? The secrets behind the chastity, the sweetness of the odes of lovers, the possibilities that the unknown beholds. Euh...yes, but that's not what we were talking about, you wanted to know what it takes to create a good party. Well, in short: dignity, courtesy, a hearty welcome, a location not to large for the occasion, having a HEART for your party, your visitors and your entertainers. Special performances and exciting shows to look at.
Truelove: Of which (other than your own) party do you carry good memories and why?
Medusa: Personally I'm very fond of Dominatrix. Not in the first place because I'm always participating in there with my little cart Wink, but because Brigitte and Reinier are such pleasant people. That's radiating from the whole party. Just an honest, good party with an enthusiastic and sociable crowd and great organisers. I also carry good memories of our 'old' Medusa-parties in The Force, where the Clinic parties also took place. This really was a crazy place to party, with exciting secret corners everywhere. And one of my greatest experiences was on a festival, where I and some other guys, totally body painted, did a fire show. After the show, for really, playing with fire gives you such a primal feeling, it's ever so thrilling and hot, it makes your whole body shimmer... Well, let's say I had a marvellous afterparty during the showering off of all the bodypaint and the heat. Al the energy that was set free... fantastic!
Truelove: We regularly spot you wearing very original outfits. Where do you get your inspiration from?
Medusa: I get it from the green muse that's hidden in a bottle of absinth!! But really, no kidding, the Green Fairy was my first real creation. And in absinth a lot of fantasy is hidden. But I do have my own muses. It sounds strange for a woman to say she has muses, especially because muses are often female and mine are mostly male (my ex boyfriends have been great muses. Dr. Mad for example, is one of them, but also Yankeerose, my twinsoul from Italy. He's the one I miss most at the moment while he's living his bohemian life in Berlin Wink). I also get a lot of inspiration from stories. Think of Alice in Wonderland, the movie Eyes Wide Shut, the stories of Edgar Allen Poe and so on. I'm also much attracted by the 'fin de siècle' theme: the strengths of women, the dandy-ness of the man. The intellectual chatter in the salons in those times, the Carnival of Venice, wonderful! But many creations also come into being when I've bought some cloth at the market which inspires me to do something with it. And the dress that I make from the old, worn-out tires of my bike. Some other dresses we welded, we created them from some leftover iron, haha. And some creations just rose from a bunch of stuff we put together and which turns out to be something completely new in the end.
Truelove: What's the most tricky situation you've ever been in?
Medusa: Hah! That was after the curfew, in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, when I was arrested by soldiers while I was sitting in a Jeep with some other guys from an oil rig. We all had to get out and after some negotiation they were allowed to proceed and I had to stay behind. I was thinking, "what the heck are you going to do with me?" Then the moment arrives where I had to make a decision to bribe them or not. It might have made things worse. I told the others not to leave without me and put some CFA's (african money: franc des Colonies Françaises d'Afrique) on the car's hood. One of the soldiers took the money and pushed the barrel of his rifle in my back, pointing out to me that I had to get in the car and clear off. We drove off full speed and I was so happy to be in the car.
And also the minefield in the western part of the Sahara. Oh and of course the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, but luckily I didn't experience too much of that because I succeeded in quick escape on a Sudanese ship that left for Jiddah. I didn't actually meet with any tricky situations here in Holland, besides some foolishness, when I'm putting stuff in my car wearing a costume, but people in my neighbourhood are getting used to that. Though some of them don't appreciate me wearing a costume at all....but that's more irritating than tricky, I'd say Wink.
Truelove: What does an average day of your life look like?
Medusa: Woooops! Well, most certainly at this moment in life my days are very different from one another. Actually, not one day is like the other. One day I teach at the University of Amsterdam, the other day I'm at home sewing a new costume, shooting a film, designing flyers for my party, driving our four-wheel driven Unimog through the mud, riding my bike on my way to a girlfriend, standing on stelts, playing with fire, welding costumes, chilling on the roof-terrace or being terribly lazy... Euh.... no average days here.. luckily.
Truelove: Would you tell us about your virtues and vices?
Medusa: Well, euh, to tell the truth, actually I'm lazy as hell and I'm not very social-minded at all... generally speaking. And actually... I forget a lot of things. That's really bad. And I really don't want to mail and call and so on... But we have to, haven't we?
My virtues? I wouldn't know. That's for other people to judge, I have no idea. Many men think I'm to clever and that often doesn't go along well with a sexy image. Many women think I'm dangerous, whereas that might just be a sexy feature. In short, I'm not sure, haha! Apart from that I think I'm often acting a little, but that comes with the costumes I wear and the characters that I play....and I kinda like that, all these role plays.
Truelove: Whom do you truly admire and what do you dislike?
Medusa: I have no idols, but I do admire Madonna. Marlene Dietrich also appeals to me very much and Mata Hari. And of course Rossi is da man, the way he rides his bike... I wish I could that. I very much love the the imaginary character Des Esseintes, and Poppy Brite, Baudelaire but also Marilyn Manson. I love Robert de Niro and the young Mickey Rourke and I absolutely adore the complete Close Act company! And... I'm a fan of Inspector Morse. Apart from that I dislike Zandvoort, soccer, Blue Curacao and Pisang Ambon, fish (on my plate, not in the sea), religious fanatics, political blabla and Neighbours.
Truelove: When you would give someone a good advise, what would that be?
Medusa: Hmm... generally speaking, stay in touch with your inner self, but always remain ambitious. Just think: when you've already thought off it, you can do it. Take small steps forward and you'll reach your destination. Don't take giant leaps. Don't be arrogant, cherish your dreams, but be aware of the difference between reality and fantasy. Be honest and sincere, never promise too much and do someone a favour sometimes. Just because... and enjoy it. The more you allow someone else to flourish, the more beautiful you will be as a human being, even with all the idiosyncrasies and funny habits you may have yourself. In fact they make up your personality.
Truelove: What are your future plans?
Medusa: Get the hell outta here! The world in here is really getting to much 1984. The patronizing by the government, the xenophobia. The apology of the anti-terrorism law that's resulting in taking away all our freedom. I'm horrified. Big Brother is watching. And thanks to modern technology, really everything you do is registered and filed somewhere. But, where to go... I've really no idea. In any case: leave. Maybe Germany. At least they have learned something from history. Not in Holland. It's really going to go wrong here. And, despite I really love Amsterdam, for me it's over! Even though my heart aches. I always want to be able to offer a place to people where they can dream, in free space one finds inspiration and eventually, history will be made.
Truelove: What's your definition of 'Truelove'?
Medusa: Unquestioning, real love. Love that prevails against everything. The love for my little one. Love that reduces all other things to side issues. Love as a source of inspiration, not only caring, but also giving. Watching things grow, watching it flourish. Love is found in details, in attention, in time and beauty. Love can be put in so many things: in food, in costumes... your party, how you get along with people, in sex...
Visit also her website: http://www.medusasworld.nl/,
her MySpace site: http://www.myspace.com/medusasnakewoman,
and the website of Bal du Masque: http://www.baldumasque.nl/
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