Guess who's coming to dinner part III

My first two guests (Noam Chomsky and Helen Clark) are a bit too serious for a full evenings entertainment. I, on the other hand, will be in need of diversions through the evening. In order to keep the balance right I'm choosing Wim T. Schippers as my third guest. To be perfectly honest, I only know a few things about Wim (I find it hard to call him just Wim, I always call him Wim T. Schippers). I know that he is an artist ( I've since learned that he is related to the Fluxus movement. Whatever the fluxus that is about!) and that he was the voice of Ernie on the Dutch Sesame Street. I came to know him as the irreverent host of the National Science Quiz and he was just perfect for the part.

I've always considered him a bit of a modern man. I know he's done art. I know he's done television (even though his shows from the 70's and 80's were before my time) and that he's done screenplays and poetry. I know he sings and does cabaret too. What I didn't know was that he had done a play where all the actors were trained dogs! Here is the youtube clip if you'd like to watch. The dogs bark in dutch but I think everyone can figure out what's happening so I won't translate it for you. One of his other art pieces was a floor covered in peanut butter. It seems that a few students got some bread and threw them onto his piece. The public were outraged but apparently Wim T. came out and said that it was all cool and that at the end of the day it was just a floor covered in peanut butter. I always tell that story when discussing the pretentiousness of art. Just a side story here though, I once went to a modern art museum in Belgium and one piece was a thimble full of lint collected from under the artists bed. Value? You betcha!

Anyways, back to Wim T. He may not connect with Noam or Helen ( although the two do look a bit alike) but maybe he might. I imagine that he's so interesting enough, with so many ideas and such a cool history that he would fit in just about anywhere. I've picked him with future guests in mind too so you will have to keep an eye out to see who they will be.