Goal: 200 € – to cover the shipping of Simon Van Wees’s bronzes and gifts to Spain and abroad.

Dear friends,

In September 2025, our synaesthesia family lost one of its cherished members: the artist and composer Simon van Wees from Rotterdam (NL). To many of us, including myself, he was not only a colleague but a dear friend.

Shortly after receiving his terminal cancer diagnosis (angiosarcoma that was already too advanced to treat), a few of his closest friends had a call with him in September 2024. During that conversation, one of Simon’s biggest and most immediate worries surfaced: what would happen to his artwork after his passing? He feared it would simply disappear.

As some of you will remember from the fundraiser in autumn 2024, Simon did not have the means to ship his work. Living in Belgium and being the geographically closest to Rotterdam, I offered to collect it. So in October 2024, I drove to Rotterdam, spent precious hours with him, and – despite his visibly dwindling strength – Simon cooked a beautiful vegan dinner for me.

When I left, my trunk was filled with three heavy bags:

Simon had asked Carolyn Hart to act as curator for the bronze works. The wooden syncopation ships were a personal gift to me: they reminded him of the coloured-hearing vocal arrangement I created for Walking Down the Street by The Real Group. I hope to bring them to the 2026 synaesthesia conference in Amsterdam.

My original plan had been to travel to the US in July 2025, to attend a vocal jazz camp in Kalamazoo and meet Carolyn there to hand over Simon’s gifts and artwork. However, the political climate, and the increasing risk of being turned away at the border, made me reconsider. Even if I had wanted to, there was no way to magic away all the anti-MAGA traces on my social media.

Meanwhile, the practical issue remained:

Simon’s 20 kg of artwork and gifts needed to reach their recipients.

Belgian and Luxembourgish postal services had suspended parcel shipments to the US “until further notice” due to the new US import tariffs introduced under the Trump administration.

When the Artecittá conference in Alcalá la Real was announced for October 2025, a solution emerged: the Spanish postal service had resumed shipping to the US on 3 October 2025, less than three weeks before the start of the conference.

I travelled to Alcalá with around 10 kg of gifts in my luggage. Two US conference participants kindly took some items back with them, but most parcels were too heavy and bulky to carry. A friendly local postal worker (with the help of Google Translate) assisted me in sending several boxes from there.

The bronzes

The question of the long-term home for Simon’s bronzes remained.

This is where María José de Córdoba stepped in — and Simon would have truly loved this solution, as the two of them had developed a close and sincere connection. She proposed showing the bronzes during the Alcalá conference and then offered a generous and thoughtful permanent solution: to house them in her professional engraving studio, where they will also be visible to art students, ensuring that Simon will be remembered as the artist he was.

I shipped the bronzes to Alcalá via UPS. They arrived safely, were exhibited at the October 2025 conference, and will remain in María José’s studio — a creative environment where they can continue to inspire others. Simon would have been deeply moved by this, not only because his artwork has found a home, but because it is with someone he trusted and cared about.

During the October 2025 conference, the bronzes were placed prominently in front of the audience, as María José wished to honour Simon’s presence and, in a quiet way, have him there with us.

Shipping cost for the bronzes: 95 €.

The gifts

Separately, Simon had left personal gifts for some of his friends.

I wanted these to reach the people he intended without asking them to pay postage, so I packed and sent them myself.

Several parcels had to be shipped from Europe to the United States, which was not cheap. Since Belgian and Luxembourgish posts were not shipping to the US, I used the Spanish postal service.

These international shipments came to around 90 €, plus approximately 10 USD for smaller items forwarded within the US by one of the conference participants.

All gifts have by now reached their recipients.

Total costs

In total, the shipping expenses came to roughly 200 €.

I covered the costs because it mattered more to me that Simon’s artwork and gifts found their proper homes than that they stayed in my attic.

Now that everything has safely reached its recipients, I would like to invite our synaesthesia community and friends to help share a little of the expense.

There is absolutely no obligation. Any contribution, however small, is warmly appreciated.

If we do not reach the total, I will gladly cover the rest myself.

Thank you for helping to keep Simon’s art and generous spirit alive in our synaesthesia community.

With gratitude,

Jasmin