TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

  

VIEWING ALL POSTS FOR: DECEMBER 2004

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

4:45 PM
Posted by jodi rose

Tsunami in Asia 22,000 people dead
It's extraordinary when a natural disaster strikes how much devastation can be caused in just a few minutes. another reminder of how fragile and uncertain our time is here on this planet. reading stories of survivors in the paper this morning, people trapped in rooms underwater who swam out the window, or after being smashed into walls were then washed up on the fourth floor of a building. incredibly sad for all those people who died, and their families left behind searching for them.
reading tuesdays with morrie on a mini-holiday at bronte (couldn't help imagining a wave like that - 10m high moving at hundreds of km an hour - hitting the east coast of sydney - although maybe the bricks would stand up better to the force of the water than those huts and shacks - reminder also of the poverty that so many people live in, when the ocean here is a symbol of wealth and status.) anyway, morrie was saying that when you come to terms with death, you begin to truly know how to live. talking about Buddhist philosophy of asking every day, is this my last, am I living the best life I can, am I being the person I need to be? good exercise, it does help filter some of the unimportant stuff that can take up so much brainspace, energy and time.
And am I? Could I die today?
I'm doing my best. it feels so relentless, trying to achieve all these creative ideas and grand plans, sometimes I would like to turn it down a few notches and just be more present to the everyday. cooking delicious food, being with friends and loved people, not trying to get so far so fast.
Even taking 2 days off over christmas was hard, by monday was ready to get back into it - but a strange lassitude has settled and it's very hard to work up the energy to the same pitch as it was last week. weirdly dizzy all day, but think that's the residue of unwinding stress.
saw a movie today, I heart huckabees. It was interesting and thought provoking, the existential detectives you can hire to help sort out your crisis - and eventually realise that you can't stay in a state of 'pure being' all day, you are always drawn back into human drama and suffering.
of course.

Monday, December 20, 2004

10:56 PM
Posted by jodi rose

a laughing matter. finally made it back to the laughing club on saturday morning. endorphins flowing freely and much hilarity all round.
newtown laughing club. yay.

here is a random moment of zen silence from the lovely Tautvydas in Vilnius. not sure what the image is but am hoping that it's some socialist realist sculptures wrapped by Christo somewhere in Lithuania.

http://www.livejournal.com/~audio_z/

Monday, December 20, 2004

10:49 PM
Posted by jodi rose

warning shameless name dropping alert. but it's in context, I promise. and they're very obscure names really, not like the time I met Kylie at Matthys Gerber's art opening in the sarah cottier gallery and she was so glamorous and tiny with amazingly buffed smooth calves, stood and greeted a line of trying-to-be-cool starstruck scruffy art students and was incredibly gracious, chatting to everyone, told me to keep at it, you know it took me years to get where I am.... to which I replied, I know, you used to be called the singing budgie. oooops, talk about a conversation stopper. didn't meant it to be offensive, but she just glided right on by to the next waiting artscruff.
so tonight I dragged myself unwillingly out of the house, to go see some live improvised music. It's been a strange weekend, had a delayed reaction to yet another romantic disappointment (just give me a moment of cynicism and bitterness about arty boys with long eyelashes and no intentions... it will pass) and felt flattened and unable to face being out in the world for days, then cranky that I'd missed all these fun outings to picnics and drinks and the beach. although that last was in company with 5 rambunctious kids, so maybe it's not all bad - although I'd like to see colin and archie doing something other than hanging out on our verandah asking for money, a feed or a lift. but they're ok, street smart and very entertaining, doing backflips off the rocks at bronte, apparently. so where was I, that's right out of the house. at last.
It's a strange disjointed life I'm living right now, all this energy and time going into the friendships and projects I'm involved with on the other side of the world, and not really having a sense of connection with the people in my life who are actually physically here, and in the day to day world. so I'm trying to work out that balance, reconcile the desire to be somewhere else doing these major events and kooky art things, and then the reality of being here with lovely people around me, lots of interesting music and things happening in my local community, trying to give them attention and energy. it's slowly evolving into some kind of equilibrium, between the kids banging on the door every day, and lisa taking me with her on adventures and always being there when I invite her to do stuff, like listen to the archipelago program with me, and then hours of production meetings with sophea in helsinki, working on the wiki, finalising remixes for the CD, planning launch parties around the world.... it's never been this intense for me before.

www.thenownow.net say if you like improvised music, we like you. and I do and they do. program launch for their festival next year, @newtown (refurbished rsl, very new orleans flocked wall paper, comfy lounges) with some great performances. tim o'dwyer did an incredible sax solo that sounded like wild animals - insane breathing technique just blowing across the reed, and the clicking on the keys making an incredible range of sounds, it was gorgeous. heard lions growling, insects buzzing, waterfalls - a trip in the jungle. Followed by Anthony Guerra on tabletoop guitar & Monica Brooks playing accordion and laptop, who created an oceanic sound immersion that built textures and layers until there was a tsunami of noise crashing around our ears, then sudden cut. very francisco lopez, but beautiful and totally rearranging the cellular structure of your brain. which is always a good thing, especially when no side effects. final solo by chris abrahams on piano, always a treat, making sounds that you could imagine coming from all kinds of instruments, percussion, crazy whirlygigs - I don't know, words fail me. It was truly lovely and everyone needs to go and check out the festival from january 19 - 22. support live experimental music. it's fun and sexy and cool!

But I was there alone, feeling kind of sad for about the first half hour, until I started chatting to karl next to me, then steven adams from classic fm arrived and hung out with us, after the gig I went up to the bar and introduced myself to tim, and then met clayton and chris, and lisa styles (?) came up and said hi, she'd heard the bridges on the radio all last week and we haven't seen each other in years, she's working in alice springs... so it was all good and just shows that if you leave the house on a monday night then different adventures may befall you.

tomorrow I'm meeting the lovely Kate, who will be playing with us in Helsinki and then making the final final final decisions on the remix CD before taking it in to be mastered. if you need a cd produced, I'm onto it.
decided to call my label 'sonic artstar' and have a few other works planned for release, julaine's seismic remix project, maybe some of mukul's stuff, there's plenty of sound artstars out there who need CDs!

Thursday, December 16, 2004

9:26 AM
Posted by jodi rose

dark clouds passing and that sublime golden light you get on a stormy sydney summer afternoon is shining through. even though it's morning.
just one day 'resting' ie still working on stuff but in my studio at home but with regular breaks to lie on the couch - and the nasty flu thing has almost vanished. woke up feeling excited about life again, yay yay yay! you just can't fake it with yourself.
realised that the best way to get myself over this not-getting-cd-finished thing is to organise the launch parties - then it's fun. not perhaps the most sensible or practical way to go about it, but hey I'm an artist, and it's my gig and I get to do it the way I want to!
the 3 foot high cactus outside my window has the most beautiful otherworldly flowers right now, two of them exploding in starry feather- like petal strangeness. there is beauty all around, if you just look up and notice it. seems to be a lesson I need to keep learning. getting used to the idea that there isn't a 'perfect' state one can ever achieve and then stay in - it's all balancing and readjusting and finding out what works right now. saw the movie 'garden state' on monday afternoon - people kept telling me it wasn't that great, and had xyz flaws, but I really loved it. Enjoyed that momentary journey into someone's realisations about home and love, and liked the characters. zach and natalie both gorgeous to look at, the music was lush and well-chosen and it gave me that enjoyable slightly melancholic feeling about life and romance afterwards.

more fabulous letters from around the world today - this one in spanish, so I've translated it on the freetranslation.com which comes up with some very intriguing results. The project is mentioned on this website, and my lovely friend Jacob is there the day before: alg-a com comunidade subacuatica de arte dixital libre

Wave jodi OR teu friend isaac considerou this artigo interesting and quixo enviarcho.
Singingbridges. You touch it again, Sam.

website in spanish:
Jodi Rose é unha artista australiana que ten un proxecto chamado Singingbridges, que consiste en rexistrar o son dos cables das pontes. Leva traballando nel dende Febreiro do 2002. Como se fosen unha especie de instrumento aleatorio atmósferico. Ten a intención de lanzar un CD co seu traballo para principios do vindeiro ano. Existe a posibilidade de facer unha sinfonía de pontes vía streaming a tempo real, e de feito traballa con organismos oficiáis que teñen web cams 24 h. en puntos estratéxicos.

the babel fish told me this was english, but I don't believe it:

Jodi Rose é unha Australian artist that ten proxecto chamado Singingbridges, that consists of rexistrar or are two cables it give pontes. Levy traballando nel dende Febreiro do 2002. As they moat unha species of atmósferico random instrument. Real symphony of pontes via streaming to tempo exists to posibilidade of facer unha, and of feito traballa with organisms you celebrate that h. in estratéxicos points teñen 24 Web cams.

- if anyone feels like translating the spanish, please get in touch.

I like 'species of atmósferico random instrument' much more evocative and poetic than 'giant harp'.

Touch it again Sam!!

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

10:02 AM
Posted by jodi rose

.... and girl in the bubble goes back to outer space...
watched this really cool program on sbs the other night about string theory and the 11th dimension - they talked about super symmetry theory which says that every sub-atomic particle has a much heavier partner, called a 'sparticle' - but no-one has found one or proved they exist yet.

also talking about the parallel universe theory (m-theory in fact which evolved from string theory) where each universe is part of a much larger multi-dimensional space, kind of on a membrane (like slices in a loaf of bread) and that when these membranes collide, the two realities don't intersect, but some elements like sound waves and gravity can seep or feed across into the other parallel dimension. so rocking, I decided that my bridge sounds are in fact the soundwaves from alternate dimensions in close proximity to ours and that what we're listening to is voices from another universe. and that was even without any drugs :)

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

9:46 AM
Posted by jodi rose

short divergence - here's the article about ozco and some comments from people in the australian sound art community.

The Australian article can be viewed at:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11623578%255E16947,00.html

An article in today's Australian newspaper reports on the Australia Council's decision to axe the New Media Board and the Community Cultural Development Board entirely.

This announcement, expected to be made today, follows a six-month review by the Australia Council.

I don't need to tell you that this extremely conservative decision by the Australia Council has massive ramifications for the future of public funding for innovative arts practice in this country. (sean)

The government are known philistines. But it also looks like yet another attack on the poor in society, with those programmes specifically for the underclass being targeted. "The Arts" are always a soft target, but it's also in line with a lot of other changes such as welfare.

How dependant do people on this list feel on government funding for their projects? Do people want to ark up about this issue, or is it just depressing? (andrew)

Re: government funding projects

(a) it all depends on what you think government is for...

Is government elected by the people, and thus they have mandates to do what they want
or, is government only to represent the needs of the majority
or, is government to represent needs of all voiced and unvoiced minorities

(b) government funds more than we think...

The question is more about 'direct' government funding (ie, an arts grant, or a post-grad uni scholarship) or 'indirect' funding (such as working for a govt org like ABC Radio or the ATO, or a govt subsidised org, like Virgin Blue - remember they have tax concessions in Qld where there head office is)

(c) therefore, in this sense, we are all completely dependent on government funding

I can't go to do any arts activity without drawing on services that have been directly and indirectly funded by government. The roads, electricity, water, my education which led me to my art practice, interesting radio, a variety of local, state and national government divisions.

It could be that in Australia, with the decline of direct Government funding of the arts sector (especially independent and critical practices) that other models will develop, some that we have not even imagined yet.

However, I personally would like the present government to consider what small proportion of funding goes to arts compared to science, sports and primary and secondary industries - and readdress this balance - but this would need the government to recognise the value of CULTURAL TOURSIM (and they don't seem keen on either vibrant cultural diversity [which often appears from the innovative and independent arts] nor vibrant diverse tourism [which means our relationship to peoples from all over the world, especially our south-east Asian neighbourhood - we sometimes seem better a sending people away or keeping them out]).

The recent best-seller amongst policy makers, "The Rise of the Creative Class" by Richard Florida (see
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0205.florida.html for an excellent SHORT article by Florida himself about the book) seems to address
how to get the creative class (no-collar, diversity-seeking, creative-designers, arts-loving types) to come and stay in your city, since the creative class is where the new economy is deriving its profits - the
creative class is good for business. What Florida doesn't seem to stress is how to HELP creatives be creative, rather he stresses how to help business
and town planners ATTRACT them. But how and where do creatives get creative?
Universities help out but there must be other things (esp since, at least in Australia, lots of very interesting cultural activity occurs outside of
unis). Which is where the debate and discussion about 'creative cities' needs to head perhaps... if it did, then local and state government might bet behind independent festivals like Straight Out of Brisbane (http://www.straightoutofbrisbane.com/) and This is Not Art (http://www.thisisnotart.org/) is a MUCH bigger way.
(Luke)

Which reminds me of a program I heard on The Deep End on Monday:

In the 70s, 80 per cent of all arts funding went to individual artists. Today it's 20 per cent.

According to musician Chris Latham, the problem is that most of the funding pie now goes to the giant corporations like the Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival, dance companies and state theatre companies. So today's freelance artist is left feeling demoralised, not to mention broke.

In his new essay 'Survival of the Fittest: The Artist Versus the Corporate World' Chris Latham has a proposition for Australian artists - stop complaining, grasp the change, and find new ways to make money.

Chris says artists need to get real and find new ways of engaging with commerce to make money. He thinks artists, who typically compete with each other, need to start collaborating - organising into collectives, or trading skills. He also believes that artists need to take the DIY approach and use the internet to sell their wares.

that's enough of the outside world, back to my bubble now.

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

9:39 AM
Posted by jodi rose

hello to all you lovely people, near and far.
thanks for the great email jane - I'm sure we'll cross paths at giulia soon!! It's a very strange time to be an artist in this country - I've been trying not to go there, because I'm well aware of how incredibly privileged my position is.... this year. It really is an extraordinary opportunity to have access to time and resources purely to make your own work. And now the programs are finally on air, it does feel more real, there's a public presence to all this obsessive focus and work. Listened to the Batman bridge on Late nights with Julian Day last night, it was so cool to hear my very strange bridge composition played on classic fm on his show.
Overall though, the cultural climate of this country is appalling, from government to everyday conversation. As you may be aware, when I started with the ABC residency, the long running audio arts program I was meant to be working with, 'The Listening Room' had just been axed - under the rationale that there was no longer any need for a specialised program and that kind of material would be spread throughout the classic fm programming.
Lucky I'm not actually an ABC employee, or I would be barred from making public comments like this.
Anyway, the rise of talkback radio as the dominant format (oh and the ABC is rating very highly especially for its talk shows- not that ratings were part of the charter for the national public broadcaster, but that seems to be what it comes down to these days) is symptomatic of a general belief that any kind of rigorous or in depth intellectual or cultural engagement is 'elitist'.
and that of course is self-evidently a bad thing.
this week comes the government restructure of the australia council, and under a similar rationale, both the new media arts and community cultural development boards have been 'dissolved.'
while this is not necessarily a catastrophe, and I am assured that the funding is not being swept into other categories, but will be set aside for 'hybrid' practices or 'weird sound art' in the music board category, it is yet another instance of the slash and burn approach to infrastructure and support for challenging and innovate artforms.
Sometimes it's hard not to feel that what you're doing is pointless and irrelevant....
especially when close friends, who are generally supportive and understand the struggle to make creative work, come out with comments like: 'well, the rest of us have to work' in response to discussion about getting funding to get to finland for particle wave next year.
... hello excuse me what the hell do you think I'm doing? sitting around drinking martinis? well, very occasionally but in general I'm head down in the studio or at the computer doing my damndest to keep this show on the road. without having to go back to waitressing, or mind-numbing admin or any other mcjob. Why the hell shouldn't I be able to earn a living using my skills and talents?
Read an article in the sydney morning herald this week about how many high profile australian arts people are working overseas, because there just isn't the support or opportunity here, and their skills aren't recognised or appreciated. so it's not just me ranting away.
not to mention the other close friend who basically thinks my work is completely self-indulgent and of no possible benefit to anyone. When I told her that I get emails from people all over the world, she said: 'that's bizarre'. Well, no actually I have an international profile and some people seem to find this project inspiring and worthwhile.
Anyway, it's doing my head in right now, and that's why it's so lovely to hear positive encouraging feedback from belgium to darlington, saying, hey we think you're doing a great job. keep it up! Thank you again for all your support and please keep writing and saying hi, I really need to hear it.

Have been meditating on inner peace - only for a few days, so give me a break! - and this morning walked via the lake at queen vic park. So beautiful, watching the ducks with white collars flounce around, those cute black round bellied waterfowl swimming, and a pelican gracefully fishing for breakfast. They're such cool birds. The waterlilies are in flower, absolutely gorgeous, vivid magenta and white.

Friday, December 10, 2004

3:09 PM
Posted by jodi rose

Drinking champagne at Quay waiting for Ben's birthday to start. A few weeks ago now, but it was such a lovely moment thought it needed a photo.

It's very lovely having this medium of connection to the world, I get the sweetest emails from people who stumble randomly across the website. Had two recently from people who had thought of doing something with bridge sounds - then found this work and decided it was already happening. Although they are both recruited onto the international bridge operatives team. My favourite for this week is from Bart, in Belgium, who has decided to go back and read the travel journal from the beginning.
When you get up to here - Hi Bart!!

I think this is a compliment! - something about free form flow of consciousness writing - it's a bit scary having people read stuff that you write when you're so in the moment, but that's the framework I set for myself, and it's good practice for keeping on moving.

He says: "I wasn't sure what to expect from it, but it makes for some fun reading! Kind of reads like Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road', if you will. Lot's of stuff going on, loads of people coming in and plenty of dashing from one place to another. And it's just amazing to read how you keep ending up meeting
people you know, no matter where you are. And if you don't, you always seem to bump into people with the same interests as yours. I mean, what are the odds? But in your case it seems almost natural."

Well, I have to confess some of those meetings are kind of engineered - I mean, if you hang out going to experimental sound and media art festivals and gigs, these are the people you're going to find! others are genuinely random, that's the beauty and joy of being in the world. I had some nice synchronicity this week - head is all foggy and vague with summer flu, but if I ever remember what it was, will tell you!
Must go now, have a plane to catch... well, in February anyway.
xx jr

Thursday, December 2, 2004

2:28 PM
Posted by jodi rose

Batman Bridge, Tasmania. Over the Tamar River. For anyone listening to the Radio Eye broadcast wondering where all the Australian bridges are!

The Archipelago is finished, and ready for broadcast. Not sure if Australia is ready to hear it, but we'll soon find out. There's a nice mix of philosophy, esoterica, sound art and partying. I'm really happy with how it turned out, definitely gives a sense of what the isea cruise was like and hopefully will take people on an intriguing and enjoyable journey. Loving all the new radio skills I'm picking up, working with fabulous people like john jacobs and tony barrell who have been doing great work for many years - it's been a truly incredible opportunity being here at the abc as the radiophonic artist in residence!!

That's two major projects I can tick off the list. Just need to finish the CD in the next week, and keep working on production for particle / wave hybrid radio symposium. Nothing big, just one or two little things going on....

Wednesday, December 1, 2004

3:06 PM
Posted by jodi rose

Indooroopilly Bridge, Brisbane. People live inside the towers, it's very very cool.

darlington cocktail research laboratory

enjoyed our new summer drink, the vodka spider last night. mango and blood orange sorbet, vodka and soda (or lemonade if you like it really sweet).
refreshing and delicious - all the fun of an icecream spider for grown-ups.

John Jacobs and I have just refined the recipe, with the addition of pomegranate juice, which he tells me is the best food product in the world. Ingredients: Pomegranate. Can be purchased cheaply from your local lebanese grocer, or more expensively at a fancy deli. Use on ice cream, in cocktails, as a cordial. This new concoction we have named the Lisa Granita, in honour of the fabulous Lisa's birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday! Lots of sorbet, and some crushed ice, pomegranate juice and vodka.

We decided that everyone should have a cocktail named after them, and decided to set up the DCRL research laboratory.

In other news, having a garage sale is a great way to meet your neighbours! and we even found a flatmate or two. It's fun, just chilling out on the front balcony, chatting to people, sold a fair amount of stuff, Colin and Archie (kids from the block who have befriended lisa) came and hung out with us for a while, realised there are so many artists in the hood.
The old carriageworks studios are just across the road, and it's still relatively cheap rent because most people are scared to live there. Every third house is being renovated, and it sounds like the usual sydney property dodgy dealings are going on to try and get a new westfield shopping centre built over the railway station.

just finished a rough edit of a piece about the inventor of radio astronomy, to go with Adam Hyde's work in ISEA for Archipelago program I'm making for The Night Air, which airs December 19th.
Listen to sounds from space, totally gorgeous.
www.radio-astronomy.net