TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

  

VIEWING ALL POSTS FOR: OCTOBER 2005

Monday, October 31, 2005

3:58 PM
Posted by jodi rose

under the red bridge

made it out to record the very cute red suspension bridge today, minimal squeaking a bit like violine being tuned.
realised it was right next to the barfly where deathkill4000 took place on saturday night, the band hilarious, all dressed in white and really going for it. art metal techno
slow day sunday recovering from all night dancing
completely heartbroken by having just lost access to all the messages in my email account through nasty spam attack. over 10,000 of the little creeps festering there. so if you emailed anything to me between thursday and today, please send it again!
just what you need when hanging by a thread
must go and face the city again, people to see, bridges to do.

Monday, October 31, 2005

3:55 PM
Posted by jodi rose

you and your arty friends...

crazy days and nights
invited by the wonderful amy to join a day of visiting galleries and studios
with a bunch of artists, networking artists network. got to check out the glasgow sculpture studios, transmission (latest franz ferdinand song: so here we are at the transmission party, i love your friends they're all so arty), gallery of modern art, the wasp studios and more in between. brilliant. know more about the glasgow art scene than I do back in sydney.
then art rock heavy metal gig at barfly, and on to wild halloween party at will and jam's. everyone in spectacular outfits, they even had narnia through a cupboard in the hall. although when you meet people in fancy dress, it's hard to recognise anyone later, but that's half the fun i guess.
mix of micromusic, house, 80's rock (really lots of air guitar to guns n roses apparently that's what the kids are into these days) and electro.
best outfit goes to jam for the hermaphrodite get up with enormous sausage.... and the girl with two heads was also very fine. although she said later people kept biting chunks out of the second head and eating the polystyrene.
anyway enough of this nonsense time to go and get serious about art ;)

Monday, October 31, 2005

3:54 PM
Posted by jodi rose

meetings, visits, social calender, artists talks....
started with meeting urban development and regeneration people at the council, then visit to timorous beasties studio and artists talk at cca. non stop.

x factor
fabulous trashy uk tv
waiting in my pink party dress for beastie paul to pick me up and go to halloween housewarming at will and jam's on the south side. circus freek masked party i should say - no freek no entry. am going in aforementioned pink frilly skirt, black overskirt, corset, purple wig, feather mask and moustache. quite an oufit

having an incredible time in glasgow. just met twenty artists on a networking artists network gallery day - visited glasgow sculpture studios, transmission, print studio, intermedia, glasgow museum of modern art, and wasp artist studios with talks from curators, galerists, and artists. amazingly intense long day but totally brilliant. met lovely people from edinburgh, glasgow and beyond, heard some very funny talks and have a much better sense of the various aspects of glasgow's art scene than I ever did back home.
friday met with sam at gsa then alistair from the rsamd, checked out some amazing fabric that fran inherited from an 87 year old lady going into hospital, who had been obsessively collecting for years - that's a lesson to get things made when you first want to, not leave them all in a cupboard, piles and piles and piles of insane fabric - dreadful 70's prints, bad 80's polyster and some lovely wool pieces, I could only carry three in addition to my 28kg luggage which is already over the limit.

working backwards, on thursday visited cove park artist residency, absolutely gorgeous setting on the peninsula an hour from glasgow, fun getting the ferry to kilgreggan and walked up the steepest hill I have ever seen. the residencies are lovely, converted shipping containers - mum you would love it - two for each apartment, with stylish furnishings and a balcony overlooking duck pond. then some round hillock dwellings originally built for a bbc reality tv series.
wednesday evening went to upgrade, talk at cca from new media artists, after great day meeting with council, visiting timorous beasties' studio where I had the absolute sheer joy of helping with a print for one-off design - beside myself it was so much fun, all those huge pots of coloured ink, and a giant screen which I got to squeegy bright pink virmillion onto. altogether it's been an insane few days, have met more people than I do in a year at home, and everyone I need to pull off this public art caper - so no excuse for not coming back and doing it.
definitely ready to go hang out on the bridge, just a small festival to get through first....
best go strap myself into my corset for tonights party.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

7:41 PM
Posted by jodi rose

flying over the most extraordinary landscapes today
first the desert in jordan, amazing rivers of sand, like smudged charcoal rubbings in black and red
and then mountains that actually look like the contour maps with serrated terraced edges. sublime
a few hours too many in transit at heathrow
then fantastic cloudscapes, banking up to the horizon from puffy persian fairy floss to dark anvils
glimspes of west coast ocean and green scottish fields. the bus trip in from glasgow airport gave me ample opportunity for picking up dialect - och ich cannae do tha' i wouldnae be roogh - hard to spell.
met an american working for nato who was up north for a day training to land helicopters on small boats - said that sounds exciting and he told me it was terrifying.
fell in love with glasgow at buchanan st bus station, waiting for a taxi when the rain cleared and that amazing stormy light i thought was peculiar to sydney illuminated the trees opposite
lovely hotel manager recommended the goat on argyle st cos i wanted soup, here now utilising the free internet and meeting friendly people
so warm and friendly it's love at first site
and there's even wireless internet at home
can life get any better!!??!

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

4:06 AM
Posted by jodi rose

4am singapore
I love changi airport so colourful and calm with no shops open. although a little disappointed to miss my oxygen massage in bangkok. had 4 seats to stretch out on, almost got a nights sleep. lucky as none of the movies was quite what I was in the mood for. loving the ipod.
now for the 13 hour flight to london...
going for a brisk walk around the terminal in preparation.
... oh no, scarily all the shops appear to open at 4am.
love to all
xx jr

Sunday, October 23, 2005

10:11 PM
Posted by jodi rose

ok I know this is ridiculous, but it's one of those things, keeps me amused. that state when you have the most random collection of ideas, images, stories about a place - that once you've been there will become all kinds of experiences and have the depth of reality - but for now it's the weather and the style bleeping on the radar.

Daytime overview Moderate rain Occasional light rain/drizzle Moderate rain Occasional light rain/drizzle Occasional light rain/drizzle
Nighttime overview Moderate rain shower Moderate rain shower Moderate rain Isolated light rain shower Occasional light rain/drizzle

Sunday, October 23, 2005

9:32 PM
Posted by jodi rose

ah dislocation it's a wonderful feeling
walking to the abc in the morning last week, magazine covers advising how to get the gypsy look, your sexy summer body and various other predictabilities. working up to christmas hype too - glad to be leaving for my second winter in a row. actually make that three. but a sydney winter is really no hardship. and I love being in that bubble where all the extraneous media noise is muffled by a language you don't speak.

can live without the bird flu hysteria too. I'm so tired of being told how unsafe the world is - life has always been a dangerous proposition, it's both incredibly resilient and amazing and completely fragile, tenuous and uncertain. working on ideas of protection and safety. that moloko song came into my head today, love and fear. love stops your fear, fear stops your love.
while sleeping in the black leather recliner chairs at ginseng bathouse - had the fabulous korean massage which involved oil, milk, honey and hot towels. magnificent. floating.

have been strangely unstressed by the whole packing scenario. concentrated few hours here and there, and it seems to have done itself. hemming all my trousers to keep them from soaking in the glasgow rain. imported thousands of songs into itunes for new ipod. yes, succumbed finally - am a little disgusted by the whole thing but it was very necessary. I need music on that bridge.

leave monday night for glasgow and meetings with city council, school of art, royal scottish academy of music and drama, designers, and even a circus freek masked party on saturday night. it's like I have a whole life there already. I love that. doesn't feel like I'm leaving home but going home. the notion of home is so transitory. in the quest to become grounded was recently advised to imagine tree-like roots growing out of my feet, and pat dogs frequently.

listening to electrofringe on the night air - reminscing about severed heads at the phoenician club. heard myself talking to people at the opening night when I turned it on - some nice vox pops.

ok really must go and see exactly how much will fit in that suitcase.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

9:40 PM
Posted by jodi rose

random fragments from the days conversation
visiting my sister jess to meet her new baby, zach with dad and cher. her friend ella talking about visiting japan for work, and looking out from a bridge, wondered what all the rows of blue tents along the river were... someone told her they belong to the homeless people. she was amazed by how neat they all were, in rows, spick and span.
cher talking about excercises in teaching art, and how you never know when one will really take hold of the kids imagination - draw yourself as a superhero being a favourite. also volcanoes. realised that it what I need to go with my white boots - a superhero outfit. hot pink tights, silver miniskirt, black corset, red cape and silver wristbands...
bridge girl, able to leap tall bridges in a single bound, fly around the world in 90 seconds flat and find a way home in any strange location.

not to mention pack up all her belongings in under 24 hours - well it's going to come to that if I keep procrastinating.

fabulous frumpus 10th birthday party saturday night, highlights being their wonderwoman outifts, drew's brilliant interpretive dance karaoke to 'hotel california', dancing to weird mix of 80's rock/pop with devi, gail, michaela and justine - depeche mode just can't get enough brought the memories flooding back - those not obliterated by all the tequila sunrises imbibed at the exchange hotel in 1984. ah it's a strange old life. most of the world struggles for basic survival and here we are, making art while the sun shines.

Saturday, October 15, 2005

4:21 PM
Posted by jodi rose

'slow suicide of society mode' from jack shitt - chilling out on fbi fm.

"it's our sky.... if people get together and boycott these bastards they're left high and dry... i liked it when it was on blue paper... ah well that's the world we live in" fun to hear someone else have a rant.

very mellow pop folk indie chords
story goes that smog and joanna newsom are together now...

sorry getting distracted, don't usually listen to the radio while writing.
had a moment of life envy re pim, life could be so much simpler and more delicious. and then meta-data envy - i want those cool sub headings down the page. then realised, what on earth would i use as keywords and that maybe it's best left as an ever evolving incoherent babble with it's own internal logic. yeah that's my story anyway.

new burlesque night in sydney - declined invitation to the opening but maybe next week for going away drinks. always coming or going.
did make it to the hip-hop gig, some brilliant anti-performance antics and very nice work with a tambourine.

news from the trans-siberian train conference - there were instances of dance activism, notable occurences of dancing on the platform in siberia, and various outbreaks in the corridors. also ice cream in the gobi desert vanilla w crunchy chocolate.....

Saturday, October 15, 2005

4:11 PM
Posted by jodi rose

people did warn me it rains a lot in glasgow - checked the weather update and I see what they mean... wearing in my new white boots now. hope it's also raining men ;)

Glasgow Weather: Very wet tonight, local flooding, gradual improvements tomorrow. This Evening and Tonight Cloudy with rain, with some prolonged and very heavy outbreaks leading to local flooding. Minimum temperature 7 deg C (45 deg F). Tomorrow Rain becoming lighter and more showery, though western coasts will become windy. Maximum temperature 11 deg C (52 deg F).

Thursday, October 13, 2005

9:09 AM
Posted by jodi rose

things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
..indeed and mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

lying in bed still dizzy this morning. that penicillin seems to have kicked in, throat no longer feels like swallowing razor blades (mmm tonsillitis nice) but everything still aches, and my brain still turns endlesslessly around the various actions required for multiple projects and general organisation.

wrote a ten page to-do list yesterday in my strategic planning meeting - really need an assistant to type these up - was offered one last week, who promised to do anything.... but then I do have to fly him to Slovakia with me, so weighing up the possibilities.
anyway, juggling five major projects in the next 6 months plus general life organisation - again more than is humanly possible particularly the bits I hope to achieve in the coming week and a half. consulting business, with appropriate support mechanisms and structures, rather than a collection of ad hoc friends, colleagues and barefaced media arts piracy. Bring on the airplane I say. just LOVE that moment when you sit down, strap yourself in and there is absolutely nothing else you can do. at some point you just have to get on the plane, I keep reminding myself.

sorry for any repetition, am really very vague and fuzzy. think it's stress combined with nasty throat infection. you must be very run-down said the dr. aha tell me about it. somehow keep concocting new projects and ideas which mean those four months on the Danube won't be all that relaxing. except when Philippa comes to visit for serious spa indulgence in Budapest. Am looking forward to being back on the same side of the world as my other friends - but now have been entwined back into sydney life enough that it's bittersweet leaving. damn. that wasn't part of the plan. ah well, immersed in glasgow research and apparently it's the most stylish city in europe. excellent or maybe that's just pr. will let you know.

really must write all these emails setting up meetings and submitting proposals - while it is all very glamorous and exciting, it's also non-stop. but I guess that's life, until it all stops.

had a fabulous time chatting with john blades on background noise, where I was the special guest. aired midnight tuesday on 2MBSfm but stay tuned as the program will be online soon to download. he asked me about comgas, which I think will have to be renamed CIA - cult of the international artstar - and it's always fun to be reminded of the silliness aspect. and also talking about the project with different people reminds me of how passionate I am, which can still get lost in the detritus of everyday life, even when you do spend your time wafting around the world recording bridges and playing at arts festivals.

reading about the cult of the food blog in smh good living - now why didn't I think of that? http://chezpim.typepad.com/blogs/

go to insanely good restaurants, photograph the food, eat and write about it. sounds like a much better plan, Pim dines all over the world and is described in the Observer article as 'a petite and perfectly formed thirtysomething Thai woman who happens to be blessed with a high-end food habit'. Lucky girl. she recently went to el bulli which is my dream dinner date. eligible millionaire bachelors take note.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezpim/sets/307952/

oh ok I know this time round I get to make my own fortune. but sometimes it's nice to be spoiled.
and it's kinda weird still realising that sometimes people look at me and see a way to get where they want to go - um, these coattails are pretty threadbare, it's all smoke and mirrors baby. but feel free to come along if you can make the journey more inspiring, fun, fabulous and entertaining.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

8:45 AM
Posted by jodi rose

october 8-9-10
a little something from melbourne
flying visit to see friends, my supervisor and accountant - parts of my life continue in other cities without me there. maybe an argument for cloning?

had the usual delirious and excellent rant with justin, who quoted shakespeare to me when I told him the world was spinning - yes, it is, he agreed. just what you need on sunday morning, literal and abstruse philosophy. told me about a sound performance he witnessed in a dingy sports centre outside paris, where a high school band were made to continue playing the first two bars of the french national anthem over and over and over again, while two professional opera singers repeated the same lines. the composer was up the back, ordering them to continue, until the performers physically broke down. the audience went through a series of emotional responses, from boredom, to anger and outrage, at times clapping to try and make it stop, or shouting out abuse - this is terrible - but still the band played on. it lasted for almost two hours - endurance art.
other friends saw the backtoback show at melbourne festival, which I missed as a. everything was booked out and b. I got sick and spent most of the time on Emer's couch, receiving visitors now and then. The performance was on the concourse of Flinders St station, and the audience listened through headphones, first watching the people walking by for around ten minutes, then starting to hear dialogue but not knowing who the actors were.... it was about a drug deal, with the yuppie purchaser just wanting to get out of there, while the dealer had an existential crisis and couldn't go through with the sale until this was resolved. ther performers were amazing, and left my friend with a smile from her belly up. so there's some vicarious art experience.

also met up with billy wilson and trillion (jody) who are touring australia doing their unique brand of weird-ass nz hip-hop, thursday at the espy in st kilda, friday at the hopetoun in sydney. check em out. http://www.trillion.co.nz/
http://www.threedworld.com.au/homebase_magazine/hb_magazine_article.php?id=275

Thursday, October 6, 2005

12:36 AM
Posted by jodi rose

which just about brings us up to date.
it's been a struggle to get through today, chronically wafty, vague and unfocused. trying to write a radio script, arrange storage, flights and get my head around packing up my life again - yes it might look glamorous and exciting (ok, so it is mostly) but there are moments when you just wish for a quiet, unventful, settled life. summoning the mental energy to take off again seems to be harder each time. especially with so much going on with projects in various stages, managing them and juggling proposals, acquittals, collaborations, budgts, let alone creative work, composition and writing. the latter has suffered most. but I realised while walking down abercrombie st on my way to disorientation tonight (yes very apt) that what I am trying to do is actually impossible. felt a lot better after that.
really enjoyed the evening, more strange and wonderful sound performances, lovely catching up with new friends from newcastle and just feeling more part of the sydney local scene, ironically. it always happens when you're about to leave a place - suddenly you realise how much fun there is to be had, everything is a little more vibrant and exciting - but new adventures beckon. and the bridge needs guarding. thinking will have to find a tailor in slovakia for the uniform - at the point now where things are dropping off the list, until the moment when if they haven't been done yet, they aren't going to happen. But as nick said during our champagne guzzle at the mca, at some point all you have to do is get on the plane. it bears repeating.

Thursday, October 6, 2005

12:26 AM
Posted by jodi rose

survived 5 days in newcastle for electrofringe.
mostly running around preparing or recovering from all those workshops panels performances, but managed to hear some stimulating talks and interesting sounds - in particular the classically trained noise artists which generated heated discussion; cross cultural exchange in art was relevant and thought provoking; the radio panel seemed to keep the audience engaged and maybe even entertained.
I ran around at the launch party doing guerilla voxpops with the question - who are you and what are you doing here? - which may or may not make it into the night air program this week, and was the name of my friday night show on tin radio. played a mix of soundscape, field recording based works, electronica and gypsy balkan music. lots of fun, even had a few punters come in off the street to say how much they enjoyed the music.
the festival also featured crazy gigs with everything from heavy metal guitar band, to japanese/jamaican beatboxing, disco/dsico, electronic noise and much much more. had a lovely family of girls to hang out with as roommates, met and debriefed, had baths and late night chats, then bonded on the long train ride home. unexpected highlight watching 'dude where's my car' with the lovely tech boys (who are all so much more than that) at 1am sunday morning - just couldn't take any more high art intellectual sound stimulation. discovered newcastle beach, on the Indigenous local landmarks tour, with Ray Kelly very charming and articulate tour guide who gave a sense of the connections between contemporary and traditional lifestyle, then finally got in the water monday morning for a well earned swim.

Thursday, October 6, 2005

12:17 AM
Posted by jodi rose

early last week
random reading ideas - if I achieve tomorrows aim of actually sorting and filing all the piles of stuff accumulated on every surface of my study, will give better reference to the originals.
keith gallasch quoted in smh article about arts funding, saying that artists are like pond slime, they adapt to any conditions and keep growing. indeed.
reading old vogue while waiting for a blood test - nothing serious just feeling a little anaemic and lethargic so decided to have a check-up on those iron levels and thyroid function (mmm glamorous) - found an article about religion and lack of in modern life. helen garner talking about getting over her desire to be special and different, giving in to the mundane and everyday (no, never.....) and the writer of the piece making a correlation between the fascination with detoxing the body, especially after big splurges like christmas, being a similar experience of sin as the old-style religions - which makes sense really, the whole food as good or evil, and the level of guilt people feel and hatred of their flesh, desire to keep it under control - somehow not much has changed. related yet different idea in lip, zine bought at newcastle artist market (no artists for sale unfortunately) talking about body hair and social/cultural expectations for women to remove it. that it somehow indicates a level of appetite and power and sexuality which western culture finds unfeminine - again with that fear of the body.
still dealing with all those issues myself, adapting constantly to new environments and chaos, overcoming old assumptions and body image, making choices about how you present to the world, and wether to embrace idiosyncracy (always!) or if not, when can you blend in to the mainstream.... not bloody likely I know.