TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

  

VIEWING ALL POSTS FOR: MARCH 2007

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

11:05 PM
Posted by jodi rose

Pixelache Lounge at Kiasma Helsinki 2007 Juha, Nathalie and Eric

back in kiasma
furniture from artek is completely gorgeous
already inhabited by eric organising placard festival
resisted signing up but we can cross live to conversation in between
I like that, it's radio in transit anyway
met marcus who also flew in from berlin at helsinki airport
with the posse of pixelache volunteers, and manu, mukul and indigo
now up to sibelius academy late for aaniradio 3.0 meeting
yay so good to be here

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

5:32 PM
Posted by jodi rose

nice radios borrowed from sophea in the pixelache transit lounge

It's a strange process listening back to your own conversations for the purpose of archive. Makes the experience into a memory far more quickly than when it fades naturally and is remembered random later. Those people are gone already, some I will see again, others maybe never.

Had a lovely meeting with Lea last night about our work for the exhibition on 12th April. She suggested fragmenting the answers and disturbing their context, which I wasn't going to do but actually heard so many intriguing comments that it would be fun to play with and highlight. Thinking of Jean Cocteau's film Orpheus, where the poet protagonist hears voices from other dimensions on his car radio, before disappearing through the mirror into that bizarrre underworld.
Radio's suspened in the space along the corridor - Radio in Transit.

Govinda left me his bike to use when he went to Cologne and Paris.
Although the seat is too high and my centre of gravity slightly off - must find time to locate someone with a spanner, it's wonderful having a bicycle, the whole city has opened up. I no longer have to see those ad's for Madonna's designer range at H&M - one more day looking at her lounging in a black v-neck dress with a riding crop.. and I was going to have to try it on. Thankfully the impulse has passed now.
Being flat broke has its advantages, definitely erases any unnecessary consumerism. Funny how people imagine that if you travel a lot you must have plenty of money, when in fact the exact opposite is true. Rob mentioned that he imagined all the art scene in europe being made up of these incredibly well-funded uber-cool types, when actually it's really a bunch of people scraping by, keeping it together the way artists do anywhere. On a string and a prayer.

Having said that, fingers crossed to sucessfully negotiate the next round of grant applications and sponsorship negotiations.

Doing this project - with a moment last night of, what was I thinking, this is banal trite and completely irrelevant - has made me realise just how much I have invested in the bridges over all these years. Dammit, we will hear them sing together. Whatever it takes! Good to have some perspective, through the filter of starting a new idea and finding ways to express it, and make it more collaborative, all feeds back in.

Looking forward to the 'Architecture for Participation' day at Pixelache, and coming back with some more voices. It's a very strange conceit, to collect conversations. I'm opening it up to anyone now, who wants to contribute, by text or sound or video. Although this participatory art seems to suffer largely from the difficulty of people finding time and energy to participate, unless it's streamlined with a particular activity or group or focus. And the transit lounge blog is already neglected, by me anyway, so perhaps one more thing to take part in is unncessary.

The sense of home I was expecting to find is still elusive, but maybe that's just another part of a life long journey. Finding home within yourself. Or something abstract like that. Realised this morning that I am really quite happy with it all though. Life, love, friends... who could ask for more. There is a joy in simplicity, being stripped of all the support networks and structures you use to keep life mediated. Suddenly it's raw and there is no way you can do anything else.
Days and nights float by in the studio, my head in the magic screen.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

11:10 PM
Posted by jodi rose

seeing a lot of the inside of my studio this wkd
completely blameless and productive behaviour
listening to conversations from thursday night
need a better system for getting them online quick
struggling through with analogue minidisc and ourmedia

program for pixelache is fabulous, mix of network/VJ seminars,
audio visual performances, streaming event, sauna and parties.
can't wait to be back in the warm cocoon of kiasma again, with
some of my favourite people at my very favourite festival.
I love an organisation that includes a sauna night in the program.

spontaneous handclaps with glee.

good contrast the the past few days when it's all a bit difficult.
haven't quite placed myself in context yet, still drifting without anchor
a kind of nostalgia listening to those conversations from thursday
they're already a memory, traces of the past, some of the people have left town, others I will see again unexpectedly, and more have yet to capture their words in the microphone. enjoying unfolding this idea into whatever form it takes.

Q: how do you have the kind of life where you can just get up and go to another city to see if it's nice?'
A: 'how do you not?'

indeed.

and a gem from Mika, who said:'In Lapland, nobody survives alone'.
we don't in cities either, but have the illusion of independence. 'when everything is able to be instantly gratified, that process of negotiation is lost.' anyway, for the rest you will have to listen... time to podcast!

Saturday, March 24, 2007

1:08 AM
Posted by jodi rose

the last few days are now mulched in my head, culminating with frenzied dancing to crazy polyrhythmic drums all over the gallery at the end of the reset improv gig last night. collected some strange and interesting conversations, with a range of old and new friends and people i had never met before.. working on the landing card interview technique - still finding the right mix of sudden interrogation and fluid conversation. which always leaves me completely bemused after travelling 30 hours and having to provide personal details and answer questions to a stern border guard. although entering germany this time, the man in uniform winked at me as i waited to approach the counter, then flirted outrageously and told me, here is a souvenir of your time in berlin when he stamped my passport. or did i already write that? time is all scrambled i have no idea what day it is.

we didn't make it out to the bob tribute bight, sadly but at 2.30am it was just so nice to relax and hang out talking nonsense with the people who have been working all night on the show. in fact, rob initiated the inaugural performance of the world's first acapella sound art band/choir - we had some lovely minimal noises going on. writing proposals for a tour next year. some practice to do though on keeping a straight face for more than two minutes.
today i walked down frankfurter allee to find the waschhaus, and discovered we are literally across the road from the stasi museum. so there's an intriguing excursion close to home for another day. it can be difficult to keep life running with those basic things like grocery shopping and washing clothes when you're so focused and in that project zone, where time just floats away and nothing opens until 11am. although there are people who work normal hours here, but even the regular workers complain or talk of the berlin luft, and kreislauf - low blood pressure related to the weather and air, which causes lots of sick days and general lethargy. mika told me last night that berlin is built on a swamp and is releasing some kind of gases, which is why the people are so relaxed - but then he said the germans need a scientific explanation for everything. the other story is that the city is built on an ancient spaceship, and alexanderplatz fuerturm (television tower) is the aerial or antenna - nipped next door to c-spase in the middle of the evening and there are definitely traces of the alien ship in that place, remanants of the bridge, and some very noisy laptop noise going on with hundreds of sombre black-clad young hipsters being very reserved and not dancing wildly like next door.
Govinda played a gorgeous DJ set in the bar, which was next to my transit lounge radio set-up, and intermixed with wild screams and high frequencies between the drumming in the gallery, all an excellent backdrop for the first series of conversations. which it's probably time to get into the computer and finish learning to encode and podcast them so you can all listen. next week helsinki. yay. berlin is good.
I'm having fun now. The studio space is great to be in, ready to churn through some proposals and deadlines for next stage of bridge art.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

2:52 AM
Posted by jodi rose

the secrets of berlin begin to unfold
another australian artist dropped by the studio yesterday
gave us directions to explore the old listening station in grunewald

watched 'the dish' at the aus embassy with excellent wine
very cute film, loved them playing cricket on the satellite

then met up with jasmine at himmelreich bar, where a friend of hers was dj'ing and had a dance to some booty shakin' tunes (toxic, sexyback - it was fun, I must get out more!) there were girls dancing on the bar. very cool. bizarre high school reunion with james too.

tonight is scotchandsofa with kerstin from london, and this afternoon preparing space on my computer for next working blitz, removing 30gb of music so it can think again. streamlining projects and following up start-up of new directions.

first radio conversation lounge tomorrow in josetti hofe gallery, adjunct to rob's 'reset' improv music and then hope to also make it to 'do the bob... an evening to celebrate your inner bobness' where jasmine is playing with a fine line-up of bob dylan aficionados doing covers and 'spinning the weirdest sides of bob'.

After many Thursdays of improv, openings and madness
Josetti Hofe comes alive again on
thursday 22nd march at the Transit Lounge

with live improv by:
robbert van hulzen (drums/NL), oori shalev (ISR/drums), ludovic fresse (toys and tools/FRA) and robert curgenven (fieldrecordings and harmonics/AUS)

DJ Govinda Lange
Films from the DotMov archive presented by Kristina Matovic (AUS)
Bar open from 19uhr

Enter via gate directly on the Spree, via Bruckerstrasse, opposite
JAnnowitzbrucke S-Bahn

Entry free!

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

5:14 PM
Posted by jodi rose

someone came to the door of my studio this morning, trying to sell life insurance. I find the whole concept bizarre, can you really insure against life? better to take the risk, I think, and jump straight in whatever the end result (which is fairly inevitable, really when you think about it.)

thankfully the jetlag weirdness has lifted, along with the snodge (rob's word for this drizzly pointillist snow that stings a little when it lands on you then melts away quickly) never settles. like.... many of us.

interrogating all my fellow nomadic friends about where and why they are.
the first conversation in transit lounge radio will take place on thursday, with an improvised sound night concurrently in the next room.
the art bar is open from 7, come on down, talk, listen, drink.

jacob has an exhibition opening tonight in new york, listening to broadway.
sounds gorgeous. our conversation by the lake in copenhagen is my first podcast, when the wireless access finally gets fixed and I can laptop.

met up with sara who is here from utrecht every few weeks, and went to the kunstwerke exhibition of fassbinder's berlin alexanderplatz 1929. insane decadent filmmaking, all 15 hours exhibited in episodes projected through this wooden structure and ongoing as one long event.

florian (the bridge guard after me) and kate took me in on sunday night and had some cosy family time, played with leonara's leggo and brightened up considerably. remembering that first week in a new place is always hard.

also this isn't the berlin I dreamed of coming back to. the city has changed so much, even in the last six months, as katie confirms also - somehow that charm it had over me has been diluted by the uber-hipster vibe and constant influx of more and more australian artists. although apparently the germans want us here - according to someone who applied for the kunstler visa (yes, you can get a special artist visa!) but one doesn't feel so special when the place is crawling with other antipodean sound artists...

so, having a few princess moments but on the whole adjusting better now.

after a slow start with the torn mime/interpretive dance, the whole youtube thing has just hit me and have become totally addicted.

a friend sent this wonderful impromptu concert on the paris metro

then I found a follow up to the mime with natalie herself appearing

and finally this wonderfully abstract experimental film

time to go walk along the spree and catch a few minutes of cold air

xxjr

Friday, March 16, 2007

6:10 PM
Posted by jodi rose

arrived in berlin yesterday, in body if not yet soul
still drifting somewhere in the stars, hope to reconnect soon
a month of transit lounge
suddenly realised in sydney airport that I was leaving the country after being oh so very blase about it all. momentary collapse where it all fell apart.
wiped out in hong kong, found pharmacy from last time and stocked up on plane supplies - evian spray and toblerone. watched mix of good and trashy movies - the girl in the cafe / inconvenient truth / last kiss / for your consideration. arrived heathrow 5am walking through tunnel to terminal one almost empty except for airport workers arriving for their shift.
sorted cards and receipts, repacked bags, endless dealing with stuff.
new scientist article on quantam physics and why we can't be in two places at once, no matter how theoretically possible it is. damn. i hate that.
reflecting on transit lounge spaces. so many lives brushing past. glitzy glossy shops. reinvent yourself with more polish and extra perfume.
then remembered I don't need reinvention but to own what is already there. not sure where any of this is going. lucky time isn't linear but in all directions. suddenly minimal life with bare room and studio. taking time to catch up with friends, relocate into new surroundings. a little bizarre, familiar and strange all at once. new perspective on existing life.

Monday, March 12, 2007

12:00 PM
Posted by jodi rose

Bridges are a matter of faith.

Faith in the engineer, in the architect, the materials.

Faith in the structure, faith that it won't fall down.

That is why I see and hear them as urban cathedrals - and why it's so important to me to link them across the world.

To sing out our faith in each other, in humanity and engineering, in the spirit and our capacity for beauty, belief, connection and love.

Listening.
Listening to our own inner voice.
Listening to the voice of others.
Listening to the wind and the stars and the bridge.

A poetic symphony.
Playing these large scale objects as metaphysical musical instruments of beauty and wonder.

I just found a quote from myself in 'The Source' Nov 06 article by Garry McKenzie who interviewed me, that is incredibly apt for these last weeks.

'Even on those days when it's been a long hard road to get there, something about the secret voice of the bridge is incredibly rewarding and rejuvenating.'

Keep singing. Keep dancing. Keep the faith.

Sunday, March 4, 2007

12:40 PM
Posted by jodi rose

life is moving at an exponentially increasing pace.
I can feel the kaleidoscope shifting, a few more turns and it will be a completely new pattern.
sunday morning tea and chat with robyn b, linking all the threads together. being strategic and creatively engaged is the key.
not giving it all away anymore, so expect more elliptical phrases.