TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

  

VIEWING ALL POSTS FOR: JUNE 2008

Friday, June 27, 2008

3:46 PM
Posted by jodi rose

there's a world on our doorstep, if you leave the building and walk away from the mrt station (ie turn right).

the most exciting discovery so far, is that across the road and about 2/3 the way to the end of thestreet, is a swimming pool. It belongs to the fairway golf club, is a 50m pool, good for laps, trees all round, very peaceful, and great banana lounges. The only thing missing is a bar. That's next door - the coloured lights of a local beer garden.

A little further along, at the very end of the street on the right - opposite the Tang Dynasty City (fake historic village now crumbling into fantastically romantic ruins) - is another excellent hawker centre, wicked lime juice (get it with plum for extra kick), fabulous satay, and delectable crushed ice desserts with kooky jelly and beans (cendol, bobur cha... mmmm). There is also another branch of the shensiong supermarket, home to wonderful appliances and wide range of fruit and veg etc etc and apparently very good Indonesian restaurant. (word up to Nigel for introducing me to all the above treats!)

This shopping centre offers a myriad of entertainment, am seriously considering a trip to the bowling alley... karaoke...go carts.

I went for another swim this morning, then coffee at the hawker stand, and back to writing texts for exhibition, another round of engineer meetings. eeek.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

11:19 AM
Posted by jodi rose

continuing on from yesterdays' theme...

Something from the Dalai Lama:

"No matter what is going on Never give up Develop the heart Too much energy in your country Is spent developing the mind Instead of the heart Be compassionate Not just to your friends But to everyone Be compassionate Work for peace In your heart and in the world Work for peace And I say again Never give up No matter what is going on around you Never give up"

I guess making art isn't quite the same as struggling for independence, then again, having the freedom to create and express whatever you want is crucial to artistic practice. Or at least, very very useful.

It's gorgeous here right now, the rain has finally come, after promising to for a few days, and gives a release from all that atmospheric pressure that builds up. It's about the only change in climate too, and while it might sound exotic and lush, having 28-33 degree temperature range with at least 68% humidity every single day can get a little much. The rain here is fabulous, it completely transforms the landscape into something else. All that urban high-rise disappears into the mist, which covers the lake entirely, so you can only see the trees on this side of the road. If it's a really big storm - and they generally tend to happen at night, so far - the audio characteristic of the island changes from the continuous dominant traffic and construction sounds, into wild ecstatic booming rolls of thunder and sudden shrieks of lightning. Magnificent.

Although all too brief this morning, a teasing light rain.
Still, it's enough to keep me working in my home studio, until the visit to the museum to catch up with the other artists and find out how everyone's going. Also need to pick up a few things at sim lim square - ahhhh technology heaven. Like, a BNC - 3.5mm converter, 3 more micro fm transmitters, and really need to manifest a new camera since mine died. Along with the laptop, the contact mikes, and the minidisc.
Yes, thinking about going back to paper and pen. Still, this is the place to re-tech, it's definitely got that going on. And the food.... mmmm learning to navigate the hawker stalls and avoid stray shrimp or pesky prawns.

Last night went down the road to Taman Jurong, our closest food centre, with Nigel, Kelly and Jee, who just arrived from Korea. After the stall holder assured me it was only peanut and oil, tried out the satay - very tasty - and Nigel made me take dessert too (really!). Have to check the spelling, but it was warm coconut milk with sweet yam and jelly - delicious. It's just such a treat to be able to walk somewhere, not have to deal with the mrt. Which is a fine public transport system, really, very direct and convenient and quick - it's just that, as someone said last night, coming all the way to Singapore to turn into a commuter is a little weird.

Anyway, at least we're not in Holland village with all the up-market expats ;)
This end of the island is probably a little more interesting, in many ways - and we're actually closer to Malaysia than the city, must make that trip across the causeway one day. I've been promised another view of the insider-punk local perspective, although that's yet to be made good. Still, there's plenty of artist punk going down in Lakeside Place. Just wait till we have our progressive dinner party - there are 5 floors of us!

Alright, that's enough for now, we've all got work to do...

Monday, June 23, 2008

7:12 PM
Posted by jodi rose

In the middle of the malestrom, I've found comfort in the following words of inspiration from varying sources.

This one from Tad, one of my fellow artists here:

"The frame of mind in which interesting things germinate is often more confused and desperate than organized and confident."

Randy Thom

He has some interesting comments about art and technology in the development of his work see the blog linked to his name above. Engineers and art. Curiouser and curioser. It's a slow process, but we'll get there.

Next, a thoughtful speech by J.K. Rowling, Harvard commencement 2008:

"Why do I talk about the benefits of failure?

Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged.

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned."

and on imagination:

"One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch:

'What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality'

We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters."


Pema Chödrön

And finally, bell hooks talking with Pema Chödrön, which I found on the site of performance artist Lynn Lu, and her gorgeous piece: an idealized moment when everything is simple and secure

"bell hooks: Pema, one of the ideas in your work that really challenges me is abandoning the hope of fruition. That's really hard for me."

"The way I understand it is that we rob ourselves of being in the present by always thinking that the payoff will happen in the future. The only place ever to work is right now.

We work with the present situation rather than a hypothetical possibility of what could be. I like any teaching that encourages us to be with ourselves and our situation as it is without looking for alternatives. The source of all wakefulness, the source of all kindness and compassion, the source of all wisdom, is in each second of time. Anything that has us looking ahead is missing the point.

I give up both the hope that something is going to change and the fear that it isn't. We may long to end suffering but somehow it paralyzes us if we're too goal-oriented. Do you see the balance there? It's like the teaching that Don Juan gave to Carlos Castenada, where he says that you do everything with your whole heart, as if nothing else matters. You do it impeccably and with your whole heart, but all the while knowing that it actually doesn't matter at all.

We have so much fear of not being in control, of not being able to hold on to things. Yet the true nature of things is that you're never in control. You're never in control. You can never hold on to anything. That's the nature of how things are. But it's almost like it's in the genes of being born human that you can't accept that. You can buy it intellectually, but moment to moment it brings up a lot of panic and fear. So my own path has been training to relax with groundlessness and the panic that accompanies it. Training to allow all that to be there, training to die continually. That seems to be the essence of the lojong teachings-to stay in the space of uncertainty without trying to reconstruct a reference point.

We can stop looking for some idealized moment when everything is simple and secure. This second of experience, which could be painful or pleasurable, is our working basis. What makes all the difference is how we relate to it."

ah yes, excellent words for the immateriality of art practice.

Monday, June 23, 2008

12:41 PM
Posted by jodi rose

Refreshed after a couple of days off-line. It's so rejuvenating to spend some time away from the screen. Not logged-in, un-networked, completely in the place where you are physically. Got into some deep local exploration of my neighbourhood, ventured down to the end of yuan ching rd, where the fake tang dynasty village is falling into disrepair, and tried the watermelon juice and supermarket fares at the shopping centre there. Nice local vibe, also quite run-down, enjoyed looking across the rd at the jungle enveloping the village fortifications. Plenty of entertainment options, should one be so inclined - go-karts, bowling alley, swimming pool a little way back, golf course (if you want to ruin a perfectly good walk), and further down the road, the jurong bird park.

Making plans with the art posse for trips to art deco bar with fairy-costumed bartender, who ascends a pulley thing to get your wine down, and Fullerton for the old-world glamour. Watched a very strange 1920's film, "Shadows", with everyone who came along to Georg's apt, after pot-luck salad buffet and a few beers. Nice to have these impromptu sunday gatherings, since we're all in the same place anyway. This morning explored the bus option to clementi - same time as MRT, even a few minutes quicker, minus the sardine can, routine drudgery vibe. Definite improvement. I never deal well with being in suburban context, from Helsinki to Sydney, Berlin to Singapore, there's a whole raft of cogent reasons to stick with the inner city. Anyway, it's fun here for a while, getting the hang of the cultural and geographic scenes a little now, and starting to really get my teeth into making work. You can only plan, and research, and take meetings for so long.

Today am going back to the drawing board - literally. Yes, it's time to sketch some of these ideas, make the visual scores I love playing with, go hang out and draw crooked bridges.

Had a great meeting on Friday at the National Museum, with Laura, our fabulous exhibition designer, Meng and Team 108, who are also pretty fantastic. Mark reached into his backpack, pulled out a video picture frame 7" LCD screen, and said 'Something like this?'. Aha, that's it exactly... perfect, I love the kitschy home-display feel, along with scale that has a more utilitarian purpose, not video for entertainment, but for monitoring and scientific research. The whole piece is developing a quasi-science vibe (although hopefully not bad-science-as-art!), having fun with the texts too.
oh and the radios, superb, need to leave them a surprise...

So, now, my interns are concentrating on building a mock-up of the system in our lab, and we're testing the various components in case we get to go live. In case not, I'm developing all the material for what has somehow become a 5-channel video and sound installation. Crazy-La!

OK, out to choose paint now, and visit the excellent Indian Roti-Prata stall around the corner. Intense week for network/socialising, hopefully offset by productive hermit time, drawing, making video of udo's maps walk-through on bridges, playing with screen capture..

Friday, June 20, 2008

9:12 AM
Posted by jodi rose

still alive.... just!
this one's for you Joni, yes, a girl cannot live on avocado coffee shakes alone ;)
did I even explain the resonance vibration therapy?
it's so cool, a form of acupuncture, german invention, quantam physics basis. according to which, the human immune system vibrates at a frequency of 67Hz, and so when the doctor measures your - I don't know, resistance or conductivity or something - the machine either makes a fantastic high-pitched squealing noise if the needles goes over 50, and you're ok in that area. Or it wobbles and creaks around 40, then you need treatment - which comes in the form of being recalibrated to vibrate more strongly at 67 hz. I love it. Perfect for a sound artist. and anyone who doesn't like needles. One of my flatmates, momoyo, said I looked like an entirely different person afterwards. In a good way. Energised, focused.

And you know I need it. Yes this month has been insane. There's a phrase I know from up north in australia, 'going troppo'. Pretty much did that. Unfit for human company, except that of trashy intellectuals ;)

Something about the endless meetings, and managing negotiating liaising with engineers, interns, corporate communications managers.... aaaahhhhhhhh

Still, I have assembled quite an impressive team on the project, as usual - Marge joked that I was having my own mini-isea - and things are slowly coming into focus. I even managed to find some local punks, but more on that later (when I find time to scroll through old emails and edit them into a few back-posts).

We had to have military clearance for every single one of the eight engineers who accompanied me to the site visit on safti-link bridge (no signal, no access), and I topped that the next week with SIXTEEN engineers/corporate managers on Keppal Bay Bridge. Very nice location, next to a fancy marina, and new Daniel Libeskind residential building (reflections), there was even talk of hiring a crane to lift the sheathing on the cables so I can get access to their vibrations. That plan is still on the very-slight-possibility-list, if we can entice someone into paying for the crane hire and labour.... anyone??

This week was a trek into the rainforest, for the McRitchie treetop walk - gorgeous, we saw monkeys, and turtles - but only very muted percussive notes on the bridge, and extremely intermittent.

So, it's on to Plan B - C - D, sorting out the back-end of the system, so it can be applied anywhere they will let me play, and stripping the installation to essential components - which will illustrate elements of the work and concept, but maybe not be the fully live, all global, all networked global bridge symphony I was hoping for.

Having great high-levels talks with heads of engineering firms, who tell me that the kind of bridge monitoring I'm looking for is still a few years in the future - good to know I'm ahead of my time!

Here's to the avant-garde!
Found a nice lecture on Nietszche and intoxication, will link when I get back, along with the various highlights of the island so far. Haw Par Villa, took a trip to the ten courts of hell in this fabulously kitsch sculpture park of chinese mythology (it used to have a water ride, but that was taken out long ago); Palau Ubin, where Nigel took us to the Taoist God of Luck birthday party; Arab St, home of punk records, magnificent fabrics, and the joys of murtabak; any art opening take your pick - lasalle, singapore art museum, national museum - where they have good wine and free buffet. I love it, art comes with food in this part of the world. Definitely doing something right, artists always need feeding.

If I was in Berlin now I would sign up to help with tuned cities, for the t-shirt and free dinner. Luckily the french embassy will feed me at tonight's exhibition opening. Then planning to mobilise the air art-posse for a dance night, maybe at timbre, in the old power station, where the singapore arts festival club is, or if they don't get us moving, then zouk, ministry of sound, sentosa....

With an apartment closer to the city, a nearby swimming pool, and some kind of compelling personal/professional context, I could get used to living here! At least it's not landlocked ;)

It's been charming having this chat, and soon, I'm almost done first draft of new blog, where you can talk back. Aha, really, moving into the world of comments, rss, metadata. I dream of metadata. Just need to iron out a few information architecture issues and check that all the fonts are in order, then we're switching teams!!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

3:45 PM
Posted by jodi rose

avocado coffee shake
yes, apparently such a thing exists
and so do I, still.. just

had the best treatment ever today, recalibrating my vibrations to 67Hz. way cool.

off to visit another bridge with a dozen engineers
report back soon.

from the archives, filling in some of the gaps in the past month - a little as-live email blogging - for the punks....

Wed, Jun 4, 2008 at 10:01

I found punks!
on Arab St
hardcore punk record shop
awesome

Also accosted a punk looking boy at an art show last week, and his friend just texted to invite me to play in the sound art gig for the isea club night that he's organising, at Post Museum in Little India, which has a great vegeterian cafe run by Tien, a contact from another friend Lucas in sydney, where I went for lunch on the wkd - great homemade bread. wheels within wheels.

Ran into my uncle Simon Penny randomly last week, he was here doing external assessment at LaSalle art school. Told me about this insane Chinese mythology Buddhist theme park, took Sophea there today - trip to hell. really, the ten courts of hell all kinds of bizarre tortures - abuse of books is punished by being sawn in half, for instance - and I thought Buddhists were peaceloving. they give you magic tea at the end, to forget all the torment and be reincarnated. Definitely the highlight of the island so far. and the floating city of ships off east coast beach.

Haw Par Villa


Check out this - DeMon monitoring system. going to visit VSL MD on Friday and see if any way they can give me access:


Almost through the week from hell - 5 meetings down, only 2 to go. Arup and VSL - after this all will be much clearer. Either go to plan b - fake bridge symphony - or start assembling modular system - have new streaming hardware solution too. Rockin'