TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

11:51 PM
Posted by jodi rose

I am constantly enchanted by this city. Someone has been painting the outlines of hearts, stars and tears onto the bicycle lights all around town, so as they change you have a short poetic moment of whimsy before setting pedal to the metal again. That's Australian slang for speeding, for all you european readers.

A reminder that melancholy, bittersweet love is my favourite kind.

I'm listening to some very strange sounds on furthernoise radio program, with live visuals at their visitors studio. Very avant-garde bicycle performance. All I need now is a vodka.

"Radio stream http://www.bcfm.org.uk
Visual Stream Log into http://www.visitorsstudio.org

Subscribe to our new itunes podcasts of current and past programmes
from the radio menu of the site http://www.furthernoise.org"

How much do I love being in the same time-zone as these things!

Chatted with Julaine today, who just arrived in a small town outside Salzberg. It's so good to be on the same continent. Funny, I'm writing a piece about homesickness when I don't actually feel it yet, too many australians passing through. After six months away I have been emailing lots of friends to say hi, it feels like time for a visit to Melbourne, but that won't be until next year now. Think it's only just starting to become real, to me if no-one else, that this is it. Finally.

Woke up yesterday after my cathartic weekend to an absolute sense of peace and clarity, sunny blue morning and highly focused writing energy. Today was grey and a distinct winter chill, but I love that too, your mind wanders to a different state. Maybe I had too much sunshine growing up, the brightness gets to me and it's been two summers in a row. Learning to wind back the intensity a little, after this last three weeks of demented out-there activity. It's such a relief to feel calm, not have that relentless desire to be out doing things, and finding a surprisingly cool green lake inside, that was never there before. Coming to terms with my ambition, but also realised this week that I need to try a lot less. Things will come to you. Be patient.

"We are in the midst of beauty, responding with joy."

Agnes Martin - from a lecture she gave in 1977 at the Hirshhorn Musuem and Sculpture Garden, although I just found that the actual quote which I have misremembered is

"We are in the midst of reality responding with joy", and continues

"It is an absolutely satisfying experience but extremely elusive. It is elusive because we must recognize so many other things at the same time.

The memory of past moments of joy leads us on. The responses of happiness and joy are our first concern.

Works of art have successfully represented our responses to reality from the beginning. The artist tries to live in a way that will make greater awareness of the sublimity of reality possible. Reality, the truth about life and the mystery of beauty are all the same and they are the first concern of everyone.

I want to emphasize the fact that we all have the same concern, but the artist must know exactly what the experience is. He must pursue the truth relentlessly. Once he sees this fact his feet are on the path. If you want to know the truth, you will know it. The manipulation of materials in artwork is a result of this state of mind. The artist works by awareness of his own state of mind." Agnes Martin