TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

Monday, January 7, 2008

12:35 AM
Posted by jodi rose

notes on life in a cold climate
part two

after lathering myself into a frenzy of anxiety about moving, the deep existential exhaustion of the perpetual nomad threatening me with complete paralysis - in the event it was remarkably easy and smooth.
two trips with suitcases on the U8 from Schonleinstrasse to Rosenthaler Platz, then the M8 tram to Zinnowitzer Str and a short walk to my glamorous apartment in the back of the old Russian Hotel. It has that minimal art residency vibe and spartan aesthetic, white everything anonymous walls and empty spaces. Works perfectly for inhabiting a new life. I'm doing my best not to fill it with clutter instantly. The new desk is a haven of productivity and focus, the string red lights from Julaine are piled up in a strangely comforting shape reminiscent of atoms or planets or firelight.

Almost stacked on the bicycle trip yesterday, as the suddenly icy streets had a whole new twist. The beauty of the Jopo is being able to jump off quickly when you feel it sliding under you. The pedestrians fared no better, everyone was almost slipping over at some point.

I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with the lovely Kiki Bohemia after the icelandic klezmer band at kaffee burger, and she told me - having grown up in east berlin, a p'berg girl born and bred - this is called 'blitz ice'. Fantastically evocative. The violin player reassured me that the blue pool is really pure, not nuclear waste after all as someone - marius - had me believing earlier this year. He also promised to find some bridges for me to play in Iceland. Excellent.

This will be one of the last posts in this format, I am excruciatingly aware of the drawbacks to lack of comments and other metadata and will be overhauling the entire project very soon. So if I misrepresent our conversation, you can write your own version, or make something up entirely. Playing with ideas about writing - authenticity and fake - from Italo Calvino, 'If on a winter's night a traveller' research with Transit Lounge. Conspiring in the secret back room for Transmediale.

thinking of ideas about the notion of home
being at home
never leaving home
offering hospitality
exhaustion
comfort
warmth

a place to call home
to rest
to stop moving
to absorb, sink in
reflect
host
offer hospitality

"observing, reflecting on and contributing to the work through a series of unpredictable and unreliable meta-narratives, subteferge and unexpected interventions."

meanwhile, the bridge plays on.......