TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

11:23 PM
Posted by jodi rose

Report from the old Newa (Russian) Hotel

I feel like a spy camped out here in the back room, observing people coming and going, making forays into the library at night... hosting my own secret collaboration meetings with various parties.

The bare white art facade is slowly being stripped away, in the front gallery room, to reveal and recreate a moment from the building's history. During the period straight after the Second World War, this was one of the few places left standing in the area, and became a hotbed of decadence, where you could (if you had the right connections, or booked through the artists or writers unions) go and drink champagne, eat Russian Caviar, or sleep with an officer for stockings. The next exhibition opens Thursday 17th January, with a portal to the past, quite literally, through one of the columns.

Took a visiting friend down to investigate progress, and had this fabulous comment 'Well, it's no wonder the Finns are crazy, between Russia and Sweden how could they not be'. Nice.

Talked with Sophie last night over a bottle of wine about the difference between sculpture as object and installation; how the viewer completes the piece in the latter (and to a certain extent with objects, but it's more distinct in an installation), about how to design the audience's experience for immersion, and find the heartbeat of the work. Lovely.

I have finally started to cave in to the darkness of winter, it's soaking through my pores into my thoughts. The Southern store of sunlight has apparently run down, so that now every time there is blue sky and even a glimmer of that strange golden orb, I drop everything and go straight outside to absorb as much of it as possible. Yesterday this took me on a meandering walk through the new neighbourhood, from the post office past Nordbahnhof and up towards Veteranenstrasse, where I found the most peaceful grave in the cemetery. A Japanese maple tree, edged with bamboo and smooth grey rivers tones leading you in to a simple wooden bench, under the twisty black branches and pines.

There are things to investigate further, the flohmarkt on weekends, a hardware store selling Norwegian alpaca socks, the stationery shop, a grave adorned with christmas tree decorations, the tea shop and more.
This is one of the few places I have found in Berlin with big empty lots, wide open skylines and a sense of space. Whatever the sad reasons for that, it's peaceful now, amidst the bustle and hubbub of Mitte life.

For now, it's juggling a few numbers, then sleep.

And this, just in from Delhi:

"I would like to share with you a piece of philosophy that i came across on the metro:

khali jagah ka dhyan rakhe krupya which translates literally as:

"please keep empty space in mind"

I have found this a very inspiring sentiment as i rush around the city."

And I will try. It gets so cluttered in there so quickly. Let it all go. Start again tomorrow. A friend told me that he decided to move to Berlin while on a bridge attempting to help me stream the signal via wifi. Unsuccessfully, I might add, although it was a valuable research experiment. And evidently had good, albeit unexpected results!