TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

9:34 AM
Posted by jodi rose

good morning and happy spring easter sunday

I woke up laughing this morning - sometimes it happens for no particular reason, just bubbles of joy overflowing my system - today is different.

You may know that I have spent the last seven years (almost) full-time in pursuit of the elusive method and process for creating a 'Global Bridge Symphony'... If not, refer to the archives ;)

Anyway, after finding many different strategies for NOT creating a global bridge symphony, testing various possiblities and trying out different ideas, always with the hope in the back of my mind that this will the 'the way'. I managed to convince 16 engineers to come out onto a bridge with me in Singapore for a site visit, and I've had two fabulous wonderful engineers write to me and say 'I'm building a bridge, would you like to come and make art, or play with it?' Oh yes!

In fact one of them is still happily singing away to itself, if you happen to be in brisbane go and visit the Eleanor Schonell bridge and say hello from me. A friend is there this weekend, she promises to record some of the live sound as the bridge is permanently amplified on cables 4 & 8, and hopefully she'll be dancing to their music!

I've been the guardian of a bridge over the Danube, and had the chance to play on many bridges, with all kinds of lovely people, all over the world. It's got to the point now where someone referred to me in a conversation/interview recently as the 'Bridge Expert'.

It made me laugh. Afterwards, I though, 'No, I'm not an expert, I'm a Bridge Punk!!' I mean, really, how on earth do you 'play a bridge?'

Well, this question has occupied me for some time now. Along with 'how on earth to do you link up many bridges together at the same time' and 'what kind of compositional process and technique would make a musically satisfying, coherent 'symphony' out of them all?'

I am thrilled to tell you that I have no answers to these questions.
What I do have as of this morning, is a radical shift in perception.

It kind of relates to another slightly different statement in the same vein, when someone introduced me recently with the phrase ' Jodi makes bridges sing'. I got up and said, well, actually, the bridges are singing already, I simply go out and listen to them....

All this week I've been writing up concept proposals for various exhibition, installation, concert and performance strategies that deal with some of these possibilities for playing bridges together around the world. Which has made me realise, that I am - and always have been - more interested in hearing what other people do with the sound, and being infected by different ideas and approaches to the idea, than imposing my own compositional strategy onto the bridge.
Of course, also hearing the bridge in it's 'natural' state. If that's possible, being highly mediated by technology and all. Although I've been saying for years that you can't hear the sound without amplifying it, and you know what...? I was wrong!!! I just went and put my ear up to the beautiful red cables of a small pedestrian bridge in Ghent the other week, and there they were, resonating and popping away.
Ok, maybe you can't hear the range of sounds, and clarity, and yes, on many bridges with the thick layer of dampening polythylene you can't hear any vibration at all - even with the contact microphones.

Still, this opens up all kinds of potential for ad hoc punk bridge concerts.... A friend sent me a gorgeous video of a dance intervention in the extremely grand hall of Antwerp central station. It ends with 200 dancers completely inhabiting the space, people joining in and laughing in amazement - to 'do re mi' from the sound of music, which I think is a nice joyful choice. Another friend who runs a film and music festival in paris saw the link on my fb profile, and said - hey, that might be great for the festival. Not sure if he was joking, but now we're having a ridiculous conversation about getting 200 dancers onto a bridge in paris. The pont des arts, naturally - nice and wide, with lots of people already hanging out there, enjoying the ambience.

So that's all part of it, along with the fact that people seem to want to join me on this crazy bridge adventure, and since I can't fit you all into my suitcase, we need to be strategic about how to do this...

It seems astonishingly simple to me now and I'm almost embarrassed by how ridiculously obvious it is too - then again, the clarity comes from many conversations and experiences and reflections that somehow feed into each other, infect and interact to create a new level of understanding or moment of perception. Makes me giggle too.

So the rest, well I'm really sorry to do this to you after all the build-up, but I'm going to keep it under my hat for a while. You know how an idea loses focus and energy if you talk about it too quickly? This time, I'm going to be smart. Keep working quietly away here at Intro In Situ, the wonderful sound art foundation who are currently hosting me, with a beautiful workspace, a very nice laptop and a view of a magnolia tree! Did I mention that I've been a post-media artist for a year now. Yes, ever since my laptop broke in Berlin last March.

Somehow, continuing to work on a series of borrowed equipment - thank you to all the wonderful friends, festivals, and foundations who have shared their resources and digital spaces... that's all part of it too. They call me Pirate Jodi!! or sometimes Queen Jodi. I'm not that much of a diva, really....

We're having a sunday matinee today at Artspace Rondeel, so if you happen to be in maastricht, come along! Stay tuned also for details of the very exciting gold jubilee. Yes, Celebrating 50 Singing Bridges!!

With a concert and sonic intervention on the Hog Brug in Maastricht on May 23/24 as part of the city Kunsttour,