Dili, East Timor

Safe arrival in Dili, East Timor.

After a 4.30am rise, and a 6.30am departure from Darwin, I arrived in Dili early this morning and was driven from the Airport to the Army/ Medic base to meet my colleagues (a lot of familiar faces from Honiara, Solomon Islands), and complete an orientation process.

A short while ago I arrived at my home base the Beach Resort Hotel, to settle in and unpack. The room is very deluxe and I have internet access so I will be able to regularly skype, blog, and email... I am feeling relaxed, well prepared and looking forward to working/living here, but with another deadline due this Friday; I am also aware that I need to stay focused for a few more days.

Right now though ... everything can wait. As I'm really in need of a hot shower, a cup of tea and bed!

Until later...

x

East Timor

Carefully packed into my travel bag, are some beautiful Christmas trimmings to bring light, love and delight to my world in East Timor. Tomorrow afternoon, I am departing for Darwin and on Wednesday morning I will be departing at dawn for East Timor, to undertake another 6 week deployment contract for Aspen medical.

In preparation, tonight I savoured one last cycle along the bay at twilight.

The wind on my face and stillness in the air, made me feel calm and still. And with the formidable pace and unrelenting juggling act of commitments behind me, I found myself smiling at the elderly Greek fisherman who looked forlorn as he gathered his rods and empty bucket as we exchanged a few words. Like music, the sea seduces us in different ways. For this gentleman it is about tending the green waters and waiting piano piano for the staccato at the end of his line, while for me it's the crescendo of the next wave and the way the sea allows me to explore distant horizons, and then welcomes me home at the end of my so journ. 

Despite the constant challenging pace, it has been a rich, inspiring and fulfilling year and I have experienced great joy in realising how much can be achieved things align...

x

Mum & Dad's 50th Anniversary

Mum & Dad would have celebrated their Golden 50th Wedding Anniversary today and to celebrate I took Mum to attend one of history's greatest operatic love story's Madame Butterfly, followed by celebratory drinks at dusk and dinner at Sake at Southbank.

How beautiful to love someone for fifty years and to truly cherish the person you married and the wedding wows you exchanged to one another.... to keep your promise to be true to them in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health and to love them and honour them all the days of your life.

A Glimpse

Two glimpses in two days. A sparkle from your eyes and a promise...

 ...and then there was the production of Glimpse at forty-five downstairs, Flinders Lane, CBD.

Allora & Calzadilla

For the 26th Kaldor Art project, internationally renowned artistic duo Jennifer Allora  (1974 Pennsylvania, USA) and Guillermo Calzadilla (1971, Havana Cuba), present Stop, Repair , Prepare: Variations on 'Od to Joy' for a Prepared Piano.

The artist duo have produced experimental and interdisciplinary body of work combining performance, sculpture, video and sound. Throughout their diverse past works, they have often explored the histories and meanings implicit in the culture that surrounds us 0- from architecture and objects to music and bodily movement - reconfiguring and recontextualising these elements to create their poetic artworks

This music-art installation was first exhibited at Has der Kunst in Munich in 2008 and has since been presented at MOMA in New York (2010).

Stop, Repair, Prepare creates a relationship between the sculpture, the piano player and the piece of music. The artists have cut a large hole from the centre of a Bechstein grand piano and made adjustments to the pedals, to allow the pianist to enter the piano ad play it from within, bearing it with them as they traverse a choreographed path through the gallery.

The works draw on Fluxus artist and composer John Cage's 'prepared pain' performances from the 1940's and 50's, in which CAge altered the instruments's timber throughout eh placement of objects such as screws or bolts along the piano strings and hammers. Here the artists' method of 'preparation ' is more dramatic, recalling the circular segments cut from Gordon Matta-Clark's architectural interventions, they completely alter the function of the piano, techniques required to play it and the experience of the audience.

The composition is the 4th movement of Beethoven's famous 9th Symphony, known as 'Ode to Joy' and widely understood as a hymn to humanity, a testament to human fraternity and brotherhood. This piece is performed hourly, with pianists stepping under and into the piano and caching over the top to play.

In Allora & Calzadilla's variation, the work is recognisable but incomplete as the cut renders two octaves of the piano inoperable and the resulting keys leave only a hollow resonance. Although it was advertised as a "poetic meditation on art, idealism and power" the performance lacked some dynamic energy and the acoustics within the State Library of Melbourne, failed to create sound immersion.  

A month or more...

After a much needed sleep in, I've just wandered back from the local cafe after having had my Saturday morning latte and perusal of the weekend paper, whilst seated in the sun; and I've been thinking...

I love being in Melbourne because I love being near family and close friends, my abode by the bay, my study and professional commitments.

Teaching nursing students has reignited my passion and is so fulfilling. This position has given me the ability to express myself intellectually; to foster a new generation of nurses; to nurture, mentor and inspire them; immense freedom and autonomy. It is a great joy and I feel fulfilled and blessed.

After much hesitancy, debate and day dreaming, I commenced a study plan towards a Masters in Art Curatorship at the University of Melbourne this year. Although 'taking the plunge' has been exciting and challenging, the new perspectives that have developed, have been illuminating. 

My period in Italy in June/July brought the clarity and closure I had been yearning for. Even though I was heartbroken, the experience enabled me to finally understand and to truly know. Since returning, in this aspect of my life I've been able to pause.

Play-time and moments of reflection have been rather sparse and unconventionally conventional this year and my most favoured activity has become sleep. On paper, life looks balanced, but I know I need more spontaneity and carefree expression...

In three weeks I am leaving to undertake another international multi disciplinary medical team deployment contract to East Timor. A wonderful opportunity both personally and professionally. My contact concludes on December 31 2012. Actually my flight is scheduled to a drive in Melbourne on New Years Eve at 23.59hrs. Interesting hey....

2013.... What will next year be about??? At the moment I don't want to contemplate it. I couldn't imagine designing another year's worth of commitments - not now... I've planned to take two weeks off in January 2013 after I return from East  Timor. Two slow, lazy, sleepy, fish n'chips on the beach, sun-kissed and water lodged weeks by the bay. Then during this time, I'll gather thoughts and plan the year.

One thought I have for the coming year "is to fly away and spend three months somewhere that inspires me artistically and culturally". Because for as much as I love Melbourne, it doesn't nurture me on that level.  I crave immersion in foreign landscapes and ancient Architecture, languages and expressions, handsome men and women, textile draped silhouettes, the scents and ambience. I need to connect to that trilogy between: who I am; how I see myself; and what I want to be. 

I have come to understand that the opportunity to work in Europe is nearly impossible and that being in these historical and fantastical cities alone can be at times lonely and confronting, especially after having experienced it "so completely"; but I miss being there (not every day, but particualrly when I stop and think about it, or hear someone refer to Florence, Paris etc on the radio or in the paper). I can't explain it any other way, except that what I want for my life is to know that I can "be" "there". And I know now that I don't need to explain it to anyone or have anyone understand it. I just need to honour this belief. And so somehow or in someway I will continue to find a way to return for a month of more each year. 

Visual Aids in Clinical Teaching

As did Leonardo da Vinci, I have always believed in a nexus between art and health, medicine and nursing education. I recently presented this interdisciplinary relationship and the evidence from research and professional experiences, to professional peers at St Vincent's Health.  

Additionally, as a portal for discussion, resources and further information in this area I have developed another blog site entitled Visual aids as a Clinical Teaching Strategy.

Dance Territories

Sense and Sensibility choreographed by Cindy Van Acker & Perrine Valli (Switerzland) and  Matthew Day and Sandra Parker (Australia). Four choreographers. Four solo works. Four riveting explorations into the power of minimalist dance.

What is the most that can be achieved with the least? This is the question posed by Dance Territories, a sequence of four solo dances from Switzerland and Australia that explore the possibilities afforded by a minimalist choreographic language. Sparsely rendered, precisely performed and possessed of an undeniable elegance, these performances are at once both commanding and graceful, decisive arguments in favour of a stripped-back gestural aesthetic.

Impasse

Denis Beaubois, William McClure & Jeff Stein (Australia)

Push your way into the experiential extreme of an ‘impossible space’ – where physical pressure, light and sound combine to create a surreal accumulation of sensations.

Denis Beaubois, William McClure and Jeff Stein were members of Sydney’s Gravity Feed Ensemble – an architectural performance-theatre group that employed large sets to create potent, subversive and densely atmospheric events.

For Impasse they’ve created a tangible rendering and intensification of space: a unique experience where space becomes substance, in which visitors must struggle to carve out a path with their bodies, as they move through an unfamiliar physical and aural landscape.

Surreal, immersive and challenging, Impasse is an extraordinary, densely packed journey that will change the way you see, feel and hear the world.

Created by Denis Beaubois, William McClure and Jeff Stein

Sound Design Nick Wishart

Lighting Design Sydney Bouhaniche

Production Hedge

Produced by Insite Arts

Hold

An intriguing performance-installation from David Cross  (New Zealand) invites participants to step into the void, braving primal fears and testing the limits of trust.

Part reality TV ordeal, part extreme performance art engagement, Hold draws participants into a dynamic relationship between play, interaction and phobic space as they push through an assortment of physical and psychological barriers.

This highly immersive, multi-sensory architectural experience creates an uncanny yet intimate one-on-one encounter between the audience member and an unseen performer. Crucially, it also demands unusual levels of physical and psychological interaction, as they navigate a spatially complex and disorientating pathway, all the while suspended above the ground by cushions of air.

Walking into Hold, was a shift outside my comfort zone. Part fear and unsettling, and part curiosity and pleasure.

Weather

Lucy Guerin Inc

From one of Australia’s most renowned choreographic talents comes an atmospheric new dance work, a homage to the breathtaking power of the elements.

Celebrated dance artist and choreographer Lucy Guerin explores the extremities of our ever-changing climate in the world premiere of her latest dance production, Weather. An immersive voyage into the elements around us, Weather pits the human form against the uncontrollable power of nature, conjuring the thrill and awe that these forces inspire.

An arresting new work born from a co-production between Lucy Guerin’s Melbourne-based company and Montreal’s Place des Arts, it draws on the inventive design skills of Robert Cousins and the expansive music of Oren Ambarchi to create an intriguing exploration of the choreographic formations and visceral affects of weather.

Mesmerising and intense, Weather is a dynamic expression of the tides, the winds, the sun and the rain – a celebration of the ephemeral forces that shape our lives and the physical body’s connection to the natural world.

Desh

Akram Khan Company (UK)

Having taken the 2010 Melbourne Festival by storm with his visceral Vertical Road, dance phenomenon Akram Khan now returns with this mesmerising one-man show, a whimsical reflection on his ancestral homeland.

Born in London to Bangladeshi parents, Khan has over the past two decades become one of modern choreography’s finest observers of the migrant experience. With DESH (Bangladeshi for ‘homeland’) he turns the spotlight decisively on his own story and identity.

Spanning continents and generations, DESH is beautiful, direct and grand in scope, a dance rich in comic flourishes and theatrical asides, underpinned throughout by Khan’s inimitable merging of traditional Indian kathak dance and the precise gestures of contemporary movement – fluid as water in one moment, taut and pronounced in the next.

Weaving his way across an enchanting landscape created by Oscar-winning set designer Tim Yip (production designer for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Yeast Culture, Khan explores the Bangladesh of his childhood imaginings as breathtaking projections transport him to a chance encounter with an elephant or into a journey through the treetops and down the rivers of his father’s childhood. Orchestral strings swell alongside traditional Bangladeshi chants, as Khan shows us the complexity and untrammelled beauty of a country and people still divided and uncertain.

Playful and imaginative, intimate and deeply affecting, DESH is a masterwork from a performer at the peak of his powers, a wilfully magical reflection on the indelible ties of family and culture, and the elusive nature of the place we call home.



http://www.akramkhancompany.net/html/akram_production.php?productionid=37

"I am fascinated by water inside the earth, it is the core principle of the way I think and move, fluidity within form... and Bangladesh has an abundance of both water and earth... I am fascinated to search for and explore a story that addresses the tragedy and comedy of lives in Bangladesh."

- Akram Khan

Dolorosa/Gaude!

Astra Chamber Music (Australia)


Melbourne’s Astra Choir takes choral sound on transformational pathways – from a key contemporary Romanian work, back into musical history and forward to electronic spectra from two of Australia's present-day sonic pioneers.

Performed at one of the city's architectural and acoustic marvels, St Mary Star of the Sea church in West Melbourne, Dolorosa/Gaude! represents two images of the traditional figure of Mary: the grieving victim of human conflict, as portrayed by Romanian Dan Dediu in a stunning harmonic pageant of the medieval poem Stabat mater dolorosa; and the joyful affirmation of Nature as ‘star of the sea’, as laid out in a choral tableau by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara.

Australian composer Carl Vine places human singing and laughter in an endangered natural world in his Hebrew psalm setting for choir and organ. Recorder celebrity Genevieve Lacey joins the choir and computer-art composers Steve Stelios Adam and Michael Hewes in music, that moves between the ‘real’ and the transfigured.

Dolorosa/Gaude! is a pilgrimage through the worlds of the sacred, the ritualistic and the natural, in a spirit of sonic experiment and adventure.

Dan Dediu Stabat Mater dolorosa, 10 madrigals after Gesualdo and Verdi
Carl Vine They Shall Laugh and Sing
Anthony Briggs Credo
Steve Stelios Adam Et Døgn – One Day
Steve Stelios Adam Waves
Michael Hewes An Imaginary Hymn (World Premiere)
Einojuhani Rautavaara Song of Mary: Star of the Sea/Gaude!
With choral pieces by Stravinsky, Verdi, Gesualdo and Gombert
Recorders Genevieve Lacey
Organ Rhys Boak
Electronics Steve Stelios Adam and Michael Hewes
The Astra Choir
Conductor John McCaughey

After Life

Michel van der Aa (Netherlands)

Libretto by Michel van der Aa, after Hirokazu Kore-eda

Universally acclaimed and utterly unique, Michel van der Aa’s cross-genre masterwork grapples with a compelling, singular question: what was the defining moment of your life?

Could you distil your life to a single instant? A moment that, if all else were to fade, you would choose to live with for the rest of eternity? Michel van der Aa, house composer for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and one of contemporary opera’s most assured and ambitious voices, burrows deep into the very question of why we live with this profound contemporary masterpiece.

As six lost souls gather in limbo, they are asked to decide on the one memory each of them will take with them into the afterlife. Those who cannot choose must remain, trapped in purgatory until they can find a way to move on.

Michel van der Aa (Netherlands)

Libretto by Michel van der Aa, after Hirokazu Kore-eda

Universally acclaimed and utterly unique, Michel van der Aa’s cross-genre masterwork grapples with a compelling, singular question: what was the defining moment of your life?

Could you distil your life to a single instant? A moment that, if all else were to fade, you would choose to live with for the rest of eternity? Michel van der Aa, house composer for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and one of contemporary opera’s most assured and ambitious voices, burrows deep into the very question of why we live with this profound contemporary masterpiece.

As six lost souls gather in limbo, they are asked to decide on the one memory each of them will take with them into the afterlife. Those who cannot choose must remain, trapped in purgatory until they can find a way to move on.

Based on the acclaimed 1998 Japanese film of the same name, this landmark Netherlands production is a heart-rending fusion of music, theatre and film. The textured vocals of the six singers, set to an ethereal score performed by a 23-piece orchestra, blend with an intriguing element of documentary: as the characters struggle to choose a single, defining memory, their stories are intercut with footage of real people contemplating the same decision.

Grandiose in scope, Van der Aa’s audacious blending of arts makes for a fitting final operatic presentation from Festival Director Brett Sheehy, who throughout his work with festivals around Australia has sought to champion contemporary opera as a vivid and essential 21st century art-form. After Life joins such works as Jonathan Mills’s Eternity Man, Jonathan Dove’s Flight, Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar and Pascal Dusapin’s Medea in bringing us another compelling demonstration of contemporary opera’s artistry and vitality.

Composer, Stage Director, Video Script & Direction Michel van der Aa
Technical Production Development Frank van der Weij
Costume Designer Robby Duiveman
Film Projection Flint Louis Hignett, Bert Hornback, Dee Jager, Esther Jager, Tessa Marwick,
Juul Muller
Conductor Wouter Padberg

Performers
Aiden Roderick Williams
Mr Walter Richard Suart
Sarah Marijje van Stralen
Ilana Margriet van Reisen
Chief Yannick-Muriel Noah
Bryna Helena Rasker

Representatives of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

I don't believe in outer space

The Forsythe Company (Germany)

A work by William Forsythe

Legendary choreographer William Forsythe presents the Australian premiere of an ambitious masterwork – an unmissable event for anyone with an interest in the past, present or future of contemporary dance.

Commanding and enigmatic, I don’t believe in outer space is a brilliant inclusion in a stellar choreographic career – one that has deeply influenced the very trajectory of contemporary dance.
Renowned for his rigorous and inventive choreography, Forsythe returns to Melbourne Festival for the first time since 2001, when he stunned sold-out audiences with Eidos:Telos, a formidable exploration of memory and time. With I don’t believe in outer space he has created a whimsical and poignant investigation of life itself, in all its physicality, fragility and inevitable mortality.

Invoking the artefacts of popular culture, Forsythe pieces together a stunningly complex collage of images and voices, casting a playful yet sober eye on the nature of our existence.

Pulsing to a fractured live soundtrack, this surreal opus sees molecular interactions, social intrusions and sentiments from the disco era bleed together against the backdrop of an uncaring, unfathomable spacescape.

As the 17 dancers of the Forsythe Company move through the comedic, poetic choreography – taut, fluid and precise – they display a discipline and power the equal of any ensemble in the world today, giving a powerhouse performance worthy of this exquisite paean to the potential and beauty of movement.

Music Thom Willems
Sound Design Niels Lanz
Graphics Dietrich Krüger
Costumes Dorothee Merg
Light Tanja Rühl, Ulf Naumann
Dramaturgical assistance Freya Vass-Rhee
Dancers Yoko Ando, Cyril Baldy, Esther Balfe, Dana Caspersen, Katja Cheraneva, Brigel Gjoka, Amancio Gonzalez, Josh Johnson, David Kern, Fabrice Mazliah, Roberta Mosca, Tilman O`Donnell*, Jone San Martin, Yasutake Shimaji, Elizabeth Waterhouse*, Riley Watts, Ander Zabala

Membra Jesu Nostri

The Illustrated Man (Australia)

Performed under the majestic arches of St Paul’s Cathedral, Membra Jesu Nostri is a unique contemporary re-imagining of a masterwork of Western sacred music.

Two talented Melbourne-based ensembles join forces under the direction of award-winning conductor Peter Tregear to present a stirring vocal and visual performance of Membra Jesu Nostri, a set of seven short cantatas first created for Holy Week in 1680 by German-Danish composer Dietrich Buxtehude.

Berlin-based visual designer Christian Herrnbeck has composed an arresting series of photographic projections to accompany the performance, providing a stunning contemporary commentary on the Christian idea of a God-made-man.

Performed by Melbourne’s finest young vocal soloists, The Consort of Melbourne – who appeared at last year’s Melbourne Festival with the Kronos Quartet – along with the accomplished string ensemble Monash Sinfonia, this stunning baroque score is given a suitably exquisite showcase in a truly majestic setting.

Conceived & Directed by Peter Tregear

Visual Design Christian Herrnbeck
The Consort of Melbourne

Monash Sinfonia

... time for sleep

It has been a long, busy and fun-filled week

Birthday celebrations with those I love
and feeling cherished
... lots of wine, good food and beauty 

finally ... it is Friday evening and deconstructed time begins
the Grand Final is on tomorrow ...
the Mighty Hawks (our family team) vs the Swans ... feathers will fly

but for tonight
i'm content with evening yoga, a cup of tea
... and the chance to lie on my sofa beneath my quilt & candlelight 

... to admire
 a hand carved bookcase filled with all my beautiful books
and a vase of white flowers  

... a moody storm is brewing across the bay 

and ... it is so lovely to be here 

- happy, warm and sleepy.

goodnight
x

Flavours of Greece

Katina and I celebrated the Antipodes Festival and Flavours of Greece tonight at the Hellenica Republic. 

An evening of over indulgence.

Jules Birthday

Life can be seen as a garden maze, sometimes the hedges are too tall to see over or, too thick to see through, with no way of knowing what lies ahead or around the corner. There is a beginning and an end but, there is also a lot of learning, experiences and memories to cherish in between. 

Thankful for the beauty, freedom, inspiration, essence and ...

in my life.

TarraWarra Museum of Art

Birthday celebrations continued today with a visit to the TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville-Yarra Glen to see the third Biennial Exhibition 'Sonic Spheres' and lunch at the TarraWarra Winery.

Gorgeous Spring day, relaxing drive through undulating green, lush and sun kissed valleys, wine tasting a decadent lunch.

Feeling loved, lucky and inspired...

Drought and Rain

Video link: Drought and Rain

French Vietnamese choreographer Ea Sola celebrates historical and cultural memory and mediates on the human cost of war and imperialism in Drought and Rain.

Garden of dreams

... to be discovered.

Body of Knowledge

Body of Knowledge is an exhibition on the representation of medicine and he human anatomy through art and is being held at the University of Melbourne and Ian Potter Museum.

Ruth Hutchinson's Vessel to hold one's breath (2012) and Beat (2012) (image of work featured below) were particularly captivating.

Peninsula Hot Springs

What could be more decadent, and therapeutic for mind, body and soul; than spending the day with my beautiful friends at the Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs. Followed by an evening gathered together at a Grand Design abode, overlooking St Andrews natural flora and rugged coastline.

Ah Pure bliss.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY & Thanks Suz  

x

Alfresco

With the first kiss of Spring in the air, the suns warmth brushed against my skin and I made the most of Sunday afternoon by gathering with friends beachside, to sip wine and enjoy the charsmatic company of a baby-blue eyed European male.

A little delicious.

Star*****s

Star***** s written, produced and performed by Laura Caesar and Malcolm Whittaker

This four hour duration piece of theatre at the Arts House in Melbourne was described by critics as "a strangely unsentimental love-crafting, the product of an idiosyncratic confessional cottage industry, against the saccharine celebrity romance sagas of the gossip magazines. Caesar and Whittaker insert their more prosaic relationship perspectives, and do so in a gently self-deprecating way.”  Whereas, Laura and Malcolm described Star*****s as "our (every) moment in the spotlight. We hope we are interesting enough, beautiful enough, enough of enough.”

During what evolved into a captivating and intimate theatrical experience (part romance, part voyeurism)  primary school arts and craft teacher Laura and her partner, artist Malcolm Whittaker exposed and shared with the small group of strangers that had gathered; the realities, simple beauty and acceptance (of self, one another and their relationship), by reading from the personal diaries that document their ten years together. 

Seemingly every movement, every moment - together and apart - broken down and made public. Their stories continually unfolded and overlapped as their everyday narratives wove through (almost) never-ending construction and reconstruction. Simultaneously miniature papier-mâché pairs of lovers were constructed from their shredded love letters, to represent the construction and consumption of relationships by media and fairytale, and in turn the consumption of these relationships by the public. 

Star***s is about the great suburban dream of fame and fortune and love – and finding it poetically in the banal and everyday.

Their performances and my experience was far from banal and it was beautiful privilege to share their intimate world for this brief time.

Israel Film Festival

I didn't know that Albert Einsten played the violin? The things one discovers during an unsuspecting evening at the cinema.

Tonight while watching Incessant Visions, a visually stunning documentary about Erich Mendelsohn a Jewish architect and his talented wife who was a cellist; I saw images of them and their friends including Einsten during one of the many musical gatherings they would arrange in their home.

A male's perspective

It was interesting to read in the Sunday age today the following...

"Women have also been made to be confused by the merchants of glad; clothing and so on, and this foolish notion they can have it all. These days, there's a kind of hidden feeling of horror that women undergo now in relationships, when the bloke walks out and leaves then scrambling around wine bars to find someone to impregnate them."

And

"I find it amazing that many Australian women spend hours every day trying to look beautiful, yet they sound like cats sliding down a blackboard."

Catalysts for reflection. 

Me-time

I feel I that I should 'whisper' the following... I mean should I really admit that I love lazy Sunday's. Like today when I had the opportunity to spend the morning reading in bed under my quilted doona, pottering at home while the sunlight streamed through the open doors and I could look out towards the bay, a bottomless cup of Italian brew in a Robert Gordon floral mug, an aromatic candle gently scenting the room, fresh linen on the clothes line, home made thai chilli and pumpkin soup simmering, tunes from the radio fading in and out of my consciousness, wearing pj's 'till way past noon, the distant thought of study...

Over the years, the balance between work, family, friends, sport, social and art commitments has shifted and while I once loved that my diary was cramming with social rendez-vous and exciting commitments, now I just love these days.. and need them too.

Being with family and friends is something I really value, need, am inspired and nurtured by; but in order to be present in these relationships and sustain my responsibilities, I have began to realise that I need to have unscheduled days - when I have the chance to do little,

Throughout life we can shift from one perspective to another. In my case, after years of activity etc, I really relish the feeling that the world is evolving outdoors, while I'm nestled in doors simply enjoying life. Days like today are so nurturing, clarifying, and restorative and leave me feeling as though I have more to give and receive.

Mid-sun-day reflections

Three inspiring quotes by Sunday "Life" author Angela Mollard.

However far you wander - go, scoop the world out with a spoon - my arm will be crooked, waiting for yours, to slide back through it.

Courage - Never be less than you are.

Saying no is the hardest thing. Before every choice, there's a split second. Use it.

Horizion

Whilst my hair was being coiffured Tammy said...

 "We all live under the one sky, but we don't all share the same view of the horizon"

Dreamscapes

This morning I read a recent interview with Nicole Kidman in which she states that she "writes for herself" because it is her way of processing things - of letting things go. Additionally she revealed that during her teenage years she "kept diaries" and that these are now kept in her parents home in Sydney. Apparently her mother recently asked her "Should I burn them yet?" To which she responded, "Not yet, not yet". Because for Nicole having "access to the psychology of myself as a teenager" is a "hard thing to let go".

The article made me reflect upon the many diaries I have written since I was 13 years old and that are stored in the homes were I have lived. Pages filled with thoughts, prose, dreams, angst, love forlorn and love filled. Entries written whilst travelling and living abroad. Stories of conversations, experiences, emotions and questions. 

Infrequently, over the years, I've referred to these diaries; mainly, stumbling upon them accidentally rather than locating them to relive a significant moment from the past. On the occasion when I have began to read through my old journals, I have been easily and voyeuristically engaged with the ideas and emotions of my youth. Then as the final page is turned and the cover is closed, I realign with the everyday with a deeper sense of something that has been me, the me that was and is.

These entries are like dreamscapes that bring back vivid sensations from that time. The wisdom that a life lived brings. It's a wonderful and powerful sensation.

Maybe, I'll start a project this Spring. For one month, every year, for ten years I'd like to keep a diary. To create a snapshot of my life over time, that can be compiled and read one day... when the need for a dream-scape arises.

Possibilities

Today, tomorrow feels full of possibilities. 

Not sure where the wind will take my sail, how far, how, when and with whom.. and I'm Ok with that. I've just lived a very rich, inspiring and immersive experience and my senses are still a buzz.

Attachments

Reflections on "Attachments" from dOCUMENTA13, 2012.

..so what attachments lie ahead for you.. for me.. for us??

Blood Wedding

The performance of Federico Garcia Lorca's play 'Blood Wedding' at the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne was a little disappointing. 

In Blood Wedding a young 22 year old bride leaves her wedding reception, her family, friends and a noble groom with her old flame; and inadvertedly the man who is married to her pregnant cousin. When they realise that the two have left together, a chase begins. The couple are captured, the groom and lover fight and are killed. The bride returns to her home to beg the grooms mother to kill her, so that she can die defending the man she loved. Her request is corned by the mother-in-law, who holds no regard for her beauty, purity or sorrow. 

Despite Marion Potts direction, the poetic bi-lingual dialogue presented by the cast appeared to be inadequately prepared, over acted, and poorly represented. The characters lacked passion and seemed disconnected. The whole play failed to engage me.

Visually however, the stage design was simple and beautiful. The golden gravel and pools of hazy mid day light evoked an arid European landscape and palpably portrayed the sweltering hear of a Spanish Summer wedding. 

One of the most realistic and enjoyable scenes was when the families gathered together, to joyously dance and celebrate the union of the couple. In that moment the characters seems to loose themselves in spontaneous movement and relate naturally to one another.

Love making

He said...

"I love you. I'm desperate for you. Just touching you is a connection from me to you. I'm still here. I still adore you. Where has she gone?"

For men its not about getting their rocks off. They want the women they love to want them, and they want to feel like a real man by being desired.

You have to make the decision to put sex back in the equation and to make it a priority.

'Just do it. Even if you don't particularly feel like of it'.

Its can be a bond between you and him. It can heal. It can nurture. It can set you free and you can begin to understand things with your senses, in a way that can not be communicated with just words.

Celebration time

... with family and friends.

Silk & water

How beautiful and enigmatic is this still photograph by Carolyn Quatermaine... I have been following this UK based installation artist since the mid-90's and have always found her euphermal composition of fabrics and natural elements, seductive and inspiring.

Romantic eyes

Floral romance

Young Aussie Beauty

The commercial, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EfLaodWJnk&feature=player_embedded titled the Cathy Spirit ad, sees a young girl, my girlfriend's daughter Talissa Picone race across an open field, with the voice of commentator Bruce McAvaney from Freeman’s famous victory at the Sydney 2000 Olympics in the background.

We are all flesh

Berlinde de Bruyckere

"We are all flesh"

Australian Centre of Contemporary Art

June-July 2012

Life is good.

I'm so happy to be home and feel so enriched by the amazing opportunities and experiences I've been exposed to.

I am aware that my experiences abroad are 'a world away' from today's sunshine glistening off the water across the Bay, and I feel privileged to be able to live between these two vastly different and wonderful realities.
x

Home "Sweet Home"

Returned from my Euroepan sojourn Sunday morning and was greeted at the Airport with the warm and instant embrace of my Mum..

Ahh... there is nothing more reassuring, cherished and beautiful in this world than a loving embrace.

Home sweet home again in Melbourne and it feels good.

Homeward bound...

I come from a "Land down under" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbsfupH8W1o&feature=related .. and tomorrow after six incredibly inspiring and surreal weeks in Europe I'm heading home to Melbourne.

I'm so thrilled to have had this time in Europe, pursuing my passions and dreams. It's been wonderful! Now I'm looking forward to embracing and catching-up with family and friends, curling up in my bed, sleeping till noon, day dreaming and distilling all that I've seen and experienced, the horizon across the Bay, my cafe at the end of the street and uncharted dreams.

Day Four: dOCUMENTA(13)

Melbourne

During my stay in Europe, occasionally I have thought about Melbourne and what 'uncharted dreams' lie ahead. I'm happy to be going home and once I've rested, re established a work-life-home balance and got back into the rhythm of my life, I'm looking forward to seeing how these experiences transform me and ... 

   New love.

   Buying an apartment by the Bay and make a beautiful home.

   Complete motorbike licence and buy a Vespa.

   Purchasing a Bang & Olsen stereo so that I can listen to international 
   radio stations.
   More adventure travel, possibly the Trans Siberian Rail from Beijing to St 
   Petersburg and then up to  
   Norway, trek the French-Italian Alps, Sydney Biennale, Israel for 
   Christmas, a remote island get away or coastal retreat. 

What are you dreaming about...?

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev

'The riddle of art is that we do not know what it is until it is no longer, that which it was. Furthermore, art is denied as much by what it is. as by what it is not; by that it does, or can do, as by what it does not, or cannot do; it is defined even by what it fails to achieve."

dOCUMENTA(13) is dedicated to artistic research and forms of imagination that explore commitment, matter, things, embodiment and active living in connection with yet not subordinated theory.

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev
Curator dOCUMENTA(13)

Day Three: dOCUMENTA(13)

Highlights:

Ryan Gander

Zanele Muholi

Ceal Floyer 'Til I get it tight' (2012)

Sanja Ivekovic

Additional highlights: Sense and Nonsense dTOUR: Into the Secrets of dOCUMENTA(13). An insider dTOUR with participating artists.

Exploration of the exhibition through a direct encounter with participating artists. Thematic focuses can include misunderstandings of the value systems and hidden costs in cultural production, or an inquiry into the fact that the contemporary art world today is divided between an extreme focus not he market, and a discursivity involving critical theory or political activism as art. Another theme is non-anthropocentric forms of knowledge, love, politics and skepticism.

Day Two: dOCUMENTA(13)

Day Two: Exploring dOCUMENTA(13) artworks at Hauptbanhof Train Station and surrounds.

Highlights: Janet Cardiff and George Burres Miller - Video and sound scape. Just amazing. Very clever piece and at times it was also very emotional. Particularly the scene where a German man gives a brief account of his memories of the WWII bombing, the destruction of lives and the train that departed from Kassel to one of the Concentration Camps from Platform number 13. The contemporary dance sequence at the end, was pure poetry. Exquisite. 

Image of a permanent installation at Hauptbanhof. A wheel barrel filled with steel boxes that hold rocks covered in paper with notes from the Jewish children of Kassel. The children wrote letters and drew images, before being sent to the Concentration Camps.

Susan Phillipsz - Another beautiful sound scape experience in the middle of the train station. Well worth the wait.

Clemens von Wedemeyer - Sometimes I follow a video without complete awareness of its meaning. The trilogy of videos from this series were engaging but I couldn't comprehend the connection, part from the actors who appeared in different roles and different timeframes. It wasn't until I read about the artwork that I understood that the three videos depict across three large video screens a narrative about a premise in Kassel, during three different eras in history (1945, 1970's, 1990's). The premise is a Catholic Church and Monastery, that was then converted into a Prison, a WWII Concentration Camp, and an Asylum for Young women. It is now an open-centre for Pyschiatric patients.  

Tino Sehgal at Huggenottenhaus. As incredible as what I'd been told. One of the d(13) "must see".

Additional highlights: Meeting Auckland artist Judith Rosamund and her friend recently retired Art teacher from Kassel.

On a lighter note...

William Kentridge

dOCUMENTA(13)

I can't believe it. I'm actually in Kassel, Germany attending the dOCUMENTA(13). What an experience. What a setting. Love it. Just LOVE it....

It's midnight and I've just arrived home after a full day exploring the contemporary artworks in Karlause (the gardens of Kassel), one of the venues for the dOCUMENTA(13). From what I've seen today, you need nearly a week here to truly absorb and engage with these works.

Highlight: Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. Sound installation within the forest. Seated under a canopy of trees listening to an orchestra of mixed sound and thematic music. Mesmerising. Immersive. Captivating. 

Additional (unexpected highlights): Attended an art evolution piece "Sanatorium" and participated in two projects. Through this experience I met a Journalist from Cologne who follows contemporary art for passion. He said that he finds art helps him balance his professional work (commentary on science, world events and politics). A nice man. Well versed on contemporary art and art events. We walked and talked together for a while as we traversed the gardens, and then after making arrangements to have dinner together, parted to see separate works. Sadly we didn't sync our meeting point very well and didn't end up reuniting.

By this stage, it was getting dark, I was a little cold and ready for dinner, so I was walking towards Kassel centre to call a taxi to head back to the hotel, when  I saw a quaint German style restaurant and entered.

Whilst eating my delicious meal accompanied by a local light brew, I was happily reviewing my notes and photographs from the day, and then a man who was seated behind me and I started talking. In Kassel this is easy to do, especially with the distinguishable copy of dOCUMENTA(13) on your dinner table. Dr Joshua Jiang is an Art Curator from London and is curating the Fourth Guanzhou Triennial in China this year. Hence our evening lingered over discussions on art etc etc...

Day One: dOCUMENTA(13)

Fiona Hall, Sydney AUSTRALIA 

Jules at dOCUEMNTA(13), Kassel Germany.