12 more hours and I will be flaneuring along the canals of Venice…
The most romantic city in the world, allegedly… (However, the reality may just be a city that casts a sharp eye on it’s many visiting artists, travelling accross the globe to find themselves in fiece competition, eye-to-eye-races to impress the next bigger and better and more emminent persons of rank and influence..) Nevertheless, I will soon be viewing all kinds of art, some wonderful, some less so, in exquisite location..Marvelous!
Should one bring the laptop and harddrive to get on with some work while there, or just give up on that altogether…? Take a book instead…? It has been such a long time since I have been detached from my laptop.. Such a long time since I have just had the indulgence of immersing myself in the print of a book…
Since it will be my 3rd visit to Venice, I may be less in awe of the location and perhaps more able to focus on work..? It would require another 5kg of gear to carry around… Will I really have time..?
Perhaps just the pen and paper and there will undoubtedly be at least one book that will find it’s way accross a till counter and into my bag.. Maybe it is a rare opportunity to leave the laptop-film-editing work behind and embrace the time to think, let the muse come by and kiss me thoroughly…
Yes, it shall be a pen and paper and daydream kind of trip. That is that… decided..
(Oh, but the laptop looks me in the eye and says: " Are you really sure about that…? Think about the deadlines speeding closer and closer…")
The Real Thing at the Tate….
contemporary art from China..
The first room that I walked into made my heart jump with joy, the second caused my eyes to well up with delight and the third just finished me off… I had to slow down to take time and dry the dribble that was running down my chin because I was close to losing bodily controls due to happyness and excitement….
Then I reached the 4th work and stood in awe…
THIS is the kind of art which once moved me so much that I found myself on a path which lead me to where I am now. This is inspirational work, I am stuck for words… And then it carried on. There were more pieces… just as good. My god I love it. The FIRST show since the last Venice Biennale that moved me, excited me, made me giddy with contented eyes and soul..
Oh happiness..
THERE is art.
And now I am packing to get on a plane and see what delights and artistic delicacies the Vennice Biennale will offer..
My god. The life !!
The show has come down yesterday and there are just some things to move from the cathedral to my house now.
When will I have the luxury of an art handling team at my disposal..?
AND I should be on my way to the Venice Biennale/ Biennial on thursday but now there is no room, no bed to be found anywhere..
So here is my SOS to the world:
can anyone put me up in their apartment, their room, underneath their bed, on the sofa, in the shower..? As long as I have a blanket.. (Well, and I am bringing white trousers, so sleeping underneath the Rialto is out of the question, as I also like to wash sometimes.. in privacy prefereably..)
So SOS & please direct rescue (in decending order)
to:
[email protected]
myspace.com/papersculptures
myspace.com/birgitdeubner
It is saturday, one of the last days of the exhibition being up, and I am becoming reflective, making notes on ways to improve on the next project, and also finding bits of time to just watch my work and the members of the public that mingle around it…
Tonight I am going to spend a few hours photographing every possible angle of the installation (again..) and tomorrow will then be the last full day. I have had a good response, and I really wish I had had the energy to pursue more funding…
It is great being with the work myself, but it would have been useful to delegate this invigilating job and come to the space with fresh energy to engage, instead of it being an every day job. Which left little time to plan the next project or make drawing work to bolster the bank account which currently is screaming in distress…
But it will come together. I am excited about next week, when I will edit my documentation footage, work on my portfolio and my texts, research the next projects, book my ticket for India (where I am making 2 installations !), find out how to ship my work back from India to here, make drawings, write to a few galleries, apply for a couple of residencies… ok, clearly not all that in one week… but some of that and some of what I forgot to include in the list. And actually: I really want to go and look at other people’s work.
And I need to find a venue for this same project (Devotional Choreography) but this time I want to show it in a small room with credit card sized projections. Intimate and very small… Except of course that the scale of the projectors, the audio volume they create will be in complete contrast with the fragility and intimacy of the projected image…
But more about that later. First I am going back to the cathedral to catch some more audience to chat with and see what they say.
I am looking forward to being in the space on my own this evening. It is really quite special to have such unlimited access to the place..To such a place. !
Today only one image of my installation:
