mmm. just got a call from She, my assistant and ofcourse the funeral criers want more money now – so they have cancelled tomorrow performance. We had a deal for six performers over three days. She says its just becuase they see a western face, so the money goes up. Thankgod I didn’t pay for the six today! When I went to the first funeral parlour with She, to organise the shoot, she said the price was exorbitant, four times what we are paying now. So, She went to the funeral parlour on her own, negotiated the price with out me being present. So, we have to find new criers now! I don’t think it will be hard – there are thousands of them in Chongqing – Oh, well. I thought it was a little too easy…
It was a stange shoot actually – usually my shoots are about building relationships, then trusting each other – then exploring what we can do infront of the camera. Today, they walked in, stood where I wanted them to then began- gave a great performance- then givemoney – then they left.
Tomorrow, we will head into town to find barbers to shoot I think…I also want to shoot from the Skytrain – its quite an amazing trip into town – it flys above the roads, accross the bridges, into a nothingness of grayness. – the pollution is intense. I am not sure why I want to shoot this – but when I am on the sky train, looking out the window makes me lose my tummy. Its a strange feeling. I also feel like I am looking at the end of the world. Just this crazy built up madness and chaos, with air that is hardly breathable. Like the building is a frenzy, going at such a pace, with such intensity, building a city for 35 millions people – but they have forgotten the need to breath. If they don’t do something about the pollution soon, you won’t be able live here anymore. I will try bringing the seconday video camera – it should deal better with movement.
I had a meeting with Nikun today, the curator of organhaus – to talk about doing another dinner here, like we did in Beijing. I am not sure if we will yet- but its good to put it out there and see if it is possible. I thought about doing it on the street, at one of the street food restaurants – we would attract a huge crowd though.
