At the beach with waders and a helmet
I spent the morning shooting more video for the Barchael piece we plan to put in the end of the semester show here in Pont-Aven. I have 3 of 5 videos done for it. Unfortunately, the monitors for the piece are not cooperating, so I still need to spend some time formatting video clips to see if I can get it to work. Otherwise, my time has been spent rewriting my statement, further writing on the Quo Vadis project, course proposal descriptions, fellowship applications, and now applications to 2 residencies. I’m feel a bit fried. At least being at the beach for a while today was pleasant. I joined in the van as a group of students went to help Aurele (one of the Swiss students) film his video today as well.
In my previous entry, I had forgotten to mention the surreal way Shaun, Bunnie, and I started our last day in Amsterdam. We all decided to sleep in that day. As we woke, we congregated in one room to have a lazy breakfast in bed. Next to the bed was a sliding glass door wich the other two would open to smoke. The door opened onto a courtyard below. On this last day in Amsterdam, we awoke to a procession of male models, in their underwear, going into the courtyard to shave their legs and feet with an electric razor. It was an unusual morning and a strange visual to go along with breakfast in bed. I was reminded of this as we all packed up the vans and prepared to leave the coast as a small group of people were conducting a video interview in the distance. It consisted of a man in a suit and a woman in a black and pink leotard who was jogging and/or dancing in place while answering questions. Europe seems to be full of strange people. I guess it’s appropriate that I’m roaming the countryside in waders and a red, plastic helmet.
Art, walking and photographing.
I just returned from a 2 week trip to Paris, Berlin, and Amsterdam. During the trip I visited many museums, galleries, and alternative sites. Somehow during the trip, I was able to collect about 5 gigabytes worth of jpegs as well as the small bits of writing and sketching along the way. I’m now glad to be back in Pont-Aven. I’m happy to be stationary for a while and get back to work. I now have just over 3 weeks left in France before I return. Now I have many projects to wrap up and others to set aside for when I return to the States.
Here are some of the institutions I visited on the trip:
In Paris
The Claude Closky sound piece was interesting in its structure—no walls, but a dimly lit room and everyone walking around wearing headphones. The entire piece was a collection of sounds and activated by triggers on a grid suspended above the exhibition space. Most of it sounded like a french language CD apart from a few pieces. The most interesting was a Brittney Spears interview where he overdubbed her name with his and slowed her part of the conversation down to where it sounded like a deep man’s voice.
The Louise Bourgeois exhibit was excellent. This was one of the best (and most honest) I’ve ever seen. There was also a show about war happening simultaneously. Most of that show wasn’t interesting apart from a 4 channel video piece. The video was an interview using two seperate stories, both with the same interviewer and interviewee. One story was about this soldier who met a crazy girl while he was stationed in Berlin, the other was about him after being attacked in his humvee in Iraq. Both stories were confused by editing and each of the four panels (two sides of 2 suspended panels). One side was recreating the stories, the other was split with the interviewer and interviewee.
“Cellar Door” by LORIS GREAUD. This was interesting in it’s varied approach (i.e. video, installation, wall graphics, text, paint ball combat performance, etc…). I liked two video pieces in the show, but felt the rest was a bit over the top. When the group entered the exhibition, nothing was on since they only activate the exhibition at specific times due to electronics and the performance. It was simultaneously curious and obnoxious.
In Berlin
We went to a demonstration of traditional Japanese woodblock printing at a local artist’s studio
This was a selection from their permanent collection. There were a few good photos and a video that had great sound, but the video just seemed to illustrate what the sound was doing. I really liked the bookstore
I went to three of the four venues for the biennale. Each one had a wide range of artists. The first, the Neue Nationalgalerie had a couple of decent pieces for the biennale, but it was the museum’s permanent collection that was worth the trip. The second venue was 4 empty lots in the middle of Berlin. At first glimpse all the work there was useless and poorly concieved, but once I came across the a video piece that was split into two rooms for viewing the whole started to make more sense. The attempt to have a dialog about forgotten/neglected public space that was once divided by the wall was the most progressive move by the curators. The third venue was an interesting space, but was overfilled with art and people (due to opening day), that I would have preferred a bit more space and time to sit with the art.
I really got to nerd-out with the Wolfgang Tillmans exhibition and another which covered the greatest hit list of german photography. There were also a number of really good Anslem Keifer pieces there as well.
Too much to see within the time I had available. Many great pieces from the Italian renaissance, Dutch painting, etc…. I enjoyed a small design exhibit there as well.
Her drawings and prints were beautiful. After seeing her work I wanted to get back to drawing regularly. The work is very sad and powerful, but exceptionally beautiful.
In Amsterdam
The greatest hits of Dutch painting. This was my first time there. The last time I was in Amsterdam I skipped the Rijks museum and opted for the Van Gogh. This time I did the opposite. Unfortunately, one wing was closed, so it was a much shorter visit than I had anticipated.
This museum was recommended by a friend. It looks like an interesting museum, but since it’s main site was closed for renovation I saw a temporary location on the other side of town. There was a lot of work on display, but little I connected with. I’m curious to see what their other exhitbitions are like.
This show was interesting and heavy. One show was on forgotten rooms of the Stassi (interesting since I had just arrived from Berlin) and the other was on NYC heroin addicts. Both were interesting documentary photography and within an analytical style I understand, but it was most interesting because it feels so removed from much of the work I do now. It provided a lot to think about as I continued to walk the city afterward.
I think that covers most of the art. Otherwise, I did my best to cover each city by foot and metro as best I could. I’m working on editing the multiple gigabytes of photos and will post some of those soon.
Berlin
Went to the Käthe Kollwitz museum today. Now I’m inspired to spend more time drawing. Since I’ve been here, I’ve seen multiple locations of the Berlin biennale, a museum at the Berlin cultural center, wait, times up on my internet. more later.
Travel
I’m currently sitting in a Duncan doughnuts internet cafe in Berlin. 4 days in Paris, 5 or 6 in Berlin, and then a few in Amsterdam. Today I’m taking a break from the “too many museums” syndrome. I’ll elaborate on the good and bad work I’ve seen thus far when I return to Pont-aven. I’m not fond of German keyboards. The y and z, as well as the punctuation is a bit confusing, but only slightly, so it sneaks up on you.
