yesterday I was unable to write the blogue because I had to catch a bus before 8:30 am, so today I will attempt to cover two days (even though I already put my notes away in the luggage, leaving Albuquerque in a few hours).
Sunday was the last full day of the conference, and due to complete burn out, Paul and I talked about taking it easy in the morning and meeting sometime close to the afternoon. I woke up later than usual (7:30-ish), went to the gym, and came to the room and hung out for a bit. I then decided to go to the hotel restaurant for breakfast instead of ordering room service. The food was great (french toast with strawberries, yogurt and turkey sausage), but the service was bad (sat there forever before a waitress came, got my coffee refilled only once throughout the whole ordeal, etc). I finished breakfast around 10:45 am... Sunday's predominant theme was Education, and the majority of the presentations and panels were related to K-12 tactics and located in downtown (a bus ride away). I did not want to call or text Paul, because I thought he was gonna sleep in, so I went after the bus schedule and tried to find at least one panel I wanted to see that day. Other events happening downtown were the Makers Faire (which I had pre-sold tickets for), a Block Party (which I was ambivalent about), and Laurie Anderson at 9 pm. No matter which way you cut it, it was gonna be a long day. I was hoping we'd have time for a nap between dinner and the concert.
As I was getting ready to leave I got a text from Paul, asking me if I was hungry. I told him I was not but would not mind getting a coffee and watch him eat. We met 30 minutes later in the lobby and drove downtown, past where all our events were, on Central. We ended up in this beautiful little cafe with a great courtyard, and Paul ordered something that looked so beautiful on the plate (it had pears, greens, a poached egg that looked like a gem, and a few other things). I ordered a simple pumpkin pie to go with my iced coffee, and it was as silky as it needed to be, not too sweet, and not too starchy.
The actual keynote speaker we both wanted to go see did not start until 2:15, so we decided to go to the Makers Faire first, which was an extremely small event, in a very large area, and it was poorly attended. There were a few cool things in it, as they always have, but it was not satisfying (specially given the cost, $15 at the door and $10 beforehand). Nearby, at the Convention Center, a fellow Chicago artist named Mark Anderson had worked on a public art piece with local students to be permanently displayed there (a video wall with four monitors, which combined doc-style footage with animations, very cool). Mark was someone Paul had told me about, in terms of working in multi-channel video installations (something that at the time I was working on), so it was nice to put the face to the name. After talking for a bit we decided to go to the next location, the KiMo theaterPaul and I ran into Cyane, whom I had met before, and the three of us walked over there.
The much anticipated talk was given by Scott Snibbe, an interactive installation artist who is working on App Art right now. Laurie Anderson sat a seat over in the row in front of me - she looked cuter and more fragile than I had imagined. He also showed this App/Album by Bjork he worked on recently, something truly fascinating. His talk was probably one of the best, most inspiring ones I went to. I think everyone around me felt the same way. It really energized me, and now I really want to make my own App (which I hope to do in collaboration with a OU faculty member in Computing Science). Without giving too much information, I am hoping it will combine two projects (or be inspired by them) into something very cool and hopefully unique and touching. The previous projects are "me.mo.ri.al" and "americana". And I'll leave it at that ;-)
Paul had been trying to get in touch with Jesse all day, so eventually we all got in touch and dinner plans were made, but not before going to a few panels that were not necessarily very remarkable. Interesting but not as inspiring as the previous ones. The Box venue was a bit too noisy and too small, and it made it difficult to hear people and sit or stand comfortably.
After two panels we decided to walk around the Block Party for a bit, and after a few minutes (Jesse had met us by then), we decided to go out to eat earlier than usual (around 5:30) because we thought we may want to go back to the hotel. Paul suggested we drove past UNM to see what was there, and eventually we saw a whole new side of town, with cool and diverse restaurants. We parked at this place that totally reminded me of South Congress in Austin, and walked to the Asian Street Food restaurant. They only had counter space, so we sat there, and ordered our stuff. The service was pretty bad (waited forgot all our orders, we had to do it twice, the food was very slow to come out and he gave us the wrong stuff, and kept offering water to the point we drank so they'd go away), but the taste was delicious, so it was a satisfying meal. Paul and Jesse did a lot of shop talk, so I mostly watched them talk, which was somewhat refreshing, not having to talk the whole time. But I was starting to fade away. It was past 7:30 when we asked for the check, and it was clear we'd not have time for a nap.
We got back to downtown and found our way to the KiMo theater, and got into our seats. The theater was very cool and weird at the same time, with all these cow skulls with horns and red light shining through the eyes all over the place. The way the seating was arranged (during the same) made us all have completely different seatings, so I hung out with Paul (who had the best one, very close to the front) until it was time to sit down. I ended up sitting next to a woman from Croatia, who had been to Sao Paulo once, and we had some very interesting conversations about art and technology in South America and Eastern Europe. She told me this story about a travel companion in Sao Paulo, and a few minutes later this woman Sarah walked in and sat on my other side. I had met Sarah at the Snibbe talk, so it was completely a coincidence that she had the ticket to my left (she said she was walking down the street and someone just gave her the ticket). The Croat to my right, looked over, and Sarah was her travel companion in the story (that was completely weird). Later on Paul told me about his own coincidence in his seating area.
The concert eventually started, and it was a nice affair. The stage was minimal but sweet, and the music (the main instrument a violin, with spoken word), was also pretty awesome, at times provoking and/or funny. The section I was in had an intense heat (unlike the front of the theater), so for the majority of the concert I either nodded, or closed my eyes. By the time it was over, close to 11 pm, I had been up and about town since 11 am, so I was beat. Many people around me (and others whom I talked to) also told me they had a hard time staying awake. The concert should have really started at 8 pm, or be on a different day from all the other street stuff. I ran into Annica and Cris at the theater lobby, and we made plans to meet on Monday morning at the Chip Lord lecture, and after that go to Santa Fe for lunch, Ojo Caliente for the afternoon, and then SITE Santa Fe for the reception there and later dinner. We all had talked about going to Ojo together from day one, and it was nice it was finally happening.
Both Paul and Jesse were leaving early on Monday morning, so we bid our farewells at the elevator =-(. It was great spending this much time with Paul, I think it has taken our friendship to a whole new level. It is great to have a friend who listens to you and also tells you things you'd never even think about. It is simultaneously educational and edifying. Already miss having him around. I finally made it to my bed and fell asleep right away.
The picture above will serve as a break and transition between the two days this entry covers. I forgot to do a self pic on Sunday, so this was taken on Monday morning (I will do one of today when I finish writing this second part).
Because this is New Mexico, and because we were going to Ojo (a truly wonderful hot springs resort and Spa outside Taos), I decided to wear shorts for the first time since my arrival here - I know, weird considering the temperatures arrived at almost 90 degrees. And of course I froze my ass off. For the first time during this week-long conference I took the bus that left from the Art Museum, and rode with this Norwegian sound artist named Frank. We arrived early for the 9 o'clock lecture and met up with one of his friends, Miguel, a curator from Portugal. The three of us talked for almost an hour, nice guys, and we all sat together. I assume Annica and Cris arrived a bit late, because I did not see where they sat. The theater was a bit on the empty side, but that was understandable because by then most attendees had already left. The Chip Lord talk was pretty powerful. I have always been a huge fan of Ant Farm, and seeing him in the flesh moved me, seeing him at the approximate age of my father. The fact that Doug Michels is no longer with us did not go unnoticed, nor unmentioned.
Chip talked about some of the projects I know really well (such as Cadillac Ranch and Media Burn), and segue-way'd into a parallel track of their Time Capsules. I was not familiar with those. Throughout their 10 year active period (1968-78) they made a couple time-capsule projects, in addition to a touring media van project on autonomy and sustainable community building. Some were actualized (a refrigerator capsule was cracked open in 1984), some are still buried today. Because their work as had resurgence in the last two decades, they have made iterations of previous works with adapted contemporaneous technology. The media van moved from a portapak to a computer drive. The last iteration (an immersive installation) includes a media hooka, where attendees can connect their phones and a random image or music file is extracted and added on to a collection. As each presentation of this new documentations of the media van experience are added to it (the media van also doubles as a screening room), in addition to all the data collected. As such, the media van has become a digital time-capsule. I wanted to make a comment or ask a question at the lecture, but with my still weak voice and the size of the room I decided to stop. What I wanted to tell him is that there is another way in which his work works as a time-capsule. Both Media Burn and Eternal Frame contain an "artist-president" performer, who, dressed as JFK, comments on the power of mass media, capitalist monopoly, and militarization, as the culprits of the fall of culture, in addition to the emerging prominence of images AS politics and politicians, which also contribute to this decline (as opposed to images OF politics and politicians, that is). In a weird way I find that we live in the exact same condition addressed by Ant Farm back in the early 70s, so perhaps their ideas work as the parenthesis of a particular time period (encapsulated between the 60s and today). Or perhaps the reoccurring issues symbolizes the re-opening of an older time capsule.
Eventually we walked out and I ran into Cris and Annica. We began our journey to Santa Fe, and because we got there so early we decided to buy food at Whole Foods and eat at Ojo. I really enjoyed my time with them. The more time I spend with them the better it gets. I think that the barriers between us are finally peeling off, and we all feel more comfortable being around each other, less guarded, less competitive. It is also nice to be able to talk about stuff in our field and community and geographies. They are doing a piece on D-lectricity as well, and we all were able to talk about some issues and concerns we are having with the festival. We decided we will help one another with our installs, specially since we'll be so close to one another.
We finally arrived at Ojo and decided that no more shop talk would take place. The temperatures were colder than both Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and the mud bath, which was amazing as usual, was a bit nippy. We were there for about 4 hours total, and eventually James and Angela (their friends) joined us. When we were getting ready to go take showers and leave, it started to lightning and rain, and we were all told to get off the pools and stay in the covered porch (they also closed the saunas and the showers). We saw the most amazing and scary lightning storm, beautiful actually. Annica went to the store to buy some lip balm, and that also took for ever to get, because the computers were down. Around 5 pm it stopped raining and they reopened the showers and saunas, so we all went to the Arsenic pool (110 degrees, the warmest, we were freezing) and then hit the showers (which was packed with people). When we were all ready we headed to SITE Santa Fe.
The minute I walked out of the car I got a text message from Amy saying she read an article mentioning silverpoint drawings and that she had thought of me immediately. I then told her I had just gotten to Santa Fe and was actually thinking of her. A lot of coincidences here. The exhibition was pretty awesome, I may order the catalogue (it is about Truthiness). Irene Hoffman actually talked to the whole group at the entrance of SITE, and that was a nice framing for the things to come (it was nice she remembered me and made sure to come say hi). My favorite pieces were by Vik Muniz (he presented three or four pieces that consisted of framed art work, done in a way to appear old, with many travel and museum labels stuck to their back. Upon closer inspection (the framed art was positioned leaning against the wall, their images concealed), one realized that these were supposedly major works of art (such as "American Gothic"). The work as beautiful and smart, and I of course fell in love with it. Right next to it, in a very large video room, a looped video by Eve Sussman, one inspired by Velasquez's Las Meninas, played on. The projection was a bit soft and dark, but the piece was stunning. The institution had great facilities, and I look forward to seeing which new direction they take with their curatorial goals for 2013.
The last thing we did in Santa Fe was dinner at La Chonda, a wonderful family-style New Mexican restaurant. The service was a bit slow, but the food excellent, and the conversation even better. We were joined by Terri and Larry, who are working in a collaboration for ISEA (in a residency at SFAI actually), on this walking tour GPS/App project, which I had heard about. By the time they brought the check we were the only people in the restaurant. The drive was long but we all made it safe to Albuquerque. I went to bed a bit before midnight, and slept until 6 am.
- posted via iPad
Location:Hotel Albuquerque, Rio Grande Blvd NW,Albuquerque,United States
YAY! you got to see the SITE show, finally! it was so surreal thinking of you there again already, though I think you've seen more of NM in a week than you did back in the summer for month. SO glad you got to visit ojo again. :) and that interactions have been so warm and collegial! there must have been a different configuration of stars above when last we were there...big hugs!
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