SO: Been a while – and been busy. Now Im waiting for my Train to Prague… I will meet la mia sorella (my sister Lara) for an 8 day soourn of madness and hopefully so much excitement I’ll forget to use punctuation in my next blog post…. almost like this one! In other news Ive decided to grow crazy facial hair – to better emulate the (too) slick italian males in thiss part of the world. Perhaps with handlebars around my mouth I’ll become the focus of the ladies! Next message from Prague… perhaps.
Archive for September, 2005
Ahhh….. vacations… PRAGUE
Friday, September 23rd, 2005Ars Electronica Photos…
Thursday, September 15th, 2005
Party Pics…
Art Pics…
Linz Pics…
Strandbeest pics…
Linz, Austria… The summary
Tuesday, September 13th, 2005Food:
-Beer IS cheaper than water… seriously.
-The bread is fantastic
- The coffee is obscenely expensive – although they do bring a glass of tap water with every coffee product purchased – which is so damn cool.
-They build loaves of flesh which they compound with additional ingredients… this is then sliced and eaten in true carnivorous bliss. (Imagine the largest fattest block of palony stuffed full of goodies…)
- If it doesn’t have meat in it … its not food!
Facilities:
- Fantastic public toilets and train toilets. (you notice these things when the trains are your primary means of local transportation… And when you travel with girls ;-)
- They have infrastructure… and ALPS!
General:
-There are no restaurants with NON-smoking section – everyone smokes everywhere.
-There are glass boxes for non-smokers at the train station (because smoke in the air is obviously a democratic right!)
-Cool pubs
-Loads of stencils – more so than tags
- They sell vibrators from condom dispensing machines… in MENS toilets. (€5)
- Zey are not German… but zey speak German!
- Italians are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay hotter ;-)
- There really are pictures of Bier Fraus holding massive glasses of golden frothy nectar.
ars summary
Thursday, September 8th, 2005It was a mad week. Meeting a concentration of interesting people in a world that I’m moving closer towards…
When I have time to go through the hundreds of pics – they’ll be posted… And of course a brief review of some of the most noteworthy pieces and issues. but for now, here are the pics that summarize the Ars Electronica/Linz trip:
Ann and I met the Strandbeest group on day 1. Theo, Loek and Sonder… Everyday we saw them impressing the crowds with Theo’s incredible beasts. Every night we ended up drinking alongside them… and every morning – i think we all felt a little heavy headed!
It was absolutely bloody marvelous.
Click the pics for bigger versions!
Ars – intro
Friday, September 2nd, 2005Allora: We arrived at 7AM on wednesday morning… Can you believe that Johanna – our host and super kind Austrian friend – was actually standing there waiting for us! Talk about taking care of guests, eh?
Anyway, we ran around like headless chickens – pickup up the artists passes etc. Its fantastic to be taken care so well by the organization. Although were weree rather perturbed by the fact that most of the spaces we visited were still in the process of being set up! (Including our own – at the Architekture Forum.) However, by the time the openings began, everything was cleared away nicely. We found Music Box is part of the year long exhibition at the Ars Electronica Center. I can’t begin to describe how proud I am to see this guy becoming a successful artist. After we had a chance to chat – he pointed out how difficult its been – and it simply makes his success that much more commendable. (Imagine leaving your home in Korea 6 years ago for Maryland USA. Taking english classes at community colleges and doing any job that crosses your path… Your wife joins you, and you are forced to leave your son in the care of her parents; After three years, you find a masters program which speaks directly to your interests; And then you get through the post grad experience by contsantly improving a core idea that means a lot to you… The final result? You are awarded an artists visa, and your child can FINALLY come and live with you in America! Not to mention that people are really paying attention to you in the artworld. Jin-Yo is definitely one of my heros!
We also ran into Amit Pitaru at our opening… He was looking fairly exhausted because he’d been setting up Sonic Wire Sculpure at the O.K. Centrum. So good to see NYC familiar faces! I intend to write about all the works that made an impact on me later… However I HAVE to say something about one piece: The highlight without a shadow of a doubt has been the Strandbeest by Theo Jansen. Totally mechanized magnificent creatures – powered by wind and NO electronic parts. Him and his crew are absolutely the friendliest most gentlemanly group. I will write many MANY more words about his work soon – but for now, be satisfied with the knowledge that him and his creations are more inspiring than the rest of the festical put together!