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Travel
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On July 3rd, 2001, Andy and I set off for the Cook Islands, en route to our residency in New Zealand (and beyond).
We snorkeled, swam, biked around and generally relaxed in the warm(ish) Pacific sun alongside warm Polynesian people (and English travelers).
While there, we ventured to Aitutaki by cargo boat and had a big adventure, arriving 10 hours late at dusk and being unloaded with huge containers of diesel onto a rickety reef-runner.
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I also interviewed artist/artisan and all around personality Jules of Jules' Funky Art Shack in Rarotonga (the main island of the Cook Island chain) while in residence there. See the short film at www.stretcher.org.
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Off to New Zealand by the end of July. After a quick stop in Auckland (where I reviewed an exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery for stretcher - see www.stretcher.org for the Chartwell Collection review) we headed by train across the North Island to Palmerston North and then Mount Bruce, New Pacific Studio and Kay Flavell (and Kate, and Ros and Bridget and all the rest). Three glorious months of artmaking and conversation and discovery. Many projects emerged from those jam-packed months including:
I created a series of colorful and charged cloaks, inspired by the intersection of the Maori and European cultures, (when the Europeans first settled in Aoteoroa, and today.) There are twelve in all, they are made up of various fabrics (fake fur, wool, camouflage, polyester, netting, felt...) and thread and pom-poms and all could be worn but will most likely be displayed draped on the wall. The cloaks are covered in more detail here.
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Andy and I also instigated a global bed-in to address post sept. 11 issues and try to find a way to make some sense of the madness. We spoke with people from all over the world about war and ways to achieve a lasting peace and many other things. Full transcripts and documentation of the 48 international video conference can be seen at www.bed-in-for-peace.net.
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We also held a dinner salon at New Pacific Studio gathering a fascinating group together to discuss the broad topic of The New Regime. Used as a starting point, many other issues were addressed such as New Zealand's current role in the world, gm food, capitalism, education practices and much more. See images and transcripts from this eventful meal at www.stetcher.org.
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Two other projects I have been working on while in the antipodes are a book project where I have been re-fashioning a de-accessioned book titled The Commonwealth of Art and an embroidery project which I completed while at the What's Left of Theory? conference in Tasmania, Australia where we traveled in early December.
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This was our second time in Australia, our first was for the This is Not Art Conference in Newcastle where Andy was on several panels and we re-launched the Citibank Global Domination web-site as part of Electrofringe.
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After we left New Pacific Studio at the beginning of November, Andy and I traveled to the South Island of New Zealand where we swam with dolphins, hiked a glacier and tramped the Routeburn track which included a blizzard and finding our way through a waterfall. After those adventure sports we visited with Ed Osborn and Barb Eaton in Christchurch and initiated a bunch of Kiwis to the Thanksgiving tradition, and made one of our own -- spoon dancing to Jesus Christ Superstar!
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Then it was off to Oz, arriving in Melbourne at the end of November and situating ourselves in a big warehouse downtown with a group of filmakers, video game theorists and sound artists. After presenting at the What's Left of Theory? conference we are now exploring Melbourne and participating in various holiday happenings. Many had their first latka at our Hanukah party and we had a salmon feast for x-mas.
Andy and I hit the road in January in a graffittied campervan to travel to Adelaide, a bit into the bush (the desert) and then up the coast to Brisbane where we fly to Singapore Feb. 1 to meet up with Andy's bro Daniel to explore Southeast Asia together.
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