the camden head blog

10 things and the end

2007-02-03T21:54:00.000+10:30

Well that's about the size of it! I am sitting in the Qantas VIP lounge as I type this entry whilst waiting for the plane to Sydney then home to some 40 degree Adelaide heat! I have many more pictures, sights and stories I could share with you all including some fun in Ocean Park, Macau and Singapore but that will have to be in person in the right place at the right time.

The pictures above are of the 10,000 Buddah Monastary in Sha Tin - which I went to one Sunday instead of church. This place literally has 10,000 (although I didn't count them so they could be telling a fib) representations of Buddah in various guises and forms.

This one is one of my faves. Such skinny legs! And check out the happy swordfish next to him!

Ten Things I Noticed About Hong Kong

There are hardly any pigeons in Hong Kong. (mmm ... i know what you're all thinking ... so don't go there!)
Everyone seems to drive a new car.
The KFC coleslaw is nicer, less sweet and contains purple cabbage.
Whilst you might think you are waiting in a loose line, as soon as a tram comes, it's on for one and all!
20 degrees celcius is cold according to Honk Kong natives.
There are at least 10 Macdonald's Restaurants within a 5 minute walking distance from my apartment (and no i haven't been to all of them!!!)
Canto pop style cover versions of Leo Sayer's timeless hit "I Love You More Than I Can Say" are very popular with the locals and is subsequently a kareoke standard.
Whilst performances usually start 10-15 minutes after the advertised time, people still arrive up to 20 minutes after the show has started properly.
Hong Kong television is shockingly bad.
The traffic amber light goes on in between the red / green sequence as well as the green / red.

Finally here are some street markers from Hong Kong they are everywhere if you look closely. I became slightly obsessed taking pictures of them and I think I have about 40 pictures which I will eventually put together in a big photo collage for my lounge room wall one day.

It's been a blast doing this Asialink thing I must say and I have made some wonderful friends and contacts along the way. It's something I will never forget and hopefull build upon someday.

Cheers till the next residency or the next time I decide to blog.

Steve

Tea

2007-01-20T16:54:00.000+10:30

As promised here are my favourite teas in Hong Kong.

Nai Cha – (milk tea) is an extremely strongly brewed black tea strained through a sock or stocking like sieve and made in the little eateries that populate the streets. It is made with tinned evaporated milk and if left too long to cool will form a skin on the top – so it is best to drink it quickly. Now I like my tea strong with only a dash of milk but I’ve discovered the Chinese are onto something here. The tea is smooth but certainly has a tannin kick!

Chinese Tea comes in many varieties but this one, made at a Beijing Dumpling eatery in Wan Chai that I have been known to frequent many times, is the king! If you don’t mind picking the occasional foliage from your teeth it’s great to get the mild under brewed taste first and then build up to the strong gunpowder kick as each large and roughly cut leaf and stalk sinks to the bottom.

A Quick Opinion Of The Arts In Hong Kong

2007-01-20T16:37:00.000+10:30

Whilst I have seen only a few theatre and dance performances in HK, none of them have really blown my mind so I haven’t gone out of my way to see anything further for the sake of feeling angry, disappointed or just bored. A lot of the theatre I have witnessed are modern adaptations of European classic novels or plays (re: Gogol, Checkov & Kafka), some shocking, some OK but nothing out of the ordinary. I have been truly disappointed that there is not a big push to develop truly original and new work here.

I almost went to see a Cantonese version of Sarah Kane’s “4:48 Psychosis” and “Crave” but I thought against it not because there was no English translation provided but the publicity material was so obviously full of suicidal angst and morbidity it led me to believe that the realisation would be exactly that – something I don’t think Kane’s work needs any extra layers of, believe me!

When it comes to theatre set design in HK everything seems to be over designed with a distinct 1980’s new wave flavour – even down to the lurid fluoro eye make up. They also like things falling from the ceiling or fly tower – I think every performance I have seen has had something, whether it be balls, petals, paper, fake snow, buckets, you name it if they can; they will make fall from the sky.

For a large city, theatre seasons are surprisingly short in HK (no more than 4 or 5 performances) and patronage is quite small.

The most outstanding performance I have seen was by a bunch of 3rd year dance students at the HK Academy of Performing Arts, directed and choreographed by ex Leigh Warren and Dancers / ADT dancer John Utans. The visual language was rich and dense and the final stage picture whilst a long time coming was worth the wait.

What I have enjoyed and been inspired by however is the breadth of visual arts and design on offer.

As the industrialist and entrepreneurs set up their assembly lines north of the border (China) Visual Artists are taking over vacant industrial buildings (pictured) such as those in Fotan (an outer area of HK) by turning unused storage facilities into studios. Around 100 artists and 28 studios jointly organised a couple of open weekends in this area and I ventured out to see what was going down.

The exhibition pictured was curated by Parasite – an excellent city based gallery – who called for large work to be screen printed onto vinyl banner material – they displayed these huge works (most were over 3m x 3m) strapped to bamboo poles in the tiniest of rooms and made a maze out the works for the audience to encounter. The work and presentation encompassed such a unique Hong Kong visual style with the use of cheap advertising materials along with the printing, the oversized banners and the bamboo all strong icons of buildings and development here.

HK is the place to come to get cheap fabrication. As an example these light boxes I helped design with ex HK now London based artist Lisa Cheung cost about $AUS130 each to get made. We placed them about the Fringe Club for the City Festival to visually connect various public thoroughfares.

Another touching work I encountered was one done by secondary school students in collaboration with some professional artists for the final days of a little Wan Chai street called “Lee Tung Street”. As mentioned in one of my previous posts there is increasing public concern here over the rapid demolition of anything under 50 years old and the Star Ferry Terminal, which was demolished just before Christmas has ignited these concerns even more. Lee Tung Street or Wedding Card Street – so named as the street once housed many stationery businesses is up for “Urban Renewal” which probably means a large high rise office tower complete with a shopping mall. This simple projection work used the whole street as it’s canvas with many shop windows and entrances becoming places for the projection of photographs taken by students from many local schools. The vacant residential abodes above the shops, their windows taped with crosses were lit with Par-cans highlighting the mid 20th century architecture. This ghost street by day was turned into a simple statement on architectural and personal heritage and past-present memory.

Last weekend I went to an open day at Victoria Prison. The prison is slap bang in the middle of the city and housed its last prisoner as recently as March 2006. Since then there’s been a hot debate as to what to do with it, and whether it should be knocked down for… (yes you guessed it again) a high rise office tower complete with a shopping mall! As a part of the open day many local visual artists were invited to install a work in a cell. Obviously the works revolved around the theme of incarceration and the law and impounded significantly on the already pervading feeling of isolation and imminent mental collapse.

Here’s me donned with a hood in one of the installations pretending to be a criminal for 10 seconds.

Let's Go Dutch

2007-01-11T17:24:00.000+10:30

It would be a massive understatement to say that I haven’t been eating well whilst here in Hong Kong.

I have tried so many interesting foods like…

Spicy Crab (and I don’t usually eat crab but this was delectable)
Sea Snails (in a beautiful spicy sauce)
Snake Soup (it actually tastes like chicken)
Century Egg (blackened boiled eggs that look rotten but actually are quite nice once you get over the rotten factor – I have had them twice! – but can only stomach one at a time).

I have also gotten used to silken tofu – which I never thought I would.

Dim Sum, is of course, a great way to eat with friends and I have been to some fine establishments such as Luk Yu Tea House where the egg tarts were to die for.

One Saturday I was taken to Maxims for a long Dim Sum session (4-5 hours) by Catherine (Administrator at the Fringe Club). She has shown me to some great eateries – that I have become a regular since. My favourite selection of Dim Sum includes Cold Roast Pork with crackling and a mustard dipping (pictured) sauce that is just devine. Char Siew Bao are the pork buns and they come in two sorts of pastry, short and flaky, and steamed and dense …both delicious. The chicken feet (pictured) … are just a bit bony and soft for my liking and I think they should be more crispy like the end of a chicken wing … but hey it’s chicken and those that know me well …

One of my absolute favourite places to eat are the Dai Pai Dong at the bottom of Stanley Street, Central. Dai Pai Dong literally means Big Cooking Place – they are situated out side in a closed off street and the food is prepared and cooked right there in front of you. They are actually quite small but they are also very cheap and serve great Black Bean Squid, Sweet and Sour Pork, Hot Pots, Fried Fish, you name it, it’s all good.

Finally there are the desert restaurants (yes Aaron – this part’s for you). After filling yourself up with all sorts of savoury goodness you then go off to a place like Lucky Desert (Wan Chai) or Honeymoon Desert (Central) and keep eating. The deserts are mostly fruit and sago based and again are mixed with interesting tastes and textures. From clockwise left:

Grass Jelly with Mixed Fruits (the grass jelly has a slight herbaceous and medicinal taste but when mixed with melons and mango quite refreshing)
Strawberry Pudding, Mango Pudding and Mango Sago Soup (the puddings are drizzled with a thin sweet milk which makes for an even creamier taste),
Glutinous Rice Mango Balls (a piece of mango surrounded with glutinous rice and covered with coconut – a sort of mango lamington – the perfect combination of refreshing fruit with a little weight from the rice),
Mango Pancakes – again mango (you can also get it in banana and durian flavours) surrounded by a light cream and then a thin heavily coloured pancake layer. The cream is not heavy and overly sweet making way for the original taste of the fruits.

So there you go some taste sensations…next time I intend to take you through some of the wonderful teas they have on offer here.

More soon
Steve

2 Lower Albert Rd, Central

2007-01-08T15:00:00.000+10:30

… is the address of the Hong Kong Fringe Club where I am doing my residency. It was once an old ice factory where they used to keep ice for the rich people who lived in the mid levels (up the hills / and The Peak). They also used to keep milk and cream there as well. In WW2 they used it to keep dead soldiers bodies in before they were buried. It now is and has been for the past 20 years a place for the arts.

The building houses 2 theatres, 1 rehearsal room, 3 galleries, 2 restaurants, 3 (very small) offices, a techs room + it has a great roof top garden where I eat great vegetarian and meat curries most lunchtimes as it’s free for staff. On Saturday’s and Sunday’s they serve an all day breakfast, which is also a treat as well.

The place employs approximately 24 staff with about 50% of them just concerned with the Food and Beverage services the club runs. I am positioned in the ground floor office (a small and cosy affair) where we work hard but also have a lot of fun.

Here’s Jackie, Tracey, Savita, Gina, Christian, Simon and I celebrating our Christmas cracker gifts and enjoying Haighs chocolates (which I supplied) and Simon in the middle being Harry Potter ... well ... sort of.

We are about to stage a two week long festival in this building which starts on January 11th. We had a press launch on December 11th, which I helped out on … here’s some photos.

Here’s a link to a you-tube sequence of the press launch – which I also worked on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAFRcPoFcPg

More Soon
Steve xxx

NYE'06|NYD'07

2007-01-08T14:49:00.000+10:30

New Years Eve was spent with Gina and her friend Sinclair. They are both from Singapore and Gina is one of the interns from LaSalle College SIA doing her arts management placement at the Fringe Club – Sinclair works in theatre and dance and was visiting HK for a couple of weeks and is one of Gina’s close friends.

We had a nice Korean meal then walked to Lan Kwai Fong which was stuffed full of drunk gweilos (non asian people) so we scurried down a side street to what has become one of my favourite little haunts “The Baby Buddah”. It was empty when we got there at 8.30pm and began our vodka intake for the night. “The Baby Buddah”, introduced to me by Eric, is a little inside / outside bar and it was truly the best place to be in Hong Kong on New Years Eve; it wasn’t crowded at any time throughout the night, there were great beats playing, and we were close to the gweilo crowd so we could hear the countdown and Auld Lang Syne being played on the bagpipes by some Chinese dudes dressed in kilts (cultural confusion kicks in right about now).

It was great to get your texts and talk to all of you on New Years Eve.

New Years Day involved getting over a slight vodka head with a fry up of omlette and bacon from a 24/7 fry up joint down the road and then going to see Casino Royal – which was perfect fodder for a dullish brain – then off to see Eric who had returned that prior evening from little ol’ Adelaide.

Mayhew In China

2007-01-03T01:29:00.000+10:30

After the Christmas Day hiccup I managed to “pop over to China” (Xi’an to be exact) for four days.

On the first day I ventured out to the muslim quarter which was just across the road from my hotel room with my new camera and had the best and cheapest plate of noodles ever!

On the second day I braved chilling conditions and went on a tour to the terracotta warriors. They were quite amazing but I think I more amazed with the grand structures and buildings surrounding the archaeological pits. I mean how do they know there’s nothing else hiding underneath these structures? I was also amazed by a two hour traffic jam that our bus had become embroiled in along the way – we took a detour from the main highway as it was closed due to (more) fog and so had everybody else! Four to five lanes going in one direction with another two going in the other along a dirt road that was capable of holding two lanes at best. Chaos inevitably ensued.

The terracotta warriors are omnipresent in Xi'an and it seems they are also up with the latest fashion.

On the third day I went to Huashan (180kms west of Xi’an) and climbed Mt Hua and it’s numerous Taoist peaks. It was truly spectacular - some of the most amazing natural scenery I have been privileged to witness. I walked to the East Peak on narrow steps that only accommodated half my foot with severe drops either side of me only to arrive alone at the most serene and beautiful vista with a little temple at the end of the peak. With hands in shaking prayer position I tried my meagre best to at least say thankyou to whom or whatever would listen for putting on such a magnificent display.

On the fourth day and final day I walked around Xi’an whilst snow drifted from the sky, visting the Bell and Drum towers, The Mosque and the Forest of Steles where most of ancient Chinese literature including one of the first dictionaries, are carved on large stone tablets.

Before I left Xi'an I managed to stage my whole Chinese experience in a four hour Chinese style opera entitled "Mayhew In China". With direct and unashamed references to "Nixon in China" whilst it didn't include an large plane on stage it did however feature this glorious abstract structure for the traffic jam scene.

Mmm ... I think Pepsi must be sponsoring Beijing's 2007 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Xmas in Xi'an?

2007-01-02T11:58:00.000+10:30

Recollections / highlights of 2006 Christmas Eve / Day included the following…

Downloading Christmas songs from late Christmas Eve (I now have a great reggae version of “Santa Claus in Coming To Town” called “Santa Claus is Ska-ing To Town” – tops!)
Getting under an hours sleep before having to catch a bus for the airport at 5am Christmas Day.
Having our flight delayed by 2 hours.
Flying from Hong Kong to Xi’an only to be flown back to Hong Kong to due to extreme fog conditions in Xi’an (5-6 hours in a plane + another 2 to navigate customs exiting and re-entering Hong Kong).
Getting a free nights accommodation inc; a free turkey dinner with a cointreau chaser in the Hong Kong Airport Regal Hotel.
Seeing Eliza Lovell, Michaela Cantwell, Patrick Duggin and James Edwards on the Australia Channel teaching good business meeting etiquette.
Losing my camera somewhere in all of that.

I hope people had a good one as well.

Cheung Chau

2006-12-14T14:48:00.000+10:30

Eric and I set off for a little fishing island called Cheung Chau one early Sunday afternoon. We took a super fast ferry and arrived just in time to fill our hungry stomachs with wonderful fresh seafood.

We had steamed Garoupa, the most amazing garlic smothered prawns (I don't think we'll get sick for the next few months!) and salt and pepper squilla (an evolutionary throw back of the prawn with little spikes on it's shell and very tasty).

To all those bloggers who have recently posted their travels (a big finger point to Lucy Guster) I apologise for the lack of food pictures ... we were too busy eating!!!

After lunch we walked to one end of the island through the busy lanes and on to the southern headland. Saw fisherman and their boats (pic 1) / discovered these small float like structures (pic 2) made entirely of paper in the shape of boats, houses and people, which we gathered would be burned at some festival or ceremony - actually i have just been informed by my one of my trusty work colleagues that they are especially made for people who have recently died and will be burned at their funeral / we also went past a few temples with some great intricate porcelin / ceramic work on their roofs (pic 3).

We kept walking until we got to Cheung Po Tsai Cave. Ah granite ... where would the worlds tourist industry be without all the formations and permutations it can create with the generous assitance of the natural elements.

The cave is a little one and was supposed to be the favourite hiding place of the notorious pirate Cheung Po Tsai. The entrance was guarded by a young entrepreneur hiring torches for $HK 5. Being the cheapskates we were and up for an adventure to look for buried treasure we decided not to hire one and proceeded to explore.

(pic 1) our first glimpse of the cave using the flash of the camera .
(pic 2) our second glimpse of the cave using the flash of the camera.
(pic 3) our third glipse of the cave and eric realising that he was just about to step into a large bottomless hole ... so we went back out to the young entrepreneur and hired a torch. Suffice to say we didn't find any treasure.

We also discovered a cemetary on our travels guarded by feral manky dogs who would keep their distance but always keep their eye on us.

Whilst waiting for the ferry we munched on some local yeasty treats and dragons beard and sipped our coffee from Macca's. A great relaxing day was had by us both so much so Eric couldn't stop yawning all the back on the ferry.

more soon
steve

Pictures instead of words

2006-11-27T21:26:00.000+10:30

Here's some pictures instead of words. Click on the triptych's to get a bigger view.

HK is rows and rows of buildings some old some new all with a wonderful geometry.

Man Mo Temple, Hollywood Rd, Sheung Wan with huge spirals of incense.

On the way to the Cattle Depot Artists Village, Tokwawan, I crossed over a busy road on a walk way.

For all you Mao Kitsch junkies out there. Figurines at a Cat Street Street Stall, Sheung Wan

out wid da old style in wid da new

2006-11-27T21:08:00.000+10:30

One of the first things I have done since arriving in Hong Kong is to scour the free English (and some Chinese ones as well) street publications for some possible and interesting leads on almost anything that could take my interest. This has ranged from graf and street art, hip hop, drum and bass, design, video art, art installations, visual art exhibitions, alternative electronic music, dance, so called hybrid performance, and a little bit of theatre (not too much theatre as it tends to rot my brain). The internet has aided my research also as just about every club, band, artist, performance group, artist collective etc has a web site so I have been able to narrow down in a relatively short amount of time the people and places I aim to target. I have made lists of the following…
Alternative book and record stores to visit.
Galleries to visit.
Companies or artists to view their work (and if they are any good…)
People to talk to within those companies.

More or less first off the rank was a night of some Canto Hip Hop. In my second week here I think I managed to stumble upon three of Hong Kong’s more promising hip hoppers and rappers. Hip Hop is just over 10 years old in Hong Kong and has to compete with a glut of Canto pop and mass commercialism – whilst probably not as young as Aussie hip hop, it feels most of it still has a way to go to truly find it’s style, something which admittedly has also taken a while for acts like Hilltop Hoods etc, to do the same back home. The acts I discovered that night however I think go some way to making their style their own style (if you know what I mean).

Ghost Style; released Hong Kong’s first English rap and hip hop album a year or so ago and now he’s just released another one on his own label “Rebel Music”. His production work is quite good and reminiscent of Kayne West but a bit grittier maybe.

Kwokkin; raps entirely in Cantonese. Don’t have any idea what he’s saying but it’s quite musical to listen to and reminded me of some French rap from the early 90’s that I have been exposed to.

Ghost Style seems to have taken Kwokkin under his wing and now the latter not only appears on the formers latest album but is also signed to the new label.

You can check out the web site www.rebelstudio.net and grab a listen to some of the sound bites from both artists.

Fama; are two highly dressed up dudes that again rap entirely in Cantonese but seem to poke fun at anything and everything. Their style seems to be highly improvisational – they name checked Becks beer a few times during their set which got everyone laughing. So me thinks they were taking the mickey out of them…that, or they were giving their sponsors a major plug. Either way the audience were very engaged with these two clown like rappers which reminded me a little of Adelaide’s own Casio Brothers.

It seems that wherever I go ferry services of that region seem to close down. First it was the Berri ferry back in 1997 and I was one the lucky last 500 people to ride that particular service. Now 10 years later I am one of the last 400,000 or so to have ridden the Star Ferry from the Edinburgh Place, Central Terminal to Tsim Sha Tsui. From Friday November 12 2006, you could no longer catch the ferry between these two points. Instead the service runs from a new pier (one that tries to look like the old one but doesn’t have quite the same charm) in front of one Hong Kong’s more spectacular skyscrapers 2ifc and alongside all the other ferry services to the outlying islands.

Many people have voiced their disappointment to this infrastructual streamlining in the papers and street press including a silent and public art protest out the front of the old terminal as depicted in the photos above. There seems to be a growing dissent for this type of rash redevelopment and an urge to hold onto or at least consider the ever-diminishing heritage buildings that remain in Hong Kong.

more soon
Steve

XTRME peeling hands

2006-11-16T14:01:00.000+10:30

Well I received an unprecedented response to my “Xtrme Peeling Hands” request in my last email alerting you to my first Hong Kong blog that I thought I would publish them just in case anyone ever needs this advice again – thanks to those below.

Infact as soon as I put the call out the itching decreased almost immediately and now there are just small blisters on the fingers and thumbs. Before the call went out I actually was treating it with Jurlique Rose Hand Cream, which I bought here in Causeway Bay at a Jurlique store! After my purchase I indicated to the Shop Assistant that the product was from my hometown (feeling rather proud of the fact) – she was suitably unimpressed.

As our good friend Eric said later it would be like someone from Des Plaines, Illinois, the origin of MacDonalds, going up to a Maccas counter anywhere in the world and saying the same thing. “Who gives a…!”

Anyway here’s the treatments for your enjoyment.

Paw Paw cream is the best but sticky on the fingers :)
Georgie Davill

Drink plenty of water would be my advice, plus put some paw paw or similar on to the skin.
Karen Hadfield

Seek a competent medical practitioner at once.
Nick Fryer

Put some salt on your hands cover in olive oil and rub away )removes the dead skin), then run your hands under warm water and it will feel sensational!!! Keep putting olive oil on them to replenish the dry skin!!!!
Eliza Lovell

Steroid cream.
Christian Goldsworthy

Arnica or calendula cream rubbed in. Chinese herbs and/or acupuncture would be the local thing to do.
Ollie Black

L'oreal Hydra Energetic helped me with a nose peel.
Tim Grimsey

Paw paw cream if you can find it or something with a lot of vitamin E - and avoid ingesting anything acidic (eg citrus juice, tomatoes, chilli) until your hands clear up.
Mercedes Eyers-White

When my hands were burnt badly the most powerful moisturiser that the doctor could reccomend was to grab a vitamin E liquid capsule, prick it open with a sterile pin or something and squeeze its contents out. Powerful stuff. You get the vitamin capsules at any chemist really.
Cameron Goodall

Calendula cream is a natural product that I use sometimes when I get eczema/heat bumps on my hands – could be worth a shot?
Gemma Winter

Buy those hand gloves (usually from the body shop) and cover your hands with sorbelene cream and leave the gloves on overnight.....
Corey McMahon

More soon
Steve

Wisdom From The Aged

2006-11-11T19:17:00.000+10:30

The last thing my grandfather said to me as I was about to pull out the driveway to leave for the airport was to look out for those Chinese girlies. Which left me sort of perplexed - had the last 37 years of not turning up to family occasions without a girlfriend been lost on him?

Anyone who has travelled to a foreign country feels proud of themselves that they have managed to arrive safely and find a place to stay on the first night without coming to a untimely end. The senses are indeed heightened and the survival instinct kicks in. "Must find a place to nest" was really the first thought and then the strategy is to little by little, venture forth, increasing the radius from bed and belongings to worlds unknown.

It seemed a very long 4-5 hours from landing to finding this nesting place that I am now calling "home" at least for a month anyway. I am living on Lockhart Rd in Wan Chai in a set of serviced apartments called studiostudio.

Now hey I am not adverse to making what you have to sell look the best you can but I was sure that this place looked better on the website than in real life a couple of months ago. Whilst since arriving and having another look at the web site there is some resemblance to my shoebox, I have included a web link so you can see for yourself...

http://www.studiostudio.com.hk

and here's my version.

Nevertheless it is good place and hopefully will serve me well. I already have a bit of a soft spot for Wan Chai.

Hong Kong is a little bit like Jub Jub (Selma's pet lizard from The Simpson's) "It's fantastic. It's everywhere you want to be!"

I have been to some big cities in my life and it's not pangs of home sickness already but I spotted an old colonial drawing of the island in my travels and I we can only imagine the beauty of the natural peaks and environment. Here's a picture of Hong Kong from 1905 (the closest thing I could find to the drawing on the web) ...

and now here's one I took 102 years later ...

bit of a difference then hey?

That said the buildings are quite amazing and awe inspiring.

My favourite part of Hong Kong at the moment is travelling on the double decker trams. They are rickety and old and have the best character. If you sit up the front / top like I did last night on the way into Central you feel like you are almost going hit the oncoming ones as they roll by. I will be catching one of these each day to go to the Fringe Club, better than a strong morning coffee I say.

Anyway after catching up with some sleep late Monday evening I ventured out of my one-nightstand hotel room (my room at studiostudio wasn’t available until the next day) and ran slap bang into some Chinese girlies at the Express Club next door wanting me to come in and enjoy their talent (actually they might have been Filipino – please excuse my cultural ignorance). My Grandfather was right and I was no longer perplexed.

More later
Steve

A Countdown Spectacular

2006-09-11T00:15:00.000+09:30

This weekends been weird. I have been feeling anxious. Anxious cause I have been spending a lot of time on my own working at home on various projects and then spending a lot of nights at home still working on the various projects. Anxious cause I am starting the pointy end of "The Hulk" and feel I must deliver. Anxious cause I wanted to get munted and chopped this weekend due to the fact that I have become anxious and was thwarted by every attempt not only to get to that state but also just to be with people in a social situation.

That is until I went to the Countdown Spectacular tonight...

I went with Matt and Peter on freebies thanks to Kath and for almost 4 hours we were treated to an audio visual jog through our collective televisual memories of 6pm Sunday evenings circa 1975 to 1987. Some of it was pretty good - I was surprised by James Reyne and how good his accoustic version of "Reckless" was (my highlight for the night). Actually the acts that are still performing under their own steam and still creating music rocked the night and came off best ... Renee Geyer, Mondo Rock, James Reyne, Joe Camileri, Stephen Cummings. They all had a natural air and confidence about them that almost couldn't give shit but still managed to have a spark. Pity then about Wendy Stapleton who thought she was still the age she was back then, and dressed highly inappropriately, Jon English who started sweating as soon as he stepped on the stage, and The Models who just didn't gel were the biggest dissappointment.

Snippets of Countdown on three large screens and we even had a Humdrum session with Molly Meldrum. The "Countdown Dancers" also danced to some overseas compilation tracks that were overdubbed with audience noise so as to create a bigger hype.

It's funny I thought I would feel older than I did watching Real Life do "Send Me An Angel" or Pseudo Echo do "Funky Town" (no "Listening" unfortunately) I had the obvious reactions to seeing some of these acts like... my haven't they filled out (Scott Carne from Kids In The Kitchen although he's still got a little spunk in him) ... or not as spunky as I remember them (Tony or Garth from Sherbet) ... But actually I felt a lot younger than I thought I would. The reminiscing down memory lane whilst fun was not soul crushing. I don't hold out for that music often and I surely don't seek it everytime I flip though my vinyl collection.

lets resurrect this bastard

2006-08-02T21:52:00.000+09:30

It's been a while between blogs (actually nearly a year) - but thought I would begin again as I head into my Asialink residency in November. Thought about creating a new blog for Hong Kong but like the idea of keeping these sorts of things in one place. Besides the name has a certain charm to it and a reason to celebrate these things.

For those of you wondering what happened after my last post you will just have to talk to me in person (and most of you have) - suffice to say though I survived of course and the experiments have indeed informed my work since.

I am in the Riverland, South Australia as I write this and I am in my third week of the first block in making a show called "Crystal". I have been working on it off and on for about a year now. Over that time I have left myself with plenty of problem solving to do in this block - and there are many more things to solve - and yet again I am doing a lot of stalling. I am in the middle of having too many ideas and trying to refine them into one style and to get the video component to sit well with the piece. I have an incredible amount of work in front of me. The second block and performances will occur in October just before I head to Hong Kong. So it's sort of like an arts residency - just one where the surroundings are familiar.

"Crystal" is about divorce from the perspective of the young person but doesn't mention the word once. It is the story of four families each going through various stages of seperation or coming together when suddenly their lives are rudely interupted by a freak natural occurance that turns everything (and I mean everything - from people to houses and nature) to salt and crystaline glass like structures. For a moment eveything is fragile and often destroyed. Then just as quickly as it appeared it goes leaving eveyone wondering just what happened yet changed.

It's quite nice being in the Riverland again. I am staying with old mate Cherie whose laugh I woke to this morning. Cherie has an unmistakeable laugh - it is jolly and loud. Along with Cherie the Riverland hasn't changed much since my two and a bit year stint at the helm of the youth theatre ten years ago. Locals have recognised me or my name and have said hello - it's as if I never left!

The young people in the show have been tremendous in their energy and attention to rehearsals. There is something special about young people doing theatre in a regional area, that is very different to young people doing the same thing in the city. I can't quite put my finger on it. But it's something to do with being extremely natural and honest. It's one of the very few things I miss about this youth theatre.

existentialism is a headfuck

2005-10-20T13:33:00.000+09:30

Gee talk about going around the twist!

Here's where I was Saturday and Sunday...

This thing has been getting rather existential, and that's a head fuck!

I mean I come here hoping to work with a community, if I reflect and re-energise then that's great but I was always treating them as a bonus for me. But I have done so much reflection the mirror has cracked - no one's been rocking up to workshops - I cancelled one to work on the Aquasculpture piece - which was driving me slightly crazy (see last blog) - If I am not here to experience working with a community on something then why am I here? Hundreds of kilometers away from family and friends that allow me to download no matter how serious or trivial - I don't even have that! - I can't download any more to myself - I will cause a feedback loop and I'll short circuit!

Then work on something of your own - which I am - I have never been one to work on just one thing and have many things on the boil but I cold be doing it home surely you know me?

I am stuck with myself going over the same questions why aren't they rocking up? what am I doing here if people aren't rocking up? Should I do something else? You are but why are you doing it here when you could be home? Then should you go home? If I go home I'll cause a stink - and feel I've failed somthing - what or who are you failing? - myself? the residency? the community? (that's a joke, surely) my ideas?

I need to do more, I feel guilty for not doing anything, I don't want to make excuses this time around ... why do we tend make excuses for these artistic processes in hindsight and justify with excuses - oh it was the wrong time of the year, too much was going on, September 11 (that's a great one) - actually I hate that one - we are still using it as an excuse to for all our worldly doings. I don't believe the world changed THAT much since that event - it's been changing at that so called exponential rate since I can remember - sorry I digress.

On Sunday and Monday and quite possibly Friday and Saturday as well the following people happened to email me or were within earshot to hear a piece of this existential feedback loop that was corrupting my brain and spurting out of my mouth; Lucy Cameron, Andy Macgregor, Georgie Davill, Wendy Hee, Karen Hadfield, Mum, Dad, Kathryn Sproul, Alex Reid and Tracy Crisp

Thanks for the ears and eyes.

Next ... a circuit breaker and a small committment.

silence is golden

2005-10-14T14:00:00.000+09:30

It's been a fortnight since I was in Newcastle gee time goes quickly.

In that time I have been holding a few workshops and letting participants starting to feel their way with what they want to do. I have been teetering on feeling slightly guilty as I feel I am not doing anything but in actual fact I have been doing heaps - alot of it however is not terribly focussed at the moment and I am still not sure what the final outcome (if any) will be.

I am great one for dragging my feet when it comes to approaching people - call it being shy, a fear of the negative, or just plain lazy - maybe all three.

The Aquasculpture entry I have been working on this week finally congealed today - it's been grinding away at me as to what to do - and it's been pissing me off - how to present some seemingly disparate images and sounds - without spending too much money and making them cohesive in form - in the end I have decided to present 2 works. Funnily enough, it wasn't until I realised that I could make them all silent that they became a cogent group instead of four individual pieces each needing separate treatments.

The Aquasculpture theme this year is climate change - I have taken this extremely laterally as evidenced below...
Mt2C / C2Mt
Consists of two silent sped up car journeys shot from the passenger side of the car.
The first depicts this journey in Adelaide and the second is shot in the Camden Haven region.
They metaphorically trace an imaginary water trail from mountain to sea or vice versa in each location however this trail isreplaced with dirt tracks, suburbs, cities, fences, bridges and stop lights.
Distress #1
Consists of two slowed down pieces of silent footage each with subtitles.
The first depicts a woman with worry and little troubles. The second depicts a lifesaver retelling a story when he was in trouble in the surf.

They are all very simple in execution, and hopefully they are captivating in some small way, and three of them are direct results from the residency which is cool I suppose.

I have been thinking too big and numerous at the moment, always wanting four projectors for this and twenty of something else to feel I am making a visual impact - and whilst it'd be good to have it all at your finger tips, I hope that by restricting it right down to these four reinterpreted images, no sound, and a single screen has left it bare for the viewer to enter the piece in some way.

The text and t-shirt method of meeting people

2005-10-01T09:27:00.000+09:30

Needed a little coaching from Adelaide Thursday evening.

I was sitting at the back of the Festival Club in Newcastle for the This Is Not Art Festival opening night's entertainment. Great music, interesting visuals on the video screen from ELE-MENTAL. Needed to talk to someone instead of feeling slightly lonely and like a wallflower. I started feeling the limitations of living - It is hard going to a place for a limited period and to start meeting people just like that. Sent out a a four-way text to Sammy, Becci, Piet and Benji - saying the like - and it would have been nice if they and other peoples were here with me, but if that can't happen then texting is the next best thing, hey? Texting is a convenient way to be engaged in two places at once. I realised this as I was on my second text *and lots of Geeks* to Piet and Becci who responded almost immediately, nice one. the outer reaches of steve's living limitations were getting tested quickly.

Didn't know if Sammy would respond anyway as he is in China so it was one of those texts that you do to be just out there and see if a common text moment will occur.

The little coaching from Becci and the advice to find randoms and impress them with my geek superority from Piet along with the pluck from a couple of alcoholic ginger beers was all I needed to turn around and introduce myself to this guy Guthrie, who introduced me to a Wagga massive up for the weekend of tech fun and not art stuff - in one swoop. Making small talk to people over loud music is really challenging but managed to keep the half heard conversations going for quite a while along with trying to remember all their names. Out side together for a quick smoke when my degree hoody was spotted by Simon from materialism and Josh from atlantis - lads from Adelaide - Josh designed my hoody and Simon designed the t-shirt I have on today.

Then last night after watching an hour of AV clips from artists around Australia and the world bumped into Jen and Carl from tallstoreez who I had only met a few weeks back in Adders for a meeting re: Fringe things. After the first intelligent conversation of critical art anaylsis I have had in almost four weeks by a rubish bin - we decided to continue more intelligent conversations at a thai restaurant.

Back to the t-shirt and hoody - never thought of my wardrobe as being Adelaide-centric before and some of it is, especially my t-shirts.

Newcastle is slightly odd - more on that later.
Been thinking about SDF1 and #2.
Been thinking about future tech projects in Adelaide.

Scrabble

2005-09-28T14:24:00.000+09:30

I went to bed last night thinking it would be great to play a game of Scrabble at the workshop today. Somewhere in the middle of the afternoon for whoever was there we would set the board up and play a game to let our minds think of other things for a little while.

Saturdays meet and greet and today's workshops went surprisingly well. Whilst lowish in numbers - I think the word is starting to get out and Louise rocked up again today which was wonderful.

I have set up five tasks and exercises so that people can interact immediately if I am already talking with another group or person as I have set them as open works shops for the while. I will list the tasks at a later date. Some have worked immediately others (photo taking, video, audio) take a little gumption to interact with - so I might throw them over to people who are more comfortable in performing and approach some perfoming groups to help me.

The workshop today was a little fretful at start as I didn't know who was going to arrive - and I had five new people - so we did some more introductory stuff then begun to muck around on Reason with three brothers. It'd be good to get them making some music performing live or recording for the installation. And must call Annemarie to talk potential Bago Magic involvment.

Everyone left at three(ish).

Louise interrupted a top notch Scrabble game between Jenni and myself in which I was winning this afternoon. Together we worked on some questions for an interview with a surf life saver or the like. Hopefully we can video or sound record this interview and begin to include it in the mix. We also went through some of the collected writings from one of the exercises and stripped the themes running through them - this may also form one of the stories I will begin to wrap around the Signal Shed.

So all in all a complete day, new people a couple of steps forward and a top notch game of Scrabble (in which I was winning!)

I must say it was good to be in a winning state for the AFL grand final!

Tomorrow? lots of phone calls and arranging stuff for next week before I head off to Newcastle.
Now? back to the box to see if the ABC can't stuff up another arts program.

Deuce Bigalow vs The Station Masters

2005-09-24T16:13:00.000+09:30

Went to a community radio station in Wauchope (pronounced Warhope) and spruiked the project which I am getting better at but still not really sure what to concentrate on...getting old technology?...getting participants?... and then there's what sort or participant...performer?...musician?...electrical technician?...carpenter?...video maker?

I have been reminded of The Mystery Plays a lot lately and how the "template" of this type community participation in the arts practically came from the Medieval days where each cycle tradespeople from butchers to weavers and everyone in between would lend their skills to help celebrate the stories of the bible. Skills and stories passed down from generation to generation.

It's the start of the school holidays today the year 12's had their assemblies today and have a couple of weeks off before swat vac and then exams. The youf are on the beach hanging out doing a bit of celebrating. Cars occasionally roll into the car park below and the little squirts of light each mark a fire in between the low dunes and high bushes on the shore. It'll be schoolies soon.

The South Australian Government advertises Adelaide on TV in New South Wales as a place to relocate. Apparently it's cheaper living, the house prices are still inexpensive and the education is better. I found its depiction of a comfortable eastern suburbs lifestyle somewhat different to the vibrant up beat urbane "You Are Here" of Adelaide City Council's we get back home. I don't know who to beleive now!

At the Maritime Museum in Port Macquarie yesterday I spoke to an elderly gentleman volunteer about what he does in his little way to keep a museum of that size open and the amount of cataloguing and the systems he was putting in place as a Station Master (a term used by him in lieu of volunteer). I couldn't help think of how the knowledge in a small but relevant institution is passed down and handed over. Can a Maritime Museum of this sort with artifacts from the convict history of the area make itself relevant to a younger generation apart from the obligatory school visit once a year? (Believe me when you live in country town you visit your main museum at least once a year sometimes even twice for different subjects.) Does it need to have an interactive multimedia installation? Should it turn into a Museum of surf culture?

Need to talk to some youth committees and find out whether there is a need to re-energise a lagging youth arts spirit. Engage young people in the making of the art with the possibility of setting up a youth arts committee or group for the council, region, area or pilot station and suggest the elders take a mentoring role for a length of time.

Some interesting questions I came across today...
What does the Mark Latham's Diaries and his subsequent interviews and press say about the Australian Male and masculinity?
The Baby Corn TV Commercial for Woolworths?
Why is Deuce Bigalow Male Gigilo making me laugh?
Does Sabrina bring her cat Salem downunder with her and will he need to be put in quarantine?

The Plovers or a deleted scene from "The Birds"

2005-09-23T14:15:00.000+09:30

For the past week I have been accomodating a pair of nesting plovers on the front lawn of the Pilot Station.

The nest is situated in a open expanse of lawns and the plovers positioned themselves with a good view in all directions to keep a look out for potential threats. They have the front lawn totally staked out in all directions including the space between the house and the boat house constant under surveillance - the back yard between the carport and the back door is the only place where one can walk without the potential dive and swoop from the non nesting plover at the time. The plovers have yellow spurs on their wings and are pretty protective - they prepare to swoop at you by lining you up whilst they are on the ground then they lift off up and high and fast and begin to come straight towards you at head height.

The nesting birds swap positions on occaision relieving each other of the nesting duties keeping the eggs warm and communicating with a high (ish) pitched stacatto squawk that usually came in threes when danger threatens.

Deluding myself into thinking I was some kind of nature photographer for a David Attenborough doco I decided on my second day of the residency that I would video the plovers on an ad hoc basis when something interesting was happening and I happened to be in the house. I have set up the tripod in the front corner study ready for any "action" that may arise. The footage is rivetting!

I have been swooped by the plovers now on four occaisions.

The first was whilst I was chatting with Jenni (my trusty project coordinator) on the front porch. It was then I learnt the hands up technique: When the plover is swooping towards you, raise hands above head or over your face. Whilst Jenni was fine with this technique, the duck and crouch instinct that I found I was suddenly practicing to be just as effective at short notice.

Both techniques are suitable when stationary yet slightly difficult with a cup of tea in your hand.

The second time I was carrying equipment from the house to the boat shed. The gap between the boat shed and the house is about 3 to 4 meters. I was wearing a red t-shirt at the time and holding a computer screen. It was my second or third trip between the buildings, and I must have appeared to the bird like some computer game character traversing within range repeatedly back and forth, something like the old super Ninetendo game Duck Shooter except I was the duck and the bird had the gun accessory included in the package! I decided that I would wear my khaki green jacket over the bright t-shirt to see if they would swoop again. Luckily this camoflage worked and all technical equipment was placed safely in the technical equipment hold.

The third time I was being shown the signal shed by Glen (gate keeper of the pilot station). The signal shed is where the marine flags were kept to signal to the boats off shore back in the days when the pilot station was operating. It is positioned in the front yard approximately 15-20 metres directly in front of the boat shed and say about 10 metres from the front right hand corner of the house. The plovers are between the house and the signal shed. The signal shed looks like a slightly larger outside dunny and its very cute with the fourty odd shelves for the signal flags still inside just waiting for each shelf to filled with a collection of items to signify a story (installation ideas maybe?). To get to the signal shed we decided to make a break for it whilst keeping a wide berth from the nesting birds. This was tempting fate, I admit, and as I was running through the clearing with my fist raised above my head to make myself slightly taller than normal I collected the swooping plover in the chest. Upon reaching the locked door of the signal shed I turned to view some of its feathers drift to the ground. Suffice to say we took an even wider berth on the way back, with a similar reaction from the birds.

The forth time was today - but in between then and today - I am slightly proud to announce that I am the "uncle" of four plover chicks. Three appeared a couple of days ago and I managed to video them staggering around the nest on Tuesday. The fourth one didn't appear until today. I was out all day from very early and arrived back home at around 4pm to find the whole plover family staking out the back yard! Now ... to get to the back door with shopping and bag in hand along with the key ready to open the back door whilst fending off swooping birds and not stepping on the chicks was not a viable option. So I calmly stamped loudly, walked sideways, keeping my eye on the plovers at all times (as they were both preparing to swoop) and thrust my bag infront of me as I stomped, making me appear like some sort of spastic crab edging around the side tree and towards the front door to safety.

It was here that I promptly discovered that none of my keys would open the front door.

Depositing the shopping for later retrieval at the front door I then edged with my bag in the more or less than effective "thrusting from the chest position" around the side tree, and again towards the back door where I was swooped by both birds whilst they too were also both trying to shepherd their flightless young in the same counterclockwise direction around the house. This major manouvre on both fronts, with me trying to defend the recently challenged front line of the back yard and them retreating with chicks running eveywhere was distressing to say the least. At one point it crossed my mind to drop everything and suggest that we all worked this out diplomatically with me quite possibly taking care of the young on the odd occasion as the mother and father looked for food perhaps or maybe put their feet up and have a rest from the constant hungry mouths. But reasoning with a plover at this stage was not to be entertained. In between more lound stamps and thrusts from my bag with the keys fumbling in my hand I finally made it to the back door and quickly let myself in. For about an hour or so afterwards from any window in the house I spied the plovers and they spied me with a certain distrust in both our eyes.

Today:
Secured an installation site in Port Macquaire for their Aquasculpture week,
Visited The Marine Museum in Port Macquiarie and inadvertantly made comments about getting ones sea legs to a one legged man - slighly embarrassing.
Interviewed on ABC radio and for local paper.
Met with local council to try and work out what second hand technology I required.

I think things are coming together in my head - but second guessing my self all the time and hoping I am going in a direction that is possible. I am looking forward to finding people to work with so I can download all of this stuff in my head and collaborate on a direction. Roll on Sunday where hopefully some people will rock up to a meet and greet me.

"Come On Feel The Illinoise" by Sufjan Stevens - top album

the first entry from camden head

2005-09-22T10:50:00.000+09:30

Well it's been almost a week (6 days 23 hours and 47 minutes to be prescise) since I arrived by train at Kendall NSW and was greeted by Janet and Glen, transported through darkening scenery to the Camden Head Pilot Station. A lot, I am sure, has happened since I left Adelaide but I don't feel I have done very much towards the residency.

A lot of thinking perhaps.

I have only just been connected up to the net today and spent the last 5 hours downloading and responding to emails. The phone connection at the house has been faulty and it's taken this long to get it fixed up. As I intended to keep this blog going on a daily basis to keep track of my thoughts and travels on this little sojourn, I will endeavour to catch up on the last week and a half through subsequent posts.

Canberra was cold. I realised I hadn't been to Canberra for over twenty years. I would like to go back again and spend a week visiting museums and places of "national relevance".

The Bill Viola exhibition which I travelled all the way to our nations capital to see "The Passions" was mostly remarkable. I say mostlly because I felt that some the of the more staged pieces didn't capture the emotion he was supposedly searching for and asking us to empathise with. "Observance" where a procession of people came forward towards the camera to pay their last repects to an unseen coffin, and "The Quintet of The Astonished" where five people were shown reacting to an unseen phenomenon, were too contrived and prescriptive. If Viola wanted to make me feel sadness or be astonished I would have rather seen what the videod characters were seeing. The best piece was the "Five Angels for the Millenium" five huge screens with a sound track to match, of a person diving into the water from various perspectives, speeds, colours forwards or backwards. The bubbles of the water looked like milky ways in the sky. It simply was quite stunning and certainly had a rejoicing or releasing effect on the veiwer. "Emergence" the piece that resembled the look of a traditional religious painting of the passion was at times interesting but again a bit to staged. "Catherine's Room", 5 small screen depicting a time of day and activity of a character within the same room however was poetic and quite mesmerisng.

Basically spent the whole day in the National Gallery with Colin Koch and little Finn whilst Alex Reid was attending Long Paddock. Finn was very good and appreciative of many of the works especially Ron Mueke's Pregnant Woman - larger than life naked pregnant woman with incredible detail and presence. Spent over $200 in books and art gallery paraphenalia - got this really cool book featuring the latest graphic novelists and comic drawers which made me want to draw comics that night. I attempted to depict two slighly surreal money situations that happened to me that day in my sketch book that night and on Saturday night whilst watching the tv just doodled some little charcters on a page. I should do that more often - especially drawing characters which I have never really done before.

Canberra to Sydney via Qantas and then Sydney to Kendall via rail the next day - a long day of travelling.

Today I spent looking up Maritime Flag Signals and Semaphore signals on the net (after 4 hours of emails) - there is a Signal Shed meters away from the house that was used to store the flags for communicating to the boats out at sea - there is something attractive about distress - distress in the environment, personal distress, distress in cultures. I will look further into this.

the first entry

2005-08-22T14:13:00.000+09:30

This is the first entry designed to test how I do subsequent entries.
This blog will begin proper from around the September 12 2005 and continue through out my residency at Camden Head (till about November 10).
Please stay tuned