The Miniature Earth

Serfing and looking and wondering and getting lost in the ocean of internet webpages.
in this place miniature earth

another exhibition

I participated in a video art event at Monkeytown, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC:
After Urban - Video Art & Architecture event. Here are a couple of links:
http://www.monkeytownhq.com
http://www.lucacurci.com

Robert Wyatt performing Gharbadzegi

Robert Wyatt has a wonderful new album called Comicopera.
In honor of that, here he is performing Gharbadzegi from Old Rottenhat (1986). enjoy.

Collective Exhibition

In an exhibition organized by Distrito 14 I have four photographs shown.
The opening is on October 24 at 18:00 at the Club de Ejecutivos in San Pedro Garza García, México.

W! [WATER] International Videoart event

I have a couple of videos shown in this event in Italy.
Here is the link for W![WATER]International Videoart event, 5 Oct.- 5 Nov. 2007.

follwoing events

The FORUM opened in Monterrey. This is a kind of festival that lasts about 3 months with many problems related. One easy question that comes to mind first of all for example: where are the (more than) 250 million dollars (!!!) which were spent form the Forum?? in the river Santa Lucia that was built very quickly in order to put some nice makeup to cover up the city's other cheek.
but what do I know. I'm not from here, here things are done differently.

Anyways, Goran Bregovic and orchestra played lovely and made our feet jump high in the air, a couple of weeks ago. So that counts for something.

after one month

I didn't post nothing in one month, not because nothing had happened, but more because it is hard for me to be following events like this.
ok, it's because I am lazy at times.
I will do better.

Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes

I like Maya Lin´s work, Systematic Landscapes in The St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum.

Vik Muniz

not for piano

Last week there was a mini festival of media art here in Monterrey.
We went to listen to Ivan Abreu giving a talk about his work in a conference called "La Poética de la Demostración".

A couple of days later we went to a concert "Not for Piano" of
Francesco Tristano playing together with Murcof which we like very much. The concert was wonderful, I wish it would have been longer. Sergio recorded some on video.

long day

scanning and scanning and scanning and scanning.
Burnt my eyes today, scanning slides but got a lot of work done.

Here is something to enjoy from the movie Coffee and Cigarettes by Jim Jarmusch:

Untitled #954 by Masao Yamamoto

Masao Yamamoto

Untitled #954
gelatin silver print
3 1/4 x 4 3/4"

W.G. Sebald

A string of memories, like layers of crochet gently sewn one into the other. This book Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald is so wonderful. I don´t think I have read many books which were as strange or moving or overwhelming.
I don´t want the book to end, it is precious.

white light

The screen with it´s white light is staring at me. I stare back at it. The blank page - so serene, awaits me. I push onto buttons on the keyboard, I look at them as they appear on my screen, erase some and push some more. And then the waiting again. For something to happen, for something. For it to make sense.

I put a piece of my new video Suspense on my website. Will be happy to get responses.

La Canícula

Canícula. The hottest days.
That´s what it means in English according to Larousse Dictionary. That, is in a nutshell and does not demonstrate the length and the extreme of this term.
According to http://www.todito.com/paginas/noticias/88369.html
(in free translation): During the canícula, the heat is unbearable, the people sweat constantly, the animals go about with their tongues hanging out of their mouths, and others become crazy.
These high temp. can go beyond the 40´s (Celsius), starting mid June till the end of August.

Basically you want to die.

Here is another interesting definition from wikipedia:

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

The name of this star comes from the Latin Sīrius, from Greek Σείριος (Seirios, "glowing" or "scorcher").^[18] As the major star of the "Big Dog" constellation, it is often called the "Dog Star".

The Latin name for this star is Canicula ("little dog")

Historically, many cultures have attached special significance to Sirius. Sirius was worshipped as Sothis in the valley of the Nile long before Rome was founded. The Middle Kingdom of Egyptians based their calendar on the heliacal rising of Sirius, which occurred just before the annual flooding of the Nile and the summer solstice.^[19] In Greek mythology, Orion's dog became Sirius. The Greeks also associated Sirius with the heat of summer: they called it Σείριος Seirios, often translated "the scorcher." The dog days of summer were also connected to Sirius.

technical problems

I knew that adjusting to a new place takes time, but why in the process of it all the machines around me have to fail?..
First it was the monitor of the computer, of course it had to happen while I was working on the new video. Then it was the car - so now I can really get stuck here in the house. And the cherry on top was the computer refusing to turn on since yesterday.
It´s like this: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I did finish the video and am proud of it. I was pregnant with this project for a few months now and didn't have time to work on the materials, they piled up and were bloating my head, calling me to take care of them..

I will try to post a small view from it in my art website as soon as the "!!·$%&/( computer feels better.

taking reality slowly

It is two weeks since we moved to Mexico and things seem to be better already.
There has been some changes here since the last time I was here (three years ago). It has to do more with the mentality than with the outer look. The way people drive and go about is calmer for some reason - perhaps since there are more cops around (because of other problems) but it helps many other issues as well.. It is strange to have to say that it helps to have more security in the form of police or military officers, and it is quite sad to be that sober.. but this is such a huge city that there is no escape from this kind of reality.
Besides that, on a more personal note, my Spanish is better, I can actually understand what people around me are talking about and sometimes even answer back. That makes a huge difference, one doesn't feel so out of reality and isolated.

And the best thing for me is there are movements towards exhibitions and gallery contacts, I am charging my batteries and getting ready.

here are a couple of photos of my close surrounding, next time I will put wider range landscapes.

it's getting closer

In 3 and a half days I am going to leave the place that I have lived in for the past 3 years, and although I am attached to my family and will miss them terribly, it is very refreshing to start in a new place.

here is something in honor of the moment:

cool mash up

terrible yellow light

looks like a spaceship is going to land soon from the densely clouded sky

Island of the Flowers

A short in spanish, worth watching. I should find more information about it. Maybe I am going far with it, but it actually gave me an association to movies made by Agnes Varda.

little boxes

Here is a song by Melvina Reynolds that I like very much. Her voice is a little cracking and not perfect and that's why she is great. This might not be the best way to upload the song, but at least I was able to in the end..

The lives of others

Recently we went to watch the movie The Lives of Others - I recommend it very much. The movie deals with a terrible period of time in the history of Eastern Germany, a few years before the wall fell. The film was not done in extravagance, nor is it shown as a melodrama, the dialogs are so precise and whatever happens is subtle, unfolding quietly as if we (the viewers) are entering the lives of these people instead of showing events with a starting point, middle and end. To me, the film had a poetic cloak to it that I miss in life around now. Perhaps it is because I am so caught up in the mundane at the moment, it was like a breath of fresh air to listen to a few lines from Brecht quoted in the movie. Also, I liked very much the painting which hanged in the apartment of the main characters.

And of course without a funny small incident the experience wouldn't be complete: as we were waiting for the movie to begin for some mysterious reason, one of most annoying songs that exists was played to our benefit (it makes my ears hurt) - Hotel California of The Eagles! and to top that, the couple sitting behind had to sing along and really made me want to cry..

Here is the link to the film's website, although I am not sure how well is the trailer in giving away some of the essence of the movie.

http://www.sonyclassics.com/thelivesofothers/

arrr arrangements

arrangements
what an annoying word.
I try to avoid it my whole life and yet it seems that most of the day is made of bits and pieces of time frames that were created for the holy ceremony of arranging things.

Now it is the matter of getting rid of our earthly belongings (printer, scanner, book shelves and so on and so forth), finding new homes for the 2 cats (Chula and Gogol) and deciding which books am I taking with me and which will stay hiding in boxes somewhere until the day they can meet sunlight once again.

This odyssey is a process I don't recommend.
More about the Odyssey probably next time.

event in Jerusalem

THE BOOKSHOP AT THE AMERICAN COLONY HOTEL AND IBIS EDITIONS

are pleased to invite you to

an evening of Palestinian poetry and prose

in English and Arabic

with

Samih al-Qasim

and

Peter Theroux

in celebration of the publication of two new books:

Sadder Than Water: New & Selected Poems by Samih al-Qasim, translated by Nazih Kassis, introduced by Adina Hoffman

and

Saraya, the Ogrea's Daughter by Emile Habiby, translated by Peter Theroux

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 6 PM, THE PASHA ROOM, THE AMERICAN COLONY

23 Nablus Road, Jerusalem

02-627-9731

Kurt Vonnegut

from CNN:
Kurt Vonnegut, whose novels included "Slaughterhouse Five" and "Cat's
Cradle," has died at 84, his wife tells The Associated Press.

addiction

my eyes are burning, my pulse is high.
what is this feeling running through my body.
ah yes! i cannot stop playing these ridiculous computer games!
ruining my eyesight and making me anxious, obsessed and hollow.
must-stop-playing-must-stop-playing
my new mantra.
ok just this level?..

if you live in NYC

Here is something I got from 16beaver from NYC:

what: Presentation / Discussion
When: Friday evening 4.13.07
Where: 16Beaver Street, 4th Floor
When: 7:30 pm
Who: Free and open to all

We are very pleased to have photographer
Deborah Bright and Israeli-American writer
and scholar, Linda Dittmar, at 16beaver.
Deborah and Linda will present an informal slide preview
of their collaborative project documenting remains
of the 1948 Nakba (Catastrophe)
when some 750,000 Palestinians were exiled
from their homes in what became the State of Israel.

We hope you can join us for what promises
to be a thought-provoking evening.

_____________________________________________
2. about the project

This work is predicated on the belief that until
the pain and losses (of family,community, homeland)
of the Palestinian Arabs in 1948 (not to mention 1967)
are publicly recognized and dealt with by both Israel
and its primary sponsor, the United States,
no lasting peace and stability is possible.

_____________________________________________
3. about Deborah Bright & Linda Dittmar

Deborah Bright is an internationally known photographer,
writer, and professor of photography at RISD.
She edited 'The Passionate Camera:
photography and bodies of desire' (1998).
More information about her work
can be found at http://www.deborahbright.com

Linda Dittmar grew up as a third generation
Israeli who witnessed the events of 1948 as a child
in Tel Aviv. She is professor of literature and film
at the University of Massachusetts, Boston,
and co-edited 'From Hanoi to Hollywood:The Vietnam War in Film'
and 'Multiple Voices in Feminist Film Criticism'.


__________________________________________________
16 Beaver Group
16 Beaver Street, 4th / 5th fl.
New York, NY 10004
phone: 212.480.2099

for directions/subscriptions/info visit:
http://www.16beavergroup.org

TRAINS:
4,5 Bowling Green
R,W Whitehall
2,3 Wall Street
J,M Broad Street
1,9 South Ferry



__________________________________________________
16 Beaver Group
16 Beaver Street, 4th / 5th fl.
New York, NY 10004
phone: 212.480.2099

for directions/subscriptions/info visit:
http://www.16beavergroup.org

TRAINS:
4,5 Bowling Green
R,W Whitehall
2,3 Wall Street
J,M Broad Street
1,9 South Ferry

something to see

Meanwhile I get familiar with the whole blogging thing, here is a photograph I took recently from the TV screen:




Besides being part of a new project I am working on, it just about sums what is going on in my life at the moment.

first timer

I am a virgin blogger.
Yes, no shame in admitting that (ok, maybe a little shame).

I feel the urge to put my thoughts out there in the open space of the unknown as I am about to enter some big changes in my life: My partner (who is a "Mexicanian" as our dear German friend calls him) and I (not a Mexicanian) will be moving to Mexico in a couple of months and I am hoping that putting some of the fears on writing will make them a little bit less significant..

Obviously (to me), there is also a kind of romanticism in writing my thoughts in a Blog. Probably old fashioned yet has a certain kind of appeal - this adding of my existence to the world of the wide web. Call it an experiment in discovering little bits of truths about yourself, looking at that little pool of narcissism.

I am not sure how often will I add new posts here, but this will be a trial for some time - for someone that routine is not one of her favorite things might be a tad bit difficult.