ghosts from the past

berlin: bliss or blaogney?

those twinkling, fuzzy lights as you are descending down into a city always gets me. i can't help but dangle my head towards the window focusing the blurs into a semi-comprehensive, semi-imagined picture. this time it was berlin, a place complicated by it's past and praised for its down-to-earth air. once the plane landed two nights, and one full day to truly discover berlin. after a moment to gather my bearings from the ryanair flight, a noisy combination of a ghoulish burgundy and yellow interior, techno trash, and smooth stella beers, i was greeted with a stamp in my passport and the word 'push' in english and german, directing me on how to handle the door. i quickly forgot my first german world, and swooshed my way into deutschland.

after the normal hassle of buying train tickets in a foreign country, which we later learned hardly meant a thing because you could easily just ride all of berlin's public transportation for free, we were on again on the move. this time to relieve our hands (and backs) of our baggage. after some time on the train, we are greeted by some want-to-be thug germans, who decided that the bus also wanted to hear their music, and proceeded to whip out their boom-box speakers, playing Tupac's "changes". not quite the pollination of flowers to my ears, but hey, i do like me some 'pac. kids, teenagers, adults, we are all the same no matter the country.


to be continued...

the poison seeps in

it makes the writing cease, and the serious thoughts come to an immediate hault. imagery, however, is always welcome. even when negative.

a sunset

This is what skimmed by me as I briskly passed the countryside:

A hobble of gray tainted sheep spread across the sky and as if on a mushroom trip the prettiest pinks and oranges, you ever saw, foamed out of their mouths, leaking into the monotonous blue of the sky.

One by one, the kaleidoscope puffs dispersed into the mouth of the newly reincarnated Tyrannosaurus with every intention to repeat the cycle in just a day’s time. The sheet turns a deep periwinkle. A navy. A black. The tantalizing fades and the curtain never reopens.

da surrealist manifesto

So strong is the belief in life, in what is most fragile in life ? real life, I mean ? that in the end this belief is lost. Man, that inveterate dreamer, daily more discontent with his destiny, has trouble assessing the objects he has been led to use, objects that his nonchalance has brought his way, or that he has earned through his own efforts, almost always through his own efforts, for he has agreed to work, at least he has not refused to try his luck (or what he calls his luck!). At this point he feels extremely modest: he knows what women he has had, what silly affairs he has been involved in; he is unimpressed by his wealth or his poverty, in this respect he is still a newborn babe and, as for the approval of his conscience, I confess that he does very nicely without it. If he still retains a certain lucidity, all he can do is turn back toward his childhood which, however his guides and mentors may have botched it, still strikes him as somehow charming. There, the absence of any known restrictions allows him the perspective of several lives lived at once; this illusion becomes firmly rooted within him; now he is only interested in the fleeting, the extreme facility of everything. Children set off each day without a worry in the world. Everything is near at hand, the worst material conditions are fine. The woods are white or black, one will never sleep. -- Andre Breton

essentials for the day

soul music

no more junk (except indian sweet shops)

occasionally be bored

prevent a headache

explore the new; remember the old

write  

write well

read

read often 

not being around sicknesses 

despise people watching

explain your feeling; inability to explain 

stay around good company 

watch a techno craze fairytale develop in front of your very eyes

take up watercolors

buy one of these                                                

and RIDE it.

realize we are all the same canvas

manifesto marathon, man

yesterday in between the typical saturdays goings of hyde park (picnics, football, dog walking, rollerblading goofs and so on) the serpentine gallery put on a manifesto marathon, where several artists took the stage declaring, singing, performing their own manifestos of the day. it was a wonderful feeling as all different types of people huddled in the outdoor pavilion, designed by frank gehry, and watched as filmmakers, designers, writers, and artists lay out their individual intentions. 

vivienne westwood started off the day with her manifesto active resistance to propaganda, which she wrote a couple of years earlier and noted that today she might not have written it, because she believes the world will basically be crumbling into nothing in just 100 years and thinks she wouldn't have had it in her today. regardless of this small fact, she noted she still believed all of it and wished the audience to practice and follow it as well. her manifesto, written in the form of a play and adapting characters of lewis carroll's alice in wonderland, aristotle, and pinocchio, notes of the importance of the artist's and he or she taking part in alternate realities; yet the urgency for the artist to recognize the importance of being human and from this constantly pushing oneself to culturally grow, and this will bring about the change the world needs. occasionally westwood went on minor digression where her true composure and intelligence shined through, and the audience could truly acknowledge the unique set of ideas she has brought forth in her fashion and as an overall artist, while on top of it all keeping her rad aesthetic as seen in her carrot-orange hear and the white turban cap she wore with the word 'chaos' scribbled on it. now that is one icon i truly admire and her presence left me spinning with inspiration.  

another female icon and highlight of the day's events was no other than yoko ono. running a tad late, her small asian presence was quickly made up for her attire of a black, sparkly top-hat, gently leaning towards the left, and oval, lennon-esque shades at the brim of her nose at seven at night next to her strong, high-pitched voice.  she presented a quick manifesto in which repetitions on love and peace reoccurred numerous times without fail, and she ended it with: "we have a lot of work to do, but let's do it dancing and loving it!" at first she appears to be just this crazy little lady stuck in the 'we have to do something' thought of vietnam, but then you realize how wonderful it is to have that very attitude in the sea of our current disillusioned, apathetic society, and you just want to truly imagine and believe that this all could very well be possible. yoko then showed a quasi instructional video that explained her current performance art in which she wants everyone to flash lights (clicking them on in synchronized frequencies) as a new way to say  "i love you". these signals of love she wants to then be sent across the world and the universe. only yoko. yet, she ended it all with a full-blown bang where she declared dance music be put on and jumped down from the stage and made everyone dance with her. i danced amongst yoko. oh boy, what a wonderful moment. 

here are some more recaps/highlights from the big day of manifestos: 

richard wentworth : went through a list of things that everyone should have done before higher education. some favorites were appreciate difference, learn you don't need to measure, work at place where paper is made, and he then ended it by telling everyone else to make their own list. 

gilbert and george: snappily dressed in contrasting pastel suits got up and recited four manifestos. the first is the law of sculptors, which they wrote in 1969. 

      1. always be smartly dress well groomed relaxed friendly polite and in complete control

      2. make the world to believe in you and to pay heavily for this privilege 

      3. never worry assess discuss or criticize but remain quiet respectable and calm 

   

      4. the lord chissels still, so don't leave your bench for long  

their fourth manifesto was called ban religion where they simply repeated 'ban religion' 4 times. 

ben vautier: went on a rant about art being ego and went on to pass out blank, white sheets of paper as his manifesto and went through a brief history of other notable performances. he spruced things up with much needed comedy in sometimes a realm of too serious thinking.  he ended with 'just smile' and then quickly showed a sign that read suicide. 

jean-jacques lebel: did a long, theatrical speech constructed out of several languages (some seemed to be imaginative), ending in english with, 'peace in the world or the world in pieces.' 

mark wallinger: gave a 2o minute speech in which he drew from several areas going from nirvana to buzz lightyear of toy story. here are some of my tid-bits i caught, run against the boundaries of language; lust is endless; these are the rules but the rules are nonsense; shit and live shit and die; metaphors are like clowns with buckets of confetti running after you; we fear the end but at least it is the end; buzz lightyear and existential crisis

photos on the way...