Monday 30 August. Day one.
One hour sleep the night before the flight.
Still dazed, I got a bus and a tram, and after 5 mins walk I found the place. I’m glad I’m good at maps.
There are two building blocks facing each other. One is the working space -the studios, with a kitchen and everything. The other is the living space, a fomer hostel?
When shown into my room I am completely shocked at the size -I have my own living room and a bedroom.The showers currently have no hot water, and it’s freezing.
The studios looks like a building site more than studios, but the idea is for us, the artists, to inhabit thei space over the period of the residency. Each artist has their own room (or shared if it’s a large space). Mine looks surprisingly similar to what I invisaged it would be like. The size is managable and seeing that I don’t usually make my work in the studio it works well for me.
We went to the ‘store’, just around the corner. A large warehouse type of space (I think that’s the former bus station) filled floor to ceiling with stuff -all kinds of stuff that we can borrow for our needs and then return at the end of the show. It’s creepy… It’s all the stuff basically ‘sweeped’ from peoples homes, those who were late paying their house fees? That’s what I understood from one of the volunteers anyway.
There are things like chairs and tables and books, but also things like a rocking horse and family photos, opened pack of pasta and food leftovers on the spatula and the frying pan… I finished off my first 120 film there and then, within about 10 mins. Hope they come out well.
I decided to photograph the spaces I was allocated (the studio and the room) as I inhabit them throughout the residency… those will hopefully become part of the final installation.
—
Went to see what’s on at Guggemheim (good) then to a talk by John Bock at a temporary art space that is about to close. Amazing cakes in their bar, but the talk was in German… of course.
—
It’s freezing outside and in the rooms. Top of the shopping list -hot water bottle. The off to the Lomo store.
