summer of 2019 - expedition practice preparation for Expedition // Maria :: Vienna // Wera :: Oslo // Bram :: Rotterdam

Invitation letter from Wera Saether.  Oslo. Norway

3rd call: I Portunus

Event at Oslo, Cathedral Dec, 2019

4 Sundays

For the Exhibition each photograph,(size 118 cm x 80 cm) will be linked to one of my publishers books, and I have written a poetic text to serve as a bridge between published book and photograph.   

Wera. 

Summer 2019 - Expedition practice for MobileMusic100%

19Aug - 1st Sept
Driving camping

Aluminum can cubes
Previous work 1:  Taiwan 2010
Artists sculptors from a Taiwan symposium gave me all their drink cans, I put them together for fun.
https://swannbb.blogspot.com/2010/10/huahui-crossing-boundaries-virtual.html

This work was later collected by Etretat Gardens, Etretat.  France, 2019.
https://swannbb.blogspot.com/2019/06/mobilemusic-2010.html

https://magazine.bellesdemeures.com/en/luxury/lifestyle/visit-etretat-gardens-along-cote-d-albatre-article-32605.html?fbclid=IwAR0YrkucuPcvWC1zBfmWF_OeUGSJVbOsn0h4iqnhaosSlaxxOMmXaDI1FOk

Previous tests 1:
Call for aluminum skins from drink cans around the world, for details. Send me a message.
Or leave comments and email below.
Some cans from VA museum thanks to the super cool cafeteria waitresses.
They gathered and gave me empty cans.

Many many thanks to Maria Tupay Duque, artist.
https://swannbb.blogspot.com/2010/04/maria-tupa-duques-aluminum-skin.html
https://swannbb.blogspot.com/2010/03/huahui-certosa-hotel-lucrezia-durini.html
https://swannbb.blogspot.com/2019/06/new-cubes-for-mobilemusic-100-day-1.html

Previous work 2 : Sept 2019 Lugau, Germany
Shuengit's proposal to make "Dream Catcher" at a sculpture symposium at Lugau 2019, project selected by jury of village of Lugau Germany, for 7 days works period.

Work completed on 14 Sept2019
Installation location on the big tree at entrance of the bike path, public park place, with an existing spot illumination from the ground up at night.

"Dream Catcher" has two fronts : A+B :  International Lugau face A, and a French face B.
The aluminum skin on Lugau face A comes from many places, Lugau, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Argentina, Hungary amongst other.  The French face B from all over Europe mainly what we see on Paris streets.

On the Lugau face A, there are some cubes dating from 10 years ago, from Hong Kong, and Taiwan, drink cans are also historics.  They no longer make drink cans with this design.  So we also have a bit of history, a vintage history of the objects around us.

Face B is our contempory cans, with many energy drinks and QR codes preprinted, social network clubs, invitation to multiplayer online games - these did not exist 10 years ago.

There is a small element of field work in the can collecting process.  We see the favorite graphism from each country, some are punky, or regular 60s lines and colors, or country style with human figures, or cute animals, manga... its very interesting to find these beautiful work of everyday artists and designers.  Often anonymous.

A special edition for Dragon year.

Surprise find, Duff beer, the mythic favorite beer of Homer Simpson from animation The Simpsons, found in Le Perreux;

Sometimes, finding cans to be re-purposed is very difficult.

Many cities have recyling can systems, the cans are placed into a machine, people get their deposit back.  The machine is designed to be one way, it does not allow retrieval.  Or, cans are crushed and weighted to be sold to recycling centers.  There are very few places where we could get empty cans - and we were thinking of buying cans from the deposit people.  As of now, in most cities I inquired,  there is not an existing provision for that.

In Canada, the return system is not via machines, but people handling.  People bring cans back and the cashier pays by hand.

My project is about choosing good looking things from the everyday, not general purpose all inclusive re-cycling.  
Some things are better re-fabricated for an upgrade.
We should surround ourselves with beauty and not drab and uninteresting things.  Upgrade, not downgrade.
Only the esthetically valuable has been re-used in keeping with promotion of enjoyment in the everyday.

Idea of re-cycling

Best recycling idea is to re-purpose, re-use, and not to melt down and re-fabricate.  It is costly to re- fabricate.  If possible, re-use is better than re-make.

Our "Dream Catcher" host had to buy drinks to get cans.  Later, school children brought us their drink cans too.

In the end, together with previous skins, we completed the Dream Catcher, which had 80 cubes = 240 aluminum skins.

photo by Bernd Franke

photo: by Bernd Franke

Raw material : aluminum cans

Can Collecting Team from Paris

Etienne 
Shuengit 


Visited Maria : Vienna

Summary
The idea is to test out the "Expedition" plan to collect aluminum skins from around the world, is it workable, how much work does it really involve?
Would it be better if we had not drive, if we took plane etc, how to organise it.
It is clear that we cannot really do an exhibition at each location - realistically if we are doing something it has to be very simple with manageable logistics.

We must visit the city - learn something from it, and also do the work.
This is maybe a bit too much.
We will have to re evaluate what is reasonable output vis a vis the input.

Conclusion
We started out with a focus on can collecting and culture collecting.
Need to record and take a lot more photos if we are to create a "trip" story book.
This in itself is a lot of work.  It will take 2 days to do the work and another 3 to organise and review the materials collected and write up, set up the end results.
We will have to evaluate the time we have and what is realistically possible.

Maybe make a short 60sec video after each city.
The short video format would have more reach for audience.
For example on Youtube.

departure from
Paris

Strasbourg - V gd Kriek beer, at a bar.  Name etc later
Beautiful church.  Beautiful municipal camping ground with long long huge willow trees.  Like living in a painting for a couple of days.

Everyday art - for everybody.  The municipal camp ground has beautiful trees, and this is for everybody.  The person who took care of the plants, garden has done a great job.
Museum art - also for everybody.  Something special to make us think about whats around us.
This piece is a theatre for one person - an impossible construction, the actor and viewer and theatre are confined to a small space.  Sculpture as event - here, impossible event.  Humour.
I like it!

Salzburg - quiet street, not much memory
Lots of flowers at the camp site, but not memorable.

Graz - Peter Vogel exhibition at Friendly Alien museum.  A surprise.  Am happy to see it.

 Had seen his work at "Artistes and Robots" at Grand Palais a few years ago.

In Graz, Friendly Alien Museum

Peter Vogel was a German artist, best known for his interactive electronic sculptures and sound art pieces.

 I come across this artist work again, happy to have seen it.  He also worked w Heddy LaMarr!!  Interesting.  Its about connections.

Beautiful apple orchard camping ground, its magnificent.  Simple and everything works.

Budapest - super spa and super cute little wooden train to get there too bad i had no more electricity no pic.  Could spend a wk here.  V beautiful charming.  Collected some drink cans.
Charming camp ground w lovely host.  Cant say enough gd things about them !



Bratislava - V nice city, talked w people, old town, v beautiful lakeside resort we stayed at.  Huge modern Tesco!  1O min by foot!!  And v nice little shops everywhere.
Calm and beautiful people are very upright and humanly speaking v gd.
Camp site is a lake side resort, too gd to be true and it was true!

At the lake side resort tram stop are several people, they seem to be camping there.  V kind.  They enjoy beer.

Somebody is waiting for the tram to go into the city.

The pixelised photo is a function of Wechat, you just pass your finger over the picture and the display turns the photo into the rough pixels.

This pixelised photo makes the photo a bit computer game like, toy like.

See top left corner, my finger had not swept the photo completely, it has original details.

Vienna - most fruitful, beautiful city.  Will have to come back again, met w Maria, our collaborator for "Nordic Expedition can collecting project" - who is a professional art work restorer, she showed us the Fine Art School where it is currently undergoing renovation, and she is working on it.  We saw up close how the work is done.  Very carefully, lovingly.

Maria at her work atelier.

Temporary Atelier at Camp Ground near Otto Wagners home, v gd, excellent laboratory type space

With large kitchen sink stainless steel, strip windows w perfect lighting, and green trees.
Absolutely beautiful.
Does not bother other campers, its not occupied most of the time.
We spent 2 hours, two man power to cut up 150 cans to transform cans into rolls of aluminum skin.

Routine for the raw material - aluminum cans - at each location.
Find cans, rinse, wash, cut up, stack into a roll.

In Vienna, there are large garbage cans labelled as metal trash.  They are tall and deep.  Not accessible for retrival.
Thanks to Maria, she has kindly asked drinkers when they are done if she could have them.
We were mainly at Museum Quartiers.
Lots of beer drinkers at the multi cultural beautiful space, and lots of other free spirited drinkers in the evening.

More photos later

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return to


Paris

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