"...and then the rain came hammering down..."

This May is one of our first together in Tasmania.  There was a severe storm, about four inches of rain in under 24 hours.  The lightning and thunder seemed to be just over our house, a sensation felt by every neighbour I spoke too.  Reinforced by the action of the strike coinciding with our power going out.  Over ten thousand people were without power for a day or so.  All the historic flood areas like the old 'Wapping' area of the central business district were flooded high enough to move parked cars.  I think people forget that a 'rivulet' runs through the center of town, mostly the streets have been built over the waterways.

Parts from the fish farms were washed onto the beach, newly patched roads churned up leaving heaped piles of debris in the middle of the roads.  Our home is up a slope- and luckily even the basement/garage did not take in any water.  So work continues on the garage conversion. The storm was late Thursday night, and by today, Sunday everything was calm enough that the Friends of Peter Murrell monthly weeding workbee went ahead as planned.

Saff returned a few weeks ago, just for a quick trip- before her long stay in June for the winter festival.  We went to the newly built, and opened areas of MONA that were too crowded during summer to be able to visit properly.

There is a sphere in the center of the newest restaurant, two people can go in at one time, for fifteen minutes with an additional cost of $25.  This is another piece by Turrell.  After you see the light show, you are taken to a room that is completely dark for a bit of post-sensory - to sensory-deprivation.

Between the two exhibits is a new room that is spectacular...the second room they have had that reminded me of the inside of Barbarella's space ship. 

 

We also went into the lovely new room called Spectrum Chamber, by Charles Ross.  I don't think the museum has been especially empty in the last few years. This visit was as empty as it seems to ever get, and that just means that there is parking in the overflow lot, and you can get a seat on a shared table.  I find that I can barely recall going there once a week, and being alone with only the artwork.  Between Summer, Christmas holidays in Summer, followed by their festival, - then a lot is closed between the two festivals.   The winter festival is almost the entire month of June now.

 I avoided this room trip before last because the line to walk in was so long.

 The oil room from above.

The oil is to the very edge- the attendant blows on the surface to show how precise and exacting the level is.  The photo makes the corridor in look a bit larger than it feels when you are there. 

 

 

"...and living at night isn't helping my complexion..."

I missed seeing this before daylight savings time happened, as usual my head forgets that here in October we 'spring forward' and I was caught completely by surprise. 

and yet...

I arrived in the last fifteen minutes of the display, on a cold night (just the day before we were having warm nights)- The colors cycle through not quickly but not really slowly either- I thought they might sort of fade one into another- but it was more like each color cycled through it's own intensity.

I was the only one there.

The pavilion by itself is really cool- the way the stone benches are arranged, and all the angles.

I will go out of my way to see something else there.

The artist responsible for this exhibit is James Turrell who was born in one of my favorite places- Pasadena, California.

http://jamesturrell.com/ 

 

 

Our Highlights, in low light.

The light up close, we could see this light on Maria Island and from the house in Blackmans Bay.

In action:  You hold onto the monitor and the lights adjust to your heartbeat.

Buildings involved were red light to go with the festival colors.  We had a crescent moon and both Venus and Pluto were visible as twilight began.

 

 There were bars set around so people were never far from a warm drink.

 

I think if I was not from California, where natural gas plants are scattered by the road side that the gas organ would have been a bit more impressive-

I am not saying it was un-impressive, I am just not into adding such a industrial piece of art on a gorgeous waterfront...

 

 

The festivals MONA has put on, really are invaluable.  I am really sad I missed out on Diamanda Galas last year- and I am happy I stayed long enough to experience the festival this year, as I don't know when I will have time to do this again.

"...There ought to be a moonlight savings time..." or Hey, What happened to those 3 Fridays in June 2015?

I am having a slow start.  The first alarm that I consciously acknowledged this morning, was after 9 a.m.

Our winter has turned to warm sunshine after a week of record breaking cold days with many snowy days on Mount Wellington.  I should create a few posts to cover the the events of the last few weeks but as this has become simply my illustrated calendar, there is no need.

I went back to Maria (my fifth trip!)  because a few volunteers had to back out at the last minute.  The workshop accom. that I stayed in three times this year is now actually clean.  Also, windows fixed and washed, re-painted, re-varnished, new furniture.  I am actually feeling a bit jealous of everyone who will get to sleep there before I do.  I did get to ride in the Rangers boat, go out back China Beach, and stay in one of the Bernacchi Houses which is a marker of a white settler that really thought he was going to turn Maria Island into some sort of Riviera of the South.  

During that trip, the Dark Mofo festival had already began, although my plans were not to go until the last weekend.  As my faithful festival guest was away in the early part of the festival.

The festivals that I have gone to- have all been incredible the way they take over the city center and waterfront.  A lot is free, making the place feel like a city that always has that artistic life running through it, a bit like New Orleans, or parts of New York and Chicago- yet Hobart is very unlike any of those cities.

I am also having one of my 'the machines revolt' that would all be fix I am sure simply by Zok's proximity- which is not, currently possible.

I leave for Stockholm soon, where Zok will not be-

such is the bane of flux that is touring.

"Oh it's such a perfect day...I'm glad I spent it with you...

We have been home in Australia less than two weeks, and our days have been full.  Saff and I had a 'fair crack' at attending FOMA (by day) events, and Zok and I managed to share the car, and have all our guests together more than once even though we all did different things.

Zok and family went out to the Tahune Airwalk, and to have the Sushi, the best Sushi I have ever had outside of Japan, and I was sorry to miss out.  However, (The fabulous) Sid came to meet up with Saff and I and we drank our way from Salamanca to the Royal Hobart Theatre where we saw a movie from 1926, all told with Shadow Puppets and accompanied by live music.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed, music by Phillip Johnston

 

 

 Later we had one last drink on the veranda of the (newish) Alabama Hotel, before Sid went to work and Saff and I went to see and hear, Neil Gaiman read his new book.

We also went to see Amanda Palmer backed by the Tasmanian Symphony, so I at last, got to see what the Symphony Hall is like.

 There was also swimming, scrabble and Zok's delicious cooking.

And this...

 

 

 

"...One minute she was asleep, the next she was completely awake and dumped into despair."

I clicked through my entire 'reading list'- aka the other blogs from people I have met or known, only two of the seventeen are active.

They have migrated back to life, in real time, or migrated with the stream that adopts the newer avenues of a more instant, faster changing flow such as tumblr, and twitter.

I think my blog is now as I always thought of it, less a letter to my friends and more a journal of events.  One left in the spare room, unlocked.  My digital means of looking backwards.

I went to MONA with Zok and our house guest Liz.  The latest exhibit went up while I was away.  MONA is large, and on the interactive side.  Most of the space is underground, which I find makes the saturation of sensory input more intense.  I like going through with people the first time, so I know where to concentrate my energies the next time I am alone.

I really liked this exhibit, it worked in tandem with another permanent space I love- the sound tunnel, part of the dialog from this visual display was also in the tunnel.  We are seated under the hull of a ship, and the screens used for the projections indeed look like eye balls.

If you are interested here is the blurb from the exhibit.

http://mona-vt.artpro.net.au/theo.php 

Type in 'sajtia@gmail.com' to view my tours this one is called 'nowhere less now' from October

Also, one of the women I met from Derby has an exhibit.

I loved it.

http://mona-vt.artpro.net.au/theo.php

This one is called 'rats nest' from the same tour 

Fitta is the word for vagina in Swedish

Now that the very long, black corridor in MONA is hung with artwork that is no longer the vagina casts, I felt compelled to write an 'ode to'.

When the museum first opened its doors, two exhibits were spoken of a lot.
The very large 'Snake' by an Australian artist Sidney Nolan.
(Below is a link to an article about the piece and the artist)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/years-on-nolans-masterpiece-finally-uncoiled/story-e6frg6nf-1225979664721

And- the long wall of vagina casts.
http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2011/4/mona-s-brutal-banality

There are times that I am happy I never took too many classes about Art, because I do enjoy having enough ignorance to not have to over think my trips to museums.
So here is my take on the long wall of 150 plaster casts of various aged women's vaginas- I think they are excellent.
Growing up in the United States, and also my time in Australia leads me to believe that true nudity can not be over rated. With the amount of easily accessible porn, whether fashion porn or porn directed at the male audience, there is very little shown of unaltered real life nudity.
I am definitely the Aunt who will take her friends teenage daughters on their first trip to a sex shop, and leave behind a copy of 'Our Bodies Ourselves'.
I loved the idea of all those school aged Tasmanian girls and boys going to MONA and having the vagina wall there.
I hope they bring it back soon.
I also wonder- where is the collection housed 'off season'?

"Put a bird on it"

Zok and I rode our bikes out to the new Museum, that opened here in Hobart.
MONA: Museum of the Old and New, is part of the conglomerate that makes up Moorilla Winery, which has an ampitheatre, accommodation, restaurant, winery and brewery (Moo Brew). I believe that most if not all the museum art is privately owned by David Walsh who started said conglomerate.

The building is impressive, huge sandstone walls, I suppose due in part to the fact that the art is housed underground. There is a large spiral staircase with an elevator in the center to take you into the bowels of the building.

Zok was disappointed only by our snack at the wine bar, because the portions were small, and his red wine came in a small glass the type most would consider appropriate for a white or dessert wine. I was impressed by the fact that there were many bikes parked around and only a few were locked.

Myself, I was too happy with my nice long, easy bike ride and feeling smug about not taking the ferry which takes about the same amount of time, but costs $15. I spent that money on my snack, earned through the work of my pedaling.

Since Monte and I had recently gone to see some modern art at LACMA, I was prepared to be underwhelmed, but really I just enjoyed almost all of MONA.
The pieces are diverse enough that I doubt many people would love all of them. There are also some ancient pieces- as shown by the Eygptian owl. The owl was funny because while I was on the West Coast of America the new running joke was from a show called 'Porlandia' where if in doubt about your art piece/craft "Put a bird on it", mocking the trend of the last few years where birds abound on items.


I love having another destination off the bike track, and a new place to take visitors. (That is a hint people).
I do wish that Tourism Tasmania would go the route of many American States, and offer Tasmania residents a discount on sites here on the island.
Although even a discount won't get me back to Port Arthur...

Another good bit about being on your bicycle is that stopping by town is easy, and so I got to visit Pip and Amy in the elevator, which really was quite cozy, I could have stayed much longer...
You can read about Pip and her work here:
http://pipstafford.blogspot.com/

Wondering why she is in an elevator? You can read about that here:
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/04/29/226165_attitude.html

You can find out more about the museum MONA here:
http://mona.net.au/