Willow Court; New Norfolk, Part 2 Dark Mofo

 

I have already written about how intrigued I was to see inside Willow Court (willow court) during Dark Mofo.

As usual the information given to the public regarding actual festival events is cryptic.  This years program had 12 pages of large photos followed by the same listings as their website.  For this Willow Court exhibition the information was that "Mike Parr seminal Australian performance artist pushed to him limits in and around the grounds of the former Royal Derwent Hospital". There was also an aspect called 'Entry by Mirror Only' which is why you see mirrors in the photos.  Each entrant was meant to leave a mirror behind.  

I expected this would be harsh performance art.  I like a lot of performance art, but I feel I have had enough harsh experiences in my life that I do not need to be jarred or reminded about them.  I skipped the performance itself.  Still, I didn't expect the any of the buildings to be as creepy as they were-

I found the smaller rooms (cell like) and the shower blocks (that brought to mind horrible hydrotherapy scenes in many a portrayal of "taming female hysteria" from books, films, and television) to be especially nightmarish. I do not think I would have be able to sit through anything additional.

The buildings seemed abandoned. I expected an organized exit, A business that had cleared out, cleaned up and left its premises empty.

Instead there was a lot of possum shit, dirt, debris, broken ceiling tiles, and a general air of danger (and not the good kind).

Although I only use an iphone, normally my photos come out fairly well- none of the photos I took inside the Willow Court building came out any better than the two above.  I suppose the light was lower than I perceived.

I am not a 'ghost' person.  I like the idea just fine as a literary device but as an actual mythology-? No. Yet, I have to say there are buildings there that I could only imagine grazing to the ground and rebuilding.  I thought I would find a neglected industrial space that just needed to be cleaned and re-purposed.

My curiosity however is satisfied.

I didn't even leave my mirror behind, I did not want to add trash to misery, which was the thought that came to mind when I thought about leaving my small compact.

 

and I listen to your architectural tongues

Driving from our home to many places beyond town- or North of us involve passing this fountain.  The fountain is in the middle of a roundabout, on what serves as a highway here.  It is below the level of the street so really what you can see is the fountain from that top circle, or platform.  I have never bothered to go through the tunnels underneath.  The only time I have been out of my car in this area has been on skates or my bike.  

There were a couple of art pieces for Dark Mofo in the tunnels so we parked in town and walked this way to Dark Park. Dark Park is the free installation area.  Each year they take over one of the large sheds and open area which is maybe part of the docks normally.  There is a bar, food trucks, and the installations. 

After going to the Venice Biennale I have viewed Dark Mofo to have the same sort of set up, with art dispersed through the city.  Of course, it is smaller here so they have rightly added in music, performance and movies as well.

The fountain is lit red because that seems to be the theme via Dark Mofo, many businesses light up their stores or create a red themed window as what I assume is a sort of city wide support because many people (myself included) are happy with the impact of MONA and their festivals on our town.

I like the chance to walk around town with other people.  I am usually alone and town has some really interesting architecture and history.

Here are some other photos:

The day was so grey that I thought I had never noticed that the cross of this church was cut through the stone.  But my gf of course pointed out that it was only an optical illusion.

I have always thought the above building looks like it belongs in Edinburgh, Scotland.  

I love that there are a few of these buildings that look like factories from another time area also still in town.  There are a few new large, modern buildings getting crammed in.  Both I think are housing or some type of expansion for the University.  I feel that expanding University can only be for the good, but so far I am underwhelmed by how the buildings look.

 

"Without a Face"

Here we are in the thrall of winter.  A good time for thinking, reading, reflection.
Which is my explanation of where my time has gone.  It is easy to feel days go by quickly when the light goes by 4:30 p.m.

Last year at this same time (Dark Mofo Festival) my GF and I saw posters up of a campaign we had both pledged to via Australia's version of Kickstarter, 'Pozible'.

A young artist named Peter Drew (he is interesting, you should go read about him here: Peter Drew)

They were street posters that stated "Real Australians Say Welcome".
Because Australia has a low population, our nation wide coverage is more like coverage of one large state- or at it's largest the entire east coast of the U.S.
Also the continent is an island so people trying to seek asylum come by sea, this complicates the issue quite a bit.  

I think about immigration for many reasons, I am an immigrate who came from immigrates (although further back on my fathers side than I realised until recently) and I married a man whose whole family immigrated.  We, both, are advantageous in the fact that we are allowed to live in two countries.

We are very, very advantageous because we had a choice.

But many do not.

Peter Drews' latest series of posters is about creating folk heroes that are less recognised in Australia. He has been putting poster around Tasmania, and tomorrow with the start (of my) Dark Mofo events, I hope to find more of them up.  Including my favourite Dorothy Choon.

He has set me back to a place of gratitude and back onto a path to explore more Australian history.

Also this thinking about immigration is compounded by the fact that I am reading 'The Gene' An Intimage History by Siddhartha Mukherjee.  I had just heard him interviewed on The New Yorker Radio Hour when I came across his book. I think the book is an essential read.  

New Norfolk: Willow Court aka Salvage, Curated Op-shop treasure trove

Willow Court and its' surrounds, as far as we could sticky beak our way in...

There is going to be an art installation during Dark Mofo here...which I would love to see but I am not sure if we are here or back in Sweden...

 As this is my life or how my life has been...in a state of flux

 

St. Matthews Church New Norfolk-

 Above is my favorite window of the founding family.

...continuing on with my theme of how quickly (the south) of Tasmania is changing...I have a friend visiting and I used this as an excuse to visit New Norfolk.

The town square is unusual and striking, and I always knew the church with the stained glass windows existed, but I have only caught the church in sunlight a  couple of times.

 Sun streaming through the windows make a difference.

The last few years there have been more and shops- as well as now the willow court has been filling up with shops- salvage, antiques.

Since moving here I have heard bits (never a full story) about all these buildings (now referred to as Willow Court) that look like a small village- mostly the phrase 'insane asylum' was bandied about.  There are now audio interviews that can be heard about all parts of New Norfolk.

History New Norfolk 

Here are some photos of the church-

 

 

ANZAC day, memorials and the finding a feeling of Autumn

After the gym today, I thought I'd take a walk through the botanical garden.  I had a book on loan from the library that I wanted to finish (Just Kids, Patti Smith) and my home is still filled with the racket of construction work.

Hobart Botanical Garden 

 

But, I got a bit turned around, so I decided to walk the long way through Soldier Field, and possibly because ANZAC day is this upcoming Monday or possibly because today was much more a summer day than an autumn one, I read all the signs, and many (there are thousands) of the plaques.

Hobart Soldiers Walk 

I have only gone to two of the dawn services on ANZAC day (two more then ahem someone I know).  Part of that is because I have any known, family history with the wars.  Both my father and my step-father got out of going to Vietnam (the stories on the 'how' are varied).  I actually think they were both a bit young...17 and 18 years old in 1968.
  I have studied more about all the wars after I moved out of the U.S.  I don't remember ever seeing a war memorial in real life until after I moved.  Every town has one, and most families can trace their family history back a long way.  I started to go into every war museum I came upon (all through the U.K., Australia, Europe) and I often pull over to read the plaques in the small towns here in Tasmania.

Then I started to watch war films, and documentaries which I had mostly ignored before.  I had a really good online class called 'War in Media', all the classic war films and documentaries were part of the class work.

 
 

Monument Valley, beautiful as it is dry.

There are times in my life that my mind runs to what I think of as 'superstitious thinking'.  I see signs, and patterns.  I think I am manifesting my destiny.  I think I have the ability to jinx how a trip will go.

I have road tripped to areas of Arizona and Utah that are very beautiful.

Each time I have gone to them, has been some time of great stress in my life.

This all could be a coincidence, false correlations, seemingly causal and yet not.

Even in times of great stress- the vast openness and deep history of these areas- the fact that they are not yet overrun...able to retain at least parts of cultures otherwise crushed out does create an environment to feel oneself cut down to a more containable size.