Greetings, Kia ora, Hyvää päivää!

welcome to Trip the Light Fantastic - an impossible expedition, a dreamed voyage, a flight of fantasy. A journey through story that unfolded in the period leading up to and during the residency conference Solar Circuit Aotearoa/NZ [scanz].

in the tradition of every good road trip ‘postcard’ images of iconic females were chosen for the banner to reflect the homelands of the members of Avatar Body Collision - from the left we have Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni [and the map of England],
in the middle is the map of Aotearoa/New Zealand, the journeying would end and begin at Taranaki on the west coast of the north island - all ‘kiwis’ are familiar with Pania and the pakeha woman, who is in every government organization as part of the official coat of arms - and on the right above the map of Finland is the painter Helene Schjerfbeck

this blog is the creative ‘road trip’ of Avatar Body Collision sharing with you intimacy and massive space of driving somewhere with
others in the car. the cinematic slow turning landscape, the video windscreen, the crazy stops in out of the way places and the glimpsed intersections into other peoples realities...
you have arrived at the end go to the bottom of this page to set off

too brief a connection

the end of SCANZ is fast approaching and now the ADA [Aotearoa Digital Artists] crew are here to join us for the last couple of days of Presentations and discussions. we have been lucky to be party to the work and thoughts of all the artists here and although we arrived with a plan in mind this two weeks has seen our work evolve and expand and gain in layers and richness


after working hard all day to get the set-up happening in the gallery we were looking forward a relaxing evening. starting with the Opening of the latest exhibition at jUStart [the exhibition space run by Justin ]– Justin and Kim are students at WITT, documenters of the SCANZ residency and willing if sometimes unwitting accomplices in the nefarious deeds of the SCANZ participants..

It was a great way to start to wind down [although it seems this is always the time that Karla and Leena are winding up because while Helen and i went back to the Gallery, it seems that after the opening the others hit town [in fact they were not in room 6 at all last night!] – our only concern now is that they make it to the gallery in time for the evenings events...

Verdigris

On arrival at the Govett Brewster today the verdigris on the door reminded me that i have some more green images to contribute to Raewyn Turner’s project – in exploring and photographing the environment i have in mind the work that others are doing to respond to the strands at SCANZ [environmental response and for us to explore the notion of dis/connection] really on reflection the connections happening through this residency are really quite phenomenal


to illustrate - even today, as we were working in the auditorium the Govett Brewster education programme was about making shadow puppets – for the ability to re-create dancing with the stars [we too are exploring shadows, for the notion of presence the ability to cast a shadow confers]

one of the fabulous tech people who helped us with the set up today was Leonie Smith who has just had a show at the Govett was discussing the work she is doing on flux
or ‘satellite gaps’ as she called them which is the very area Becca Wood [who we are sharing a space with] is exploring - and which is of course what any work that happens live over the internet is permeated with

and then there is the fact that Stella has a beer named after her… and so does Karla! which is really what we needed after scaling Paritutu today…

Dis-traction

it is interesting how many of the themes and ideas from the range of projects are appearing in other projects, these recurrences are forming patterns that are beginning to reflect the response to the environment that we are all attempting to make [and in some cases the Location – Dis-location we are feeling] some of the patterns to _our_ work seem to be recurring – the struggle with the internet and life [work, health, family] influencing the progress made


an environmental response i enjoyed is under one of the bridges on the hike down to the beach. The grafitti I had photographed and appreciated [thanks to New Plymouth Kids] was rollered over in buff on today’s jaunt – so fresh that we covered our fingers in paint checking. but by the return journey the silver scriber had already started afresh and left a comment for the perpetrators of bland


and talking of fabulous patterns I found this woman in downtown New Plymouth yesterday who makes great slippers [am happily wriggling my toes in the faux leopard skin interior of the ones i bought yesterday]

AND finally, we found some enthusiasts willing to climb taranaki with the C5 guys - will their quest finally meet with success?!

Grouphug

Finally were are all here and working together as a group. We are hugging a lot to make up all those years when couldn't but virtually ")kiss" & ")pop".

The working issues are usual regradless of the physical or virtual presence: internet was down at the gallery. Well, ok, it is easier now because it is easier to be present when you have a body, not just an avatar that doesn't get access.

But we have been playing with the projectors and developing an idea but that is still a secret...

kicking up your heels

today we heard from Lynne and Grant, they were up at Turoa skifield [Lynne reports that it was fun looking after Karla and that they are looking forward to seeing K, Dan and the girls in London] - on Mt Ruapehu looking west they tried to cast their shadows on Taranaki for us.
i think we missed them because it was about that time we were doing Adam’s FLOSS 101 workshop

Caro and i went for a walk in the early evening and were blessed with sighting two Ruru [Morepork] on silent wings, the moon came out and lit sparkles all along the black sand beach, turned the ponga ferns to silhouette and the edge of clouds to paua

later at Matinee we were treated to a sonic event that at first seemed to be messing with internal organs – a noise creating vibrations that distorted bar-room conversation in an interesting way – next came a driftwood symphony, repeated clicks and tocks prompting one punter to comment “it needs a baseline”…

me i watched the reflection of the mirror ball and imagined it was winking back last night’s party – as Caro Bossy in Second Life says “when in doubt just dance”

SUNday

again the SCANZ team disappeared off to the four corners of the compass, the Govett Brewster gallery, the beach, the mountain and a farm - while we celebrated the arrival of the sun, as well as Karla and Leena, with a picnic at the accommodation [it was wonderful to be all around the same table and really there’s nothing better than a quiet Monteith’s Pilsner in the sun]

Stretching the legs and checking out the neighbourhood revealed glimpses of Taranaki and while down at the beach we finally found out where Leena had been staying all this time – although it’s a lot better knowing they are safely tucked up in number 6!

after the superb indian feast [thanks to Sara and a dedicated crew of helpers] there was the opportunity for SCANZ and non-SCANZ people to ‘swaray’ with the assembled crew here


after joining and orientating at the swaray stage participants could check in the luxury Caroshotel in preparation for the attending the Conference of Rumorology [and in a set-up closely resembling life here at WITT there was an adjoining paddock full of sheep!]

things started off well and all the stages were busy with visitors then some strange bug hit the network! – the staff and guests were left in a state of confusion when the manager got locked out of her hotel, a particularly wet and dispersed conjecture hit the conference and the delegates all left [although its rumoured they will return next week] the GE specialist in the pink lab coat was last seen forlornly counting sheep - there was a whisper she was endeavouring to herd them in an effort to get into Alex’s SCANZ film project

Sore muscels

O boy, biking 40 km was way too much all of a sudden for me. I am totally exhausted. I have arrived to residency many hours ago but I have been resting. Helen kindly brought me orange juice and rubbed my calves but I can't stand up yet. I will write more later on, now I must sleep.

out and about

yesterday while half the SCANZ people were out in the wilds of taranaki counting sheep we held another UpStage workshop. This time we limited the numbers to just the Out-of-Sync team Norie and Maria. They learned about the online environment and we set about creating a stage for them to hold the Conference of Rumourology as part of the ADA – Swaray [tonight Sunday at 9pm NZ time]

we were so busy we didn’t notice the bomb scare when this bag was discovered in the Carpark outside the accommodation block – closer investigation revealed it was from some well meaning but shy person dropping off a range of Pharmaceuticals to assist in getting Trudy out of her room and back into the Swing of SCANZ things [there have been so many disappearances and mystery illnesses this last week - is this a mutant computer virus sweeping through the group? people are dropping like flies! where is everybody i mean has any one seen Andrea Polli the last few days?]

After all that excitement it was time to head down to the Govett Brewster and check out the performance part of the 'What Colour does Sound make' exhibition. Pity Karla and Leena had to miss the eerie sound of the Nguru played by Richard Nunns [by just looking at her bicycle you can tell Len would have loved the Japanese ‘Rock-n-Roll’ as well….]


helen and i are extremely excited Karla and Leena are going to be back with us again – and luckily with Gillian Fuller on the job as ‘Quarter Mistress’ we definitely have enough sugar to cope with Len’s sweet tooth!

Biking to New Plymouth

I have been in one the greatest party in my life! Amazing group of absolutely crazy people arrived yesterday and we have been dancing and singing and laughing and eating and dancing and singing...

But now it is time to go back to the 'camp scanz'. My hostesses asked me to take a design bike to New Plymouth to their friend who will paint it 'pimp my ride' style. It is only about 40 kilometres (so they say) so I will be cycling back to Helen and Vicki, and hopefully also Karla has returned by the time I get there. Shouldn't take to long unless the road is still flooding.

See you soon!