It’s hard to believe but we’re finally here. On the land, living the life, away from it all. It’s very beautiful – very green, very open, very rich. A good spot to do some good thinking.
It is, however, nowhere near as quiet here as I imagined. For a start, some bright spark decided to place the two water tanks right outside the bedroom windows rather than against the unoccupied side of the house – I keep awakening to what sounds like earthmovers every morning. Also, being a ‘working farm’ there’s a steady stream of 4-wheel drives, tractors and lawn mowers, not to mention the odd busload of Catholic school kids. I think it’s quieter in Glebe.
Interestingly, though, it’s nature itself that makes the most racket; besides the constant birdsong it’s the cows that you notice the most. For some reason they scream and groan for hours each afternoon, which is not in itself an unpleasant sound. In fact I spent a good half hour yesterday standing among them, fascinated by this primal and chilling call. I think the mum cows were distressed because their babies were trapped within a pen. It seems pretty cruel; I don’t know why they have to be separated.
I’ve found it a little challenging being away from my usual comforts – the local cafes, a supermarket, the harbour, texting, TV, my studio - although I must say that I tried bringing as many of those things with me; the carload was ridiculous. Strangely, though, I’m not bored. The potential of the fortnight is grabbing me. I feel very at home here. In fact, two weeks now seems nowhere near long enough. And it’s a bit of a relief not being in contact with my normal world. I was really craving it early on but our lightning trip last night to Nowra Woolworths very quickly cured that. I’m even thinking of cancelling my planned trip back to Sydney on Monday and simply staying on.
I’m feeling very creative and motivated but there are a few blocks. Firstly, I’m not used to spending so much time on stuff. It’s difficult to organize my day. It’s also difficult suddenly dealing with having to ‘fill time’ creatively – to actually find sounds, find ideas, find material to work with. I have all these abstract projects and concepts in mind – death, sleep, the hidden, night, intimacy, emptiness - but very few tools with which to realize them. All my piano ideas sound wonky and stupid, and my head isn’t clear enough yet to really absorb this site in a deep way. I’m flitting between things, which is not bad (in fact I like to work this way) but nothing is grabbing me much yet.
I’m also finding it difficult to reconcile what I want to do creatively with what the purpose of this trip is. In a way I just want to go off on my own tangent and spend this time working solely on my own existing and future projects, perhaps with one or two members of the group but not necessarily. Yet we’re meant to be generating new material based on collaboration and so forth. Fundamentally I believe in collaboration but my motivation towards it right now is pretty low – probably because I find it difficult to focus on my own projects during my day to day life (this is my first proper time away from the office for ages). I guess the first few days are going to be like this regardless.
Proper collaboration, for me, is much more than simply squashing together a few scantily-related disciplines (writing, music, photography – none of which have much connection really). It’s about foregoing and maybe forgetting one’s skills in order to focus on a greater outcome – privileging a concept or idea and embracing that without individual glory. Very socialist. It’s a very difficult way to work, though, because it requires a lot of mental commitment, trust, humility and vision. I’m not sure I know how to work that way with this group because I just don’t know everyone very well, although the themes that we’ve discussed so far – intervention, memory, reclaiming history - are broad and fertile enough to excite me.
Anyway, so far everyone has been working on individual ideas and exploring the site (Rhiannon more than others). To quickly summarize:
Ben has been wrapping things and taking photos. It’s nice work – he’ll find a simple object like a branch, a leaf, a bit of old farm machinery and bind it in red string. It reminds me of Andy Goldsworthy’s work, tiny interventions in nature like a yellow leaf on the ground or red stones in a creek.
Serena, from what I can tell, has like me been thinking more about her projects from the ‘real world’ – a piano concerto (?), a Kyrie for choir, a flute piece, some plays.
Dan has been reading up on artists, collecting natural materials like bark, mixing up berries into pigment, playing some piano and discussing some thoughts for a song cycle between us.
Rhiannon – well, Rhiannon has been doing her best to escape. She went on a giant walk which ended up a long way away from here requiring a dramatic rescue last night. I’ll let her explain the details in her own time. :-) She has been taking photos of unusual abstract formations in the bush and developing ideas from there.
Me, I’ve set out in a few directions – I worked up a sketch for a short film based on clouds; I’ve written a few pages of ideas for my Lullabies, Nocturnes and Death series’; I’ve ordered a whole bunch of photos; I’ve been collecting quotes from various writers; I’ve read up on Structuralism, Post-Modernism and Shelley; I’ve been listening to Low, David Lang and Bjork.
In the initial absence of strong collaboration I’m looking forward to more sharing of influences, some evening group activities. I’m dying to play some tracks and DVD stuff to everyone, perhaps read some books out loud, have more discussion about art and ideas. That may make me feel stronger about working together. God knows I brought enough support material.
That’s it from me. Over to blogger # 3.
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