International Paneling/April 2023
Image by ANANI
Is it the Last of the Old Days?
by Leo Kuelbs
Berlin
As we crawl away, further from the wreckage of the last three years, it is beginning to become clear that a lot has changed. I remember, back in 2019, thinking that life could only get better in the “Roaring ‘20’s.” Yikes! But the “roaring” part was right.
Between inflation, expanded volatility, a mental health and homelessness explosion, along with everything else the virus days wrought, it’s very much new waters for us to navigate. There seems to also be a clear authoritarian push when it comes to global politics. A larger war could be looming on the horizon. And we mustn’t forget climate-change-related calamities. If you want to put a positive spin on that one, I heard that Duluth, Minnesota is becoming a hot destination for people anticipating a water crisis. From my past experiences in Duluth, I know there isn’t an alcohol shortage up there. Oops! I actually meant Superior, just across the harbor!
Anyway, we are suddenly dealing with a lot more extremes--not only with the new environment we find ourselves in, but with people’s reactions to it. And the internet has now become a greater means to organize and mobilize the masses. It has also become a means to observe, predict, experiment on and manipulate. Oh, so that’s the price for all our “free” apps and services? I get it now. Even that 10-15% discount on your car insurance comes with your permission to have your driving monitored. When Facebook started, I remember thinking, who cares about all of this micro-intelligence on one person? Now that stuff is traded and sold to players from marketing firms to governments. Large-scale info trading and all that entails has definitely become a new thing/product which could only exist in a digital world.
And, as far as money goes, you are either on an ever-expanding yacht or on a melting iceberg drifting aimlessly out to sea.
And, as far as money goes, you are either on an ever-expanding yacht or on a melting iceberg drifting aimlessly out to sea. It’s just really wild times. A roller coaster ride from the familiar to somewhere new. You can pick your metaphor or have them all! I have a friend who made 100s of millions during the virus times, running testing centers. Is he happy? And property values have gone up about 20+% in the last three years. Which is great if you want to sell, but not great if you want to buy. Meanwhile, some are becoming “budgeteterians,” adjusting their diet to fit their income.
It is certainly a time of transition, which demands greater care all around. It’s like “The End of Us” --a new adventure at every level. Are we living a collective video-game life? Is our global collective subconscious boiling down into a few different camps, all certainly hostile to each other, while potentially also being warm and welcoming? Who is doing that boiling down? It’s tempting to go the conspiracy theory route these days. I mean, I totally believe in alien activity on this planet already, so it isn’t a big leap. But that’s just me and stuff I like to think about when I have some free moments. Instead of close-knit cabals, it’s more likely larger, general movements based on observable patterns made more accessible via digital info analysis. Fun stuff!
But hey, Spring is coming and I just crossed to the sunny side of the street. A cappuccino is on the way, and I am thinking about a Kinks song. Next up, I will go to the gym, then up to the art gallery to turn everything on for “Dream Speed,” and later, talk to about 20 people, I suppose. Life goes on. Hoping everyone out there is okay.
Shorty of the Week: Teaser for DREAM SPEED at Levels Gallery, Berlin!
There’s lots of news coming from our little corner of Berlin. The first is that a group of art peeps has just opened a new space. LEVELS Galerie is based in Weissensee, Berlin and plans to feature Photos, Film and Video works. Plus, lot of stuff arising from that group, including digital items. It’s a little bit off the beaten path, so expect a slightly calmer and less sceney vibe.
Meanwhile, after months in the making, the VR/Video/Sound installation, “Dream Speed,” is the debut show at LEVELS. “Dream Speed,” features one soundtrack (by Kris Force) which is played over a set of six projected works. Delve deeper into the VR version of the show and you encounter aspects of the six works in a virtual gallery space. The idea is to improve the VR experience by moving it closer to a more typical video art presentation. But the addition of the soundtrack makes everything more cohesive. Hopefully! Anyway, check out the trailer and link below!
DREAM SPEED is curated by Leo Kuelbs and Vadim Schäffler
Visual Art by: Mohsen Hazrati, Hye Rim Lee, Eva Davidova and MX Oops, Sarah Oh-Mock, Dagmar Schürrer, Vadim Schäffler; Sound by Kris Force
“Dream Speed is a multi-artist video, VR and sound art experience which exists in the physical and (sub)conscious worlds. As a means of building bridges between states, Dream Speed uses typical, projected 3D digital-visual components, as well as VR environments of the same works. The soundtrack, created specifically for Dream Speed, explores and manipulates tempo to induce a trance-like state. Viewers can commune with work in physical, auditory and VR spaces, paralleling levels and layers of consciousness….”
Image by Juliane Pieper
Poetry Place: Space Available!
by Sanj Nair
Virginia Beach
Wander
Inevitable the way the body starts to break.
How can we think it will not happen?
What hours of face care creams, what accumulated days on the elliptical will not alter.
So eat cake with too much cream cheese frosting.
Throw that handful of shaved chocolate into that banana bread. There you go.
The voice that speaks against you is from the future that should stay put.
This is now. This is the moment you realize everything falls apart,
that you’ve been falling apart, joint from socket, for decades, now.
This is age. Hit the ball as hard as you can. Watch it fly. Don’t ask where it will land.
Drink water like it’s going to become an unaffordable commodity;
it’s coming. But not today. Laugh too loud. Apologize to the neighboring table.
Then do it again if the joke suits. To think desire isn’t more than a wish
to remove all this, is to think that the future is far different than it will be.
We all fall down.
Imagine: In front of you stands Muir woodlands.
Thousands of years of experience. Do you think they’re waiting for the fall?
Thinking about the tiny traveler you are, wondering what you will leave behind
which may harm them, later?
Sure, the redwoods are born feeling the threat of fire in their Xylem.
But even ends in fire have their rewards.
Image by Tom D. Rotenberg
Playing with ChatGPT
by Mark Bailey
Minneapolis
My mom has an invention that she's been working on for some time. It's a device to make a kitchen activity more convenient. The other night, she told me that she plans to use AI to generate promotional copy for her invention website. This seems like a good use for AI. But if you're looking for writing with more substance, the tech isn't quite there yet.
Like everyone else, I've been playing around with ChatGPT lately. Beyond the sheer novelty of this software, its limitations are obvious. ChatGPT frequently gets facts wrong and most of its outputs feel inhuman in a subtle way. Many of its responses read like clumsy summaries of Wikipedia entries. And none of my queries related to arts and culture yielded anything interesting.
Within these limitations, ChatGPT is a remarkable tool. It excels at producing filler copy for websites. It composes excellent bad poetry and passable computer code. Its custom document generation potential may be formidable. But it's most notable aspect, in my opinion, is that it flawlessly reflects consensus reality back to us.
When asked to describe controversial events, ChatGPT answers with the consensus view. I asked it about Gary Webb and the Franklin Scandal and mass incarceration. In each case, I received an answer that sounded like carefully worded corporate talking points, synthesized from countless official statements into a single voice. A voice that summed up the status quo.
These programs are trained on data from across the web, and sometimes incorporate data from sources that never consented to have their data used in that way.
In a recent Guardian article titled, 'The stupidity of Artificial Intelligence,' artist and technologist James Bridle considers the economics of AI programs like ChatGPT. These programs are trained on data from across the web, and sometimes incorporate data from sources that never consented to have their data used in that way. Training big AIs also requires significant electrical power. Neither issue has an easy fix.
Some may worry that AI chats will contribute to technological unemployment. And it seems reasonable to wonder whether accessible AI has somehow influenced the current round of tech sector layoffs. The jobs of certain types of writers and designers are in probably in jeopardy. But new jobs related to the tech are also being created.
As a writer, I'm not afraid that AI will replace me. The information service I work for requires human discernment. The scifi novels I write contain layers of symbolism and meaning that computers can't yet replicate. For now, my job is secure against AI replacement. My strategy for maintaining this job security is simply to stay on top of the tech, incorporating it into my offerings wherever it makes sense.
I already use AI engines for graphics on a daily basis. And in becoming familiar with ChatGPT, I've found a tool that can be used to query consensus reality directly. This plays on my imagination in fun ways.
Installation view Peter Stämpfli Foundation, Sitges, Spain
The 10 Most Underrated Artists
by Dirk Lehr
Berlin
There are artists who have long since found their place in art history but nevertheless are still totally undervalued by the market. Artists who have co-founded important groups, such as François Dufrêne, or are among the main representatives of entire movements, such as Don Eddy or Peter Phillips. It's time to finally give them the respect they deserve. Here are the 10 most underrated artists who still have significant market potential:
1. Fritz Köthe (German, 1916-2005)
Köthe is the representative of German Pop Art and Photorealism. In his painted decollages, which look like tearouts from magazines and journals, Köthe combines sex, eroticism, advertising, consumer goods and motor sports, in which the female body usually plays a central role. With his photo-realistic painting style, he takes the disreputable that is sometimes inherent in his pictures to the extreme.
2. Peter Stämpfli (Suisse, b. 1937)
Stämpfli is one of the most important representatives of European Pop Art. In his bold paintings, he shows consumer goods and everyday objects such as puddings, drinks or irons. Particularly impressive are his sometimes very large-format car tire pictures, which are reminiscent of American hard edge paintings (see illustration). Anyone who has visited his museum in Sitges, Spain, knows about the impact and power of his work, which they still emanate today.
3. Richard Artschwager (American, 1923-2013)
As an object artist, painter and sculptor, Artschwager is one of the most important representatives of minimal art. He was represented at the Documenta in Kassel five times. He elevates furniture to an object, exclamation marks or quotation marks to installations, and items such as open books are reduced to mere form.
4. Getulio Alviani (Italian, 1939-2018)
Op art and kinetic art took place not only in France around the artists Vasarely, le Parc, Morellet and Cruez-Diez, but also in Italy. One of their main representatives is Getulio Alviani. He took part in the Documenta in Kassel and was represented several times at the Venice Biennale. He is best known for his aluminum works.
5. Alain Jacquet (French, 1939-2008)
Jacquet is an important representative of European Pop Art. Characteristic of his work is the gridding of original images, which he sometimes distorts beyond recognition. His works are reminiscent of camouflage patterns or painting by numbers results. Jacquet's repertoire includes paintings, works on Plexiglas, sculptures and projections.
6. François Dufrêne (French, 1930-2008)
Dufrêne is a co-founder of the Les Nouveaux Rèalistes artist group, which also included Yves Klein, Arman, Raymond Hains, Jean Tinguely, Daniel Spoerri and Jacques de Villegé. Dufrêne's decollages show the backs of posters that he tore down the streets of Paris. In this way, he revealed signs of age and weathering that are sometimes reminiscent of abstract painting. His works can therefore be described as the forerunners of today's street art.
7. Peter Phillips (British, b. 1939)
Phillips is one of the co-founders of British Pop Art, and one of its most important representatives. He reflects the commercial iconography and aggressiveness of advertising in dynamic image montages. Cars and car parts meet leopard heads, lascivious depictions of women, symbols and numbers. In this way, Phillips creates striking collages that form a narrative thicket.
8. Don Eddy (American, b. 1944)
Along with Richard Estes, Eddy is one of the most important representatives of hyper-realistic painting. He uses image templates that show car details such as chrome bars, rims and hoods or shop windows of shops and department stores. Reflections in window glass and on smooth or painted surfaces are characteristic of his work.
9. Günter Fruhtrunk (German, 1923-1982)
Fruhtrunk is one of the most important representatives of abstract-constructivist painting in Germany. His trademark are his stripe paintings, which are still very up-to-date today. His best-known work, which has been distributed millions of times, is the blue and white stripe design for the shopping bag of the supermarket giant Aldi.
10. Robert Barry (American, b. 1936)
Barry is one of the protagonists of American conceptual art. His works include installations with wires, inert gases, noises and above all with language. His text-based works are particularly well-known, above all room installations and pictures, on which he places words and concepts, sometimes in an unordered way, sometimes in an orderly manner.
Releasing too much Work? Take Comfort in Knowing you're in Good Company
Image by J. Pieper
by Adrian Pocobelli
Berlin
In the world of digital art NFTs, there is a heavy financial component, likely due to the speculative nature of blockchain and crypto ecosystems. As a result, there is a misconception among some NFT art collectors that artists should not release too much work, as it may hurt their "scarcity" and, as a consequence, the financial value of an artist’s work. In reality, however, being prolific is a quality that builds an artist's credibility and persuasiveness over time. When an artist produces works with ease and consistency, it shows that they know what they are doing and are in it for the long haul and committed to their craft.
Artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Picasso, Warhol, and Basquiat, have been recognized for their creativity, skill, and complete dedication. Their output has not been perceived as a sign of oversupply; rather, it’s seen as a sign of their ambition and has helped cement their importance as giants within the history of art.
Although Leonardo da Vinci only created around 20 paintings, he is estimated to have made 6,000 drawings. Rembrandt was also prolific, having produced over 600 paintings and 2,000 drawings. Vincent Van Gogh created 900 paintings and 1,200 drawings, most of which were made during the last three years of his life, which suggests he was making a painting at least every couple of days during that time.
Pablo Picasso is another example of a famously prolific artist, having produced an estimated 50,000 works of art, including paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and prints.
Pablo Picasso is another example of a famously prolific artist, having produced an estimated 50,000 works of art, including paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and prints. He was a master of many different styles, including Cubism, Surrealism, and Neo-Classicism, and he worked in several mediums, experimenting with anything and everything.
Andy Warhol was also incredibly prolific, having created over 9,000 paintings and 12,000 drawings during his lifetime. Jean-Michel Basquiat, who died at the age of 27, left behind 600 paintings and 1,500 drawings.
These artists were not afraid of releasing too much or worrying about scarcity; instead, it was quite the opposite—they focused on creating as much work as possible. On a basic level, one could argue that the greater the output of an artist, the greater the fame by virtue of distribution alone. Quantity matters.
For aspiring artists, the lesson here is clear: don't worry about scarcity, rather make as much as possible. Being prolific is also an advantage, as one inevitably becomes technically better with more practice. Contrary to what some NFT art collectors say, being a prolific artist is not only admirable but arguably essential to becoming a successful artist. All to say, if you're worried that you're releasing too much work, you can rest assured that you're in good company.
Image from a panel discussion at Regensburg’s International Kurzfilmwoche, 2023
A Limited Review of the Regensburg Int’l Short Film Festival
by Leo Kuelbs
The 29th annual Internationale Kurzfilmwoche Regensburg finally reappeared after a virus-induced hibernation this past March. I was lucky enough to present 15 different works from the Digital Fairy Tales series, as well as serve on the jury for a set of films with a lose architectural theme.
If you have never been to Regensburg, you should know that it is a very old place with lots of great architecture. Founded in Roman Times, it was the Middle Ages when merchants built towers to demonstrate their wealth and success. “The Manhattan of the Middle Ages,” had some rough centuries afterwards and was finally fixed up beginning in about the 1950s. In this very brief analysis, beginning in about the 1980s, a serious interest in silent era films took root as a kind of way of getting past the senselessness of the WWII era. This love of cinema has blossomed into a total of FIVE different film fests (Shorts, Silent, Queer, Horror, Indi) and FIVE art house cinemas! Music and culture of all types took root, as well, and now this lovely city is a vibrant arts mini-metropolis and frankly one of the most lovely places in Germany.
Besides the vibrant arts scene, Regensburg is also the home to the von Schönwerth archive of folk and fairy stories collected in the mid 1800s. The trove of about 500 tales and fragments is watched over by Erika Eichenseer, a retired teacher and expert on the fairy tale and folk culture and its meaning through the eras. It’s here where we come into the scene as we presented 15 short films based upon the von Schönwerth-collected stories with contextual support by Eichenseer herself. I will just mention a few highlights, as all 15 pieces had merit and, especially after the honor of watching 20+ further shorties, are all of a generally high standard.
The big screen came alive and also added life to wonderful featurettes like Juliane Pieper’s “Cat Man and Cat Ass Babe,” with soundtrack by Sea of Diaises. Pieper is based in Berlin and SoD is a Brooklyn-based outfit. This animated riff on tales built around tales of mischievous and slightly dangerous cats started the proceedings; and when followed up by the equally intriguing “Dark Nights and Black Cats,” by Kitzinger Gabor of Budapest and another Brooklynite, Alex Hamadey, made for a a fitting bookend and a promising send off. KG’s video was based on the same themes and was also an animation, but this time, coming from the Touch Designer app. It’s actually just a glimpse of larger world/environment created within the app and further developed and employed for greater uses and other projects.
Stills from the Digital Fairy Tales series by Julia Obst, Kitzinger Gabor, Vadim Schäffler and Tom Rotenberg
Live action videos from Julia Obst (“Aquaria” with musician Mark Fernyhough) and Alexis Karl with Adam Torkel (“Death and the Butcher”), were peaceful and powerful, respectively, and brought to mind the craftiness of production during the COVID era. Both with limited casts and sets, but used to a maximum potential.
There are too many others to name, but “The Pond Aquarius” by Jonathan Phelps and an amazing team, plus Tom Rotenberg’s”Liberatio Naturea,” with sound by Josh Graham, benefitted mightily from a big screen boost! The two hours went by quickly with a mixture of dark and light fare (dark=Sarah Oh-Mock’s art school jam, “Upgrade Now;” light=Vadim Schäffler’s animated buddy mini “You and Me”). Eichenseer broke up the proceedings with her authentic presence and knowledge of the basis material. It was a wonderful time, especially after half of the program had been sidelined since 2020.
Adéle Perrin’s performance-based “Jelly Skin” was moved to the “Anthropocene” program later that evening and started the group with a mad dash of color, movement and nice camera work. “Belle River,” a doc about the flooding in the USA’s Bayou, directed by Guillaume Fournier, Samuel Matteau and Yannick Nolin, came next and was warmed by great interviews and camera work, as well as a compelling topic. Features like this brought a sense of color and empathy to international proceedings. A German-Taiwan joint, “Taiwaste,” was smartly crafted and presented and added humor and a sense of humanity into the group which otherwise leaned a little heavily on man’s destruction of the planet. A pair of workers dropped off nuclear waste in the homes of Taiwan’s working-class neighborhoods. It literally brought these issues “home,” and I was happy to see the director Patrik Thomas in the house. “Sirens” (directed by Ilara DiCarlo) and “Oro Blanco” (Directed by Gisela Carbajal Rodríguez) deserve to be mentioned for looking great. But both were a little bit long and brutal with their important messages. In the end, it was a lot of great stuff, but also a lot to take in.
“Le Plateau,” directed by Inés Elichondoborde, took the section’s prize with a mix of great shooting, international content, architectural context and a human story of nature’s ability to always fight back.
Lastly, for me, I participated in the “Architectural Windows” section and I will just tell you that “Le Plateau,” directed by Inès Elichondoborde, took the section’s prize with a mix of great shooting, international content, architectural context and a human story of nature’s ability to always fight back. To me, this short film checked many of the boxes which I thought were key to the section’s intention. It also summed up a lot of what I saw throughout my 30+ viewed works. Warnings of humanity’s seemingly unrelenting impact on the earth ran throughout, and “Le Plateau” handled these topics with style and creativity, not just fabulous formal observation, critique and judgey vibes.
Other little gems included “Erich . 37. Sucht Wohnung,” (directed by Julia von dem Berge) a shorty about two prison pals and their hopeful, creative fantasies of a happier life, outside of an otherwise-oriented environment. Appreciation of which was also aided by the director and her Cinematographer (Felice Kaufmann), who were in the house. Their descriptions of the preparation process for shooting the shorty were priceless. “The Fruit Tree” isn’t listed in the catalogue, and was part of the private screening for the jury, but was also a favorite of mine and the other jurors. Two gals coming from Los Angeles to California City, a sort of artificially-created nether world, comment about their lives as we see life go on outside the window in the desert-like surroundings. A cut to sand blowing into a representative model of the same went on a bit too long, but was really nice when it first appeared. “Retreat” (another non-listed favorite), about private Macedonian citizen’s profits and losses from helping the US miliary in Iraq and Afghanistan is worth looking up. “Tears will Remain” (directed by Leri Matehha) about “champagne” production in the Soviet Union/Ukraine, as well as a short reflection on the nature of dodging responsibility, and “Puerto” (directed by Remedios Malvarez Baez) a meditation on thresholds, were educational and kept my eyes from glazing over. Truly a feat after so many short (and short-ish) ones.
Whew! And I want to thank the team from the Kurzfilmwoche for all of their work and also putting us up at Hotel Orphée—one of the most supportive, creative, welcoming accommodations for any kind of creative individual.
Max Diel, Akrobaten I, 2013, 120x170 cm, Öl auf Nessel
Artist in focus: Max Diel: Master of Melancholy
by Dirk Lehr
The Berlin based painter Max Diel, who lives in Berlin, finally turned to the subject many years ago after intensively studying the foundations of abstract painting. Photos and postcards often provide the starting point for his work. “The subject of the picture in the picture often plays a role for me. I capture exciting moments with my digital camera. These can be construction workers or painted walls. I often discover images in books or at exhibitions that inspire me. Then I start to connect the motifs, Diel explains in an interview. The independent pictorial statements of the existing pictorial material are transformed into both figurative and free painting, which remain side by side. Diel is not only concerned with the "what" and "how" of the representation, but in particular with the inner attitude towards painting or the individual picture, which always wants to be critically questioned. Diel deals with painting as such and the possibilities it opens up.
Max Diel, Transit, 2013, Öl auf Nessel, 120 x 100 cm
With the direct gaze of the curious, who wants to capture the enormous diversity of contemporary life in his painting, he repeatedly engages with the possibilities of colour, composition and content. In his eyes, sticking to a theme or a painting style can at best be the result of artistic striving, but never its intention. His pictures are almost always multi-perspective and again in several respects. Perspective multiple refractions often result from the "sampling" of different original images and one's own image reconstructions. Aspects of the outside world, which are e.g. borrowed from a photo, are bundled with inner images (experiences and memories) and brought into the whole. As a result, autobiographical aspects keep creeping into the work – a welcome opportunity to check the “authenticity” of a work. With each individual work, Diel repeatedly explores its artistic possibilities. The condition of the picture surface often plays a central role. Some works are light and elegant, while others bear witness to a lengthy, almost martial act of painting. It is often the traces that remain: scratched and torn paper or layers of paint. Sewn, glued or screwed picture fragments often leave something like scars on the picture surface. They thwart the obvious striving for a "beautiful" picture. It is the sentimentality and melancholy that always characterize Diel's work, but without appearing gloomy.
Last minute trip to Tbilisi
Images and text by Roberto Vitali
Berlin
in early march the weather in Berlin was miserable as it can only possibly be in this city, I was
looking for a way out, I needed new inspirations and inputs different from the usual routine and
rhythm of Berlin. On the 8th of March protests against a draft law erupted in the Georgian
capital city, Tbilisi. I was following the news and keeping myself in constant touch with friends
and aquantainces who are living there to monitor the escalation of the protests. I felt the urge to
go there and be part of it or at least to give voice to what I think I can do best: photograph.
the next morning I woke up and packed my backpack with the essential things even if I didn't
book any flight or hostel there yet. As for essential things I mean: cameras, film rolls, socks and
pants. While at work I decided to book a fligh that was departing from Berlin the same evening
and so I left my workplace earlier than usual to reach the airport and get on the Lufthansa flight
to Munchen which then brought me to Tbilisi in the early hours of the next day. I didn't manage
to sleep on the way to Georgia, I arrived in the hostel at 6am and couldn't do the check-in until
after lunch so I slept on the couch in the hall for a couple of hours. My jacket and clothes were
too warm for the sunny days in Tbilisi, I left some stuff at the hostel and went out on the street
to meet up a friend who moved there recently and together we walked our way to the
Parliament where the protests were taking place. Once we arrived we saw police patrol cars and
policemen gathered at the corners of the streets coming to the Parliament, the building itself
had signs of the violent protests that took place in the previous nights when thousands of
people took the streets to protest against the "foreign agent draft law".
Police holding the crowd from the back entrance of the Parliament building
Young protester with the national flag of Georgia wrapped around his shoulder
The main flags that were being waived at the protest were the Georgian one along the EU one
but also the Ukrainian flag was present since Georgia has been very active in the fight against
Russian occupation of Ukraine. Overall it was a peaceful protest, the violent ones took place the
nights before when the Parliament was still pushing for the draft law to become legal, only after
3 nights of protests the Parliament decided to withdraw the law in order to restore peace in the
People standing outside the Parliament in Tbilisi holding pro EU signs and waving Georgian flags
Woman handing out Georgian and EU flags at the protest
The path of Georgia to become member of the EU started back in 2008 and since then it has
gained limited access to what it feels like being a full member state. The younger generations are
keen on fighting for their freedom and to detach the country from the russian sphere of
influence, this is why so many people took the streets to protest against the law regarding
foreign influence in the country politics.
After the protest I wandered the streets of the capital and enjoyed every bit that the city could
offer me, amazing food, lovely welcoming people and perfect weather was the combo that I was
looking for to escape for a bit from Berlin. I had a great time in Georgia and it was a pity that I
stayed there for just a weekend but I'm happy that I could capture with my photos this bit of
history that was happening in
SPACE
Text and Image by Stu Spence
Sydney
I gave her a big pash and a squeeze, as usual. She said, “See ya later, masturbator” as usual, promptly turned, and made her way up the stairs, two at a time, as usual.
She had on a silver space suit puffer jacket, and I thought it’d make a nice pic, floating up the steps and into the darkness. I must have accidentally hit the timer button, and by the time the shutter had clicked, she wasn’t in the frame anymore. I sighed, vaguely annoyed, and strolled back to the car. It’d be the last time I’d see her, as my lover, anyway.
Many months later that empty picture somehow popped up on my phone, and I remember thinking, ‘Good portrait.’
Speaking of Stu Spence…
Just a quick one…maybe we can promo my upcoming show (part of which will be this pic/story)…great festival, which takes place in May 20th.
Exhibition title: ‘Hold It’ part of the 2023 Addison Road Writers Festival, Saturday 20th of May.
Where: Stirrup Gallery, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville Sydney Australia
When: Exhibition runs May 17th-21st What: Words weddded to photographs…from simple captions to micro-stories.