Enlightenment Through Solitude (Winter in Beijing)

This winter I will embark on a new journey in China. The journey of "Enlightenment Through Solitude." The winters are brutal, so living a somewhat hermit lifestyle will help me get through some difficult things I have not dealt with fully. As part of my endurance project, I will continue to produce new work, writings, and make myself read some things I've been meaning to read.

Reading List for my "Enlightenment Through Solitude" experience in Beijing Winter 2008-09.

1) The King James Bible
2) American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau
3) Riding the Iron Rooster, Paul Theroux
4) No one belongs here more than you. Miranda July
5)

Friends suggestions:
Tolstoy's Anna Karenina
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own (1929)


I also decided to get some books on tape. I like being read to and the sounds fill the space, making cold, quite, winter nights seem warm.
On my Audible list:
1) Anna Karenina (sorry Krista! its huge and ran out of packing space, but i really wanted to hear the story)
2) Malcolm Gladwell's new Outliers
3) David Sedaris' Naked & Holidays on Ice

I have a growing WISHLIST too! Lets hope I can download from there.


Reading for when I return:
The Plum in the Golden Vase (3/5 written) David Tod Roy's Translation (93, 01, 06)
Jin Ping Mei original English translation The Golden Lotus (1939), Clement Egerton



As with any great laborious journey, I will celebrate with some decadent beach vacation for the Chinese New Year, marking the end of a chapter. I am enlisting a crew to ensure help me celebrate.

Contact me for details.

ps
for those of you who have not received news of Henry and I's break up, Henry ended things with an "I'm not ready" and since I have found new inspiration and have a lot of gratitude for what seemed at first to be bad news. I am looking forward to taking a leap into my future with an new found eagerness to see what is next.


Don't be sad, it is afterall just another chapter. And in all fairness, I wouldn't have gotten to Beijing if it weren't for my interlude with Henry. I had compromised too much to be with him, hoping he might surprise me. Well, he just confirmed all my fears and I can confidently move forward without him.

Return to NYC (at least for now)

IF YOU ARE READING THIS,

first, thank you for caring;

second, come to Vol de Nuit 6 pm - 8 pm
Thursday for a reunion with me & Henry!

148 W 4th St
New York, NY 10012
(212) 982-3388


The tour home began in Beijing. I traveled to Shanghai, flew to Atlanta, drove to NYC, Newport RI, & Boston. Still reeling from the process.

Now Im getting my bearings, settling some business, and looking to take care of plans for the upcoming year.

Hope to catch up with friends while Im back, so please call me or email.
Lets make a date!

XXX
Su

Back In The Heartland Again (sorta)

I'm coming back home!

This is a funny video my friend Mia sent me that is a totally funny take off of Sex and the City I wanted to bring home. Mandarin with an American accent and cross cultural translation issues with naming.

Hilarious.



CALL FOR TRAVELERS & COLLABORATORS

Looking for people who want to travel around China by train (or around Asia in general).
I have a documentary idea that would be great to discuss, as well as,
just documenting the travel and experience.

email me with any interest or ideas!





The fall is still uncertain, but I am playing around with a couple ideas.

1) if all goes smoothly with subletting and apt fixing...
Fly to Seoul meet Henry, then Busan for the Busan Biennale 2008 in early November.
The Biennale ends 11/15.
Then settle into Beijing new apt and studio.

2) if there is more work to do...
Stick around until late Nov. then fly directly to Geneva then follow Henry back to Beijing.

End of November, the plan is to fly to Geneva to meet Henry and his parents and spend a few days in Chamonix together. Then back to Beijing by early December just in time for the long hard winter.

Trip 2: Week 16 Final Days of Summer

Taping, CaoChangdi Studio (2008)

What I Did This Summer...

1. I saw and experienced the Beijing Olympics Mayhem in all it's Spectacle and Splendor!

2. Did a art residency at Art Channel Beijing & made new work

3. Spent QT with Henry

4. Met wonderful new people

5. Learned more about China

6. Committed to a studio for a year


Some Favorite Places to See in Beijing:

1. Laitai Flower Market at Lady's Street, 9 Maizidian Xi Lu, 6463 6554

2. Guanyuan Flower, Bird, Fish, Insect Market, NE corner of Fuchengmen (down from Lu Hsun Museum), 6616 5509

3. Houhai Lake/Drum&Bell Tower Area


Places to Still Seek Out and See:

1. World Park

2. Laoshan Velodrome

3. Lomo Flagship Store, 9 Longtoujing Jie, 131 2691 0483

4. Burton Qiaobo Mellow Park, 6 Shun'an Lu, Shunyi, olli@mellowparks.cn

5. A brand of Chinese Traditional Medicine, Tongrentang, 24 Dashilan Jie, Qianmen, 6301 4883

6. Maybe Mars, local record label shop, 31 Dongmianhua Hutong (east off Nanluoguxiang), 5149 1662


Local Folklore:
6 is a lucky number for artists and intellectuals.
8 is the lucky number for everyone.
9 is the lucky number for the emperor.

Trip 2: Week 15 End of an Era

My last days at Art Channel...

Art Channel opened a show called "Earthquake" 100 days after the Sichuan megaquake.

The artists include Artists: Ai Weiwei\Bai Congmin\Cai Yuan & Xi Jianjun\De Gang\Huang Rui\Wang Sishun\Wang Tiewei\Wu Xiaojun\Xu yixing\Zhao Bandi\Zhao Junsheng\Zhao Yebai & Zhao Ling\Zhou's Father and Son\Zhu Luming, Curator: Shu Yang.

Hear are some highlights.

It is a bit bitter sweet leaving the residency at Art Channel for a brand new world at CCD 300. The new space is raw. Building the walls, putting in plumbing, windows, doors, painting radiators. One of the workers had an accident yesterday and had to go in for stitches. I saw him just as he was headed to the hospital. A gaping hole in his shin the size or a quarter. Think his bone was visible. He had run into the doorway where a nail was sticking out for some reason, right at shin height! Henri, the Chinese Artist/Developer of this complex took him to the hospital. In the end it cost 300 RMB. So, I guess the health care prices here are a big benefit to everyday people. An emergency room visit would cost in the thousands in the US if you had to pay on your own. For some reason its cheaper to get get medical work done if you have insurance. I don't mean with a deductible, but that often times doctors/hospitals have preferred rates for the insured. Counter intuitive.

In moving my work and installing a few photos in the group show, it took a tricycle driver and two art installers and a very sweet Henry! He spent his day off to help me move and get sorted in the new place. Not quite a space yet.

PRICE OF LABOR:

Tricycle Driver
20 RMB for a trip cup the street with loaded flatbed with help loading/unloading
(approx $3)

Installation Workers
(20 RMB/per person/hour)
1 hour = 40 RMB aka Yuan (approx $6)

PRICE OF A RAW WALL:
approx 30 sq meters
3,000 Yuan (approx $440)

PRICE OF A CUSTOM DOOR:
600 Yuan (approx $88)

PRICE OF TWO WINDOWS:
500 Yuan (approx $75)

PRICE OF IKEA LIGHTING FIXTURES:
(approx same as the States)


Are you beginning to get the picture?
Labor vs. Goods

Besides illustrating the kind of budget it takes to build your own studio or get things done around here, this is a good way to keep a tally on my spending, as it is all done cash in hand, with the exception of IKEA of course. They take card, but not AmEx.

And remember the 100 RMB note is the largest note available, while the smallest paper note is 1 mao.
That is 10 mao in 1 RMB. Coins go down to 1/100 of a RMB and weigh in at almost nothing.


My Shopping List:

PRICE OF SOFT SLEEPER OVER NIGHT TRAIN TO SHANGHAI:
500 RMB (approx $75)

PRICE OF ONE NIGHT CLUB LEVEL IN A LUXURY HOTEL IN SHANGHAI:
2,740 RMB ($400 with taxes and fees)

PRICE OF ONE WAY SUBWAY FARE IN BEIJING:
2 RMB (approx $0.30), the bus is half of this!

PRICE OF TAXI TO CAOCHANGDI FROM CBD:
40 RMB (approx $6), Flagfall is 10 RMB included in the total.

PRICE OF BREAKFAST AT "NORTH AMERICAN DINER: PAUL AND EGGS":
55 RMB (approx $8, and no tipping!)


Let me know what you'd like to know the price of...

XXX
Su