My opening :)

It is always extra super great to have an opening of an exhibition that shows your work. But if it an exhibition of  photographs from dance performances and the opening is started off by a dance performance than it is double-extra-super-dooper exciting.

Sunday Trippin'

when devastation becomes beauty (or why are we fascinated by disasters?)

 

  The road ends here. From here on it is skinny dipping only.

 The forest ends here. Only toothpicks remain.

Civilisation as we know it ends here. No electricity, no mobile phones, no internet. Just cold, fresh air remains.

Slovenia's answer to its lack of coast line.
(You didn't actually think I was going to answer the rhetorical question from the beginning did you?)

Playing a writing game

2 shows/ 1 evening. Them / us / some other them / me.

The first (What remains) was in reality a film screening with a support act of two dancers slow dancing across the stage. The dance was pushed so far into the background it was either washing the dishes in the cellar (not to be snuffed at, for if we are to believe Down and out in Paris in London there was a time George felt almost privileged to soak his hands for hours on end for half a loaf of bread and a few bottles of cheap plonk) or was dangling on hanger number 512 at the very back of the cloakroom, while the film took a leisurely stroll down the red carpet, pausing every now and then to smile for the slightly flabbergasted paparazzi. It all seemed a bit like advertising a screening of Battleship Potemkin as a concert by Edmund Meisel (both exceptional in their own way, but their positions and relations seem quite clear from today's perspective, unfortunately I have no idea how it was perceived in 1925). 

And I think I wrote all my clever (I know, the reality is that it is middle of the road rambling at best) ideas for the first one of the evening, so not many of my brain cells remain in working order to write about the second performance of the night (What happens when you touch it), which was more a game, an exploration in which the dancers toyed with movements, bodies and body parts, synchronization, sounds... But you know, as I always think (and say less often, but always when asked): Go and see it for yourself, you never know when something you see will collide with those strange, fragmented, slightly damaged and hard to reach memory fragments in your brain and inspire you to do something inspiring of your own. 

I say what I am told to say

It was fun to watch a performance that tackled my day time job, and to top it off it made me want to read more Beckett (maybe even everything he wrote, just so I would be considered crazy (as they state in the play)), which I will do as soon as I finish the books I am currently reading. 

One never knows

what this guy will do for his next exhibition.

One of the rare performances

where it was better to stay outside if you wanted good photographs (unfortunately I didn't),

3rd time lucky

There are very few exhibitions I have seen so many times.

Alice in Wonderland

I tried to get in to their last rehearsal before the opening night, but it all got a bit too hectic, so I was invited to the opening night instead, but just to watch... So, no photos from the performance, but just a wonderland one of the final bow.

Waiting for Freddie

There I was waiting for Freddie. Pacing up and down the cold street waiting for him to appear from around the corner on his bike.
(you say ice, I say where?)

Wild berries

not really such a tough name for a band, but they certainly managed to stay around for decades.

 But as a lot of the crowd was way to young to remember them from back then, I guess they came to watch the girls dancing on the tables.

B-side for children

of all ages...

Remixing

not music, but a dance performance, the one we did a couple of years ago. 

First time out

after almost a week. Mind you, it was just a quick -IamstillnotsureIam100% - skip to Bikofe where I met the guys, grabbed a quick coffee (first one in over a week, and even though I am not a coffee addict, it sure felt good, I guess mainly because it meant I was out and about, which might just possibly be an indication that my fever has truly passed), decided quickly where and what we want to do and went and did it. And that was my first outing in a week. But I am sure I will have another one tomorrow. And photograph something different.

Freedom

does it truly exist out there, or is it merely a figment of my imagination? Or is it nothing more than a part of the cunning propaganda that is splashed through our brains day in, day out.

The man

 with all the toys. And the radiowaves.

And the live performance on the night.

Behemot

 One moment it is open

The next it is shut. For good. He did an excellent job, unfortunately this is sometimes just not good enough. So I guess we will soon all be forced to buy cheap books from the supermarket (you can find our finest selection of the top 20 bestsellers on aisle 27, between nappies and  corkscrews) or order them from Al Capone's Amazon. 

Tell us

how it used to be.

Refocusing

Of course

we all took loads of photos at the opening of this photographic exhibition.
And afterwards we returned to Ljubljana for a drink and stumbled on a blues concert.

New year

and we are back to our old tricks. The first thing I wanted to go and photograph was cancelled due to illness (get well soon G or M - I guess it is one or the other and hope that it is not both). On the positive side (I am totally convinced I am one of the most optimistic depressed people ever) that gave me more time to work on the translations I have to hand in soon in the new year (for all of those complaining that you have to go to work on the 2^nd already and that we freelancers have got it easy). Anyroad, none of this has got anything to do with all you, so I will just skip to the evening and the photo part (so, without further ado, here it is):

This was the first band (D'Zombies) and this was how we all felt (it was 1^st January, so most were still tired from the night before)    

 And here I was playing dodge that sliding trombone with one of the musicians (that was a new game I discovered - so I have already made my first major new discovery of the new year)

 Then came the band that traditionally organises this concert (Carina) and I thought that the singer looked pretty happy.

 (Just a quick photo of the whole band before I sign off. Goodbye and talk to you soon. Oh, and even though I am not much into all this, you might be: Happy New Year to you all)

A bit of audience participation

 and the singer drumming

 and the guitar player, just to show that there were other people in the band.

Don't forget

what he always says: Poetry is cool!

Friday

After translating all day (man are these deadlines tough), I went to the anti-corruption demonstrations, because, let’s face it, what is the point of working all day, trying to earn a bob or two, when most of the money I earn will just be spent to replace the colossal dosh holes in the state budget that occurred because some morally bankrupt (but not financially!) people thought that it is much better for them to have a lot of money, as it would otherwise be spent on health care, education, food, clothes, housing for the poor and nonsense like that. And this would obviously be a huge waste of money that is just lying around waiting to be snatched by anyone with no scruples whatsoever. 

 

After that I went to see a rehearsal for a performance, because let’s face it, what’s the point of working and fighting for your rights if you ain’t got no culture… so you need to go and support it in some way. And the good thing is that there is always something new (well, OK, almost always).

After the performance I just had to go and check out whether it was true that a starship has just landed in the Ljubljana Modern gallery. I mean, really. Out of all the places, right here, almost on my doorstep. And guess what? Yes, it really was there. Neatly parked in the basement. (However, it did appear to be slightly knackered from all the travelling it had done). 

 

And to bring this long Friday to an end I popped to a local café for a bit of live jazz music and a nightcap. (Because, you know, did I mention the deadlines? Yes, you guessed it, Saturday will be  another working day, just like Sunday)