our lady of

Thomas Demand had a show in the CCA gallery just before the research program ended, coinciding with the Open Studios. In the CCA there were absolutely gigantic floor wall length photographs of a reproduction building in Kokura, the ‘Black Label’ bar. The bar is a tiny ‘mama’ style bar in a seven sided three story building. The building stands alone on a strange gravel patch on an island formed by 3 roads. The strange shape of the bar is accounted for by the fact that a developer recreated the bar in a new location in order to secure it’s previous site for development.  A small neatly framed photograph or a reproduction of the CCA gallery hangs in the ‘Black Label’.

The CCA kids went by to see the work, invaded the 6 seater bar to the amusement of the regulars and were fed til bursting point.  This was taken by my friend Kyoko, it was about one day before I left for home.

Well, finally I can get photobucket to work again, and so am putting up some posts about the last part of my stay in Japan.

At the end of the CCA residency we showed our work inside the studios. I made two works for the show, the more successful work was a pickle making sculpture, called ‘portable ends (things under pressure)’ , the work is a wood and concrete structure that applys pressure onto the vegetable contents of various vessels making tsukemono.

The CCA also published a sort of collective artist book as an exhibition publication.

Today I woke up very cold and looked outside to find snow falling. Today is the first day the snow had built up on the ground here. I saw Takako at the apartments and she thankfully persuaded me not to ride my bike.
The CCA garden and parking lot.


outside the studios.

I walked up to the cable car and took a trip up Mt Sarakura. Snow was maybe 30cm thick at the top of the mountain, deeper off the paths.


walking down back to the studio, many drawings in the snow.

I go to Kyoto tomorrow, will be cold there i think.

Two of the CCA artists, the glamourous, Tamara and Carl organised a Dice party at number 502. A special table and chandelier were constructed, along with special green baize boxes to roll in and hand made die. The good (and terribly cute) bartender of Bar 107, came to mix some of his sensational cocktails for the impossibly louche crowd. The colour scheme was a minty turquoise and black, the lights low, and the Gin strong.

Tamara and Carl with the cocktail maestro.

Martini

I donned a black crepe frock with grey screenprinted flower, grey fishnets, gold glitter shoes and false eyelashes. Little did I know the truth that a stray flash photograph revealed, Tamachan and I looking like 16 year old dressed up to get into a bar.

yes I turn 29 this year.

Back in Kitakyushu on Christmas day, I met Tamara and Karen at Ikki for a delicious Takoyaki dinner with very light and fluffy sponge ‘christmas cake’.

Weather turned very cold, hailing and snowing. On New Years Eve, Takako, Karen, Tama-chan and I made a delicious nabe dinner. Quiet in the studios with the snow falling outside.

around 12 we braved the cold and walked to two temples and a shrine to bring in the new year. The first temple we were afraid was a strange, gas loving new religion but just turned out to be an old temple built in a very western style - with a lot of gold leaf. We got to strike the gong, one go for each of us. Tak was trying to find a temple where they make longevity soba at 12, and so asked for noodles - a very dismayed but gracious lady gave us a mountainous bag of chips!

Onto the actual noodle temple, further up the hill, a party atmosphere with more gongs, fairy lights and a long line of people serving delious free soba. Here we are in the line.

The shrine was all outdoors and cold, but beautiful with many fortunes and prayers to buy. Tak went into interpreter overdrive to translate all of our fortunes - my year will be like a branch of blossom slowly opening up, by the way. Takachan looked after us so well, and made my Japanese New year beautiful. She even made us special lucky breakfast the next day.

Last week the Nippon Steel festival was celebrated in Kitakyushu. The festival commemorates a bad blast furnace accident. As the steel mill operation is now greatly reduced in size, the festival had a curiously empty feel, as though there was no heart to the maze of food stalls, Enka singers, dancing contests and more food on sticks stall, reminding me of Australian Agricultural shows, but without the more interesting activities. Seeing a crowd of people in Yahata was a strange experience though, suddenly our sleepy neighbourhood was, well, populated. Youichirou organised for the CCA artists to have a small exhibition in a disused shop - mostly visitors were too intimidated by the Gaijen sitting the show to come in unfortunately.

There were several stalls selling small turtles, or red and black goldfish. 500yen.

The final fireworks were preceeded by a strange Jpop lookalike concert. In orderly Japanese fashion, blue tarps were layed out on the ground, everyone taking their shoes off before sitting down.

The fireworks were overshadowed by green lazers. Maybe we invent fireworks because the stars get boring, just to cover them up with strobing combs of green light. A depressing sight.

On wednesday I went on a road trip to Beppu, driven by the lovely Youichirou and accompanied by the lovely Carl and Tamara. Beppu is famous for its Onsen, for bathing and “Hells”, that are volcanic water and mud features for looking at. Our practical excuse for going was to help Youchan collect spring water for his bar, however we had a great day exploring waterfalls, gorges, going to farmer’s shops, eating on bamboo covered mountainsides, marvelling at sulphurous steam craters and of course soaking in a hot mineral spring.

stowing the spring water.

One of the springs we collected from, this one is in a temple.

ummm volcanos.

Youfuin Gorge, a river gorge carved out of volcanic cliffs.

Tamara and Carl climbing up near a gigantic waterfall.

in Beppu town.

Volcanic mud crater. This being Japan, there was a woman wearing insanely high stilletoes and an evening dress right next to this boiling and sulphurous pool.

smelly!

ahh our own onsen. The water tasted coppery, i think we still smell like money.

On friday the lovely staff at the CCA and the artists had a japanese style BBQ. It was fun and delicious. Us westerners are not all that adapted to Konjak yet though, and barbecued slabs of it is kind of difficult to eat, but also to refuse. Then we all got a little roudy and insisted the music be at least the same volume as people talking, which worried the staff, as they have much experience of noise complaints. Sometimes it is hard to remember that the Japanese have such an obedient and considerate culture, around public/private space.

Tonight I went out to dinner with Takako. We were both tired from going to see KTL, a noise band, with Peter Rehburg and Stephen O’Malley from Sunn O))). We were out til 6am last night and I had three hours sleep before going into the studio. I took the cable car up Mt Sarakura and sat watching the beautiful panoramic view for a few hours.

anyway… back to dinner, we went to a small restaurant, one woman (the owner) doing all the cooking. It was really traditional Mama style japanese food. We ate rice, miso shiru with two types of tofu, tsukemono, pickled herring with onion (which reminded me of thai barramundi with green mango), a beef tendon stew, grilled sama (an oily deep sea fish), grilled sewers of pork, leek and a type of acorn, and a green salad. Oishi desu ne?!

The total bill came to ni-sen-en (2000 yen) or around 21 aust$, so really 10 bucks each. plus the woman was so nice and chatted to us from behind the bar.

On the way home we stumbled into an old grocery store and met Ryoko San, a lovely woman who let us explore behind her shop, into a forgotten world of a deserted food market - gone for 50 years. The stalls borded up and decaying, a wobbly cobwebbed christmas tree lurking next to a shinto shrine at the back. Ryoko san gave us three pottery statues of the “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” Monkeys, a bamboo pail and an old hand dyed apron (which Takako collects). We washed the dusty monkeys and now they watch over the studio fridge.

I can tell group photos of the CCA artists are going to get pretty boring - there are only 7 of us, which does not really make for endless interesting permutations for the camera. So today other things…

A mikan. Takako gave me one, as you can see it is green on the outside and orange in the inside. It tastes like a slightly tart mandarine. Mikans are grown on Kyushu, they are delicious.

And some Daikon drying in the sun. The project I have started at the CCA is called ‘portable ends, portable beginnings’ or maybe just portable ends. I will be making several sculptures out of rope, string and seeds and skins of fruit, BUT currently the most interesting part of the project is the pickling. I am making several quite complicated Tsukemono- japanese pickles. The first of these is a Daikon pickle which needs to sun dry for 20 days and then be pickled in Rice Bran.

The idea is i guess to suggest portable time.