There is a lot of dissonance going on in this accidental 3 min phone vid mix job …but somehow in a rather soothing way.

Excellent to reconnect with talented and visionary glass/installation artist Ruth Allen this month through an installation at the Frankston Arts Centre in Melbourne. I have sent down 3 sound pieces which will be pumped out onto the streets of Frankston. Two are old pieces written for other projects but which suit the nature of the work and one was designed especially for this installation using sounds made by playing various bits of Ruth’s glass work. Here are some snippets of the sound.

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For more information on Ruth Allen’s work go here.

You can also see some video snippets of our previous collaborations under the name GENERATE with dancer Tammy Meeuwissen. Look under video section for “the dome” & “SKIN-LESS” here. It is a flash site with video and audio documentation of my collaborative cross artform work 1998-2008. It takes a few minutes to load but its interactive and fun to explore. Built with my talented nephew Simon Ristevski.

It has always been a delight to collaborate with Ruth Allen as her mind is a fire of ideas and she is a powerhouse in terms of manifesting the unlikely verging on impossible. Working with her creatively is working magic. Bringing the underlying beauty, asymmetrical complexity and resonance of the world to the fore for all to see. She also introduced me to Buckminster Fuller whose ideas and work have always been a great inspiration for us both.

We will be doing a “meet the artist” event on the 21st of February. Love Melbourne!

Here is a link to the web cam of the Opera House http://luminous.sydneyoperahouse.com/sails.aspx

Eno’s ‘77 million paintings’ an installation with sound and slowly evolving images is gorgeous and one could happily inhabit it for days and come out the other end significantly closer to resolve.

Last night was a “conversation” between Brian Eno and Jon Hassell. Which was funny, intelligent, inspiring, affirming and hmmmmmmmmmm slightly disturbing in terms of the usual questionable white male gender and indigenous politics still being present ….even in these the most admired of my creative thinkers. Over all though wonderful to be present for it.

This was their starting point.

“We both come from an artistic frame of mind which assumes that art is in some sense practiced philosophy, that the decisions an artist makes aren’t separate from the world view that he holds and that art can be seen as a ‘working out’ of social/philosophical/cultural ideas. ” Eno 2009, Sydney Opera House

There is much I could say on this as it really is a very lived reality for me which is both wonderful and fraught with difficulty, as so many of these ‘creative’ decisions seem to be at odds with prudence. Prudence a word which i have been exploring the meaning of on a daily basis of late. I digress, I digress, I digress…. I could go on….. but i won’t for now ……….heading off to Canberra to engage in 2 creative collaborations with 2 old friends……more on that later… I am blessed!

Definition from Wikipedia
Prudence is the exercise of sound judgment in practical affairs. It is classically considered to be a virtue. Virtue is the ability to judge between virtuous and vicious actions, not only in a general sense, but with regard to appropriate actions at a given time and place. Although prudence itself does not perform any actions, and is concerned solely with knowledge, all virtues had to be regulated by it. Distinguishing when acts are courageous, as opposed to reckless or cowardly, for instance, is an act of prudence, and for this reason it is classified as a cardinal (pivotal) virtue.

In modern English, however, the word has become increasingly synonymous with cautiousness. In this sense, prudence names a reluctance to take risks, which remains a virtue with respect to unnecessary risks, but when unreasonably extended (i.e. over-cautiousness), can become the vice of cowardice.

I also scored 5 volumes of teachings from Swami Satyananda Saraswati. After years of practicing yoga and meditation on and off on my own, I have recently returned to regular yoga classes. I find it invaluable in maintaining focus in my life. I am prone to getting way to excited about too many things at the same time. Being pulled in every direction at the same time tends to create a stand still. i really appreciate the groundedness of the Satyananda approach and the fact that they introduce people to the breadth of yoga from the beginning. The physical exercises, the breathing, the relaxation. the chanting and the meditation. I also really respect the fact that they tend to do great work in the community, in prisons, schools, retirement homes etc…. There is also no need for color coordinated out fits or the perfect body. There is a healthy anti authoritarianism amongst the people who practice it and an interesting relationship between Australia and the Indian Ashram. There has been a strong relationship between the two ashrams here and in India since the seventies.

I was first introduced to the relaxation and creative imagination practices at the age of eleven as part of my youth theatre workshops. It has always stayed with me. And helped me through the more challenging times of my life.

Back to Melbourne: Here is some footage of the installation by Ruth Allen. We are now looking at making some glass instruments which I am very excited about. Its wonderful to work with long term collaborators. After recently coming out the end of yet another failed ” relationship” my creative relationships seem of even more value as continuity and depth of relatedness mean even more at these times. My creative relationships have often seemed more compelling to me than any and often perhaps the cause of strife in my “love” relationships. Enough for now………

This is a clip off my phone. The installation is in a window box and can be seen by the car focussed culture who drive past. The sound was an accidental throw together of the sounds: from the street including some very well timed truck noises, the sounds that were actually being pumped onto the street of mine, plus an overlay of some of the sounds i did for the installation (bowed piano) and a layer of Brian Siskind’s (FOGNODE) lap steel to top it off. He has a gorgeous EP, all lap steel, called “porch music” check it out HERE.

There is a lot of dissonance going on in this accidental 3 min phone vid mix job …but somehow in a rather soothing way.