August 30, 2016
Happy one year birthday to Grey Tiger, our ex-resident’s on-hiatus project

Congratulations to Ryan Ringer that his cafe-bar Grey Tiger is one year old this month!  Opening up Grey Tiger was his on-hiatus project when he was with us last year. We can only hope that he had a good time at RFAOH at this point, but if any of you happen to be in Toronto, Canada, go visit Grey Tiger and ask him in person while supporting his big project! ^^ You can check his past reports on our archive page -> https://residencyforartistsonhiatus.org/past-re…/ryan_ringer/

image courtesy : Grey Tiger’s FB page

 

August 29, 2016
an unplanned photo walk in the abandoned streets of an abandoned city

Hello everyone hope that you all would be doing great. After posting my first write up for the residency I have realized that it was quite depressing. All the frustration of the last six months of being on an artist block was transferred into my post unintentionally. But I am glad that RFIOH has given me new energy, hope and will. I have been reading all the posts from my fellow residents and I am really looking forward for the upcoming posts. So, finally I stepped out of my home two days back, carrying my camera and went for a photo walk with totally unplanned destination. My mind was free and relaxed and I kept walking on streets and documented random objects showing signs of negligence. I love to document found objects most specifically personal belongings and abandoned buildings.

I caught a street beggar having lunch after collecting random stuff from the streets.

 

 

A very interesting coal store house was found. I really enjoyed the process of packing coal in the sacs and putting each sac one on another in a foam of quite a well-planned heap.

 

While reviewing the pictures again on my way back to home I have realized that most of my documentation was based on the abandoned walls of the abandoned buildings. I have found these layers of different colors very appealing and I tend to find faces and stories in these images. I am glad that my mind have started working.

 

 

 

August 25, 2016
friendly fish (& farmers)

Some neighbors and strangers have been incredibly welcoming and generous:

Last week, a few days after our arrival,
a farmer gave us one of his watermelons,
handing it down from his tractor.
Marmalade loves watermelon AND tractors,
so beyond a simple act of kindness
this becomes the most welcoming gesture one could possibly make to her.
And the fresh cool taste made us grateful to be living here.

Last night while at the beach,
a fisherman came over and asked if we were on holiday.
Mohammed said no, that we were looking to buy a farm and live here.
He nodded and handed Mohammed and Marmalade his bag with five fish inside.
Again, an act of welcoming beyond imagine,
as Mohammed had been homesick for saltwater fish.
Gutting, stuffing with spices, frying, and eating became a holy ritual,
returning him to himself, filling some emptiness inside.
You are what you eat, and they became a little more at home,
and this place became more of our home,
by being given them, and by eating them.
We are grateful.

We’re not sure of the species,
yet Mohammed had seen them alongside the rocks
when he went swimming with his mask last week…
now curious to go back and learn more about them,
and the other creatures living in this stretch of the ocean.

 

And yet, my time of welcoming was fast approaching:
one of our (temporary) neighbors, a farmer
with three (not so little) pigs, a field full of vegetables and lots of fruit trees,
invited us over to meet the pigs, and see his farm,
(and his well, which we can use to get buckets of water).
Near the pig enclosure, there were some butternut squash
growing on a vine along the ground.
Marmalade asked what they were, I replied “Kürbis”
as she is familiar with the German name for them,
(& it is one of my nicknames for her as well).
The farmer bent down and picked one, giving it to Marmalade to hold.
(As a vegetarian, this Kürbis is my saltwater fish,
which I typically make into a Caribbean-style squash & bean stew)
bringing a taste of my own liking into our temporary home.
He also dug some sweet onions, and picked peppers and tons of tomatoes,
which I’ve used to make some seawater pasta (recipes perhaps in later blog!)

The greatest gifts are those given openly from the heart,
and given to weary travelers who are trying to make a new life in a foreign land.
Added to the joy that all the produce was biologic/organically grown,
a warm thanks to the pigs for supplying the fertilizer.

 

 

August 21, 2016
frog in the well

 

 

I have been playing cat & mouse 

with a frog who is living in the well.

Possibly a leopard frog, or a close cousin,
it loves to lay in the drainage tube
or sun itself on the nearby cement,
lying in quiet wait of some prey.

Every time I approach, it jumps into the well.
I’ve gotten stealthier, and perhaps its gotten more trusting…
either way I’ve been hoping to catch it within a photograph.
Or better yet, a video.

Luckily, this morning, I noticed it was a bit slower to descend.
So around noon, I took my tablet over for another try at capturing it,
and saw that it was distracted by two dragonflies hovering overhead.
I’m not sure I have gained its trust quite yet,
but I’m grateful to be able to share this scene with you,

From the first sploosh during our first arrival,
I’ve been curious to really get to know it, befriend it even,
reminded of a passage in the writings of Chuang Tzu:

“Haven’t you ever heard about the frog in the caved-in well?
He said to the great turtle of the Eastern Sea,
‘What fun I have!
I come out and hop around the railing of the well,
or I go back in and take a rest in the wall where a tile has fallen out.
When I dive into the water,
I let it hold me up under the armpits and support my chin,
and when I slip about in the mud,
I bury my feet in it and let it come up over my ankles.
I look around at the mosquito larvae and the crabs and polliwogs
and I see that none of them can match me.
To have complete command of the water of one whole valley
and to monopolize all the joys of a caved-in well–
this is the best there is!”

(it goes on, with the turtle of the Eastern Sea informing the frog that
the Eastern Sea is a far greater world than the one the frog has mastered.
An ancient version of calling out the frog’s “big fish in a small pond” mentality.
But I include this verse as an act of compassion to this frog,
a tribute to living in this almost abandoned well,
waiting for the rains, waiting for food to fly by;
somewhat nervous about my semi-constant visits.
I wouldn’t want to be the frog, I’m too nomadic, I guess;
but like many of the farmers we’ve met here,
who’ve spent their whole lives mastering their fields and waiting for the rains,
I enjoy their home and am glad that they enjoy living here.)

 

August 20, 2016
música das cabras

On our second day here,
about halfway on our way to the beach,
we noticed a “Vende” sign on a smaller farmland
and decided to stop on the return trip;
the field was full of goats, each with a bell chiming around its neck.
An old goatherd was watching them very intimately, calling them by name;
we were totally entranced by their chimes.

2.3 hectares, grazing land split by a dirt road,
with a wall of a ruin set far back on the property,
tucked away near the back in the shade.
Not sure the price, the goatherd did not know,
we will call the number listed but have to wait for phone credit.
It isn’t quite enough land for all three families,
but it is really lovely, and might serve us well.

Once we got credit, we sent a message inquiring of the price.
Tiago responded, but gave us no sense of the price he was expecting.
We made an offer, but haven’t received a response.

Nonetheless, we pass by everyday,
enjoying the música das cabras.

 

August 18, 2016
birdies in the hedgehog

 

We discovered an active swallow’s nest,

which Marmalade says looks like a hedgehog,
stuck on the ceiling in the ruin, our new habitation,
with three baby birdies that occasionally pop their heads out.

The parents nervously fly in and circle,
once crashing into each other in their panic on seeing us;
but occasionally they forget their fear and enter their nest to feed their young.

At first we were a bit concerned that the wouldn’t land with us here,
so we would leave the space when they repeatedly tried to enter;
but I’m happy to report that they have normalized to our presence a bit,
and now spend more time here while we were here.

(Upon arrival, I had said “I miss our garden balcony,”
a magical space inhabited not only by the flowers and fruits planted,
but frequented by a steady stream of pollinators,
and earlier this Spring, a family of blackbirds,
(funnily, one of the young flopped inside
and scuttled down the hallway during flight lessons),
and afterwards, in the same nest, a family of sparrows.
I missed having a place to call home, even temporarily.
But by evening, seeing all the creatures occupying this ruin,
I felt quite at home again.)

I enjoy camping, real unplugged camping,
because the outside world becomes your living room,
and all sorts of creatures come to visit.

The last time we had been camping was July 2014,
in Rote Wald, an old growth forest in Steirmark, Austria.
Upon waking and unzipping the tent in the morning,
we were delighted to see a dozen snails had called our tent home
and camped out with us. A few were even stuck to my sandals.
Also that morning, I had an enchanted moment with a butterfly,
who landed on me and hung out for a while, following along in the forest.

But back to here and now, the parents have been back in the nest
a few more times in the time it’s taken to write this;
so I guess things will be fine for the “birdies in the hedgehog”

 

 

August 15, 2016
Greetings & Welcome to our Residency for Artists on Hiatus project: moonfarmers!

Currently we are camped out in Rogil, southern Portugal, 

on a chunk of farmland that we intended to buy,
awaiting word from the two German families
who will also be moving here from Austria.

The property description said 5.48 hectares of farmland,
partly forested, 600m from ocean.
However, upon arrival,
we saw that the forested part of the farmland had been logged,
clearcut & burned, for a quick profit for the sellers, I suppose;
the land looks devastated,
leaving scattered charred pinecones and tree stumps,
and bleached and empty snail shells.
But without the woods, I doubt we will buy it, as the trees,
and the shade they’d provide,
were one of the main reasons we selected this property;
that are the proximity to the beach.
So we will continue looking for other farms for sale in the area;
yet we will continue camping out here for the next two weeks,
until one of the families arrives to confer and decide where we will actually live.

Sorry, I suppose an introduction is in order:
my name is marisa dipaola.
I have been living a nomadic existence since leaving R.I.S.D. in 2000.
I have also been living a scattered life;
some places a painter, a sculptor, an installation artist, a fiber artist,
a costume designer, and, while living in Cairo a dozen years ago,
I taught an experimental drawing workshop for relocated Sudanese and Nubian artists.
I have traveled a lot, mostly beginning journeys through Artists Residency programs,
sometimes extending my stay, and while at Al Riwaq, in Bahrain,
meeting my husband,
Mohammed, a scuba diver, comic artist, all around incredible guy;
who shortly after our six week camping roadtrip honeymoon,
decided to go back to school.
So we spent the past three years in Villach, Austria,
while he got his Masters in Biomimetics.
It was lovely there, and our daughter, Marmalade, was born there;
but we both grew up on the sea and missed the salt water.
So we packed up and left,
driving 40 hours southwest to the edge of Europe,
to buy farmland and start a new life.
I had been painting at the Karawanserie,
an alternative community space in Villach,
where we met Astrid and Petra, and their families,
who will be joining us here in Portugal.

Over the next week,
we plan to bike around the nearby neighborhoods,
looking for other places for sale,
hopefully with more trees and with more land.
In the meantime, I will try to get these posts online,
yet technology has been somewhat challenging,
as we have been powering all our devices
(phones, tablet, camera & mini projector)
with 2 small solar panels that we plug into;
however, much of the charge goes towards Marmalade’s daily dose of cartoons,
currently “Masha & Medbedb” which she lovingly calls ” Masha & Mishka.”

 

August 14, 2016
Possibly the Worst Vacation Ever

It’s been two weeks since Faro. Summer is finally here, or should I say I’ve been chasing after summer? I’m headed towards Budapest from Bratislava as I write. This lonely traversing life is starting to affect my mental health. Although the cold had left but it will come back as soon as I return to Amsterdam. Summer hasn’t exactly made things better. Summer is making me jealous of people taking road trips with their family. Summer is love birds making out in the parks and frolicking the grass. Summer is going nude on the beach and skinny dipping with your friends and lovers. 

I’ve always pride about being able to work and travel at the same time. Because of this trip, I have decided that I will avoid traveling for no reason other than for work. Reason being that my remaining funds will not last me until next summer. Even if I were to scrimp and save, I can only stay until the end of winter. I’d probably have to leave before the DAI Roaming Academy in March. I am not entirely keen about staying in Amsterdam neither do I want to really move back to Singapore but I need a job to pay my debt and that’s the cold hard reality. At the same time, there are so much opportunities for me outside of Singapore and I don’t want to miss them. 

I admit I’m a little less excited about the next DAI year already because people left, everything that’s no-questions-awesome about it has changed. But of course, my research has to go on and my thesis needs to be written. I want my works/writings to get picked up. There’s going to be Contour Biennale in Mechelen curated by Natasha Ginwala who was my coach, and part of the DAI is going to Brazil next March after visiting Contour. So I should really be looking forward. 

Perhaps I am moving on, since I am making plans. I don’t know what’s what anymore. My heart and mind are dislocated and dispersed continentally and I am allowing as such because it’s okay to not be okay. I am preparing my mind to this countdown because returning to Singapore is a really big confrontation for me after what happened. Furthermore, I do think that I have to face this in order to really move on.

A few wants or aims:

• Present some of my written works
• Get a job (and clear my debt)
• Work and collaborate with artists-researchers and philosophers in East Asia and Southeast Asia
• Learn German 

How do I capitalize on my situation? How to turn my weakness into strength? How can I share my passion? And back to that issue from/of traveling, yesterday was a rather comforting day when I met a group of travelers (from Italy and Germany) at the bus stop of Devin Castle that is situated outside of Bratislava. We started really talking on the bus and one of the guy shared his experience about being and living in India for 6 months. He later on started complaining about Europeans and their ‘privileged traveler’ syndrome that I somewhat talked about in my first post — that really surprised me. I saluted him for his ‘sensitivity’ towards the unknown and the foreign. He is at a young age of 23, from Milan and studies engineering management. Of course, let’s not point fingers at the Europeans. I think tourists coming from developed societies tend to have this ugly trait (including myself) and sometimes academics seem to be doing this the most often, assuming they are experts of certain knowledge simply because they have a university degree. I have learnt over time and experience to not cast a perception or judgement, or to exercise a certain superiority just over the state of things just because you have the monetary power to do so.  

Today, there is a “crisis of knowing”. The questions I posed before on tourism and education (specifically humanities subjects) is to research on how to change the future conception of knowing and cultivate societal receptiveness to the state of unknown? Can trans-border education across continents work? Currently, such networks already exist but are they doing enough? What are the methodologies employed? What can a geolocation, culture and local politics teach people albeit studying something seemingly different? How can we promote knowledge diversity and to learn beyond the self? Universities need to be decolonized, knowledge production as a process needs to be detached from institutional capitalization and had to be understood as such that knowledge cannot and should not be owned. Which had in turn created generations of ‘experts’ in certain fields/industries who are “most certainly qualify” and granting them authority to speak, write and document about ‘the others’.

I shall end with a quote by Achille Mbembe extracted from Decolonizing Knowledge and the Question of the Archive,

“By pluriversity, many understand a process of knowledge production that is open to epistemic diversity. It is a process that does not necessarily abandon the notion of universal knowledge for humanity, but which embraces it via a ‘horizontal strategy of openness to dialogue among different epistemic traditions.”

 

 

August 5, 2016
Congratulations to Tehching Hsieh for his participation in 57th Venice Biennale

Another exciting news to celebrate here (perfect timing!) is our advisory board member Tehching Hsieh has been named to represent Taiwan, at the 57th Venice Biennale next year!!

Back in May, we received the warmest email from Tehching, to confirm his continued tenure on RFAOH’s advisory board. We felt so honored to be able to keep on with such remarkable allies.

It is particularly touching for us as we were in Venice in 2013, to “officially” launch RFAOH in our DIY-guerrilla style at the Biennale, when we heard from Tehching to accept our invitation to join our board.  

Here’s the announcement made by Taipei Fine Arts Museum  — maybe we’ll visit Venice next year again to congratulate him in person!

 

August 4, 2016
AGONY OF CREATION

For as long as I can remember I always wanted to an artist. But for the last few months’ art is bringing nothing else but depression to me. I being on an artist blog often find myself wishing my art practice would magically make me happy again, some sort of magical healing abilities that would send all my worries away.

Some days I struggle to get out of bed more than others. It’s just hard to move, to do anything, to feel anything. I go through my daily routine much like a robot. It’s lying in bed all day, doing absolutely nothing but drowning in my own uncontrolled thoughts. They say that when a creative person is feeling down, they should channel those feelings into their art. I hardly could retain anything in my memory. At times its easy for me, some random ideas just keep coming to my mind and I keep putting them on paper, other times its hard. I come up with absolutely nothing and these feelings are trapped inside, unable to be let out. A lot of times it feels as if all the emotions have been sucked from your body, leaving sadness behind to consume you. Sad is the only thing you think, feel, say or do. Little things can upset you further. But usually, there is no reason behind the feeling you just feel sad, constantly with no explanation no matter how hard you try to find one. Your life could be going great, fantastic but yet for some reason you still cannot “produce art”, “resolve art”. For some reason you find yourself unable to fall asleep at night. You feel a certain darkness lingering in the air, behind you, above you, below you, just waiting to take you over, but you don’t know when or why and you don’t understand it. Things can be happening around you, both good and bad and you simply don’t feel a thing. You simply don’t react. It’s as if you are in an everlasting sleep, but somehow you are still breathing. But there is no life in you anymore. It’s like you are in prison and your own body is your cell. You cannot even look outside and cannot appreciate a beautiful day, because your whole world is just grey. It makes you feel like an entirely different person when you cannot even enjoy your favorite food and all the things you used to love to do, start to become more and more boring. It starts to make you feel like you are not an artist anymore. You begin to believe that you will never be an artist again and that if you do somehow produce some work it won’t last long. . . . .

 

August 1, 2016
Kicking-off RFAOH in Portugal

Hello from Faro,

I never ever dreamt about coming to Portugal but I have succumbed to the stories of the southern heat, beach, cheap food and booze. I remember it was just 24 hours ago when I decided to ditch a proposal for a residency in Japan.

My friends left my apartment at 2:30am and I left straight for Schiphol airport, willingly saving my sleep during the 3 hours flight to Faro.

First impression of Faro is that it is surprisingly clean, small and quiet (not that I expected the other way round). Today I spent nearly 3 hours walking along the mildly hot sands and did not enter the ocean. I thought a lot… Mainly about the past year. Many things cross my mind; practice, life, love, and so on.

I’m tired – of traveling, moving or not knowing what’s going to be ahead of me (after I complete my masters program and the end of my ‘on-hiatus’ stint). I realized that I have lesser and lesser patience to travel. Especially seeing bad behaviors, cities in decadence, practicing the unintentional act of (not) knowing, the pretenseand oblivion (of the privileged).

Of course, I know I am reproducing this privilege. Which is why I’m stuck at what I should/could do as an artist. Maybe, I’m just not an artist? I’m thinking if ‘deep tourism’ can transform the current education system and change the mode of knowledge production? Can ‘deep tourism’ eradicate this unintentional act of knowing? (Pardon me for speaking in ‘codes’ right now. Give me some time to unpack these notions.)

I’ll come back to it.

 

August 1, 2016
New year and new residents at RFAOH! (and renewed site!)

August 1!! The month of July just flew by at the office of RFAOH, and we are excited that it’s the official start of our 3rd year!

Please welcome our new resident artists-on-hiatus for the 2016/2017 residency period — Marisa, Wayne, and Ramla start their residency as of this month, while others follow them soon.

Lee Churchill, Canada
Marisa Dipaola, USA/Portugal
Ramla Fatima, Pakistan
Joyce Lau, Canada
Wayne Wang-Jie Lim, Singapore/Netherlands
George Major, UK/Hong Kong
Rob Santaguida, Canada

Visit their pages and click to check out their bio and planned activities (or non-activities) while on-hiatus.

We truly thank you all who have applied, and lament we could not accommodate everyone. After three years of operation however, RFAOH now feels like a community of ALL of us, sharing and observing these peculiar conditions in art and life. We hope you’ll follow us as one of our community members and join the conversation by commenting on our new residents’ reports —

We would like to thank the organizations and individuals who have helped us in various ways over the past three years. We are also happy to acknowledge the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts this year, making our third residency term for artists not making art possible.