Double Vision

checking in

hello all,

Vienna's cold. very very cold. Today outside of the MQ, well, in it really, but outside - in it (hard to explain), there was some snow removal truck tredging up a 3" sheet of ice that someone had apparently built for some reason. Artists, haha. It was a good 20' squared. Anyway, it's cold.

We finally realized one of the reasons Sean's cube (where DV now is based) is so cold is because he's missing a window. So not only does the heat not really make heat, but it's frozen by the lack of a window. Interesting.

Last night we went to an opening of video works and dance installations. The dance installation was pretty cool. Very well done technically. It was two large walls that intersected eachtother in the middle... then on each face of the 2 walls (so 4 faces) there was a different view / perspective of life-sized movement trio. So... depending on where you were standing, you'd see only a portion of what was going on, since at times any number of the 3 dancers would only be visible in say half of one view, thus on half of one wall, thus only viewable from a special angle. This is confusing, but it was cool.

Amanda's been doing these incredible walking tours of Vienna and learning a LOT. We've been working on new works and some booking for lecture/demos. Hopefully tomorrow we'll go see one of the over 50 museums in Vienna. crazy.

Next week there's a 4-day festival for intermedia performance in Vienna... we have passes. The following week there's a 3 day festival for choreography in Graz, which we also have passes too.. there's SO much to do! Oh! and Sean and I will be attending a historic ball at the Hofburg Palace at month's end... he begins waltzing lessons (sponsored by the fulbright) next week. Oh, and i'm giong to start dance classes every morning + workshop in the afternoon. fun!

till later.
p.

Fun days...

Well everyone... we're finally back to a regular work schedule, or at least a new schedule I suppose.

Today, Amanda went on a wonderful walking tour; Sean met with the Fulbright office; I found an internet solution and Sean and I officially created our new office space (see photo). The time difference is still taking some getting used to for me since I'm trying to work 8am-4pm PST, though the 4pm is pretty difficult since that is 1am here... it's taking some getting used to, that's all.

We've also met some local artists and it looks like we're booked with things to do / people to meet from here on out. Dorsey will be joining us 2/7 so that's also fantastic news!

OH! and for those of you who knew how important it was for me to find beans / burritos once here... I've been defeated. There's no such thing as pinto or black beans - canned or bagged.. doesn't matter. they don't have them. According to the locals, there's 1-2 burrito shops in all of Vienna but they don't use beans, haha. They did mention loving the burritos in SF's mission district :) (me too!!)

So. tofu and lentils it is.

Welp, that's it folks. Oh! Sean also has begun his new animation! It'll be interesting, for sure and perhaps he'll provide peeks as we go along. I'm trying to convince myself to make a dance for camera piece in Vienna with the marvelous Ms. Crawford... i just can't quite convince myself that I want to edit the video footage once I've taken it yet :P Also trying to figure out what comes next - both here and post-Vienna... dance? installation? interactivity? who knows. we'll see.

Hofburg Palace and grounds

THE HOFBURG IMPERIAL PALACE

Today we got up early (it's holiday here!) and beat the crowds to the Hofburg Imperial Palace. Now, this palace is really a city....and it's still in use. I could go on and on about the history, but you can read for yourself if you'd like. It's quite fascinating... particularly the switch from religious to secular and all the ruling styles. Anyway, half is free; half is not. We chose to prioritize what we'd do / pay for today and save the rest for individual expeditions based on our own preferences... i.e. the museum of antiquities, papyrus museum, musical instrument museum, Lipizzaner horses, etc., will all wait till later. Here's a bit of a virtual tour for you though... the library was the highlight for me.

Augustine Church - a true gothic church. It was utterly beautiful - photos / video don't do justice at all. We were also treated to a pre-mass rehearsal with choir and organ (video excerpt).

Blurry, but still gives you a sense - looking into the church.

This was a very mournful sculpture to the side... it's huge, bigger-than life, mourning the death of an empress who was assisinated. Even the lion's sad.

A view up to the loft where the choir and organ were located.

Next, we moved into my favorite place here so far... the Hofbibliothek (library). This place was SO out of control. First, it's Baroque all the way, but more importantly it houses supposedly the best library in the world, second only to the Vatican. I mean, it was so amazing to walk through it and just want to reach out and pull some of the books.. you couldn't of course. Below are a few photos I was able to snap. They also had a big display up on Hayden so we got to see his original handwritten scores. Just SO much knowledge and history in one beautiful place... it made me giddy :P

Inside the library's main hall...loads of murals and sculptures.

Slabs with etched writing were all over the place. super cool.

Globe by Vincenzo Coronolli (1600's).. this one is of land / water

Globe by VC (1600's).. this is of sky

The Golden Fleece document - 1400's.

Map of the Roman Empire's postal service (detail) (1324).

I didn't write this down, but it's a prayer book.

Finally, a bit of the grounds and gardens...

Archduke Karl preparing to charge and spar with Prince Eugene of Savoy (you can see him in the distance, also on horseback in front of the Neuburg section of the palace).

Cherubs playing with the trees in the Burggarten.

Mozart in the Burggarten. This was one complex statue... you'd have to see it in person.

See the stones in front of him?

Detail on one side of Mozart.

I'm pretty sure this is Franz Joseph in the Josephplatz.

Empress Elisabeth 'sisi' in the Volksgarten.

Maybe Franz Joseph? not sure. Volksgarten. There's a crazy story being told on the stones around him... a love story involving Medusa i think.

Archduke again.

Goethe, outside the Burggarten.

More statues...

Joseph I, Josephplatz.

Neuburg from Burggarten.

I assume Franz Joseph.

Part of Volksgarten.

First Monday in Vienna

Hello dear friends and family,

We the day working... running errands, because tomorrow's another holiday and then.... THEN we went to THE cafe - Cafe Central (http://www.palaisevents.at/index.php?id=cafecentral&L=). The oldest cafe in Austria and supposedly the oldest in Europe (2nd to one in Venice). Long story short... Vienna got its coffee from the Turks (that's why it's so good)... they built this cafe for their beloved coffee.. the Nazis destroyed it and converted it into a basketball court for some time.. then finally it was rebuilt to match it's original predecessor. We were fortunate to be there during the piano playing too! Amanda and I had delicious koffees... I had the Koffee Amadeus and Sean had the famous Melange... we all partook in the apple streudle.

A few more fun tidbits:
Key regulars included Peter Altenberg, Egon Friedell, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Anton Kuh, Adolf Loos, Leo Perutz, and Alfred Polgar.

Until 1938 the café was called the "Chess school" (Die Schachhochschule) because of the presence of many chess players.

The Vienna Circle of logical positivists held many meetings before and after World War I.

A well-known story states that an Austrian politician, asked about the possibility of a revolution in Russia, remarked sarcastically: "Who is going to make a revolution? Perhaps that Trotsky from the Café Central?"

Oh, btw, we went to an AMAZING museum yesterday -- couldn't take photos though, but you should definitely check it out:
http://www.mumok.at/

Video / sound from Cafe Central

Cafe Central:

One of many statues outside Hofburg Palace where we're lucky to walk each day:

Rathaus at night... blurry.

Parliament Building... blurry...

Sean outside another of the many points in the Hofburg Palace:

First real notes from abroad

Well... we've been packing alot of adventures into our first week here in Wien. Through not being able to sleep plus drinking too much home-brewed coffee + the Mokkas and Melanges (very yum and very caffeinated espresso drinks here) we've had plenty of time to explore!

One thing that has become incredibly obvious is how much respect people have for eachother and their services. For instance, everything is on an honor system basis, it seems... buses, trolleys, metro, newspapers... even the toll roads! it's crazy. When we rented the car to drive to Lienz, Sean asked the rental lady "So, will we drive through a toll booth and just show them our pass?" to which she giggled and explained that there are no toll booths or stops or anything on the autobahns.. just occasionally cops will pull you over to check. We saw no cops the entire 4 hrs on the autobahn, btw. For the newspapers (zeitung), you simply grab a paper from the bag or stack and then deposit coins into this little cup that says simply "Danke".

Crazy. I love it.

Oh, and everything is either a really amazing old OLD building with ornamentation and scuptures everywhere.. or it's a cube -- a very simple, plain cube. We just went to the MOMOK (museum of modern art) and it's a giant, 8 floor cube of art. More info about that one later...

What else, everyone has been very kind...oh, and the panhandlers as we would call them are panhandling opera, ballet and symphony. Kinda nice for a change. Most people do not speak any English or might just know a few words so we definitely need to learn quickly. We've been going to the store below our apartment daily and then returning home with the food to spend hours looking at the labels to find out what we bought :) Being able to read has come quickly - at least enough to get by. Symbols are really universal, of course - at least between the US and Euro. Speaking and listening are taking me more time, but Amanda's doing just fine and Sean is close behind her. Fortunately, most vendors are quite patient and we're quickly learning the ropes (i think).

Snow fell softly last week for just one night and it's starting up outside the window again. Vienna is most beautiful at night, I think.. though difficult to photograph. There's a quiet vibrancy that takes over the city when it's dark and the statues take precedence over moving people because they're lit and we're not. I've been resisting the desire to photograph ever step of my walks, because I could... both of our apartments are in THE center of Vienna. it's unbelievable, really. I'll instead try to photograph specific places and blog about them as the come up....

Tonight, Sean and I will hold our first "meeting" to discuss what's coming up while we're abroad in terms of lectures, shows and ops. Time will fly, I'm sure.

Oh, and one other thing... when it's holiday, it's really holiday. We're all having to learn the value and meaning of holiday, waiting, patience, leisure, etc. That your convenience may at the expense of another's convenience, etc. Stores close at 6pm and are never open on holidays or sundays. None of us have cellphones... Transportation ends early. Even artists take the holidays off! anyway... more later....tuesday's another holiday so more time for discovery and blogging!
p.

Stephansdom / St. Stephen's Cathedral, Wien

Yesterday, we went back to the center of the New Years Eve celebration: Stephansdom.

It's been around since the 1100's... and it was 340 steps to the top but SO worth it. Unfortunately, we couldn't take photos inside with our camera, so check out the wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Stephen's_Cathedral,_Vienna

Ars Electronica Grand Opening

Pauline here... I"m going to let Sean write about this place. Overall, I'll say we were highly disappointed. We were So excited to go... but left pretty much empty handed and realizing as usual that we have been quite fortunate to know and work with amazingly talented folks through DV. That said, here are some photos and video highlights :) The building is insane... I think 6-8 floors of nothing but new media/ interactive exhibits and performances. really awesome it exists.

Oh, info: http://www.aec.at/index_de.php

We also decided to rent a car and have fun on the autobahn... it was really nice driving here. Not very busy, no real speed limit... just do what you need basically. Everyone drove very respectfully.

(oh, and it's obviously in km, though I'm sure sean took that photo of me to pretend it was mph :D)

Ars at night:

The view of the Danube and Lienz:

Videos of the light show (the entire building became art + sound):

Me driving on the Autobahn:

Kid's area of Ars:

One of the interactive brain exhibits:

Daito Manabe and partner creating sound via facial movement/// sound was also causing the electrodes on their faces to make facial movement... very unique: