What is Art?

Where: Helsinki, Kiasma

This question has been with me for a while... What is art? Has someone got a good definition or explanation they can send me? Hopefully what you can provide says something about context, meaning, intent and audience...

This questioning is prompted by my exposure to local art exhibitions and artists in Geraldton; my increasing interest in, and appreciation of design ; my recent visits to Helsinki (Kiasma) and London (Tate modern) Museums of contemporary art.

I really enjoy the pieces that represent the intersection of activism and urban expression, philosophy and art. These sorts of things prompt a more thoughtful and challenging response than a painting of flowers, but are prettier than a book of text.

A fitting quote to end this short wa/wondering: Bruce Nauman, when considering what sort of art he wanted to produce, and what sort of artist he was, said

If I was an artist and I was in the studio, then whatever I was doing in the studio must be art."

Well, if we decide to be...aren't we all?

Riga (draft)

No food on plane, 2am bus ride. Hostel wiht no signs adn absolutely no-one in bed at 3am!!!

All the girls very dressed up. Casinos and strip clubs everywhere.

Very cool old district.

Very good Occupation museum 1941 - 1991 Amazing how the people and culture survived at all really...

British culture and society is actually quite cool

The Saturday morning after our arrival, Gabrielle was feeling very unwell. It was probably due to some of the food we ate in Turkey, but unfortunately she has had the same symptoms since she got back from a trip to Nepal approximately 3 years ago.

I quickly ran down to the pharmacist to get something to provide her with temporary relief some temporary relief. A later visit to the doctor resulted in some medication that eventually had her insides feeling better than they had for 3 YEARS. Alas, as I write this belated entry about London, her insides are upset again and will not be fixed until she can build up the courage to visit a Doctor in Sweden and get a prescription.

Otherwise. London was great. I literally ran through all the famous sites, either on my own, or trailing behind my capable tour leader Mike. My thonged feet got very black though, presumably just from the general grime that pervades the place, and it highlighted nicely my attractice feet hairs. I was greatly assisted in my speed-viewing of one of the world's great cities by Reg Salmon's list of funky, low-key highlights. Thankyou Reg.

Such highlights included a great Vietnamese restaurant (funnily enough also frequented by Ruth adn Mike), piles of great food from the sub-continent spilling out onto Tooting High street, Greenwich, Mudchute, a walk along the Thames, Tate Modern, the vegetarian triangle of cafes and restaurants(Neal's?), and various artsy, fashion, sorts of things...

My rush through London was partly fuelled by a desire to get down to the town of Bath, where I was able to meet Andre and Tamra (friends/flatmates from Geraldton). Although I only got to see them briefly, I spent an absolutely lovely day wandering the manicured garden, interesting little museums, and cobbled streets between old and famous homes. It gave me a bit of time to reflect on the fact that much about British culture and History is quite impressive and interesting. Something I had sort of intellectually disallowed myself from recognising for a number of years...

I still wouldn't want to live there though : )

Cappadocia (draft)

Overnight bus to Goreme fun! Leave bags at cave. Barter for half a tour to Ilhara. Nice man Davut (David) who owned travel agency. Lunch at Ilhara Poo in the river, upstream of where young boy caught fish. Walk and explore many caves. Slow progress. Then on to churches. Stairs and missed festival. Free water. Strange georgians and dingo hunter.Belisiarma pension and dutch man. Dinner and nice man Biro invited us to party. Thinking about him and life in village. Donkey and boy on bridge. Very tired. Churches, fields, plantations and irrigation. So many good vegie Patches. Goats and sheep on ridges. Tortoises. Lolly shop man in selime. Long wait in Askaray- nice man in pick shop. æ Talking about poo. Ready to party Got ready went to Turkish night. Spoke to people in Kapadokya balloons re: mountain biking. Food and drink. FeZ people on commission Whirling dervishes and wedding ceremony. Cherry juice and vodka and raki Early morning hot air ballooning. Just magic, though 3 out of 4 really wanted to go to the toilet. Singletrack heaven! Went back to hostel and absolutely crashed for a few hours. Gabrielle's run of poo began... 2or3tines per hour. Mostly water. Went and hired the scooters...rode around pottery and onyx, food in Urgup. Gabrielle very sick, Mike getting better. æ Pretty chillled out though a few close calls. Everyone pretty tired. Gabrielle getting cramps. Sat around back at the hostel.Bus - missed two people and had to go back. Turkish Australian on board was very handy. American guy very sick and had to drop in Ankara at 1am. Otherwise bumpy and sleepless... Jules very helpful re: wages (500 month fez, 10-15 day at restaurant), archeology (Aphrodisias good ) and Turkey in general (lots of national pride, beautiful people). Lazy day markets and photos before flight.

Ruins: civilisations and rental pushies

In Ruins

So we continued down the coast:

- Troy: important in Homer's (and not the dude from the Simpsons!) great works (Iliad and Odyssey). Took photos for you Mike!

- Ephesus: like other once-great cities, it ended up being abondened becuase it's great port silted up. Deomonstrating the 'slow' geological and geomorphological processes can have an impact if the inhabitants hang around for long enough! importantly for the tourists though, the signs to the brothels are still clearly visible.....

- The beach at Kusadasi: A free lift back from some kind Turks, once again demonstrating how nice they are. Although, we did get pretty ripped off on the taxi out there! Soon after we left, the site of bombings : (

- Carpets: bloody interesting once you get into it! Organic; hand dyed with pistachio and peaches!; made by girls with suitably small fingers tying thousands of knots per square inch over a period of months; and intersting enough to get Mike, Ruth and Gabrielle to buy one!

And, then on to Pumakkale, where the all the goat tracks trough the ruins proved too much of a temptation when a free bike was on offer.

So, the setting: there is this amazing man-influenced geological formation where springs leave pure white calcium deposits across a length of rock face. Everyone goes to paddle through the pools and marvel at the whiteness of it all.

We got up early one morning to get the good light, and due to poor signage and our adventurous spirit, ended up walking everywhere we weren't meant to. ( yes - you heard it here first kids... andrew has walked willy nilly all over the no-walk zones on one of the seven wonders of the world!! Well, acutally we are all to ignorant to know if it actually is one or not but it definitely claims to be!!) Anyway, got some photos and then returned later on in the morning to visit the ruins of Heirapolous above the white cliffs (called the Traventines, and one of the 7 natural wonders of the world I believe). oh - see even andrew is claiming it to be one.

Heirapolous had the best view and layout of all the ruins, and we had great fun exploring on our own. Not many other tourists ventured up into the hills, probably becuase it really is a boiling hot barren desert - just happens to have amazing ruins dotted through it - would have been good if they were a bit closer together but. so it was great to be able to relax ???? a bit. That was, until I realised all the goat tracks would make great mountian biking! I made motor bike noises and jumped over rocks as we walked (I ran) down the hills back to the village, but it just wasn't enough.

Upon return to our accomodation, and with a few hours to kill, I enquired about hire of the mountain bikes leaned against the wall. Turned out these cheap, thrashed, dual suspension not- mountain-bikes were actually free! WOO HOO! I chose a trusty steed and made a few repairs before heading out to ride the long way (7kms) back up to the ruins, around the base of the white cliffs (you aren't allowed to even walk on them with shoes on)

I soon tired of riding with a low seat, and decided to go a short cut across a few fields, then carried the bike up 100m of near vertical cliff. A further 2kms to the top of the ruins and I was nearing the crescendo: I hadn't had this much energy since starting this whole trip!

Taking in the view across the ruins, white cliffs, green valley, and high mountains far beyond.. I was very, very excited. I had spotted a great trail traversing/descending the hillside with enough twists and turns to keep me excited. I pedaled around a bit to see if there were any better routes, but none were found.

Ready to go: right foot on the pedal, seat lowered, hair in the wind...And I'm off! Ten metres down the trail, I 'dismount' gracefully after a slow bump into a small rock. I walk back to the bike: the front wheel now resembled a pretzel. There were no tantrums, just that slow embarassing dawning that I had wrecked a bike that was not designed for this...for nothing: No zooming, no yelling, no swooping, no jumping, just a long, embarassing walk through the tourists and down the white cliffs...carrying the bike.

A funny little end to the story: I was truly sorry about the bike, but when they tried to charge me the equivalent of $100 AUD for the wheel I was not having a bar of it. I had intelligently stopped in at the local mechanics on the way back to the hostel, and they had given me a rough estimate of how much it would cost: end result - it cost me only $12

More photos from Turkey

Aaahhh yes - photo captions again. Hope you are savouring these pics coz they're the last ones you are going to get!!

Photo 1 - "Wallace and Gromit style". a personal favourite of mine. We hired scooters for the afternoon and scootered through the Cappadocia region in helmets which would have passed safety standards in Australia in 1653... Yep - another exciting fairy chimney in the background. This was an awesome afternoon - had we not needed to stop every other half hour for certain members of our group to squat in the public facilities - which in themselves are a pure joy in Turkey.

Photo 2: "Sunrise" - this experience could have been bettered only if it were dusk. We all know there is only one 4:30 in the day.

Photo 3: "Andrew being an idiot". This is the library - and probably best preserved building in Ephesus. It is actually much taller than it looks - seems our photographer has cut half off - but you can see us which is the important part anyway. All our 'proper' photos using slide film on our SLR's will be a bit longer coming..

Photo 4: "High in the hill" is Michael climbing through peoples ancient houses and churches. Some of them go really far into the rock and up several stories. Makes for good investigating if you have a torch - and soem osrt of faith that the whole gorge isn't going to collapse on you.

Photos: Stripclubs, spices and spokes

Here are some phtos from our trip so far. Will be sure to do a better job of posting them next time.

See if you can work out which caption applies to which photo!!!!

Caption A: Andrew got a tad excited with the massive mountains we had walked up in the morning, and walked down and was cruelly lured into taking out a "free" mountain bike for the afternoon. Unfortunately, the bike had no gears and no brakes, and when he rode into a rock no front wheel either. Consequently, after walking and pushing the bike up the mountain - he had to carry the bike down on the 40 + degree heat. The dude at the hostel then tried to charge him 100Lira = 100 AUD for the front wheel - Andrew took it to the local mechanics and the guy there quoted him 12 Lira - so we paid that and left!!! The rest of us - enjoyed a calming afternoon by the pool.

Caption B: Not sure if you will be bale to read this one - some paragraph about creating sustainable worlds through better living or something - on what was DEFINITELY the entrance to a strip club. Thats Tokyo for you!














Caption C : This is the four of us in Turkey.. we hired scooters and hooned around the deadly turkish roads to the "family" of fairy chimneys - which are not realy fairy chimney but pinnacle things which are everywhere. Here there is supposed to be mum dad and baby but I think we are hiding baby. Totally ruins the whole picture!!!

Caption D: spice markets - loads of spices lined up - unfotunately we couldn't purchase any becuase no where in turkey can you cook your own bloody food - hence the illness from all except for iron-guts andrew.. even mike succomed for a day or two!!

Caption E: And finally, three of us in Ilhara gorge. Awesome spot - walked 14km along the valley of the gorge with Mike exploring all the houses and churches built into the gorge - telling us which ones were worthwhile climbing up to! Pretty cool stuff.

Leaving Istanbul

Leaving Istanbul

Before we left Istanbul, an evening spent exploring the Egyptian Spice Markets and some of the newer, more upmarket parts of Istanbul meant we left feeling like we had done the place justice. The spices, turkish delights (flavoured wiht everything from Pistachios to rose water) and variety of mixed nuts had me drooling. Far more enjoyable than the Grand Bazaar, mainly because I was interested in what they were selling! Scarves, textiles and soccer shirts are not really my style... i happened to pick up a very funky scarf for a bargain though....

The trip up the hill to Taksim square provided us with many contrasts that encapsulated our experience in this city: a man changing the tram tracks with a crowbar; fishburgers straight from the filthy Bosphorous; 'The Corporation' playing at the movies; and walking from dark alleys where we felt unsafe to other equally dimly lit alleys where we (for the first time in Istanbul) felt distinctly under-dressed amongst some wealthy looking youngsters at very funky bars.

Dinner provided more contrasts: in this street of high fashion, our cook was still an old lady sitting around a hotplate on the floor rolling, filling and cooking enought spinach, cheese and onion pancakes for a restaurant of one hundred people. I left room for the amazing deserts we had spotted back up the street, but the other's didn't so I had a taste of all of the creamy rice, baklava and a funny apple/fig jelly topped with a variety of dried fruit.

Gelobuli

Out of Istnabul we had caught a 'hop on, hop off' tour bus which included a tour of Gallipoli. It was a profound and moving experience, with our guide 'Ali' making all the difference to the sometimes unremarkable sites. Before going on the tour, I wasn't sure what it all really meant (different people refer to Gallipoli for many different reasons), and wasn't even really prepared for just the statistics of the conflict: Half a million toops committed from both sides, a quarter of a million dead soldiers, 240 days with no gains, in trenches less than 20m from each other. Total area gained by the British and friends was less than 10 square km on three fronts. Number of dead spread over area gained = 50000 troops dead per square kilometre...

Ali, an ex-Turkish military commander and grandson of a Turk who dies in the conflict, really made sure we understood a few key points:
- as a result of the conflict, Aussies and Turks are better than friends
- the conflict was one of the most costly in history, and well demonstrates the futility of war.
- And, that over time, the soldiers who were fighting well understood how futile it was and earnt each other's respect and admiration...with a corresponding decline in the rate of deaths.
- that jokes about the differences between men and women, and who wears the pants are funny in all cultures.

Ali shared gifts with each of us and there were some very special moments. Knowing he has been doing these tours for over 10 years, I beleieve that he alone has made a massive contribution to young Australians understanding their own cultural heritage and what has been a pivotal period in the development of our national identity. The compassionate nature of the Turkish soldiers at some points during the conflict, is clearly still a part of who these people are if Ali is anything to go by.

While I'm on the topics of the Turks, EVERYONE clearly LOVES Mustafa Ataturk (his photo is in most shops, buses and homes). He is know as the 'father' of modern Turkey, and has his beginnings as a leader at Gallipoli. His leadership and action was a key part of the Turks' defences. After the war he went on to make some major changes to Turkish society: changing the writing from Arabic to romanized script, giving everyone surnames and women the vote, plus a whole lot of surely more important stuff....

East meets West

Istanbul

Arrived with nothing organised and only photocopies of an old lonely Planet. I was happy to have forked out $13 for a language book though - even if it means I only learnt yes, no, vegetarian and thankyou. Travelling with Gabrielle, Ruth (Gabrielle's sister) and Mike (her fiance) should be fun...


First thing was a decent meal and a water-front walk to expose ourselves to the incredible range (remote control cars to fake id) of products people try to sell you on the street. Most of the street sellers are persistent, but happy enough to let you go - some even with a smile and a joke.

After a sleep only mildly interrupted by the thumping bass in the disco next door, I went for an early morning walk (after exercises and tai chi). Turkey's light is like Australia's - you need to be up late or early to get good light for photos of mosques and the city. We are staying in sultanahmet and the nearby Topkapi palace. The wall surrounding the palace still defines the shore of this part of the city, but the cars have a reclaimed road around the outside, the train runs on rails landward, and the homeless have claimed the space inside the walls.

Aborted seeing the interior of the palace "first thing" (crowds), and instead went to the mosque an the museum of Turkish and Islamic art. Also nearby was the Hippodrome (chariot race track) and obelisks of varying ages adn origins. The interior of the different mosques are REALLY amazing spaces with a beautiful feel, striking colours and fantastic architecture. I have been very impressed that most of them only took them 7 years to build back in 1600/1700. Though the number of animals slaughtered to commemorate different stages of constructio nis probably not something I would have wanted to be around for.

Lunch was had in the Grand Bazaar before heading back to the palace where we parted with 20 euros for entry. The palace was truly worth if for a mind boggling collection of treasures, clothes and restored buildings. Highlights included the armoury, various strands of hair from Mohammet the prophet, and a collection which included an 86 carat diamond. This "sample" of gold and jewels gives you some indication that these guys had some very, very serious wealth and power.

From the palace and other sights today there was really a strong sense of east meets west, and you could see that exchange ana influence developing over time through tne clothing, art, weapons and buildings. E.g. the changing style of architecture; the 'dress revolution' in 1826, when the sultans clothes went from baggy pants to tailored french military uniforms; and the evolution of art from wood to integrating calligraphy adn intrivcate metalwork with imported asian ceramics.

A roof top beer provided nice views adn some space to amke some serious decisions about what to do with the rest of our time in Turkey. The decisions were deferred, but the spread of ocean, sea and dwellings for 12 million was a bit distracting.

After beer, we had an appointment with some Turkish baths for a 20 dollar sauna, scrab and massage. It was a truly worthwhile experience and I felt really good afterwards - you would hope so based on the amount of dirt that came off while the guy was scrubbing. The massage and wash a bit "routine" but still good- especially if you measure success by the numberot times you heard a "crack" in my joints!

We then walked along waterfront to the bridge (I love the late sunsets here) and up the hill to Beyoglou. Along the way Ruth had left her bag zip open, and a young kid tied to pick through it but I pushed him away. He turned briefly to confront me, but then left and we all walked on. I reckon I would have had a go to if I was that kid...the physical space you share with the Turkish belies the distance in material and almost every other respect.

Having said that, Beyoglou is near the newest partsof Istanbul, and there were some flashier restaurants and shops. Ducking down a side alley suddenly had me feeling distinctly under dressed and out of place amongst the very funky bars and people. Popping out on to the main strip revealed a rock band all set up to play, and we decided to dine opposite at Konak with classy chandeliers above and tunes wafting in with the cool night air.

During the walk back across the bridge to the old part of town, the call to worship was ringing out from the tastefully floodlit mosques. I took a moment to ponder how every few boars everyone in tne city is reminded of their religions duty. Imagine, I said to my companions, that every few hours a cry went out over Perth to remind citizes of their duty to God, each other, other species and future generations....do you think it would make a difference in how concious people are of these things?

A boat tour of the Bosphorous showed us the parts of the coast where the modern influence is much stronger, with mosques and ancient fortifications dwarfed by modern apartment blocks adn skyscrapers. Well worth the 3 Lira. Actually, I should make comment on the currency in a place where they accept US, euros, punds, anything and where you can hold three Turkish coins and two Turkish notes in your hand at once, some inscribed with 1000 000, some inscribved with a 1....that are all worth the same!

Anyway, I love the vibrancy of this place: people trying to make a living in a million ways, but not forgetting to have a yearn along the way. The religion, history, and skyline make me forgive all the rubbish and the street sellers.

Two days in Tokyo

Woo Hoo! I can't believe I have actually left Australia for quite a long time! I was really quite sad saying final goodbyes to everyone: realising that I might not see these people for ages! But, I'm sure time will fly and all be well (if not the same) when I see them all again.

Arriving the next morning in Tokyo we did the classic "no preparation" thing and called a hostel that had its pamphlet at the tourist desk at the airport. I thought the place was quite good, Turns out, that it may have been the cheapest youth hostel in Tokyo (for the bargain price of $60 AUD a night) but was actually a prison with a massage chair... probably some previous sort of torture instrument. The bathrooms for men and women were sharing - with exaclty twice as much time allocated to men as women. Becuase everybody knows women don't need to pee. Our room's door came with its own peephole - or food serving hole as it previously wouild have been used for, with a "non smoking" sign stuck on the back so people can't see in...or maybe it was so we couldn't see out and see exacly what was going on there in the wee hours of the night!!. I think I have a deeper appreciation for the Japanese economy with space and resources. Even the homeless people in the surrounding streets seemed to have that dignified, organised Japanese style about them. Actually, I think I'm making that up. He definitely is.

A vegetarian meal for lunch turned out to be a bit harder to find than I had imagined. There was no shortage of fish to be bought from loud and unhygenic fish salesmen, but we had to enlist the help of a Japanese (and English) speaking traveller to order some noodles. My 4 or 5 years of high school Japanese had started to come back to me, but all to slowly for my stomach.

Next it was off to Asakusa to a temple that has been standing since 628 AD. It was lovely to see people still sincerely worshipping while snapping and flashing tourists tried their best to make some of these simple, sincere acts a circus spectacle. Speaking of circus spectacles, we decided not to linger near the performing monkey show on the way out for respect for the little chimp in pants on a string. I didn't think it was appropriate!

However, strip joints with signs atop their door proclaiming the "the need for humanity to unite to create a more sustainable future" are totally appropriate! This was one of the fantastic sites as we wandered in and out of the alternately packed and isloated streets of Shibuyu: home of a very, very busy intersection near the train station. Where do all these people come from and go to? Actually, I know the answer to that one - they go inside these bright, flashy buildings to quietly search (side-be-side with a million other people) for very, very expensive clothes!

Roppongi, the Asahi beer 'golden object (a jumbo jet sized golden turd atop a building) and the oppulence of Ginza were all visited and enjoyed over the next few hours. Unfortunately our rendezvous with Josh fell through due to him getting lost on the way home from the beach the night before, AND the fact that 4 hours is a long way to travel to basically just say hi (Josh, I will post your boardshorts to you soon!).

The Imperial Gardens were beautiful and a really good "space" in the middle of the city. Photographically, it was a bit grey, but I like the idea of closing the surrounding roads to all but cyclists! Back towards shibuyu and harajuku, we found the Crayon House restaurant, organic food shop, toy shop and art gallery. An absolute highlight and you can find it's address in the Japanese tourist bureau's "Vegetarian Eating guide". All you can eat organic, vego fare including dishes with chicken, fish, pigs, and what looked disturbingly like a cat!! (since not being able to read the meal signs - you have to go by the stickers stuck on them to see what you are eating...) in a lovely environment went down a treat. And, while in the area, you just hare to visit harajuku - home of the mad Japanese teenage girl who dresses up as a vampiric nurse with beetlejuice stockings to sing karaoke Madonna on a street corner. Tourists (us) love it and so do the girls. There was even a pretty good, young jazz band playing while everyone stared at the freaks.

It really was interesting to see all these girls there, and then contrast their style with the clothes and behaviour of some of the tourists in the vicinity: now who's the freaks?

Final plug has to be for the Tokyo government building. It was great to ride 45 floors in the silent, fast elevator and be able to look out over Tokyo. Gabrielle suggested we'd had enough when I started to talk about the inevitability of a major Tokyo earthquake in the near future; and the horror of the poor people in New York or any other tall building disaster. I'd love to be there on one of the rare, clear days when you can see Mt Fuji though! ( acutally - they say you can see Australia on a clear day - its just they'ce never had a clear day so no one has been able to prove it yet!)

OK off to London for the night, then Turkey for 10 days.

By the way - for the many of you who have asked - both andrew and I managed to refrain ( and not without large amounts of effort mind you) to purchase used womens underwear from vending machines - which were going at very reasonable prices. thought i'd better save something for next time!!