Schnitzel and Noodles - Panierte Heimat

My home country is not just place for funny food creations such as "panierts zeigs", even funnier costumes we wear when we are "mia" (a notion for differentation of those ibelonging to the Austrian culture from the others "ia"), but also a place for sentimental but critical reflection on our idiosynchrasies we sell so well into the rest of the world: In a live video performance Claudia Rohrmoser and Marcel Schobel artistically combine various kitchy elements of Austrian film history into a spectacle of patriotism and Austrian mentality. Dealing with the conflict of our self-created image in the outside world of "ia" and our own self-perception (is it actually really that different? ;) they draw attention on the typical Austrian behavior of repression.
"I simply remember my favourite things. And then I don't feel so bad" (quote from the famous sound of music) - something that seems not just inherit into Austrian culture, but reflects in behavior of diasporic societies in general. That the Austrian is proud of its Schnitzel and Strudel is not a secret. For the longest time I couldn't deal with this sometimes to me appearing simple-minded mentality... Until I realized another intrisic quality: we are strange, and we know it and we love to make fun of it in this so unique Austrian way - a conclomerate of humour, sentimentality and a little bit of pride.
"We are friendly Austrian people...".

gwei

google will eat itself. According to Übermorgen, a group of artists in Vienna. They were founded in 1999 and mainly produce provocative techno-critical art work especially related to privacy and security. We cross conceptual art with experimental research, says founder Hans Bernhard, and the end products are socio-technological art pieces. Not approaching their work with the question what art, technology or research should be, Übermorgen practises "radical self-experiments". Gwei is a paradoxon, and a time-critical response on information monopoly and global advertisement systems. I am amazed by the variety of different ideas conveyed through all sorts of media. Art that doesn't claim to be, but much more is. Interaction that propels critical thought about the now and how the now influences not just tomorrow but Übermorgen. And a nice interview with them on we-make-money-not-art.

When I play with my cat...

...,who knows if I am not a pastime to her more than she is to me? (Michel Eyquem de Montaigne)
brought me back to the notion of "nonsense" & "it-just-is" moments of doing nothing really but enjoying it the most. Surrounded by complex role-playing games and extravagant aniamted graphics, we tend to forget how recreational the rather simple, tangible and emotionally touching encounters are.
Last week, while I was driving to Irvine, as usual in the slow-looser lane with something like 60 mph (I don't want to disappoint my Volvo) I met somebody on the road. This is nothing unusual in LA. I would assume. Missing social day-to-day encounters in public spaces or when forced to waste time taking public transportation (never imagined how much I will miss my spaceless times in the subway), LAers meet in the car. Each person has its own. That's not unusual either. Me driving slowly enjoying Morning Stories on the radio, this other old-car driver passed by. Almost same speed. A little bit faster. Hmm, I felt less lonely among the "we are the right car to have" colleagues. We ended up driving next to each other for about 15 min I guess, both smiling, ridiculously waving our hands and pretending to be really different than all the others. It was fun and I experienced my first car relationship - a game for the moment.

Had another car experience in front of the grocery store in Long Beach. Seem to collect them gradually.
People in LA don't beg sitting on the street.. "wo sind wir denn bitte!"
Here people beg while passing you, the person who is walking on the street, in their car! I was so stunned, I could just stare at this... and damn, this car was newer than my own! (I vote for the invention of the begging-drive-through!)

The artist's freedom

Last night I saw Mirkem. It's funny when you start dreaming of your own imagional creations and they become suddenly more realistic than you expect - at least as realistic as dreams can get. I could blame the fact of not having enough sleep recently. Grading until 3:30am yesterday (on a Saturday evening!!!).. Meeting Mirkem was nice though and probably something like a small escape into a more innocent and childish world. She looked quite different than I had imagined her when writing about her. However, I think Laurie Anderson made me think about Mirkem again and so I mainly should blame her. I was at her performance at USC yesterday (ya I started grading quite late ;) and which was more something like a person to person conversation than a performance, but even more powerful. She talked about two recent art pieces she was working on - within places as diverse as they can get - NASA and a japanese garden. Embraced by her words and surrounded by the darkness of the auditorium it was suddenly just me and her. Empowering her "talk" as a "performance" for each single one of us she took us on a journey. The journey into her world, which gradually became more and more my own. Floating through abstract natural landscapes, powerful machines and escaping to a place where art is as simple as it is: just Laurie, just me, just you. "Why are you changing us Laurie", the audience asked. "I would never want to change you. I would never want to make somebody a better human being, a better member of society,... because there is nothing better for the artist. This is our freedom." And then there was Mirkem. When I finally admitted to myself, that there is not more to me, but this. And I felt a little bit of freedom.. in downtown LA.