Currently I am at Elsewhere Artist Collaborative for a visit. (If you would like to learn more about Elsewhere please click on the links below.)

Last night Guerra De La Paz (who are artists in residence at Elsewhere) spoke at the Weatherspoon Museum located on the University of North Carolina Greensboro campus. The piece they are working on at Elsewhere is called Six Thai Trannies (in Heaven) There is a sneak peek party this Wednesday and Friday is the opening. If you are in Greensboro or nearby come, it is amazing. If you can't, check out their website.


Guerra De La Paz website: http://www.guerradelapaz.com/

Guerra De La Paz's Elsewhere blog: http://gdlpiselsewhere.vox.com/

Elsewhere's flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elsewhereelsewhere/

Elsewhere's web page: http://www.elsewhereelsewhere.org/

There is far more.

And far more restrictions.

What is happening here?

We are not allowed to see dead.

Distance and disconnect.

If accessable would it make a difference?

hill and dale and hill and dale and hill and dale

where do you want to go? why?

What do you want to do? why?

I am in the midst of writing my final paper for my internship on how to get 20 - mid 30 year olds to move to Pittsfield/The Berkshires and to stay here, create family here, grow their roots into the hills.

Are you ready to stay where you are? If you have committed to a place, why?

Have you been to Pittsfield ever? Have you been to Massachusetts ever? Hello, we are up here in the northeast corner of the United States.

Would I move to Pittsfield?

There is potential in Pittsfield, there is possibility. There is space, cheap space. There are businesses like Dottie's Coffee lounge, Chapters Bookstore, and Mission Bar and Tapas who are owned by young business owners. There are art spaces like Storefront Artists Project, The Copperworks, and Zeitgeist who are owned or manned by young artists.

What is to be done when so many communities are struggling to draw and retain the next generation of community leaders? How do you encourage and cultivate the young adults that you already have?

Patty Chang's video Shangri La (2005) is currently showing as part of Mass MoCA's Eastern Standard: Western Artists in China. The show runs until March 2, 2009. The piece pictured above is a sculpture based on the mountains near the town of Shangri-La and is shown being constructed in the film. The town near the Tibetan border that Chang travels to in the movie named itself in 1997 after the mythical place in James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon. I have been waiting to see this video for about two years (you can see stills on her website). The video builds slow and ends in an amazing sequence. Chang touches upon many layers of East/West perceptions ping ponging back and forth through thoughtful imagery.

I climbed the stairs to the gallery that Chang's work is placed and the "mountain" rose up out of the dark. It was a really lovely moment.

Chang has two videos showing, Shangri La (2005) and Flotsam, Jetsam (2007) a collaboration with David Kelley.
http://pattychang.com/

http://www.massmoca.org/event_details.php?id=335

Massachusetts has 351 towns and cities, I did not know this until today. While working on the Cultural Pittsfield Newsletter this week I can across www.massachusetts351.blogspot.com This couple (Laura and Bobb) is visiting every town/city in Massachusetts and documenting it. I like their map and how they are filling it in as they go. Wicked exciting!


Plus here is a link to Massachusetts swimming holes in Massachusetts http://swimmingholes.org/ma.html

We've got scaley flesh like our fish friends. We are getting ready for our water life, possibly. It is very wet this summer here, good practice.