Early morning yoga and meditation - somehow manage to develop a daily practice. Finally.

Wandered next door - to the 'artist residency' section - in search of Johana's magic coffee maker, stayed to chat about presenting your work in documentation, shopping sprees and international suicide rates. Lithuanian is still number one, and in every country the number of men who succeed is at least 3x if not 5x more than women. Must ask Natalie to watch the Suicide Club for our next movie night.

F is for FAKE was hilarious in parts, unintentionally sometimes - 'the art of girl watching', please - but also interesting in terms of art markets, experts and what is the value of art. 'It's pretty, but is it art?'

I had chair envy as two of the artists brought their ergoonmic work chairs to watch the film - so have managed to scrounge one of these from Linas, since I can't sit in a metal kitchen chair at the computer for hours. We've started a movement to collect comfortable furniture - what is it about designers and architects who forget that when you're living somewhere, you actually do need a place to relax? I also have a secret wish to just once be in an artist residency that is completely free of anything from ikea.

Anyway, those are my 'luxury problems' for the day...

Now we're going on an expedition down to the hotel that's being renovated to collect some of their classic armchairs and secrete them away in the rooms (apparently they don't match the decor) - then its back to work on inventing myths and fairytales, reading Lucy Lippard and talking with the artists.

Have a beautiful morning!

***

Just the six hours obsessively trying to fix the css in booki to finish my traces tea lounge sampler - think I've nearly eradicated all the random blank pages and weird formatting. Head spins.

We had a fantastic trip to the old hotel being pulled apart before renovation - collected a great hoard of 80's red circular lights, now adorning my room and providing reading light. Marta told me brief into to some local legends - keeping them under my hat until I know more. Maybe a film now or the sweet wine I was promised earlier... either way no more computer screen.

background readings:

Live stream talk Di 12/04/2011 Alternative Building: Bildung ist in Österreich Thema. Die Mängel im Bildungssystem werden immer deutlicher. Ein Bildungsvolksbegehren ist im Laufen. Eltern demonstrieren für eine freie Schulwahl. Ministerinnen bemühen sich das Bildungssystem zu reformieren. Scheinbar gilt es das Bildungssystem neu zu erfinden.

Hanoi Sound Stuff Music Festival: April 15 & 16 Van Ho Exhibition Center, #2 Hoa Lu Street, Hanoi. Hanoi Sound Stuff Festival aspires to create a unique world of quality electronic and experimental music and art with boundary-pushing sounds, creative performances and collaborations between Vietnamese and International artists to spur an interest among young Vietnamese audiences.

Sabaw Media Art Kitchen: not-for-profit, artist-run initiative and platform for all kinds of information and communication carried via modern electronic media, with an emphasis on the region of South East Asia. SABAW is translated as "soup" in Filipino. SABAW focuses to address the lack of proper dissemination of information in media art, experimental and electronic music, and media culture in South East Asia to the general public and candid exchanges between sub-cultural and academic initiatives. SABAW is also dedicated towards the facilitation, publication and exposure of creative and experimental works of innovative new media artists, interdisciplinary artists, contemporary musician-composers who find it difficult to release their material through more conventional channels.

Founded by Tengal in 2005.

bedroomLab is dedicated to contemporary electronic, digital and experimental music, as well the diverse range of artistic activities in the context of sound and video culture. bedroomLab presents projects that experiment with new aesthetic parameters and new forms of cooperation, develop possibilities for informational and economic self-determination, and reflect on the role of contemporary music against the backdrop of technological and social transformations. Now more than ever, music emerges as a laboratory for multiform experiments and as an active agent that allows for new cultural techniques to be tested and proffered to the wider world. Your orbiting visual and sound bedroomlaboratories are charting new ways of audio and video interaction in the Philippines and beyond. We have had a particular interest in creating an open dialogue between the audio and video dimensions, a linkage with a long experimental pedigree.

the evolution of mobile: supercool, even if it is a mobile phone ad

File Symposium - Electronic Language International Festival. Games Rio 2011 - I want to play!

NESTA - Creativity and Innovation UK: Mass Localism Report

why contemporary art curators should get out more: I was reminded of this by the art market/expert debate in F is for FAKE