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In Rab we stay in a household with the Performing Pictures contingent of the Resilients team. It is an open-plan space where family and friends share sleeping quarters, a kitchen, and the sun. It is built out of very old stonework and has been in the family for several generations. In contrast to the tourist buildings around the coast -- newly-built concrete and glass edifices devoid of history and empty of meaning -- my hosts consciously make an effort to keep their family history alive. | In Rab we stay in a household with the Performing Pictures contingent of the Resilients team. It is an open-plan space where family and friends share sleeping quarters, a kitchen, and the sun. It is built out of very old stonework and has been in the family for several generations. In contrast to the tourist buildings around the coast -- newly-built concrete and glass edifices devoid of history and empty of meaning -- my hosts consciously make an effort to keep their family history alive. | ||
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The house has no electricity or hot water. I arrive after sunset, entering the dark interior at the end of my first day in the Balkan sun, and feel like I’m stepping into another time. We have dinner on the floor. I’ve only been gone from Brussels 24 hours and I can already feel a transformation. A week without a warm shower or electricity, | The house has no electricity or hot water. I arrive after sunset, entering the dark interior at the end of my first day in the Balkan sun, and feel like I’m stepping into another time. We have dinner on the floor. I’ve only been gone from Brussels 24 hours and I can already feel a transformation. A week without a warm shower or electricity, | ||
We are awaiting the arrival of the [[the pollinators|Peregrini/ | We are awaiting the arrival of the [[the pollinators|Peregrini/ | ||
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=== Meandering in the open air, showered by falling stars === | === Meandering in the open air, showered by falling stars === | ||
A few weeks later, a few hundred kilometers away... Time to step onto another planet: the Unmanned Resilience trip. We are hiking up Route 1 into the Gora mountains in Slovenia with a bunch of artists, pilots, navigators, unmanned flying vehicles, and SiNuNi data collectors. Our hosts welcome us in a mountain house -- with limited water and no room for sleeping inside. This is the first night for a long time that I’ve slept under the stars. It makes me happy and my body stiff, but I can make wishes throughout the night to the endless falling stars. Next morning we meet our guide, expert in wild herbs and Slovenian heavy metal, the legendary Dario Cortese… | A few weeks later, a few hundred kilometers away... Time to step onto another planet: the Unmanned Resilience trip. We are hiking up Route 1 into the Gora mountains in Slovenia with a bunch of artists, pilots, navigators, unmanned flying vehicles, and SiNuNi data collectors. Our hosts welcome us in a mountain house -- with limited water and no room for sleeping inside. This is the first night for a long time that I’ve slept under the stars. It makes me happy and my body stiff, but I can make wishes throughout the night to the endless falling stars. Next morning we meet our guide, expert in wild herbs and Slovenian heavy metal, the legendary Dario Cortese… | ||
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Dario changes your perception of the world. A collage of contradictions and a wise mountain guide, he leads us through the wild, helps us tell the good herbs from the bad, advises us on resilient food and drink and regales us with tales, songs and reflections on wild garlic, ticks, and sleeping. (He convinced me that your legs should always be higher than your head when you sleep -- this was supposed to have some kind of beneficial effect on longevity.) During nights in the open the sounds of stars and wild animals are a background to the hilarious soundtrack of the snoring group. It is so conforting to find a home in meandering and the open air. | Dario changes your perception of the world. A collage of contradictions and a wise mountain guide, he leads us through the wild, helps us tell the good herbs from the bad, advises us on resilient food and drink and regales us with tales, songs and reflections on wild garlic, ticks, and sleeping. (He convinced me that your legs should always be higher than your head when you sleep -- this was supposed to have some kind of beneficial effect on longevity.) During nights in the open the sounds of stars and wild animals are a background to the hilarious soundtrack of the snoring group. It is so conforting to find a home in meandering and the open air. | ||
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I encounter Kenny and Hafid on my way back from doing some hanging exercises in the mountain trees. Their arrival is a sign that we're nearing “civilisation” again, as they take out their computers and start debugging the SiNuNi, their weather and land recording device. The SiNuNi collects data from sensors, stories from people and locations from a GPS. With the entire hiking group we find our way to the first mountain hut after two days of travelling. There we find real food and drinks. | I encounter Kenny and Hafid on my way back from doing some hanging exercises in the mountain trees. Their arrival is a sign that we're nearing “civilisation” again, as they take out their computers and start debugging the SiNuNi, their weather and land recording device. The SiNuNi collects data from sensors, stories from people and locations from a GPS. With the entire hiking group we find our way to the first mountain hut after two days of travelling. There we find real food and drinks. | ||
- | Are there any goats in the Gora mountains -- and if so, where are they hiding? Back in “civilisation, | + | Are there any goats in the Gora mountains -- and if so, where are they hiding? Back in “civilisation, |
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=== Green landscapes beyond the grey rocks and a purple sunrise === | === Green landscapes beyond the grey rocks and a purple sunrise === | ||
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Arriving in Split to a purple sunrise, the colours of the city blow my mind. Papers on the pavement seem to be inviting me to a “Broken Hearts Club”… This is an old port town; palm trees, royalty, old Balkan Illyrian connections, | Arriving in Split to a purple sunrise, the colours of the city blow my mind. Papers on the pavement seem to be inviting me to a “Broken Hearts Club”… This is an old port town; palm trees, royalty, old Balkan Illyrian connections, | ||
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Leaving Split I embark on a 20-hour bus ride that takes me further and further into the “wild east.” The rocky grey Croatian coast, the Bosnian town of Neum and then into the dark of Montenegro -- the black mountain where green (painful to the eyes) starts colouring my landscape. We must wait hours for passport control at each border between these countries. I get off after dark in the coastal town of Ulcinj, against the advice of the bus driver, who on discovering that we both speak Albanian says it’s not safe for a lady here at night and urges me to catch a taxi onwards to Kosovo. But I end up waiting here nonetheless, | Leaving Split I embark on a 20-hour bus ride that takes me further and further into the “wild east.” The rocky grey Croatian coast, the Bosnian town of Neum and then into the dark of Montenegro -- the black mountain where green (painful to the eyes) starts colouring my landscape. We must wait hours for passport control at each border between these countries. I get off after dark in the coastal town of Ulcinj, against the advice of the bus driver, who on discovering that we both speak Albanian says it’s not safe for a lady here at night and urges me to catch a taxi onwards to Kosovo. But I end up waiting here nonetheless, | ||
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I have won in my surrender to the law of the worlds. I surrender to simple happiness, becoming part of my environment wherever I go. I have won over belonging and unbelonging. I accept my alienation. | I have won in my surrender to the law of the worlds. I surrender to simple happiness, becoming part of my environment wherever I go. I have won over belonging and unbelonging. I accept my alienation. | ||
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=== On a playground of ghost creatures === | === On a playground of ghost creatures === | ||
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Another is Liburn Jupolli, a sound artist doing weird experiments with old instruments and re-appropriating them into [[http:// | Another is Liburn Jupolli, a sound artist doing weird experiments with old instruments and re-appropriating them into [[http:// | ||
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Since the last Kosovar-Serbian war the building has served as a parking lot, but // | Since the last Kosovar-Serbian war the building has served as a parking lot, but // | ||
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and I need not fear the road\\ | and I need not fear the road\\ | ||
for in my heart I carry the treasures of this world// | for in my heart I carry the treasures of this world// | ||
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