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A travelogue by Shelbatra Jashari | A travelogue by Shelbatra Jashari | ||
- | //Spirit trippin', | + | |
=== Blown by the wind === | === Blown by the wind === | ||
- | In the summer of 2012 I went on a very special trip. Not a speciality trip, not particularly a spicy trip… but one that I won't easily forget. The first goal of this journey was to document two case studies of the Resilients project: the Pollinators and the Unmanned RT. Both stops happened to be in the Balkans, and in the two weeks that intervened between them I decided to have an appointment with the land of my childhood, which was right in the neighbourhood -- Kosovo. | + | In the summer of 2012 I went on a very special trip. Not a speciality trip, not particularly a spicy trip… but one that I won't easily forget. The first goal of this journey was to document two case studies of the Resilients project: the Pollinators and the Unmanned RT. Both stops happened to be in the Balkans, and in the two weeks that intervened between them I decided to have an appointment with the land of my childhood, which was right in the neighbourhood -- Kosovo, Kosova or Kosovë, depending on your orgins. |
- | First stop is the island of Rab, Croatia. | + | First stop is the island of Rab, Croatia. |
- | 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 by building on the family stones that have been around for at least a century. |
- | 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, | + | < |
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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 | ||
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 | + | A few weeks later, a few hundred kilometers away... Time to step onto another planet: the Unmanned Resilience |
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. | ||
- | 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, | + | I encounter Kenny and Hafiz 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 ASAP 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. |
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+ | 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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I board the // | I board the // | ||
- | Arriving in Split to a purple sunrise, the colours of the city blow my mind. Papers | + | Arriving in Split to a purple sunrise, the colours of the city blow my mind. Torn posters |
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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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=== Journeying inwards, from endurance to acceptance === | === Journeying inwards, from endurance to acceptance === | ||
- | Kosovo defies my expectations every time I return. | + | Kosovo defies my expectations every time I return. |
- | I arrive during a time when the whole country is fasting: it’s Ramadan. I decide to try out this form of religious penance as a part of my exploration of spiritual practices of endurance. Unfortunately my efforts are misinterpreted and seen as a fake pose emerging from my own weirdness. Instead of Ramadan I launch into performatic overdrive, climbing pole-shaped objects every day and continuing my hanging series. ((The hanging series is part of an ongoing sequence | + | I arrive during a time when the whole country is fasting: it’s Ramadan. I decide to try out this form of religious penance as a part of my exploration of spiritual practices of endurance. Unfortunately my efforts are misinterpreted and seen as a fake pose emerging from my own weirdness. Instead of Ramadan I launch into performatic overdrive, climbing pole-shaped objects every day and continuing my hanging series. ((The hanging series is part of an ongoing sequence I’ve been performing for the last five years, their remnants visible |
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 === | ||
- | I encounter a group of young creators working on the project // | + | I encounter a group of young creators working on the project // |
- | 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:// |
- | Since the last Kosovar-Serbian war the building has served as a parking lot, but // | + | < |
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+ | Since the last Kosovar-Serbian war the building has served as a parking lot, but // | ||
Further down south on the beaches of Albania, the bora wind catches up with me again, showing me the cold, loveless face of the universe once more. In this wind it’s not difficult to imagine the beach as a playground for ghost creatures. I can't hide anymore under the umbrella, they' | Further down south on the beaches of Albania, the bora wind catches up with me again, showing me the cold, loveless face of the universe once more. In this wind it’s not difficult to imagine the beach as a playground for ghost creatures. I can't hide anymore under the umbrella, they' | ||
- | Berat is one of the oldest inhabited castles in the Balkans and one of the best-preserved Ottoman architectural constructions. The white city, the city of myth, the city of stone. Albania carries myths of stone over from century to century, as if they were newborn babies. Stone is what is worshipped in traditional albanian culture. Expressions like: he's strong as a stone, your head is a stone… and the myth of Rozafa, the woman that gets buried alive in the walls of her husband’s castle so that it may keep standing. In Albanian culture we strongly believe that only a sacrifice of life can keep a construction solid for eternity. | + | > link to the video |
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+ | Berat is one of the oldest inhabited castles in the Balkans and one of the best-preserved Ottoman architectural constructions. The white city, the city of myth, the city of stone. Albania carries myths of stone over from century to century, as if they were newborn babies. Stone is what is worshipped in traditional albanian culture. Expressions like: he's strong as a stone, your head is a stone… and the myth of Rozafa, the woman that gets buried alive in the walls of her husband’s castle so that it may keep standing. In Albanian culture we strongly believe that only a sacrifice of life can keep a construction solid for eternity. So living being were sometimes buried alive to keep a construction standing and to free it from bad spirits. | ||
=== Descending to my roots, I climb and hang on… === | === Descending to my roots, I climb and hang on… === | ||
- | Getting lost in order to find myself again I descend for a short visit to the city where I was born to reconnect with family, friends, | + | > Getting lost in order to find myself again I make an effort |
- | Before heading back to the West I pay tribute to my ancestors. I go up the mountains to honour the Catholic cemeteries in the town of Zym. On the way I come across “Neptune, | + | > Before heading back to the West I pay tribute to my ancestors. I go up the mountains to honour the Catholic cemeteries in the town of Zym. On the way I come across “Neptune, |
At the end of my trip I make time to visit my grandmother -- a personal, enduring symbol of resilience for me. A 95-year-old optimist, she lives in the same village where she married 78 years ago. Her daily yoga consists of the traditional Muslim prayers to Allah five times a day, which she practices in her own very unique way. She fascinates me -- the rich simplicity of her life. She is my mastodon and I offer my prayers to her. | At the end of my trip I make time to visit my grandmother -- a personal, enduring symbol of resilience for me. A 95-year-old optimist, she lives in the same village where she married 78 years ago. Her daily yoga consists of the traditional Muslim prayers to Allah five times a day, which she practices in her own very unique way. She fascinates me -- the rich simplicity of her life. She is my mastodon and I offer my prayers to her. | ||
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Leaving her behind makes me recall all the goodbyes I’ve said up to now. Surely too many for a lifetime. | Leaving her behind makes me recall all the goodbyes I’ve said up to now. Surely too many for a lifetime. | ||
- | //I fly to Venice like a light bird,\\ | ||
- | knowing that putting up a mask\\ | ||
- | is enjoying to the fullest the light and life\\ | ||
- | to surrender \\ | ||
- | to the pilgrimage of love that will carry me\\ | ||
- | for the world is mine to discover \\ | ||
- | and I need not fear the road\\ | ||
- | for in my heart I carry the treasures of this world// | ||
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