day 165

last day in the US, so I thought I'd meet some performance artists to see what was happening here in the portland underground. I went to a funky local coffee shop where lee kyle (left) and kaj-anne pepper were working, hanging out and talking about art.

lee currently has a one man show where he covers himself in blood while singing show tunes and burning the american flag. he showed us some pictures of a recent performance where he added a interesting twist (literally) where he removed all of his clothes and then inserted an oscar up his rectum.
funny thing is he seemed super nice over coffee!

last day of my adventure tomorrow. not sure what I'll find in transit but I've adored looking for things to share with you...

day 162

as we were driving next to her, ophelia told us that she got this gorgeous bike for her 8th birthday. she was on her way to open her downtown boutique where she specialises in sunglasses for every occasion...

day 145

mannie & maluti drawing at an impromptu party...

day 142

the fabulous andréa at the starcooker in the marais...

we were taken to dinner by some lovely family friends and andréa was our waiter who perfectly complemented the most gorgeous wallpaper and décor I have seen in ages...

day 139

catherine bailey (an australian painter) dancing outside my window...

day 138

we went for a picnic by the seine to say goodbye to some austrian artists who are leaving and en route we saw a very long (and heavily guarded) parade of pilgrims. they were celebrating the night before the assumption of the virgin mary and walked her statue from notre dame down the edge of the siene.

the return trip was slightly shorter as there were ten tourists boats who brought them back up the seine, with mary on the first boat and the pilgrims on the next nine...

day 132

arun, an australian choreographer, arrived today for a few days and so I took him down to paris plages to see the strangeness in person. this 'beach' has been built on voie georges pompidou, which is a major street and tunnel complex next to the seine. it's now open to walk through - and so we did...


arun in front of the emergency alarm inside the tunnel.

I was quite sure we were going to be run over but it was, instead, a ghost tunnel full of smog, perspex lighting and mosaic tiles: a bizarre insight into a forbidden world!

day 131

look, I'm not doing this for myself: it's for the art...

day 128

near our studio, one of the roads next to the seine has been turned into paris plages: the paris beach...


as you enter this beach wonderland there are mist makers and everyone and their dog is is cooling down and having fun.

should you get bored with the mist however, there are bands, pétanque areas, bars, sun lounges, a swimming pool, change areas and, of course, 3m sq of real sand for you to sunbake on.
trés important when a parisian bikini may only get a few weeks a year to be seen...

day 124

the delightful men of romainville.
betrand and julian taking an early evening break outside from the oppressive heat of the day...

day 117 - london

simon ellis (a new zealand choreographer working in london) has been commissioned for the place prize. he is creating a gorgeous solo about a conversation with an icon of australian dance, which has become a duet with a predecessor, an influence and a ghost. after watching rehearsal I saw him off at the tube station (click to see more)...

day 116 - london

alex in his market stall in soho. I asked if I could take his photo and he said he was an old hand at being in the centre of a good shot. are you loving his fruit décor...?

day 102

everyone loves a cliché. if only there had been a béret...

day 100

what does this city mean to us? the visitors, the flâneurs...

10 artists who have been here for a while, came to share their experiences of what it's been like to live and work as an artist in paris. what has it been like for these foreigners, living here and making art? sometimes for months, sometimes for an entire year?
after the initial shock of beauty has gone, what has paris left these strangers?


click here to see the photographs we took today reflecting on our time in paris...

day 99

martine (from australia) in her writing studio after dinner, cheese & wine.
so very french...

day 98

the bastille markets on a pouring wet morning - nothing stops the french from shopping...

the boys hanging outside the market, watching and smoking and chatting...

day 88

watching the tango in the building next door...

day 81

pierre (from south africa) used to be a painter and now creates works with tonal depth from a single medium. he's been working on this for 5 months and is creating shades and colours with different crochet stitches. when it's finished it will be hung in the middle of the space so you can walk around and see through it. he also embroiders photographs...








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day 79

juan melé is a painter from argentina, living in buenos-aires.
he told me he's been coming and working at cité each year for the last 20 years...

day 76

prue (from australia) showing a draft of her new work at the CND studios. she is looking at the amount of energy performing can produce and the amount of energy needed to produce a performance...

day 75

katrin ströbel (from germany) is creating a trace of where she has been on every plastic bag she has bought: graffiti she transfers, signs or advertising that affect her or anything else she sees during her travels. every image she re-draws is either imported or exported from france and so the plastic bag is an obvious starting medium when discussing the transference of goods...

day 73

every two weeks Mme. S from mali, exchanges our linen in our annex 15 foyer...

day 67

even in paris the mundane can encroach: in the cité lift with the weekly washing...



and then a quick visit to the louvre...

day 65

last day in burgundy started with having breakfast in dijon - the mustard capital of the universe - where we were seated next to this portly young man smoking up a storm and drinking beer at 9am. we were only envious for a short minute though as the day held mustard tasting poured on tap, medieval towns, an active abbey since the 8th C and perhaps some more wine tasting. some of my favourite things...

day 62

mannie and her pink scarf after an exhausting game of ping-pong at the park.
both of which (pink and ping-pong) seem très du jour for all ages here...

day 61

a most stunning night. an opening at the palais de tokyo, a crashed VIP cocktail party and dancing all night to the music of underground by goran bregovic. perfect nights happen so rarely and always when they are least expected or most needed...

and yes, the blur behind me is the eiffel tower. could you die?

day 58

sharing some wine and conversation with helge larsen & darani lewers in their studio next door:
australian contemporary jewellery artists who hate technology but love cake...

day 57

a gorgeous algerian man at mairie des lilas in the suburbs...

day 56

my french friend denis reminds me of my dad:
generous, a great cook and stunningly good at looking after people.
it was eurovision song contest tonight and denis cooked lobsters on the bbq for us in honour of australia being the only country outside europe that cares! a brilliant night with the russian winners removing their white shirts while ice skating and playing the violin. thank you eurovision...

day 51

martine taking a shot of the daily shot.

tonight we went to la cartoucherie, an old munitions factory on the outskirts of paris which has been transformed into a series of performance spaces. ros crisp, andrew morrish & friends were performing in caroline carlson's atelier and every australian interested in dance and his dog, was there for the fun...

day 47

I was up near stalingrad - I've been told it's the new hip part of town - which to me, just seems ugly, poor and with more graffiti than berlin. as I was taking a photo of a particularly ugly wall, these two raced over and started telling me that I couldn't take photos of the graffiti.
'oh god' I thought, 'here we go again': yesterday I was accosted by a screaming gang of under tens who were vocally adament that I could not take photos of nemo.
I asked these girls why I couldn't take a shot, and they said: because it wasn't pretty and perhaps I should take a photo of them.

watch out boys!

day 44

michel taking a break outside the underground where he was playing...

day 43

at the small park next to our place, amidst the 'death by ping-pong' games and the football being played on 3msq of dirt, was this lady walking her cat...

day 41

on the way to chinatown today I sat near this gorgeous girl Oumaima and her beautiful mother Saumia.



they are from algeria and have been here for three years. they love paris, but miss home...
arriving in china town I was suddenly home: the noise, the chaos, the smells - it was so familiar.
I love paris, but when you travel there are always some things you miss: when I'm here, it's asian food...

being here has brought back to my consciousness ideas of colonisation: whether by force or by food?

day 36

this was taken at square villemin and I went in to take this shot because I've got a theory about culture. and, being australian, I quite like to state my opinions as fact. which are in the comments section...

day 34

skating at les halles - on a friday night this place looks like one of the scarier suburbs of canberra...




always on the lookout for a good mover...

day 28

making dad's kumera tonight and needed spices. my favorite shop, on my favorite street: anything you want, this guy has by the kilo...

day 26

at the entrance of the new musée quai branly. the same architect Jean Nouvel who made the insitute du monde arabe. controversial art inside a gorgeous building. I'm not sure yet what I think - contemporary artists being portrayed in an anthropological setting? but today was for loving everything and the building is sumptuous.




denis and fred cooked quail, asparagus, prosciutto and more. the day has been delightful...

day 20

the auld alliance bar: an old alliance between the scottish and the french. strange bedfellows but to prove they were still keen on the french, dogs are allowed inside.

my last day of french classes. I wasn't as bad as I'd expected: lower your expectations and the world is your oyster...

day 16

busy day at the office. andrew morrish came to help...

day 8

dinner at chez fred.

day 2

still in the suburbs. jetlag is always hard when it's rainy and cold...