David Petersen Artworks

What a fantastic time it has been here in Dresden @ 7.Stock. To all my gracious hosts and new friends, thank you thank thank you. Danke schön, danke schön, danke schön!

Until we meet on the top floor again..Long live 7.Stock!

Today we were also treated to a tour of ‘Geh8,’ by local artist Tina Beifuss. Another of Dresden’s artist-run spaces, Geh8 occupies an abandoned train yard warehouse and has a large common area, plenty of private studios and an unbelievable basement that made me so jealous I could have died. Here is what we saw:

We have lost track of the days and nights. How long we have really been here is anyone’s guess. When we are leaving is no longer even in question. There is no leaving Dresden.

Maybe we have spent too much time indoors watching American television. Maybe what little time has been outside of the building we live in has been at the mall. Maybe in the end this will all have been a pleasant dream. Maybe I just need a cup of coffee.

At long last, the day of the presentation has arrived. Tonight will be the culmination of all my efforts, here and at home, as well as of those who have participated in the project. For those who don’t even know whose work will be presented tonight, here is the list. Brennan Vance, Katinka Galanos, Pete McLarnan, Vada McKur (hey boys!), Hardland/Heartland, Andrea Stanislav, Matt Bakkom/Mark Wojahn, Sarah Petersen, and Aaron Steffes. These folks all deserve our thanks and gratitude. You should buy them a drink when you see them out and about.

Also this evening, in addition to screening videos, I am being entrusted with entertaining and informing the crowd with tales of my work, the glory that is Minneapolis, and what’s the deal with Art of This, such as what it means to me, the artists and the community that have come to depend on its Saturday nights in the basement. I have prepared a slide show but will not dance.

There is also going to be a brief and intimate Q&A with Grit and Konrad, who will be recording our conversation for a radio program that will air in January. Although everyone here speaks English beautifully and beyond fluently, they are demanding that we only speak German, which I learned last night just for the interview. I’ll bring home a copy.

However, the festivities will not begin until we feast on lentil soup and whatever else they traditionally cook up for dinner to commemorate the culmination of a residency project. These Germans, they know what they are doing, that’s for sure. Thank you Germans!

So that’s what should be that. Now if only some people show up and hang out. Sunday night parties and art events can’t be the most popular thing in the world but this isn’t exactly an everyday occurrence that some kid from across the pond has something to say and to show. So get on over here! Tonight!

And if you cannot make the show, cause you live somewhere crazy like the United States, you can watch live on a web-cam @ http://www.intermobil.org/doris/net/kfz/kfz_cam_auswahl.xml?x=170&y=91
Cut and paste this crazy website into yer website box, and then click on ‘Wilsdruffer’ at right of the map. We are towards the top left in the light blue glow!!

Only the photo of me is by me. MP did the rest.

There is nothing quite like a completely Christmas-free Christmas. A 25 December with no fancy, fattening meal, zero friends and family arriving from afar looking to take up the spare bedroom and ask for gas money home, and without a family screaming match, as seems to occur any time my family gets together, holiday or not. Instead, isn’t it much better to eat whatever is lying around, not worrying about some big crazy traditional meal that is supposed to be perfect. Send your friends a text message. Maybe call your mother, maybe not. (Sorry mom.) Put an inane movie on and call it a night.

Like last night. Michael finally figured out how to rent some movies off the internet, and of all the films on the World Wide Web, he choses ‘Beerfest.’ Seriously. The best part is that there is some really awful, American stereotyping of Germans, and while we were watching it, a very real, non-stereotypical German named Robert came up to hang out and watch it with us. He seemed to enjoy the movie and was laughing and such. Or maybe he was just chuckling at how stupid American cinema is, as well as the American imbeciles that watch it. Like us.

I knew Dresden has a little revolutionary fervor to it. Last night, while marching down a dark street to a dark bar, we came across a little EZLN propaganda painted down an even darker street. For those Chiapan sympathizers out there, such as myself, this is a fantastic sign that the word has spread and is not dead. ¡Viva Zapatista! For those of you who haven’t followed the last 15 years of the EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation) and their struggle against the state of Mexico, it’s never too late to join the struggle.

Sometimes, when crossing a bridge of a river such as the Elbe, you have to drop a penny and make a wish. So that’s what I did. All wishes made in Dresden come true. At least that is what the river told me when the penny went ‘Ouussfff.’

Michael takes pretty good pictures, too.

Another day and another trip to the Euro store later, the installation portion of this holiday residency project is nearly complete. As for whether or not the ‘park theater’ will be well-received, that remains to be seen, and won’t be known until everyone returns from Holiday. For the Americans, the next two/three days will be spent exiled high above the Dresden streets of Wilsdruffer and St. Petersburger, waiting for the city to re-open. Plenty of time to put the finishing touches on what has turned out to be a lovely, dollar-store creation. Of sorts. There are many many small flourishes to add, and many many more repairs to be made with the cheap, Chinese-made materials that make up the bulk of the installation. But only so many.

So, with still six days remaining to be spent in Dresden, one wonders what on earth the Americans shall do with so much idle time on their hands in this shuttered city. There are only so many games of Ping Pong to be played, and to be honest with you, the rivalry is creating more friction than this observer cares for. Also, the green dice have been rolled so many times, they are beginning to lose their color altogether making it difficult to discern a 4 from a 5 or 6, also causing intense conflict. An adventure out of town has been discussed, but with so few funds left to their names, it seems unlikely at best. Everything that could be read has been read. Even the books in German have been flipped through several times, just in case any sense can made of the foreign language. The situation is dire, and there is so much time for it to get much much worse. Happy holidays.

-Ghost of Christmas Present

After a short, free ride on the tram (we don’t know how to pay, or why one would do so) and a nice walk down lovely Leipzigerstraße, we came across what I personally always felt was only an American phenomenon. Silly, silly me. Antiques can be European too, and definitely German. So we antik-ed. Not that there was anything to purchase, considering our light wallets and future visit through U.S Customs, but there were plenty of illegible books to thumb through, thousands of never-heard-of 45’s to flip through, tons of beautiful wooden furniture to walk through, and hundreds of dusty glass cases full of really old and fragile objects to look through. The afternoon was enchanting!

Now, Monday evening, we are the last humans alive in the building that houses 7.Stock and the studios of the artists who operate 7.Stock. Everyone has gone somewhere for the holidays. You would think somebody was actually from a town like Dresden, but that is far from the case for the artists anyway. They have all returned to their families’ homes in not-too-faraway towns and villages with names I can’t spell or pronounce without a few hours of practice. And they all speak English as good as I ever could! That said, while we now have the run of the place, we also feel alone, if not altogether abandoned. They are saying they will be back for the event Sunday night, but who really knows? What if it is just Michael and myself playing Ping Pong to the audience that is the two stuffed bunny rabbits I bought for my daughter? What if?

There isn’t exactly a pretty picture to paint yet in terms of the progress that we have made here in Dresden. I cleaned the kitchen and Michael is nearly through the beer intended for next weekend. A bunch of furniture has been relocated and I have nearly memorized the entire first season of Family Guy, just in case a Ray Bradbury-esque Farhenheit 451-type scenario occurs and all DVDs are destroyed. Probably not a bad idea.

However, today was the first day that materials were finally unwrapped, unrolled, though maybe still unused. I shot two bits of a video documentation piece that hopefully will be screened at AOT Tuesday, January 30 at the gallery’s year end blowout bash. 8 til late? Call John Marks. Anyway, there is plenty of work left to be thought of and then executed if we are going to make it look like it was worth having a couple of idiot Americans stay in this building for two weeks. But our spirits are rising, the natural foods store was discovered in the basement of an upscale mall down the way and I am far ahead in the Ping Pong series. I guess I am just that good.

Three full days and we can’t seem to shake the jet lag, nor the fact that it is not really Midnight when in fact it is 7 in the morning. The completion of the Ping Pong Table Prototype also didn’t encourage us to go to bed.

Earlier in the evening we traveled to the village of Coswig, nearly 20 kilometers east of Dresden, to a party at the Löbnitz Pils Brewery, which seemed terribly dangerous considering our behavior the other night. However, maybe due to the awful cover band (seriously fellas, Joy Division?) we kept it together, consuming a couple of fresh, and do I mean fresh, brews as well as some couscous and bread for our famished bellies. Michael found a cat, which we were going to keep for the project in Dresden, but his collar said something about already having an owner so we just made friends and called it a night. Plus, 7.Stock already has a feline mascot of its own, and we didn’t want to step on its turf.

Miraculously, the sun is somewhat out today, maybe not enough to get anyone thier Vitamin D, but enough to keep one from losing his mind. We shall take advantage by traveling by tram to Neustadt (Noy-staadt) to visit Dirk at his posh museum gig and search for the good falafels as well as more floral-printed bedsheets and double-stick tape. Let’s hope they keep the stores open on the Sundays.