today is my last day in europe; tomorrow i leave for new york, beginning my return homeward. today i bought another suitcase – a small one, because now that i’ve come back to london & compiled all of the things that i left in small discrete piles along the way, my big (actually medium-sized) suitcase is groaning at the zips & almost too heavy for me to lift. i think it’s about 23kg, which says more about my weight-lifting (in)ability than anything. but it’s amazing how easy it is to accumulate stuff along the road; i’ve bought almost nothing, but i have been given a few things and in particular there’s quite a bit more paper in there than when i started. most of this paper is contained in the ISEA programme & catalogue (will i ever look at them again?) and a copy of barba & savarese’s weighty dictionary of theatre anthropology, which has come to me from cristina wistari’s library.
i’ve been on the road now for 5 & a half months now, with 2 weeks left to go. like any journey, there have been highs and lows, surprises and disappointments, reunions and new meetings. happily nearly everything has been good. my residency at the villa waldberta stands out as one of the highlights, as well as discovering istanbul for the first time, and of course the 090909 UpStage Festival. not a highlight, but a significant event during my travels, was the death of my grandmother, which coincided with the end of the 090909 festival.
wherever i go it’s the people who really make it special – reconnecting with old friends, developing projects with colleagues, and meeting new people. antonella & i finally realised Let ME Go; paula & i have started talking about a new project; there was the wonderful coming together of so many amazing women theatre-makers at the Transit festival; and i had 2 meetings with people i’ve known through the internet for many years. one was jale karabekir of tiyatro boyali kus, a feminist theatre company in istanbul, who was the first person to contact the Magdalena Project after discovering the web site i made in 1999; we’ve emailed since then and finally met this year in september.
the second such meeting was with leena saarinen, with whom i’ve
collaborated on cyberformance work since 2001, and since 2002 as part of
Avatar Body Collision.
this was a momentus first meeting that felt strangely normal & even
uneventful. we know each other through email, text chat, audio-visual
conferencing, one phonecall, and the occasional postal exchange – but
meeting in the flesh is still something else. now all that remains is
for vicki to meet karla & leena …
much much more has
happened in the last 5 & a half months, so much that i know this
side of the world is where i need to be at the moment. there’s interest
in my work here, & there are opportunities that just don’t exist in
new zealand. it’s possible to move around, to build one gig onto another
& visit a few friends in between. there are residencies & arts
organisations & festivals & conferences … so when i get home
my plan is to pack up my house & come back here, to make the most of
it while i can. having said that, i’m really looking forward to getting
home & seeing everyone.