tuesday, march 7th...the dawn brings a mixture of tragedy and beauty. there has been a fox massacring the chickens and geese in the hen house the last few nights and last night it killed one of our ducks which was in the process of hatching her eggs. during the night i heard her scream and got up and quickly ran out to try and chase the fox away, in the process locking myself out of the house. great; 4 am and everyone is asleep - will i have to sleep outside with the dogs now? fortunately, gill had not locked the door to the residents' house and i was able to go in and sleep on one of the beds. then around 6:30 or so, the sun began to come up and a beautiful rainbow formed over the valley...that's life i guess. in the afternoon, carlos lerias and his friend pedro com by to help me tear down a wall in another space which will be used to house more residents in the future. thanks to them; they are super generous...later in the evening. luis and fatima and fatima's sister bela drive us back to lisbon with all the luggage and equipment and we drop one of the pieces at braco de prata...then dinner and early night as i am completely exhausted form the early morning adventure. at least spring is here:)

monday, march 6th...we begin the countdown to the show. gill puts some finishing touches on his piece and cleans up his studio.

sunday, april 5th...this morning i help luis plant some peppers. for lunch we have grilled sardines - the first of the season i think. this afternoon i update the blog. gill is hard at work. in the evening he goes out for a walk...these are some photos he took while out walking...

saturday, april 4th...countdown to the show begins...new things of beauty are emerging from old things of beauty.

friday, april 3rd...yes, things are looking good. gill cooks an amazing pasta and after dinner, fatima and i go over to gill's studio and help him a bit while he prepares the board for one of his installations.

thursday, april 2nd...while gill is working away in his studios, i take carlos and pedro to see an old house i would like to renovate for housing future artists. first thing to do is tear down a wall in order to create a large common kitchen. the farm is beginning to feel a lot like a place where art and community are happening. in a couple of days they will come back to help tear down the wall and we will shoot some footage of the process.

wednesday, april 1st...financial fool's day at the G20 summit in London - ok, that's a sidetrack; nothing to do with the residency per se...today we came back to the farm and now begins the work of the beginning of building the installations...

tuesday, march 31st..last day of our sojourn to lisbon for buying supplies, etc. went down to rua de sao paulo and found some incredible specialty stores. also had dinner with adriana sa, john klima and andre goncalves. john finally answered the question that was perplexing us all day - how to cut into a lightbulb without it shattering - you place it in water and use a file to gently cut. voila!

monday, march 30th.  gill tells me he has invited andre and nuno, aka Gigantiq (http://www.cronicaelectronica.org/?p=gigantiq), to perform as featured guests at his show on april 9th.  i am always excited about collaborations between international visiting artists and local artists, so this is super great news!  tonight we have dinner with peter and mumtaz () and their friend james from australia...

sunday, march 29th.  gill and i stayed up until around 6am chatting and listening to music - celebrating our new-found space - so today we get up late and slowly ease in to the day.  tonight we go to dinner at a underground fado place in the bica called "grupo excursionista vai tu" - hilarious name, basically means "the you go tour group"...heh heh.   we have dinner with teresa of n.i.p. (http://newinterfaces.net/nip), andre and nuno, after which gill, andre and nuno have a jam session...i am too tired and am going to bed...

saturday, march 28th...we go look at espaço avenida as a possible space for gill's installation and performance.  then we go to see whit at the chilli store.  really great concert.  afterwards we go check out fabrica do braço de prata and meet with patricia freire who confirms with us that we can use the sala visconti - fully equipped and really nice.  we take it!  great, so we have a space again...

friday, march 27th.  tonight we find out that the performance space we had confirmed is no longer confirmed...that sucks.  i decide to put it on the shelf until later and head out for another inauguration at the EDP museum.  around midnight i pick gill up at home and we go out to see the crew hassan space.  for performance would be great, but for installation not ideal...the search continues...

thursday, march 26th.  gill meets me in lisbon.  we have dinner with mailie and rui of binaural (http://www.binauralmedia.org) and then all go to an opening of francisco janes' work at the rock gallery.  some thoughts gill has brought from the farm:

"I have been at Santarem for just over a week now.  It is an incredible place - immense, and somewhat desolate.  Only a young couple with their daughter lives permanently at the farm today.  They are not alone: with them are two dogs, five sheep, one calf and a bunch of rowdy roosters.  This is almost nothing compared to the farm's heyday, but the whole complex still seem to resonate with the bustling activity that once was.  At least this is the feeling that I get as I roam through wineries, abandoned storage facilities full of farming tools, cavernous refrigeration cells, cattle pens, offices.

I feel like an archaeologist, amazed at the continuous flow of stuff that I am uncovering every day - all kinds of antique tools, a box with a hand-written love poem and an old watch, piles of fashion magazines from the fifties, discolored posters that recall my childhood in Italy's countryside, a few beautiful old boats - the Tejo is just across the field, I can look at the migrating birds that stop by the river banks while I shower.

As my work often deals with memory, this is indeed an ideal place and an inspiring project.  But I am not interested in nostalgia.  And there is no such thing in today's Portugal, as the whole nation is running at full speed towards the future.

And yet, futurestep is not amnesia.  As the first artist in residence at the farm, I feel strongly to be at the conjunction point in time, linking what was then with what will be.  My work here will be about this interconnectedness and mutual interdependence of the past and the future."

wednesday, march 25th.  i have to go back to lisbon for a meeting tomorrow.  gill stays on the farm to work things out for his piece.

tuesday, march 24th...luis, fatima and jessica form the audience for a short mpld set.   luis shares his homemade marmel liquor with us...mmm

monday, 23rd march...gill at work...

sunday, march 22nd...gill finds a space to use as a studio.  luis, the caretaker at the farm helps me clean the space next door which will also be used as a studio space in the future.  the farm begins experiencing a transition from working farm to art space.

saturday, march 21st...more exploration, more ideas...the farm gets a visit from a flock of birds...

friday, march 20th...gill gets to meet some of the objects which have been buried under a layer of 30-year old dust.  ideas begin to form...

thursday, march 19th...first full day on the farm...gill gets acquainted with the grounds.  in the evening gill makes a super delicious risotto and i make a fire...it is still cold at night.

wednesday, march 18th...we finally make it out to the farm in the evening; we arrive by train in santarem and pick up some supplies.  later that night we set up gill's gear and he does another mpld concert...it is great to have private mpld shows on a regular basis!!  more info. at: http://www.m-i-c-r-o.net/mpld/

tuesday, march 17th...andre goncalves arrives this morning from new york, bringing some of my things with him.  gill and i decide to stay another night in lisbon and we have another nice day and more eating and drinking around town with andre and nuno moita.  andre is super happy to be back eating portuguese food. 

residenc(y)a one

monday, march 16th, gill arno, first on the farm resident arrives in lisbon...he arrives at 5:30 am, i pick him up at 6:30.  it is also my birthday, so we spend the day walking around and sitting around in cafes eating and drinking and meeting up with friends.  ana is here from o porto, marcolino is in town from vienna, and later linda from latvia and petra from bavaria join us for more drinks.  we finish up at my place with ginjinha and a surprise live concert from mpld...i think the day ended very close to the time it began, but not sure about this....