July 9, 2023 (?)

It's hard to believe that we're almost halfway through.

It seems as though we have only recently arrived.

Despite our disparate origins and experiences, there is an intangible thread connecting us (of this cohort) like a switchboard of long distance tin-can phones.

A lingering conversation from the past, waiting to be had -- longing to be heard.

 

I cannot help but reflect

upon the truth of the moment.

The stories unearthed into our bodies

though our feet and our hands,

A small tribe of LEDs blink at a different pace.

The first electric battery invented by Alessandro Volta in the 1800’s seems modest compared to  other complex inventions for the generation, storage and consumption of energy that followed such as power lines, turbines and nuclear power stations.

As I look outside of the Composer's Studio @DjerassiProgram @LeonardoISAST, I feel so privileged to be amongst such creative fellows.

On a winter's morning in Lovett Bay, NSW, I find myself preparing my suitcase for the life-changing journey to Leonardo@Djerassi's unforgettable residency. A rush of thoughts, emotions, and memories floods my mind, and the weight of anticipation hangs in the air. Questions about what to pack, what essentials I might need, and what I would truly miss occupy my thoughts, leaving me yearning for a magician's hat.

I'm sitting in the Bowes Art Library at Stanford University, between my two scheduled office hours for my course Science, Technology, Art on scientific approaches to the study of fine art paintings and drawings.  My students are a bit anxious as they have another homework, their final project papers, and the final coming up in quick succession.  Nevertheless, they seem to be learning a great deal.

Observation Maze, references Mel Henderson's Observation Shelter on the Djerassi grounds.

On my first walk of the Djerassi grounds, I saw scat, tons of scat! And of course, I thought, THAT will go into the mud painting I make here.

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Macrophones is one of those art+science projects that starts with a hypothesis and then requires an awful lot of labor getting the whole thing together in order to see if it adds up to anything. On some level, the thought experiment is enough for me—if we could hear low frequency sounds from around the world, would we more directly feel our connection to and through the atmosphere?