Im looking at you through the glass lyrics

. What does this rear window decal mean. CEC ArtsLink: Central Asia Blog. You'..ll Never Miss The Water Till The Well Runs Dry. These Projects Will Not Be possible Or Nearly As much Fun Without Nastya. And I Want To Thank Her For Making These Exchanges Extraordinary Experiences. Three months ago, in june, Ji Lee and I went to Bishkek to initiate conversations and creations about public art. The art center where we called our home for the 2 weeks ended up with a new identity and a couple of public art projects. Now, I have returned to maintain the momentum at high. CEC generously provided funds for artist initiated public art project. Through a call for proposals, artists were invited to submit ideas for public artworks which will be installed on the grounds of B’..Art. Each artist will be given up to $150 to realize his/her concept. This would be done through a series or workshops or Master Classes. The first workshop had a low attendance but the attendees had idea which I reviewed and provided some creative criticism. I ended that day’..s workshop by encouraging all to spread the word about this opportunity. I had a feeling they would so I anticipated a larger crowd at the next workshop. Something extraordinary happened between the workshops Ryy. my computer died. While preparing for the next day’..s presentation my computer shorted out. There was a power surge, then nothing. How can I present without images. I went to the hotel lobby to look for some options. A complete stranger, Kyrgyz, offered Me his new laptop, for free, to do my presentations. The next day, my one presentation turned into three Ryy. the laptop was a lifesaver. Here's a look at the finished boxes. There's only two ways to get one. Be on the 9 AM train to Moscow tomorrow or win the Ebay auction listed. The boxes we've been making are like seed pods. There are cones from the local pine trees. You'll be able to plant them with Nizhny soil samples, and water from the Volga. We've even provided a bottle of Nizhny air. The boxes are a collection of scientific specimens, original artworks, and local delights. The project references Marcel Duchamp's. Our boxes include photographic prints, hand drawn stencils, and local found objects. There are lyrics from a local song and a collection of native words and sayings. We've provided matches to keep you warm, chocolate to sweeten your palate, tea to soothe you, and a condom should you get lucky on the train. There will even be origami instructions to turn your tea bag into a nizhny Novgorod deer, the symbol of the city. We've been hard at work creating and manufacturing these boxes that we'll be giving away on Saturday. There will be a limited edition of 50, each numbered with certificates of authenticity. We've decided to make one Box available online via an Ebay auction. The proceeds will go to CEC Artslink. You gotta love the room service they've got here in our hotel. Tuesday after a hard day visiting chemical factories and doing presentations on public art, we retired to our hotel. Soon after, the telephone rang. We had been having difficulty connecting to the Internet and Nastya had been dealing with the computer guy. I tried to be funny, answering the phone in russian, "Priviet. The room had been cleaned. I didn't know what they were talking about, so I hung up the phone. Five minutes later there was a knock at the door. Outside in the hallway stood several prostitutes. I was being asked to choose one. Somewhere I Think There Was A misunderstanding. During the cold war, Nizhny Novgorod was a closed city. Westerners were forbidden to come here, not to mention a chemical factory. Tuesday we paid a visit to a chemical factory on the outskirts of town. It was guarded by a tiny old lady who asked simply that one of us sign our name on the guest list. No further questions asked, we walked into one of the strangest places I've ever been in russia. What were we doing at a chemical factory. Our gift boxes will contain samples of Nizhny Novgorod air, water, and soil. This is the sort of item that would take about a minute to locate in new York. But we aren't in new York- we're in russia. Perhaps it had something to do with not getting our gift boxes on the train trip to Niznhy. We hadn't bothered to go to the supermarket beforehand because we were expecting them. We were traveling first class after all. Last year we got gift boxes. Perhaps this feeling of being short-changed is what motivated our idea. Last July I Received A project Prospectus Entitled Non-Moscow, organized by the Ekaterinburg branch of NCCA, National Centre for Contemporary Arts. An art train was planned to make its way across Russia, from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. When the train reached Niznhy, artists here were considering presenting artwork on the railway platforms carried on Porter carts. Unfortunately the entire project has been postponed. But parts of the idea stuck. At first I considered a giant saw symbolically severing the track. Then we got to Nizhny and I looked up at the front of the railway station. There in large bold letters read Moscow Station. Um, that should be non-Moscow Station. But we'd probably never get permission to do either. Nonetheless, we wanted to do something at the railway station. It needed to be something that focused on Niznhy's identity. and we wanted somehow to disseminate Niznhy. and that's where the gift Box idea was born. Lucky passengers on this Saturday's train to Moscow will be handed boxes brimming with things Niznhy. These boxes will reach destinations all over the world. and they're gonna be really cool. After the long train ride to Nizhny, there was only one thing on our minds: Banya. After booking into our hotel we headed straight to the closest one. It was a public banya this time. First things first, we headed to the whipping stick shack. There was a wide variety of sticks, and the stick lady was very helpful. It smelled plenty aromatic inside that shack. The pine needle sticks particularly terrified Kendal. We purchased our sticks, bought our skimpy towels and flip flops, and headed into to the banya. We stripped down in a big public room supervised by a sweet little old lady. We weren't sure where to go next, so we snooped around until we found another room filled with naked men. We grabbed a pail and filled it with hot water. We soaked our sticks like pros. It was crammed full of naked bodies. Kendal and I couldn't make it much past the door, not that we wanted to go any further. and they kept splashing more water on the rocks. There was no cooling pool at this banya so we dumped pails of cold water on ourselves. A man from Uzbekestan was sitting next to us. We couldn't stand more than a few minutes in the sauna at a time. I survived about a minute on the top shelf and almost fainted on the way down. We watched in horror as an 18 month child was brought screaming into the sauna. After two hours we were ready to go. Cold pints of beer were only 15 Rubles in the cafe below. It was a satisfying way to spend our first day in niznhy. Following the project presentation and the obligatory party, we boarded the train for a fifteen hour trip up the Volga to Nizhny Novgorod. We were here exactly a year ago doing a public art project which you can see. For those of you who haven't heard of Nizhny Novgorod, I've copied and pasted a wikipedia entry: Nizhny Novgorod (Russian: Ni&#"'9.zhniy Of no&#"'9.vgorod, Ni?.nij Novgorod), colloquially shortened as nizhny, is the fourth largest city in russia, ranking after Moscow, St. From 1932 to 1990 the city was known as gorky (Go&#"'9.r'kiy) after the writer Maxim Gorky. (House disappearing from the Old City space). The Architect/Designer Teams finished up their projects for a final presentation on Saturday. We were extremely impressed with their extraordinary work, in both concept and execution. We've posted the team statements in russian. We'll be adding images and translations soon. Last night we took a mashutka to a fancy restaurant on the other side of town. Mashutkas are the mini buses that zip around through traffic. They're quicker and more convenient than regular buses or trams. I stepped on a few toes to pay the driver, who handed Me my ticket in between gear shifts. When I Sat Back Down, I did what all Russians do. I checked to see if I had a lucky number. Like many things here, I didn't completely understand this lucky number business. I thought there needed to be a series of three zeros lined up, but it's more complicated than that. You have to add the first three numbers, get the total then do the same for the last three. If the totals are the same then BINGO. Anyway, last night I hit the jackpot. But I Didn't Realize Though, that for my dream to come true I had to eat the ticket. So there in the back of the careening matshuka I was convinced to wad the thing up, stuff in in my mouth, and swallow it. I'm still waiting for my dream to come true. I see all these Russian men carrying what looks like a purse. They come in a variety of colors and are held the same way you would a clutch purse - under the arm. This one was spotted at the hardware and lumber market. I wonder where I can get one. The project has evolved overnight, as the usually do. The young architects and designers were separated into groups. Each group had an hour to create a preliminary sketch of their design. After all the designs were reviewed, it was determined that the size of the houses would be 15 cm x 15 cm x 22. They would all be made out of Wood. The next day, we bought all the necessary materials and construction began. It's taken awhile, but I finally feel at home here. My first trip was just a primer. Last night I finally hit my stride. I spontaneously went out with some folks I met at the architectural academy. We went out to the cinema club. I knew that Russians were big on film and theatre, but the language barrier had prevented Me from going. But last night's film was in english with Russian subtitles. We missed the introductory lecture and stood out on the balcony under the starts surrounded by beautiful people. Having just come from the studio, I was clearly out dressed. The movie, Scenes of a sexual Nature, was provocative and clearly enjoyable. It inspired plenty of discussion afterwards, while wandering around the town. Samara's landmarks are beautiful at night. We stopped at a store and purchased large bottles of beer and dried fish. Then we went to a park overlooking the beautiful Volga. We tore open the fish with our bare hands and passed around the bottles. This is what young people do here. I had seen it so many times before. But this time, I was one of them. You'll Never Miss The Water Till The Well Runs Dry. While Some Of The Houses Were Deliberately Being Destroyed, others were the casualties of neglect and abandonment. Either way, if nothing was done to save at least a few, eventually they will all disappear. Without having a specific art object in mind we discussed what target audience and location would result in the greatest impact. Others thought that the older citizens- the ones with the money- should be the target audience. We eventually decided that the artwork should reach all age groups. Now the question was, how and he brainstorming began. We can cover one of the houses and make it “..disappear̶y. Ryy. Great idea, but a building will be too big. Perhaps covering smaller “..landmarks̶y. throughout the city, making those disappear. Let’..s keep this one on the table. The ideas kept flowing for the rest of the day. At the end of the long day, we agreed that we would create plaques that and place them on and around houses throughout the city. Some of the plaques would tell stories about the former occupants, others about the building structure and meaning behind the ornamentation. Some could address the concerns of loss or be a sounding board for protest. We took that idea and let it simmer in our thoughts. This beautiful historical Samaran structure is in imminent danger of being torn down. There are many such extraordinary wooden houses here in samara in derelict condition- the ones that remain. Tear down the old to build the new. Erase your city's history, build the ubiquitous ugly glass skyscraper, make a quick buck. I've heard many stories here of developers burning the wooden buildings at night, mysterious nighttime demolitions, or residents being forbidden to make improvements. Such stories are not unfamiliar to New Yorkers such as myself. But we have become much more mobilized, perhaps having learned from our mistakes, Penn Station for example. Russians need to learn how to organize, set up watch. I first fell in love with these beautiful wooden houses last year on my first CEC Artslink project. The first one I saw was in the Russian Museum in st Petersburg. It would be a shame if one could only see these structures mothballed in a museum. Later that same trip, I saw many similar type buildings in nizhny Novgorod. Unlike Samara, Nizhny Novgorod has received Unesco World Heritage Status to protect their architectural heritage. The wooden ornamentation includes symbols to protect the dwellers inside. It's beautiful architecture which should be preserved, if not for cultural heritage and the civic pride, then for future tourist revenue.