​

remapped seeds
-
Ash
thanks once more for your dedication
in response to such words
it required careful thought and creativity
-
I decided to add a little bit of me
I edited your installation right back
singling out one character & let it fly free
it turned itself on its head
and I let it just be
-
its single meaning is still elusive
I knew that it wanted to stand strong
so I added colour space & structure
- 
now it stands on the edge
watching with wonder
your scattered seeds fly free
-
through collaborative fun
it has become a symbol "to just be"

---
​

​to just be
-
this drawing
came out Sunday night
-
oh yes I was having fun
sitting in our pod
in the garden
cold & dark outside
-
documenting it
had to be done
Monday in the sun
-
for it is a paper & window drawing
in front of Ashes seeds
which without our knowledge or consent
have self-sown in the garden of dissent
-
no roads or buildings in-site
but for what I can see
in my remapping to just be
-
instead
a backdrop of bamboo of living seeds
ensues as an aftermath
of the collaborative path
we have threaded & retreaded
in our block of two
 
---
​

 
character formation singled out & remapped
(drawing & wall installation)
-
Ash
what is the meaning of this drawing on the wall?
the only part I know is true
is that it is my response to adding space & structure
to your seeds scattered far
-
is it an actual place
with lots of space to explore
in any direction as we so wish
whether it is from above flying high
or striding along skimming low?
-
is it a map of where to explore
when we finally meet in person
for our collaborative urban exploration
 to record in real-time
visual movement & words
& of course the noise of just being in the moment
with motion and emotion #onthestreets?
or
is it an ariel view
of an imagined private or public space
which will be one day censored and erased?
or
is it a reimagined map of worship street from urbanexploration4?
I wonder to myself
​it could be in my version of reality

-----

edited only a little my hidden words of friendship & yours of purity

............. As you can guess, I'm not sure what to say.  I spent most of yesterday blissfully doing nothing as I was celebrating my wedding anniversary with my wife.  I came back to the block today to find amazing Karens post. I'm not sure what to say.  How to react. How to fathom what has happened. However, I need to say that, the profound affect of the power of two has been mutual.  Throughout the project I have also been exploring my own practice and in particular the the use of digital.  The honesty of Karen's practice has got me to consider why I use digital and brought me closer to a way of understanding myself.  

Karen refers to a poem that I wrote that sits on my blog (https://ambushedonroute.wordpress.com/2017/05/17/seeds/). Something that was in plain sight and I could not see until I was shown the way by my collaborator.  The poem refers to finding new places and making your own place.  In essence this is what I was referring to in an earlier post.  Rather than a David and Goliath dissent, we need to consider the way we dissent without even knowing it.  As Karen highlights, artists dissent by simply existing.  This collaboration has been very open and honest, has drawn us together to consider how dissent sits naturally in our practice and has given me a real friend.  I have dedicated the poem to Karen.  It feels as thought it was written for her to find for this collaboration.

Throw me far
Far farther than I could ever imagine
As far as learning will take me
As a seed ready to
To meander through unseen vernaculars of unfolding idles
To skip an long and over borders painted in colours with meaning that has long washed out
Beyond cities and states
Below is a connected poem, I used to create an artwork for an exhibition in Taiwan (below).  It was translated into Chinese for the exhibition, but here is the english version also.

....and from here 
they scattered far 
across seas unseen
filled with the fizz of success
they made new homes
forged new families 
and gave life to new culture

our midnight exploration
-
with Ash by my side
elaborating and gesticulating
on the essence of our collaboration
without intent I find the hidden essence of me
-
Ash
your amazement astounds me
for you are
my street collaborator
my teacher of hidden words
my dissenting provocateur
-
Ash
you have unveiled your secrets
so now must I
-
Ash
what have you done
I joined this program so as to share with others
my art through urban exploration
but look what happened ...
-
I arrived with no default intent of vocalising my thoughts
collaboration energy abounds
through converse, words & imagery
 my true voice has come unbidden
flying from the space
of collaborative motion and emotion
-
my application
based on dissent
was even spelt as descent
-
my explorations were meant to be based on places of POPS
a message to everyone who reads this
Pops does not derive from Pops & Drops in the google banking world
rather it is of Privately Owned Public Space and the occupancy there within...
-
a week in I uncovered
the feeling of resting on the fence
where I am content to tread & rethread the path
of documenting place and our fight for space
I am a documenter at heart in my own way
as long as I can be amongst the energy created
by the people standing as one
-
now I have added hidden letters
scrambled & rethreaded
to make up words from inside and outside
my mobile dictionary
-
I did not know being me is okay
am I really a performance in itself of ascending descending and dissent?
of flying high & low over the ground?
-
I was always told I was average
solid grades in academia would steer me through
at an early age
with no understanding of my left and your right
I was told not to delve to deeply into the grades of the arts
as there would be no future in it for me
-
being obedient as a child i did not query this world of one plus one equals two
with equations & experiments to back up their theories
-
five decades on I am still in search of my purpose
-
now it seems to me I am finding it within a collaboration of two
in blocks of art with dissent as a thread
but what does that mean?
my thesaurus won't tell
she hides away the meaning & purpose so as I can discover it for myself
-
through human connection I say too much
through telephone conversation
for which I am useless to pickup the phone
I have finally discovered it is okay to be me
to be different from most
to be part of a selected few or maybe just two
-
to take up the mantra of the unbidden & hidden
where I can be myself
who knows what that means
it is okay to be on a pathway of unknown intent
energised when #onthestreets
in the emotion and motion of each moment with clarity
-
It is midnight on the 1st
I am flying too high to make sense
my knuckles tell me this month of February is unusual
which Ash confirmed so I know it is true
-
Ash I must end our walk & so this talk with a quote
written by Peter in BlockI - on performance 
​there are comments by
Peter Maija & me
“dissent just in being”
-
its 6am I wake with a thought
through converse & verse
I have become a player in my own reality

---

Hey Ash
are you still awake after following the above voiceover of our re-imagined exploration?
I'm sorry it went on for so long ..... the words kept arriving ....
I would like to add images to this post if they so desire to workout with me today ...
Thanking you for being my collaborator
​Karen

Hey Ash
sorry this was meant to be a little extra post
until my thoughts wanted to get out of my head
a brain dump to clear some space for the day ahead
-
​Last night I read your words
your post of February 01st, 2018
in response
I wrote a long verse late into the night
the post is personal and will follow this
it is a rendition - word for word
of our midnight exploration
-
I apologise for writing in riddles
all will become clear
if you stick with me
​on this word scrutiny
-
I hear you now after reading again your words
of 'positive liberty'
I agree
that is the place to be
I just did not know that was me
I thank-you as I now know it is the place
and in that space I want to be
-
you left me with the thought - reread over & over
'if dissent didn't exist what would art look sound taste smell and feel like'
I agree - it would certainly not look like me!
my art is my companion through thick and thin
and converses with me in actuality
-
there is a phrase of performance
for which I have carried through
from the solidity of Peter & Jame's blockI base
in sync as an unknown team with Peter Maija & me
there is a clear chain of thread  
linking our blocks together
for all to see pasted are these comments below
I have added a little colour .......
for the bright red dissenter in me
-
at the time of writing my comment
dissent just in being me
I did not really know what it meant
I had not remembered
Peter's reply being ourselves is the best thing we can do
-
now I do know what it means
from our BlockII collaboration & exploratories

---

"#onthestreets - dissent just in being"

​

That is amazing Karen.  You've really captured the essence of collaboration, of sharing and what emerges is a elemental.  This project is about dissent and when one considers dissent the first things that come to mind is an aggressive rebuttal of the status quo. Dig a little deeper however and you'll find that dissent is about what Karen has talked about.  its about hidden words and opening yourself and your ideas up to scrutiny. allowing yourself to be questioned and everything that makes you, you.  dissent can be seen as a negative space to be in but actually if you're a serial dissenter like Karen and I, it is quite a liberating place to be. 

To imaging and reimagine the world in an alternative state and to reimagine events, memories and conversations dissents against the banality of reality, which, for creatives is like breathing.  I was listening to a program on radio 4 which looked at Gerald Scarfe's work in the context of his neurology (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08wp16h). The idea is that areas of Scarfe's brain are talking to each other in unexpected ways and that is where his unique perspective comes from.  However listening to Scarfe talk he sounds more like a serial dissenter.  Someone who just needs to see an alternate reality to that that is preened and presented in the full spectrum of reality. Abstraction is dissent, tape drawings as walks is dissent and our love of dissent offers a possibility for new and evolving realities.  A thought to leave you all with.  If dissent didn't exist what would art look, sound, taste, smell and feel like?

​Hidden words unleashed

forlorn words flying high
finding a voice in the sky

I wake at 3am
out of bed with thoughts 
of hidden books

I must record 
our words in secret
under the covers 
in the dark
so no one sees

today is the day
both planned & unplanned
a day of urban exploration

onthestreets
walking with purpose
capturing images in the moment
voice video & tape
recording as we stride
who knows where it will lead

as we go
we converse
hidden conversation
hidden words
in our urban bubble

we see a building 
in the distance
made of structure and symmetry
through hidden windows
we can see 
a stack of books
unwanted by most
treasured by a few

amongst those words
many miss-spelt
are hidden threads
hidden gems 
and treasures

through conversations
with friends
who know better
of the hidden treasure
and the pleasure
those pure words will bring
through hidden dissent
those words 
come out to play

they are now unveiled
a site to see
flying high
in the essence
of the structure of poetry
unleashed so everyone can see

the day is drawing to a close
conversation is at an end
we must say our goodbyes 

the words in the books 
​now free
live on in eternity

---

hidden Books hidden Words
the number of Blocks in BlockandChain

the Power of Two

the PowerofTwo
​#urbanexploration of hidden Dissent
​

Change of Pace

keep up with the pace
stick with me
-
I stride purposefully
down Pindar street
wherever it may lead
-
when it becomes too much
stay by my side
-
do not dissent
I know what I'm doing
---

#Lookup Lookdown
​Pindar Street

restructuring dissent

ascending
descending
a re-structuring
​of words & space
-
ascent
plus
descent
plus
dissent
-
consensus
approved
--- 
​