Hi guys,

I had two really intense days and I am super tired, so hopefully what I am writing here will make sense.

Our Neighborhood Lunch

On Sunday myself, Julia and Mario organised a neighborhood lunch in our garden. It was a really friendly and gentle affair with neighbours bringing in foods and good moods! View the video below to see my impromptu explanation of how to roll Khmer/Viet springrolls :)

I am super super super happy with the outcome!!!

I hope I have enough documentation for it to make sense when I present the project/exhibit the work. Hopefully I get to talk to my pathway teacher about this on Friday. Yoohoo!

First Day of School

Today was a very intense day. It became clear that CSM is basically the school of my dreams.

• Together with 9 or so Erasmus (European) and Study Abroad students (United States) we joined the students of stage 2 (2nd years) of pathway XD (meaning, the discipline XD which is related to art beyond regular 2/3/4D dimensions such as art in social contexts amongst others). I think we are roughly 40 students all together. We have 3 tutors, Sarah Cole / Katrina Palmer and Margot Bannermans.
• Our XD studio which we share with 1st and 3rd stages is located on the groundfloor - I have managed to claim a little corner. There are many different facilities open to Fine Arts and when they are not they can be accessed through a proposal via the tutors. Think of Photography studios, darkrooms, printmaking, woodworking, heavy 3D, metal, casting, textile, etc.
• We are assigned to UNIT 5 which means this semester we are focusing on developing our own practice. We will focus on writing our artist statement, documenting our work/process and exhibiting.
• We are also assigned to UNIT 6 which is a course called 'Critical Discourse', I think a rather theoretical course. We can choose out of 9 subjects to focus this semester on (I assume lots of reading and discussion) with a paper to hand in at the end (Feb).
• In the end of November we will be assigned 'crosspathway' which means we will be shuffled with other Fine Arts students to form groups to collaborate and exhibit with.
• Mid January we will have a project with Tate about the artists studio or process (I cant remember). SUPER excited about this.
• Every Monday night there are artist talks, including my HERO Ed Atkins
• Individual sessions can be requested throughout, though the first real individual sesh is in November.
• There are 25 places allocated for students interested in programming!

I have met many students and of some have seen their work and its already really inspiring and incredible. This semester will be soooo great!!!

How I am feeling

I feel like I need to do some admin work and also sit down at a cafe all afternoon and stare at the ceiling. I need some time to think and reflect. I tried doing that today after all the introductions and lectures, but I felt very overwhelmed and really just 'tried' to be productive but instead doing stuff on automatic mode. When I was walking home, I didn't feel like I was aware of where I was like I usually am - I wasn't looking around and noticing things - instead I was literaly just walking home. I think that's quite a shame that most of my life I have been tired or stressed and have experienced the world through that lens.

Alright, I am off. Ciao!