As I practised my shamanic drumming before going on an intuitive walk today, I found myself pacing in a figure of 8 around the bedroom. The movement came from my body – a natural urge – rather than my mind leading the way. The intention I set for the intuitive walk is: to find ‘dead’ space to sing to (I am doing art research in Venice for the British Council – see bottom of this post for more information on my project).
![Image shows an art exhibit with sculpted landscape with a sheep with elongated legs laying down with legs folded up, a tiny deer (in relation to the sheep's - a tenth of the size) and a spherical light hanging above.](https://juliafry.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_20240514_140738-1024x768.jpg)
On leaving my apartment, I turned into a square and paused there, then backed out and followed intuitive prods that led me to Above Zobeide, the Chinese collateral exhibition that is part of the Venice Biennale. I used WhatsApp and photos to record my experiences.
![Image shows an art exhibit with a sheep standing on elongated legs (like stilts) peering around the corner of a metal structure in a dimly room.](https://juliafry.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_20240514_140954-768x1024.jpg)
As I entered the space and gazed at the creatures with elongated legs in a barren landscape I wrote:
“I feel my chest aching. It feels so heavy. Bleak landscape. Animals with long, spindly legs. Awkward. Desperate. Sad.”
Initially I didn’t want to read the ethos of the exhibition but I felt drawn to the black pillars that described the artist’s references to Italo Calvino’s book, Invisible Cities. It’s a book that sits on my bookshelf and I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet.
![Image shows a photo of text taken from the Above Zobeide art exhibition that reads: “barren atmosphere, this exhibition effectively expresses deep concerns about the continued development of our human civilisation, responding to the anxieties of our time. It demonstrates remarkable imagination, forward-thinking and innovation.
In Invisible Cities, the narrator Marco Polo avoids mentioning the city of Venice. Instead, he subtly infuses the characteristics of the Italian city into every metropolis he describes. Similarly, born and raised in Macao, Wong Wong Cheong creates an ‘exotic realm’ imbued with the unique features of Macao. The artist dissects the city’s long history, precisely defining that the concept of ‘foreign’ is always ‘relative’. He also reflects upon the dichotomy between ‘civilisation’ and ‘barbarism’. The exhibition reveals the pathetic and absurd phenomenon where people negatively emphasise the difference between ‘indigenous natives’ and ‘foreigners’, or between ‘residents’ and ‘immigrants’. Furthermore, it indirectly highlights the universal values of harmonious inclusivity in terms of multi-ethnic groups that have coexisted in Macao over many past centuries.
The exhibition also breaks away from conventional narratives, revealing how the artist, as a citizen of the world with an international perspective, casts off these standardised domestic portrayals in response to both today’s global issues and his own personal changes”](https://juliafry.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_20240514_141157-1024x768.jpg)
I left the exhibition and continued to follow my intuition, coming to a place next to a bridge with some steps leading to a canal. I sat on the steps, studying the seaweed swaying and lifting in the turbulence of boats passing. I added another note to WhatsApp:
“Interestingly, I thought about Invisible Cities by Calvino as I walked to the apartment for the first time on Sunday. I haven’t read it. It’s on my bookshelf. The exhibition is one I passed on my way to the apartment. I thought of the book as I passed the exhibition entrance although there is no mention of it and I wasn’t aware I was passing an exhibition entrance.”
After noting this, I climbed the steps to the bridge and saw padlocks attached to the ironwork – lovers declaring their love for one another with a lock and no key. As I peered at one of the locks I noticed a figure of 8 symbol and made the connection between it and my movement whilst drumming earlier.
![Image shows a close up shot of a padlock chained to a the metalwork of a bridge. The padlock has a figure of 8 symbol drawn onto it.](https://juliafry.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_20240514_142609-1024x768.jpg)
Later I went to the White Poplar in Marinaressa Gardens and made an offering of nuts and my gratitude to the tree. I closed my eyes feeling its invitation to come closer, which I did. I found my body swaying in a figure of 8 movement, my left hip leading. Hearing people laughing nearby, I felt self conscious and the movement became less free. I breathed into my heart and found my left hip leading again and self consciousness dissolved. I had a sense the spirit of the tree enjoyed the little dance I had not planned on giving it. I thanked it again and left.
![Image shows the ironwork of a bridge railing with padlocks chained to it. Through the ironwork and beyond is canal water with buildings either side of the canal, with a tower in the distance.](https://juliafry.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_20240514_142626-1024x768.jpg)
I bumped into another British Council Fellow and we went for coffee. We discussed meandering versus having a plan and the ease of the former. I shared my mental image from my aeroplane ride over Venice of seeing the man-made straight channels of water versus the snaky meandering channels made by the Earth. My colleague shared her partner works with wetlands to undo the damage made by man and re-snake rivers and streams, creating more diversity and more space for habitat. More water in the same space. More life in the same space.
My Research Project in Venice
When I applied for the opportunity to do art research in Venice, this was my project proposal:
My research idea is to walk around Venice following my intuition to find a place that feels ‘dead’. I will then visit the place daily to sing (without words) to the Earth. I will listen for Earth’s response and will follow intuitive urges to create in that place. It might be that I make videos, drawings, poems, and connect with humans and other-than-humans there. I would like to see whether it’s possible to form a connection with Earth in this place and invite other humans to join in, bypassing our othernesses, and see what the effects of this might be and how it might change my idea. I will hold workshops for other Fellows in the place and see what we create together in response to singing and listening to Earth. When I return to the UK I will collaborate with Outside In to share the experience and artefacts of this research via online events.
I am part of a group of 66 British Council Fellows who are invigilating the British artist, John Akomfrah’s work at the British Pavilion for the Venice Biennale 2024. I applied for this opportunity through Outside In, a charity that has been supporting me to access the art world as an outsider artist since 2016.