"... where you come from and where you wanna go this time"

Tell me lover are you lonely
The thing we need is  
Never all that hard to find

                  RHCP

I did not really know what is going to await me in this mystical place called “Makvaerket” and I have to admit that I was confused and …once more confused when I arrived there. “Cultural and environmental collective” they call it.
A huuuge factory or better to say the left overs of a huuuuuuuuuuge factory which was closed in the 80s and where now (mostly) young people live and rebuilt the place.
I arrived and was given a tour through the factory. The first time you walk from one hall into another and into the next one and into another …you immediately know : I´m lost if I have to find my way back to one of the rooms on my own ! Especially at night !
But after some days of exploration and curiosity you have a quite adequate map of the building in your head.
We were about 12 people which varies depending on the season.
Same as in the first place you work from breakfast until about 4 with a meal in between.

But even after several days I could not understand one thing : Where is the boss ? Who is the head of all this? Show me the “responsible” person !?
You know, what the answer was ?
There is no boss ! It´s Anarchy !
And you know what´s so awesome about that place? The System - IT WORKS !
Everyone I saw there felt responsible for the good of the others. You were just “ thrown ” into the system and had to adjust ( which is absolutely not difficult ). Everyone participates in the daily jobs : Dumpster diving , making dinner , chopping wood … Everyone has a voice. Everyone is equal.
It became dark and cold pretty early (about 4pm ).
So in the evenings everyone met in the community room/ living room waiting for dinner, sleeping, chatting, reading ( or whatever you were up to do ) and of course warming at the oven =) .
Often we watched movies, had long discussions , just sat together listening to great music and watching the stars with a glass of red wine or… celebrated Hanukkah :)) .
Again I could not resist to use the energy given to me by this place and the people from all around the world I met there to make some kind of art.
The result : A collage and a mosaic table ( pictures below ).

In the end I don´t know how all that sounds to you – but my humble self knows : I want to return to that place !

Thanks Makvaerket , Copenhagen people and Denmark in general !

And now dear Ladies & Gentleman , Friends and lovely Strangers another country is waiting to be observed and admired.
So Shalom, Arrivederci & Miau ;)!

P.S.: Here is another reference/ report about Makvärket by a super nice couple I met there.

My mosaic table - Thanks Ides ! :)

the Collage

  

The free-shop
- Give what you want
- Take what you want

"Tell me baby what's your story ..."

From south to north and there she was. The damn cat (a.k.a me) arrived in a small village in the far north of Denmark. The host family : two ceramic artist Gregory and Janne  ( click on link for more about their work ) and their kids as well as some other woofers. I chose this family because it was already always interesting for me to work with clay – but I never really had the chance to work with it for a longer time and even less to fire it !

The same night two other ceramic artist arrived ( who I think made my stay very different than expected- in a positive way ) . The great Ryan LaBar and Master Lars Calmar. Both of them very humorous and very talented guys. Sitting next to them and watching them work in the evenings I could not resist to make some pieces out of clay on my own. L. and R. were simply too inspiring to me.

I spend one month in the small village of Tolne before heading south-east. A month of joy, funny evenings , the “hard task” - to pick one of the hundreds of different cups for the morning coffee ;) , good & badly stressful moments, doubts …but also a lot of happiness about doing all that kind of experience that no one can take from me.

To sum it up I thought of the most interesting feeling or moment for me in that month.
Besides the moment when I didn't have a place to stay in Aarhus and just talked to somebody on the street at 10 o´clock at night whether they could host me ( and they could ! Thanks Nadege and Gosia :) ) it was the feeling of creating something ,not knowing what it will look like. Usually when you draw or make a photo or work with clay , you know what you want it or rather how it´s going to look like. 
But 1^st ) some of my pieces were not planed at all . I discovered that I see a figure in the clay mixture I´m kneading so I stopped kneading and worked on the “figure”.
2^nd) You don’t know how your work will look like if you fire it in a salted-wood- firing . So the moment I took my small clay pieces out of the big kiln was new and amazing to me. “She felt like the discoverer of the grave of Tutankhamun who was the first one to enter his sepulcher…” Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain 


Thanks to everybody again for the great time - Woofers, Artists , Hosts and ... Chickens !  
 

Great Ryan Labar

Up and Away

So since I decided not to spend my young life right away in a building called university I went on some trips. Here´s the first part of my "outdoor experience" in ... SWITZERLAND !!! :D
To everybody who feel´s that he/she needs some time on his own - go to the mountains . It´s a great feeling not to meet people or at least only a few (especially rarely if you wander in a month like october ). Even after "only" 4 days in the mountains I was shocked to come back into "the civilized" world.

ATTENTION ! I introduce to you some wise words that came into my mind "up there" :
As for an alpinist it is to crest a mountain and see the breathtaking picture from above so it is for an actor to get applause from a grateful audience.
Priceless !


Big thanks to Mark who guided me through fog and rain and a big thank also to the people who took us by car or even hosted us/me spontaneously :)

There are absolutely many f***** great people out there !

Next post is coming soon ;)
Miaow !

P.s.: By clicking on the photos they become bigger ;)