First Class Ticket to Resurrection

European travel recommendations, visiting Manifesta 15, thoughts on the election, and watching people dancing

Hello, and happy Monday. I wanted to start out this week with a request! Kyle and I are looking to travel around Europe this fall/winter but we want to be more intentional with our traveling. We are looking for great reasons to visit places, such as fun events, or even better, to see fun people. A good example is Paris Photo which happened this past weekend, that I only realized was occurring until a few days beforehand, thus we did not attend. Arts events, design festivals, pop-up dinners, we’re game! Or if you plan on visiting Europe let us know, we’ll make our way over with the dogs (the dogs are always going to be part of the deal, haha…). We want to start building a better community of friends in and around Europe, so why not put this out into the world and see what happens? Feel free to write me at thefoxisblack@gmail.com 💙

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This past weekend I took a short trip up the coast to visit one of the sites of Manifesta, a biennial cultural event that pops up in cities across Europe and highlights positive social change through art, architecture and urbanism in continuous dialogue with the communities of its host cities. The location was at Les Tres Xemeneies, or The Three Chimneys, a thermal power station that has been shut down since 2011 which lies at the most northern part of Barcelona.

Walking up to the chimneys is an impressive sight as they are a hulking, massive trio of monoliths with almost nothing nearby, save for the sea. The physical presence of the buildings looks dystopian, these hollowed out husks of a space that used to be, or like abandoned spaceships waiting to take off again one day. The area was reminiscent of Desert X, held annually in the Coachella desert, or even like Marfa in Texas, where something was created in a nowhere space. It was a superb choice to have one of the activations here as it readjusts the idea of what a “gallery” can or should be. The intention of having an activation here was to address the impacts that came from having a power plant close to neighborhoods and residents.

In total there were about 20 installations in and around the chimneys. There was an element of exploration and discovery that added to the experience, turning a corner and finding a piece or looking in an old room and seeing a video installation. One of my favorite pieces was Asad Raza’s ‘Prehension’, which you can see below, where a series of long sheets of fabric were hung from the ceiling of the power plant, and the windows from the area removed, allowing them to flow in the breezes. It was absolutely mesmerizing to watch these curtains rise and feel in a rhythmic nature, the winds off the sea bringing them to life.

I’m going to try and see a few more exhibits next weekend as this was such a spectacle to see, everything about the experience was so well done.

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Last week was a doozy. The presidential election turned out to be quite a nightmare, and what I’ve personally realized is that ultimately it boils down to morality, or in many cases, a lack thereof. Humans are selfish beings. Most are looking to shore up their own survival at the cost of others. Lots of people willingly voted against their own well-being, with the soon-to-be-president promising massive deportations that will effect 1 in 15 Americans along with major impacts to the economy. Now we’re collectively waiting for the “fuck around and find out” period where we see what happens, because if we know one thing about that man, he wants revenge, and his mercurial nature makes it impossible to know what may come. His lack of morality, and the lack of morality in the people he will embed into the government, want nothing more to reshape America into a twisted Idiocracy, a capitalist hellscape.

I didn’t move to Europe to get away from America. I moved to Europe to discover more of the world, to experience life in a different way. It saddens me to see America this way, because everyone I love is there. I still call California my home, proudly telling the people I meet here that I’m from Los Angeles. And what happens in the U.S. ripples throughout the world. I’m not immune from the power he wields, no one is. I wanted to end these thoughts on some positive note but it’s hard to do so. I’ve been thinking a lot about how this isn’t the first time a dictator has come into power, being in Spain is a recent reminder of that, and it won’t be the last time. Time takes it toll on us all, and time will come for him as well. This is about morality, says the millennial, agnostic, atheist, and in the meantime, we look out for one another. We take care of those in need, those with less, those at risk, and we do what we can with the means we have. And we live the lives we have to the fullest.

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“Nothing matters when we’re dancing,” Stephin Merritt once sang. It’s true, dancing, and giving oneself over to the music, is a freeing experience. Kyle and I love going to SOUNDIT here, a small-format music festival that hosts the best DJs from around the world. We went this past weekend to hear Octo Octa and Eris Drew and it ended up being one of the best performances we’ve ever seen there. To set the stage, the event usually takes place at Plaza Monumental, which used to be a space dedicated to bullfighting, the last of which was held in 2011. The arena is old and ornate, with many arches and beautiful tile details, and the contrast between the space and the music being played is always at odds. The event draws folks from all over and it’s funny to see them all mix together. The crowd is an eclectic bunch, that’s for sure, from surly Catalans to drunken Brits stumbling all around, the people watching is definitely top notch.

It was this last time, as I was dancing along to the aforementioned fantastic set, all of which was vinyl only by the way, that I really watched the other people dancing. One man, a shorter man with a slick mustache, did a very sexy dance where he slid his thumbs under the lapels of his jacket and shimmied them back and forth, swiveling his hips along with the music. There was the tall Swedish looking boy who enjoyed showing off for the girls in his circle, shoulders rocking back and forth, his blue eyes locked toward the sky as if possessed by a higher power. The three women who danced closely to us all night were an inseparable trio, and any man who came too close was knocked away by the burly blonde woman with bushy hair. A lean guy with a buzzcut sidled through the crowd toward the front to perform what seemed to be his only dance move, his right arm slowly making his way above his head wear it remained and he gently swayed back and forth in time.

I suppose there’s really no right or wrong way to dance, though when I watch people dancing, I’m always curious about their motivations. I often think of this video of a bird of paradise doing his mating dance and how humans aren’t all that different. We all want love, we all want attention. Maybe some people are looking for an escape? Perhaps dancing is the best way to spill the demons from one’s head? I wish I could say it’s a time for me to stop thinking but it feels like my mind is always racing with thoughts and ideas. Still, I find so much joy in SOUNDIT, in experiencing other people, even the annoying ones who decide to make out directly in front of me in the middle of the crowd for ten minutes straight even though there are definitely better places to conduct such affairs. And with everything happening in the world it’s possibly the best way to go.