LATE-NIGHT POOL

Sunday, March 28, 2004

20:55 E-mail from Eduardo Staszowski
rogeeeeerio espirita!

vc acreditaria se eu te contasse que a lara estava em brasilia na semana passada?
como prova aih vai o boarding pass do trecho sp>brasilia pela nossa budget airline: BRA!

saudades daih,

tata

----- Original Message -----
From: Rogerio Lira
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 15:25:54 +0200
To: "eduardo staszowski"
Subject: sonhei

Eduardoooooo! Laraaaaaaaaa!

Sonhei esquisito ontem, vocês participavam da história, acordei e
escrevi:
http://www.latenightpool.com

saudades, beijos, mandem noticias qdo puderem

ro
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Saturday, March 27, 2004

07:29 Naked in Brasilia, ca. 1961
I just woke up. I was walking around in the bright, hot sun, in what looked like a recently built (or rebuilt) neighborhood. On these brand new sandy sidewalks I met Eduardo Staszowski and Lara Penin, who laid on a towel, sunbathing. We chatted a bit and I went on walking, till I found myself a spot at the foot of a concrete building, with construction material still piled here and there (street lamps, still uninstalled and in parts, leaned against the wall). I stretched out my towel and laid down. Looking up I saw the Brazilian Congress at the Praça dos Tres Poderes towering above me, and thought: 'wow - so this is where I am'. That moment of calm amazement in the sun, of feeling the scale and material of the building in relation to my body, was soon replaced by a plan of having my photo taken, no, better even, a naked photo, my small naked body next to the big government building. I thought of calling Eduardo and Lara to help me, I wondered if I would be stopped or arrested (maybe not if I did it all quickly), and with this going on I woke up and wrote this all down.

The Brazilian congress building in Brasilia, designed by Oscar Niemeyer

The Brazilian congress building in Brasilia, designed by Oscar Niemeyer

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Thursday, March 18, 2004

17:17 Grass, dust mites, cats
I've been to the allergy doctor today.

my allergic reaction to samples of different substances, photographed by my doctor.

my allergic reaction to samples of different substances, photographed by my doctor.

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Saturday, March 13, 2004

12:00

04

This pool is now four
I better post more
Lazy bum.
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Saturday, March 06, 2004

16:36 Moving time
The last few weeks have had such recurrrent situations that they now begin to feel like a season: the look through - select - rearrange - throw away - pack - carry up and down stairs - move - cleanup season. I'm sure I never carried such ridiculous loads of odd items on my bike from place to place before.

It started two weeks ago with a cleanup week at the studio. We had stuff accumulated since before we moved in, stuff from Charles (Gabrielle's father) and even some chairs from friends of him (I think). We also had tons of our own junk, of course, and some stuff from Joost, who moved out sometime in 2001, and lots of stuff from Fred, who moved out in February 2003, the same time when Aldje moved in. My own change of apartments in September 2001 resulted in boxes and suitcases of unsorted stuff being brought to the studio and stored under my side desk, eliminating any leg space and therefore limiting its use and causing more piles to accumulate.

The horror!

All that is now cleared up and it took surprisingly little time. In the effort we fixed two doors that didn't close properly and installed lights under the shelves next to Gabriëlle's desk – at last! The more ambitious and highly unrealistic plans (staining the woodwork of the whole staircase and painting three tabletops) were put appropriately aside, for now.

I don't think there is anything better than getting rid of stuff, really. It has the same power as shopping, except it is, at least for me, a truly satisfying activity. It unglues from the past and readjusts me for the present future. Not that I don't like what I have; the opposite: clearing away all this stuff also cleared room for lots of things that I consider worth having now (much of which I will likely get rid of, sometime in the future).

As a sort of reward for the studio cleanup we had a party on Sunday February 29 to celebrate the leap year. Daylight Robbery, it was called. We borrowed two video projectors from Jeroen Kooijmans, a slide projector from Erik Weeda and dozens of clocks from Richie, the Anco, the Amsterdams Historisch Museum, Carla, Dan, Christine & Iris, Latei. All of this had to be picked up, carried on our bikes and later returned. By Monday night the studio was looking all nice and clean, and better than ever before.

Berlin
That done, I woke up on Tuesday morning and joined Stefan on a 12-hour drive from from De Baarsjes in Amsterdam to Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin. He also is moving house and I helped. On our way to Berlin we passed by his mom's place in Bochum, where we had a light lunch before loading a few boxes with books and carrying one Billy bookcase into the moving van.

I thought, for the first time: it's the width of the Atlantic, or having crossed it, what facilitated my detachment from all the things I used to possess. Thinking I'd be gone for some 6 to 9 months, I first left with a (pretty huge) backpack full of what seemed to be the most precious items. Photos, a tape with my video work, a few books: stuff I believed I couldn't be without. The rest was left behind with idea I'd be back soon. Some of it given away and the rest in storage at friends' houses. It took me eighteen months to be back, and to realize that the things I left behind wasn't missed at all, in my subsequent trips to Brasil I selected what seemed to be really relevant (very little) and got rid of the rest.

From Bochum we drove to East Berlin and crashed, both exhausted, in sleeping bags in Stefan's new and still totally empty place (surprise – a neighbour had an open wireless network). Next morning we woke up, unloaded the truck and drove to Potsdam to pick up some more stuff, this time at his father's place (some objects recognizably pairs of things seen at his mom's apartment). On our way back we stopped for a nice soak at the Liquidrom, a true Berlin late-night pool (the visit deserves an entry for itself). All relaxed, we skipped the unloading of the truck and crashed once again. Next morning we brought up the stuff and while Stefan took care of some errands I went for a quick coffee with Bill (burning-car Bill). Around noon we headed back to Amsterdam, and I was in bed before Midnight.
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