HOTLOG

Work on the installation fitting the screens to the structure. Carry some more bricks upstairs and clean them in the bathroom. It's a strange ritual, and I become aware of all the little defects and variations in each brick. After lunch I take a cab to meet Natalie at the CCTV site. She is waiting at the wrong construction site - there is another on the adjacent block - but we find each other and I lead the way to the empty buildings I want to enter. We find an open gate and walk up the stairs. Every door has a locked metal gate. We walk all the way to the top floor and I look up: an open hole to the roof and a few metal steps above a door. What great luck! I leave the camera and tripod and climb up - whoa - the view is awesome! Natalie hands up the bags and climbs after. We are both excited. We can see the whole mighty construction site with workers in red and blue and yellow hard hats. They look so small, and the trucks look like toy cars. Several huge cranes are swinging in the air. The sky is yellow like the earth underneath, and the strong colored hats and machines stand out. Finally I am satisfied, pack up my cameras and we descend the same way we arrived.



Next stop is the photo lab, I have no time to spare... The contact sheet of the close-ups from the fence surrounding the CCTV site is ready. They came out good! I decide to try to get home by bus, first to the 4th ring, then 737 all the way to Dashanzi. It takes forever, but only costs 2 RMB. Well home I clean the bathroom floor after last night's rain, take a shower and eat. A heavy rain starts, and my bathroom is flooded with that stinky crap again. Caroline is having an open studio at Fei Jia Cun. If it stops raining I will go. It does momentarily. She has made a huge graffiti like painting. A mixed crowd show up and we dance to the flashing strobe light into the night.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 12, 2005 at 7:01 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.