Red Cardinal: Brisbane river

Sunday, June 28, 2020

SOME SPARKLE ON A BLEAK DAY

We had some welcome rain today -

the flowers will be happy but it was quite a bleak Sunday for us...

Ai Weiwei (China 1957-) Boomerang 2006

This week I visited the Queensland Art Gallery, where I have worked as a guide for the last ten years. Of course, it has been in lock down for months and it was wonderful to see it open a few days ago.

Joyous and imposing, this oversized, intensely lit, waterfall-style chandelier is suspended over the Water Mall.

It is an example of internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei's playful strategy of working across cultural contexts.

For China's increasingly affluent middle class, bigger is better.

There are approximately 267,000 crystal drops on 5,085 strands. The artwork is 10 metres high and at the widest point 8.6 metres wide.

There are 802 LED lights.

A spectacular monument to consumerism, it is shaped into the motif of a Boomerang, an object associated with exotic conceptions of Australia.

'Boomerang' was the centrepiece in the Fifth Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in 2006-07, and Ai Weiwei gifted the work to the gallery's collection.

I loved it then, and I love it now on its reappearance - especially in a time of tension and difficulty in our community.

I felt very safe walking around the Gallery.

There is ticketed (free) entry, so numbers can be controlled.

A system of one directional visiting is designed to reduce clusters of people meeting up in small doorways or spaces. Within a room, however, you can walk back and forth between art works as you wish. Social distancing is mandatory, which I find very reassuring.

I do not know yet when guided tours will recommence.

Our snow peas are having flowers!

Life is quiet and we have been exercising and walking a lot.

Once again, we spent Saturday walking pathways beside the Brisbane River in the morning sunshine.

I liked these bird feeders, something you don't usually see in a public park.

Perhaps the neighbours put them there...

Pansies are beginning to bloom..

A few more thoughts on the pandemic:

All my life I have attended church on Sundays, except during serious ill health, and for most of those years I have participated in church music.

From the age of about 12 I was playing an old pump organ to accompany the school choir, and in later life spent several decades playing a contemporary electronic piano in church. As well as this I have sung in church choirs my entire life.

Therefore the imposed sanctions on meeting for church services has been quite a shock to my system! I have been watching online services but it is hardly the same. The sense of community and making music is very strong for some of us, and many choristers are feeling saddened to be unable to sing - whether in church or anywhere else.

Apparently when we sing, we expel far more tiny droplets than when we speak, and right now, singing near others is dangerous.

Churches here are reopening in the next few weeks, with ticketed entry and social distancing. For this I am grateful. Despite our State now being 22 days without a new Covid19 case, I feel better if I can keep my distance.

More is being learned about this virus all the time. It seems so long ago, but back in March it was all about hand-washing - important, but not the whole story.

I am watching with alarm as the state of Victoria is suffering a new wave of infections, stats going higher every day. It can happen anywhere.

I hope everyone is keeping safe, wherever you are...

With love from the Red Cardinal

XXXX