Sharon Chin & Prisca Wüst

I’ve lived in this small town of Port Dickson since 2011, and in that time, three hypermarkets opened within a 5km radius of each other.

We used to shop at Giant. Now we go to TF Value Mart because it’s closer and cheaper. We haven’t been to Tesco, that’s the newest one.

Zedeck told me that when he was growing up here, Billion was the first supermarket. Then The Store opened and everyone went there instead.

Supermarkets are exciting. Maybe it’s the lights, and the air-conditioning, and the colorful choices – very stimulating, like going to a museum or the fun fair. It’s a family outing. That makes it harder to see how it slowly contributes to the economic and social death of the town. First super, now hyper. What comes after that?

Recently I took part in an exhibition called Between States, curated by my friend Sze Ying. I made a series of jackets for it. One of them was the one that I posted here before, with the eye-hand on sewn on the back. I made another one about Port Dickson. On the front was the animals and plants I encounter daily. On the back was the oil refinery, the school next door, the garbage problem, the tourist landmarks, the trucks transporting gas tanks, and the logos of the hypermarkets.

13 October 2017

Congratulation to the first banana harvest,
i hope the fuits are suit, even there were catching for noises.

Theses days some other bananas were also catching my attention.
Prenzlau, a city close to Berlin was part of the DDR, the communistic – socialistic republic after second world war. Historically bananas are here more connected to political issues than to the vegetation around.
Bananas you can buy only since the wall was falling in 1989.
As to see in the moved picture of the common shopping centre – Kaufland – now, the bananas are in offer, denoting the peak of the capitalistic changes in all kind of signal colour and advertising forms.
The contrast couldn’t be bigger.

1 September 2017

A few months ago our gardener Selvam planted banana trees for us at the back of our house. You can see that we share a fence with a school. The trees help give us some privacy. Also, they give us bananas! Today the first bunch of bananas was ready to cut down. The shape of the trees reminds me of your wind farm, and just looking at these bananas gives me energy after a very intense week.

9 August 2017

I`m shooting videos trough every window of the Marienkirche in Prenzlau, from the top of one tower I see wind wheels at the horizon.
For now its hard to think of anything else than being impressed by this old massive brick construction, im working in, since more than 700 years this church was several times destroyed by man and rebuilt again.
In the context of the religious place, it reminds me of the biblical Salomon, the king of Israel.

“And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.”
Book of Ecclesiastes 1.13-1.15.

Either way it seems, the work we do makes no sense at all.
I believe collecting items, documenting moments, practising rituals, doing things in a certain way of repetition, even without any specific logic at the moment, is structuring something sustainable at the end,
at least catching the wind is no longer like loosing power but generating energy.

2 Aug 2017

These are saga seeds, from the saga tree (adenanthera pavonina). It’s said that in the old days they were used as counter weights for making fine measurements, like for gold, because each seed was so uniform in shape and weight.

There are saga trees in the park where I go running. Awhile ago I started the habit of picking up one seed each time I was there. They are bright red, like hard little drops of blood. Children love these seeds.

Yesterday, my coach told me to get ready for a fight this Saturday. It will be my first. It was kind of a surprise. Somehow I found myself saying yes. I am not really ready, but perhaps there is no way to feel ready. I look at the little bottle of seeds I have collected, hear the sound when I shake it.

Drop by drop. Seed by seed. A little thing, over time, has brought me to this point. Everything is practice.

1 Aug 2017

A performances Artist has a residency in Prenzlau, North Germany. He works there in a almost empty evangelical church, this week he invited me for a collaboration work.

I`m stunningly impressed by this heavy and beautiful monument, it`s a big challenge to add a projection, sound or performance, what wont be ridicules in relation to this building. At all it will be something small and fragile.

My previous art partner Sarah Bühler and me did the video work “passion” in 2011. This was a work transferring the heaviness of church symbols in to individual crucifixion nowadays. The symbolical power of religious icons are fraught with meaning. The oldest parts of the church are from the 13th Century. Im looking forward to be a little part in the the long history line of this immense construction.

31 July 2017

Today I sewed another charm, this time on the back of my favorite jacket. It’s the hand of Hamsa, sometimes also called the hand of Fatima, after the daughter of Prophet Muhammad. It’s a symbol of protection.

When I went to a street protest last year in the capital, I made signs based on this hand. Instead of an eye, it held flowers. An open hand to symbolize peace and non-violent resistance.

In Ursula Le Guin’s Tales from Earthsea, one of the stories describes the gesture of making an open hand. It becomes a secret sign between people who are seeking freedom in a time of tyranny. Here, one of the main characters, Medra, has arrived on the magical island of Roke after many trials and long seeking:

28 July 2017

Last Saturday was the opening of our new workshop in Berlin.
Now, after almost two years of moving around, Daria and me settled down in our own studio space. Last months were full of daily life challenges to handle, so i feel strongly relieved in starting the physical work practice, trough and with the materials, finally again.

I`m highly fascinated by all kinds of hands performances, craft working, cooking, fighting, resting. In one second they can change from a slightly movement to a powerful act, putting feelings or instincts into effects.

Working with hands is the most direct and honest way of express myself.
They create, they operate, the destroy, they love, they write and talk.

27 July 2017

Back to Muay Thai training tonight. Back home from doing a workshop in Singapore over the weekend; back from a week-long fever before that. These are my handwraps – long lengths of stretchy cotton that help protect the fragile bones in the hands (and soak up sweat!).

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Here’s a video showing how to wrap your hands for boxing.

Today I sewed this on one of the wraps, to remind myself to let go, trust my body, listen to its wisdom and let it lead the way. I realized that I act like a bad lover to my body – always doubting, questioning and never being satisfied. Despite that, my body gives me nothing but love. When I ask my body: are you sure you can do this? It answers by giving me what feels like a huge hug, and whispers back:

Yes.

I got this. I’ll take care of us.

Trust me.

26 July 2017

This trees of yours are looking so human, but in matter of time it`s the opposite of us. It`s so good to see many years of continuation in one picture.

The power and constancy of the nature reminds me on the cycling path in the middle of Berlin, some fully asphalt concrete covert street, the root from fare away trees breaking through the surface, as some vein they letting the dead street arise. The other way around they are many green parts in Berlin, some small hills as well, but they aren`t nature as they looking like, often they were build on ruins of the second world war. In Switzerland we have natural heels and mounts, but as well they got used for human reasons, the Swiss were digging out the mounts to create bunkers and tunnels everywhere.
Even many parts of the Alps are somehow empty. How ever human being is signing, covering and digging out the nature, to mark it, hide there or use the varied landscape, but as the nature is far-seeing and sustainable, it`s constantly taking back what belongs to it.

25 July 2017

Thank you for that video of Carol, Prisca! It was delightful and mesmerizing. The other day I caught my cat having a bad dream. She yowled softly, then hissed at something in her sleep. I keep thinking about it – if dreams come from the subconscious, then it would seem that non-human animals have one too!

I send you these trees from the nature reserve not too far from where I live. They are in the process of eating… their own names. Slower than Carol with her worm, much slower. I feel this is such an act of defiance from the trees. I would like to learn this kind of resistance. Slow, and steady, and funny too!

23 July 2017

This is Carol, the albino frog from my working partner Daria, walking in the reflexion. Carol is living all day and night long in his aquarium,
70cm x 40cm x 50cm water volume cube with under water plants.
He`s alone because he was eating all possible partners he got.
Only the small shrimps taking part in his universe.
His body languages is so impressive to me, his fingers looking like in some cartoon, if he`s floating and posing his body is under full self-control.
Watching him moving and stiffen in the water calms me down,

even the scenario of eating living worms looks like he`s dancing modern dance. He can`t bite or swallow, he`s pushing the food directly to the digestive tract. He`s breathing trough his skin, like the fishes do.

I`m wondering what he believes or how he experience his 1m3 universe.

To monitor him brings me back to general life and space questions, i watch out off the big windows and think if our bodies may have similar experiences from fare perspectives.

21 July 2017

I bought this health chart at a bookshop a few years ago. I kept it although I don’t know how to read it! I caught a cold two days ago – haven’t been feeling great. What’s interesting is that I felt my body was ‘letting me down’. Like my inability to read this chart, I do not know how to read (or I am willfully ignoring) the signals my body is giving. Green light, or red light? I painted them randomly on the meridian points.

I’ve been reading about ‘body trust’. I’d like to trust my body, but the question is, can my body trust me? To stop when I need to stop, rest when I need to rest? To not expect a green light wave 100 percent of the time?

20 July 2017

Thank you for that blue, Sahron.

Today i was arranging our studio, I found this bottle button and was thinking of you. Its quite a rare colour here.

Today we got the studio lease agreement. So first of all i had to cycle to the next copy shop to print the contract. A long street trough the deep unspectacular but authentical west of Berlin. I was lucky to catch a green light wave. My days in Berlin are connected to many hours at the bike, directed be green and red lights.

At the end of the day its tiring and I prefer the natural blue.

https://vimeo.com/226027832

19 July 2017

This is the bluepea flower (clitoria ternatea). We call it Bunga Telang. When soaked in hot water, the flowers produce an edible blue dye that can be used to make drinks, deserts, or my favorite, Nasi Kerabu, which is an East Coast style Malaysian dish with different herbs and blue-coloured rice.

Today was a blue day, Prisca. I woke up discouraged, and a little tired. So I send you this, my favorite flower, whose blue can be eaten.

18 July 2017