A week in Spain & Marisol's Latest Exhibition

Earlier this month Marisol & I spent a week in Laredo, Spain where marisol was curating and also participating in an Exhibition at Santander. We also caught up with a group of friends and family who have made arrangements to travel to India, and also celebrated Marisol's birthday with a big dinner in Santander.



Marisol's exhibition named 'ENGLISH Translations' which involved two different shows, one in London and one in Santander. Organised by Jesus Alberto Perez and Marisol, this has been a very successful event, and the Santander show attracted a lot of publicity in the press, television and in the art world in Cantabria. So much so that when we went out to a small restaurant in San Miguel de Haras, a small community of about 100 inhabitants, the waiters came out and told us that they knew us, and that they had seen us in the newspapers!!
Below Nick does an Impromptu performance alongside Marisol's installation of 'Genetic Selection' (as if pleading with Rapunzel!)




See more photos of the exhibition at www.s-a-l.co.uk and at Marisol's website www.marisol.co.uk

Mutation - Ricardo Gaete at City Hall

Ricardo Gaete's 'Mutation' Performance at the Old City Hall in London.
Although I did not grab a video of Ricardo's performance, here is a glimpse of one I recorded in November 2007 at the Truman Brewery.

Travels in Asia - August 2008

See more fotos on Flickr - just click here

In August once again I had to get back to our team in Shanghai, and this time I had the good fortune of being invited to Kuala Lumpur for a Diversity presentation. Luckily that meant that I could spend a weekend in KL which I had not visited before. Now KL is famous for the tall towers that you see above and some fantastic food. One night I was taken to a fruit stall where we pigged out on an unimaginable quantities of exotic fruits, many of which I had never eaten before, and that is saying something after all my years in India, West Africa and Caribbean.

I was also in time for the Independence day celebrations in Malaysia. The Folks at the office invited me to take part in the celebrations, I had to make a speech, and to present the award to the best Male traditional dress in show, arranged at the office. Here is a video of the traditional dress competition.



While in Shanghai, I was treated to a visit to a nearby town of Hanchow, which turned out to be a real surprise. We hired bicycles and covered a large distance, which would not have been possible otherwise. Very beautiful town.

Of course no trip to China is complete without some unusual purchases for Marisol, and this one was no exception. Two art works manufactured in China and each weighing around 20-25 Kilos were waiting to be brought back home. So my luggage??..two suitacases with one work of art in each and nothing else. All my travel stuff was stuffed in a carryon case..still we got home with all this stuff without a major mishap. Luckily noone asked to open the suitcases!

What's next you ask?? US, Spain and India in quick succession..no rest for the wicked!

Looking forward to meeting many of you in November in Delhi!
Arvinder.

Longshore Drift - Brighton Beach - 2 August 08

Katie's annual art event at Brighton Beach - performances by 5 artists.
Marisa, Katie, David, Mabel & Marko.


Still photography (embedded in the video and below) by Marisol Cavia

Marisol & I in Spain June/July 2008

Last week in June Marisol and I flew off to Spain for a short holiday and a couple of interesting experiences.
First - Noche de San Juan, 23 June, we dined with friends and I learnt how to jump backwards and forwards on a fire - an ancient tradition in Spain.
Then..Spain went and won the European Football Cup. What a night of noise, fireworks & celebrations.
Next, we happened to be discussing a future exhibition which Marisol is organising through the Santander Port Authority, with the Santander contacts, and we got invited to act as judges for a painting contest for the immigrant artists in Santander. So we went along and picked the winners at the building that houses the Cantabrian parliament. The following week we got invited to attend the prize giving ceremony, and I got interviewed by the TV Cantabria, and appeared on state television's all news bulletins the next day!
(This is the winning artist)

Later we flew to Barcelona, where I had some business to attend to, for a lovely weekend. One of the colleagues I was working with invited me to fly with him in his plane (alas Marisol could not come as it was just a two seater). And do you know, he let me fly that plane for a few minutes. That was exciting! but dont tell the authorities ;-)



Then Pirre showed up in Barcelona with his daily ferry boat from Mallorca and Menorca. How lucky we are that all the brothers and sisters can meet in different combinations in so many different places in the world every year. Shanghai, Delhi, London, Barcelona, Laredo and New Jersey. Next year we will attempt to make it to Sydney.
See more pictures from Spain by clicking here. (Ver mas fotos)

Sevillanas in Regent Street on 25th May

Alba, Marisol & I went to witness the breaking of the record for simultaneous Sevillanas dancing last Sunday 25th May, at Regent Street, London. We met Marisa Rueda there and look at the video below! The record was confirmed!

Click Here to see more picture from Shanghai

Marisol and I were in Shanghai again in April for a few days, and apart from a few flu and other ailments it was a very enjoyable trip. I had to work..but Marisol did everything. We were less adventurous then normal, however we entertained a lot, went to a few art exhibitions (with Marisol around that was to be expected), shopped till literally dropped and generally had a good time.
Having signed up for the Air Products Golf society's beginner's club, knowing their first outing would be the week following from our return, I decided to buy the whole golf kit in Shanghai, reasoning that it would be cheaper. I had seen Uppinder and his colleagues buying Golf equipment on previous occasions, so I headed straight for the same shop in the Clothing and Gifts market near the Technology Museum. We discussed makes, bags, shoes, gloves and everything about the clubs..made a list of my Golf set icluding all of the above..and negotiated a price. It all came to 1000 RMBs, which roughly translated is seventy pounds! remarkable. In London a pair of shoes could cost you that much!
Mike and Aimee, who were working with me..helped me get this stuff back to the Hotel, covered in a travel bag which came with my set..in the rain. It was quite a sight! Later Virgin Atlantic let me get the whole thing (in addition to our normal 100 Kilos or so of stuff) back to London, and in a big limousine back home.
However not before we had the scare of our lives getting to the Shanghai Airport.
We were picked up at 7.30am for a 10.40 flight. However we got stuck in a traffic jam about 30 kms from the Airport, and it took us two and a half hours to get through..arriving at the Airport after 10 we thought we had no chance to make the flight. Not understanding too much of the conversation we were checked in with hardly anyone in the new International terminal at the PuDong. Later someone explained that the crew of the flight were still further behind us in the jam, and had been sent back to Shanghai to get the fast Maglev train to the Airport. Flight was delayed and we even had time to swig a drink or two in the Lounge!
Now we are back and as a result of the flight and flu I totally lost my hearing. Now a few weeks later I can hear reasonably well again. Getting too old for this.
Oh..and the golf events..I have played in two, and the groups I have been in have won both the events. So far so good ;-)...a hundred percent record. I even won the nearest to hole in the last event!

Regards,
Arvinder.