ROD in VENICE II

vec,

great photos, the food looks wonderful,

what is the "pepe mix" beans, nuts?

keep 'em coming, chao!

PEPE=PEPPER  this is a shop with fabulous windows... and 600 different kinds of wine and lovely friendly people run it  and it's just around the corner from the gallery, I will ask tomorrow if I am allowed to photograph the wine shelves... or is that being sadistic???:)

Great photos!   The pepper and spice shop looks great. Not a place to suddenly sneeze!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bZD8idbLjY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CyGyeOhwAI

I found this while on Gromit Unleashed trail. This bridge is very famous.

Rod..the spices are super colorful! What a wonderful shop...with wine, too, eh? Lovely , lovely...amazing photos ...every detail of Venice is great!

And, Rod...it seems Bruno is trying to tell us something?

That is a Greek "Π" amongst the "T"s. Well, Bruno's visual

comment is relevant here...just because Bruno is Italian!! :-)

I saw a dwarf in a red hood today Michael, I kid you not!  I did not take a photo! I looked the other way and walked in the direction I was looking:)  I did take these photos though:

Great pics, Rod!

Liking the bit of green amongst all the marble!

Are you sure it wasn't the Venetian wine playing tricks on your eyes Rod?  I suppose you could photo-shop the red dwarf in at a later date?!

All right Michael I admit it... it was a little girl wearing a pink hood:)  I did meet a dwarf today though, he was buying a bottle of rum in the same shop as I was buying a bottle of valpolicello.

Here is the pick of today's photos... there might not be any over the next few days as the weather is set to change which will give me an excuse to stay indoors and get some writing done:

I thought as much!  Val - police- ello   ello what's all this then?   Nice photos- well up to standard. Looking forward to the wet and windy ones. Here's me and Hazel in Venice some years ago having a romantic and very expensive gondola ride. Archie took the photo-

it took me a while before I twigged to "Val - police..." do you think I should go back to drinking green tea?  Sweet, you and Hazel having a gondle.

Better the green tea than the green canal water!

Great to see all these.  They take me right back 22 and 27 years!

I can't help wondering what they serenading you with on the gondola?

Hi Rebecca, the street musicians in the photo do requests!  They spend 8 months of the year walking the streets and cafés of Venice and four months back at home in Romania, they asked me to do a shoot for the cover of their next CD, the African guy from Camaroon saw us working and walked into the photo then a spontanious sing-song started:)

The weather man lied, it was a beautiful day today and hot! Basil died

It is true Michael, Venice canal water has never been known for its curative properties:

...and I fear

I may have misrepresented Venice as an empty place

...it isn't! Even this late in the season there are thousands of tourists

now where did I leave the corkscrew?

Autumn is really knocking on the doors of Venice now, parts of the day are warm, then there is a little rain, occasional sunshine and cooling quickly in the evenings.  In the early Spring the light in Venice is bright, hard and crisp white, at this time of the year it is softer and greys abound:

the ghost of Ray?

The rotten doors remind me that the water is rising and the city is sinking. Have you noticed much evidence between your visits?

The most noticeable thing in Venice at this time is the amount of restauration to houses that is being undertaken, there is very noisy work being carried out to buildings/homes on both sides of this apartment.  And yes, there seems to be more evidence of wood rot at the bottom of doors but that observation might just be me looking for graphic imagery.  As for sinking, no, there is no apparent evidence of that, but with the sea level predicted to rise by 50 + centimeters over the next century and the increased severe storm activity that is already affecting the whole planet... well, who knows? It would seem that Italy and the Europeans are doing what they can to preserve this city; there is a canal draining system in operation in an effort to shore up the foundations of buildings but how effective these efforts will be in the long term is anybodies guess, especially as fleets of massive cruise ships make devastating waves in their need to bring mega-tourism to the city.

Two other things that I have noticed over my visits is that now many of the tourists are Chinese and that the camera quality as used by the average tourist has improved, there almost as many SLRs as compact digital cameras.

colours dealer & poet from Venice from the north

I remember making panoramas with an MPP Microcord 6 x 6 cm in the late 70s and being taken aback by the amazing quality of cameras used by the Japanese tourists around me. I was supposed to be a serious photographer and they were tourists but their kit was far superior. However, many of them photographed me as I grappled with my old camera and tripod photographing all the angles necessary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUXNhYshUbw&feature=player_embedded

venice pipe dream

http://www.treehugger.com/resilience/venice-tests-its-7-billion-flo...

Dear Yves,  my sincere thanks for posting these video links here. Pipe dream? Probably. Expensive pipe dream? CERTAINLY!  Worth it?  Who are we to judge? It is a requirement of humanity to protect its cultural heritage in the same way as it is a necessity to bury the dead:)

For me, the "rotten doors" photo is the most poignant and visually interesting of the group.

My personal favouriteso far is the window on October 9.

Today I made the 7th video in the 'transit' series, I'll upload it tomorrow from the foundation's office as the net connection in this apartment is too slow.

Today the boards have been laid in the streets that indicate we are expecting 'aqua alta' that should present some interesting images:-}

Busy days with the exhibition opening, book presentations and suchlike, this is me, Berty and Jürgen at the opening of the show:

Still no transit 7 video, the net here is just too slow to upload... and the aqua alta didn't happen although we did have a thunder storm last night.

Love your ties!

Ah yes, the washing lines!  We have nice memories of those fluttering like celebratory flags down the back alleys of Venice.

OMG - all that blood!?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0KFNz3Y48Y

SHORTLY ON THIS GROUP!!!! BARONI/OLBRICH/SUMMERS all in one place at the same time! A unique moment in mail-art history... WATCH THIS SPACE!

We are all agog!

a German, an Englishman and an Italian met in a gallery in Venice...

more than 100 years of looking at mail art maybe?

It's the Mail Art Mafia!   Quick hide all the contraband!

Yes, right!  The big question is... would you buy a postage stamp from any of the three?~)

Uh... You will buy a postage stamp or we will send the boys round to your mailbox to stamp all over your mail... right?

Balloon and food list arrived in Greece form Venice, Rod!

Many thanks! xxx Kate

Counting calories while in Venice? No way, Rod...enjoy all the pasta and pizza you wish! How many more days in this sunshine before you have to leave and go north?

Well salads are OK!  especially with artichoke hearts... Love Italian food so twice a week it's salads only:)  I have some great new photos to upload, will try to get to that this evening.

I'll say this quite clearly... IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN TO VENICE YOU HAVE MISSED ONE OF THE MOST ENCHANTING CITIES IN THE WORLD!

We went to the biennale today, we walked there.

Amongst people and pigeons

By closed doors and...

...open spaces

The Romanian performance group, one of the highlights of the biennale

It was a long day with a lot of art viewing

We were happy to get back to our apartment.

A nice group of pics. Rod.  Art overload - I like it!

The last batch of photos coming up. This past week we spent some days with Vittore Baroni and family over on the west coast at Viareggio and today we are back in Venice and beginning the process of packing.

Thanks to Michael, Jon and Kate for making remarks.

Harry ver dare chee.

there are fish in the canals!!!

postboat.

and finally two from Viareggio-on-sea

P.S. For  5 euros (=CD+postage & packaging) I will send any member of this group all the photos that appeared here but in the original high resolution. Contact me via my email address rodvec@planet.nl  members only offer for the next three weeks as, like time, I am moving on to the next project.

Lovely shots. Glad you got over to Viareggio to see Baroni. Seems you had a wonderful and worthwhile trip and I look forward to seeing future projects.

Glad your residency was a pleasant one. Thank you for the preview for my own stay at Emily Harvey Foundation next year.

Rod, I'm looking farward to see Venice - seen by you...my dream.. to see it and draw it myself once !!!!!

wonderfull photos Rod..it is a little late but I'd like a C.D. from you with the photos.....

Received 2 day, thx Rod

John Held Jr, still in Venice???

Rod is up north :-)

I'm looking farward to see your new photos,Rod ! Have a good time in Venice !

Regards