From: Denise Burge
To: chih-min chen
Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 AM 08:16
Subject: Re: ??
Hi there! hmm....my writing hasnt been happening for a LONG time, but when I ended I was getting interested in layers of reality, as I wrote you earlier. The text is really more about 'placing' the reader in a variety of vantage points, confusing the reader's sense of 'reality', sort of like being in a house of mirrors. Yep, illusion, theater, artifice, all that stuff is fascinating to me! That's really what the writing got to be about. Beyond that, or beneath that, there is kind of a feeling of loss, and mystery, I suppose.
Thanks for Tulu's email! I'm gonna email them, cause I might try and visit them this May. Peter is so adorable, just jetta-settin' around like that. I didnt see his email address included, but I'd love to write him and chide him!
How is your heart? Mine is restless....
love,d
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From: chih-min chen
To: sprkl@earthlink.net
Sent: Sunday, March 24, 2002 PM 11:09
Subject: Re: ??
I mean particularly the writings. would you like to introduce it a bit to me. idea of the piece? structure or "composition" of it? (inside, outside, tomorrow?) i saw my story, your mom's dialogue, your and my cityscape, your illusions hovering, in different views of variant persons, at different places..... anything specific you are trying to say? it's a poem. i suppose a poem must have something underneath :) maybe i should intepret it myself. but would rather know how you thought first. do u agree?
ok, so you've put your shoes on!! don't rush. two more weeks you can go party again. maybe you should have a beer bottle with you now while walking on the street - to please those guys who staring at u :) just kidding. do u go back to the clinic for some recovery cures? maybe you'll need them.
tulu's email : tulubayar@hotmail.com. but she seldom checked out the email, i guess.
here is peter's email. see how we try to flatter u :) t
ake care, cm
======================================================================================================== CM: I am going to China from June 14-July 14th and then hit the Asian airways. I would like to go to Thailand to surf and explore a bit. Though you and Denise are great company, I'm not sure that my travels will take me around the world. Are flights cheap from Taipei to Germany? I can't imagine that they would be. But when you're flying across the continents to see the beautiful, blonde Denise Burge - it's worth it
I'm going to the Anhui province...Hefei to be specific. Any travel plans to the big republic? Please forward this letter to Denise so she knows how to get in touch with me and where I'll be this summer.
And take care, man. Peter ==============================================================================================================
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From: Denise Burge
To: chih-min chen
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2002 AM 06:11
Subject: Re: ??
Howdy!
Having a good weekend? It is warm where you are? I put on my first REAL pair of shoes today since the foot incident, and it feels good! Not dancing yet, but walked all around a drug store with no crutches---now, though, I just look drunk or old or something, walking slow and kind of wobbly....let the rumors fly!
You know, the Chrysler building was in an older part of the writing, written almost 8 years ago...I actually did think of the WTC reference, but didn't like it==so I kept it out. The Chrysler building was interesting to me because Chrysler is a brand name as well, I suppose.
I'm not sure what you mean when you ask about my works--you mean my work in general? I had a realization the other night, that one common thing seems to be my interest in the artificial--artifice of story line, artifice of space, artifice of philosophies, etc etc. Is that something like you are wanting to know?
Peter's email, didnt get that---maybe you could forward? Is he gonna come to Kassel? ALSO, you mentioned that you have been in touch with Tulu--do you have her email address? The one I have doesnt seem to work---
take care<
d
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From: chih-min chen
To: Denise Burge
Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2002 PM 10:06
Subject: ??
Hey denise, why it's Crysler building but not the Twins? It's interesting that you addressed NY city but not the world trade center. any specific reason for Crysler? could u give me a brief idea of your works? maybe i should call you for further discussion. it may be more convient then email back and forth. what do you think? i can make the call since i got a cheap internet phone.
how's your foot? can you DANCE already :)
take care, did u see the mail from peter. he called you "beautiful blonde denise", ha!! happy now?
best, cm
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From: chih-min chen
To: sprkl@earthlink.net
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 AM 12:52
Subject: Re: sketch
stuff and thing? interesting :) like how i worked on paula's poem. (a javalized flesh, weeebbbb.org/flesh/main.htm) her poem is a "thing" and my translated the "thing" into computer language which became "stuffs". though of making a smiliar piece with your writing.... not sure yet.
yes, that's the sketch. the background is a pic of the girl. i'm updating it (making more sketch?). check it out again. we make sketches to plan our works, and could be in any free format, right? this is simply a pilot plan - so we call it "sketch" :) eventually the sketch may turn into another works?
the images of your mom and the girl are too arbitrary in the sketch. i may change this.
love back n' pretty win :) cm
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From: Denise Burge
To: chih-min chen
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 PM 10:47
Subject: Re: sketch
Now, what I saw was our emails --is that the sketch? cool. I like the idea of the emails being the piece! all the stuff around the 'thing'--I read somewhere recently an interesting comparison of 'stuff' and 'things'---the thing is the rice cake--the stuff is the rice and the sugar and the whatever else goes into it. I think I like it best when the stuff shows around the things!
love and coffee,
d
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From: chih-min chen
To: sprkl@earthlink.net
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 PM 10:01
Subject: Re: ??
uhhh.... 'whatcha bonna boo' . that's so touching..... cm hates doing pretty piece, u knew this :) kidding! i really love this phrase. we are on the opposite of the globe - 12 hrs difference. i don't think visa.com want an alcoholic weber chen :)
yes, totally understand your vague and multiple views of real world and dreamland. magic realism? let me make a "drawing" first for our substance-less piece. you will see it soon. i need some more days to figure out the final format.
i'm planing a piece "in honor of duchamp, in memory of anja". anja, that's her name. i think i told you this before. we were in a small bar for a drink. she showed me her city, weimar, in a tour book. told me how she rode a bike cross the streets, shown on the pic of the tour book.... the scene was so touching to me. so i decide to make a sculpture with a bike's wheel :). won't showcase it in public, simply a decoration in my house. you are right. artists always find their way on art to heal themselve.
i stayed in zurich for only 1 day last yr (a business trip). most of my friends said "the country isn't that interesting, though it's pretty and that's all" but the 1st time in my life felt "that's how human being should live!". nothing special, simply easy and hormones. time seems frozen there. i love it.
vodka again :) cm
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From: Denise Burge
To: chih-min chen
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 AM 04:51
Subject: Re: ??
Hi there! Say, what time is it there? Are you drinking pretty vodka in the afternoon?
I did consider the work to be in between the dash lines...I know that it is a little confusing, but I thought it would be interesting to show that this was an email to you, that the actual poem was enclosed in a larger text, with a greeting to you included as part of the piece. What do you think? I'm so interested in the 'structure' surrounding things, kind of like theater, where things aren't what they seem. That's kind of what the poem is about too, you never really know where you are--on a mountain, in a movie theater, in a car, or maybe just watching it all on a screen, or even reading it on a computer screen. So the writing is really about placing the reader in many different points, in relation to the story being told. Confusing, huh? I totally agree with you, it is interesting how sometimes with artwork you don't know where the 'art' stops and the 'real world' begins again. I really LOVE that--again, maybe my theater background has something to do with it...if I did theater, I would always keep that line very vague.
the upper and lower case isnt important to me--do what you will!
As far as a title, I don't know--maybe something to do with it being an email? Yep, maybe the title will come later?
the 'whatcha bonna boo' was a reference to my mother's language difficulty since her stroke. She speaks in a very very limited set of words, mostly words with the letter 'b' starting them. but every once in awhile, she comes out with a whole new phrase. The other night, we were talking, and she said "what'cha gonna do?", and we both laughed. Then she said it again, but it came out "whatcha bonna boo?", and we laughed even harder. Like her phrase was starting to get reabsorbed back into her limited language. Anyway, I say it all the time now, it sounds so cute and reminds me of her.
I was thinking of your broken heart as well, as I wrote...maybe what you do might refer to it somehow? I remember with my big heartbreak, I felt like a lot of the art that I did was kind of about it, or at least helped me to work through it in some way.
So, its your move===I have no idea what you are thinking of doing, its very exciting to NOT know! I'm sure it will be pretty, no matter what.
Spent some time today reading about Switzerland, there is something about that country that is calling me--maybe its the green green hills that I envision...am thinking a lot about this trip!
smiles, d
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From: chih-min chen
To: Denise Burge
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2002 PM 11:25
Subject: ??
ok, now we have some problems here. do u have a title of the works? is it "in its intirety"? i don't think so :) or we don't decide it now.
which part of the following email do u consider as your works? the part between the dash line? the whole email? or those paragraph under "inside" "outside" and "tomorrow"?
i figure the whole email fit with those words going between the two dash lines :) always told my students this - "comtempary artists" have blurred the standards of art. when see a basket in a gallery, you can hardly tell if it's a piece of art or simply for the leaking on the celling? my real experience :) so dear beautiful artist, would you please tell me where is the part you consider as art work?
this is difficult "whatcha bonna boo?" ????? explain it to stupid foreigner like me, pls :)
besides, are the upper-case and lower-case important in the writing? should i keep them as how you wrote?
i'm using two different email addrs - one in my office and another at home. sorry to confuse you. feel free to use anyone. i'll manage it.
last but not least, i'm going to enjoy my pretty vodka :) for nursing my BROKEN hear and wishing the best to your foot, cheers for our project. cm
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From: Chen, Weber
To: 'ataiwanese66@gcn.net.tw'
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 PM 07:10
Subject: FW: okee dokee, here it is--
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-----Original Message-----
From: Denise Burge [mailto:sprkl@earthlink.net]
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 11:37 AM
To: Chen, Weber
Subject: okee dokee, here it is--
in its entirety,
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with a bum foot, whatcha bonna boo? (as Mom says)
one thing I wrote a long time ago reminded me of how we write across the globe.
I wrote inside it some more.
inside
'okay, so why isnt Mr. Chen electable?' I whisper.
A monstrous mountain enters our view. Everyone's seats shake accordingly.
This IS a romantic picture, I think to myself.
A tiny figure scales the face of the rock, only feet from its summit.
An insect stings my right ankle.
Turning to you, I ask again, 'why?', rubbing the swelling itching.
Looking down from the summit now, I see the climber's face
strained with impending glory.
This must be the highest mountain in the world. The sun is just rising
over
the Chrysler building in the distance.
I am sweating. "Just do it!" the climber's exhausted voice
penetrates the room. From my house here in Cincinnati, I can just see
the whole scenario.
outside
>From your house, in Taiwan, you must remember this.
In the distance,
I can see the silhouette of Pilot mountain, from my
house in
North Carolina. A searchlight pierces the clouds surrounding its knobby peak.
You walk towards us, gesturing in the glare of headlights.
As your face fills my screen,
I freeze frame.
tomorrow
You're not going to cry over her any more, he says as
he motions to the peak.
I suppose I will have to search for any keyword that will bring back
that story,
because I've forgotten the ending, weber chen at visa.com.
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okay, you figure out the next step! you could write something back if you like, or pick something out and play with it... whatever!
I decided not to use an old song, but found some other stuff more interesting. I really like that we are using this totally substance-less thing, and anyway, I like all substance-less things...
Drinking a not-so-pretty wine, but getting excited about coming to Germany. August would work for me, I might travel in July beforehand! It's kind of scary, because I would be doing it alone, and have very little knowledge of the language, but I'm up for an adventure!
take care, and nurse your heart,
d