DAY 9 - Taking a spit in the neck

Today a little boy spit me in my neck. He must have thought I was a settler.  His friend excused him for me and kicked him.

Today I paid 7 sjekel for a coke. "it's five, it's five, it's five, it's five, no it's five!" it's the first time I succeed in getting my money back.

Today I bought honey cause back home I only drink thee with honey, never with sugar. When I put it in my glass which I also bought today cause I didn't like the papercups in our hostel I thought; maybe I am no different then any other person who tries to defend their reality (thought about religion for example).

Today I finally found a shop who can print my hearts in colour. Tomorrow I pick them up. It might take three days maar dan heb je ook wat. Hearts on photopaper.. yes.

Tomorrow I finally work with my actor and so, as a brave dutch, I spent all day thinking of what to do tomorrow.
But it gave me a the next questions > What if space is narrowed to a squere meter and you have to share it?
What if you die in this situation but you can do it all over again?
Offcourse this relates to the situation here. Two groups, the Palestinien and the settlers, in a too narrow space (sometimes fysically, sometimes mentally). Why denying this situation if it's their everyday live? This was the discussion between me Nina and Rosalie, and I think they're right in the end.
The roof where we look through to the audience could be a place of reflection, stuck between heaven and earth.
Death always confronts life, it brings us down to the questions that matter. And since Mohammed had a funeral these days I think this is the way we should search. The (also personal) search for real contact goes on.
(and if that means a spit in the neck so be it)

'love' 

Want to see more about me and my performance artwork? www.nicksteur.com

DAY 8 - no love today but hope for tomorrow

Sometimes a day is not ment to actually get things done.

After several nights with 6 hours sleep I just wanted to sleep, but I didn't, I passed my breakfast to join the group for a tour. Once I was there and the tourguide didn't seem like a young fast walking guy I headed back for food. I wanted to work (but I could have slept in).

The title is not totally correct. But let me keep that for the end of this story. 

The first two hours I spend on my macbook to try to get my heartpictures ready for printing,

then I spend a few hours- searching for a shop to print them. In the end I only had 9 vaque black and white prints on ugly paper and I felt like I spend all my energy for that day allready (imagine walking trough tourists in narrow streets for hours).

I went to see the boys, the twinrappers. There was no way for them to actually make something theatrically interesting together without mentioning politics, and I excused myself for my arrogance yesterday.

That was the end of the line with them I thought, but Merlijn knew how to make them enthousiastic again, some karacteristic I can be very jalours about.... 

I decited to expand my collection of heart - and shopping window puppet - pictures. Somehow they are even uglier and stranger than yesterday. 

As a vegetarien I didn't come across a lot of different kinds of food.  I eat white pitabread, falafel, humus, cuecomber, tomato and sometimes spinich/cheese. 

After being bribed by a cabdriver again, waiting for food when hungry, changing restaurant and waiting again I gave up for today. (Also my blog is not the best one this week by the way)

I walked back on my own realising I need space to feel comfortable. Just like the locals tell me. 

But, as promissed; something positive: I went to the location where I perform with Mohammed. Good news; he's evailable from monday again.

That means we have 3 days to make the performance. But the location is so inspiring! There is a hole in the roof so I like to see talking heads there haha. Let you know!

btw I collected 41 hearts now (pictures that is).

Want to see more about me and my performance artwork? www.nicksteur.com

DAY 7 - meeting rappers and searching for love

 Today I searched for love. Why? Because when media highlights one side of reality, it seems really big. And what we see in the news is mostly negative and destructive. I'dd like to highlight another side of Israel > 

Rappers in the mood...

Yesterday Mohammed, my partner told me that the father of his wife died. When these things happen they get priority above all things and it brings you back to the things that really matter. 

Nevertheless I have no actor for the next days, so I concentrated on two rappers that already collaberated last year for this festival. They performed some songs for me and I let them hear mine from ten years ago. 

The twins are 16 but look like 26, and after seeing them rap I'm sure it's not because of there looks.

They took me to their home and when we walked accros the souk (market) I felt less like a tourist, because I was with them, handshaking every ten meters with their friens or familly. Sometimes they kiss on the cheeks (2,3 or even 6 times) sometimes they shake hands and sometimes they hug. I asked what was the difference for them and it was just about how long ago you last saw a person.

Mohammed (yes, his name was also Mohammed) was the one to speak to, as he was the only one who spoke some English. 

He welcomed me to their house. First he showed me the camera's that are installed even at the back of these houses to guard the Palestinians. "this is our kitchen" and he laughed when he was pointing out two gaspits. He greedet his mother by taking her hand, kiss it and put his forehead on her hand, three times. His twinbrother Ali did the same. I was deeply touched by this gesture while thinking of my own mother. 

He showed me the living room which was also their sleeping room: 2 by 3 meters for the mother her two sons and their friend, which was there all the time with us but didn't say a word. I guess saying words was ment for the rappers. A verry small window with thick metal bars that we see in front of allmost all windows in this area, gave us the view of some squere meters from the souk below. The boys just want to perform there songs, which are very political, and that's not exactly what this underground festival is about. It's about small stories, personal ones that have (mostly) nothing to do with the tensions between cultures and politics. They were not very interested to share a personal story and who can blame them? We are so used to deal with freedom in the Netherlands that we have a lot of space and time to choose our daily kind of bread. I feel pretty stupid now with my 'positive' ideas from last afternoon.

Tomorrow I meet them again in the cultural centre where we can rehearse. I will check the location where I am supposed to perform with the other Mohammed my partner. Also I would like to work again on wispering eachothers lenguages in the ear so that the other one shares it with the public. 

It's a nice way of feeling responsebility for your wordchoise. It's a nice way to show transparancy and innocence, it's a nice way of saying: I could be you.

Want to see more about me and my performance artwork? www.nicksteur.com

DAY 5 & 6 - Nablus performance, with refugee campers

Nablus, Westbank. 

  Rolling marbles with the kids.

 

    a boy was waving from the little window, he was maybe 2 years old. We waved for 9-10     seconds.

    In the picture above we see posters to honor the (Palestanien) marters,  we see posters every few meters.

In the cultural centre of Nablus we worked one day with kids from the camp, where 11.000 people live on 700m2 ground. That's why the streets are so narrow (pic). 

We made music together, performed together... and suddenly you feel connection is more important then good western quality results. Hartwarming to see these kids with such openness and graditude. How relieving for us to not be busy with scoring for ourselfs, but with people.

We asked a boy on the street to get us some drinks and we give him 10 Sjekel. He came back with 5 cans and 5 Sjekel. "Here take the 5 Sjekel (1 euro)" 

But he did not know what we ment, he did not want it.

 

 My mind is used to think that people want something when they speak to you. Not here. They really just say hi, or welcome, or "what's your name". No matter how poor or rich. Offcourse there are acceptions, mostly when you walk in some touristic centre. 

It's so chaotic. Everybody just walks in and out. I'm really not used to that. I can not put my stones together, during the performance, but it's ok. It's not about results, really not. No. No problem check.

 Falafal goes in very easely, but it's difficult to get out.

Luckely that gave me time to think a little, and i had a nice idea for that night:

He speaks Arabic in my ear, and I (without any Arabic soundrecognission abbility) send it to the public. Seriously funny. Me trying to say the next text in Arabic that is.... (because my partner uses me as a puppet, a mouth)

"There are many ways to communicate. I like to speak with my heart, because it is difficult to speak with the mouth.  I don't know what i'm saying, but I trust this guy, he's ok.... he's very ok!! But i'm ok too and all of you are ok, peace!"

Where there is smoke, there is fire. But I never know what the fire is. These days we saw and heared a lot of smoke and blasts / the checkpoints for the westbank are heavy metal / the tensions in the streets are touching the hairs in my neck >  but still, that's just one reality out of many. 

(and still, I'm so thankfull for the luxurious problems in my daily life at home)

Want to see more about me and my performance artwork? www.nicksteur.com

DAY 3 - death sea and different thoughts

today we went for 240 shekkels to the death sea and back (90 euro). Great deal, we thought. After a few hours of floating around and making pictures of our mud-wrapped bodies, the same guy picked us up to bring us back. But he wanted to be paid 240 DOLLARS. After a fight with our very own little Rosalie as our front man,
we went to our hostel together to discuss the case. Because the guy from the hostel told us 240, but never mentioned dollars. In the end we all paid more then aspected, the 4 of us, the hotel owner, and even the cabdriver, because of this misunderstanding.
It again learns me about how important it is to be clear, and at first- to be clear in what you want (in order to communicate it clear) that wasn't clear at all was it?

I made my first stone statues today in Israel, also the death sea. As a preperation for tomorrow in Nablus,
where we will meet some musicians to perform together on the same evening.

My head is emty, I need to gain some sleep... I hope the cabdriver and the hostelowner have the same thought as in the picture above... (at least we can all read it).

Want to see more about me and my performance artwork? www.nicksteur.com

DAY 2 - meeting the artists, meeting the city

take a real cubic meter of air. It takes minutes, days, years or decades but the air in it wil change: Maybe there will be a trashcan in it, or a wall, or 2 humans. Everything in it will change, but not the cube itself, it stays fore-ever. As humans we can only 'borrow' space, use space. We can buy it from others, travel in it, change it by will but we can never actually OWE it. Even our bodies (which take space), we get them when we are born, but we have to give them back to the earth. 

The next question is, if we borrow space, what do we do with it, where do we focus on, what do we atrack from the world and what do we give? if we feel that we 'have' space we feel freedom and responsebility>

I spook to Mohammed today, the actor I'm going to work with and he spoke about freedom in the old city. There are so many people that have these different ideas of what is good and what not, in a very limited space, that you don't feel free to make your own choises, to have an identity. Something we in the Netherlands barely have to consiously deal with. 

In the pictures we see the wailing, or, western wall. One of the most holy places on earth. 

I'm very happy and tired from today, it's cold, 1.00 o'clock and tomorrow we go to the death sea!

Want to see more about me and my performance artwork? www.nicksteur.com

DAY 1 - arrival...

it's 2.00H and we are internetting in our hostel, in the middle of east Jeruzalem.
Strange how addicted we apparently are, to our digital apples.
So here are the statistics of today:

1 moment of stress, we had to hitchhike to the airport
0 crying babies in the airplane
1 broken luggage bag afterwards
1 very fast cabdriver, who wanted 'tax' on top of the price
6 streetcats on the way to the hostel, looked in the eyes of one.
3 macbooks (white)
4 tired artists who will meet their coworkers in the morning!

in the plane I made an important decission:
I will focus this project on the things I really want to communicate, my passions (silence and spacing),
and not on the results (or the publics oppinion.)

cheers

Want to see more about me and my performance artwork? www.nicksteur.com

Jeruzalem here we(l)come!

Are you nervous?

just 2 days for departure and i'm allready sweating...

we (that's 4 performers from the theatre academy Maastricht) will go into the world of the (for me) unnown, the world of big history and even bigger stories. I'dd better prepare a bit...

Does that mean making a blog to keep me updated?

Your right, I'dd better stop procrastinating and learn something about the jews, israelies, moslims, palestanien the history the future military the politics the landscape the fun the danger the...

Does that mean you don't know shit?

Your right and how could I? Never bin there. The media shows us 2d immages of (in my case) 33x45cm. And mostly the political negative sides. Im going there to hear see and feel some personal stories, i'm going there to give personal intensions and ideas as well.

What kind of questions are you going to ask them?

Well, let us first shake hands and see if we have simple things in common like handshaking.

Since only 7% of all our communication is verbal, i'dd first like to concentrate on our bodylenguage.

You have only 2 weeks you know?

So let me stay concentrated on the lenguage of bodies, and also materials. Bodies and materials seldom lie, like words can. I like to communicate trough those underestimated systems.

Like?

Like balancing stones on top of eachother, stones from Holland and Jeruzalem (see pics).

Like making sequences in duet about first contact (handshaking vs "hi how are you fine and you yeah fine")

What I mean by that is that I think that we trap ourselves in the way we meet in our words..

it's often so boring and so not communicative that I would like to hear that enhanced, at the same time the bodies will show the real underlaying emotions towards eachother, also enhanced offcourse.

So what exactly you want to research?

I ask this because I believe that art should always have a research stadium in order to find something new and personal.

I would like to research fysical behaviour, find detailistic bodylenguage in common or in different with me (coming from a different culture).

So if you excuse me now mr left and right brain - i'm going to pack my backpack.

Want to see more about me and my performance artwork? www.nicksteur.com

see more about the festival: http://www.alqudsunderground.net/