Pouch Cove
I have arrived in Newfoundland – after my first flight was cancelled and the one the next day extremely delayed, both due to weather conditions. Well, seems that (getting to) Newfoundland is always an adventure because I remember it was similar when I got here in 2007. I was in residence at the Pouch Cove Foundation then and Pouch Cove is where I returned now for the week until my Terra Nova residency starts. (The Pouch Cove Foundation residency program no longer exists – James Baird, who ran it focused on art dealing.) It is somehow surreal to be back at the place that had such an impact on my artistic practice: it was here that I shot my first videos (icecove and blackberg) and my focus on travelling is rooted in the experiences I made looking East over the Atlantic and hiking the East Coast Trail to find icebergs that got caught at the shore. The place looks familiar – and yet everything is different. Seems I have changed quite a lot since I first came here.
St. John's harbour with Signal Hill on the left, seen from The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery
Yesterday I went to St. John’s which is about 30 km South from here to meet with Prof. Sean Cadigan, Head of the History Department fo Memorial University and Vince Walsh from Heritage Newfoundland to get more background info on early settlement in and old world perception of Newfoundland which will – in one way or another – be part of my work in Terra Nova Park. I was lucky as I could get a lift into town by some other guests of Elke (Dettmer) with whom I am staying, as there is no public transport available – which I remember was a big issue during my 2007 residency as there is no food store in Pouch Cove…
I also went to see Jason Sellars who is in charge of the residency program of The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery. It was nice meeting him after months of emailing.
But this is only the prologue – it’s about time now that the residency in Terra Nova starts…
