Day 4

New York—Basel—New York

I look at my mobile and it is 6.10 am. I sleep again. It is ice cold in the apartment. Just above o.k. in my sleeping bag. While I go for my turn to shower I boil water. Just when I step out it boils and I make four cups of green tea. The others feel cold too. Their hairdryers blow slowly on the 110 volt on the American grid. It takes twice as long to go from wet to dry hair. I eat oatmeal with soy sauce and dragon sauce. The L train is quick but the number 6 train takes a while to get to 103rd street. One of our professors waits in front of the El Museo De Barrio on 5th avenue. I walk through the glass door, make a left in front of the screaming green doors to the theater and take the elevator to the 3rd floor. Then she comes. Our professor for this project. She releases a waterfall of connected information. Pure, fresh water. I drink. I get in the water. I am drifting, not able to choose direction. At least I am not drowning. After I get used to the temperature I am floating on a stream of knowledge. The light in the room is yellow from the window sheds. The stream flows through a rainforest. Meandering. I think about the rainforest principle. Ecology creates symmetry out of asymmetry through a ritual. Economy on the other hand creates asymmetry out of symmetry through game. The rainforest is the thing that creates symmetry. So for a symmetric museum the rainforest has to be adopted by the thing we see as White Cube. There is no point in just putting a rainforest inside the cube. Adoption goes much deeper. There must be an honest devotion to care. To accept the rainforest as a part of your family. An independent family member though. The cube at no point controls the rainforest. But there will grow a shared history. Growing. So there will be an element of time. The presentations of our projects are stopped by the lunch break. I go to Joy Burger and order the special of the day. Barbeque burger. I add jalapenos, onions and fries. My order number is King of Hearts. The burger is as good as I remember. Back at the museo I am fascinated by the live performance of adaptive thinking our professor is doing. Freestyle I believe and in an unbelievable speed. At least iso 1600. I ruin my presentation but someone tells me she gets my way of thinking. I feel understood and o.k. This project is not about presenting something anymore. At least for me. What it is about I don’t know yet. At five I leave with a part of our group for White Columns Gallery in downtown Manhattan. There is a fashion show at seven. In a coffee place nearby I get doubts about writing this texts. Better I drink Earl Grey. In the gallery a couple of chairs are set up forming a run way. The place is full with white people. There is a text on the wall:

Marx on beauty: I am ugly. But I can buy for myself the most beautiful of woman. Therefore I am not ugly.

The fashion show is an improvised declaration of Marx’ fashionism. I believe. I do not get the humor but the whole show is probably like all my friends think my whole study is like. Disturbingly good but unexplainable for me. Models who are not models are presenting mainly felt clothing while a couple people read out things like:

Karl Marx reads all your mail.

or

There is only one Karl. Felt belongs to everybody.

or

We are living in a time of lottery economics.

The reason of using fashion here as a transmitter is a statement I think. It is not useful as clothing. There is no phone but the iPhone in the whole room. Most people film in portrait orientation thought.

I carry the twelve pack Rolling Rock Extra Pale we bought at the local organic supermarket. It is still open at 10 pm and the guy behind the register packs all of our things in about ten plastic bags. Would there be a point in telling him we do not need this many bags? It is spaghetti with tomato vegetable sauce and green salad with beets for dinner. Later I start watching the movie The Internship but even after the first half I do not find it funny. I put a live show of Louis C.K. on. After the last joke I sleep on my couch.