[after 5pm]
more people use the offered camera toady than i would expect. the camera gives people a chance to avoid contacting me directly by sitting in front of me, but at the same time, they are also interacting with the piece itself. the latter one - sitting directly to someone in this wide open place - feels more risky and unsafe.
[around 5pm]
i am about to leave when two women approaching the camera table. one of them uses the camera and takes bunch of pictures of me, as i can hear the flashlights frequently. i look over the clock, already passes by 5. should i stop? i see her truly engaging in taking pictures from different angles. i continue reading for a minute. for her, specifically. then i stop, i shall stop, i stand up, tie the rope, take on my shoes. she documents the above process as well. until i put on my bag, she stops and says thanks to me.
i am reaching to the end today. people from sculpture gathering in the area around me are holding their defense. they were also in the same area when i started today but with a different piece.
[around 4p]
Yohta and his friend come. i thought he might sit down on the chair next to me, but he stands on my back for a while, watching me reading the texts. also the material table.
i get bored. i should focus on the text. a good take for this is reflecting my writing, in fact, i simply want to kill time. i look the clock more often. i change the listening seat to my right side.
a young man comes. he pauses at the statement holder and watches me reading. then he uses the camera and signs his name after taking pictures. he is sitting in the black chair - which left by someone had a defense here before - that in front of my two tables. i feel this position somehow gives him confidence and confirmation to take photo. he does not sit down.
[around 3p]
i find many people would stand up after i read a date of my journal. most of the time today, i am reading in a reverse order, a date could be read as a title from the beginning, but also could be the end. it seems no big difference if read reversely or not. a date is always a date. people may confuse what i have read is belongs to the date they’ve listened or it’s an intro to a next journal. time. a trick. a mark. a point. things can leak out from the point.
a man with green t-shirt walking around this area for a while. also spending sometime observing my piece but without sitting down. he eventually makes up his mind to sit down in front me. he says ‘good luck’ then walks away. he says something to me but i can barely hear it.
a white hair man with glasses and shirt sits in front of me. he listens to me for a while, nodding his head slightly sometimes. in the middle of our reading-listening, i look up at him, a glance, i see a smile emerging on his face. secret smile?
furniture defense group moves to me. i have known some folks there. they waves hands to me from a distance. we exchange smiles, i continue reading, sometimes pause and seeing people talking about the furniture.
an old lady wearing a mask is walking around the pieces with great intention and moving slowly. i purely enjoy seeing her moving, looking something in details. she passes by me quickly with a simple swift eye contact with me. seems like she does not care about what i am doing here. or she may have no clues that i am also included in group 6, as the maps in the front desk shows.
i see a dead spider in my reading stack.
[around 2pm]
a middle age lady sits down. she is with other two young ladies. she says ‘thank you’ with her mouth.
i will intentionally slower my reading pace when someone is sitting.
a man with grey hair approaching. he is wandering. later on, he sits on the black chair left by a memeber from a defense group. this almost like a ‘cheating safe seat’ (they may want to sit on the white chair, they hesitate much, but something like social boundary may eventually prevent them from doing it). as someone who sits on it could also face with me and listen to me, but it’s not as close and direct as the whtie chair i offered. thankfully, it’s a black one. thankfully it might be moved to somewhere else. at the same time, a young woman and man use the camera and start taking pictures of me. i was guessing they may include the man sitting but it does not happen.
[around 1pm]
a girl is sitting on the floor behind me to the left after people having defense left. i initally thought she was in the group but might be interested in this so she stayed. she sits here for almost an hour until her friend comes and they begin to spend one more hour talking about the paintings right behind me.
someone left a black chair in the middle point of my two tables. a bit away from the chair in front of me. i was worried that others may regard this is a part of my work. i was almost taking it away. but i keep it stayed.
[around 12:30pm]
i walk into the center from the front door. a big group people are having their thesis defense for the piece behind me to the right, “Shepherd’s Son” (by Nahom Ghebredngl). it is so close to my reading table that one has to move my seat closer to the table. i hesitate a moment if i should walk directly to my spot and read, as it looks like interrupting something in the air straightforwardly. a moment gone, i decide to go ahead as my plan, but trying to be quiet and like a random customer sitting next to you in a cafe.
[before 12:30pm]
i am waiting for the cars passing by to cross the street. walking in the corridor approaching the convention center i realize this will be a daily agenda in the following eight days. am i going to processing my work? or is it becoming a part of my routines?
i try to avoid going to the backstage before sitting on my chair. ‘backstage’ sounds wrong. ‘back’ from what? i have no aspect could relatively pair to this ‘back’, as my entire reality for the previous 9 days in the center shall be the stage itself. only in this sense, i can be true to myself. i set off from home, walk to the center for 8 minutes, go up to the 3rd flood, turn towards the hall d, walk directly to my spot, and begin my actions until 5p. then go back home.
photo by an observer on 5.22