I am happy to say that the Rodent Eradication Project that we initiated last year seems to have been completely successful. We found no droppings or other evidence of rats in the cavernous areas we targetted last year, or anywhere else for that matter.
We also inspected some of the buildings for termites and found them pest-free. Laura shot numerous photos to document, some of which I have included in the post.
More tagging again this weekend. I also moved additional artefacts to Building 2, in which space has been graciously made available for my use, and have started setting up some equipment to permit closer inspection. But my primary focus is still the cave.
I have spent significant time traveling over the last few weeks and have been too involved in other matters to post. But during this time I thought a great deal about the artefacts in the ‘cave’ and I have become more determined to uncover their hidden meaning. So, I have come to the conclusion that I need to put more focus on the crude lab I started in Building 2. As a result, I set about to accumulate some more equipment during my travels and so far have acquired the following items:
I hope to install these items on site as soon as possible.
There are a number of people milling around on Cockatoo lately; it looks like some sort of art exhibition. I hope they stay out of my way so that I may continue my investigations. In any event I must cover the entrance to the cave to keep out the curious.
Got back to the island this weekend in order to install some equipment. Took a camera along this time for a few shots, like this one of the building in which I have been permitted to set up the lab. I am strangely attracted to a number of the artefacts I have discovered, especially those made of beeswax, and would like to mount them in such a way that I can easily review them as I explore the meaning of Ted’s creations. It occurs to me to wonder if there could be anything hidden inside these objects.
Managed another trip to the Southern Highlands, this time to the Bundanoon Bush Dancing Festival. I’m not usually one to kick up my heals, but I wanted another trip to this area and the DanceFest seemed like a good opportunity.
You can see the fun at their web site/.
I picked up some beeswax on this trip. I’d like a more tactile sense of what Ted was up to.
As the number of artefacts I have examined grows larger I find I must return to tagging them as the relationships are too complex to retain in memory. I here show the process for those who may be interested.
Listening in on some of the conversations in Building 2, I find there is a great deal of interest in finding a deeper meaning in the objects discovered and even to wondering what’s inside these artefacts. My pursuit of their inner essence led me to the idea of taking x-rays of the objects. I was fortunate that a chance encounter with my veterinarian, Stephan Grey, led to a discussion of these matters and his assistance in gaining penetrating insight into the core of the objects.
To our great surprise we determined that a significant number contain items such as rings, necklaces, etc. This, of course, has led to a quandary as to whether we might retrieve these inner treasures at the risk of destroying the objects that contain them. Not wanting to destroy Ted and Nelly’s legacy, I have created several of these artefacts myself, had them x-rayed, and then proceeded to destroy them in order to get at their essence. But in the end I realized that however deeply the x-ray insight penetrated, there was always another elusive essence within to the vanishing point of svabhāvaśūnyatā.
गते गते पारगते पारसंगते बोधि स्वाहा
I just can’t keep quiet any more. She’s gone too far. This shelia named Irene, or something like that, asked if it would be alright to allow visitors to the Biennale of Sydney to come and have a look at the artefacts I’ve collected from the cave and the materials I’ve gathered to make sense of them. I wasn’t crazy about the idea, but she said that the Harbour Trust would allow me to keep all the artefacts and my work areas in Building 2 afterward so it seemed like a small price to pay. But she’s turned it into a bloody Freak Show Museum!!. Sure, we talked about putting some objects into protective cases for conservation, but nothing like these show-case vitrines. And why pick Object 5?! It’s demonic. It looks like the Horned Beast! Have you seen the shadow it casts on the wall late in the day?!
Not only that, but she allows people to look at private items from Ted and Nelly that I never planned to show anyone else. A whole Cabinet of Curiosities and Nelly’s picture on the wall! Never mind that she’s stealing my blog posts, printing them out, and putting them on the wall too. I think I’ll change the blog posting so people can see I had nothing to do with it. Maybe I’ll talk about a trip to Zaragoza or something completely different.
And, on top of it all, she says she talks to me regularly and knows what I think. I barely know her! And the staff sitting around there repeat everything she tells them and none of them has ever talked to me. She’s even putting videos up on YouTube. I mean Pompeii, really?
I’m not sure what to do. I don’t think I can shut it all down. I just hope that the promise of keeping Building 2 when this is all over doesn’t turn out to be hollow.
I just got word that I will not be able to continue to use building 2 for my investigations into Ted’s work after the Biennale closes. Maybe Iris promised more than she could deliver or maybe she was deceived as well, but I must now scramble to find another location for all the artefacts and my work. I’m thinking of transporting them down to the highlands. Why are people so interested in these items if they are art but not otherwise? Is the Black Madonna a work of art or an object of personal devotion? This is the Word made Wax.