If last week saw a psychologist...

...it would be diagnosed bi-polar.



As some of you may recall I made a comment on Jan 13th about making decisions you may regret. At the time I was referring to renting a room in an apartment with some younger Germans as a studio. Well, I do not believe in regrets. All of the good decisions and bad decisions have gotten me here, and I hope to continue making both but they aren't always fun.

This past week things started to really fall apart at the studio building. An American friend of mine and I decided to contact the landlord ourselves and sign on to a new (month-to-month) lease for the apartment solidifying both of our studio spaces. Through this process we learned that the German tenants on the old lease had been pocketing the rent that we were paying, the landlord had not received the rent for February to begin our new lease (nor any of the last 4 months rent). Surprise. We were left with no option but to confront the squatting tenants. We asked them for proof of their bank statements and they strung together excuses for a few days but by Wednesday it was clear they had not paid and we had to threaten them to pay up or GET OUT. After agreeing to pay up they snuck out in the middle of the night and we were left to clean up their aftermath. Now we are cleaning up the apartment to court a new roommate and trying to negotiate with the landlord about the missing rent and the 3 months rent standard deposit!!! If it all works out I'll have a separate studio all my own in Berlin, if not, well, more to come...

S and I are also trying to apply for a Creative Capital grant for an upcoming collaborative project, requiring us to come up with a project time-line for the next two years. In the mean time we still were waiting to attend our 4th visa appointment to find out if we could even stay in the country after next week when our 3 month visitation period ends.



A brief history of the our visa application in Berlin, first, we wait in line for 3 hours only to be turned away inside (too many applicants that day), second, we apply as students after waiting for 5 hours (sit in waiting room, go down hall to assigned door when # called), third, we bring papers to prove our student status which were unsatisfactory and realize that we should have applied as artists requiring a new meeting, fourth, we bring copies of our BA and MFA diplomas to prove our status as professionally trained artists. Something clicked for us in the bureaucracy the fourth time. We received an officer that spoke English, they reviewed our file, asked for our documents and said 'OK'. We were granted our visas to do freelance work as artists in Berlin. I am not exactly sure what the scope of that definition is but if I tried hard enough I could do almost anything freelance as an artist. Politician, CEO, Revolutionary, Artist, you name it. It took us a while to come to this approach with the visa office because you would never walk into a visa office in the USA and ask for a visa as an artist and be taken with any credibility. You would inevitably be asked for other professional support, like a teaching position or photo journalist. As S said "an MFA degree is worth something after all, in Europe."



After we left the office I gave this ring to S, on a bridge over a canal, in Wedding. It is made out of concrete and steel, the materials buildings are made of.