pilgrimage

want to talk about a quickie? how about packing up to go to toronto for 12 hours. all summer i’d been scheming to see a show called “universally local” put on by the institute without boundaries (of bruce mau fame.) with no car and little money, going from michigan, as close and convenient as it would be, just wasn’t working. no matter how hard i tried. but, being back in baltimore with a newfound (and much needed) sense of liberation and my days of summer quickly ticking away, i knew if i didn’t go i would seriously regret it. i needed to do something crazy. and i needed to see if the school i had been gaga about since massive change really was all it’s cracked up to be. (because sometimes there’s a major discrepancy between website and actuality. cough, cough. parsons, paris.)

of course, with my luck, i show up to find that the exhibition i stuck out a four hour bus ride to new york and 10 hour bus ride from there to toronto just to see was in the process of being taken down. talk about epic fail. but i can’t think of anything better happening. this bump in the road meant that i got to have a copy of the big ol' exhibition book (for free), take a tour of the studio (and see it in action), and meet with the program coordinator. none of which would have happened if i had just been able to walk in, see the show, and walk out as planned.

as my day went on, it hit me more and more what an unintentional pilgrimage the trip had become. something about going on my own, and having to work a little bit to get there (the lady sitting next to me on the mega bus seriously smelled.) wandering around toronto, i spotted a familiar sign from across the street and a block away. bruce mau design. i impatiently waited for a lull in the traffic to cross over and follow the arrow. seeing it gave me the same exact feeling as seeing ellen lupton for the first time in café doris. flustered. i didn’t even have to see bruce mau himself. all it took was a sign with his name on it.

while i'm still processing all of the information thrown at me during the day about the institute and their projects, on an emotional level I have it all figured out. that program (or something like it) in that city (or someplace like it) is a definite need to do sometime in my life. it might not happen next year, it still feels strangely too soon, but it’s a piece i’ll keep anxiously in my back pocket to put in play when the time is right…