When I started this blog it was with the intention to remove myself somewhat out of the picture and not write about my personal life. I wanted to work with the blog and writing as a medium for processing what I’ve learned about politics and social conditions of the place I am, to understand better through writing to some idea of a public, however exclusive and elusive that may be. I especially wanted to get better at analysing the stuff; not just begin to realize some of the causes and effects of globalization and international relations, but to be able to pass on that knowledge and apply it elsewhere. So my excuse for not writing has been an itching feeling of being slightly too dumb for my mission. Anyway I’ll try do do better, and in time, there’ll me more pictures, too, to brighten up the view (I didn’t bring my digital camera on this little field trip, unfortunately). I’ve spent a good part of my previous months reevaluating my position in relation to the art world, and taking a critical look on the way my education (in art school) has shaped my way of thinking and acting. And I’ve thought a good deal about the future further away than just in front of my nose.

Since I left my home in Denmark I’ve been confronted with a social reality which I sought and hoped to be able to incorporate into my artistic practice. In order to do this, I tried to emerge myself completely into understanding the culture, history, politics and contemporary life of where I was. To begin with that was Guatemala, later Buenos Aires, Argentina, and although I’ve met a bunch of local artists and activists I’ve had very little contact with the contemporary art world (not to say, you know: as little as possible).

Well, it’s safe to say I’ve been having new perspectives on a bunch of stuff, not least about talking about politics from within a contemporary art context. I’m very critical (if not articulate) about how contemporary art continues to circulate; not least how politically engaging artwork is almost always self-deceiving in its ability to counter- and interact effectively with politics. I felt like I was trying to talk about politics, while I was really producing entertainment for the culturally educated. Some years ago I decided that my motivation to work with art was a motivation to work with politics, but the actual work I was doing was getting further and further away from this. My choice to go to Latin America and spend a year here was conscious about that, but I sure wasn’t prepared for the ride! So right now I’m trying to figure out my direction and what consequences to take.

… to be continued.

For those few people who are reading this blog, my apologies for not writing for a while. I’ve been mainly reading a lot and doing a lot of pondering, and then recently I’ve been travelling in the north.

In the capital, when not trying to simply survive on a bike in downtown traffic, I’ve been trying to gather my thoughts on why I’m here, and where that indeed is. I’ve been evaluating my purpose for being in Argentina, and on a broader scale, in Latin America. The past two weeks I’ve been on the road with my backpack, it’s been just what I needed to free up some brain space. I’ve travelled to the northern Túcuman, Salta and Jujuy provinces, kind of on a whim, and ended up in the most beautiful landscapes and small villages. I’ve mostly managed to avoid tourist areas (although I have to admit I purchased a llama sweater, a trendy indigenous shoulder bag, and a wollen hat), staying in small villages with no or few other travellers. As a result my Spanish has improved a lot and I’ve had great little conversations with locals, and though my vocabulary still sucks, my grammar serves me well (I’m even throwing in a bit of subjunctive and grammatical future along the way) and I’ve had few communication problems. Here in the north people are also a great deal more down to earth. They’re generally also very religious, roman catholicism is a big thing here, and without giving myself away as a non-believer I’ve slided in and out of religious events. One memorable one was waking up to the chanting of a local pilgrimage – which may or may not have coincided with the Día de los Muertos celebrations elsewhere – in San Carlos, one of the oldest colonial towns in Argentina. While I certainly stood a bit out from the crowd being the only blond (white, pale etc…) person in the crowd, people didn’t seem mind much my tagging along. It is posible that my sleepy, curious look was mistaken for devotion.. The crowd must’ve counted half the town, and followed a rose-covered statue of the local saint (I’m sorry I didn’t catch his name), carried on the four strongest backs among the villagers, and a blaring brass loudspeaker barrow blessing the procession, the town, the lady madonna, and a lot more. I’m not strong in religion, another thing I want to work on, but I’m definitely charmed by the religious pictorial overload of porcelain icons, rosaries, plastic madonnas and jesuses that come out in the dead of night on a night as this one. It was a strange, beautiful night.

The heavy old camera I brought has proven to have a defect light meter, so I haven’t been able to do the work I wanted to here, but on the positive side it may have brought me a bit closer to the people that I’ve been just me.

I’m about to change subject a bit, so I’ll move the next bit to a new post above.

I’ve settled on creating this new blog for writing and occasionally posting a photo or something like that. I wanted to continue and develop my writing, whereas my other blog on thomaselsted.wordpress.com was becoming a confused mix between personal stuff, everyday life, photos and the type of writing I wanted to do about more external issues like social and political perspectives and history. So now that I’ve got two, the other one will be reserved for family stuff, and I’ll most likely post in Danish, whereas on this blog everything will be in English (my earlier writing was confusingly in part Danish, part English, part bilingual). Ironically, my installation here of my blogging tool, WordPress, happened to be in Danish, so that’s the reason for some odd spelling in the menus and stuff.

This blog is not related to the town in northern Mali from which it takes its name, but refers to that distant place far from where I am, which could be anywhere but right in front of my nose (until of course I reach Mali, by which time I guess I’ll have to come up with something new).

I am currently living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I hope to start posting more soon. Feel free to contact me on anything as long as you’re a real human being.