Waste Land - A Movie Night You Won't Soon Forget

Yeah, I still use Netflix, and I'm glad I do because of the little section called "Local Favorites for Venice, California". My fellow Venetians never let me down, and one I saw there that somehow escaped me when it was in theaters was the stupendous documentary, Waste Land. I actually don't even really want you to finish reading this, just go watch it right now.


Or read a little more, up to you. It's a story (directed movingly by Lucy Walker) about how Brazilian born fine artist, Vik Muniz, (what a cool guy) decides to do a new project about the Catadores (garbage pickers) of the biggest landfill (Jardin Gramacho) in the world, just outside Rio de Janeiro. Having previously found success with a series of portraits of sugar workers' children in St. Kitts (done in sugar), he wanted to do another social justice project in his own homeland.

He travels to the landfill and meets a series of characters among the catadores who he (and we) gets to know and care about as he chooses the people he is going to do portraits of - out of the very garbage they are picking through. Jardin Gramacho is the sketchiest place alive, it seems, with filth for miles and miles. It is not uncommon for the workers to come across horror shows like dead babies among the trash, while they are looking for the recyclable materials that earn them their livings among the mountains of debris. It is an atrocious life, and makes you instantly beyond grateful for ANY work you're doing ... and yet somehow they can all smile, have fun, and make the best of it, every day, for years.

I cried the entire way through, from the sheer volume of disgusting waste (both garbage and lives) that we humans toss away without a care, to the hard HARD existences these dear people toil away through. The PRIDE they have in their work! Recycling - helping the future of our world! - to the sheer triumphant joy of these subjects seeing themselves in a new - and unbelievably beautiful - light. That they MATTER. That they not only posed, but placed the garbage along the lines of their faces themselves. That there is something else, an entire other world/s out there for them beyond the favelas, to dream about, to strive for, and to celebrate.


Life is so precious, and so luck of the draw, man. Like any one of us could have been born into a drastically different scenario, and that's that, for life. Or is it? I took so much away from this magnificent documentary, (and I've been talking about it non-stop, my friends can attest) but above all the different sociological aspects of it all that we could yammer on for days about, was just an overwhelming feeling of intense and sincere gratitude. Which we can all use more of, every single minute of our lucky lives.

Please watch Waste Land ... but better yet, FEEL it.

Earth Sounds - Literally!

Damian Wagner and his darling wife, Anne Greene Wagner, returned to live in Venice with their son, Luke (Skywalker), after a while on the East Coast. Only upon their relocation have I had the privilege of getting to know them better ... and the more I know, the more I am intrigued.

After chats at various social functions, where I kept finding out more and more cool things about them, I went over to their house last weekend to listen to the Earth Sounds Damian had recorded for a museum project in Brazil. And when I say "Earth Sounds", I mean - literally - the sounds made a mile deep in a hole reaching for the Earth's core. Sounds that must be heard to be believed.

The American artist, Doug Aitken, approached Damian about helping him with an art installation for the Instituto Cultural Inhotim (pronounced "In-Yoo-Cheem") in Brumadinho, Brazil. An installation that had never done before. Aitken's vision was to bore a hole a mile deep in the ground on the campus of the AMAZING Contemporary Art and Environmental Studies Center (that I'd never heard of until Damian told me about it), to record the sounds made in Inner Earth. Then build a "Sound Pavilion" (2009) to blast the sounds while visitors looked out at the 360 view of the natural landscape.

After a ton of research and experimentation, the exhibit is open in Brazil, and is currently blowing peoples' minds. It blew mine the other night in Damian's home studio, where he and Anne had us over to take a listen. You've really never heard anything like it. Damian said that some people were bursting into tears inside the Pavilion, as the sounds are so incredibly visceral, you really don't know how it will affect everyone. For that reason, Damian even had to consult with Doctors about the noises, "since we didn't want to kill people, or give them heart attacks." My bigger fear once I donned the headphones Damian handed me, was that I could go crazy. It's like you'd think Outer Space would sound like, but Inner Space. A deep humming, with occasional explosion sounds (magma?) and throbbing, otherworldly swells and pauses. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine looking out the glass windows at the Brazilian greenery while these sounds blasted out of hidden speakers, but don't think I did it justice. This place in on my MUST SEE List in life now, to be sure.

They had a lot of trial and error while building the Pavilion and digging the hole. The three microphones (or "Accelerometers") had to be encased in crystals (natural) and put in PVC pipes, then covered in sand, then loose gravel and rock, which would secure it down deep to pick up the Earth's vibrations, and then the vibrations are converted to sound. They had to install a water pump so if the hole filled up with rain, the whole thing wouldn't be ruined. They had to put limiters on the mics so the explosions (or whatever they are?) wouldn't blow up the speakers, since they blew up 4 different giant sub-woofers while experimenting. As Damian said, "I'd never experienced sounds like this before, there was no definition, and normal sound scales (EQ) did not apply. It's the Earth, Man."

They had a big disappointment when they originally tested the whole works, as they cranked up the sound and nothing happened. NO!!! But then Damian put his hand near the speakers and the vibrations coming off it you could practically grab onto, so they knew they had something and just had to harness the sound. Hence all the sand packing, etc ... and they finally got it to work and not only work, but STUN. Much like if you've ever seen lava flowing, or felt an Earthquake, listening to these sounds make you feel both connected to and dwarfed by the infinite possibilities of our Planet (and the Universe itself).
Damian is also a visual artist, of massive brightly colored sculptures and paintings alike, and you can look for a show of his new works very soon. Oh, and he's from Minnesota, so that makes him extra cool. His Dad ran one of the biggest mines in South America, so rocks, gems and crystals abound at his house, and probably gave him some insight as to how to approach the Earth hole digging. He creates it all in his back studio, where he also has his sound equipment. He and Anne (she is a singer and a writer, and comes from Baltimore, Hon!) recorded an album of songs together (D And A) that sound extra-modern and classic all at once. This is one creative family, as Luke's art projects and imagination already show the influence of his inspiring parents.

It just goes to show, how you can be just casually talking over cocktails on any given Venice night, and wind up learning about the most interesting stuff you've ever heard. Literally.

Thanks to the Wagners, for a scintillating evening of learning, awe and wonder!