April fools

To begin the month, we had the workshop with Kris Vleeschouwer. The week was based around involving interactivity within our own work and we were given several presentations by various other artists invited by Kris. I had meetings with Beate Engel and Navid Tschopp to discuss my project and the theme of interactivity, and played with the idea of painting over old vinyl discs to make them unrecognisable and place them on a wine bottle stand, so that it made an alternate way to select music without knowing what it is you’ll be playing, whilst involving the relationship between music and alcohol with the wine stand. At the end of the week we were to present our ideas, but not before this delicious picnic we had outside on the terrace at school!

In other news, the photos that my housemate Jasmine took for International Women’s Day were displayed in Bolivia! Here they are being put up. My portrait is top left.

More Crans Montana

Class update

I’ve been attending an InDesign class every Thursday morning for the past month or so, specifically catered for us two english folk, as the normal class is taught in French. We’ve mainly been learning about how to begin layouts for books, adding images, creating the correct guidelines, using all the tools (and learning a bit of french as we go along). Last lesson we finished making the leaflet about our chosen artist, which we have now printed as a template and must cut out.

In french class we’ve been given exercise books to help us learn at home alongside duolingo, but in class so far we’ve mainly just been learning the terms for other countries and nationalities. I’m still on a very basic understanding

For our History and Theory of video lecture on Tuesday, we’ve been given an assignment to write an analytical piece on a video/film of our choice. I think it must be art related though, I doubt something like Shrek is permissible. I chose Mark Leckey’s ‘Dream English Kid 1964 - 1999 AD’ which i’d seen earlier this year at the Liverpool Biennial. For our other classes, we must also write a piece for Philosophy based on the relation between art and history, then in our contemporary art class and history art class we will eventually be taking tests in January i think, to test our knowledge.

references/info/helpful stuff

FOOD

we haven’t actually eaten out in sierre as it’s so expensive. like ‘sat down, wined and dined’ eaten out. we have been to the McDonalds, which is 7.20.- for a happy meal, and  anywhere between 11.- and 15.- for a normal medium meal depending what you get. a burger by itself can range between 5.- to 10.- too

Holy Cow is a good one. burger chips and a non-alcoholic drink for 14.90 (if you’re a student, when i bought i didn’t need to show my student card?? but its better to have on you just incase)

SHOPPING

Denner -  for poor people (us) . the Aldi/Lidl of Switzerland (there is also Aldi/Lidl in switzerland but this is much more common to come across) its where we get all of our groceries. bread, milk, all the necessities can generally be found for 1-2.-. some vegetables and fruit can be a little more. the cheapest eggs i find are 3.30- for a 15 pack i think. always have deals on, cheap cakes biscuits etc. alcohol too, i always buy a certain wine from there for 4.95.-. cheap shitty sandwiches are 2.95-

Migros - going up in the scale. think Morrisons/Asda/Tesco. only really go here if we can’t find it in Denner. they also have more wide variety of products like beauty products, electronics, depending on which store you go to. stationary too, and for example pins (for putting posters up) seem to be 1.90.- everywhere. sandwiches getting a little pricier here circling 5.-

Co-op - for rich people. more between british co-op and waitrose. we’ve been told this is where the freshest fruit and veg can be found, and in more variety. but at higher cost. i’m not a supermarket expert but i know a horrifyingly high price when i see one. rarely set foot in here, only if desperate. sandwiches can be up to 7.- or more. occasionally you could find a deal on that’s better than the other shops but that requires some good looking around.

Manor - i call it the swiss Debenhams (maybe a hint of M&S). make -up counters, variety of clothing ranges, their homeware selections is amazing (but pricey) and there is Manor food. they do a really tasty mozzarella, tomato and pesto bap thing for 4.30.-

SECOND HAND STORES

Sierre - Job Transit. this place is actually in Chippis which is just a 5-10 minute walk over the bridge from the Inn in Sierre. Mainly books, clothes, furniture, ornaments. never seen bikes/scooters

Sion - HIOB, Emmaüs

TRAINS / TRAVELLING

Half fare card. get this. you need it. 185.- but if you want to travel a lot, its worth the sacrifice

Free travel after 7pm card . i am just about to purchase. 129.- , buy it as soon as you arrive here, like i should’ve done. if you’re going for a lot of days out, just don’t go home til after 7. or make friends elsewhere/couch surf and go out after 7 then return after 7 the next day, all free. (i think this is only available if you hold a half fare card too)

Supersaver tickets this service is also handy, we didn’t discover it til quite far in. only downside is that you have to get the specific train that you’ve booked.