“I’m really glad that Performance Mix #34: Remotely Yours turned out to be so productive for me. I was able to wrap my head around the ideas that were all circling in my head.”
–Annie Heath
Karen Bernard’s “Ouette” is brought back to life for the Santa Cruz Fringe Festival!
For tickets and information go to: santacruzfringefestival.com.
The oppressive heat has given way to a cool soft breeze as I prepare the transition to leave Lendava and D’clinic. I will miss my days of having morning coffee outside the theater, working, taking a hike up to Lovska Dom for a hearty lunch and then back to work.
I have created a video that gives a bird’s eye view from my room to where the performance takes place. A voyeuristic tour from the outside to the inside.

Suspending Black Lace Panties
I got to present the work twice to resident artists and a group of high school students. The feedback was mixed – from “powerful” to “grateful” and questions about the source of my inspiration to a philosophical discussion on mortality. One artist thought the work was so personal that it couldn’t engage an audience, another artist had nothing to say and a third artist looked at the floor the entire time. Yikes… I have a lot to think about as I head to Budapest, and then home.
The days are beginning to melt into each other as I accept residency challenges and adapt. I opted not to climb for 30 minutes up the hills to the idyllic vineyards and artist housing. Instead, I am staying across the street from D’clinic at the hostel, which is situated near a huge ornate, modern theater. On a nice day I can sit outside, have my morning coffee, and strategize my day. The hostel is also near the synagogue, which is a reminder that 360 Jews were sent from here to Auschwitz in 1944. There are no Jews living in Lendava.
The hostel has two offices and a dance studio (believe it or not) on the ground floor; the one room on the second floor is mine. During the day I work at the hostel and at night, when the other resident artists head to their house, I work by candlelight at the D’clinic studio. A few passersby stop to watch.

Lendava
Lendava is a very quiet place – it took me one week to find a restaurant open in the evening – and it is a good walking distance to counter a big dinner of local cuisine – did I say cuisine – mmmmmmmmm I have slowed down and the sun is out and Lendava is full of surprises. Now that two artists have left I am the new kid on the block and have my own space in the front gallery. In a residency it is hard to anticipate how things will go, as I delve further into “Suspending and Other Tricks” – or you might say tripping and falling. I have given in to two challenges, first, a problem editing video and sound on my new laptop – answer: that corny song will not be made “cool” – I’m giving in to corny; and second, artists working in the next studio – I have accepted three weeks of voyeurism, mine and theirs. Read more