We are truly in the middle of nowhere, I don't know how they expect hundreds of people to show up, but this is China and one never knows what to expect. The people have been amazing, from Yan and her assistants, to the sweet young Mongolian men recruited to help set up the exhibition, to the truly friendly photographers, one of whom is from Portland and owns the bluesky gallery--Christopher Rauschenberg, maybe Ryan has hear of him?
We almost died yesterday from incredulity when they took us over sand dunes in an army jeep to the Desert Art Palace, the giant yurt, and discovered that it has an open sand floor and no heat!!! This is where they are exhbiting hundreds of photos from artists from mostly China and the US! With frozen fingers we tried to mount and frame all our photos, with help from sweet guys who had no clue what they were supposed to be doing and didn't of course understand English. This is where people skills and virtues like kindness and patience are totally helpful, ha ha. For five hours I shivered from the frigid temps, my water bottle even froze!!! They say that they will be turning on the heat for the big opening night, but they tried the heat earlier and it caused so much condensation that it actually rained down into the great hall! I don't know how they are going to resolve that problem, but there were a ton of large vehicles and workmen out there yesterday. Good luck to all of us, cuz we are going to need it! At least our work is insured.
I am cold, cold, cold. Our warm Colorado winter has done me no favors in this department!
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