Zibia, Jonas, and Stephanie

On the Road to Abu Dhabi Art Fair, 23rd November, 2013



In addition to this, I am also comfortable sharing the following item(s):

[ ] The city of residence of the recipient of this letter/phone call
[ ] The recorded audio of my 5 minutes of questions
[ ] Incidental recorded audio (conversations had, questions asked, enthusiasm expressed outside of the official 5 minutes
[] The transcribed text of my 5 minutes of questions
[X] Complete and utter faith in the artist

Furthermore, I would like to add:

All is fine

Artist's note; Zibia, Jonas, and Stephanie all had their contracts signed by their legal guardians





00:00:00-0

noise; now and for all of the track (we're in the back of a car—or more specifically, I'm in the backseat and the three kids are in the trunk). As such, this recording is more approximate than the others. Mo is the mother of Zibia and Jonas, and Stephanie is their friend.

Mo: So they can ask questions, and they can be recorded, and—you can talk to them.

Yannick: Great.

Mo: I'm sure Stephanie // will//

Stephanie: //We're not shy at all//

Mo: Stephanie will have a lot of good things to say.

Yannick: Great. Um .. well, first of all, I'm-I'm talking about missing in my piece, but what do you guys think 'Missing' means? Like if I say "I miss you," what's another way of saying that? What am I actually saying?

Stephanie: Longing. I don't know. Your existence is kind of (incomprehensible) /

Jonas: /Today—a few days ago/

Stephanie: / is kind of empty

Zibia: Really, um, ..

Jonas: Well in our French class there's this poster, and it says—um, in French you don't really say "You are missing—Uh—I miss you," but um, "you are missing from me," like, "tu me .. like n—" I don't know how to say it. But, so I feel like it's .. almost like—'cause you had something, and then, you kind of lost it. So I guess it's more of a feeling of like/

Zibia: /Loss/

Jonas: /something not being there, than, you—and than it still being there and you not being able to feel it.

Yannick: And what do you guys miss?
00:01:14-7
Zibia: New York

Jonas: //New York//

Stephanie: //Home//

Stephanie: Friends

Zibia: Yeah.

Yannick: What does that feel like? Like—what, sorry?

Zibia: It's kind of like a thing in your stomach. And it's hard to ignore, 'cause it's always there .. until you've found the thing that you're missing. And um, it's gone away, because I've been here for a while now, but it's still there, it's always there. It's surprising what you miss—you miss the sound of a cupboard—cabinet door slamming, or um, footsteps, or the sound of snow crunching—because we don't get snow here (laughing).

Jonas: Oh lord, what—oh—okay. Truck. (laugh)

Yannick: And uh—why do you think you miss these things?

Zibia: 'cause like you've built a relationship with them.

Jonas: Or use to have —//it's our normal//

Zibia: //We're used to this// I don't like changes. I like (laughing) just being in one place, and /

Jonas: /Yeah transitions/

Zibia: /and everything being normal./ Like even in books, like, "oh my god don't OPEN THE CELLAR DOOR! DON'T DO IT!" and then of course they do. And them I'm like, "no. I miss .. when it was normal."
00:02:27-6
Yannick: But don't you think the book couldn't go on, if they never opened the cellar door?

Zibia: That's—no well, it would be a little bit boring. That's true. That's true, it would be a little bit boring. But-but still would be happy. It would be a happy book. yeah.

Jonas: Yeah, I feel like a book without conflict is .. //a little bit//

Zibia: //Not a book//

Jonas: Yeah

Zibia: It's a really boring book (laughing)

Jonas: It's a-a .. encyclopedia. It's like .. 'cause there's nothing to .. like, it's just boring.

Stephanie: Like if you don't experience change in your life then like, you don't really have an interesting life. (laugh) at all. Like it's really boring because you don't experience anything that like, if you didn't move around the world, or something, like—or experience any kind of change, then your life wouldn't be very interesting.
00:03:26-5

Yannick: So do you think it's necessary to miss things?

Stephanie, Jonas, and Zibia: Yeah

Yannick: Why?

Zibia: It's part of life.

Zibia: 'Cause "miss" comes with a lot of things. If you have, like, a word—let's say missing is right here. And we circle it. Branching out from missing is, change. And then missing's other cousin is like, heartbreak, or something like that I don't really know. But .. still, if you don't have any of that, then when it—obvious—you can't have a life without change, it would just not (inhale) the world —God is like—no, that can't happen. That just—/

Jonas: /It just doesn't happen.

Zibia: So I think, when it does, when—maybe you've not have a change-had a change in a really long time. Then it will come and it will be like an earthquake. So it's necessary to have changes every once and a while. Even small things like, a new lunch-lady at your school, or—I don't know, a new house, for Stephanie (inhale) change is … it's just part of it.
00:04:32-3
Jonas: I feel like-like people say "oh experience is-is—experience is a tough teacher, it gives the test before the lesson." But I feel like change is kind of like, your study guide, almost/

Stephanie or Zibia: / (whispered) study guide/

Jonas: it kind of preps you for .. stuff like that. It like, it makes your skin a little harder I guess. Gives you a little shell.

Zibia: Cape Cod Feet! Sorry, it's an inside joke.

Yannick: What does that mean?

Zibia: I have a summer house in Cape Cod, and we always go there and it's kind of rocky, and there's things there where you can kind of ../

Zibia and Jonas [in perfect unison]: /—your feet get calloused/es

Yannick: Aaaooh I see.

Zibia: So, having Cape Cod is like .. a little bit of .. //yeah//

Yannick: //the town I grew up in// no one ever wore shoes. And one time, my friend Gorby stepped on a nail [ (inhale) oh!] and it went in his foot, and then he pulled it out, and it didn't break through the callous [car honks]

Zibia, Jonas, and Stephanie [one at a time]: Oh my god.

Yannick: He went to the wedding barefoot, actually. It was all—everyone was always barefoot. Um .. so when you do miss someone, what do you do? How do you cope with it?
00:05:41-3
Zibia: Cry

Jonas: Cry

Zibia: A lot of crying

Jonas: Or you just push it back. But I feel like //for at least//

Zibia: //that's not worth it//

Jonas: When I push it back, then like one little thing will happen at school, and then like //a bunch-a bunch//

Zibia: //and then it will make it bigger!//

Jonas: It will become just like a huge drama. So I feel like if you let something out when it is there, then it's a lot easier than keeping it in.

Yannick: I think that's just—it's just something that you have to let out and go through?

Jonas: Yeah

Zibia: You just have to deal with it kinda. I mean I don't know, it depends on what time-frame it's in. I mean a while ago, you probably couldn't email the person that you're missing. Mean now I email with my friend in New York. So it's not like I'm .. dead, to the world (laugh), I'm still here, and I still do communicate with them. But I don't get to see them. Missing is linked to tangible. You have to be able to .. touch it, it has to be there (laugh). So, I can't see them, I can't talk to them, eye-to-eye.

Stephanie: That's the worse part/

Zibia:/which is the worst part. Not being able to .. have the reassurance that you have—like maybe your friend is really funny. (laugh) And like, they know exactly what to do when you're upset. Then you'll miss that.

Jonas: And missing also I feel like—maybe I'll hear a sound, or I'll breathe in really sharply like cold air, and that will remind me, and I feel like reminders can make you feel it, too. And it's very sudden—like, I'll just be hanging out with my friend here, in Abu Dhabi, and I'll just be having a nice time, but then like they'll say something, or I'll hear something, from somebody else, and I'll—I'll be reminded of something, and the whole experience gets morphed a little bit.
00:07:35-4
Yannick: Hm. And when you're—when you go, back to visit, in New York, do you miss your friends here?

Stephanie: huh?

Jonas: Yes

Zibia: Yeah

Jonas: So over there—you can't not miss, because there's always gonna be a thing you miss. Like, home—even when you're—when I'm home, some—when I was living in New York, still, I would go to the deli sometimes, and I would —after I ate it, I would miss the food that I got. You know like—it's not even .. like it's not even big things, you're always missing something.
00:08:15-1
Yannick: So, if I told you guys that you could write a letter right now, to anyone in the world, and I'd send it, and I'd take care of everything—I'd take it to the post office, all you'd have to do is write it down, and write down the address—who'd you send it to?
00:08:32-7
Jonas: My friend Diana. She's my best friend.

Yannick: And where's she?

Jonas: Uh, I've known her since—well she's gone to my school since before I have, but we've been friends basically since second grade, and I'm in 7th grade now so that's about 5 years. And we tell each other everything, like .. best friends.

Yannick: Great. And you?
00:08:56-3
Zibia: Lisa's grave. I mean she's dead, but I'd still give it to her. Lisa was my preschool teacher. And, she died when I was in Pre-school. One day she was out with a cold, and then she was dead. (inhale) (exhales) And, I—she was my first teacher, so I really liked her. She's been gone for a while, but she was like my first friend who was—I wasn't exactly the popular type in pre-school (laugh). So, I'd probably send it to Lisa.
00:09:34-5
Yannick: And you?

Stephanie: Um, I think that I would send it to, um, to my brother Zach. He's thirty-seven, and he—like anytime I talk to him he always has an answer, and he's always like talkative, and like my two other brothers they aren't like talkative and they don't like, listen very much. But he always listens and he's the middle child like me, so it's like, really—we like, talk about things and even though he's way older than me, he still like listens to me. And like, we barely ever get to talk to him so—/

Jonas: / yeah, because he's so much older.

Yannick: Well, as it so happens, I actually do have a bunch of stuff for letters. So if any of you guys want to write one, I can send it for you.

Jonas: Okay

Zibia: Mom can you turn on the air conditioning? //We're sweating like dogs.//

Mo: //Yeah, I didn't want to effect the sound// I didn't know if you were gonna use the sound.
00:10:42-6
[NOISE]
00:10:45-1
Mo: —feel different, to me to miss a person, versus a place. And if so, how is it different? Yes, Stephanie.

Stephanie: Um, I think that it's probably different, because like, a place doesn't really have like feelings, .. and a person has feelings. (inhale)

/Zibia: (getting paper and pen) Perfect, thank you/

Stephanie: And so um, like it's hard to —I think it's easier to miss a person, than it is a place, because a person you might know longer—but even a place like they have the people in it. So it's like .. it's hard to explain like because you miss like a place and maybe like the fresh air, and the rain, or the weather. And then you can miss like, a person, like their face and, like the way that they talk, and like, the way that they're nice to you—but it's all like different. So it—they're basically two different ways of like missing things.

Yannick: Hm … Do you-do you think it feels different for you? Or/

Zibia: I think missing a place is more like sounds .. that there are, in places. And, missing a person is more like the feelings that they'll give you. Like, will they make you happy, will they make you sad, will the make me laugh, or .. don't know. I think it's like that. Jonas?

Jonas: Oh—um, I think that, um .. I agree with my sister. I think that missing a place has to do with the sounds like I think it's more oral [sic? or aural?]. 'Cause that's—I'll be reminded of New York City when I breathe in quickly or something like that, you know feel cold air, something like that. But, when—if like I'll hear a joke or something that reminds me of a friend ..

[Mo on the phone]

Yannick: Do you guys—when you think of missing a place or a city, do you think the place misses you?

Zibia: Yeah.

Jonas: I guess.

Zibia: yeah.

Stephanie: Yeah.

Yannick: Do you think Abu Dhabi misses you when you're gone?

(laughing)

Zibia: No

Jonas: No.

Zibia: Abu Dhabi //doesn't like us//

Yannick: // Why is that?//

Zibia: Because .. (tsk) Abu Dhabi is quite different from New York. New York is/

Jonas: /with places feelings are mutual. // (whispered) sorry

Zibia / New York is um, (tsk) more crazy, artistic, kind of weird, like there are homeless people on the streets, you just have to avoid—here you have nothing like that. (inhale) Um, there aren't spas, it's um .. it's been around—New York has been around for a long time. So the streets are a lot more .. I don't know, experienced and older, I guess. And it just feels different, being there. It's more um, I don't know it's quite different, there some—there's such a mix of different people. That I've (laugh) it's just crazy, walk around there are Indians .. K—Canadians, there's .. Australians, Europeans, Abu Dhabians even. (inhale) Um, especially in NYU there are a few Abu Dhabians there (laugh)/ (inhale) um, but it's .. it's just very different, whereas here it's more reserved, kind of. And they have .. few facilities, they don't have everything developed yet, they're still kind of building everything up. To make it into a city. Oh and it's man-made here. It's not a natural .. place.

Stephanie: No city is natural.

Jonas: Well, but it get's a culture.
00:14:40-0
Zibia: No—well New York is not—here they just a bunch of sand and they made .. the Corniche, whereas in New York they don't have that it's just .. good old rock and land and ..

Yannick: Cement.

Zibia: Cement (laughing) yeah. Cement. Uh .. I don't know. Abu Dhabi .. is not .. for me. "cause I'm from New York

Yannick (laugh)

Zibia: And when you're from New York, you just kind of adapt to the New York lifestyle. And you don't want to adapt to the Abu Dhabi lifestyle. No matter how many times you visit (laugh).

Jonas: I feel like, um, if you like a place, a place likes you. Like, it's different with people, like the feeling has to be, has to go both ways. But with a place they're like pretty easy going. I guess. They just .. are. So if .. you like a place, then it most likely likes you. But if you don't then it's kind of just there. .. 'Cause there's something, like something sitting in space, but then there's something that's just like is there-/

Zibia: -/ohmp God mom—//going crazy in your driving//

Jonas: Oh gosh oh—really? Emirati driving style.

Zibia: Ow. My neck.

Yannick: Hm. Well great. Is there anything you want to add or say on the subject? Or do you need to get to writing your letters?

Zibia: Well-/

Jonas: /-I want to get to my letter/

Stephanie: I have a question—are you actually gonna mail it? Or ..

Yannick: Yeah.

Stephanie: Oh! Oh. Okay (laughing)

Zibia: Do you have a like hard surface?

Jonas: Yeah.

Yannick: I do.
00:16:20-5
Zibia:Great thank you.

Yannick: And I've got another one, one of you can use, uh, and then I guess you could write on this, //but I think you'd be better off//

Jonas: //It's alright I can wait when I get inside.//

Mo: Are you sure? You want to write it in here? do you wanna-/

Jonas: /No, it's really hot in here.

Yannick: (laugh)

Mo: really hot—well why don't you guys/

Jonas: /The air conditioning

[…]

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