Back on The Kandinsky. I have a gig booked in for tonight in the city, and then the next morning we are off. I swear I will live up to my promise of exploring Lozowick before we go. But today the Butter Mouse and I are chilling in our cabin, watching television. The world outside is too much today. I am sure Lisa would not be happy with this decision.
Why should people watch television in Nadada? There is not much reason to spend your time viewing fiction. With enough effort you can create anything you want. have discovered why on a chunky 17 incher that left China ten years ago. This is the model they give you on The Kandinsky until you know how to create your own.
Three channels have the fuzzy visuals and poor sets of public access shows. I nearly turned the show off when I saw the picture and audio quality. But keep watching and they will suck you in.
The shows fall into two rough categories. Firstly there are home made documentaries, where the residents of Nadada push the physics of this world to the limits. Take Time’s Up! for example. Otto and Hannah Jackson are a brother and sister duo who moved to Nadada from South Dakota. In a land of artists, they spend their time performing and recording stunts that play with scientific rules.
In the episode I watched, Otto jumped off a two hundred foot cliff, and released his parachute with a foot to go. After landing, he dusted himself down, and showed the camera that his only injury was a scrape on the knuckles of his right hand.
His comment when asked how the drop went?
"Man, it felt like a week to open that chute. "
After the adverts, Hannah began a water pistol fight. The arches of water never hit their target. Instead the liquid remained fluid enough to put your hand through, but caught in the air, reflecting the sunlight into frozen rainbows. The battleground filled with living statues of lines and colour, and Hannah explained how war was now irrelevant.
Other shows use television as a way to expand and advertise their creations. Take Theo’s House. Theo shoots all of his programmes in a warehouse of the kind found in any British industrial estate. But the ceilings stretch to a rooftop high into the sky, and the walls go further than the camera can show. Theo explains all of this in great detail, and I watched until my brain hurt.
Theo grew up in Nadada. He can move left, right, up and down without hinderance. Any materials he needs are available within seconds. Over time he created a huge mural on one of the wall, which runs for literal miles. Sometimes he builds cityscapes, other days a garden. He takes suggestions from his audience, no matter how wacky they might be, and there is panel after panel of monsters and fairytale creatures.
This is impressive enough. But Theo does not create pretty pictures. He lets them cultivate like flowers in a garden. With every day that passes, the pictures wake up.
On the furthest parts of Theo’s wall are streets that you can walk down, even if you can still smell the paint, and not enter the buildings. Further on you can step forwards, and end up on top a mountain, even if the air isn’t thin and cold. Pastel jaguars roam watercolour jungles..
Think about the requests. Although the unicorns do not actually exist, you can touch their horns, or stroke their manes. You can stare into the eyes of Medusa, and ignore the flames of a dragon. Theo delights in his creations, and invites his audience to keep watching, and submit insane ideas that will come to life in his warehouse.
Not that I get to touch anything of course. I am watching television with my mouse puppet.
Tonight’s viewing has been fun, and has made me realise how important it is I get out and explore Nadada. At the very least this will prove good for material. I thought Lozowick was impressive, but the truly remarkable areas of this place are still to come.
I have Lisa’s number. We will explore this city.
Photo by Lewis Moorcroft