i have recovered from the lost luggage drama and all is well at the Florence Biennale.

did i tell you that the apartment is on the fifth floor of a 6 story apartment building built over 1600 years ago and we look down on the piazza Duomo; the cathedral walls are right across from our windows. the walls act as an echo chamber and we hear all the people below. there seems to be a constant flow of people below at all hours of the day and night.

the woman next to me at the Florence Biennale is from France. she speaks very little English and i no French at all, but we managed to communicate very well, especially about art. i love her art, she is like a sage, a storyteller, a communicator of myths. i told her that looking at her art influenced me deeply. you can look her up at plaindoux-peintre.net. i don’t know how her art will show up on the website versus her original pieces.

another artist here that has become a life long friend is from Canada, an Irish woman named Danielle, you can also look up here work at www.danielleoconnorakiyama.com. she shows her work mostly in New York and in London and has given me lots of tips about showing internationally.

yesterday i had to get away from the Florence bustle and the ambulance clinic right across from the other side of the cathedral so we went to a small village outside of Florence named San Gimignano. i was in awe from the very first step i took into this medieval city, which was built in the 3rd century. the main road was the road from Rome to France, and the city all built around this road. the creative instinct set in and every where i looked was a photograph. there are 3 large towers left, at one time there were over 80 towers in this village. i climbed to the top of one of the towers, and the view of Tuscany was breathtaking. i will have many images to share with you. i did not want to leave!

yesterday at the Florence Biennale there was a tribute to Japanese film making, the day before was a tribute to the arts in India, a lecture and slide show of current works going on. a woman who is participating in the show made films of herself creating her work, very expressive and a new form of art, i cant even describe what she did as i have never seen anything like it. today an award will be given to an artist from Yugoslavia who is quite daring with her art forms and brings knowledge to people about the poor condition in which many people live.

the show's main focus is to bring international knowledge of the arts. as the director said at the opening ceremony "may there be only one language spoken here today, the language of art". i know i am skipping around in my communication to you, bear in mind i am exhausted from the time change, and hobbling around on a sprained foot, but can't seem to stop, as there is so much to see! more later, i hear it is cold where you are! later.

caio caio ....kim