Category Archives: New Utopia

Today (5 May),Frieze New Yorkwillboldly openas planned, the first fair in the city to do so in more than a year.Over 60 internationalgalleries willoccupythebrand new location of The Shed in Hudson Yardsa glimmering sign that the city is inching back tonormalcy.

In pre-pandemic times, May was undoubtedly one of the busiest months on the New York calendar. Traditionally kicking off with the Met Gala and the concurrent opening of the Costume Institutes fashion exhibition (both of which will be held in September this year) and ending with the close of the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (now scheduled for November), this dynamic confluence of culture means the Frieze New York atmosphere will, no doubt, feel a little different.

With strict health and safety protocols in place, and a powerful social justice message that 50 galleries have chosen to participate in, this years edition promises to be like no other. Read our top tips for asafe, immersive,and memorable Frieze New York 2021, whether youre in thephysical or digital space:

Frieze Artist Award 2021 winnerPrecious Okoyomons Earthseed.Exhibition view at the Museum Fr Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, 2020. Courtesy of the artist, the Museum Fr Moderne Kunst, and Quinn Harrelson / Current Projects. Photography: Axel Schneider

Frieze New York 2021 is excitingly being staged at The Shed, leaving its Randalls Island venue for the first time since the fair launchedin 2012. Specifically designed to produce and foster innovation and creativity in all forms, the Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed space is one of the best-equipped venues in the Big Apple to meet the needs of a major event during these times.

The Shed boasts a modern ventilation system that has already been fitted with Merv-16 filtration, and ambient air turns over at least once every hour. Timed entry tickets, along with the requirement for proof of a negative PCR test within 72 hours before arrival, a rapid antigen test within 24 hours before arrival, or proof of vaccination, are part of amulti-tiered approach that aims to assure guests and exhibitors of health and safety. Wherever possible, a one-way traffic flow has been instituted and hand-sanitising stations have also been installed throughout the venue.

This is a time for creativity, flexibility and collaboration, all of which have led us to an exciting opportunity to hold a smaller fair at The Shed, alongside Frieze Viewing Room online that will connect galleries and audiences all over the world, says Victoria Siddall, Frieze Art Fairs global director.

Awol Erizku,Untitled (Forces of Nature #1), (2014), which featured on the cover of the Vision & Justice issue of Aperture magazine.Courtesy of Ben Brown Fine Arts and the artist.Public Art Fund, in partnership with The Cooper Union, will present a free virtual conversationbetween Awol Erizku and curator Daniel SPalmer on 10 May to accompany the artistsJCDecaux bus sheltersacross New York City and Chicago

One of the most significant cornerstones of this years fair is the tribute to the Vision & Justice Project, founded by Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, associate professor at Harvard University. The educational initiative is dedicated to expanding visual literacy and examining the role of art in understanding the relationship between race and citizenship in the United States.

At its heart are two new commissions by Carrie Mae Weems and Hank Willis Thomas, who have each created homages to the project. Weems work comprises monumental images of unique book covers for theartists and scholars originally involved in the Vision &Justice Project in 2016. Thomas, co-founder of artist activist platform For Freedoms, recreates his iconic Who Taught You To Love? (2020), from the groups billboard campaign, while, also realised with For Freedoms, artist Mel Chin reveals a new billboard in solidarity with the Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

Hank Willis Thomas x For Freedoms,Who Taught You to Love?(2020).Courtesy of For Freedoms and the artist

More than 50 participating galleries in the fair have pledged their support to the Vision & Justice Projects cause by having their programming respondto the question: How are the arts responsible for disrupting, complicating, or shifting narratives of visual representation in the public realm?

The question of how visual representation functions in a representational democracy to expand our understanding of who counts requires all of us, reflects Lewis. Sothis collective engagement with the mission of the Vision & Justice Project by [this number of] galleries at Frieze feels significant. It is also fitting, since the work of artists is central to the mission. In the end, the tribute raises fundamental questions about the new potential of art fairs for social engagement, and highlights the relationship of the private act of looking, even at an art fair, for the public work of justice.

JR,28 Millimtres, Women Are Heroes, Action in Favela Morro da Providencia, Maria de Fatima,day view, Rio de Janeiro, 2008. The piece is part ofGaleriaNara RoeslersSurpassing marginson Frieze Viewing Room, which pays tribute to the Vision & Justice Project

New York-based multidisciplinary artist Precious Okoyomon is the winner of this years Frieze Artist Award, which provides an opportunity to present an ambitious commission at the fair. Supported by the Luma Foundation, Okoyomon will present a performance-activated installation conceived specifically for The Shed. This work extends Okoyomons practice by bringing together poetry, sensory elements, sculpture, light and sound in a celebration of self-expression and the value of the collective shared experience. Aiming to create what the artist describes as a portal for a space of fragilisation, the performance will be filmed and streamed online from the fairs opening date for viewers around the world to experience.

Precious Okoyomon Earthseed,exhibition view at the Museum Fr Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, 2020. Courtesy of the artist, the Museum Fr Moderne Kunst, and Quinn Harrelson / Current Projects. Photography:Axel Schneider

Jenny Schlenzka, executive artistic director at Performance Space New York and one of this years jurors, says, Simultaneously playful and critically inquisitive, this singular artist-poets work highlights the inevitability of change, decay, death, and rebirth. By extending poetry into the organic world, Okoyomon reminds us that apocalypse and utopia coexist and always have.

Aside from heralding significant milestones, Frieze New York willpushthe envelope on several other fronts:

Frame

The section of the fair dedicated to young galleries and emerging artistshas been assembled with the advice of gallerists Olivia Barrett and Sophie Mrner. It sees exciting talents presented by galleries that have been in operation for less than ten years, from Shanghai, Lisbon, Bogota, Los Angeles and New York.

Olga Balema, Interior biomorphic attachment, 2014/2020, steel, foam, latex. Photography: Gregory Carideo Courtesy the artist and Bridget Donahue, NYC

La Prairie artist commission

Luxury skincare brand La Prairie, an ardent supporter of the arts, unveils a time-focusedwork by Hong Kong-based artist Carla Chan, inspired by her artists residency at the Monte Rosa Hut near Zermatt in the Alps. The specially commissioned piece celebrates La Prairies new partnership with Frieze New York and Frieze London, expanding its commitment to investing in art and culture.

Carla Chan,Space BetweenThe Light Glows, commissioned byLa Prairie forFrieze New York 2021

Augmented reality

In a nod to the ever-converging worlds of technology and art, The Looking Glass, is an exhibition of augmented reality artworks curated by Acute Arts artistic director Daniel Birnbaum and The Sheds chief curator Emma Enderby. It premieres works by Kaws, Cao Fei and Precious Okoyomon that spring to life on a smartphone when viewers arrive on site. Also visible through the Acute Art app, these works blend the physical and virtual worlds with an element of surprise.

Cao Fei, RMB City AR, augmented reality, 2020. Courtesy Cao Fei and Acute Art

Frieze Viewing Room

For those unable or not yet ready to visit the fair in person, the Frieze Viewing Room, now in its third edition, beams works from 160 galleries from six continents directly to your screen. Built to facilitate discovery and boasting improved image loading times, mobile functionality and user experience, the platform showcases a wide cross-section of works at all levels of the market.

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Frieze New York is kicking off: heres what not to miss - Wallpaper*

The late John Prine, a tragic early victim of COVID-19, sang make me a poster from an old rodeo just give me something that I can hold onto . " Who doesn't hope, especially these days, for something dear to hold onto?

The California mountain summer camp I attended as a lad during World War II, and then helped lead a decade later, shut down after more than 50 golden years when grasping new-age parents began filing lawsuits if their kid got a bloody nose playing capture the flag.

Southern California, where I grew up, was a utopia before developers began destroying it after World War II when the world moved there. Today ,Californians are fleeing yesteryear's sweet-smelling Shangri-la because of high costs, cars, crowds and general contentiousness.

The reliable Bell Telephone System was the world's biggest business and among its most honorable when I worked for its parent, the original AT & T, in New York City. Communications wannabes who scoffed at the company's genuine "spirit of service" hired political lobbyists to divvy up the system's customer-focused national organization and, in 1983, it was annihilated.

That beloved summer camp, yesteryear's glorious Southern California, and the Bell System, all pillars of my own life experience, are no more. Many consider that progress. Others tilt toward John Prine's lyrical lament: "Just give me something I can hold onto." In the battle to keep the Bell System intact during the early 1980s we warned, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Same idea. Keep the good things going.

Every bit as cherished as our lake, our mountains, our schools and galleries, our hospital, our celebrated cafes, family businesses and City Beach, the library defines our collective soul. To tamper with an institution so well led just to accomodate hostile, misanthropic, science-doubting malcontents who refuse to mask up to protect others would be foolish and pure folly. Let's hold onto our library as it is. If it ain't broke, which it ain't, don't fix it.

On May 18 responsible voters must ensure that incumbents Amy Flint and Jeanine Asche remain on our library's accomplished board of trustees. Many thanks.

TIM H. HENNEY

Sandpoint

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Masks on, or hands off the library - Bonner County Daily Bee

Scroll down for a full list of officially announced re-opening dates.

Curtain up, light the lights.

After being shuttered for well over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Broadway finally has somesolid re-opening dates in view.

'Like no other opening nightever': Broadway will be back, but here's what will change

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on May 5 that tickets would go on sale May 6 for shows starting Sept. 14 at 100 percent capacity.However, that doesn't mean tickets for all shows will be available immediately.

Jeanna de Waal as Princess Diana in 'Diana'(Photo: Evan Zimmerman)

More: Broadway set to reopen Sept. 14. What you need to know before you go

The Broadway League says anticipated return dates for each Broadway production will be announced in the coming weeks on a show-by-show basis, with producers determining performance schedules and other timelines.

The theaterowners, producersand other League memberswillcontinue to work with the NY State Department of Health and the governor to coordinate the industrys return and the related health and safety protocols required to do so.Weremain cautiously optimistic about Broadways ability to resume performances this falland are happy that fans can start buying tickets again,"saidCharlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, in a statement.

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Not all shows plan to re-open in September. Some will open over the last few months of 2021, while others may not return until 2022.

Moulin Rouge! star announces exit: 'I want a theater industry that matches my integrity'

In addition to the logistics of getting a show up and running, financial considerations are also at the forefront of planning for productions, particularly for an industry that relies heavily on tourists. Safety protocols for productions and audiences also are yet to be announced.

Prior to the announcement on May 5, the first and only show to reveal officialplans for a re-open was "Diana: The Musical."

Abby Mueller (Jane Seymour), Samantha Pauly (Katherine Howard), Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), Brittney Mack (Anna of Cleves) and Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr) in the Broadway production of "SIX, a new musical by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss.(Photo: Photo by Joan Marcus)

On March 30, the show announced it will begin previews on Dec. 1 at the Longacre Theatre, with an opening night set for Dec. 16.

Looking forward: How a gala breathed new life, hope into theater world

A joint announcement for some of Broadway's blockbusters had been anticipated in recent weeks. On Thursday, "Good Morning America" teased a May 11 event "The #Broadway announcement we've all been waiting for, LIVE! Tune in starting at 7am," it tweeted.

The musical "Six" had announced that it would offer pre-sale tickets to those who signed up for early access. On May 5, it announced that the presale would start at 10 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, May 6, and run through Monday, May 10, at 9:59 a.m. For more information on the pre-sale, visitsixonbroadway.com/FirstAccess. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday, May 10,at 10 a.m. Previews begin Sept. 17 ahead of an Oct. 3 opening night.

More: 'Diana', featuring music by David Bryan of Bon Jovi, gets new Netflix, Broadway dates

New musical based on the life story of Princess Diana, will open on Broadway in the spring. Bon Jovi's David Bryan wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics Asbury Park Press

On May 4, producers announced that "Pass Over" would re-open the August Wilson Theatre, which was home to "Mean Girls" at the time of the shutdown, although a specific opening date was not given.

Catch a glimpse of the Broadway production of "SIX," a new musical by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. Asbury Park Press

"Chicago":Sept.14, Ambassador Theatre,chicagothemusical.com

"Six":Previews, Sept.17, Opening Night: Oct. 3, Brooks Atkinson Theatre,sixonbroadway.com

"The Phantom of the Opera": Oct. 22,Majestic Theatre,us.thephantomoftheopera.com

"Diana: The Musical:"Previews, Dec. 1,Opening night, Dec. 16,LongacreTheater,thedianamusical.com/

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"Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of the Temptations":TBA, Imperial Theatre,https://www.ainttooproudmusical.com/

"Aladdin": TBA,New AmsterdamTheatre,aladdinthemusical.com

"The Book of Mormon":TBA, Eugene O'Neill Theatre,bookofmormonbroadway.com

"Come From Away": TBA,Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre,comefromaway.com

"Company": TBA,Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre,companymusical.com

"Dear Evan Hansen": TBA, Music Box Theatre,dearevanhansen.com

"Girl From The North Country": TBA,Belasco Theatre,northcountryonbroadway.com

"Hadestown": TBA,Walter Kerr Theatre,hadestown.com

"Hamilton": TBA,Richard Rogers Theatre,hamiltonmusical.com

"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child": TBA,Lyric Theatre,harrypottertheplay.com

"Jagged Little Pill": TBA,Broadhurst Theatre,jaggedlittlepill.com

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"The Lehman Trilogy": TBA,Nederlander Theatre,thelehmantrilogy.com

"The Lion King":TBA, Minskoff Theatre,lionking.com

"The Minutes": TBA, theater to be announced,theminutesbroadway.com

"Moulin Rouge!":TBA, Al Hirschfeld Theatre,moulinrougemusical.com/new-york/home/

"Mrs. Doubtfire":TBA, Stephen Sondheim Theatre,mrsdoubtfirebroadway.com

"Tina: The Tina Turner Musical": TBA,Lunt-Fontanne Theatre,tinaonbroadway.com

"To Kill A Mockingbird": TBA,Shubert Theatre,tokillamockingbirdbroadway.com

"Wicked": TBA, GershwinTheatre,wickedthemusical.com

"West Side Story":TBA, Broadway Theatre,westsidestorybway.com

"Ain't Supposed to Die A Natural Death": TBA, theater to be announced

"David Byrne's American Utopia":Sept. 17 (previously announced),theater to be announced,americanutopiabroadway.com

"American Buffalo":TBA, Circle in the Square;americanbuffalonyc.com

"Between Riverside and Crazy": Fall 2022, Helen Hayes Theatre,2st.com/shows/between-riverside-and-crazy

"Birthday Candles": TBA, American Airlines Theatre,roundabouttheatre.org/get-tickets/upcoming/birthday-candles

"Caroline, Or Change":TBA, Studio 54,roundabouttheatre.org/get-tickets/upcoming/caroline-or-change

"Clyde's":Fall 2021, Helen Hayes Theatre; 2st.com/shows/lynn-nottage

"Flying Over Sunset":TBA, Lincoln Center Theater,lct.org/shows/flying-over-sunset

"How I Learned to Drive,":TBA, Samuel J. Friedman Theatre,manhattantheatreclub.com/shows/2021-22-season/how-i-learned-to-drive/

"Lackawanna Blues": TBA, Samuel J. Friedman Theatre,manhattantheatreclub.com/shows/2021-22-season/lackawanna-blues/

"MJ: The Michael Jackson Musical": TBA, Neil Simon Theatre,mjthemusical.com

"The Music Man": TBA,Winter Garden Theatre,musicmanonbroadway.com

"Pass Over":TBA,August Wilson Theatre,passoverbroadway.com

"Plaza Suite": TBA, Hudson Theatre,plazasuitebroadway.com

"Skeleton Crew": TBA, Samuel J. Friedman Theatre,manhattantheatreclub.com/shows/2021-22-season/skeleton-crew/

"Sing Street": TBA, theater to be announced,singstreet.com

"Take Me Out": Spring 2022, Helen Hayes Theatre,2st.com/shows/take-me-out

"Thoughts of a Colored Man": TBA,Golden Theatre,thoughtsofacoloredman.com

"Trouble in Mind":TBA, American Airlines Theatre,roundabouttheatre.org/get-tickets/upcoming/trouble-in-mind/

"1776": TBA, American Airlines Theatre,https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/get-tickets/upcoming/1776/

Some shows that were running at the time of the shutdown announced they will not re-open when Broadway does.

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"Beetlejuice"

"Frozen"

"Hangmen"

"Mean Girls"

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"

Ilana Keller is anaward-winning journalist and lifelong New Jersey resident who loves Broadway and really bad puns. She highlights arts advocacyand education, theater fundraisers and morethrough her column,"Sightlines." Reach out onTwitter: @ilanakeller;ikeller@gannettnj.com

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Broadway re-opening dates: Here's the latest updates on shows' returns - Asbury Park Press

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Bath Mats Market to Enjoy 'Explosive Growth' by 2025 The Shotcaller - The Shotcaller

"During the current pandemic, weve appreciated and resented a surge in government authority and spending. However, sensible citizens accept it, knowing its necessary and limited in time, no less than until the next elections."

Societal choice on dominance by king/government or individual/enterprise over a nations economic leadership has been debated since time immemorial. The debate has often been earnest, sometimes violent, and settled nationally by electoral or military win. The current pandemic, with its threat to business and personal livelihoods, and the need for governments to invest more now in national and regional well-being, fuels this critical argument, especially since free enterprise seems threatened and our comfort with government control is possibly increasing.

Philosophers Adam Smith and Karl Marx represent opposite sides of the debate on the relationship between enterprise and government. Smith proposed that national wealth is achieved by a free exchange of goods and services between buyers and sellers. Economic growth occurs when supply of and demand for resources increases, and competition between and within capital and labour groups work to meet the demand. Due to surplus production or distant opportunities, trading of goods expanded beyond local markets.

Karl Marx, while appreciating the relationship between capital and labour, including the value of capitalists in driving innovation, industry, productivity, and a right to reasonable profits, saw that wealth accumulated disproportionately in capitalist hands. He believed capitalism created classes in society, primarily the ruling, business class and the dependent, working class. His theory on communism became a movement to redistribute wealth and eradicate class distinctions.

Like Thomas Mores early 16th-century Utopia, ironically set on an island in the very New World, both philosophers envisioned ideal societies. But mankinds behaviour is not ideal; we want freedom to exchange but tend to take more than we deserve, creating imbalance and conflict (think about the parable of Adam and Eve). American political economist Charles Lindblom argued that the free market is the best mechanism for creating wealth and innovation (Smith), however, it is inefficient in the distribution of social and economic benefit (Marx). Mixed economies arose in democracies to strike a balance between industry and government, individual and state (I ignore communism because I dont know where it exists in any nation; facsimiles can be found in small, free societies like Hutterites, Amish and Israeli kibbutz). Canada functions in a mixed economy and, like other, similar countries, often struggles to maintain the right balance between participants.

Governments role in the economy historically has been through applications of monetary (interest rates) and fiscal (tax) policies, and, increasingly, investment in infrastructure, particularly transportation and communication, and the social services of health, education and welfare. During the current pandemic, weve appreciated and resented a surge in government authority and spending. However, sensible citizens accept it, knowing its necessary and limited in time, no less than until the next elections. This year and onward, government authority and spending will abate, returning to their key roles in the economy. Businesses and households will return to normal, or a new normal, and be re-enabled to create, produce, live free. It has to happen if we want to manage the enormous public debt accumulated over the pandemic and the growing inflation caused by more demand, and cash on hand, than supply. It has to happen if our economy and social services are to thrive.

And, of course, well continue to debate utopia.

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COLUMN: Politics and markets - St. Albert Today

Mother's Day is a beautiful celebration of life and motherhood, and we in the pro-life movement should take this day as an opportunity to focus on how our movement supports mothers. A report by the Charlotte Lozier Institute powerfully quantifies the impact of pregnancy care centers across America by using data to demonstrate how these centers help women from all walks of life.

Those who serve at these centers care for women like Amber, who found out she was pregnant days after turning 21 while attending college. She initially scheduled an appointment with an abortion clinic but felt led in a different direction. Thankfully, she found the Hope Center, where she received a free ultrasound with her boyfriend, Brandon. The images of their child persuaded them to keep the baby, and the Hope Center helped guide them through a challenging process by making them feel loved and supported during every step of their journey.

Stories like Ambers are the heart and the soul of the pro-life movement, as we are dedicated to supporting women and creating nourishing environments in which families can thrive. We exist to provide women who feel broken and desperate with a place to turn to in their hour of need.

Unfortunately, not everyone understands this, and some have even mistakenly characterized the pro-life movement as one solely focused on winning a political debate. Ross Douthats recent critique in the New York Times chided that "the plausibility of [ending abortion nationwide] depends on whether the pro-life movement can prove through very literal policy demonstrations, not just rhetoric that it can protect and support the pregnant women who would no longer get abortions in the world that it desires." He added that "there is something to be said for a pro-life movement that talks less in the language of partisanship and proceduralism and sounds more like the utopian and not simply conservative cause that its logic ultimately requires it to be."

We certainly agree that there is far more to ending abortion than winning a political debate, but it seems as though Douthat fails to appreciate the vast amount of work already being done to create the utopia about which he writes.

Perhaps skeptics such as Douthat underestimate the breadth and depth of the pro-life movement because it isn't part of the everyday political discourse. Just because there isn't breathless media coverage of pregnancy care centers doesn't mean the close to 15,000 pro-life employees and more than 50,000 pro-life volunteers aren't making a profound impact, saving lives, and helping women.

The Charlotte Lozier Institute report quantifies the impact of pregnancy care centers and serves as a powerful counterpoint to those who see the pro-life movement as primarily partisan. The 2,700 centers studied provided more than $266 million in material assistance to pregnant women, whether through providing prenatal care, offering classes on parenting, administering tests for sexually transmitted diseases, or giving women items such as baby clothing.

Pro-life advocates served 1.85 million people in 2019, and we were able to walk with women while they grappled with life-changing choices. Pregnancy care centers embody a holistic approach to women's health as they provide classes to adolescents, resources to pregnant women, and care and support for those who have undergone abortions. We believe every woman is valuable and special, and we will meet her where she is, whether that is six weeks pregnant or years after having an abortion.

One essential service these centers provide is free ultrasounds. In 2019, pregnancy care centers performed 486,213 ultrasounds that helped women learn if they were pregnant, if the baby had a heartbeat, and how far along the pregnancy was. Providing women with this information helps them better understand their pregnancy and see their baby as a unique human life.

Another area in which the pro-life movement is making great strides is abortion pill reversal. Women who choose chemical abortion often change their minds after having taken the first pill, Mifeprex, in the two-pill regimen. Abortion pill reversal has been shown as a safe way to counteract the effects of Mifeprex. Since 2012, more than 1,000 babies have been born after their mothers underwent abortion pill reversal, and the practice continues to grow as it becomes better known and understood.

Tens of thousands of men and women are working across the country to support pregnant women and provide them with the resources and care they deserve. This Mother's Day, we should all take a moment to acknowledge how these pro-life heroes have saved countless lives by acting as a lighthouse for women sailing through troubled waters.

JeanneManciniis the president of March for Life.

Continued here:

The pro-life movement has much to celebrate this Mother's Day - Washington Examiner

Winter has hung around this year as though even the seasons are waiting for government permission to unlock. Despite springs late arrival on the smallholding, Amber has gone into labour early. Its just me and her in the kidding pen; me muttering soft, nonsensical words of encouragement, her bleating through contractions and resting against my hand. She pushes again but nothing happens. The hooves of the emerging kid have been static for too long and the out-of-hours emergency vet is on the way. I give into a two-minute power cry because I dont know if this day will end with life or death, and then the vet arrives and I snap out of it. Ill give her an epidural first, he says, getting to work matter-of-factly. A goat epidural of course.

Five years ago I lived in town, had just two cats and barely knew the difference between hay and straw. Now, somehow, Im a person with an overdue account at the agricultural merchants and I know how to organise a spinal block for a goat.

The journey from then to now started in the summer when I was 34. My husband, Jared, and I decided to leave town and move with our two children to a patch of Kents finest mud. We planned to grow some of our own food, raise animals for eggs and milk, and try to tread more lightly on the planet. Our dream of a simpler, more self-sufficient life took hold on a working holiday to rural Wales. We didnt miss the hectic juggle, laughed more often and felt connected to each other.

Late-night fireside chats evolved into a vision and plan. We wanted to capture the positive changes of the trip by striking out towards a new life in the countryside and, less acknowledged but just as insistent, was a desire to move away from what felt like danger.

This was 2016: the summer of the Brexit vote and the Trump presidential campaign when, belatedly, climate change had transitioned in my mind from abstract worry to active threat. The world outside felt suddenly unfamiliar, threatening and the world inside my head felt stressful and volatile, too, though I wouldnt have admitted it, even to myself.

By January 2017 we had found the only property with a little land that was within our budget, and had started installing ourselves, spotting places for compost heaps and thinking that all would now be well.

Five seasons in and I know how naive we were that spring, even though so many of our wishes have gradually been granted. Tending to the animals and vegetable garden does mean that the whole family has to spend time outdoors every day and, thanks to this imperative, we notice the micro changes of the seasons and feel grounded by them.

The children have learned skills in step with us and have gained independence in the process. Our seven-year-old son can expertly harvest and save calendula seeds or sow up a tray of gherkins (his favourite) without help. Our daughter, now 11, can milk a goat with ease and spot when newly hatched chicks are too hot or cold. There are fewer battles about screens but many more arguments about whose turn it is to let out the geese. There is much here to feel enmeshed in and grateful for, but also a realisation that nothing has worked out exactly as planned.

I have found many good things in the good life, but it has uncovered some very bad things, too. I had left town in hopes of escaping difficulties, but I had turned out to be the biggest difficulty of all. However deep you move into the countryside, if the swirling chaos that pushed you towards utopia turns out to live in your own head, you wont escape it. It took a long time for me to realise this, but very little time at all for the huge volume of extra work to begin to dent the dream, and reveal a more complex reality.

The first inkling that this was going to be harder than wed thought came just hours after the moving van left. Consumed by the romantic idea of making our first dinner from produce sown by the previous owner, Id tried my hand at harvesting from the veg plot for the first time. The poignancy of the moment soon dissolved in the sweat dripping off my red, grunting face.

Yet there were many days over the next few months when the idyll seemed real. The sun shone, the children collected kindling and Jared and I worked together to plant new trees or mend fences. But internally I found myself increasingly the opposite of calm and connected, waking with a feeling of panic and adrenaline I didnt understand.

With work projects stretching me in all directions I should have stepped back, but instead I threw myself at the vision, as if trying hard enough could make it come true. I ran around the field as if chased by a mad dog, sketched elaborate planting plans in coloured pencils and brought home three ducklings who panicked every time they saw us and refused to go under the heat lamp. It was gorgeous in moments but terrifying in others and everything was wound up far too tightly for me to notice the danger signs.

My chest hurt, I was irritable, talking too fast, unable to sit still and I could not make decisions without deep angst. I no longer felt happiness and didnt notice the swallows leaving in the autumn or care that the plums were ripe. Everything in life took something else from me and I had almost nothing left.

For a year I put on quite the show for myself and the world. All that was visible was the excited smile of an ambitious woman, but underneath I was disintegrating. There were two seemingly opposite versions of smallholding Rebecca and I didnt know which was the real one. I didnt know how to be both.

A friend eventually forced me to face up to the obvious truth that I was unwell. I ended up with a diagnosis of depression and anxiety that, for the next 18 months, I tried to tackle with therapy, changing my work life to take the pressure off, attempting to be less ambitious on the plot and focusing on recovery. My work on the land digging, growing, pushing barrows acted as therapy in little slices, but somehow, overall, I kept feeling worse and worse. Our smallholding seemed to be both the problem and the solution, and I couldnt compute that. Finally, one June day in 2019 I could no longer cope with these oppositional feelings and thoughts.

I had already shrunk my existence; avoiding friends, giving up driving and saying no to almost everything. One day I found myself curled up on the floor, crying and asking to be taken to hospital. It felt like implosion, a crushing that happens from the outside in.

Two years on from this breakdown I am finally feeling a little better and Ive learned more about letting my smallholding help me rather than just load me down. Of late friends and strangers have been asking questions about our life here: would I recommend it, am I happy? The answer is both yes and no; a more complicated answer than anyone wants. Everyone including me wants neat and happy endings to stories of chasing a dream. Society encourages us to believe that we are one thing or the other: happy or sad, good or bad, right or wrong; that we must pick an angle, that we have to hold on or strike out.

With rural property sales booming, striking out for the simple life seems to be a popular reaction to the period weve been living through. This time has not been a comfortable place in which to stand still and with the next phase of unlocking just ahead there is a pervasive feeling of what now? in the spring air. Friends tell me they feel it on city pavements, in suburban gardens and I feel it here on the plot, too. Its all blossom and tulips, more birds than ever before a consequence of decreased human activity, perhaps exhaustion mixed with restless hope.

I am trying to make the answer to my what now? question a mixture of holding on and striking out learning about myself, learning how to be both. My original dream was of growing carrots, but the real quest ended up as a search to understand the inside of my own head. In February 2020, after a fight for help, I walked out of a psychiatrists office with a diagnosis. The depression, anxiety and collapse were secondary to something else: a lifetime of using every scrap of myself to conceal that I was different. In my bag was a letter confirming that I had ADHD and a prescription to calm my inner chaos.

This knowledge, the medication and specialist therapy are helping, along with my smallholding. Sowing peas for us and ox-eye daisies for the pollinators, Im forced to focus on the present moment. The animals calm my electric nervous system, the repeated physical actions of gardening discharge my hyperactive energy and soothe my thoughts. There are worlds to discover here; tiny patches of the ground damp or windswept, a doves nest in a hollow tree and the oldest oak tree, dating back 335 years. My smallholding broke me, and it fixed me, too. It is still breaking me; it is still fixing me even today.

Outside this afternoon, the billy kid that the vet wrestled free is happily running around. The vet couldnt save his twin. Amber bleated for her dead kid for days while I Googled how to dispose of livestock on a bank holiday weekend. Id been expecting either/or again life or death and, of course, it was neither, it was both.

Theres a long list of things to learn but I can harvest a leek now and take more from the soil than dinner. I have become familiar with the plants; held their seeds, thinned them and watched as they grew. Knowing a little of what they are doing under the soils surface means I know to rotate not pull, and knowledge is part of whats helping me emerge from a longer, self-enforced lockdown.

Five seasons on from our move and I have new lines, grey hairs and red-rimmed eyes that are more alive every day to how beautiful the pattern of holes is in the dahlias petals even though it was made by slugs on their way to ruin my strawberries. Bettering, worsening, perfecting, destroying: it all depends on the way you squint at it, doesnt it? Slimy, sluggy little bastards and their consequence of holes: small spaces that open up to be filled with love, with sweat and all the other things that brush against my skin here on this plot.

Earthed by Rebecca Schiller is out now (14.99, Elliott & Thompson). Buy it for 13.04 at guardianbookshop.com

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Down to earth: how escaping to the country isnt always what it seems - The Guardian

In the confusing world of Malaysia, instead of reading news reports on race, religion, corruption, government inefficiencies, party squabbles and the ailing economy, its good to rejuvenate yourself and read books like Utopia, Why Nations Fail, How to Change the World and Post Truth.

We can then pretend to be a professor of philosophy at a renowned university and intellectualise some of our frustrations about Malaysia and put it into limpid perspective. It may be a kind of escapism in an imaginary world where you can roam freely, but its good for your soul.

Utopian dream spoiled by corruption

Thomas Moores Utopia is an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens. We all have our own Utopian dream of Malaysia getting rid of our corrupt political system and officials, eradication of religious and racial lines, equity in sharing of the economic pie, and where citizens welfare is taken care of by the state.

There are glimpses of Utopia at lovely places in Langkawi or Sabah, where we are pampered during short vacations by the beach with white sand and deep blue seas and the vast horizon without any pesky politicians masquerading as true Muslims blocking your view, no corrupt officials using your tax money to squirrel away their loot in various foundations and for personal use.

But then to quote Shakespeare, life is but a dream.

The Utopian dream is further shattered by the revelations of former attorney-general Tommy Thomas about the goings-on at the AGs Chambers; revelations by retiring inspector-general of police Abdul Hamid Bador of graft in the police force and political corruption.

But will there be any reforms?

Going by the trend, many more high-ranking officials will write their memoirs and expose corruption when they leave office. Book publishers should walk the corridors of power and sign up all the senior officials to write their memoirs. It could be a lucrative deal for both sides.

These high-level exposs show that we still have principled and honest people in Malaysia who are just fed up with the lack of corporate governance and corruption. All is not lost yet.

Why nations fail

According to authors Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson, a nation fails because of poverty.

Using Egypt as an example, they said the country is poor because it has been ruled by a narrow elite that has organised society for their own benefit at the expense of the vast mass of people. Political power has been narrowly concentrated and has been used to create wealth for those who possessed it, such as the US$70 billion fortune apparently accumulated by ex-president Mubarak.

The same thing has happened in Malaysia with feudal parties and party patronage keeping them in power for decades.

Sabah being the poorest state in Malaysia is another good example of a failed state. Rich in resources, its oil money has been siphoned off by the central government. The billions squandered by 1MDB, also involving past leaders from Sabah, could have been used to take Sabah out of poverty decades ago.

How much rent-seeking money has gone into corrupt practices is anybodys guess.

Using post-truth to stay in power

Post-truth amounts to a form of ideological supremacy, whose practitioners try to compel someone to believe in something whether there is good evidence for it or not. The Ketuanan Malay concept entailing Malay land and a Malay contract is a good example of post-truth.

Malaysias short history of 58 years shows there has been no such thing.

Dont confuse Malaysian history with the history of Malaya. Malaysia is not Malaya.

AJ Stockwell in his book, British documents on the end of British Empire wrote, Malaysia that was inaugurated on 16 September 1963, failed wholly to satisfy any of the parties to it. It was neither forged through nationalist struggle nor did it reflect a homogenous national identity. Rather it was the product of grudging compromise and underpinned by fragile guarantees, its formation was peppered with resistance and that it came into being at all was regarded by many at that time as a close-run thing.

Sabah and Sarawak have been drifting apart from the central government and are flexing their muscles. The latest development is to upgrade the two states as Wilayah. Nobody really knows what that means. Its just to make the two Borneo states happy like upgrading your title from Datuk to Tan Sri. You only get front row seats, but no extra money.

Inching closer into dystopia

Instead of Utopia, Malaysia is in a state of dystopia. We have become a society characterised by corruption in politics, government and the police, with a suspended parliament, a declaration of a state of emergency, and human misery brought on by a virus.

Surprisingly, the backdoor government has lasted longer than expected. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is perhaps Umnos best survivalist, having learned the trick of the trade from a sly fox like Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The only thing going for Malaysia is we dont have a total breakdown of law and order yet.

How to change Malaysia

The obvious answer is to change the political order at GE15. Movements such as Gerak Independent have a long shot at fielding independent candidates. Young voters can also make a difference but their chance to vote at 18 has been dashed. The government has been dragging their feet, although the law was already been passed by Parliament in July 2019.

The disenfranchised voters who voted for a new government in May 2018 will have another bite at the cherry at the coming elections.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.

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Malaysia in dystopia while seeking the Utopian dream - Free Malaysia Today

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A western farmer comes home one afternoon to discover that a hailstorm has destroyed his crop, his farmhouse has been struck by lightning, his wife has run off with his brand-new truck, and his dog has had a close encounter with a skunk. He shakes his fist at the sky, and shouts, God damn the CPR!

Aside from what that old joke might imply about the Canadian Pacific Railway and certainly not to target agriculturalists, it reflects a trait fuelling Alberta polarization: the blame game. Instead of taking personal responsibility, the now common reaction of many is to locate a person or entity or political party to blame, and then yell, demonize and disobey, as if posturing will relieve the situation at hand. The effect is to escalate disaffection and goad extreme ideological valences.

Although such polarization is not more terrifying than COVID, it merits inspection and consideration.

Increasingly difficult to resist are sweeping generalizations or totalizing comparisons. The temptation to characterize Alberta on the basis of its leanings has infected not only this province but our reputation and our future, which is dependent on global inter-relationality. Tinfoil hat craziness is not Albertas dominant trait, but we are being watched and judged by the rest of the world, from those who take science seriously to those who buy our resources and those who evaluate our credit rating.

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Whose fault is it? asks the wrong question. Its said that a moderate Albertan is an oxymoron. And Albertans are a disobedient lot. At least thats what it looks like from the outside, with rogue rodeos, patio proliferation and mask malfeasance.

Is the mutinous Albertan a premise that we need to reject (our new pass-phrase)? Better to say that we are disputatious, stubborn and over-certain of the direction we think is best, even when the GPS suggests another route to enable us to avoid heading straight to hell in a handbasket. Not a charming trait, and not one to be proud of.

Is defiance embedded in Albertas history, part of our current DNA? Surely pugnacity carried people through subsequent waves of wealth and depression, moments when we needed to survive getting hailed out, flooded out, burned out, or eaten by grasshoppers, riding the boom-and-bust bronc until we bite the dust. Which is, as any rodeo rider knows, inevitable.

Are Albertans subscribers to democracy and the rule of law or have they signed up for some metaphorical wild west and the Deadwood motto of no law at all. We are not South Dakota in 1876. But this is 2021, and Alberta claims to be cosmopolitan, socially aware and innovative.

So, what are the factors behind some Albertans lack of compliance? Is the debate about restrictions key or are they deflections, pawns in an extended political game of prisoners base? Ignorance feeds on blame, finger-pointing, fear-mongering and bad behaviour.

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Step back and examine the history that might suggest where our headstrong recalcitrance originates. Indigenous peoples for centuries figured out to thrive in a challenging landscape and climate and continue to teach us about resilience. Ranchers and settler colonists came to this part of the west packing both optimism and foolhardiness, and while some got discouraged and left, those who stayed subscribed to an obdurate form of survival that although admirable, is not always ideal.

Albertas history is a mixture of intolerance and tolerance, empathy and sectarianism. At the turn of the 20th century, Alberta opened up to a wild proliferation of religions that fed a fundamentalist version of Alberta as a Christian utopia. Such old patterns persist despite contemporary times, much as they are at odds with actual practice.

Augment that history with an economic boom that gave Albertans the idea that we deserve wealth, and we have a population (for all that, we once celebrated a high percentage of post-secondary degrees) dogged by a combination of ignorance and understandable frustration about job loss, insecurity and unpredictability.

We appear to have subscribed to an alluring exceptionalism, a belief that Alberta is special, when surely that myth is except for our stunning landscape baseless. And our forward-looking next year country strategy has pivoted (sorry) to the impatient immediacy of right now country.

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One identifiable problem is that ready access to variant sources of information, some more accurate than others, has fostered the idea that truth itself is a variable. In the echo chamber of social media and click-whipping headlines, it is only too easy to find an article or study that will support the wildest of conjectures. Everybodys become an expert and science is just an opinion, a point of view.

Nor does what-aboutism contribute to knowledge or problem-solving stratagems for moving forward. Comparisons need to have some symmetry. Believe it or not, Alberta is not Israel; Alberta is not Texas.

A propellant too is the anonymity mask, online platforms where people feel free to make wild assertions, whether factual, abusive or threatening. Blame, finger-pointing and ideology do not promote social cohesion.

Mix in the clamour of Alberta Rights, and how refusing to follow the rule of law, whether masking or distancing, contributes to public churn and disquiet, which readily escalates to violence.

Non-compliance ultimately has little to do with freedom or personal responsibility but relies on a radical conception of personal autonomy at the expense of the weak and vulnerable. Dissent as a stance taken by those who believe that any perspective has merit contributes not to freedom but to illness and death, which hurts all Albertans, and not just in terms of public health, but our cultural well-being and our economic future.

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How then to locate this disruptive unruliness? For all the noise, most Albertans are more taciturn than the provocateurs, and most readily obey public health requirements. Those protesting do not represent the majority and most Albertans know that no rights are absolute if their exercise harms others.

But the question remains. Is so-called mavericity a rationale for the lack of compliance that a certain sector feels entitled to engage? Some may choose to believe so, although the situation we find ourselves in now is very different from fire, flood, or drought, those sudden acts of God.

This contest is not against weather, markets or natural disasters that cannot be predicted. This fight is against a wily virus. More than 2,100 deaths in this province certify that fact. It is spread by humans. It is airborne. It is invisible. With every transmission, it adapts, learning how to mutate. A tricky scourge, this virus is outsmarting us by using the very vehicle that humans themselves offer.

Time for a reset, Alberta. Non-compliance is neither heroic resistance nor visionary, but foolish and short-sighted.

We are not in a Monty Python skit where the cry of Bring out your dead is a fine joke.

Vaccines will not save us if we insist on stupidity or we feel entitled to vent our frustrations with a rebel yell. We are in a pandemic, and if we do not work together, casket makers and dirt will benefit most.

Aritha van Herk is an English professor at the University of Calgary and a writer of fiction and non-fiction, including Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta.

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Van Herk: Is defiance of authority embedded in the DNA of Albertans? - Calgary Herald

Daniel Miller photo by Diane Zillmer. Steve Davis photo by Katie Davies

It doesnt take long for a conversation tQ has organised between Steve Davis, former professional snooker player turned high-calibre psychedelic musician, and Daniel Miller, founder and long-time boss of Mute Records, to turn to modular synthesisers. Both are deeply, deeply passionate about the instrument. For Davis, after futile attempts at the piano and the harmonica, the modular synth was the first instrument on which he could lead with his ideas, rather than dexterity. He now holds his own alongside seasoned musicians Kavus Torabi (with whom hes just published the joint musical memoir Medical Grade Music) and Michael J York in phenomenal psych trio The Utopia Strong.

For Miller, a forthcoming album of ferocious modular synth improvisations with long-time friend and collaborator Gareth Jones, with whom he operates as Sunroof, is the culmination of decades worth of fascination with electronic music. Like Davis with the piano and harmonica, he found himself a rotten player when it came to early attempts at the guitar; it was his first semi-modular synth which allowed him to express the kind of brilliance that made his debut single, The Normals T.V.O.D / Warm Leatherette, such an enduring record.

Though theyre both lovers not only of the instrument itself but the life that surrounds it theyve all but organised a modular synth meet in the basement of Andy Fletchers pub by the end of our conversation whats most heartening about an hour spent in their company is that they have the enthusiasm of artists, not anoraks. Between asides that cover the perils of bringing snooker cues on planes and doomed Jools Holland collaborations, their conversation makes it plain that what they get from modular music is a sense of genuine psychic fulfilment.

tQ: Hi Steve, hi Daniel, how long have the two of you known each other?

Steve Davis: We met at a Michael Rother and Thurston Moore gig, at a strange venue under a bridge in Chelsea.

Daniel Miller: Wed already been in touch a bit over email and text. Steve wrote to me because Katherine Blake, who was in a band on Mute many years ago called Miranda Sex Garden, gave him my email address. He was talking about his new band at the time, but we immediately dived into nerdism and started talking about modular synths. That wasnt too long ago, then things moved on, Covid happened and here we are!

Can you each remember when you first became aware of each others work?

DM: I used to watch snooker from time to time, I liked it in black and white to be honest, and of course I knew Steve Davis because he was a national figure. What really struck me was when he booked the Roundhouse to have Magma play. I thought it was a joke at first, like a lot of people did. I didnt know Steve was into modular until he got in touch with me. Thats my pre-history

SD: As a kid I was into prog stuff, I knew a lot of artists that would have been going down that path, but I jumped ship and became a soul music fan, put blinkers on and through the rest of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s I never listened to anything else. Im still picking up on artists whether they be on Mute or something similar.

Daniel Miller photo by Diane Zillmer

Modular synths are both of your instruments of choice at the moment. In Medical Grade Music, Steve, you talk about how it was the only instrument you found truly accommodating to you after failed attempts with more traditional instruments

SD: It was the first thing I stumbled upon where I thought I could have some fun. I think a lot of people approach it to dive in and lose themselves. Theres this common bond that starts to appear with people that have gone down the same road of trying to harness its power. Im very much into repetitive music, I think thats where the modular really does shine. Its relentlessly going away, it does its job like a cart horse. Theres other aspects to it as well but it goes through a phase, especially if you make a patch up at home, you think thats quite nice, then 15 minutes later you think its getting a bit samey now, but then 45 minutes to an hour later its become totally psychedelic, youre hearing things that werent in there to start with, and the rest of the night it just becomes mesmeric. The repetition, its like brainwashing I think. Its the best type of torture Ive ever experienced.

Whats your own relationship with modular music like, Daniel?

DM: I got into electronic music first as a fan, I was always in bands at school, and I had all these sounds in my head but I could never get them out. I was a hugely useless guitar player. I was in a band at school, it was the 60s so everyone was in a band, and the musicians gravitated towards other musicians of their own standard. You had the best band in the class, and we were the worst. I found it frustrating. Electronic music was a way of me getting my ideas down onto tape. It was a revelation really. I got more seriously into modular about ten years ago when I first heard about Eurorack. Before that, if you had a Moog or a Roland modular you could only have Roland or Moog modules in there. With Eurorack its a standard format so you can have lots of different makes.

I dont have an end in sight when I start with the modular, I just start with a blank canvas, you start plugging, something starts to happen, then it inspires the next step. Its that hypnotic quality that Steve talks about that I really like. Especially in the last year under lockdown, Ive spent the most time I have with it ever, its really helped me actually. Im still working, running the label during the day, then in the evening I just plug a few things in and let it buzz away. Its really good therapy.

SD: You just need knowledge, you dont need any dexterity. Its a different type of instrument, and for that reason it opens it up to a lot of people.

Both of you also have ongoing collaborative modular projects, Steve with The Utopia Strong and Daniel with Sunroof. What about the modular synth as a collaborative instrument?

DM: It has potential to be collaborative as much as any instrument, its more about your mindset. Gareth Jones, whos the other half of Sunroof, and I have worked together for 35 years. Its the same with a lot of instruments, you get things going then you start playing off each other, and then somebody creates a sound or a rhythm or a sequence, then you build on that. Gareth and I is more like jazz I suppose, the process of people playing off each other, its all improvisation.

Didnt you once try and collaborate with Jools Holland in the 80s, Steve?

DM: I really have to know more about this

SD: Yamaha had sponsored a snooker event. I was going to Ronnie Scotts a lot back then, so I thought I want to learn how to play the piano, as if its that easy. I was in Sheffield at the snooker event, and instead of going into Warp Records in Division Street I hired this guy for a couple of piano lessons, who taught me some scales to practise. I went off and ended up buying a Yamaha CP80 and had it in a terraced house underneath the stairs. I dont know why but I also tried to play the harmonica. The end result was that for some reason, Jools Hollands people got in touch with my people and said, Jools wants to come round to have a jam and make a record. The next thing is, Jools knocks on the door, he sits down and plays the CP80 Electric Grand, I get the harmonica out, and we try and make some music. He must have thought, What the fuck am I doing here. I dont know if he had a dip in his life, but it was when he was between bands Im sure. He was probably searching for other directions. We wished each other the best of luck, it was never going to go anywhere. I think that probably cemented the fact that I was not going to play a musical instrument. I was quite happy bumbling along going to gigs, until I saw this modular synthesiser. I dont know if Jools has ever gone down the modular road

DM: I dont know if you can do boogie woogie piano on a modular

SD: So you were first into the semi-modular, when was that?

DM: I think it was 1979

SD: That was really early on, before it went digital

DM: Long before. My first synth was a second hand Korg 700S, which is what I made my first record on. That record did OK, and I saw an ARP 2600 for sale in the back of Melody Maker, it was a reasonable price so I went along to a huge warehouse full of equipment. It was Elton Johns equipment they were selling off after a massive world tour, so I got Elton Johns ARP 2600. Ive still got it. When I started working with other musicians, producing bands like Fad Gadget and Depeche Mode, I used it a lot on those records then as time went on and we were able to afford to get more things I got into the Roland System-100M. When VSTs started coming out, I thought God, I can have my whole studio on the laptop. I was completely obsessed with the software. Until recently Id been travelling a lot for various reasons and in theory to have my studio in my laptop was an amazing concept, but I didnt really enjoy it that much. Its all about the hands-on, physical aspect of electronic music that makes it especially enjoyable. It becomes a living organism. You touch one fader or one knob and the whole thing changes. Steve, how did you first get into it? Who introduced you?

SD: I went to Caf Oto to see a band that the Quietus had just put out on their label, called Chrononautz. They were having a record launch party, Chrononautz were the second band on, the headliners were Sly And The Family Drone, who as usual ripped up the place, then the first act were Hirvikolari, which had Mike Bourne of Teeth Of The Sea playing modular synth. I was transfixed. Next thing I knew I was seeking out buying one. It took time before I got to grips with it, but I started to learn. Then its like peeling the onion, its more fascinating the more layers you peel.

DM: Im interested to know if your snooker playing informs the way you work with modular in any way. I dont know anything about playing snooker, but I assume youre constantly thinking ahead.

SD: I feel like Im a different person when I'm doing music. Playing snookers all about body awareness, youre always aware of exactly how youre standing and how youre feeling, trying to get the cue to go through. Its not as defined as chess, if anything youre much more improvisational playing snooker. You play a shot and you know, as long as you get the white ball in that area, thats a good area for continuing the break and scoring more points. Youre just trying to get this white ball into an area for your next shot. Maybe professional musicians might see it as similar thing to this, but I cant see it at the moment. Maybe as I get a bit more in tune with where the wires go

When I interviewed you with The Utopia Strong in 2019, you said the most immediate difference you noticed moving from snooker to musicianship was having to haul your own gear around.

SD: The snooker cue was a liability on an aeroplane but it certainly wasnt as bad as the pole vaulter. Some modular stuff is manageable, you can get that in one bit of hand luggage.

DM: I would never put it in the hold. Never check in a modular. That was my priority when I was looking for a case.

Steve Davis with DJ partner and Utopia Strong bandmate Kavus Torabi

SD: Snooker cues are no longer allowed on aeroplanes; we have to check it into the hold. You could have somebodys eye out with it. I feel aggrieved that guitarists seem to be able to take their guitars on, the musicians union lobbied or whatever, a guitar would be much more dangerous than a snooker cue.

DM: Just think of the double bass players, they have to book an extra seat.

SD: Any electrical item you take through as hand luggage, every now and again they want to prove that they work. Imagine you get to the airport and they say whats all this, and youve got to plug it in and prove it to the guy thats searching you, and under pressure patch it up and make something that doesnt sound awful. If it sounded awful youd say obviously theres something else going on here, that isnt music!

DM: I live in Berlin now, when you go through security they just look at you and go oh, another modular. Next!

SD: Back in the day a lot of snooker players played with one-piece cues. I was in America playing a one off showcase thing, and I was in the hotel lift with my cue case which is about 5 foot long. I had a dress suit on as well, a three-piece suit, jacket and bowtie. When the American guy in the lift asked what was in the case I managed to convince him that I was in the band playing in the hotel lobby and it was a bass harmonica.

Earlier you mentioned that modular synth playings been therapeutic during the trials of the pandemic. Have your relationships to music changed over the last year?

DM: God yeah. Therere obviously no gigs so I spent more time in the studio. Through the label, seeing how musicians are coping with it in different ways, thats also been very interesting. Generally speaking, its been very positive the way theyve responded. We work with a few DJs who also make records. In the old times they were always out and about, and it was quite hard to get a record out of them. Now that theyve been stuck at home for a year, theyve come up with some really great things that you wouldnt necessarily expect. Theyre not just focussing on can I play this out or not, will this track work in a club, theyre thinking in a more general musical sense. On the other hand theres also people we work with who just havent been able to work at all because they work with live musicians. Its been very sad, very frustrating.

Daniel Miller (R) with Sunroof bandmate Gareth Jones. Photo by Diane Zillmer and Gareth Jones

SD: A lot of people that Ive spoken to have said that even though theyve had so much time, its still not been the right headspace for them to make music. I remember thinking Id do a lot more, but early on in lockdown I just sat staring at walls. I dont think anyone should beat themselves up. You need something to aim for, something coming up. Everythings in limbo, hopefully by the back end of the summer, once theres something booked for a musician, the enthusiasm will come back.

DM: Im very curious to know how its going to be in clubs. I think for a while people are only going to want crazy fast ravey stuff and very hard techno to get it out of their system.

The Utopia Strong managed to play a social-distanced gig with Teeth Of The Sea in that weird winter lull before the third lockdown. What was that like?

We just felt lucky that wed sneaked one in! Everyone was delighted to be out, The Clapham Grand theatre is quite an amazing place to play. We were the first thing theyd done in months, and unfortunately because things hadnt been well-oiled the heating wasnt working. We had to supply blankets to the crowd. Then, all of a sudden, they locked things up again.

It was nice to do one, but every show is nerve wracking. I thought Id finished being nervous in my life when I retired from snooker. Its something Im never going to get used to. Its the same butterflies in the stomach as with snooker, but its more of a journey into the unknown for me. I did know what I was doing exactly with a snooker cue. With a modular its like a runaway horse, youre just trying to hold on to the reins.

DM: And when youre playing live, especially solo modular, you have to keep it moving, you have to keep it interesting.

SD: Im looking forward to at some point watching Daniel play solo. It would be good to start up some kind of modular meet somewhere, I dont know how many there are in the London area

DM: Funnily enough we have been talking about it. Andy Fletcher from Depeche Mode owns a pub and we were thinking about doing some modular events down in the basement. Its usually a jazz club and only holds about 50 people, which is perfect. Maybe we could collaborate Steve!

Steve Davis and Kavus Torabis book Medical Grade Music is out now via White Rabbit, and can be found here. Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones new album as Sunroof, Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 1, is released on May 21 via Mutes Parallel Series and can be pre-ordered here.

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Features | In Conversation | Modular Therapy: Daniel Miller And Steve Davis In Conversation - The Quietus