Dolmen

Absorbed by Neolithic and Paleolithic thoughts, I decided to head out to find the local prehistoric monument, the dolmen. It turned out to be a couple of kilometers from town, but it was a lovely walk alongside farms and vineyards. The dolmen was great, though not surprisingly, the folks who built the road nearby seemed not particularly interested in showcasing the monument. They didn't destroy it, which is something, but it's practically buried in the roadside ditch. Makes it pretty hard to imagine it in a prehistoric context.

I got down into it, hoping to feel a magical vibe. Some animal was rustling around under the leaves, though, and I realized a scorpion or snake bite was more likely than a magical vibe.

the neighbors

I'm told that my neighbors include John Malkovich, down the street, and Brad and Angelina. I haven't seen any of them yet. Nor have they asked me over. Also, the mayor of Menerbes apparently produced the notorious film 'Emmanuelle.'

Yes, I'm working...

I’m reading Lewis-Williams’ book, The Mind in the Cave. In it, he forges a new interpretation of cave painting. He begins by talking about the way that the materialist science of recent centuries shapes our thinking and our explanations. He offers this quote:

These questions are not just about ancient history. They take us to the heart of what it is to be human today. It is not simply that we are more intelligent than other creatures, that we are masters of complex technology, or even that we have complex language. These are glittering jewels in the crown of humanity with which we are comfortable. On the contrary, the essence of being human is an uncomfortable duality of ‘rational” technology and ‘irrational’ belief. (18)

and once more, in reference to the impact of Darwin’s ideas:

Suddenly, Westerners who had access to Darwin’s ideas could ‘see’ things that they had never noticed before. (22)

Just as, he writes, a 16th century visitor to the Niaux cavern saw, but did not notice, the incredible art on the walls, The contemporary belief in a short human history did not allow him to recognize the paintings.


It is something along these lines that I aim to do in my current work… to ‘see’ the imagery of the neolithic Near East in a fundamentally non-materialist way, and therefore to interpret it in a new way.

Arrival

I have arrived and am still absorbing my surroundings... that will take a while since they are rather incredible. I'm in the house of Dora Maar, an artist and a mistress of Picasso. Her presence is still very much here; art, photographs, and books about Dora Maar, surrealism, and Picasso, as well as a variety of works by and books about other artists, all breathe life into the house. The house itself is built out of, and on top of, limestone bedrock, and the rock pokes out of the walls and stairways in seemingly random places and reminds you that you are attached to the hill. We are pretty much at the top of the town, all of which is perched on this hill, sort of organically, thanks to the limestone construction, which makes the buildings seem to grow out of the hill. The house is rather tall, and my room is at the top of the winding stone staircase, so from my windows I see the tippy-tops of the cypress trees, the sky, and a pretty incredible view. 

The first night there was a thunderstorm, which from my aerie was fabulous. The windows aren't covered, so from bed I could see just the sky, full of lightning, and hear those cypress trees blowing and the shutters clattering.

It's actually possible to get lost in the house, although it has only four bedrooms. From my room at the top you descend a few stairs to another bedroom, then further down to two more bedrooms, then another level to the living rooms. There are several doors to the outside & terraces, and another staircase that sprouts off at that level, going up to workrooms and down to office and gallery space. If I take the wrong staircase I can't get back to my bedroom. There's even an elevator in a space that was blasted out of the limestone bedrock, so that from the garage you go through a medieval-looking arched passageway-tunnel and find yourself, surprisingly, at a very modern elevator. It's very bat-cave.