1. Antony Gormley, TRAJECTORY FIELD, 2001 – 2003

When I was a boy, I was obsessed with maps. I would happily stare at them for hours and study the contours of the various islands, cities and coasts that my finger could trace while touching the pages of an atlas. I was born on an island. I knew this much. And I was carried across the seas to a new home. I don’t remember much of the journey since I slept through most of it.

The distance between these two places struck me as a child. How is it possible for us to travel so far, so wide? Why did we have to leave? What was the purpose, what did we gain? Why do I have to make new friends? I was stubborn and relentless in my desire to stay steadfast in one location. As a child, I longed for roots. It’s funny considering my life and desires now.

SimCity was a strange yet vibrant game that allowed me to create my own, albeit, dysfunctional, utopia. At a very basic level, I learned about the fundamental logistics of how society functioned. What their needs were. What they could live with and what they refused to live without. My favorite thing to build was bridges. The bigger and longer, the better. I suppose I always wanted things to connect. Two distal places, attached by a concrete and steel thread.

3. “We created intense situations daily of two people in a landscape–on holiday, on Mars, on a dying planet. Sometimes we would be an elderly couple, sometimes kids at a picnic.” – Meg Stuart

4.“Do we really want to travel in hermetically sealed popemobiles through the rural provinces of France, Mexico and the Far East, eating only in Hard Rock Cafes and McDonalds? Or do we want to eat without fear, tearing into the local stew, the humble taqueria’s mystery meat, the sincerely offered gift of a lightly grilled fish head? I know what I want. I want it all. I want to try everything once.” – Anthony Bourdain

Julian Barnett’s Bluemarble runs October 23-25th (Thu-Sat) at Danspace Project.