"H.U.O. - (..) In a discussion I had with Rosalind Krauss and Molly Nesbit some years ago, Krauss said that we're living in a post-medium condition. So the medium of painting as an isolated practice is no longer relevant. Ed Ruscha's medium, for instance, could be the car. I was wondering if the weather is your medium, and if you could talk a little about this? On this journey the weather has been a major part of the experience, almost as important as the landscape.
O.E. - I noticed when we got here yesterday that we had an eastern wind; we spoke about it, actually. The eastern wind comes over what is called the Hofsjokull, the Hofs Glacier, and normally that means quite good weather the next day. As I woke up this morning, however, I was saddened to see it had turned in a notherly direction, which is usually a sign of dreary weather and I quietly anticipated a rainy day, without wanting to spread too much bad news. I think we have had a stroke of luck, though, in that we've traveled along the rain curtain; in the northern half of Iceland, on our left, it is definitely raining and in the southern half it probably is as well, although I can't say for certain. So many questions arise when speaking about the weather. One issue is how you orient yourself as and individual in either an urban or a landscape environment like the one we're in now. It's exciting to see, for example, how quickly you begin to use the weather as a personal compass. The weather gives air substance; the rain gives the air, which is normally invisible, depth. So when you have a big rain cloud, the rain falling under it gives you a sense of the cloud's size. The weather, then, is a tool for measuring our surroundings, especially in expansive landscapes like this one. So this is one aspect that I find interesting. The other thing worth noting is how the weather functions as a social organizer. It brings people out of their private spaces; it works in a more metaphoric or abstract way as a kind of shared environment. Right now, we both have the wind in our face and in this way the weather somehow overlaps our bodies. It's a kind of share physicality."
