Friendship Island

A BRIEF HISTORY Friendship Island is (or should I say, was) a magical island of 100 inhabitants. The island was haven for musicians, poets, dreamers and schemers, novelty sports stars, bikini clad beauty queens, vegetarian gardeners, white trash lottery winning tattoo artists and all kinds of other interesting people and animals. Everyone had their ideal personality, a fantasy life. Friendship Island had a perfect climate all year round and had amazing beaches, forests and waterfalls. Some may say it was a Utopian existence.

In November 2008, geographical data and biographical information collected from Friendship Island was presented to the public for the first time. This exciting event took place in First Draft Gallery, located in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia. As a special feature, a replica of the Friendship Island Büdchen was operational in the gallery and two inhabitants of the island were present for the duration of the show; answering questions, hosting sticker-making workshops and, frankly, getting drunk with guests.

Much has happened since that time. Many things have changed. It is with great sadness that I annouce that in October 2010 a gigantic and fierce tsunami hit Friendship Island, causing absolute destruction of all buildings and infrastructure. Luckily, (and amazingly coincidentally), every single one of the inhabitants was away at that time, so no lives were lost.

The inhabitants are slowly rebuilding the buildings on the island, working together night and day to make it even better than before.

In November 2010, debris from the wreckage began washing up on various coastlines all around the world. I, (Nicola Hardy) was in Hamburg at the time and happened to notice some weird stuff washing ashore at the harbour. These items will are now available for public viewing in gallery spaces and online areas so that the remnants of the island are not lost forever. Some of the items include artwork from the tattoo shop, a collection of calaveras, vitrines from the Gallery of Provocative Females, bikins from the Big M district and skateboards. An odd collection of things, for sure, but a great collection nonetheless.

This booklet is a souvenir of Friendship Island and it’s people – what it was and what it will be once again.

All proceeds of sales go towards the re-building of Friendship Island.

Nicola Hardy

2.

INTRODUCTION Whenever there’s a movie or book about Utopia, it’s always actually about Dystopia.

It starts with an idyllic location; beautiful palm trees or high tech gadgetry or scantily clad women dancing provocatively. Everyone is happy, rich and successful – always smiling and content. Then things turn bad. The super computer turns out to be evil. All the housewives are actually robots. Suicide at the age of 30 suddenly seems like a bad idea. Paranoia, greed, envy, malcontent and malaise start to take over. For every awesome trip there’s an equally un-awesome come-down. (Do I have to talk about Thomas More at this point?).

Friendship Island is an idyllic community inspired

by Phil Schöde’s ‘Friendship Town’ designed and exhibited in Hamburg early 2008. I think I wanted to design Friendship Island so I could have all my friends around me in one place and we can just hang out and have a great time.

One time I got really sad when I was working on Friendship Island because it just seemed so much better than my real life...

When I first started to think about my idea of Utopia or an ideal place I was thinking that money would be abolished and everything would be supplied by some kind of central organisation that provided everything the citizens would need – food, shelter, electricity etc. Then I realised that I basically wanted Marxist style communism. Now, as we all know, Karl Marx was cool but his ideas didn’t work in practice. Sure – Russia and China gave us all those cool propaganda posters and Cuba has retro cars and the Buena Vista Social Club but what of the East Germans? All they got was misery and a shitload of giant heads and really wide streets. So then I had to re-think. What if instead of everyone having no money, everyone was a squillionaire? Would money still be an issue? Then I had a reality check and decided that because the whole thing is imaginary, we can all just suspend our disbelief for a moment and forget the concept of money all together.

Things are just free.

Like most kids my age, I loved ‘Bewitched’ and ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ – women with crazy magic powers. But Samantha and Jeannie were both controlled by their ‘masters’ and weren’t allowed to use their powers for anything cool – only for making dinner and looking pretty. When they did use their powers they got in trouble or were being naughty. (And there was this cold war shit happening in ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ that I never quite understood). It didn’t seem fair and definitely didn’t make any sense. But I still love the animated opening sequences of both shows – they are probably the best thing about them.

I don’t read the newspaper or drive a car or watch the news. As Simon and Garfunkle said ‘I gather all the news I need from the weather report’. The news has been the same since forever. Just change the names of the protagonists and the hairstyles and suits of the newsreaders and you could just run repeats.

I like the comics in the newspaper. If I made a newspaper the whole of the news would be presented in comic format. This would make it fun to read and give all my friends a source of income. Or if there were stories, they would be written in an interesting way, Gonzo style or in prose or haiku. The way news stories are written is so boring, it’s like reading a text book – a text book about being boring.

3.

My favourite stories from childhood often featured what could be referred to as Utopian or idyllic states. Did you ever read Enid Blyton’s ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’? (Yeah and before you start getting all PC on my ass, I know she wrote all those racist and moralistic books but she also wrote some cool books and we all read them so shut up). Anyway there was this cool tree and there were all kinds of awesome thing happening like magic lollies and stuff. And Roald Dahl – his books were so fantastic. ‘James and the Giant Peach’ was a particular favourite of mine. Astrid Lindgren’s ‘Pippi Longstocking’ was also a great character – she was so strong she could lift a horse and she had a neverending supply of gold. Also she was about 7 and lived without her parents, which I thought was totally and utterly fantastically cool. But then I saw this movie, I think it was called ‘Beautiful People’ and they described Pippi as a capitalist.

I don’t care, me and the Gilmore Girls agree that Pippi is great.

So my ideal place would be one where there is no stress, no sickness, no war or arguing pointlessly about stupid things and the concept of ‘wrong’ does not exist. There is plenty of time to get things done and creativity is appreciated above everything else. Food tastes good and there is fresh clean air. People share their knowledge freely and if someone has ‘power’ they are not an asshole about it. No-oneis mean or evil EXCEPT in the wrestling arena, where everyone has the opportunity to act out a mean or evil character such as ‘the office bitch’ or ‘mean bank teller’. Everyone can speak and understand every language, even animal and plant languages. There is a really good 4.

photocopier that’s free and a long-arm stapler that is reliable. Things and people are not exploited. There is no ‘work’; there are things to do but people do these things because they enjoy them. I can see my favourite bands play whenever I want to (even if they are dead). I have lots of time to read books and make drawings.

There is a sense of all people working together towards a common goal and being a part of one big thing where rocks, plants, people and everything is all the same. Religion doesn’t exist.

Everyone is content with how they look and the things that they have. Clothing and shoes are comfortable and look really good. Fly spray and so called ‘air fresheners’ don’t exist but incense and scented candles are ok. Herbal remedies and homeopathics are plentiful. There is always something cool or fun to do. And women don’t get their periods and if you want to have a baby there is no such thing as pregnancy. Babies are delivered by a stork or some other large bird.

There are lots and lots of animals that hang out and are nice and they talk. Meditation is something that everyone does and it is of great benefit to all people and helps with harmonious living.

Everyone is healthy. We eat fish sometimes but no other animals. Everyone is good at something. No one gets lonely. If you have a problem there is always someone to talk to. There is free love and lots of tea. Camping doesn’t suck. There are no cars. People care about the environment and actively do something about it every day like not using biros – using a refillable pen etc and everything is re-used and not wasted. Chocolate is plentiful and doesn’t cause fatness. I would have a massive room filled with really comfortable things to sit on and excellent magazines and cool pictures to look

at. There is a lot of wood panelling and high ceilings – high ceilings are important. There is a bit of a woody seventies vibe but sometimes it is hippie sixties and even beatnik fifties. Ok there is a definite retro vibe. (I guess that many people think the past was better because it is known and the future isn’t). Fruit, vegetables and herbs grow freely everywhere and are delicious. The ocean is close but so is the forest. All the houses and buildings are enviro friendly and unique – like the ones in my all time favourite book ‘Woodstock Handmade Houses’. And there are tree houses and underground caves. Anything can happen ~ but nothing has to!

Nicola Hardy, November 2008

Art and design by Nicola Hardy. Original concept by Phil Schöde. Created November 2008.

First exhibited at Firstdraft, Sydney, Australia. Escape from the Island exhbition, November 26-28, 2010, Kunstlerhaus Vorwerkstift, Hamburg, Germany.

5.

INHABITANTS Legion, God of Fuck is a sexy, wrestler muscle looking more evil version of Grebo, with horns, pointy eyebrows (for that spesh evil look) and good looking cock (not too big, not small, just right and looks good in leather pants). Friendship Island is a place of rampant (consensual) sex, no government, no pain, no phobias, just fucking and anything that makes your bits tingle, all genders, all sexualities, aliens welcome. My idea of utopia is to be doing something with someone else and nothing exists outside what you are doing, like making art but with human bodies. (Character by the Great Reverend Grebo).

Jade Palmer is happy; content but questioning, with no worries or concerns about doing something wrong because everything he does is be right... it just is... He experiences happiness in what ever he encounters, touches, smells and tastes. He likes living on Friendship Island because it is what you imagine perfection to be like... the animals speak with you and don’t fear you... the trees and grass keeps you warm with their hugs... the stars glisten like rainbows... the mountains are covered in orchids and bright huge flowers, the waters are blue with lotus flowers... there is no power control and things just are as they should be...

Cy MC’s during the burlesque shows and also helps to judge the wet t-shirt competitions. He lives on The Tug Boat in the Friendship Island Marina. In his spare time he hangs out in the Big M District and presents a radio show on Radio Friendship.

Will ‘Will’ French eats pizza and is massaged and having his hair washed constantly while a never-ending James Bond movie plays in the background.

J-Ho is the gossip columnist for the Dirty Sun and some kind of plant doctor.

6.

Valentina Carrara is an attractive woman in her early 40’s with 2 children. She lives in a spacious loft apartment, located on one of the top floors of a high rise and has a roof top garden, art studio and fabulous interior design. She regularly has amazing art exhibitions. She dresses in mainly Italian designer wear, Versacci, Gucci, D&G, Valentino. She is well liked and enjoys participating in community activities. Character by Vittoria Vieceli

Anton owns/cooks at Anton’s Restaurant.

Mer is a cyborg, an intellegent and emotional machine in the shape of a person who is able to work and learn for as long as possible. It is pale blue with no discernable gender, 7 foot tall and living for at least 400 years. He/she comes to Friendship Island already over 100 earth years old. “Utopia means to me any place where human beings manage to balance the needs of the individual with the needs of the group (and the group includes all living things).” By Jo Waite.

Cybird is a cyborg rather than a person - like bird, like man, like machine. He has scale-legged boots up to the thighs with boot heels in gunmetal grey. His feathers are jagged metal, and they morph into his head, like a dark knight hood with a chicken crown. “Friendship Island is like the Dubai wonderlands. The people in it are like a dark circus act, or like that place where the E is just sitting nicely in a good crowd... It’s safe and has it’s own timeline.” Character by Mat Jakobi Bryan: “Friendship Island is a land of plentiful beer and chocolate, with a warm climate, coconut palm-lined beaches, with a roller coaster that turns into a watersplashing ride and an art deco movie house. I also have my friends around, and a cache of weapons to defend against European explorers in search of spices, slaves or prisons.” Character

by Bryan Allchin Dirtynails lives in a cottage built entirely out of stone and it is called My Rock.

It is surrounded by trees and she has many horses living on the property.

Everything needed to run the property is there and it is totally self-sufficient.

Character by Kathy Newman.

7.

LITTLE GIANTS

Tony “Puppy Eyes” Mahoney (right) plays for The Little Giants baseball team, and the strange thing is that you never see him and Chill Phil in the same place at the same time. He hangs out with Dan and the other team-mates who live at The Little Giants Big Apartment.

Dan “The Man” McKinlay (left) also plays for The Little Giants baseball team, makes music and is pretty excited about stuff. Stefano (below left) runs rescue helicopter missions, bringing friends to the Love + Friendship Carnival once a year. He is in the Doppel Gang with the other Stefano. Everyone in the Little Giants is over 7 feet (213cm)tall.

Stefano represents Brooklyn old skool dance style high-performance baseball skills. He can dance his way out of any situation.

Niko Dime is the pitcher for The Little Giants and she is pretty tough. She lives at the The Little Giants Big Apartment and her favourite food is beer.

8.

“On Friendship Island only partially clothed people exist, most of them have feathers on their upper body and adorn their lower bodies with coloured clay when there is a celebration like a birthday so like occasionally!

It is a place where woman are pretty much in charge, but they are not like Germain Greer so it’s kinda more relaxed and when there is a problem people have sex to let off steam, much like the benobos that live in the Congo Jungle. My ideal self is one that exists in the form of lizard/bird like creature far far away from the greedy grips of capitalism. When i think of the word Utopia I also think of an Aboriginal community out in the vast Australian desert!” By Megan Cope If you just want to spend the day with someone sweet then Amber Fresh is your go-to girl. She writes cool stories and often sits in a park surrounded by friends telling the stories in her biggest voice. Everyday she buys a copy of the Dirty Sun from the Büdchen.

Tofu Girl: superheroine + photo spy girl. Hates meat.

Reads a lot. Gets angry.

Soy Boy: cute but basically useless sidekick for Tofu Girl.

Ben Hutcho resides in Beardhaven - a multi-storey complex where bearded comic artist types dwell and play. There are no computers here and the ideas and pens never run dry. Ben drives the train when he feels like it.

Everyone is accustomed to the irregular nature of the train service and this makes them love it even more when it arrives. By Ben. Randy and Candy visited Friendship Island many years ago, bought a lottery ticket at the Büdchen and won a house on the island. Randy loves Candy and sex and having sex with Candy. Candy loves Randy and sex and having sex with Randy. They live together in Trash Mansion. Randy makes films about insects at TIRGF. Candy is a tattooist. In their spare time they invent drinking games and have awesome parties.

Starting her career in phone sex, Stella Schwarz is a late night radio DJ who plays dirty blues music and has a regular audience of odd ball listeners from Friendship Island. Strangely her name means ‘Black Star’. Stella stays at the Hawaiian Sands Motor Inn and hangs out with Dr Lakenpalmer. (Character developed by Alison Spence).

9.

INTERVIEW WITH PJER FLJER (PIERRE FLAIR) Who are you? eurythmie-fan, früher zyniker, aber geheilt, wegen yoga und experimentellem theater, kauft ökoseife...weil’s auf friendship island keine andere gibt. ist sauer, weil die die farbflecken nicht richtig enfernt...nimmt die drahtbürste dazu...und glotzt mit glasigem blick auf die durch das schrubben rosa schaeumenden fingerkuppen.

Eurythmy fan, formerly cynic, but healed, because of yoga and Experimental theater, buys ecoloical soap because on Friendship Island is no different. is sour, because the color does not ... Right away, the wire brush to stare ... and with glassy look at the swab through the pink foamy fingertips What is ~ Friendship Island ~ like? öko hat sich bei den meisten bewohnern durchgesetzt...es gibt jedoch eine kleine aber feine auswahl an gorillas, die im untergund versuchen, das öko-system zu stürzen. eco has been for most residents enforced ... but there are a small but fine selection of gorillas in the underground trying to understand the eco-system to crash.

Who is your ideal self? I, on my good days. Ha! ... na good: I, on my rare good days, but pimped with: footwear that does not get wet when it’s raining, muscular legs ... smaller nostrils.

What does Utopia mean to you? schwer...friendship island hat aber schon viel davon:freundschaft, loyalitaet und generelles wohlwollen gepaart mit der abgeschlossenheit einer insel...und unbedingt:-kein zugang zu massenvernichtungswaffen, falls jemand doch mal nen schlechten tag hat. andererseits: die idee: utopia, ein ideal, nie erreichbar, aber man baut nicht so viel mist und ist auch in der echten welt ein besserer mensch, wenn man sich trotzdem auf den weg dorthin macht... ... difficult friendship but Island has been much like this: friendship, loyalty and general probably want coupled with the seclusion of an island ... and unconditionally: -no access to weapons of mass destruction, but if someone can times has bad day. the other: the idea: utopia, an ideal, never attainable, but we builds not so much shit and is also in the real world is a better human, if you are still on the way there makes ...

10.

Chill Phil

Mister Masterplan

Hannes

“I think Friendship Island is a place where everybody takes themselves not so seriously and the highest goal is to make everybody smile. I run a Büdchen on F.I. and for everybody who comes there I got the right product, joke or story. After work I like to go fishing, smok’n joints & drinking beer with friends.” Chill Phil Mister Masterplan is the master of the plans and planning as a master. He likes to organise things. But sometimes he’s worried because he plans too much. He smiles a lot when talking to you and walks back and forth while thinking about his plans. He wears a worn-out suit and white shirt, and walks mostly without shoes. “Friendship Island is never noisy there, people are friendly, it’s warm, but not too hot.” Hannes is big funny hot sexy bad ugly.

“Utopia is a dream world which does not exist bzw. It is a theroretically imaginary world that is impossible to exist for real because of cetain clues: marxismus is utopia, world without money, socialism, anarchismworld without diseases, fucking for free in Herbertstasse.” The Fridge is half man/half amazing. “Friendship Island is a stress-free zone for making things happen. It’s totally autonom... no suckers needed... energy comes from friendships (nehmen und geben) so no money is needed as well... it’s summer all year long.”

The Fridge

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FRIENDSHIP ISLAND MAP I CE S K ATI N G R I N K

S KATE B O W L

BET H G R E N A LL E HO N USE

BI KE SE RV IC STAT IO E N

TH E

B IK E

SHO

P

THE ANIMAL SANCTUARY

THE SUP ER DUP ER MAR K T

LOT U S LA KE LI BR A

RY

GEODESIC DOME

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E SKATING RINK

ROLLERSK ATING RINK

AM P H I TH E AT R E

SKATE PARK

H U GE ART WAREHOUSE S LA SH STUD IO

13.

Mikey and his housemate live above Kaas Winkel - a Dutch cheese shop in the Frenchspeaking part of Friendship Island. Mikey lives a life where it’s constantly his birthday and he is visited by Dutch girls and some cows. This happens everyday.

For the rest of his life. His housemate is just along for the ride and punishment.

Check out the full story here: http://comicrehab.wordpress.com/category/round-07/nicola-hardy/ Agatha enjoys amazing sex and food, laughs and good times with amazing people sitting around an outdoor fire. There is a lot of drinking of herbal tea in brown hand made mugs or red wine or ginger wine but no hallucinogens. Agatha and all her friends enjoy swimming in dams in the afternoons and there are rope swings.

Jazz plays and abstract expressionism hangs on the walls. There is a lot of wool, spinning, ceramics, embroidery and brown. She doesn’t do gardening but does enjoy mangoes. Her place is called1972.

Sky is a make-up and hair artist who runs a beauty salon and make-over clinic called Klein Beautiful Salon.

She lives upstairs with Janus, the shrimp and Vladimir.

Sky enjoys tea, apfel shorler, chocolate on bread and cheese. Janus takes photos and he and Sky make nudie pin-up magazines. You often see them over in the Big M district discussing projects with the Tiny Professor.

14.

Officer Snakepants is a cop but he’s not like other cops you might have met. He and his twin brother are just basically there to make sure you’re having a great time and that your stereo is loud enough and that you have enough pot to smoke and that the beer hasn’t run out.

Sonnet hangs out being a kid. Forever.

Nicola aged 7 appears in ‘Nicola’s Abalone Rollerskating Adventures’.

Buy it at the Büdchen.

Jones Jessica has brunette, short hair (like her mother used to have), beautiful, intelligent, inquisitive. She is a dreamweaver - creating stories for people utilising elements from their dreams and the appropriate software that we’re sure will be available. She lives by herself in a cluttered cottage on Friendship Island, filled with knick-knacks she’s collected from her travels, regular visits to op shops and second-hand stores and eBay purchases.

Jones may look to the future but her heart is set firmly in the past.

Character by Dann Lennard

Celyce Chan

‘Imagine’ the cat

Bob Brown

Nordy Steve magpie

Celyce Chan runs an Animal Sanctuary/with Bob Brown + Billi Lime. F.I. has every kind of animal and they all talk and are cool and wander everywhere. The sanctuary is where they sleep, eat good foods and have some alone time.

15.

GREG can be found at TIRGF most days, making crazy films about weird stuff. He is extremely helpful and super funny.

Doctor Emerson Lakenpalmer is a health specialist who loves to say “there’s nothing wrong with you” and it’s true.

Thommy’s Haus of International Welcome is a place where you can always just hang out and have some tea and really good snacks. Has underground tunnel to Agatha’s place.

Ross T. lives in Beardhaven with Ben and other influential beardy comic types.

16.

Stefano has access to the good stuff & runs Club Love - the best disco in townwith live acts and awesome DJ’s (living or dead). There’s no concept of ‘the weekend’ here - every night is party night!

Olivier “I cook a lot, I hang around with friends, I’m working on collective political-performance projects like building parasite economy systems and creating an unreachable and perfectly independent structure to produce and broadcast stuff like videos, music, events.”

24K hangs out at Sound Apartments. This is a massive multi storey complex with each floor dedicated to different styles of sound. It has been designed to have the best acoustics ever.

There is a whole floor dedicated to synths. You will find every instrument there and a lab for developing new sounds.

There are numerous recording studios, a vinyl archive, computers etc.

Sound Performance has a listening lounge that is circular and filled with cushions and has the best stereo ever... you can listen to lots of experimental music there and there is a concert at midday and another at midnight. Everyone wants to play on Friendship Island so you just have to write a letter to your favourite band (living or dead) and they will come and play. Last Tuesday I saw Buffalo Daughter, Fuck I’m Dead and Future of the Left supporting The Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was really good. I think you would have liked it.

Max Power is a woman and money magnet. In his spare time he takes people on helicopter tours. He is super-relaxed and friendly with hundreds of kids. We all live together in a completely underground architectural house, multi level, with a wicked play area on top. It also has lots of fireman poles and slide access areas and pools that go from one room to another and a spa cinema. He lives with someone nice who is always changing the way they look.

Max loves these things about Friendship Island; • everyone helps each other build their houses • everyone takes turns cooking dinner so you only have to cook once every 100 days!

• there are no attachments or jealousy...there’s a Buddhist style approach to island life.

• everyone encouraged to skill share and learn each others (numchuck) skills.

• there is always awesome ambient music playing during the day from hidden speakers.

by Reuben Armstrong.

“My ideal self? I guess I’d like to do something for other people, say the people of Haiti. They always seem to be in the shit, but then I’d have to concentrate and work out what skill I could give them besides brawn.

I’d like to get each day right for once as well.

I guess the world as it stands is fairly perfect. There’s just about everything here and all the potential is here right now anyway. I guess if it got anymore perfect we’d go in turn a little bit more insane.”

by Shane Jesse Christmass (SJX) - he owns an ice cream shop called Downtown Eis Haus

Jacob is Polish and he owns The Vodka and Absinth Bar and Distillery. He talks to his clientele about their problems because he is a professional psychologist and an all-round nice guy.

And handsome.

And a great pianist.

Michael Pham makes badges - because everyone loves badges. He lives in Badge Manor with a badge maker and a talking pet badger.

17.

HARPER

Who lives here? “Not that many people, but enough for all basic skills for a comfortable, rich life to be realised by all the inhabitants. In particular, there’s a group of people who run a printing press and make paper. They have been doing this for a while and the paper they make has special qualities that make it the most valuable paper in the world. It’s one of the precious things that we trade with the world for exotic food items and really good coffee. (There’s lots of gourmet food on Friendship Island but only ever in smal quantities so everyone has learnt to be a true gourmet and savour taste above quantity.) ...there’s a strong tendency for skills to get shared; knowledge is not hoarded on Friendship Island.

There’s big free op shop that is run by a group of people who get every rag and somehow re-use it to the utmost realisation of it’s potential. As Friendship Island has quite dramatic weather at times, there are nice practical clothes as well as party gear and animal costumes for people. There are parties on Friendship Island that are associated with seasons and dramatic natural events. As people, there’s no particular demographic discernable. The unique nature of the clothing made on the Island by the wonderous clothing makers ensures that garments suit the people so everyone looks good and cool but daggy at the same time.”

What is Friendship Island like? “Well, it’s a group of houses made of materials that have been washed up and blown to the island. There’s a library filled with classic books, art journals, magazines and computers although there’s limited internet connectivity, and people tend to write letters on Friendship Island.”

What are some other good things about Friendship Island? “I enjoy the peace and quiet and time to be by myself. I enjoy herding goats and making excellent cheese from their milk. The great big kitchen with really good, well made cooking equipment. The massive vegetable garden that has a good compost heap. Trees. Fresh water. Interesting insects to look at. Flowers in season, warm things, cool things. Hot water. Hot water is brilliant.” by Andrew Harper 18.

We walk alone, holding it close, our most treasured, our most useless possession.

We cradle it like the most precious of eggs, warm its shell and watch for cracks. It is every (all) shape(s), all the colours we can imagine, every colour we have found a name for. It is small and cool to the touch, but may be warmed by tender fingers.

Warm, it calls attention to itself, a quiet song to hidden brethren. I hold this object out to you, a startlingly naked gesture of trust. You examine its surface with your eyes; you name it softly with your tongue.

A corresponding, sympathetic warmth arises between your own fingers. You look down; understanding grows. We make the exchange and stand, side by side, looking out to sea, watching the same, the endlessly changing, horizon. We are whole. We have not been discarded.

By Sarah Bunting

Claire owns Patisserie Lilly. She’s a pastry chef from Tasmania!

Kelly gets stoned and plays music.

Gangster 1 is German, but inexplicably comes from Brussels & lives in Petit Paris. He hangs out with Gangster 2, Gangster 3 & Francois. They all live together in the Gangster Palace.

The gangsters are not really doing much except playing cards & drinking tea & having a great time. You can often find them doing favours for their neighbour, Dear Lady.

Dear Lady is Friendship Island’s etiquette specialist. She writes a column for the Dirty Sun about manners and is a big personality on the island.

DJ On is a French drum and bass DJ (but don’t hold that against him). He originally hails from Maritius and is a great cook. When he isn’t in Petit Paris, you can find him at Sound Apartments or smoking cigarettes at the Büdchen.

Francois is mysterious. He wears sunglasses and often plays cards with the gangsters. They both live in a house with Raj, a likeable gent who is well-known for his sense of humour.

They live in The House of the Couchsurfing Frenchies.

Penelope Lady just spends most of her time relaxing and she also helps people like a true friend.

Marky Marketing is a marketing guy who handles all the marketing needs of the Friendship Island residents. Because Friendship Island doesn’t need a marketing guy he is also useful for carrying wood and other large objects.

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“My name is Loes and I live and work on The Organic Hippie Love Farm, but is has not gone bad like the many WWOOFing farms I’ve been on, because it is me and my friends! It will also not be in the middle of nowhere all cut off from society, because we understand that though we may not embrace society, we can’t run away from it, we don’t want that. I have my own practise for massage, psychology and natural remedies. I am also a yoga teacher. I am happy now that I have found my place with the people I love, the things I love to do, now that I am helping people everyday, now that I’m using my capabilities, now that I can fully express myself.

Yohann is here too (living in a tipi) and he helps everyone with eco-building. He has also become a great artist of wood sculpture. He helps in my practise with his magnetism skills!

My friend Judith is there too and she has created a centre for people who fled from their countries, a place for them to talk, meet people, learn...

Artists can do their expo’s all over our houses, they can come and teach children. There is a daycare centre as well, the kids can play and help and learn in the gardens and do creative and crazy-children’s things. We will have cats and rabbits and horses. Oh yeah and my dad has moved in with us because he is 72 and he doesn’t want to be alone all the time anymore.

He will just sit in the sun all day and read, and help in the gardens and in the restaurant, play with the children and go cycling.

Friendship Island it is a lovely green place, not too big, with a lot of parks and trees everywhere, and lots of water! There will be a nice sunny climate. And squatting and weed are legalised! I think it looks a lot like Groningen, but with better weather. The island does a lot to reduce waste, we recycle and we have a lot of shops with second hand and free things.

People are openminded and open towards one another. There is no police because they are not needed. And money flows naturally, no one is poor and no one has too much! No one feels restricted to do what they feel is good. There are no assholes!” By Loes Limburg 20.

Loes and Yohan

Judith and René

Stella from Provence grows lavender+knows all about organic farms.

Obama - well he just bees a really nice guy in fact, he is a bee-keeper.

He is good friends with Stella from Provence, the Tiny Professor, Celyce Chan and Bob Brown. He lives in a modest cottage with his grandma.

DISTRICTS etc.

P E TI T PA R IS EL EGA N T MANOR G AN GST ER PALACE T HE HOUSE OF THE COU C H S U R F I N G FR EN C HI ES PAT I SSE R I E LILLY KL EI N B E AUTIFUL S ALON K AAS WINKEL ( T HE C H E ES E S HOP) THE POMPIDOU CENTRE THE V E R B ARIUM THE DI RT Y S UN BUILDING THUS SPA KE THE S PEAKE ASY RA D I O F R IENDS HIP H AWA I I A N S ANDS MOTO R IN N The motto here is: ‘There are no strangers in this place, only friends we have never met’.

B AUM HAUS A R E A

T H E L IT T L E GIAN TS BIG APARTME N T L IT T L E GIAN TS P LAY IN G FIE LD ALL WE TS H Q

The All Wets is the Acquatic Frisbee Golf team.

WR E STIN G AR E N A T H E W RE STLE R ’S R E STIN G H AUS 200 1 : A SPAC E O D Y SSE Y / FUTUR ISTIC R E GIO N T H E I N S TITUTE OF REALLY GOOD FILMS TIRGF(includes videostore and studio)

TH E SC IE N C E LAB SOUND APARTMENTS S OU N D PE R FO R MAN C E - (live music

This area is dedicated solely to building and designing tree houses. They are constantly evolving and they are getting better and weirder everyday.

THE O RGA N I C HI P PI E L OV E FA RM

The Organic Hippie Love Farm includes a wild himbeere area, a compost heap, the bee hive yourself area, a carrot patch and enough herbs, fruits and vegetables to sustain the whole of Friendship Island.

Medicinal plants are also grown.

THE STON E S O U P R E S TA U R A N T

Is run by Peter and Luc. Just like in the Grimm Brothers’ story, each day a soup starts with a stone in the pot and grows more delicious as people add thngs to it.The soup and great stories are shared amongst everyone .

venue)

H EL IC O P TE R LAN D IN G AR E A MAX P O WE R ’S H O USE D O WN TO WN E IS H AUS SO LAR P O WE R P LAN T H Y D R O -E LE C TR IC P LAN T R E C Y C LIN G P LAN T B O ATS: T H E TUG BO AT T H E LAD Y FR IE N D SH IP

K L EIN E K Ö LN

BEARDHAVEN TR ASH MAN SIO N

N A C H OL AN D K ÖL S C H B AR O P D R E C K B ES T P IZ Z A SH O P E V E R It is a 3 storey pizza haus with Pizza Miene Leibe, Ladro and Il Carusi in it.

C H IL L P H IL’S H AUS T H E B Ü D CH E N

PRINTING PRESS + PAP E R P LAC E

Peter and Luc 21.

THE BIG M DISTRICT “The Big M District is powered by love. The Big M girls have returned and sales of all soft drinks and bottled water have virtually dried up. We all only drink milk now, in returnable washable reusable bottles. We are all very green.

Bunny Jaeger and Bettie Page are living there, so are all the Burlesque Queens who ever lived.

We all go to a Burlesque show every night, and drink Kahlua and Milk (cos it’s good for you). A few of the girls all take it in turns to put on a little show, just for the pure pleasure of performing.

I post my shots and movies of the shows every morning while the girls make new costumes each day and try them on. At lunchtime we brainstorm ideas for sketches and routines. Sometimes we just lie around and relax, but mostly there is something so interesting going on, and so much creative energy that we never have time to just do nothing in particular. Our siesta is from 3 PM to 5 PM. Then it’s a light snack and drinks before the next show. This cycle repeats itself until we all die and then re-incarnate to do it all again.

The impromptu shows are broadcast on iTunes TV and we make an absolute fortune from the

Michael Prior as himself 22.

royalties. The girls love to spend their money on new costumes and props. Now and then a big cat-fight breaks out, but generally things are very happy. The cat-fights are filmed, too, and they are sold as super-specials at triple the normal price. They outsell the regular shows ten to one.

Nothing like a few Mud-Honeys wrestling and pulling each others hair out to get the punters excited. The royalties from these movies go into the girls’ kitty for “special-occasion” underwear.

Sometimes I think they start these fights just for the fun of it and to buy a new bra.

All the big French lingerie designers have outlet shops in the Big M District and there are also loads of fabric shops with the most beautiful textiles from all over the world.

We have some very talented costumiers living on the island. They make some of the most original and beautiful costumes you will ever

Bettie Page

‘The Tiny Professor’

Milan Spending Spree

Bettie Barbie

see anywhere. Major shows are staged each Saturday night and are produced on a twomonthly cycle. In any one week there are eight shows being worked on.

Weekend cruise-ships arrive on a Friday evening, with loads of very groovy people, all dressed in costume in time to see the big Saturday show, which they pay handsomely to attend. Dress code is strictly enforced. There is a waiting list of 6 months to get a ticket despite our theatre seating over 500. The ships depart on Sunday afternoon. Everyone has an amazing time.It’s wonderful life in the Big M District.”

by Michael Prior (AKA The Tiny Professor)

Summer O’Love

Bettie Barbie, Summer O’Love and Milan Spending Spree are just there to make you smile.

They all live together in the Barbie Dreamhouse.

Their house has many fantasy rooms, a massive heart-shaped pool and their gardens features exotic birds, like pink flamingos and peacocks.

Along with having fun and inventing cocktails, they make appearances in the Saturday night shows and hang out with all the Big M District crew. Summer’s make-up skills are exceptional and she receives free samples from all the biggest make-up brands in the world. Milan is the strongest and fittest woman on Friendship Island and is a part-time super-heroine. Bettie Barbie is spending much of her time creating costumes for the shows.

Friendship Island is a collaborative project and if you want to be a part of it, just send an email to: nicola@secretenvelope.com – you can make suggestions, write a story about some of the characters or even live there yourself.

Everything is possible…!

23.

Real life Friendship Island residents, First Draft Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2008.

Extra big thank you to Kunstlerhaus Vorwerkstift, Hamburg, Germany for accomodation and gallery space.

And to Julito for being awesome and for printing the zines. x © Secret Envelope Productions 2010, Nicola Hardy ­e mail: nicola@secretenvelope.com ­ website: www.drawingdiscipline.blogspot.com­ ­p ublication date: 24 November 2010