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Thursday, June 10, 2010

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Monday, May 3, 2010

AoTW: Hang on to Your Pelotas, Amigos, it’s Guillermo Gómez-Peña

I'm fortunate to live in a city that has a pretty healthy art community. Could it be better? Well, of course! But it's nothing like the dumpster-fire art scenes that I've experienced in some of the places I've lived. With this in mind, I had a grand idea---I'd highlight artistic going-ons happening around my community and feature a local artist for AoTW. And like the best laid plans of mice and men, it went all to crap because there just aren't many going-ons, well, going on. Or if there are, a scouring of the regional interwebz didn't reveal anything of note. For now, that idea is on the backburner. So, I cast my net a little farther west and south and re-discovered, Guillermo Gómez-Peña.

How does one describe him? Well, urmm, I'm not sure but here is a picture to set the stage.

Keep in mind that this is a relatively tame picture of him

Here is a video to further the mood:





Born in Mexico, Gomez-Pena later moved to the United States in 1978 and has since developed a fecundity in a wide array of media producing what is often a cacophony of visual imagery, sound, and outright bizzarro tactics which promote a gestalt of "performance activism and oppositional art."

Some examples of works in this vein:

The Couple in the Cage:

In a series of 1992 performances, Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gómez-Peña decked themselves out in primitive costumes and appeared before the public as "undiscovered AmerIndians" locked in a golden cage—an exercise in faux anthropology based on racist images of natives. Presented eight times in four different countries, these simple performances evoked various responses, the most startling being the huge numbers of people who didn't find the idea of "natives" locked in a cage objectionable. This provocative tape suggests that the "primitive" is nothing more than a construction of the West and uses comic fiction to address historical truths and tragedies. from: http://www.vdb.org/smackn.acgi$tapedetail?COUPLEINTH
Border Brujo:

Sitting at an altar decorated with a kitsch collection of cultural fetish items, and wearing a border patrolman's jacket decorated with buttons, bananas, beads, and shells, Gómez-Peña delivers a sly and bitter indictment of U.S. colonial attitudes toward Mexican culture and history. Whirling through various Mexican American stereotypes, pulling on costumes as easily as accents, Gómez-Peña emphasizes the collision of Mexican and American cultures, their mixture and misunderstanding of each other, each appearing as a dream/nightmare reflection of the "Other." In turns powerful and playful, Border Brujo poignantly illustrates the double edge of forced cultural occupation. from: http://www.vdb.org/smackn.acgi$tapedetail?BORDERBRUJ
Temple of Confessions:

A documentation of a performance/installation. Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Roberto Sifuentes created a fictional religion based on inter-cultural confessions. Exhibiting themselves in Plexiglas boxes as "end-of-the-century saints", the two performers hear the confessions of audience members willing to reveal their intercultural fears and desires to the saints.

"Considered one of the finest performance artists working in the U.S. today, Mexico-born Guillermo Gómez-Peña and his collaborator Roberto Sifuentes have created a surreal, chapel-like environment. In this space, viewers become participants, revealing their innermost fears and feelings about Mexicans, Chicanos, and Mexican cultureÉ People are disturbed, confused, ashamed, hopeful."

--Kathleen Vanesian, Phoenix New Times, February 9th, 1994. from: http://www.vdb.org/smackn.acgi$tapedetail?TEMPLEOFCO

Gomez-Pena's work is certainly confrontational but it is oppositional by design in order to force the average viewer to consider issues that have a tendency to remain in the murky understrata of society. The interface between the viewer, who is often an average museum goer, and the shocking display of overloaded ethnic and cultural symbolism promotes a dialogue that:

...challenges the traditional art world mythologies of the "Artiste" as a suffering bohemian and misunderstood genius. La Pocha artists perform necessary roles in multiple contexts including those of social critics and chroniclers, inter-cultural diplomats and translators/mis-translators, informal ombudsmen, media pirates, information architects, reverse anthropologists, experimental linguists and radical pedagogues. To us the artist is above all, an active, responsible citizen immersed in the great debates of our times. Our place is the world and not the Art World.
For several years now, Gomez-Pena has worked on developing a cross-disciplinary collaboration of like-minded artists who engage in artistic efforts that compel discussion of race, cultural identity, stereotypes, etc. via:

""living museums" that parody various colonial practices of representation including the ethnographic diorama (as found in museums of natural history), the Freak Show, the Indian Trading Post, [etc...] and their contemporary equivalents in global media and corporate entertainment

...the composite identities of our "ethno-cyborg" personae are manufactured with the following formula in mind: one quarter stereotype; one quarter audience projection; one quarter aesthetic artifact and one quarter unpredictable personal/social monster
from: http://www.pochanostra.com/what/
The living museums and other performances promote an idea that works towards:

...an ever-evolving cartography, which inter-connects nomadic, immigrant, hybrid and 'subaltern' rebel artists from various countries bypassing the hegemonic centers of cultural power...

...We seek to articulate another kind of global culture, emerging from within grassroots communities and on the streets, a hybrid culture that often resists, consciously or unconsciously, the 'legitimate' forces of globalization. In this sense, we are part of the 'Other Global Project.' We are particularly interested in the cultures generated by the millions of uprooted peoples, the exiles and migrants from so-called Third World countries, the orphans of crumbling nations and states who are moving North and West in search of the source of their despair. In the process, these 'orphans of the developing world' are creating a new fusion of high/low culture, which, by nature, is anti-colonial, oppositional and experimental. In the process these cultural migrants and political exiles inevitably meet with other migrants, the sexual misfits and aesthetic renegades of the dominant culture. We are interested in the meeting place.

There you have it. When I first found out about Gomez-Pena's work a few years ago, I certainly found it interesting. I couldn't help but be mesmerized in a "how you can't help but look at a car wreck" kind of way. However, considering the administration's ramping up of the immigration debate and the controversial bill just signed into law in Arizona, I think that Gomez-Pena's work rings a different timbre, so to speak. This debate is sure to become more heated in the coming weeks and months and the issues that Gomez-Pena raise, even if you don't agree with the manner in which he does so, are necessary of consideration.
So, if you are fortunate enough to be in an area where he and/or his group is performing, be sure to check them out.


For more info:

Guillermo Gómez-Peña's website: http://www.pochanostra.com/

An archive with some video of several performance pieces: http://www.vdb.org/smackn.acgi$artistdetail?GMEZPEAG

Friday, April 30, 2010

"That's crap," "I don't get it," and Other Things People Say When Looking at Art

Begin rant--

Having perused many art galleries in my day, I have had the opportunity to not only view some great works of art, but also inadvertently witness the reactions to art that many individuals have.  In fact, there have been occasions when I've spent far more time observing unwary museum-goers instead of focusing on the art that I came to see. 

Many people seem to have found their way into the museum out of an obligatory sense to participate in a cultural experience but, unfortunately, do not necessarily have the tools to help them fully participate in that experience.  I've often wondered why this is.  Every adult there, presumably, has obtained an education, probably public, and were compulsorily exposed to some form of an art program.  It would be reasonable to assume that they were given the tools to understand not only mimetic forms of art but the more abstract and even non-objective forms as well.  However, the truth of the matter is that most art programs don't cover how to observe and interpret the visual arts in as much of an in-depth a manner as, say, the schools cover mathematics or reading.  Viewing art, particularly modern and post-modern art, is as much an exegetical experience as reading works of literature; however, the average 27.2 seconds most people spend on viewing a piece of art doesn't lend itself to establishing a meaningful relationship with what the artist has created.

I think that many people don't spend much time viewing modern and post-modern art for numerous reasons, but one of the primary reasons is that they simply may not know how to.  People identify with what they can recognize--in art, this often means that naturalistic and representational works often win favor because the content is readily identifiable.  Ask people what their favorite artists are and they'll comeback with Monet, van Gogh, Rembrandt, Renoir etc.  Colors that excite and objects or people that are well rendered are never out of favor *cough*Kincaide*cough* There is certainly nothing wrong with such work but it closes off a means of experiencing the world that can only be communicated via the means, methods, and materials that many post-modern artists utilize.  It is akin to not reading any novel produced after, say, 1890.  Yes, there was some fantastic literature produced prior to 1890, but a tremendous amount of significant work has been crafted afterwards as well.



"Pssst. Maybe if we stand here long enough people will think we understand this."


Art speaks about our community, our society, and our world in a way that words cannot.  I think that somehow along the way this has been forgotten or deliberately dismissed--although I can't say why, well I guess I could try but it would take more space than I have here.  It is certainly not uncommon for art to be viewed as expendable within the confines of budgetary considerations.  Art is simply not viewed to be as practical as infrastructure or defense and when viewed in an either/or manner then, yes, it does make sense that art is lower on the hierarchy of needs. 

What I advocate is an integral and symbiotic view of art.  Many indigenous cultures do not have a separate word for "art" as what they create is a necessary extension of their social identity not something that is "separate" from them.  I highly doubt that we in American culture will ever view art as an integral expression of our identity since our tendency to compartmentalize is well established, but certainly steps can be taken to integrate art into our cultural milieu.

So, how can this be accomplished?  Through education.  It will be a slow process but many art education programs are currently promoting the arts more aggressively than before and, more importantly, stressing the critical analysis skills necessary to transcend the traditional barriers that existed between academic subjects.  I think this facilitates--or will come to facilitate--a perspective of the arts that is more flattering than we have had in the past.  Many art rooms have been viewed as a place where students can come to play--which, don't get me wrong, play certainly has its place because learning should be fun, but not frivolous--or, sadly, a dumping ground for students who haven't successfully integrated in the other "core" classes.

The arts can promote skill sets that will help students succeed in whatever field they find themselves and as much as I hate to justify the value of art in terms of its ability to help children get a job sometime in the future, it's important to "sell" art education to those who will be making the budgets.  Further, the arts allow students (aka future leaders of society) to exercise cognitive skills that they seldom use in other academic settings.  Students who have been exposed to the arts have been shown to demonstrate greater achievement in other areas.

Again, I iterate that I think the arts have intrinsic value outside of how creative thinking can facilitate making mo money.  Everything within a community is crafted in a manner that reflects what those people value.  Every artifice reflects who we are as a people--our dreams, hopes, fears, greatness, darkness, and what we may become.  No more effective barometer of a culture can be found outside of its creative expressions.

End rant.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

I'm OK, You're OK...but We Could be a Lot Better: Transhumanism and Posthumanism in Art and Society

After researching the previous post about BioArt and seeing all the weird and wonderful things artists are doing with transgenic manipulation of organic tissue, I thought to myself, "Hey, if we can make a fluorescent bunny, what's stopping us from making a glow-in-the-dark human?"  Although it is tempting to look at these biomodified creatures in a darker light, I couldn't help buy wonder how the burgeoning technology in the biotech field could help the collective human race advance--hopefully to a good end and not to an apocalyptic Terminator-style throwdown.  And, like most of my ideas, somebody else had thought of it first.

The transhumanism/posthumanism movement is in full swing in some circles.  Commonly called H+ by those in the know, these thinkers and scientists are working in myriad fashion to enhance, upgrade, and, in short, make people better not only in terms of genetics but also in terms of access to quality health care, improved social well-being, and the creation of technology that will enhance the overall human experience.

Bad genetics bringing you down? No problem, pretty soon someone (for a nominal fee) can engineer a concoction to ensure you and your progeny achieve that coveted ubermensch--which may or may not usher in a bleak and world-wide dystopia.

Miss your dearly beloved, Fluffy?    BioArts International can help by cloning you a Fluffy II.  Well, at least they could before they had some unresolved issues.

Can't lift your inconsiderate neighbor's car who blocked you in yet again?  No problem. Japanese scientists gotcha covered:



Have trouble hearing? No worries.  This guy can help:

Artist Stelios Arcadiou has had the ear created in a lab from cells and implanted into his skin Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-487039/Artist-implants-ear-arm.html#ixzz0mVjsSDsU




So, what is Transhumanism exactly?  Well, there isn't a standard definition but according to h+ magazine there are a few ways to look at it:
Critical Posthumans: This is what we all are. Critical posthumanism is simply the idea that our concept of “human” as a natural, non-technological thing was wrong from the beginning. Humans are most human when using technology, modifying ourselves and our surroundings.

Transcendent Posthumans: This is what we (most of us) wish we were. Flawless, immortal, godlike. Abilities so above and beyond humans that they are almost unimaginable.

Transhumans: This is what we are becoming [...] Nanotech, organ transplants, genetic engineering, prosthetics, cognitive- and mood-enhancing drugs, cloning, morphological freedom, and anti-aging medicine are a small sampling of the tech helping us overcome our biological limits.
There you go.  Nothing to worry about, right?  Before long, we will engineer our way to that longed-for utopia artists and thinkers have dreamed about for centuries--nay, it shall be an uberutopia of unparalleled magnitude.  Yes. I am being snarky.  Despite my initial concerns, I feel that there is great potential here for creating technology that will benefit humanity.  However, the intent is good but, as in many cases, the unintended consequences of endeavors begun with good intent can have complicated and unforeseeable negative outcomes.

There are certainly critics of the Transhumanist movement and since there are too many counterpoints to list and explain adequately, you can check them out here.

Stelarc, Amplified Body, Lazer Eyes, and Third Hand


We are on the verge of a breakthrough within humanity that will allow us access to power beyond belief. Within this generation or the next, there will be technology available that will allow us to forever alter the course of not only individual humans, but force us to redefine what it means to be human. Too many people are excluded from the conversation necessary to work through what will inevitably come to pass. It is easy to dismiss developments within genomics and the biotech fields as something that will not touch the average person; however, willful ignorance will not work. To turn a blind eye to this dialogue is dangerous.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

AoTW: Bio-Art: Boldly Going Where no Bunny Has Gone Before

This week's artist of the week (AoTW-I know it's wrong to capitalize the "T" but it looks cooler) doesn't focus on one artist per se, but instead highlights the rapidly growing movement in art that can be loosely classified as "BioArt."


Alba: a genetically engineered rabbit with green fluorescent protein by Eduardo Kac


So, what is BioArt?  The self-experimentation of a guy who is half-crocked on Busch light, has a homemade tattoo gun and a dream?  Well, possibly.  But, according to wikipedia (so it must be true), bio art is:
... an art practice in which the medium is living matter and the works of art are produced in laboratories and/or artists’ studios. The tool is biotechnology, which includes such technologies as genetic engineering, tissue culture and cloning. BioArt is considered by most artists to be strictly limited to “living forms,” although there is some debate as to the stages at which matter can be considered to be alive or living. The materials used by Bioartists are cells, DNA, proteins and living tissue. Creating living beings and practicing in the life sciences brings about ethical, social and aesthetic inquiry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioArt
So, why BioArt?  It is difficult to ascribe one particular source as the impetus which fuels bioartists' creativity or their choices with regards to methods and materials.  The innate human drive to create is strong and, by nature, always searching for new and creative ways in which to express ideas.  In that sense, BioArt was an inevitable offshoot of the same creative drive that compelled the first humans to draw upon cave walls.  Early man created with charcoal and natural pigments, modern man creates with genetically manipulated tissue.


A replica of an ear created by the group, SymbioticA


Furthermore, it can be said--not without argument of course--that art is inseperably entwined with society and will inevitably come to represent the strata of thoughts that a particular society values or is coming to terms with.  Art is a good barometer with which to measure the good, the bad, and the ugly of any society. 

As our scientific community is currently exploring the new found ability to manipulate the genetic underpinnings of human life, the populi have had little or zero access to the discussion table simply due to the fact that the research is largely inaccessible because of the barriers that are in place.  These barriers are: not having the necessary understanding of the materials utilized in the research; not having an understanding of the processes involved; often taking for truth the intentionally manipulated information provided by organizations with an agenda; deliberate barriers set in place by corporate entities for "trade secret" or copyright reasons; and for a host of other reasons that somebody smarter than me could come up with.



Viral Confections: A model of the virus was printed as a rapid prototype from a 3D algorithmic illustration of the virus from the Protein Data Bank. The chocolates were then cast into the molecular form. Part of the Sentimental Objects in Attempts to Befriend a Virus series, the truffles do not carry hepatitis C. Desire to eat them is mixed with a repulsion for the virus, a dialectic which has proved to be an exciting and approachable way to ignite discussion and create awareness about an extremely prevalent and underrepresented disease. http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/bioart/index.php?page=8  

BioArtists provide a venue for the general public to access the otherwise quasimystical and mysterious world of genetic manipulation and bioengineering.  Getting the public involved in the discussion--not just repeating the talking points--is critical for a society.  To become involved and aware of the issues that the BioArts raise is often the the goal of the bioartist as many people have very little knowledge of the serious bioethical issues that are met and resolved largely behind closed doors in which private interests perhaps win out over public interests.

This video with bioartists Jennifer Willet and Oron Catts discusses some of the issues mentioned above and gives an example of their work:



Concerning answering the question "Why BioArt?" Jennifer Willet's article from her website offers further (and a much more erudite) explanation:

In general, the public holds very little currency in the decision-making processes that dictate research trajectories, evaluation criteria, and the direct application of advancements made in biotechnological sectors. In general, I see the non-specialist public as having a receptive relationship to evolving biotechnologies. In other words, individuals are on the receiving end of a long chain of events contributing to the proliferation of these knowledges and practices in the world – trusting the specialists to manage this aspect of technological proliferation on our behalf. Generally, the public (as well as the specialist class) seems to be content with this arraignment...
...One strategy for combating a programmed public malaise in the face of biotechnology is to effectively trump the authority of the specialist class with the insertion of non-authoritarian individuals into ‘specialist’ rolls in the public sphere. The insertion of visible and intellectual difference into traditional roles of scientific authority can empower the general public to participate more fully in biotechnological debates. I am interested in a participatory interdisciplinary incursion into the practice, and public representation, of biotechnology. If artists, and accountants, and housewives are seen contributing to the production of biotechnology, the authority of the specialist – the doctor, lab technician, and scientist – will be reduced. Alternative voices – subjectivities – and interpretations of biotechnology will be heard and perpetuated in public debate.
Well said. 


From The Race installation by Michael Burton. Antibiotics underpin all of modern medicine. Alarmingly, we are nearing the end of the antibiotic era. Bacteria and viruses are evolving faster than scientific innovation. Trivial infections we hardly think about now will once again become fatal...Medics now recognise that maggots have advantages over more recent forms of treatment, as they kill the bacteria that cause infection, including the so-called antibiotic-resistant superbugs.  The Race proposes that we must now join the race to evolve with them. It also presents a mirror to ourselves to question personal and societal lifestyle practices and our self-perceived superiority over other organisms. http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2007/06/michael-burton.php
 Although there is certainly a strong desire among many BioArtists to bring the often inaccessible world of the scientific community to the general discussion table, I think that there is another component to the reason that BioArtists work in the media they do.  It is simply rewarding to work in the media.  Further, it is the first "new" media available in hundreds of years.  I can only imagine that some of the Northern Renaissance painters felt similarly when they first got their hands on the new-fangled oil paints.  Everything going forward will be uncharted waters--the artist's dream.

To see the works of some BioArtists you can check out the following links:

Jennifer Willet
George Gessert
Joe Davis
Eduardo Kac
Hunter Cole
Oron Catts
Olga Kisseleva

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Nixon cuts $45.5 million more from Missouri budget - KansasCity.com

Nixon cuts $45.5 million more from Missouri budget - KansasCity.com

....and more cuts.

MADE (sterile) IN CHINA

MADE (sterile) IN CHINA


Doctors in southern China are working around the clock to fulfil a government goal to sterilise — by force if necessary — almost 10,000 men and women who have violated birth control policies. Family planning authorities are so determined to stop couples from producing more children than the regulations allow that they are detaining the relatives of those who resist.

About 1,300 people are being held in cramped conditions in towns across Puning county, in Guangdong Province, as officials try to put pressure on couples who have illegal children to come forward for sterilisation.

The 20-day campaign, which was launched on April 7, aims to complete 9,559 sterilisations in Puning, which, with a population of 2.24 million, is the most populous county in the province.

A doctor in Daba village said that his team was working flat out, beginning sterilisations every day at 8am and working straight through until 4am the following day.

Zhang Lizhao, 38, the father of two sons, aged 6 and 4, said that he rushed home late last night from buying loquats for his wholesale fruit business to undergo sterilisation after his elder brother was detained. His wife had already returned so that the brother would be freed.

Mr Zhang said: “This morning my wife called me and said they were forcing her to be sterilised today. She pleaded with the clinic to wait because she has her period. But they would not wait a single day. I called and begged them but they said no. So I have rushed back. I am satisfied because I have two sons.”

Thousands of others have refused to submit and officials are continuing to detain relatives, including elderly parents, to force them to submit to surgery. Those in detention are required to listen to lectures on the rules limiting the size of families.

On April 10 The Southern Countryside Daily reported on about 100 people, mostly elderly, packed into a damp 200sq m (2,150sq ft) room at a township family planning centre. The newspaper said: “There were some mats on the floor but the room was too small for all people to lie down and sleep, so the young ones had to stand or squat. Owing to the lack of quilts, many cuddled up to fight the cold.”

Among those being held was the 68-year-old father of Huang Ruifeng, who has three daughters. Mr Huang said: “Several days ago a village official called me and asked me or my wife to return for the surgery. Otherwise they would take away my father.” He said that he was too busy to go and did not have confidence in village medical techniques. In any case, he wanted his wife to give birth to a son first.

An official at the Puning Population and Family Planning Bureau, who declined to be identified, told The Global Times: “It’s not uncommon for family planning authorities to adopt some tough tactics.”

In Puning county couples with illegal children and their relatives who apply for permits to build a house are rejected. Illegal children are refused residency registration, a penalty that denies them access to healthcare and education.

Authorities have discovered, however, that those methods have less success than rounding up relatives.

One official said that an investigation would be launched to establish whether authorities in Puning had exceeded their remit.

A state-level regulation stipulates that couples who violate the family planning policy must not be punished without proper authorisation and family members may not be penalised to put pressure on couples.

In the years after China launched its strict “one couple, one child” family planning policy in the late 1970s abuses such as forced late-term abortions, sterilisations and even the killing of newborn babies were widely reported. Such practices have diminished in recent years, as the policy has become more widely accepted and exceptions have been introduced.

Officials in Puning are under particular pressure, however: they risk failing in their bid for promotion to a second-tier county if they cannot meet all quotas. That includes keeping the number of births within government limits.

The county is under criticism from Guangdong authorities, who want to slow a population growth that is reflecting badly on the entire province. One reason for Puning’s large population is that families in the mainly rural region often have up to three or four children.

Many of those with extra children have left to find factory jobs along the more developed coast, taking advantage of being away from local government surveillance to give birth outside the quotas.

Rules in Puning, as throughout rural China, allow farmers to have a second child if the first is a daughter. After that couples must stop. By the morning of April 12 Puning officials said that they had achieved, in a mere five days, about half of their sterilisation goal after their “education” persuaded people to comply.

Family planning

• China is the world’s most populous country with about 1.3 billion people. By 2025 the population is expected to exceed 1.4 billion

• The birthrate is low at 14 births per 1,000 people every year but the infant mortality rate is also low, at 20.25 deaths per 1,000 live births

• The single-child policy, referred to by the Chinese Government as the family planning policy, was introduced in 1978 to ensure that China could feed all of its people

• The policy stipulates that couples living in cities can have one child, unless one or both are from an ethnic minority or they are both only children. In most rural areas a couple may have a second child after a break of several years

• Despite the policy, it is common to find couples in the countryside, where 80 per cent of the population live, with a large number of children

• Many couples get round the law by sending pregnant women to stay with relatives, then claiming that the baby was adopted or belongs to a friend or relative

• Critics say that the policy has led to the killing of female infants because of the traditional preference for boys

Sources: BBC; CIA World Factbook

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7099417.ece

Artist of the Week : Gilberto Esparza



 This great article, Nomadic Plants,  by Regine about Gilberto Esparza can be found on the "we make money not art" site.


Nomadic Plants














 Photo Gilberto Esparza

Gilberto Esparza first appeared in the radar of bloggers a couple of years ago when he started colonizing Mexico City with Urban Parasites. Made of recycled consumer goods, the small robotic creatures explore the urban space in search of any source of energy they can feed on. Under its quirky, amusing side, the project also had the objective of providing a basis for a critical exploration of the role that technology plays in cities.















The dblt feeds on the energy that runs through electric wires. The species collects sounds in the environment and reproduces them sporadically. Photo Gilberto Esparza

Gilberto Esparza is currently showing one of his latest projects, Nomadic Plants, at Laboral Art and Industrial Creation Centre in Gijón. Just like Urban Parasites, this new work is part of a series of experiments that aim to stimulate a critical discussion about the ambiguous forces wielded by technology.

Vegetation and microorganisms live in symbiosis inside the body of the Nomadic Plants robot. Whenever its bacteria require nourishment, the self-sufficient robot will move towards a contaminated river and 'drink' water from it. Through a process of microbial fuel cell, the elements contained in the water are decomposed and turned into energy that can feed the brain circuits of the robot. The surplus is then used to create life, enabling plants to complete their own life cycle. As Eduardo wrote in our email conversation, "The nomadic plant is a portray of our own species. It also deals with the alienated transformation of this new hybrid species that fights for its survival in a deteriorated environment."















Photo Gilberto Esparza














Image courtesy Laboral Art and Industrial Creation Centre

I'll quote the artist again, this time from a text included in the press material for the exhibition:


The fact that a new species, the by-product of those alienating processes, appears -merely by coexisting- in those areas of ecological disaster represents a manifestation pointing to the serious social and environmental impacts on communities that once depended on rivers, now the source of their ailments. At this point, it is important to highlight the ambiguous potential of the transforming power of the human species, due to its ability to destroy but also to restore. For that reason, what is required is a new way of thinking, which would position us as antibodies on the planet, and a proper understanding of the importance of living in symbiosis with our planet and with all species.
When i first read about Plantas Nomadas, i immediately thought about Archigram's Walking City because of the nomadic and self-sufficient qualities of Plantas Nomadas. But what was your actual inspiration? Sci-fi novels and movies? Ongoing research in laboratories exploring the possibilities of microbial fuel cells in robotics?

I have been researching and building autonomous robots that can survive in urban space, stealing the energy that the city itself generates. Later on, i found online some publications about research projects using microbial fuel cell. I was immediately inspired to develop a project that would engage with the issue of pollution in rivers. I visited El Salto Jalísco, a community very affected by this problem. I was therefore interested in making it the location of the intervention.

















Drawing by Gilberto Esparza

Can you tell us which kind of plants and micro-organisms cohabit inside the body of your machine?

The microorganisms that live inside the robots are identical to the ones you can find in the river. I prefer to use the plants that used to be native to the river before it became so polluted.

How has the public reacted to your work so far? Both in Mexico and in Spain?

People liked it a lot because the project opens many doors on issues such as our relationship with nature, the thin line that separates the inert and the living and also the directions taken by scientific research which, very often, respond to the interests of the current economic system.

Thanks Gilberto!














Image courtesy Laboral Art and Industrial Creation Centre

The installation at Laboral features the robot but also a video of the process of its creation, a documentary showing the robot in action in the river Santiago, El Salto, Jalisco (Mexico), a series of photos taken by the artist and computers showing the project's webpage.

Plantas Nomadas is on view at Laboral, Gijón (Spain) until June, 7, 2010.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Albert Pujols Sliding Into Everything After Learning To Slide


ST. LOUIS—Sources in the Cardinals organization confirmed Tuesday that, after completing private sliding lessons, Albert Pujols has been sliding feetfirst into equipment, open doorways, dirty laundry, teammates, dugouts, and anything else the three-time NL MVP can possibly slide into. "His technique is nearly perfect, but I can't even warm up without him barreling across the field and sliding into the pitcher's mound," said Cardinals starter Brad Penny, adding that a suds-covered Pujols also slid into him several times last week during a postgame shower. "I'm worried he'll wear himself out by sliding into the on-deck circle over and over again. And there's no reason he should be sliding into the St. Louis Arch." When asked to comment, Pujols slid into a group of reporters.




source: http://www.theonion.com/articles/albert-pujols-sliding-into-everything-after-learni,17273/#

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Musings: First Turkey Hunt

Yesterday was the opening day of turkey season here in Missouri and this morning I returned from my first hunt.

The weather was beautiful, clear and cool without even a whisper of a breeze.  All of my gear was ready and I had thoroughly practiced all of my calls and techniques while in my comfy armchair at home but my real-life skills being minimal meant my chances of dazzling success or horrific failure held equal weight--yes! 

I took along the camera with the intent to take some pictures but my scouting went a little long so I had to choose between having numerous photos or having enough firewood to last the night.  Since the forecast was for 40 degrees, I chose the latter; but I did manage to take a couple of quick shots.  The first one is looking west out over a beautiful sunset that didn't really translate into a good photograph and the other is perhaps the most poorly composed photograph on the planet. Enjoy!




I blew my owl call a few times in the off chance that a tom might respond but the only response was an owl in the distance.  Shortly afterwards, a flutter of wings in the treetop revealed an inquisitve barred owl.  I used my call and we chatted back and forth a while before he flew off to greener pastures.

Anyway, I broke camp before the sun came up after a long cold night of stirring the fire and listening to several hundred owls argue, two loquacious whippoorwills call, a lone but very vocal deer, and two packs of screaming coyotes compete for who could wake me up the most times.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that an ember from the fire burned through my coat sometime around 2 am.  Good times.

I set up in the field I had scouted the previous night and blew an owl call a few times with no response.  I waited a few minutes blew again and nothing.  I tried my box call in conjunction with my mouth call and successfully lured in two hunters--score!  After letting them go because they were too small, I waited for them to clear the field and worked the box call again.  A gobble in the distance sent my adrenaline running!  I tried the mouth call--nothing.  Back to the box call--a gobble.  I kept working the box call a little while and then quit because I read somewhere that the silence might pique a tom's curiosity and he would come to investigate why things went silent.

I waited.  Ten minutes, twenty, forty and no turkey.  I called again but this time where was no response.  The gobbler was gone.

I gathered my things and moved down towards another field 3/4 or a mile or so away that I thought might be promising.  As I got closer, sure enough, I could here gobbles--along with another hunter's box call.  The curse of hunting on public land.  I hung out a while since the field was between me and my car and enjoyed the beautiful morning.  The redbuds are blooming as well as many of the spring flowers and the forest is a lush green.  Even though my first hunt didn't result in a gobbler it is an experience I will always remember especially whenever I look at the gaping six inch hole in my coat.


Oh, and I was cruising around the news and came across this story:

Blind teen bags big bird in first turkey hunt

Rub it in why don't ya. ;)

Political: Tales from the Salt Gestapo

The FDA to Target Salt


The FDA to Target Salt
Jonathan H. Adler • April 20, 2010 12:55 pm

From today’s Washington Post:

The Food and Drug Administration is planning an unprecedented effort to gradually reduce the salt consumed each day by Americans, saying that less sodium in everything from soup to nuts would prevent thousands of deaths from hypertension and heart disease. The initiative, to be launched this year, would eventually lead to the first legal limits on the amount of salt allowed in food products.

The government intends to work with the food industry and health experts to reduce sodium gradually over a period of years to adjust the American palate to a less salty diet, according to FDA sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the initiative had not been formally announced.

Officials have not determined the salt limits. In a complicated undertaking, the FDA would analyze the salt in spaghetti sauces, breads and thousands of other products that make up the $600 billion food and beverage market, sources said. Working with food manufacturers, the government would set limits for salt in these categories, designed to gradually ratchet down sodium consumption. The changes would be calibrated so that consumers barely notice the modification.

The legal limits would be open to public comment, but administration officials do not think they need additional authority from Congress.
Two words: salt shaker

Why is the government spending our tax dollars on this?  Anyone?

Monday, April 19, 2010

Art Education: Ten Lessons the Arts Teach




Ten Lessons the Arts Teach



1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships.  Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.

2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.

3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.

4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.

5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.

6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtleties.

7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.

8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.

9. The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.

10. The arts' position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.



SOURCE: Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind, In Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and How It Shows. (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. Available from NAEA Publications. NAEA grants reprint permission for this excerpt from Ten Lessons with proper acknowledgment of its source and NAEA.

http://www.naea-reston.org/advocacy/10-lessons-the-arts-teach




Sunday, April 18, 2010

Blog Tips: Just Post Like it's Going Out of Style

Something I've discovered while researching blogs (which is short for weblog, btw) is that in order to have your work recognized--and by recognized, I mean picked up by all the bots and spiders out there and sent to the top of the list--is that you have to type a lot.  How much, you ask?  Until your fingers bleed, then tape em up, and then type some more.  Really though, I'm not sure how much one needs to type.  I strive for at least three or four posts a week and I consider it really good if I can get a post in every day. 

But I think it is more than just quantity (that's what she said).  If you aren't posting anything that people want to read, then it aint gonna work--says the man with an average of 12 visits a day.  So, find something that you are interested in and write about it.  Write about it well and often and maybe someday "Hannah's Bananas: My Life in a Mexican Prison Camp" will be at the top of the list.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Musings: The Guild : Do You Wanna Date My Avatar

This song has been stuck in my head for weeks now--I now pass this curse onto you.



Really though, this is a great show about a group of WoW nerds who can only interact via the interface of the world wide webz.  What else brings socially awkward and mildy dysfunctional people together with such great success?  I don't know.  Hey, it works for me.

The Guild website has all of the episodes.  They are only about 8 or 9 minutes long.  http://www.watchtheguild.com/

Marcus Luttrell: Patriot political

For those of you who, like me, weren't very familiar with his story, you should be. It is because of the efforts of servicemen like him and all of the men and women in our armed forces that we enjoy the freedoms and privileges that we too easily take for granted today.

Luttrell was a Navy Seal who endured a hellish firefight in Afghanistan that resulted in the loss of all of his teammates as well as the loss of the chopper sent to rescue them. You can read the full story of Operation Redwing here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Luttrell

Some videos worth watching:



Political: Tea Bag Cartoon!

For the record, I am generally on the opposing side of whomever created this video--but, this is pretty darn funny. And hey, if we can't laugh at ourselves etc.



In the interest of balance, witness the "Uh" count.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Artist of the Week

Instead of highlighting random artists at random times, I've decided to feature an artist each week.  This creates (or creates the illusion of) more order in my life.

This week's artist is Sally Mann.








Her work is hard to pinpoint.  The above video is a nice introduction to her work and a scouring of the web will reveal a wealth of information.  Her photography is ethereal, mysterious, and, at times, confrontational. 

Best known for her series of photographic portraits of her children, particularly the series Immediate Family, Mann's work simultaneously disturbs and enchants.  The imagery offers a  raw and tender look into her personal life via her family and yet speak volumes about the undercurrents of social life within America that are frequently and deliberately overlooked.

On PBS' Art 21 site you can find a bio, some images, and some links.  If you are into contemporary art and don't watch Art 21 you are wrong.  I'm sorry to be so harsh, but it's the truth. http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/mann/index.html

Tech: Blog Posting Minutiae and Other Things Soporific

I've been actively promoting this blog by shamelessly spamming--I mean commenting--on other people's blogs, forums, discussion boards, chalkboards, and back windows.  I never would have suspected that so much work goes into writing one of these things.  I'm kind of blogged out, yet simultaneously energized by the progress I've made.  My seven followers (okay, four of the seven are my alt accounts-don't tell anyone) must surely be enamored and enthralled by the great art, high thinking, and other assorted nonsense that I post here.

I obtained critical success when I figured out that I can place widget html directly into the widget sidebar template thingies and not try and navigate a sea of words and numbers in the main body html script. 
     
head         
  - div
     -insert sniped html script here
      -result=template freeze
                -insert sniped html script here
                  -result=fail+reboot       
             -repeat process ad infinitum   
          -div
          -headache

I know such shortcuts will never qualify for any title greater than Baron in Nerddom, but not too shabby for someone who graduated from the public school system.  I nearly peed my pants when I got the Buy Me a Coffee thing to work--man some coffee sounds good ; ) .

Also, I registered this blog with ever blog registry known to man del.icio.ous, technorati, submit express, and, in retrospect, several other perhaps not so reputible sites (is it a bad sign if I gave them my social security number and the password to my online bank account?--it sounded legit at three o'clock in the morning).  I think the accumulated man hours total somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-45 hours give or take and the fruits of this labor amount to one new and genuine follower.  Woohoo!! 

Seriously, for those of you wanting to increase traffic to your blog, check out this site here: http://www.webreference.com/authoring/blog_tips/ , have patience, write a lot, and don't listen to people like me.  Good luck!!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Artist of the Week: Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio aka Titian

Titian is one of those artists that I forget about and then through happenstance come across one of his works and think to myself, "Oh yeah. I like that guy!"  He is one of the few Italian Renaissance artists whose use of color isn't so garrishly typical of the period that one can look at his work and not necessarily say to themselves, "Yeah, that's an Italian Renaissance painter."  And I like that about his work.

Many of his pieces have a naturalistic feel that presents a refreshing contrast to the more refined classical pieces of the period.  Although much of his work contains subject matter congruent with what one would expect to find during the Renaissance, his paintings contain a warmth and a soul that I think is absent in many of the other commissioned pieces of his day.

Below are some of his works:




Self Portrait


Giorgione and Titian. Portrait of a Venetian Gentleman. c.1510


Portrait of a Man. 1514



St. Mark Enthroned with Saints. c.1510



Portrait of a Man. c.1512



Assumption of the Virgin (Assunta). 1516-1518


Portrait of Pope Paul III without a Cap. 1543


Allegory of Time Governed by Prudence. c.1565


St. Sebastian. 1575

Happy Tax Day!

"Republicans think every day is July 4th.



Democrats think every day is April 15th."

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Musings: Indulging My Pseudohistorical Obsessions

Search Amazon.com for rennes le chateau
Long before the hype of The Da Vinci Code prompted millions of readers to explore questions of theology and what not, I read an intriguing book by Lincoln, Baigent and Leigh entitled Holy Blood, Holy Grail.  Anyone who has read the former is cursorily familiar with the precepts contained in the latter--namely, that a priest by the name of Abbé François Bérenger Saunière (1852-1917) discovered something that led to an ascension in his station not commensurate with what one would expect him to obtain considering his assignment in a rural and largely poor village in southern France by the name of Rennes-le-Château.


Abbé François Bérenger Saunière (1852-1917)

What the discovery was, no one knows or if someone does, he or she is not speaking about it or he/she is speaking about it but it's currently lost in the dustbin of clutter that is Rennes-le-Château "research."  A good synopsis of the theories can be found here, but the gist of it is is that the Abbé found a document(s) that provided him some leverage against the Catholic Church (or somebody with some money and something to lose) which created a fantastic income stream with which the priest built many peculiar additions to the delapidated church of which he found himself in charge.

Some ideas of what was found are as follows:
  • A parchment that confirms the existence of the Merovingian bloodline that, in turn, validates someone who has a legitimate claim to the French throne--a relevant topic during Saunière's day
  • A parchement that confirms that Jesus did not die on the cross and that he/he plus Mary Magdalene/he plus Mary Magdalene and thier child wound up in France to continue the bloodline
  • A portion, large or small, of old Visigothic treasure (or treasure of some other origin)--possibly a legitimate claim as the area has been the sight of numerous settlements for thousands of years
  • The tomb of Jesus/Mary Magdalene/somebody else with the body of Jesus/Mary Magdalene/somebody else in it
  • A host of other oddball ideas such as: _______insert any wild idea involving UFOs, sasquatch, Atlantis, or the plot of any movie that stars Nicholas Cage, etc.
Despite the fact that I think the story is largely the result of opportunistic promoters who have picked up on snippets of curiosities embedded within the Rennes-le-Château story and the deliberate hoax masterminded by Pierre Plantard in the late 1950s, I am continually drawn to this story because it still has that "what if" element due to the fact that there are just enough elements that are unresolved to pique my curiosity.

Below are some relevant images:

The baptismal font which is a major player in the mystery--supposedly a clue which helps lead one to the treasure.






Three views of the Tour Magdala.  This tower was built by Saunière and some say that it plays a role in the map embedded within the church architecture and decor.  The interior window lines up with a view of Grotte du Fournet - dite de la Magdeleine--which translates as "the burial site of the Mary Magdalene.  Legend states that Mary Magdalene ended up in France and lived out her days in seclusion in a cave--near Marseilles which is over 3 hours away by car but I guess she could have ended up here.


A closer view of the grotto


The "Visogothic" pillar in which it is said something was found--generally believed to be coded scrolls


The baluster in which a glass vial with something in it was found during the remodeling of the church


Aerial view of Rennes-le-Château


Inside the church

There are a ton of barely legitimate resources for you to explore if you are interested in learning more.  Simply put on your tinfoil hat and type in Rennes le Chateau into the search engine of your choice.  Bon chance!

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