from object to platform

Art Made In the Movement

Museums for videos underwent a break, or shift, from traditional museums.

Traditional museums were called a "cultural masoleum" because they are not fluid.

The space and exhibits of the Australian Center for Moving Images demonstrate this shift:

ACMI panorama: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/ACMI_Panorama.jpg

Gallery 1 is a subterranian former railway station.

"Where the traditional museum asserted its hegemonic pedagogy by tightly choreographing paths of movement and parameters of interaction... the contemporary museum utiliizes interactive interfaces to provide increasingly individualized forms of particpation" p19

screenworlds: http://www.acmi.net.au/vid_sw_trailer.htm

Since the time From Object to Platform was written, the ACMI has continued exploring, and have created an exhibition space outdoors called the Video Garden:

I am having a bit of a bad day

And I don't know why. I ate plenty, I slept last night, I haven't been drinking this week, I went swimming today- I am doing all the things I know to take care of myself. My bad mood was pushed to the back of my mind because I was BUSY all day (and yesterday and tomorrow) but when I got home today it re emerged. I prepped for tomorrow, worked on homework, read supplementary stuff so I would be on top of things... even after I got everything I can do today done, I was in a bad mood. I baked some cookies to have something fun to do, and I was in such a bad mood that when I took them out I slammed the oven door partly on purpose and flipped all the cookies onto a plate, breaking about half. Then I ate 3 cookies and put myself to bed but I wasn't tired and my mind was racing. So I learned about sauropods and camels and moose and I was calming down but then I went on disboards.com (it's about disney but run by fans and is unofficial) and started learning about timeshares which made me feel sick and then I started thinking I want to do a project about disney but I have nooooo idea what. I need to start a notebook with printouts of the desperation (?) on that board (when someone says something is too expensive at disney, and they mean it as in disney overcharges rather than phrasing it as needing to be even more frugal in anticipation of the trip*, fellow posters on the board sort of jump down their throat about "disney is a company and companies charge an inherently fair price because that's what people will pay" like, okay, but you don't have to be thrilled to pay it and you especially don't have to bristle when a stranger isn't thrilled to pay it).

And the extent that people get into Disney is confusing. Like there is this video of wedding dresses based on disney princesses (loosely):

For my personality, I would totally understand doing your wedding in costume as a princess. Why not? It's your party and if you're paying for it the only person you should even have to run it by is the groom. But this is different because it is dresses inspired by the princesses but meant to look like classic, maybe elegant** wedding dresses. And the most recent princess featured in that clip is from The Princess and The Frog which came out last year (ish) so it's not at all like something from a woman's childhood that she's always felt fondly about, it's more like I Am A Princess A Magic Princess. I'm glad not everyone has the same plan as me (if I got married tomorrow I'd get a tan (check!) or a burn and then layer off-the-rack white garments and stitch them together and shred them and everyone will have to tell me i'm radiant because I am a bride) because I really do think variety in thinking and actions is essential and desirable but this princess thing feels manufactured. Maybe exploitive, although I go back and forth on whether it's fair to use that word when people are wasting on purpose to feel fulfilled.

I tried to find art that critiqued disney stuff but it was hard. The few artists I found were painters. I will put them in my notebook of prep but I want some artists who do work like I do.

So the thing that got me out of bed this last time and typing feverishly to my blog was that I have to propose something for a grant to ucsc art students and I want it to be about disney and I have NO idea what to propose. (well obviously)

Maybe I want to make a flier and litter it around the park? I could shopdrop something but idk Disney is very well supervised. Maybe I could endure a ride, waiting in line over and over without breaks until I can't walk. I could go and try to function as an observer rather than a participant and not ride anything or eat anything or talk to anyone. I wouldn't like to inconvenience any of the workers or get in the way of anyone's fun.

this isn't the one I was talking about above. I screencapped it because this person only likes things if someone else can't have them ("even if there was plenty of room, why should they allow others that are not members...").

*the frugality board's tagline is (paraphrased) "every dollar saved or earned is another dollar for disney" and to me that is blatantly insidious.

20th c art

I love how these all go together yet have signs of their decade. from the top they are: 70s, 60s, 50s, 40s, 20s.

first day of metal sculpture

In my metal sculpture class yesterday my professor said it was best not to use this time to make utilitarian projects (she said that right after I said that I wanted to warm up for the term by making fire fans) because we could do those at any time, in community college or after we graduate, and we should use this class to explore concepts and add to our senior portfolio. Then she told us our first project is to make a box.

Anyway, after the box I want to make a hat rack.

She said we can make anything as long as we can explain our concept. So my hat rack is about economics I suppose. Mass production and wage slavery and who can afford to participate in the diy movement* and people who can't afford to boycott walmart and the life circumstances gap between the maker of this hat rack and the maker of one from ikea. I know that is all very contrived but it can also hold hats.

*although often the do it yourself version of something is cheaper than buying it, projects can have high initial costs and take a lot of time, so for most diyers it is on the hobby end of the spectrum rather than necessity.

First day of school bento

I made this at my parents' house last night with my new bento gear. I might have made it more special for the first! day! of! school! but I hit today kind of sloppily having done loads of prep but with nothing finished. I bought this lunchbag for a couple dollars, which is as cheaply as I could make one, and it's simple and sweet. I do want to make a furoshiki (a fabric square that you tie the corners in a knot to keep the contents together) because you can lay them out as a placemat and I had to eat on a cement bench today because the picnic tables were too sunny.
This is a really nice box. It was $6 and is very sturdy and a good size. It was too big today but I just have to put my salad in the bigger compartment instead. On the right is a little salad dressing bottle that was 2 or 3 dollars.
this is salad and stir fry udon with tofu. I was worried about eating salad with chopsticks, because I find salad fairly hard to eat, but it turns out salad is only hard to eat with a fork. I always have to try and fold up the leaf a little to give me something to stab, and then stab it without it unfolding, and then swab/smash the leaf around in the dressing, and then toward the end there is nothing thick enough to stab so I try to scrape everything up onto the fork without it falling through the tines. I don't think anyone notices my salad ordeals; it's a quiet struggle. I have really really good fine motor skills so it's not like this ordeal actually stops me from eating salad every day. But I am not going to try to eat salad with a fork again.

New bento supplies!

I love getting bento stuff in Japantown, but it is kind of a hassle to get there from the East Bay so I rarely go. I went yesterday though and stocked up.
this one has 2 levels and is pretty small.
I love this yellow.
these are to keep little bits of fruit and lunch meat in the fridge so I can cut them on mondays and use them throughout the week.
this is my first onigiri mold (onigiri are rice triangles with a little bit of something salty in the middle.). I don't mind making them by hand but it does take a while. And I got a pair of onigiri containers. 2 onigiri is not very much food for me but I can bring them on days when I only have one three hour class.
Daiso had excellent chopsticks. There were about 5 pairs I really wanted but since I rarely use chopsticks and I already have one pair I limited myself to these two. English is used decoratively on lots of the stuff you can buy in japantown, and a lot of times it's really interesting to try to follow the thought process. The bottom one is the wall street journal, and for some reason I am charmed that something so dry would seem beautiful or interesting.
These skewers are bamboo so I am going to try to rinse and reuse them. I think these fish are boring but they were 20 for $2 instead of 2 for $1.50 like the ones I preferred. They are sold empty and it was kind of fun figuring out how to fill them. Although, almost no soy sauce fits in one. I will probably have to bring 3 at a time.

Anyway, it was nice to go to Japantown and good to stock up on supplies.

New School Year!

I am not off to a very solid start this year. My last day of work was 5 days before my first day of school so I have been having a pretty good time hanging out, relaxing, shopping for back to school, and taking out my dreads. I'm super excited to start classes but very reluctant to let go of this short window of freedom. So while I am definitely prepared enough for tomorrow (I have one studio class from 1-3:45) my everything is in disarray. I am in Oakland, not Santa Cruz, and my trunk is stuffed with clean laundry, my printer, groceries and bento supplies, and so on. It will take a long time to get everything squared away in its closet or cupboard and it would be a cleaner start to the school year to have done all that today. However, this term my schedule starts very gradually. The only class I have this week is the one I have tomorrow. That gives me 3 days in Santa Cruz to get everything tidy and prepped before my first proper week of class.

My hair looks like it died and my nail polish is destroyed and my bike has a flat tire and my perishables are all in my boyfriend's parents' fridge and I have just about enough gas to get home.

It's fall!

I bought a brown and orange leather jacket at urban ore for $20. I kind of adore it.
I felt like I was in a costume because it's so far from my usual thing. I came across my wig while looking for some acrylic paints (somehow I left mine in Santa Cruz, ugh, and I was hoping to do loads of postcards before school starts). The look of it made me long for brushable hair, but the feel of it was really itchy and got in my eyes.

mailed art project update

I put the first postcard in this mailbox at 6am on Wednesday. I don't want to post any until they are received so maybe I will do a big post in a month when I am done.

I did 12 postcards so far. 11 of them are pretty good. One of them, oh my gosh, is so bad. It was an idea for my sketchbook and since I am carrying these postcards and deliberately not carrying my sketchbook I wrote it down on one. Then i "illustrated" it in pastels and crayon. Then since it had a stamp and an address I put it in the mail. I will send that person a proper card shortly.

I got a fish today, and postcards 9-12 are about fish.

phone case

I made a case for my phone. I was happy because it took only a few minutes, but then I was sad because the phone slides out. it needs a button.

I cut a phone size (plus front flap) end off a toe sock. Then I sewed on scraps. I think it needs a few more scraps, also a button so it stays closed. I'm charmed by how it looks like an abstraction of an elephant.

bento recipe

My lunch today was pretty amazingly tasty and filling. Usually I have to eat right when I get home at 5pm but tonight I started cooking at 8pm. So here is how:

turkey dog: cut it in half, cut an X 2/3 of the way through each side. Simmer with a little water until they bloom. I put ketchup in my tupperware but after I get bento supplies at ichiban kan I can put ketchup in a little dipping sauce container shaped like a bird or a frog. Its beak or tongue is a little spoon.

omelet wrap: beat two eggs and fry in a small pan. I put cheese on top but i wish I had stirred it in so it could be more evenly distributed. Simmer broccoli briefly and mix with rice, garlic, and quartered cherry tomatoes. Scoop this into the wrap and fold over.

Mail Art Test Run

I did a crime! I did my first mail crime! My texts-as-postcards were in the box and I brought them inside and took their picture and put them back. Now I feel extremely terrible, because I did a crime, in fact I feel sick to my stomach. I think I will not do any more mail crimes.

I found this diagram on wikipedia:

I feel a little bad for making the USPS go through all that to deliver notes to the people I live with for 28 cents each, but that is their job after all.

So I guess the Priority Mail Processing Center is in San Jose.

This week of letter-texts has given me ideas because it was beyond poorly executed. Like: some of the paper I used had charcoal drawings on the back but I simply didn't have enough sturdy paper to do without those pages. I like that because it got on everything and smeared around a lot so it shows the wear of going to San Jose and back and being handled by all those machines and both those people. And I learned that the USPS will send things that are messy because it is their duty to the American people.

I really don't have any kind of inkling where I would like to go with this, so here are some steps that I might do some combination of as practice and exploration:

-join a few swaps of Artist Trading Cards

-keep a travel journal by recording impressions/sketches on postcards and mailing them to my house

-keep a diasporic journal by recording things and then mailing them off to whomever. Maybe start with a wallet of preaddressed stamped postcards and sketch on the backs and send them off with out checking who they'll go to

-mail things to myself at my old addresses (mail is forwarded for a year and after that you're supposed to have told everyone your new address so I think they'd go to the current occupants and then be tossed or bounced back to the post office and then if I was super lucky get returned to sender)

-make a piece of art that's really meditative and detailed and cut it into post cards and send it to people who could easily/could never meet to reassemble it

-get a book that's either an overview of mail art or has highlights that I could look into.

-learn more about the USPS

ETA: I have to get up in a bit but I keep getting ideas! I could make a piece of art and cut it into post cards and then send it to one person, like a puzzle. I am sure it has been done by ten thousand people but I am still excited by the idea.

I could do an advent calendar, because advent calendars are about each day seeing a little prize as you countdown to Jesus so getting one in 10 pieces with 2 or three little flaps would be neat. It would draw out the anticipation even better because you would anticipate the arrival of each piece and completion of the calendar, and then anticipate opening the flaps.

I kind of want to get this done before I go to bed 3 hours ago but I don't know how.