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Index of miscellaneous texts: http://ivzhao.com/plato/

Art 21, Faulkner and Fat Fuzzy Kitties

The countdown has begun: One month to finish and install the work for the thesis show. While I feel that things are starting to come together regarding the work that I'm doing, I'm still more than a bit nervous about having time to finish everything up.

The making of my Cragen With A Thousand Faces project is being documented on an episode of Art 21, and I did an interview tonight that I feel really good about. Can't wait to see it finished.

Because I've been buying and reading so many theory books in the past couple of months, I made myself start reading fiction before bed, just to give my brain a little reward. I ended up finding a copy of The Sound and the Fury for less than $1 on Amazon and tacked it onto another order so I could get free shipping. I envy Faulkner's ability to write utterly decadent yet effortless prose, and am thoroughly enjoying my brain's little fiction stay-cation.

Optimus Prime, my roommate's cat, has been helping me with my preparations for Open Studio Night this Friday. I officially have business cards, which makes me feel a little old, and tomorrow I'm going to make a trailer for my thesis video and set up my lair...I mean studio... did I say lair?...for the visitors. The event coincides with the Southern Graphics Council annual meeting which is being held at Moore, so hopefully some of the arts professionals attending the meeting will head upstairs for some guacamole, secret videos and business cards.

One more thing:

This Friday, the Fine Arts, Photo & Digital Arts and Textiles departments at Moore are putting on an open studio event. 6:30 - 8:30 on the 4th, 5th and 6th floors, FREE FREE FREE!

I'm planning a special surprise, so make sure to come up to my LAIR in 506 for secret videos and guacamole.

Here's the FB event.

It Passed

Party on, sir, I like having health care, too.

The New Consumer

Clearly, the internet changes the game as far as the producer-advertiser-consumer relationship is concerned, as no longer is the distribution of content restricted to those big media conglomerates but opened up to anyone with access to a computer and nominal technical savvy. Clearly, we have become a new type of consumer since we share access to the means of content production and distribution and can therefore reinvent what is produced by big media to serve our need for expression. As this new market system continues to develop, it will be interesting to see how the pre-existing media megaliths like big television networks adapt (or don't adapt) while new players (google, etc.) start to wrestle for megalithic status.

I'm still developing my thoughts about this, but in the meantime, here are some articles and things.

Nicholas Bourriaud - Post Production, Culture as Screenplay: How Art Reprograms the World

Reading and the Web - Texts without Context (New York Times)

The Latest Loves of My Life

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton

Masha's becoming a star

Read Masha's interview at Art in Bars.

"Personally, after art school my soul is tortured by Arthur Danto and those daunting questions of theory and criticism. Its not a negative thing; its more about personal preference. When you are presented with all of this information and this massive timeline of ideas and images called ART you decide what you want to do with it. Some people don’t care about what their work may or not be saying when looked at in terms of everything that came before it, and that’s fine. When I make work I like to be cautious about the historical implications I may or may not be making but only because that interests me. Sometimes that can even be where the work comes from-making art about art, essentially. As for my own personal history and its place in my work; I don’t want to put very much focus on it. Its very important to me to leave it open, like a narrative that the viewers themselves can complete."

Sergio Goes & Hawaii: The Seer and the Spectacle

Watsuki Harrington, a colleague of mine at Moore, has curated an exhibition for her senior thesis that I highly recommend seeing.

Here are the details from the facebook event page:


Reception and Film Screening
Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 6:30 - 9:00 pm

Shot under the most extreme circumstances from light aircraft high above the islands of Hawaii or more than a hundred feet under the ocean during free-dives without oxygen tanks, this intimate display of photographs by Sergio Goes reflects the daring nature of the photographer, whose sense of adventure led to his untimely death July 11, 2008. The images poignantly enhance our awareness of the fragile nature of Hawaii's beauty and the ephemeral aspects of our own mortality.

7pm - Screening of "War Photographer" - Stewart Auditorium

Winner of 16 international awards and nominations, "War Photographer" (2001), directed by Christian Frei, follows the photojournalist James Nachtwey who risks his life to photograph in conflict zones around the world, such as Palestine, Kosovo, and Africa.

Cragen With A Thousand Faces

The following is an excerpt from a rough draft of one of my two thesis papers:

Like all contemporary myth-makers, I looked to the established tropes of the narrative tradition to identify those symbols and strategies that are universally agreed upon as signifiers of specific meanings. I then manipulated those tropes to reveal a system of meaning transmission that is decidedly out of line with the historically understood strategies of the narrative tradition, but, by the nature of its creation, cannot possibly divorce itself from that tradition. For example, the story of Captain Cragen, a frequently occurring character in my personal myth (originally taken from the popular television series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), may mostly align with Campbell's hero's journey, but in my myth, Cragen can be at any given time any, every and no character in the myth.

Spring Break in Review

Rachael Ocelus at First Friday

Great and Terrible's own Rachael Ocelus is launching a (hopefuly hostile) takeover of the Frankfurt Ave storefront of the new VMVOFFKA space as part of a group show opening this Friday, March 5th. Bean dip is promised.

7 pm - midnight
VMVOFFKA
2037 FRANKFORD AVE
Check out the FB event.

Ugly Cassanova Coffee Chip Cookies

At first, they seem a little bitter, but they've got plenty of sugar and chocolate chips to keep you just happy enough. Also, they'll keep you awake for days.

To make these tasty treats, follow the same basic cookie recipe from the Cinnamon Brown Sugar Cookie recipe, but add half a cup of chocolate chips, and some instant coffee powder. I used two tablespoons to make them extra potent, but you can add as little as you want if you're less bitter and antisocial than I am.

I miss the Weekly World News

Good thing for google books.