Sketch Travel

I never heard about Sketchtravel before, but after reading about it this morning I fell completely in love with the project.

The red sketchbook was passed between 71 artists in 12 countries over 4 and a half years. The list of artists and illustrators is impressive (Quentin Blake, James Jean, Taiyō Matsumoto to name a few) but it’s the idea that this little book was travelling for all that time that makes me smile – and that they managed to auction it off for $96,000, all of which was donated to Room to Read, a awesome charity that helps kids learn to read. Sold.

The beautiful video was put together by Sketchtravel and is totally inspiring and well worth a watch.

R.I.P - Remix Manifesto

As if I was not already a huge fan of Girl Talk and thinks he is a musical genius, "R.I.P Remix Manifesto" just proved my point even more. Gregg Michael Gillis, better known as Girl Talk is a DJ who is famous for his catchy mash-ups and sampling of other songs. Girl Talk is often criticized, receiving much controversy over his 'sampling' of music. This documentary did an extraordinary job of closely recording Girl Talk's every detail and researching the laws of copyright. Remix Manifesto explains how Gregg Michael Gillis uses his computer as an instrument, and other people need to see that. So much time, dedication and skill goes into his songs and it is much more than copying and pasting bits and pieces of songs.
 This documentary explained what can be described as copy right and it is so meticulous it's crazy. I learned that by singing the Happy Birthday song, I am violating copyright laws and should be in trouble. I also learned that if some one claims the correct copy right on a product/piece, it is valid until 70 years AFTER their death. But it is extremely important that they follow the correct procedures and go through the system, in order to receive those rights. They also explained 'Copy Right' and 'Copy Left'. Copy Right is protecting the past. It was originally made to encourage people to create, however, that could be taken both ways. Copy Left is the protection of the public domain. After watching Remix Manifesto, I do agree with them when they say that "The creating process is more popular than the actual product." Overall, I do not think Girl Talk violates copy right, he is creating his own style and music through the process of 'sampling'. However, I feel that this documentary did not really respond to all of the unanswered questions.

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Kurt Mueller #Remember

Kurt Mueller is a research driven artist.  Mueller is known for his interaction and ability to engage his audience with each piece he does. Through his work he often provokes  consideration of historical actions, events, figures, text and narrative. "Mueller strives toward art that is critically responsive to the social and political conditions of its time," as said by San Antonio's ArtSpace blog. Kurt Mueller used Twitter as his creative connection between his work and audience. He was the selected artist for the twitter-based project space mbgETC. "#Remember" (#mbgETCRemember), 2011, is the experiement using Twitter to (re)issue calls to 'remember'. Mueller is using the act of remembrance through a public outlet, Twitter, and how one's act of remembrance can offer a glimpse into another person. Mueller interacts with his audience by them unknowingly interact with his piece, unscripted. He has a way of disguising his topics he's sharing, so it can be more involving and less intimidating. Mueller is very interested in attaching material to recall memory, identity and create action.


http://www.emvergeoning.com/?cat=2&paged=6

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~crlab/2007_07_interchange/3mueller.html

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~crlab/2006_07_alone/mueller.html 

Chalk It Out

Project Proposal:
In my own personal opinion, I believe that Chalk is a unique and beautiful medium in art, that is not used as often as I would like to see. So I thought, what better way to publicize this favored medium of mine, than on a campus filled with thousands of students?!
I want a piece of art that will attract all those who walk past it. I want it large, noticeable and impossible to walk past without wanting to be involved. I figured chalk would be a simple way to promote this because everyone is familiar with it, and hopefully no one will be intimidated this 'art' because it is a friendly activity that is easily approachable. I figured it would be hard to have the University approving of a student to paint chalk onto their walls, so I will resort to either the old fashion chalk 'board' or adhesive chalkboard stick on's.

Medium/Vehicle: Chalkboard Wall on campus, whether a small section on a wall, or by a bulletin board with access to chalk for the audience to participate.
Content/Message: To anonymously express one's thoughts, ideas, words & inspirations on a board to ultimately build an impact/connection on another viewer and/or participant.

Barbara Kruger

Identification: Barbara Kruger
Date of Birth: 1945
Home Town: Newark, New Jersey
Location of Art Practice: New York // Los Angeles
Education: Syracuse University, School of Visual Arts & Parson's School of Design in New York. She has taught at the California Institute of Art, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Message: 

Barbara Kruger is an intelligent artist with a powerful message behind each piece of art. "Much of her text questions the viewer about feminism, classicism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire, although her black-and-white images are culled from the mainstream magazines that sell the very ideas she is disputing," (Biography, www.barbarakruger.com). Unlike others, Barbara Kruger not only creates art for the eyes, but also for the mind and power of change. Many of her pieces serve as advice and lessons that are direct and straight forward. One example is her piece "Get Out" regarding domestic violence::

Vehicle/Medium:
Kruger is well known for her layering and collage photographs. She mixes and layers found photographs with powerful and most of the time, aggressive, text. She  uses her trademark bold letters (black or white) against a red box to portray her message.
Audience:

Favorite Quote: 
"All the gossip and craziness becomes a kind of sustained narrative which, in turn, can become history. It's scary." Barbara Kruger

Official Twitter Account: @Barbarakruger

Jenny Holzer

1. Identify her message
 Creating truisms by using commonly held truths and cliches. Deliberately displaying challenging opinions, most often being contradicting. Her hope was to sharpen the awareness of all viewers of today's world. I personally believe that Jenny exposes what we are all thinking, but to afraid to say out loud. “Holzer’s works have a strong political emphasis, questioning how information is both controlled and received in the public domain."-Tate Collection's website
2. Identify her medium
Mass media and advertising, eventually leading to electronic displays, such as the giant advertising board in Times Square, New York. 
3. Who is her audience?
Her audience varies upon her placement of each piece of art. When she displays her artwork by using large public electronic displays, she is reaching a larger audience that wouldn't necessarily be exposed to art as often as those who view art in gallery's.

WE ARE THE 99

BLOG ON OCCUPYING WALL STREET :

WE ARE THE 99%

Creation of a Game

These past two weeks I've learned how important and vital some key components are, when creating a game. From my own personal experience, I consider the actual research and development of a game is the most important. One needs to spend a lot of time into researching the history behind the concept of a game, and come up with a few trial and errors before the final product. The trial and error's allow one to tweak and refine certain areas of the game.
Through trial and error, comes the awareness of 'technical difficulties' and other issues with technology. Rather you learn these troubles through practice trials, than the final product. This allows us time to fix certain problems and overcome other obstacles. Though this may cause must frustration, you have to learn to take it one step at a time. It is so very important to keep positive and have determination. I personally learned that it is vital to keep an open mind. You need to be open for suggestions and criticism. If you go into the creation of a game with flexibility and availability for adjustments, you are only making it easier for yourself.
The balance of understanding and enjoyment between the audience and game master is the most important. The game master needs to look at the game from all angles, and making sure it can be easily caught on and understood by all. It's important to keep in mind what the final product should be, and what can ultimately be gained and achieved by the participants.

Games & Artwork

 Identify how this project is similar and dissimilar to making an artwork in terms of process.

I never took the time to realize until recently, how similar the process of creating games is to the process of creating artwork. With my artwork, I initially come up with a million and one ideas in my head, and the only way I can narrow down my selection, is to see them laid out in front of me. In both artwork and games, the brainstorming is close to exact, if not the same.
Also in the process of creating a game, I also have to look at my work from the viewers point. And ask myself questions such as, would these be easily understood? Does it make sense? Can it apply to everyone?
The process of creating and planning both games and art work is extremely similar and extremely important to the final outcome.

Oblique Strategies vs. Exquisite Corpes

Must have minimum of 3 people
Send out a mass text with code "question", meaning 'dilemma'
Each person who received text sends back a picture of anything that could be an oblique strategy/solution/inspiration.
The picture message is the 'oblique strategy' (in exquisite corps version) to the dilemma.

Oblique Strategies via Mobile

Instead of using the ball, you would use your cellphone.
Each person is respobsible for sending out an Oblique Strategy.
After each person has recieved a text, BEFORE opening and reading the message, you must say outloud your dilemma.
After announcing your dilemma, you may now open your message and say it outloud, and seeing how it relates to your dilemma.

Oblique Strategy Ball

The main idea behind Oblique Strategies is problem solving. To help one refresh their memory and lead them towards a solution.
Normally the oblique strategies are done through a deck of cards, however, I have come up with a fun game substituting the cards, with a large ball. The oblique strategies will be written variously all over the ball, with a good amount of space between each strategy. You can play with a minimum of 3 people, and up to 100+ people. Everyone will gather around in a circle, with one person holding the ball. The first person who has the ball will throw it to any person in the group of circle, that person who catches the ball must first say out loud what their dilemma is, and then, whatever strategy their right index finger lands on, is their official oblique strategy. That person, then throws the ball to another person and so on.

Oblique Strategies

Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt created a deck of cards, known as Oblique Strategies, 2-3/4in x3-3/4in, but in fact were no average deck of cards. The deck consisted of cards that contained working principles to help guide one through moments of pressure and/or difficulty. I consider this to be a deck of 'problem solving' cards! The strategy was to remind one of the habits of thinking, to jog the mind, rather than being preoccupied of the pressure. "Each Oblique Strategy is a phrase or cryptic remark which can be used to break a creative deadlock or dilemma situation."  Ever been in a situation where all your brain can process, is how to panic and stress out at extremely high levels? All your previous thoughts and ideas vanished at a blink of an eye? This is the perfect situation to pull out a deck of Oblique Strategies cards! The Oblique Strategies cards simply refreshed your train of thought to remind you of "this" and "that".

There were three original editions of the Oblique Strategies produced in limited edition and made available for sale. Edition 1, 1975. Edition 2, 1978. Edition 3, 1979.

You can go to this website for examples of oblique strategies.