Convection Conception: a birthday party for bread

For my final project of Digital Processes, I  staged a performance art event a la Rirkrit Tiravanija. It was a birthday party. for bread.
 The facebook invitation read as follows: 

Who's birthday? BREAD!
When? Monday June 9th at 5:30
Where? Wriston Ampitheater
Why?

Why? Because bread is life.

This idea began with the desire to share with the collective 'you' my passion for baking bread. I feel a possesive, maternal, and deeply spiritual connection to bread's yeasty goodness. Upon further research, I learned that the word "companion" literally breaks down into "to share bread." Bread sustains us, brings us together, and and plays an integral role in our social, cultural, economic lives.

I invite you to come break bread with me and join in the basic, but essential ritual of consuming delicious bread babies

I bought party hats, plates, napkins, and a tablecloth in preparation for this event. I awoke at 6 am the morning of June 9th to begin baking the loaves for the 5:30pm event. The total came to 1 loaf of french bread, 1 loaf of rosemary, 2 loaves of challah, 1 loaf of focaccia, and two loaves of wheat.  To my genuine delight, people came!!!

The birthday party was a great success. I can;t begin to express the joy I felt upon seeing everyone in party hats. Moreover, I truly felt that the gathering of people around a common, shared food item encapsulated Bourriaud's concept of relationalism. The art wasn't so much the bread as it was the people who shared it, and the social component that permeated the entire piece.  

meanwhile...

"Let the beauty of what we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground"

 

This is my final project for the 'Dance and the Camera' course.
It was inspired by Lawrence Concert Choir's Spring 2012 performance of a piece by J. David Moore (b. 1962) titled
"There are Hundreds of Ways to Kneel and Kiss the Ground."
(see link below)
http://youtu.be/7PWhOm_KQms

The text is a poem by Rumi, presented in a musical accumulation

Henry Bond

Video, for example, is nowadays becoming a predominant medium. But if Peter Land, Gillian Wearing and Henry Bond, to name just three artists, have a preference for video recording, they are still not “video artists.” This medium merely turns out to be one of the best suited to the formalization of certain activities and projects.” ~Nicolas Bourriaud

Henry Bond (b. 1966) is a London-based street photographer and psychoanalyst. 

Bond graduated from the University of London in 1988, and was among the ranks of those who went on to be known as the YBA's. He then went on to earn his Master's at Middlesex University, and his Doctorate's at the University of Glouchestershire, studying psychoanalysis. He was particularly influenced by the teachings of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, and went on to publish Lacan at the Scene (2009), in which Bond applies Lacanian psychoanalytic theory to homicide-related crime scenes.

Henry Bond is most well known for his street photography. His work deals with ideas of surveillance, voyeurism and paparazzi photojournalism. These themes arise in both Point and Shoot (2000), and the video that Bond created, titled "The South of France" (featured below). It is this type of video work that Bourriaud references when dropping Bond's name in his Relational Aesthetics. I believe that his argument, though a little vague and ill supported, is trying to convey that artists of the current era are less likely to be defined by a single genre.

Henry Bond is currently the senior lecturer of Photography at Kingston University.

it had to be done

Vivian Maier

"A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."

~ from the "About" section of vivianmaier.com

Vivian Maier (1926-2009) was a nanny, and covert street photographer. The mystery and intrigue that surrounds her relates to how secretive she was about her photography during her lifetime. It was only after her death that her work was discovered - nearly 100,000 undeveloped negatives left in a storage unit that was put up for auction in 2007. Since this discovery, there has been Vivian Maier craze of sorts, with people interested in the mystery of her life, the professionalism of her works, and the ownership rights of her photographic legacy.

I had the honor of hearing Pamela Bannos, senior lecturer in Northwestern University's Department of Art Theory and Practice,  speak about her extensive research on Vivian Maier and her "fractured archive." She described her dedication to demystifying Maier's life, and her process of research that bordered on the practice of forensic science.

Throughout Pamela's talk, I was continually struck by how amazing it is that Maier was capable of keeping such a high level of secrecy. I think my wonder stems from the contrast of Maier's guarded life in comparison to the world we live in today - one of constant sharing (see video below)

I share, therefore I am from EduardMariut on Vimeo.

yet another cat video

 "If a work of art is successful, it will invariably set its sights beyond its mere presence in space: it will be an open dialogue, discussion, and that form of inter-human negotiation that Marcel Duchamp called 'the coefficient of art', which is a temporal process, being played out here and now."

~Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics

Cats are a universal language, and a universal art.

 No, seriously, think about it. Cats are hilarious, and since the dawn of lolcats, the internet has been the strongest forum for sharing funny cat pictures and videos. If we consider Bourriaud's definition of "successful art," then the mass spread of cat memes marks one of the most successful art movements of our time. Cats transcend time and medium; each time someone sends a cat picture, shows a friend a cat video, or quotes a cat meme, they are creating relational art. 

I offer yet another cat video to the countless others in an effort to further this great contemporary art movement.

 

how to eat a watermelon

this is totally relevant

a lot has changed in 4 years

I am fascinated by the forum of the bathroom wall.  

During my time attending New Trier, a MASSIVE public school in the middle of a very wealthy part of the "North Shore" of Chicago, I experienced the beauty of these ladies' bathroom forums. Dialogues, criticisms, gossip, quotes and commentary were all things I recall seeing whilst sitting on the loo. It was the criticisms that really excited me though, the real mean stuff. Luckily for me, it was everywhere. (I attribute the surplus of negative commentary to the way that attending such a large and impersonal school made people crazy, in combination with the easy accessibility of bathroom walls and sharpies).

I was back at home this past weekend, and with Bourriaud's Relational Aesthetics in mind, decided to utilize these stalls as my "Arena of Exchange" in order to provoke more of those  juicy critical comments (or whatever people decided to respond). On a blank sheet of paper I wrote:

ANONYMOUS HATE MAIL

(write the meanest thing you can think of)

I prepped ten of these sheets and snuck in to the school.

HOWEVER

So much had changed - in the bathrooms (everything else was the same). New plastic doors had been installed in the majority of bathrooms to replace the old wooden ones. I suspect that this replacement was made in an effort to decrease the graffiti that I so loved, since permanent maker is easier to clean off plastic than wood. I really had to search to find stalls that had any writing at all

When I finally did find some writing, the content was just as shocking to me as the new doors. They were positive messages! I really had to hunt to find something the least bit mean (pictured above).

 

 

Still, I forged ahead, planted all ten of my "arenas" in ladies' bathrooms around the campus, and waited. I let two class periods pass before going to collect the results (an ample amount of time considering the size of the student body and amount of traffic that travels through those stalls). Then came the next shock:

All of my Anonymous Hate Mail forums had been torn down.

I found them all in their respective bathroom's trash can. Such blatant rejection of my prompt both frustrated and inspired me. I chose to focus on the second reaction as I gathered my things and left the school. Clearly something has changed within the past four years at New Trier High School. Either students are making a genuine effort to promote positive relations, or custodians have gotten much much better at purging restrooms of negativity. Whichever it is, I left the school feeling hopeful.

Where do we come from? Cosmogony 2.0

"Where do we come from?

Much like the stars scattered throughout the night sky, we seemingly come from everywhere and from nowhere: from chaos, from a silvery egg, from ice, from earth and saliva, from mud, from tears."

~Carol Emmons

I had the privilege to view artist Carol Emmons' installation of Cosmogony 2.0 before it officially opened. I walked through the gallery in a state of awe. There were colored gels over the ceiling lights and lines of text crossing every which way. Never before had I seen this gallery's ceiling space artfully utilized, and I was excited. Furthermore, the objects she chose to display gave me vivid memories of walking through the Galileo Museum on Florence, Italy a little over a year ago during my semester abroad. I left the space enveloped in a sense of wonder and mystery. 

 

However, my science boner quickly went flaccid upon attending Emmons' talk. It became clear that she didn't really understand her work either. Hers was a situation in which I admired her more with less understanding about her artistic intent. The cradles on tracks filled with trinkets were elements of the installation that I had previously mused over. Post lecture, I found them cliched. The ladder that led into the skylight of the space lost its mystique after hearing Emmons' explanation that "there was a hole, and I just wanted to put something in it." Perhaps her work fell short as a result of the enormity of her subject: the genesis of the universe, cosmogony itself.

http://www.uwgb.edu/emmonsc/

surveillance

"Art is a state of encounter"

~Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics

My idea for the first project of this term is inspired by surveillance cameras and monitors.

I found this picture from a Google image search of "surveillance footage." Is it an advertisement? Why is she pregnant?  Why is there SO MUCH SmartWater? The world may never know.

Back in the day, (and still very much in my current days) one of my favorite places to visit was the friendly neighborhood Walgreens. Beyond the glory of cheap makeup and cheaper candy was the thrill of entering the establishment and seeing yourself on the surveillance monitor . It's worth noting that my memories occurred in a pre "selfie" time. As such, the crappy monitor at the local drug store was the closest one could get to feeling superficially famous - or infamous. The way you'd see yourself was the same way you'd see criminals in surveillance footage on "America's Most Wanted." BUT, you'd be seeing yourself on TV, which is always a thrilling notion. It's completely different than seeing yourself in the mirror. I used to spend an embarrassing amount of time watching myself in that monitor. I'd make stupid faces, do little dances, etc., all in the spirit of seeing and being seen

Thus, my idea for the first project of this term is inspired by surveillance cameras and monitors. I want to set up a camera at the Info Desk of the Campus Center, and have the footage linked to the television monitor above the desk. I want to see the way people react to seeing themselves. I then want to compile these reactions into a 2-4 minute video with the aim of furthering the continuum of "being seen."

Cuil Theory

A bit of background on Cuil Theory: According to http://cuiltheory.wikidot.com, "The popular conception of the Cuil is heavily informed by the thought of Immanuel Kant. In The Critique of Pure Reason, Kant lays out what he describes as his 'Copernican Revolution.' He insists that the world we experience is informed by the world as it truly is and the restraints of our own consciousness. Thus, we can never really know what is happening in the world as it truly exists, expect that it has a role in shaping the world that we experience. Kant believed this experience was similar to realizing that the sun, not Earth, is at the center of the solar system."

 

There exists online a written example reality at each level of Cuil. Various YouTube videos, such as the one above, have been published with people reading this text, but not many have corresponding visuals. My goal is to illustrate this text, utilizing original and found video clips. I aim to create a vibrant visual narrative to enhance the absurdity of the text, and help viewers gain a deeper insight of the reality of Cuil Theory

the D.L. Simmons experience

"I use my personal experiences as a lens to explore cultural context and develop visual concepts as metaphor. When the objects and images from out everyday lives mingle with the nuances of memory and forgetting, the familiar becomes saturated with multiple layers of meaning from the seemingly mundane to the larger-than-life metaphorical significance."
 ~D.L. Simmons

It was such a treat to have print maker D.L. Simmons join us for a two-day tour de force. There was just something about his youthful energy, southern twang, and membership to multiple Mason groups that made his print demonstrations that much more captivating.

            Strictly visually speaking, I was not that crazy about the work he produced. In the examples he shared with our class, it seemed that Simmons stuck to a familiar army camo-esque color palette. His subject matter also doesn’t stray far from the familiar – that is, images of or relating to his family. Despite these things, however, I loved the adventurous spirit that drove his creativity. I particularly appreciated having the opportunity to view his work up close and in person. There’s an amazing dimensionality to his work that photos cannot capture. His use of various processes, layers, and coat textures work harmoniously to create strong, mysterious, and exciting work.

http://dls-ink.com/home.html

TEDx Lawrence: Reimagining a Liberal Arts Education for the 21st Century

NO MORE BORING ART, John Baldessari

"If I saw art around me that I liked, then I wouldn't do art" 

~John Baldessari

The video below explains John Baldessari better than I ever could

Staged Reality

"A hyperreal henceforth sheltered from the imaginary, and from any distinction between the real and the imaginary, leaving room for the orbital recurrence of models and the simulated generation of difference." 

~Jean Baudrillard, Simulations 

In response to Baudrillard's notions of "hyperreality," I chose to explore the crazy world of stage lighting; in particular, concert lighting.The need to further sensationalize live music's aesthetic with a staged light show has now become standard for concert performances. We have become accustomed to dramatized moments drenched in candy-colored lights.

My interest in concert lighting brought me to a bar where my friends in Porky's Groove Machine were playing. I only had my still camera with me that night, but the resulting images were fascinating. I found that the still images were able to capture the consistently exaggerated lighting into one, hypperreal moment.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmamoss/sets/72157633132639967/

In an effort to further explore, I brought a video camera with me to a different Porky's performance. The lighting that night was faced-paced, and borderline frantic. I found that the rush of lights detracted from the initial feeling I got from the still images. In Final Cut, I tried slowing the footage down to 15% of its original speed. See the result for yourself below.

Bill Viola's chunks of wisdom

"[The artist mission is to] transform experience into the tangible." 

~Bill Viola

I feel like a jerk for not having known who Bill Viola was before his visit to Lawrence University. It only occurred to me what a big deal his presence here was when a large group of townies appeared at the first video screening in the Wriston Auditorium. I attended the screening with them, and was immediately struck by Viola’s command of the medium. (I can’t recall the title of the first film, but it was part of the series “Vision as Reception”). He clearly knows what he’s doing, and conveys his messages in a vivid visual manner. 

If only his lectures could be as coherent as his films. Viola’s lecture, titles “Artless Art,” had the metaphorical consistency of cottage cheese: little chunks of wisdom suspended in a strange colloid of discontinuity. However, one of the chunks of Bill Viola’s lecture that resonated most with me was when he addressed the audience, saying, “artists, be honest with yourself in the deepest way possible.” As someone who values genuine intent and emotion in both my own and other’s art, this statement struck a chord with me. 

I was grateful for the footage that played in the background, because it acted as the glue that held the experience together. In particular, I enjoyed the film of the man plunging into water in slow motion (pictured above). Viola claimed that the piece was a representation of the soul leaving the body as the bubbles floated upward, and the body down. I interpreted it differently, seeing a cleaning of sin from conscience. That's the beauty of art: the variation of meaning as intended by the artist and as interpreted by viewer.

http://www.billviola.com/ 

"Nexus" and the Sonja Thomsen experience

"The installation forces the viewer to weave back and forth within the space triggering visceral awareness in conjunction with cerebral perception. The photographs...create a skin between memory, place and the present."

~Sonja Thomsen 

Sonja Thomsen is a master of subtlety. Her photo installation "Nexus" in the Hoffmaster Gallery at Wriston creates a subdued, yet sophisticated atmosphere. As pictured above, the display is minimalistic, focusing on the juxtoposition of her velvety inkjet prints and strategically placed reflective panels that refract rainbows of light into various corners. Walking, or rather spiraling through this gallery, I felt an immense sense of the sublime.

The real treat was having Sonja give a critique of our current work in the Digital Processes course. Sonja gave insightful feedback and commentary on our photo projects, including mine, pictured below. She shared with our class her view on the value of well-crafted imagery, and how a photo should draw the viewer in. For example, in comparing my two prints below, Sonja stated that the one on her right held a greater appeal because of it's gentler tones and heightened mystery. She helped me see the subtle complexities of my own work, for which I am deeply grateful for.

http://sonjathomsen.com

Hysterical Literature

"A viral video art series exploring mind/body dualism, distraction portraiture, and the contrast between culture and sexuality." 
~Clayton Cubitt

I am obsessed with artist Clayton Cubitt's recent video project, "Hysterical Literature." Cubitt takes a theme previously discussed on this blog, Art v. Pornography (see Evan Baden, below), and produces a racy, yet much more pro-woman result.

http://claytoncubitt.com/hysterical-literature/

shitfaced voyeurism

In response to Michael Lesy's "Wisconsin Death Trip," I decided to film one of the most integral components to Wisconsin culture: alcohol. The introductory text of the video is actually something I asked myself when I began this project - what do you most associate with Wisconsin? I asked this to other people as well, and the response was always along the lines of alcohol and/or cheese. I chose the first response, given that Appleton in among the top ten US cities known for having the highest bar per capita. I spent a weekend creeping in the corners of Appleton's numerous bars, filming people without their knowledge or consent (not unlike my earlier photo project).

Evan Baden

"Alice and Ryan" Evan Baden, 2008

Does this picture make you uncomfortable? If yes, you're not alone. The image is part of a greater body of work entitled "Technically Intimate" by photographer Evan Baden. This series explores the  the rise of sexual material's availability via technology, and today's obsession with "sexting."

"Technically Intimate" raises a highly relevant art world question: how do you distinguish art from pornography? In his visit to Lawrence University, Baden explained that his work is intended to convey much more than just sex. The images he created for this series are all based off of real photos posted online, but expanded. For instance, the image above's source photo was simply a pornographic shot of a couple gettin' intimate. Baden takes this source and mimics the posing, but makes it once removed by adding the separate entity of the camera. As Baden explains on his website, " the introduction of the camera to the relationship dramatically changed the way the couple interacted with each other...The couple knew very well that the camera was there and actually played to it."

http://www.evanbaden.com/

Art Game

Wait, guys, you seriously need to check this out. It's an 8-bit style game about artists and their work. Each artist features a different classic game. uhhhg this is so cool, I can't even. 

 

http://www.pippinbarr.com/games/artgame/ArtGame.html

Nietzsche Family Circus

http://www.nietzschefamilycircus.com/

Nihilists and non-believers alike, this is definitely worth checking out

Charlotte Moorman

"I am a sculpture and not a concert" 
~ Charlotte Moorman

Charlotte Moorman, performing Nam June Paik's "TV Cello"

Classically trained, Moorman first became exposed to Avant Garde art when a colleague of hers at the Julliard School suggested she perform composer John Cage's "26 Minutes, 1.499 Seconds for a String Player." From there, she became enticed with the Avant Garde art scene, with a particular interest in mixed-media performance art. Moorman met her creative match when she began collaborationg with performance artist Nam June Paik. The two put on a number of ground-breaking works, including "Opera Sextronique," a peice that made history for Moorman's topless performance, and her subsequent arrest on a count of public indecency. Additional noteworthy performances include:

-"Concerto for TV Cello and Videotapes"

-"The Chocolate Cello"

-"Sky Kiss" 

-"TV Bra for Living Sculpture" - featured below

Charlotte Moorman was also responsible for establishing the New York Avant Garde Festival, an annual event that functioned as a platform for experimental artists. Moorman herself participated in the event, which ran for nearly twenty years

"The Topless Cellist"

Everything is Music

"Everything we do is music."

~John Cage

 During the fall while I was living in Florence, I was struck by just how noisy the street outside my window was. I felt like I could hear everything: cars and mopeds passing by, intimate conversations and raucous arguments being had, church bells ringing, drunk people vomiting in the alleyway, ext. One evening, I decided to try and record it all. I took about a five minute sample of sound from my open window, and stashed it away for the rest of the term, not anticipating how well that sound clip would fit into this latest Digital Processes assignment. Below is a link to my Soundcloud page, where I mixed two versions of the same clip, one ambient, and one dancey. 

The view from the window I subsequently recorded from

http://soundcloud.com/mish-emma-moss

Paperman - Full Animated Short Film

Disney's "Paperman" is SUCH an exiting new release in the world of animation. The work is  product of a newly developed animation software that allows the fusion of hand drawn and computer generated imagery to create a truly unique look. This look, in collaboration with the charming storyline is what rightfully earned "Paperman" an Academy Award nomination this year. 

PLEASE check it out!

                                                                                         

"Introducing a groundbreaking technique that seamlessly merges computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques, first-time director John Kahrs takes the art of animation in a bold new direction with the Oscar®-nominated short, "Paperman." Using a minimalist black-and-white style, the short follows the story of a lonely young man in mid-century New York City, whose destiny takes an unexpected turn after a chance meeting with a beautiful woman on his morning commute. Convinced the girl of his dreams is gone forever, he gets a second chance when he spots her in a skyscraper window across the avenue from his office. With only his heart, imagination and a stack of papers to get her attention, his efforts are no match for what the fates have in store for him. Created by a small, innovative team working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, "Paperman" pushes the animation medium in an exciting new direction."

fascinating people

"A strange bond often exists among antisocial types in their power to see environments as they really are."

~Marshall Mcluhan

Maybe it is the unspoken bond or insightful nature that Marshall McLuhan mentions that draws me to certain people - people I don't know, people I spot in crowds who effortlessly stand out in one way or another. I have this strange affinity for people with a certain je ne sais pas, and the result has been a few year's worth of photos of interesting people in interesting places. I put all of them up in Flickr Photo Set, titled "Fascinating people who don't know I'm taking pictures of them." 

This collection was a nice base for me to further refine my study. I ended up narrowing the set to (in my humble opinion), the top 32 most interesting of the bunch. These are presented in a 

 Snapfish Photo Book, with the cropped, to-the-point title "fascinating people." (Yes, the lower case was intentional). In designing the layout of the book, I paid careful attention to the compositional elements of each photo. My goal was to find pairs of photos that had similar aspects, and juxtapose them so that the "strange bond of antisocial types" can be shown to visually transcend time a place.

Lynda Barry

Lynda, on the right, chatting with students during her writing workshop

Lynda Barry is a creative force to be reckoned with. Having her here at Lawrence University last Thursday, January 24th was an absolute treat. Her talk, "Crossing the Fox River: From Thought to Action," gave students and staff here an introduction to her quirky, wonderful presence, as well as her ideas about brain hemispheric differences, childhood memories, and the power of images.

I was lucky enough to be part of a small group of students who shared lunch with Lynda after her lecture. She was bright, inquisitive, and seemed genuinely interested in what each and every one of us had a passion for. (Most of us were art students, but one was a government major. Lynda spent just as much time asking about this student's interests as the rest of us. She seemed to overlook art, and jump right to human passion, in whatever field that may be)

My favorite part of the day was attending here writing workshop in the afternoon. She led one fast-paced writing exercise after the next, denying students the time to doubt their work. She advocated the importance of keeping motion in writing or not: if not writing, you draw spirals. If writing and you reach a block, write the alphabet instead.

Her work is truly extraordinary. Please take a moment to explore her blog:

http://thenearsightedmonkey.tumblr.com/

Cover detail from Barry's "What It Is"