Sunday, May 31, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Seeing Is Deceiving
Julie Ashcraft
Seeing is Deceiving, 2008
Photoshopped photographic montage
combining original cell phone photograph
with existing images.
This work was created as a parody.
copyright(c)2008 Julie Ashcraft
Eat Yourself Fitter: Banksy's Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill
The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill
Banksy Exhibition in New York City
Reviewed by Julie Ashcraft
Smiling adults and cheery children wait patiently outside before gaining free admittance to this popular exhibition. Why isn’t one of the children riding the mechanical dolphin out front? Well, the dolphin is covered with a net. Does that mean it’s broken? No. Why is the rabbit in the window putting on lipstick? Cosmetics are tested on the eyes and skin of–wait! Are those baby chicks in the next window? OMG, those are little chicken nuggets dipping themselves in sauce!!
Central to this whimsical nightmare of a show is the sad fact that factory-farmed food is consumed by many people who seem completely detached from the knowledge that what they are eating WAS EVER ALIVE. But the charming, kinetic creatures in this exhibit seem to elicit empathy more than guilt, making the work in this show most effective. After all, guilt is its own reward. Empathy could be more likely to trigger a change in consumer behavior. This may be the goal of Banksy, the artist reportedly behind “The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill”.
Banksy’s name does not appear in the exhibition. His name is only hinted at in tiny print on the “The Village Pet Store and Grill” business cards discretely stacked at the side on the “store’s” counter. Happy fans of Banksy visiting this “store” at 89 Seventh Avenue South in Manhattan confirm that it is his work, and that a philanthropist reportedly provided backing. Buzz for Banksy’s show is generated by word of mouth, and by a plethora of reportage, photos and videos of the installation on internet art sites including www.woostercollective.com and the www.thevillagepetstoreandcharcoalgrill.com.
The workers behind the counter encourage all to document the show, which ends October 30, 2008. Being allowed to photograph the art is a refreshing change from many galleries and museums not allowing even non-flash photography. But then again, documentation and animal interaction with cameras is another theme in this installation.
Structuralist Julia Kristeva wrote that art is the intersection of viewer and object. Believing this to be especially true for this exhibition–I recommended it to a slender, young, female vegetarian and to a heavy, middle-aged, male meat-eater, to compare responses. Vegetarian and PeTA enthusiast, Jennifer Moy, told me, “I like the rabbit one. I thought that was really sad.” She remarked on the humanness of the exhibition’s ape’s expression, found it disturbing he was watching porn (monkeys copulating). She said the chicken nuggets dipping themselves in sauce were “fun”, yet was disturbed by a group of sausages that were moving (on a rock inside a terrarium).
Omnivour Ambrose Benkert looked upon those same sausages–and some moving hot dogs in buns–with a big smile, then said, “It’s like revenge of the hot dogs! We’ve been eating them all these years. Now they’re going to eat us!” Later, over a chicken burrito, Ambrose said about the show, “It was innovative–not the sort of thing you see every day. What do you call it–moving food, mobile food? It didn’t instill in me the desire to become a vegetarian, but it was innovative.”
This article originally was published here:
http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/zsheehan/2008/10/27/eat-yourself-fitter/
Thursday, April 30, 2009
LOOKING BACK AT THE FUTURE: Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller: Starting With The Universe
Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art
Reviewed by Julie Ashcraft
To climb a cube shaped jungle gym is a bit dangerous. It means climbing straight up a 90 degree angle against gravity. To climb a geodesic dome jungle gym is safer and more fun. Since the angle decreases, climbing becomes easier and gravity helps one hold on. The geodesic dome was invented by R. Buckminster Fuller. He loved working with the forces of nature. And he wanted to keep children safe.
After the early death of his first child, Fuller contemplated suicide. Instead he decided to spend his life exploring ways to benefit humanity and the environment. The transport vehicle, architectural structures, sculptures, models, drawings, paintings, papers, photographs, video and World Game in this exhibition bear testament to Fuller’s efforts, and those of his collaborators. Fuller inspired great enthusiasm with his plans and inventions to efficiently use distributed resources to create affordable housing and sustainable life for all on “spaceship earth”.
Amongst extensive work and documentation in this heavily attended exhibit, an extra tightly-packed crowd gathers around a video screen showing 1929 FOX News outtakes of Fuller promoting Dymaxion House. “No bedclothes may be used, though you may put on twenty blankets if you’re still self-conscious”, Fuller says, standing bolt upright in his three-piece suit and tie. (Fuller was explaining the revolutionary interior climate controls in his hexagonal, window sided house). The entire house was suspended from a center mast, like a tree. The unusual design made it “proof against fire, flood, tornado, earthquake, electrical storm, marauders.” The house was “enclosed in triangular forms” made of “casein material…relatively break-proof.” He continues, “The windows are suspended in tension cables. So instead of a rigid covering, an airplane could run into this window, possibly damaging one pane–but children could play baseball inside the house without damaging the exterior covering.” Considering that the first successful airplane flight was only 26 years earlier, Fuller was taking new technological hazards into account with his architectural design.
Fuller was profoundly inspired by scientific theories, and his enthusiasm bubbled over into bedtime stories for his second daughter. He expanded the traditional Goldilocks and the Three Bears story to include discussions of geometry, physics and relativity. In the exhibited “Tetrascroll”, Fuller writes, “I became convinced that the best way to study the thoughts of the scientists I was reading was to test myself by disclosing what I understood to a child. This also put the scientist, whose thoughts I was relaying, under great test. The scientist must be elegantly logical to the child or else the scientist’s logic was questionable.”
Scientists have also shown enthusiasm for R. Buckminster Fuller. Although scientists tend to name their discocveries after themselves, when Harold Kroto and Richard Smalley discovered a special structure in soot that resembled Fuller’s geodesic domes, they named it Buckminsterfullerene. The discovery was so important, they won a Nobel prize. Buckminsterfullerene is a very strong, tiny structure with the potential to change the world.
R. Buckminster Fuller was one strong individual who showed a love for people, nature, the world, the universe. He tried to change things for the benefit of all. His eyesight wasn’t great, but his vision--tremendous.
This article was originally published here: http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/zsheehan/2008/10/02/looking-back-at-the-future/#more-157
Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art
Reviewed by Julie Ashcraft
To climb a cube shaped jungle gym is a bit dangerous. It means climbing straight up a 90 degree angle against gravity. To climb a geodesic dome jungle gym is safer and more fun. Since the angle decreases, climbing becomes easier and gravity helps one hold on. The geodesic dome was invented by R. Buckminster Fuller. He loved working with the forces of nature. And he wanted to keep children safe.
After the early death of his first child, Fuller contemplated suicide. Instead he decided to spend his life exploring ways to benefit humanity and the environment. The transport vehicle, architectural structures, sculptures, models, drawings, paintings, papers, photographs, video and World Game in this exhibition bear testament to Fuller’s efforts, and those of his collaborators. Fuller inspired great enthusiasm with his plans and inventions to efficiently use distributed resources to create affordable housing and sustainable life for all on “spaceship earth”.
Amongst extensive work and documentation in this heavily attended exhibit, an extra tightly-packed crowd gathers around a video screen showing 1929 FOX News outtakes of Fuller promoting Dymaxion House. “No bedclothes may be used, though you may put on twenty blankets if you’re still self-conscious”, Fuller says, standing bolt upright in his three-piece suit and tie. (Fuller was explaining the revolutionary interior climate controls in his hexagonal, window sided house). The entire house was suspended from a center mast, like a tree. The unusual design made it “proof against fire, flood, tornado, earthquake, electrical storm, marauders.” The house was “enclosed in triangular forms” made of “casein material…relatively break-proof.” He continues, “The windows are suspended in tension cables. So instead of a rigid covering, an airplane could run into this window, possibly damaging one pane–but children could play baseball inside the house without damaging the exterior covering.” Considering that the first successful airplane flight was only 26 years earlier, Fuller was taking new technological hazards into account with his architectural design.
Fuller was profoundly inspired by scientific theories, and his enthusiasm bubbled over into bedtime stories for his second daughter. He expanded the traditional Goldilocks and the Three Bears story to include discussions of geometry, physics and relativity. In the exhibited “Tetrascroll”, Fuller writes, “I became convinced that the best way to study the thoughts of the scientists I was reading was to test myself by disclosing what I understood to a child. This also put the scientist, whose thoughts I was relaying, under great test. The scientist must be elegantly logical to the child or else the scientist’s logic was questionable.”
Scientists have also shown enthusiasm for R. Buckminster Fuller. Although scientists tend to name their discocveries after themselves, when Harold Kroto and Richard Smalley discovered a special structure in soot that resembled Fuller’s geodesic domes, they named it Buckminsterfullerene. The discovery was so important, they won a Nobel prize. Buckminsterfullerene is a very strong, tiny structure with the potential to change the world.
R. Buckminster Fuller was one strong individual who showed a love for people, nature, the world, the universe. He tried to change things for the benefit of all. His eyesight wasn’t great, but his vision--tremendous.
This article was originally published here: http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/zsheehan/2008/10/02/looking-back-at-the-future/#more-157
Sunday, April 26, 2009
From Tesla to Scalar Wave Weapons
Come for the entertainment! Stay for the information!
A jolly, skinny-Santa-looking gentleman with white hair and beard, wearing a matching white yamuka, begins his guest appearance on the (Christian) Prophesy Club show mentioning, as an aside, that he used to be a high priest of witchcraft. Then he launches into what may well be the best lay presentation regarding scalar waves I have so far encountered on the internet. If you want to skip the Christian context and go right to "Russia's Secret Weapons" by Bill Schnoebelen, fast forward to 14:31.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3348876914380471423
A jolly, skinny-Santa-looking gentleman with white hair and beard, wearing a matching white yamuka, begins his guest appearance on the (Christian) Prophesy Club show mentioning, as an aside, that he used to be a high priest of witchcraft. Then he launches into what may well be the best lay presentation regarding scalar waves I have so far encountered on the internet. If you want to skip the Christian context and go right to "Russia's Secret Weapons" by Bill Schnoebelen, fast forward to 14:31.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3348876914380471423
Friday, March 27, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Facebook as HAL
Facebook had an open window which beckoned users to write something following,"[name] is:__________." Now Facebook uses the voice of a separate entity--- directly asking users, "What's on your mind?__________" This reminds me of the quasi-therapeutic quasi-concern that the 2001: A Space Odyssey computer, HAL, showed for the astronaut, Dave, whom HAL would later attempt to murder.
I'd find this pretty humorous, if not for the fact that Facebook recently tried to seize the rights to all content posted to Facebook, and the content within websites in links posted on Facebook.
I'd find this pretty humorous, if not for the fact that Facebook recently tried to seize the rights to all content posted to Facebook, and the content within websites in links posted on Facebook.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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