reality-vision
Reality vision [as seen in Echo Park]: Saturday night was a time to enjoy one of the special exhibits organized by the Institute for Figuring (and held at the Machine Project gallery). Out with hyper-surface crochets and in with this cube-like form, the Menger Sponge (a mathematical volume that fits into Modernism with its nice cubic shape, and into postmodern phenomenology, with its infinite subdivision of solids and voids). This particular 'sponge' was made out of business cards, so it also explores interesting origami aspects.
related posts: MIDI Scrapyard Challenge (7-8-06), USB Power (8-13-06)
reality-vision
Reality vision [as seen in Pasadena]: Trends in 'painting of the 21st century...
The gallery space, the 'Wind Tunnel' at Art Center:
Formula for new art:
... abstract art, with odd details... urban highlights (dark)... stencils + silkscreening... neo-pointillism... photo-video-game perspective... porno-naïf story-telling... cut-off (dada-style) heads and exposed bodies... iconic extreme urbanism... imperfect colorful minimalism... questioning spatial connections (angst-Goth is always good too)... contrived blurriness...
reality-vision
Reality vision: [as seen in Santa Monica] Part Modernism, part 'ruin' (ie Anthony Vidler, or Morphosis), this parking structure exemplifies the duality of ground/object, skin/structure, and earth/sky. I enjoy climbing to the top of these 'vanishing stairs'.
USB power
Interesting workshops continue at Machine Project (just northwest of downtown LA). Here we polish up on modifying 5-volt devices to draw their power from a USB port (as opposed to a wall outlet or batteries; and yes, that is an issue of 'Make' magazine you see there). Electricity wiring in existing USB cables, ignoring/discarding the data connections (for now). First we used a China-made toy-fan (nice and bright), and then moved on to creating a battery-driven USB micro-component.
reality-vision
Reality vision: [as seen in San Diego County] Enjoy this review of public art from San Diego's libraries (as part of research for a proposal of mine, sometime soon):
reality-vision
Reality vision: [as seen in Pasadena] These 'billowing skylights' on the roof of the Art Center campus (in a Pasadena warehouse district), offer their very own 'quality', while also reflecting the very traditional (and also 'billowing') curved warehouse roofs of yesteryear.
reality-vision
Reality vision: [as seen in Pasadena] Victorian times. Something that always intrigues me about Victorian architecture. How to extrapolate it to contemporary times? For example, the treatments and asymmetry seem to embrace a reflection of the natural context, but a formal-Classical stance, and stand-out colors, seem to highlight the artificial object. And then there is the issue of thermal-energetic containment (it is in the Victorian period that we see the hiding of integral mechanisms behind the wall). Exposure, or concealment?
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