what we did today (somewhere in or around the 29th of August): played Grapevine.
Adrian and Thyra frantically held hands on a swing set for the full length of an episode of Full House. It was awkward and everyone was revolted by it.
Craig and Caitlin firmily made love in a tree house for 58 minutes. It was totally cute but everyone was disgusted.
Mac and Tristin rigidly argued at the elementary school for a couple of days. It was rad but people were bewildered by it.
Ryan and Ellen briefly sexed up at the Vatican for the entire length of the trip. It was minty and people were impressed.
Alex and Liz sloppily made out under the table in the kitchen for approximately 10 minutes. It was unfulfilling but people thought it was magical.
Mike impregnated Jenna claustrophobically in a Porta Potty. It took 2 seconds. It ended long term and everyone was really jealous.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
THE LAST ONE: 11/08/2007. Venice. Bill Viola: Ocean without a Shore.
There was this exhibit that was near San Marco by this guy named Bill Viola. It was in a very small chapel that I just happened upon. In the chapel there were set up three elongated screens on each wall. It was one of the best exhibits I saw all weekend. I sat there for at least half an hour or more watching the videos. What they were was videos of people whom you could see at a distance and were all in black and white. One screen at a time the people would approach you and walk through a curtain of water. As they did this they turned into color. Once they had stepped through the curtain of water, they didn’t talk. They just stood there, each doing something a little different. And then they turned around, went back through the water and immediately turned black and white again and disappeared. It was an incredibly moving piece. After about five minutes I began to understand that these people were representatives of the dead and that by going through the curtain of water they were for some reason given the chance to come back to the world of the living, if even for only a few minutes. But they must not talk. Anything they wanted to convey had to be done through the eyes and facial expressions. It was a very powerful piece.
I really could have stayed there and watched it for many hours. It was the human condition at its finest and yet different because these people were no longer inhabitants of human bodies. And although each one seemed to have a reason for coming back for a few minutes, they were quite resigned to the fact that they would have to go back and some even looked thankful about it, as if all the memories of their bodily life suddenly came back to them, and they wanted nothing more than to just leave them behind. And then imagine all these thoughts and feelings coming to you all while sitting in this tiny chapel surrounded by religious iconography. It was oddly calming, watching these people go back and forth between the human world and the other one. I really wish everyone could have seen this project because it was an exhibit that was in no way political. It was more about experiencing something and about evoking some type of feeling, independent to each person that watches it.
As far as the program goes as a whole, I really enjoyed it and I am glad that I had the opportunity to be involved with it. I have had the chance to see so more art in the last month than most people get to see in their lives. Not only the art that I have learned about in art history class but also all the contemporary art that we had the chance to look at. For me personally, it was the contemporary stuff that really made the experience in Italy worth it. I still really like and was impacted by all the “old” stuff, but it’s the contemporary stuff that has given me ideas to think about and is what has made me excited to get back to Oregon and start making more art. I still have 4 more months in Italy and I think I am going to try my hardest to start thinking about projects and starting on some of them while I am here. It has been such an exciting time for me and I am really glad I got to experience it with a ton of really cool people, some of whom I will definitely maintain friendships with after this, which is great because I did not know anyone in the digital arts program prior to this trip.
I am also very pleased with the project that we came up with. I am not saying it wasn’t a struggle and that it wasn’t quite frustrating at times. But that struggle and that frustration, I think, is what made the project so strong in the end. We have argued and bickered and disagreed about a lot of things, but we were still able to come up with something that turned out to be an amazing experience. Had the project come to us easily, and without much hassle I don’t think we would have appreciated the process as much as most of us do now. Personally, I have never collaborated on anything with anybody before and I am pretty sure that this is true of most of the people in the group. I feel like the whole process was a great learning experience. So maybe we went about things rather backwards, maybe we shouldn’t have fought as much, maybe we should have gone around in the beginning and seen how everyone felt about the project. But we didn’t. There is nothing we can do about that now. But we know for next time, and hopefully there will be a next time for a lot of us. I feel like you learn a lot when you have to work collaboratively. Even if you don’t do it so well the first few times, I really think that it is that process that you have to go through and that if you ever want to work in a collaborative, you have to go through what we did. You have to work out the kinks and figure what works for your group of people. It took us a long time to do this, but I think in the end we accomplished what we initially set out for.
I really could have stayed there and watched it for many hours. It was the human condition at its finest and yet different because these people were no longer inhabitants of human bodies. And although each one seemed to have a reason for coming back for a few minutes, they were quite resigned to the fact that they would have to go back and some even looked thankful about it, as if all the memories of their bodily life suddenly came back to them, and they wanted nothing more than to just leave them behind. And then imagine all these thoughts and feelings coming to you all while sitting in this tiny chapel surrounded by religious iconography. It was oddly calming, watching these people go back and forth between the human world and the other one. I really wish everyone could have seen this project because it was an exhibit that was in no way political. It was more about experiencing something and about evoking some type of feeling, independent to each person that watches it.
As far as the program goes as a whole, I really enjoyed it and I am glad that I had the opportunity to be involved with it. I have had the chance to see so more art in the last month than most people get to see in their lives. Not only the art that I have learned about in art history class but also all the contemporary art that we had the chance to look at. For me personally, it was the contemporary stuff that really made the experience in Italy worth it. I still really like and was impacted by all the “old” stuff, but it’s the contemporary stuff that has given me ideas to think about and is what has made me excited to get back to Oregon and start making more art. I still have 4 more months in Italy and I think I am going to try my hardest to start thinking about projects and starting on some of them while I am here. It has been such an exciting time for me and I am really glad I got to experience it with a ton of really cool people, some of whom I will definitely maintain friendships with after this, which is great because I did not know anyone in the digital arts program prior to this trip.
I am also very pleased with the project that we came up with. I am not saying it wasn’t a struggle and that it wasn’t quite frustrating at times. But that struggle and that frustration, I think, is what made the project so strong in the end. We have argued and bickered and disagreed about a lot of things, but we were still able to come up with something that turned out to be an amazing experience. Had the project come to us easily, and without much hassle I don’t think we would have appreciated the process as much as most of us do now. Personally, I have never collaborated on anything with anybody before and I am pretty sure that this is true of most of the people in the group. I feel like the whole process was a great learning experience. So maybe we went about things rather backwards, maybe we shouldn’t have fought as much, maybe we should have gone around in the beginning and seen how everyone felt about the project. But we didn’t. There is nothing we can do about that now. But we know for next time, and hopefully there will be a next time for a lot of us. I feel like you learn a lot when you have to work collaboratively. Even if you don’t do it so well the first few times, I really think that it is that process that you have to go through and that if you ever want to work in a collaborative, you have to go through what we did. You have to work out the kinks and figure what works for your group of people. It took us a long time to do this, but I think in the end we accomplished what we initially set out for.
READING RESPONSE
Architecturally Speaking: Practices of Art, Architecture and the Everyday edited by Alan Read.
Chapter 3. Getting lost and the localized mind. Written by Franco Cecia.
I actually do not usually like or even mildly enjoy the articles I receive and am supposed to read for class. Which is why I was surprised when I read Architecturally Speaking and found it one of the most interesting things I have read in a while. I think the main reason for this is because what the author is talking about is something that I can apply to my life right now and to the experience I am having while abroad. It was also one of the influences for our art project. So I am also found of it because of that. The article is all about getting lost, or rather how it is impossible to get lost in our society these days. According to the article getting lost is a cultural experience that we usually share with other people. It can remind us of past times we have gotten lost and then found ourselves.
However the articles also talks about how getting lost intentionally becomes more difficult. Which I think is quite true. When you get lost in a city, all you have to do to reorient yourself is either buy a map or ask a local who would know. At a time when maps were not an option, a person who was lost in a city they did not know, was forced to ask. It was apart of the role the stranger. If you lived in a town you knew who the foreigner was because that person would inevitably have to ask for directions to the place he or she was headed. Really the only way to truly loose yourself would be to go out into the wilderness or somewhere that would separate you from people. But that being said, since it is so hard to get lost these days, it would seem that the fear of getting lost is stronger than the feeling we have when we are lost. And yet most of us are so afraid of being lost. Of losing ourselves. It is as if we associate being lost with the loss of our identity. If you are in a place where no one knows you, your previous identity is surely gone. Or so some might think.
I think this is one of the reasons that people in college go abroad. They are trying to get away from themselves. Trying to leave behind a personality, a past, a person they are not proud to be. This reminds me of a quote one of my friends told me once on just this subject and it is, “Where ever you go, there you are.” You cannot really get away or loose yourself. Which makes the fear of getting lost kind of silly because you are never going to loose your personality just by changing scenery.
I guess another reason why someone would feel lost is because they are unable to see people and places they know. But if you if you stay in one place for long enough, those unfamiliar places are going to become familiar and you will meet people and make new relationships. So while you might be nostalgic for the things and people you are unable to see anymore, you make a new niche for yourself and that feeling of being lost is temporarily relieved. These are all just things I thought about while reading the article because it really makes you think about your place in a city or town that is unfamiliar to you.
“Then there is getting lost as a condition of beginning.”
Chapter 3. Getting lost and the localized mind. Written by Franco Cecia.
I actually do not usually like or even mildly enjoy the articles I receive and am supposed to read for class. Which is why I was surprised when I read Architecturally Speaking and found it one of the most interesting things I have read in a while. I think the main reason for this is because what the author is talking about is something that I can apply to my life right now and to the experience I am having while abroad. It was also one of the influences for our art project. So I am also found of it because of that. The article is all about getting lost, or rather how it is impossible to get lost in our society these days. According to the article getting lost is a cultural experience that we usually share with other people. It can remind us of past times we have gotten lost and then found ourselves.
However the articles also talks about how getting lost intentionally becomes more difficult. Which I think is quite true. When you get lost in a city, all you have to do to reorient yourself is either buy a map or ask a local who would know. At a time when maps were not an option, a person who was lost in a city they did not know, was forced to ask. It was apart of the role the stranger. If you lived in a town you knew who the foreigner was because that person would inevitably have to ask for directions to the place he or she was headed. Really the only way to truly loose yourself would be to go out into the wilderness or somewhere that would separate you from people. But that being said, since it is so hard to get lost these days, it would seem that the fear of getting lost is stronger than the feeling we have when we are lost. And yet most of us are so afraid of being lost. Of losing ourselves. It is as if we associate being lost with the loss of our identity. If you are in a place where no one knows you, your previous identity is surely gone. Or so some might think.
I think this is one of the reasons that people in college go abroad. They are trying to get away from themselves. Trying to leave behind a personality, a past, a person they are not proud to be. This reminds me of a quote one of my friends told me once on just this subject and it is, “Where ever you go, there you are.” You cannot really get away or loose yourself. Which makes the fear of getting lost kind of silly because you are never going to loose your personality just by changing scenery.
I guess another reason why someone would feel lost is because they are unable to see people and places they know. But if you if you stay in one place for long enough, those unfamiliar places are going to become familiar and you will meet people and make new relationships. So while you might be nostalgic for the things and people you are unable to see anymore, you make a new niche for yourself and that feeling of being lost is temporarily relieved. These are all just things I thought about while reading the article because it really makes you think about your place in a city or town that is unfamiliar to you.
“Then there is getting lost as a condition of beginning.”
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