Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
One Minute Fly
As its name is already telling, the One Minute Fly has got a very limited lifespan. One minute in which it wants to experience everything that makes life worth living...
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Weakness and Weaponry
I don't want to dissuade you or anyone else from making, but I feel like it's high time to point out the obvious irony at play:
When your class was introduced to my work and ideas you presented me with a number of challenging questions about community, self-reliance, and survivalists.
I recall some discussion about the slippery slope of self-reliance, the crazy gun nut survivalists, and the misplaced idealism that leads an individual to thinking that a stockpile of small munitions fire and a couple of AR-15s - or a stake and whip - will aid your survival.
While these tools may be useful for defense and self-preservation in a short term crisis (such as a riot), they can really only take you (and the human race) so far. They also threaten to undermine your survival as the act of creating (and using) such tools of destruction is incredibly seductive.
This seductive power is evidenced by the fact that many of you have now fallen into the trap of creating weaponry. It's too easy. It's also a reflection of one's desperate desire for self-preservation upon recognition of your own physical frailty. While this was one intended consequence of the self-assessment, I think the end result is a non-starter.
Self preservation by force does not equal self-reliance. Eventually your defensive skills will become your greatest asset, and when you get hungry you'll look to rely on those skills to fill your belly. The problem here of course is that the ultimate translation of those skills will move you to violence or the will to control others via the threat of violence.
There will always be someone with a bigger gun, longer whip, or more powerful crossbow. Hopefully, civility will not erode such that you will have to meet that person in a conflict. In the meantime, how practical a survival tool is your whip, or molotov cocktail, or bomb?
Focus on creation, preservation, and hope. What can you build today that will help us avoid the scenario I described above? Your exhibition objects will tell stories about who you are at the very core of your being. What story will you tell?
Don't get freaked out but...
In addition to the two whips, I made a stake. Well, technically I just took a piece of wood, snapped it, and then sharpened it with a knife. The process was very very tedious and I have yet tried to use the stake. I hope it cuts through something, anything. Pictures will be uploaded soon as well.
I suppose my tactic is to try and intimidate my enemy and fight from a distance. If a vampire or zombie is close, then I have a stake. I have a screw on the back of the wooden stick so that I can throw the stick from a distance and get it back from the rope. I just hope that I can figure some way for the stick to retract quicker.
Until tomorrow, A
Sad...
Comments on the picture? Comments on the photographer and his actions?
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Look what I found peeps
http://obviousmag.org/en/archives/2008/08/photographs_that_shook_the_world_omayra_sanchez.html
and
http://www.oddee.com/item_96623.aspx (number 7)
proposal
I can video tape the process, if necessary for the assignment, I can document a video and text/image diary for the sake of notation and collection.
I will not exceed a weekend in implementing it's construction. I will perform within it over the weekend prior to the exhibition. It will be a test of my capacity to be resourceful and independent. I will work with the scenario that my home has to be evacuated between noon and midnight on the Friday of that weekend. All of my materials will be carried out of my house, and brought behind houghton on foot or wheels (like a wagon or a skooter, not a car). I will prepare an amount of food and water appropriate for this period. If I cannot make a proper structure in time, I will sleep on the ground, or be forced to seek a shelter that is unlocked, and not my own home, supposing that I cannot return to my own established space. I will also eliminate Houghton as a possibility unless I can break into the space somehow, as my keycard lock would not work in a power outage.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Proposal
Idea 1: SLINGSHOT
Use a can and balloon with rope to create a substance I can use to shoot pebbles and other things
Idea 2: Nail-Bat
use a wooden bat and hammer nails into the edge of it (kinda like the evil guys in scary movies have)
Idea 3: Molotov Cocktail
Use vodka and a rag to create a death bomb
Power of verbal communication Propsal
In my previous posting I expressed my interest in creating a piece about the mis-communication of a tragedy but I was stuck with a visual representation. I want to create a contraption that is installed in train cars that translates the messages of disaster. The conductor or train operatives will simple walk up to the box relay the message and an automated voice will play over the loud speaker; the communications will be in several mainstream dialects.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Proposals...
1) For Christmas, I bought my sister a book of office warfare weaponry. She is sending me the book in the mail, and I plan to either make two repurposes based off of that book or just one, depending on what I can find in there. If I only make one, my other idea is:
2) To make a backpack out of a laundry basket and masking tape.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Tom Sachs Lecture
If you don't want to listen to the whole thing, watch the beginning (the Chanel guillotine breakfast nook is fabulous) and then skip to the space program, especially when he takes questions at the end.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Reading Response: Groupthink
Thursday, October 14, 2010
risk assessment - reina apraez
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Prof. Chin's Risk Assessment
Power of verbal communication
Maybe because I am unable to come up with a visual representation I think it would be interesting to play with the written and verbal forms of communication. How do our thoughts and communication skills become muddled when we are under stress or in a traumatic situation. Maybe make a film that just uses audio commands of instructions. This would be interesting because it is exploring the power of words, specifically written and verbal commands, but also makes social commentary on literacy, our ability to understand written and verbal communication, language, and dialect.
(sorry that this idea is kins of all over the place)
Jenny's Escape Routes
I chose Carr McGuire House, Houghton House and Carriage House because I spend most of my time at those places. In this animation, I mapped out most of the escape routes at those places. In emergency, breaking the windows will be considered as well. When I was shooting, I realized there are more fire extinguishers than I thought.
[What is in my backpack on a regular basis?]
A wallet: Some cash, HWS ID, Wegman’s Shoppers Card, art dept key card, Chautauqua Institution gate passes ‘09 and ‘10, credit card, a piece of paper with my contact info.
Sketchbook, notebook (a binder actually), Italian textbook;
Triplus fineliners, technical pens, iPod, Italian study cards, a thumb drive, hand cream, a watch, menthol, post-it, sunscreen lotion, mechanical pencils and leads, a cell phone; keys
A point ‘n shoot camera.
[Strengths and Weaknesses]
Cash, shoppers card, key card, and gate passes would not be very helpful when a catastrophe happens. With my sketchbook, pens, and a camera, I would be able to record what happens during the catastrophe. Whether I can survival or not eventually, I will have something for people who want to know what happened. Menthol is useful, as it helps relieve stuffy nose, insect bites, chapped skin, minor skin-burns, abrasion, sunburns and skin irritations.
Strengths are: calm; not afraid of death; always have snakes around; not selfish
Weaknesses are: I will freak out if I am alone; not an outdoor person
[Essential Survival Skills]
CPR certified; know how to start a fire with matches or a lighter; able to build some easy constructions; always wearing flip-flops will hurt me if I had to walk for a long distance
Anita Cheung
Anita Cheung October 13, 2010 Step 1: Assess your situation
Experience: While I was abroad, I traveled around to different countries by planes, trains and boats. When I was in Paris, a volcano erupted in Iceland causing ashes to be dispersed into the atmosphere and thus preventing any air traffic. My friends and I were essentially stuck in Paris, which was not a bad place to be stuck in but nonetheless we had to pay for another night at the hostel and our trip to Barcelona was canceled. I remembered specifically how all bus tickets were jacked up and tourists (mainly Americans) were panicking. I also remembered how little I cared about getting back home to Wales. I allowed my friends to figure out a plan to get home. I was too busy thinking about the rest of the day, enjoying Paris and hopefully going to Paris Disneyland. My carefree, all-things-will-work-out-in-the-end attitude made some people laugh and others very upset. Now, I am trying to picture how I would react if a volcano exploded near the states.
Research: So, with a little research I found out that there are two active volcanoes in the states, Mount St. Helen in Washington and Mount Shasta in California. Let’s say these two volcanoes erupted and completely wiped out the population of both Washington and California. With a little more research, Washington has the population of (estimate from 2009) 6,664,195 people. California has a population of 36,961,664 people. The total population in USA is 307,006,550. With a little quick math, wiping out the state of California and Washington would eliminate 43, 625, 859 people leaving the total to be 263, 380, 691.
Situation: Let’s say that each state has one deadly wiper-outer, volcano, earthquake, flood etc. It takes one full day for the disaster to occur, taking out all the inhabitants of the state. The disasters begin on the west coast and end on the east coast. So, in less than two months, the states would be wiped out. What would you do? What would I do?
Assess: I would head home from Geneva after saying goodbye to everyone I love here because it’s probably the last time I will see him or her. I would pack exactly one suitcase and hitch a ride home or worst case, greyhound. Once I get home, I will decide with my family what to do next. The logical thing to do would be to move, right?
- Nothing in pockets at the moment, few hundred dollars in my purse.
- Since I don’t much on a daily basis, packing should be a breeze.
- Tools I would want- cell phone, flashlight, chargers, adaptor for Europe and iPod and toiletries. Clothes would be jackets, sweats (if I die, I am dying comfortably).
Strengths- not high maintenance, rational (sort of), logical (sort of), can walk long distances, caring for others, love to build and construct things?
Weaknesses- picky eater, really hate grass to the point where I am afraid, very city-like. Really dislike taking orders normally but I do sometimes. I like to take charge or situations.
Survival Skills- Great packer, I can fit a lot in a very little compartment. Up for challenges- helping doctors or police. Very caring- cannot turn away from someone or something in need of help, if I can’t help then I will find someone who can. Not afraid of dying. I believe everything happens for a reason, so if my situation occurs, then there’s a reason why.
Pictures and/ or video to come.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
ELIZABETH PERRY
CATASTROPHIC EVENT:
ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
This is going to be based on my knowledge of zombies without doing research since, should zombies suddenly take over, I wouldn’t magically know anything about their behavior.
What I know about zombies already is that they have tattered clothes, they’re not dead or alive, and they bite humans and turn them into more zombies. That’s literally all I know. I don’t know how to kill them or fight them off, and have no idea how strong they are, so I’m going to make a few assumptions as I create my plan of what I would actually do if a zombie apocalypse happened right now as I sit in my second floor Sherill single where I’m an RA.
I would probably stay put in my dorm room. My first plan of action would be to barricade the door and windows. For the door, I’d use a chair and a short dresser. For the windows, I’d use a tall bureau and a tall dresser, since the windows are quite tall. I might also take apart my bed frame and use the pieces, other than the mattress, to make the barricade stronger. I can’t imagine leaving my room since I wouldn’t know the first thing about fighting off zombies. I wouldn’t answer my door, and I wouldn’t let anyone in unless they could prove that they weren’t a zombie and that they wanted to create a team…and not kill me/take my stuff. (Inevitably, I would probably end up withering away, but I’m just trying to be realistic here).
FOOD-In my room I have:
-two boxes of cereal
-raw rice pilaf
-raw venison
-ice
-a small amount of water
-a small amount of milk
-three boxes of raw instant oatmeal
-raw egg noodles
-and dry onion soup mix
OTHER STUFF-In my room I have-
-toiletries
-clothing
-blankets
-mattress
-stapler
-scissors
-writing utensils
-paper towels
-a rug
-garbage cans
It seems that I have a ton of useless junk that would get me absolutely nowhere in a zombie apocalypse. I have no skills, no trust, and no tools. I would maybe last for 2 weeks maximum if I failed to leave my room. If I did leave my room, it’d be an entirely different story.