Reaction to Lecture

Today's lecture was very impressive. I liked the fact that it dealt with artists who had political statements or some great meaning behind their works. My favorite work was The Cove. I feel like I need to see that movie now. It looks horribly depressing but I feel like movies like that need to be seen. They are biased and definitely ethnocentric but still, the footage doesn't lie. There are mass slaughters of dolphins going on. People may ask what the difference between them and our livestock animals are, with the intention of  proving that there isn't really a difference. The difference is that we raise animals with the intent of slaughter, they are also so much less intelligent than dolphins. They aren't roaming in the wild and one day fall into a trap where they await their death, then they are killed in highly questionable ways. The way we kill livestock is gross, but at least it is more humane. Often times an electric rod is speared into the brain and it takes fractions of seconds to die. The animals in the movie were clearly suffering. It is sad when any animal dies, but it is especially sad to see such a massacre of wild animals. The projections by Krystof Wodicko were highly political and great. I thought that they were amazingly provocative and a fresh idea to the street art scene. He let his ideas out there and it was very artistic and well done technologically. I think that Kip's critique of him having a problem with the fact that the artist was not from San Diego but still wanting to create art about it, was ungrounded. People go to share their art style and bring awareness to different places, if they just stuck to their home town or country that would be exceedingly boring especially for a project like his.

Can Extravaganza Be Considered an Art Show?

So basically I experienced a different kind of art show this weekend. I went to Extravaganza to hear all the artists showcase their music. I thought the experience was so fun and the environment was great. There were a lot of people chillin on the grass, some in the stands and some on the dance floor. I had a great experience on the grass listening to the Expendables and an amazing time on the dance floor when Rusko went on. I saw Darcey shuffling to Rusko! The Expendables are very talented musicians and they have a lot of good chill songs. Their style is like a chill rock that has some reggae influence. I really liked the fact that they had a song that was a narrative about zombies. It was great. They haven't released it yet so I couldn't post it, and there aren't any videos that I can find but I'll keep looking because that was such a cool song. During Rusko I went on my friend's shoulders for most of the set. I loved it up there because I could actually see the artist for once. The video above is what I saw. He goes crazy! I loved the fact that he put so much energy into his mixing and would dance all crazy when he likes something. It showed that he was really into his art and the crowd loved it. They returned as much energy as he gave out. This exchange between the artist and the crowd was very noticeable and contagious. I was dancing insane on my friend's shoulders while he was dancing too so I was flailing around somewhat gracefully and hand pumping to the beat. I felt like the way he didn't care how funny he looked gave everyone the permission to let loose and let the music cause whatever reaction in your body that you felt and that was a great experience.

Weekly Documentation

A Day Of Flash Mobs- This week pretty much all we did were flash mobs. I am so excited to have this video as documentation. It was a great day and now I can show all the people who weren't there. As always Michael has done a great job with his camera. It was great.

Project Decision

I have decided to do the frat boy project at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house. I will live there on someone's couch for 48 hours and go out and join in on the activities that make up their daily lives. I will need to get a video camera now, I am really excited about this project. I am going to abandon my feminity and learn about how this certain clique of boys lives. They all are really excited to teach me new things. I'm a little bit nervous about getting hurt trying these things, but I think I will be okay. I have made a list with them about the kinds of activities that we'll be doing but I don't want to share it yet. I'm looking to make a 15 minute video out of my footage. I am going to have to cut down a lot but actually there is a film major in the house that can help me. He's going to help me film my project. Some scenes will be filmed by me and some scenes will be filmed by him.  I am so excited to get going on this project.

Alternate Identity Proposals

I was contemplating my alternate identity proposals. There are so many possibilities. The hard thing about the project is if you can stick to your character and follow the regulations of the role that you choose. I think that aspect makes the project really interesting and fun.

1. I was thinking about becoming environmentally friendly in every way and becoming vegan. It would be an interesting project. I just don't know how I would be able to execute this well without much education on the protocol of being a vegan. I understand it vaguely. I would also want to modify the products I use to be environmentally friendly to make the projects. It would be a lot of research, which would be fun to do.

2. Be a frat boy. Since my boyfriend is in a frat, I have access to the house. I have actually talked this project out with them and they are very interested in showing what their lifestyle is really about. They say they study and do community service and work out and eat healthy. I would be interested in experiencing this for myself. I would video tape the project and live as a frat boy in the frat on someone's couch and do activities with different guys that embody their lifestyle and are examples of what they do on the daily.

3. Be silent for 48 hours and no text messages either. Monks do the vow of silence thing and the say they learn from it. I guess for this one I would write about my experiences and if any spiritual learning or self realizations resulted from this.

Projects to date

I have really enjoyed all of the projects in this class. They have broken me out of my comfort zone and pushed my definition of art. I am so excited about all the work that I have done. I am excited for the last 2 projects! Here are my old ones:

Sequence Project: http://art7andrea.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-sequence-project.html

Confession Project: http://art7andrea.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-confession.html

Random Act of Kindness: http://art7andrea.blogspot.com/2011/04/random-act-of-kindness.html

Nexus Article: http://art7andrea.blogspot.com/2011/04/follow-up-to-work-this-week.html
http://art7andrea.blogspot.com/2011/04/breaking-news.html

Altered Everyday Action: http://art7andrea.blogspot.com/2011/04/ordinary-action-unordinary-place.html

Pun: http://art7andrea.blogspot.com/2011/04/documentation-of-pun.html

FLASH MOB!

I liked the flash mob experience very much. I think it is powerful to share art in a way that brightens peoples day in an unexpected way. I could tell that all the people that experienced our flash mobs enjoyed the experience and  had a story to tell someone that day. I thought that our gun fight one was the most successful. I could tell a lot of people liked the playful spontaneity of it. It was so fun! I talked to my room mate in gauchocafe afterwards and she said that she was stoked to have seen a flash mob, she had always wanted to see one. I didn't know that so many people knew what flash mobs are. A few of my friends actually asked me if they could join in on our flash mobs. I liked playing duck-duck goose and I could tell that we were getting a lot of attention from bikers for that. it was really fun and I think activities like that could bring our section closer together, It was really cool. I thought our other flash mobs could have been more successful maybe next time now that we have a feel for the dynamics of how each scene works. I would love to do another flash mob. I love performing. I thought it was really fun.

Even Tyra Banks has done a flash mob to encourage natural beauty....even though she insists on having a different weave every week?? Oh well This flash mob is still kinda cool.