education - Sir Ken Robinson

go watch this http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/66

its a talk by Robinson on education and creativity. its fantastic!
here's an blurb if the link doesnt work:


Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says.


cheers,

conceptual desert installation

re-working this one, there will be more versions to come, but this is perhaps the cleanest so far...

wise murdoch

words of wisdom:

"Video is increasingly important at the top social-networking site because users want it and because it keeps them around to watch more ads."

my-space now owned by news corp adds video to compete with youtube, full text here.

culture econ 101

a decent read from London by the guardian...

"The financial power of the creative industries - comparable, we're told, to the financial-services sector, and growing at twice the speed of the general economy - was the subject of a report from the Work Foundation published the day before the change of premiers. This was partly because of the risk that the foreword by culture secretary Tessa Jowell might have a sell-by date, but also because the celebration of entertainment - or "knowledge economy" in the report's coinage - feels instinctively more Blairite than Brownite."

read the full text here. it has always been difficult applying market economics to art & culture, and after a few reads, the circular nature of this article reveals that very truth...

Michael Moore's SiCKO (official trailer)

don't forget to go see michael moore's new film sicko opening tonight...

a sense of materials

stunningly speechless work by Tara Donovan

the above is a detail of a larger piece done completely with scotch tape in 2002. see more of Donovan's work here.

asymptote - architecture

read the article here in the times, and be sure to take a look at the pics.

article is about some new lux condos designed by Asymptote in west village priced between 2 and 11 million...

gaming

little morsel from article here about video game addiction:


Nearly 70 percent of American heads of households play video games, according to an Entertainment Software Association study released in 2005.
One of them is Neil Kight, a 34-year-old shipping and receiving clerk who unwinds by playing his Xbox 360 for two or three hours a day after work. He said he doubts that video game addiction exists, and he chuckled when told that playing two hours a day could put him in the danger zone.
"Well then, I can quit anytime I want," Kight said sarcastically.
"They've been doing research into the harmful effects of video gaming for quite some time," he said. "It's funny. I don't see them bring up chess or any number of games. I find the argument specious at best. They don't seem to have much scientific study or backing to reinforce the idea."
The media add to the hype, he said.
Kight says he and his gamer friends are all well-adjusted.
"I do have friends who are very, very serious" about gaming, he said. "I've had friends literally put aside paychecks to get new games. You can spend way too much money, but I think it's like any hobby."


addiction is addiction is addiction is addiction.

super!

now what.

MacArthur looks at the virtual world, from the new york times (registration required):


The goals are to gain insight into how virtual worlds are used by young people, to introduce the foundation to an audience that may have little exposure to institutional philanthropy and to take part in and stimulate discussions about the real-world issues that it seeks to address.
"This is not just some fad or something new and interesting that we've grabbed onto," said Jonathan Fanton, MacArthur's president. "Serious conversations take place there, people are deeply engaged, and that led us to think that maybe a major foundation ought to have a presence in the virtual world as well."



at last...

WSJ zaps Venice.

fairly scathing review of the Biennale in Venice and its curator R. Storr...

read on here.

oil from plastic

a good friend sent this to me:

"A US company is taking plastics recycling to another level – turning them back into the oil they were made from, and gas.
All that is needed, claims Global Resource Corporation (GRC), is a finely tuned microwave and – hey presto! – a mix of materials that were made from oil can be reduced back to oil and combustible gas (and a few leftovers).
Key to GRC’s process is a machine that uses 1200 different frequencies within the microwave range, which act on specific hydrocarbon materials. As the material is zapped at the appropriate wavelength, part of the hydrocarbons that make up the plastic and rubber in the material are broken down into diesel oil and combustible gas."

read more here

cheers,

re-worked after a walk...

am liking this one better...

more on this later...

this is something that i am in the midst of working on, the spheres would be as you see them, filled with helium suspended above the lake...

at this point, would really appreciate any comments or otherwise...

laters.

roundabout cutout

video by Nudelita documenting a temporary work by Richard Wilson.

read a review here...

cheers,

box o' paintings

yuppers, its been a while since i last saw this old friend. if you can believe it, this is a painting that i did nearly five years ago, times change i guess. about two weeks ago, went to boston to pack up an old studio, shipped it back west, and now there are a whole bunch of old paintings...feels good to have them around again.

cheers,

Vik Muniz: Art with wire, thread, sugar, chocolate

enjoy.

home again, home again

some recent photos...SF area, lake merced, Las Pulgas, san mateo county, etc...





and no, the last image isn't a badly shot image, just a documentation of county codes...

works in progess

ok, so with a nod towards the youtube culture, i have begun to upload some of the video work. not all of them are there, but soon they will be. as time goes, check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JKMProductions

be well,

cheers.