Was I writing a blog or something?

Well I got sucked up into a vortex of holidays and grant submissions. I've managed to crawl to my bookcase and get the next book. It is another theory book. TO be honest, I wish I could switch it up for a fiction, but the inner nun in me has got me by the head with gun to stick with the plan. I must read what's there in the order that it appears in. sigh.

So, it's The Digital Dialectic: New Essays on New Media edited by Peter Lunefeld. 1999 MIT Press.

When I see the dates on the New Media books I've been reading, I feel like Sam Tyler the lead character in the British TV series "Life on Mars". Seeing 1999, and the thought process that went along with the compiling of the book makes me assume that I already know everything that is about to be discussed in the essays. Rather arrogant. Why? It doesn't seem as if anything in the New Media field has advanced so much. If anything it seems to have reached a plateau. in terms of new projects, challenging ideas, ground breaking innovation....If anyone out there (hello, crickets) has suggestions send links please.

Lunefeld opens the book with a dedication, " To Gerald O'Grady for what he built". I found some exciting information:

Gerald O'Grady was a visionary it seems. A champion for the arts and the fusion of technology with it. His work on archiving the work of the Civil Rights era is incredible, and he received some impressive awards in support of it. How does it happen that a name like this passes along like a blur in our history when it should be a household name? In photos he looks like a Detroit car/ad man. Never would have pinned him for an art revolutionary. As I google here and there I can't help but want to go into one of my rants about how removed our society is from seeking solidarity with the arts. by this I mean making it possible for everyone to have the opportunity to work and explore without the stresses of living, surviving, and diving into life in 21Century NYC (or other urban trench).

For more on O'Grady read below. It looks like a new edition to the case. Also provides reason to get moving on the shelf.
Buffalo Heads: Media Study, Media Practice, Media Pioneers, 1973-1990
Woody Vasulka and Peter Weibel (Eds.)
Paper / November 2008
Images and texts document the legendary Department of Media Study at SUNY Buffalo when it set the world standard; a history of the program and examples of work by "Buffalo heads" James Blue, Tony Conrad, Hollis Frampton, Gerald O'Grady, Paul Sharits, Steina, Woody Vasulka, and Peter Weibel.


More soon.....

and yet more theory to read

It has taken me forever, but I'm done with Lev. It is certainly a must read for all artists practicing today regardless if they use digital media to produce their work or not. The rise of digital media has truly changed how we relate to visual information largely because I think our relationship to sensory experiences in the everyday has changed. We have the ability to have entire control over creating a virtual world, simulating any situation we want, to whatever degree of perfection we care to have. As a result, the demand for artists to match this has tripled and our audiences have grown more fastidious. Perhaps this is why there are an overwhelming number of design programs on TV. The public seems to crave pleasingly aesthetic environments and programs give them accessible tools. Maybe all this simulation has led to a want for more real experiences. more performances. Forget Marina Abramovic. She's been around for a while, yet it is now that her work and the work of many other performance artists is in demand. Is it because she's met the required 30+ year career deadline? Or is it because the zeitgeist wants to experience the palpable again.

The next book is more digital theory. I don't think it will match Lev Manovich. He's an incredible writer and thinker. I will drudge. I don't know when the first fiction is coming up. I will have to look at the list again. I have a theory I will move faster through fiction....


copyright AliciaGrullon 2010

hard times. no time?

This is the most difficult project I've ever undertaken.
Sitting for 8 hours with a wet paper mask seems much easier
Have I lost my ability to read? Sitting on focusing on the pages is a chore.
I wonder if this has to do with the growing reliance on the screen.
We seem programmed if not brainwashed into looking at any screen for hours.
Have we fooled ourselves into thinking that just because we're researching or doing email that we're actively using our cognitive skills?
I think at times I think a bit then my brain wants to move on to the next topic faster than before.
I grab my mouse and hurry to the next site or link and remain there for a breath or 2.
To be honest, I donty like the Kindle (screen book) very much. A part of resists the idea of reading a book from a machine.
Or am I too proud to admit I need the screen. I've recently watched "Ran" Kirasawa's film twice without thinking that I was looking at a scrren too much.
I'm on the subway next stop I go underground. More soon.

post from crate battery low

I've masked my face while inside. My battery is running out and soon enough the top of the crate will open. I hear voices some familiar others not. It's getting hot. Soon enough. Soon.