Manufactured something brilliant: Re-Teema (2017) a replacement ear for Teema model cups (the cups ear gets broken easily). I’m in doubt whether to make a CAD drawing of the design (with Topis help?) or to invest in a hand router and make them myself. I’ll make a longer ear for next iteration and possibly secure the joint with a brass rivet (found a perfect brass screw for riveting).
20170615
Photos of the Sound of Work -exhibition online. Feeling happy about the display. The brick dust on the floors is a justified part of the exhibition. It draws focus to infra-art. Still waiting for videos of our gig to come online.
Served as a camera assistant in M-Cult’s Shades of Agency seminar and came to the realization that artist cannot make “community arts” – Only communities can make community arts. If an artist is involved the result can be art “with” or “about” a community.. But the result is just “art”. Community arts can be produced in a relationship or by initiative of a facilitator but no artist is needed. Only communities can make (or choose not to make) community art. #ॐ
Learning about The Museum of Impossible Forms. The project is challenging. Framing a temporary project space as a museum feels tandy. Who are they trying to convince and why convince them by dressing the project as a museum? Museums are dead.. They only move when bashed with critique. Challenges make them appear vital – Ignoring them is the best way to silence them. I’ll have to read why exhibit at all? by Lotte Arndt to understand the motivations with the group better.
20170614
Kenan Malik In Defense of Cultural Appropriation (2017)
Nobody owns a culture, but everyone inhabits one, and in inhabiting a culture, one finds the tools for reaching out to other cultures.
The accusation of cultural appropriation is a secular version of the charge of blasphemy. It’s the insistence that certain beliefs and images are so important to particular cultures that they may not appropriated by others.
Seventy years ago, racist radio stations refused to play “race music” for a white audience. Today, antiracist activists insist that white painters should not portray black subjects. To appropriate a phrase from a culture not my own: Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Social Cooling explained:
If you feel you are being watched, you change your behavior. Big Data is supercharging this effect. […] Social Cooling describes the long-term negative side effects of living in a reputation economy. A culture of conformity. Have you ever hesitated to click on a link because you thought your visit might be logged, and it could look bad? More and more people are feeling this pressure, and they are starting to apply self-censorship. This is called a ‘chilling effect’. […] Social [media] pressure is the most powerful and most subtle form of control.
The same explained through a video where Frank Pasquale explains how algorithms are racist.
20170612
Uhlectronic makes interesting low-fi sample packs.
20170611
Old medias are celebrating youtubers as the top influencers of our time. We need more writings investigating how youtube has formalized on-camera presence, how it’s capitalizing our private data and how personal expression has been harnessed to serve status quo. Youtubers are conservative entrepreneurs because youtube is a conservative framework for business and expression. Instead of battling corporations we now need to battle troops of independent entrepreneurs who believe they are expressing their beliefs. Youtube is not serving our rights, it’s cashing in on our dreams.