Complexity and the precautionary principle
“Complexity is a fact of the world, whereas simplicity is in the mind”
The precautionary principle came to mind when reading this short sentence in Don Norman’s latest book. Whether that mind belongs to the consumer or the regulator is up for debate.
(Source: jnd.org)
I made this 80’s movie montage/hip-hop video for a project that never came to fruition. So here it is. It’s fun and weird, and gets weirder.
You’ve probably why I’ve been growing my hair long. Next step … growing musical talent.
(Source: nerdboyfriend)
Unfocused art and minds
In his study of still-life painting, Looking at the Overlooked, Norman Bryson argues that historical art criticism has tended to divide painting into two spheres: a highly valued megalography (concerned with grand narratives, historical events and great figures) and a less esteemed rhopography (concerned with the unremarkable routines and objects of everyday life). Bryson suggests that rhopography [from the Latin rhopos, meaning trivial objects] has a tendency to turn into megalography. Rhopographic paintings often aim at a ‘re-education of vision’, a looking again at overlooked objects so as to make them seem unfamiliar and unique, which is actually a ‘re-assertion of painting’s own powers and ambitions’. But certain artists avoid this tendency by undermining the rules of visual composition, refusing to direct the viewer’s gaze towards particular elements in the picture at the expense of less ‘significant’ elements. The works of the eighteenth-century still-life painter, Jean-Siméon Chardin, for example, ‘cultivate a studied informality of attention, which looks at nothing in particular’. Chardin produces an overall, uncentred image which suggests that nothing needs to be ‘vigilantly watched’.
(Source: joemoransblog.blogspot.com)
Urban society … “chooses It’s enemies poorly” - my addition to an interactive art installation at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
The construction site
The Mansudae Art Studio is an official artist studio (changjaksa) in Pyongyang, North Korea (DPRK), which employs over 1000 artists across the disciplines of painting, drawing, embroidery and mosaics. There is a rich cultural heritage associated with artistic production in North Korea (DPRK), and ink painting in particular is a revered practice.
Robert Wise’s The Office: A Portable Amenity Kiosk for Female Outdoor Sex Workers, an interactive machine and office space
Rip the BandAid off
WSJ: It’s rare to see a change like that happen all at once as opposed to over a period of years. Why do this all at once?
Mr. Apotheker: Can I answer this with a small joke? There was a debate in the Swedish parliament in the 1960s about whether they should move from driving on the left side of the road to the right side of the road. True story. One member said jokingly we could do it gradually: On Monday the trucks, on Tuesday the bicycles, and Wednesday the cars. If a change has to happen why wait and do it gradually?
(Source: The Wall Street Journal)
Banksy, contemplating graffiti, Toronto, 2010. BTW - this piece is less than a foot high.
