I had to come back to see this. The premise for it was just too good. Even though it wasn't open for the gallery crawl, the hype and the brochures convinced me to make a separate trip downtown to see the place.
And it was trippy. And amazing. Lights were everywhere, and fog obscured views all over the place. Music also was integrated into the experience, sometimes coordinated with the lasers. I wish I had pictures to show.... it was so great.
(0.5 hours)
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
4/20 -- Gallery Crawl
Ok, so this was the big one. The moment we had all been waiting for--for WRINKLES to be unveiled. I had only heard of the long hours the class put in, of the dozens of miles of tape and filament they bought and strung up, and seen a few mock ups of what it might be.
The finished gallery space had an entry corridor delineated by an orange wall of surveying tape, wich two layers--pieces that were hung vertically, and also pieces at a tilt. The effect was pronounced--the wall is transparent when looked at straight on, and becomes more and more opaque when looked at from sharper angles. The best part of this was when people would walk by on the other side, and not even see you there until you were only inches away, directly across from them.
In the center of the gallery, there were tangles of clear filament, hung so there were interior paths, but they were obscured when the mass was looked at as a whole from a distance. It seemed that general visitors were hesitant to actually walk through the filament, even though it was encouraged. Members of the class and friends were typically those who actually walked through it, as a visual signal that other people could walk through to. The experience of being inside the mass of filaments was most focused on getting yourself untangled, rather than focusing on your view outward and through the mess. It was the most enjoyable gallery of the night though. And it was a shame that the laser exhibit at the Wood Street gallery wasn't opened yet!!
(3.5 hours)
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
4/18 Cinema Paradiso
This film was part of the CMU annual Foreign Film Festival held in the spring. I decided to see thsi one since it was Italian, and after taking an Italian Film class last spring, I have a deep appreciation for Italian film.
Cinema Paradiso told a story about a young boy in a small Italian town where the only entertainment is at the local cinema. He becomes friends with Alfredo, the old projectionist who controls the sole source of entertainment in town. As he grows older, the young boy, Salvatore, learns how to run the film projector himself, and Alfredo teaches him everything he knows about film. Later on, Alfredo also teaches him about women, and helps Salvatore secure his first love.
The film progresses to an older portrait of Salvatore as a man who now lives in Rome and has endured several failed relationships. He is brought back to his small hometown when word gets to him that his old friend Alfredo has died. He returns to his home and discovers many changes, including the pending demolition of the old cinema. He learns about himself, and yada yada yada.... Fin.
Regardless of the predictability of the plot, particularly at the end, it really was a poigniant and beautful film about growing up and falling and love, and making friendships. Like other Italian films I've seen, it heavily integrated music and beautiful scenery. The humor was subtle and infrequent, but effective. The story had the main stage here.
(2 hours)
Cinema Paradiso told a story about a young boy in a small Italian town where the only entertainment is at the local cinema. He becomes friends with Alfredo, the old projectionist who controls the sole source of entertainment in town. As he grows older, the young boy, Salvatore, learns how to run the film projector himself, and Alfredo teaches him everything he knows about film. Later on, Alfredo also teaches him about women, and helps Salvatore secure his first love.
The film progresses to an older portrait of Salvatore as a man who now lives in Rome and has endured several failed relationships. He is brought back to his small hometown when word gets to him that his old friend Alfredo has died. He returns to his home and discovers many changes, including the pending demolition of the old cinema. He learns about himself, and yada yada yada.... Fin.
Regardless of the predictability of the plot, particularly at the end, it really was a poigniant and beautful film about growing up and falling and love, and making friendships. Like other Italian films I've seen, it heavily integrated music and beautiful scenery. The humor was subtle and infrequent, but effective. The story had the main stage here.
(2 hours)
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
3/26 Mark Wigley lecture
Although the content of the lecture itself provoked a lot of thought and opinions, I think the most interesting part of the lecture was the aftermath of discussion, even in Passport discussions. It interesting to think about the shift from white black--drawing dark lines on white paper, then transforming the way we draw, and possibly the way we think as architects, to white lines on a black screen.
I've thought about this before, but not just in the realm of hand drawings versus CAD drawings. It occurred to me a few times--when we would do drawings in Doug Coopers class, some with light on dark, and others with dark on light, some where we put material on the page, then took some away to form an image. Or even when there's studio documentation due, and some people print black lines on a mainly white paper, while others revert to the negative, with a black background, and white-lined drawings. There's something just more modern and trendy about white on black, and I can't really say why that is. It also does change the way we think, particularly when you eventually print out CAD drawings on white paper with black lines.
The positive/negative relationship is most directly made physical in the style of drawings where you begin with a saturation of color, and erase to take away the color, and create a negative, or relief, of the image. I feel like this connection is lost when using CAD drawings--it feels like putting white ON black rather than taking away black to reveal white. However, I think it's somehow more satisfying to imagine yourself unearthing a design from the paper or from the screen rather than to keep adding onto a blank slate.
(2.5 hours)
I've thought about this before, but not just in the realm of hand drawings versus CAD drawings. It occurred to me a few times--when we would do drawings in Doug Coopers class, some with light on dark, and others with dark on light, some where we put material on the page, then took some away to form an image. Or even when there's studio documentation due, and some people print black lines on a mainly white paper, while others revert to the negative, with a black background, and white-lined drawings. There's something just more modern and trendy about white on black, and I can't really say why that is. It also does change the way we think, particularly when you eventually print out CAD drawings on white paper with black lines.
The positive/negative relationship is most directly made physical in the style of drawings where you begin with a saturation of color, and erase to take away the color, and create a negative, or relief, of the image. I feel like this connection is lost when using CAD drawings--it feels like putting white ON black rather than taking away black to reveal white. However, I think it's somehow more satisfying to imagine yourself unearthing a design from the paper or from the screen rather than to keep adding onto a blank slate.
(2.5 hours)
4/10 Film Kitchen
I hadn't been to a Film Kitchen in quite a while, but this one was a pretty rude awakening. The feature film of the night was titled Team Predator, and it was a documentary about U.S. soldiers in Iraq. From what I understood, the filmmaker was called into active duty in 2004, and had to leave Point Park University and its film program for a year. The most interesting thing to me is that he completed all of the editing for the film while abroad, using a digital camera and a laptop.
The film was mainly a documetary of the ongoings of a soldier's life as seen through the eyes of the filmmaker while he was there. It included some scenes of violence, but also many of the dull boredom of the daily life at a soldiers' camp. Profanity was frequent, yet it was so real, given the situations they were put in.
What I appreciated most about the film were the numerous sound bytes of George W. Bush that surfaced throughout the film, words that would try to justify the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, both from the U.S. perspective and the Iraq perspective. It was satirical yet bitter, knowing that it's words like these that are keeping the soldiers over there for so long.
(2 hours)
The film was mainly a documetary of the ongoings of a soldier's life as seen through the eyes of the filmmaker while he was there. It included some scenes of violence, but also many of the dull boredom of the daily life at a soldiers' camp. Profanity was frequent, yet it was so real, given the situations they were put in.
What I appreciated most about the film were the numerous sound bytes of George W. Bush that surfaced throughout the film, words that would try to justify the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, both from the U.S. perspective and the Iraq perspective. It was satirical yet bitter, knowing that it's words like these that are keeping the soldiers over there for so long.
(2 hours)
Monday, April 2, 2007
4/2 Anthony Vidler lecture
What is Utopia? Utopia is "nowhere". Not like the common perception that Utopis is the "perfect, ideal place." Tony Vidler cleared this misconception, and told us the complete history of the word and the meaning of Utopia. In regards to this discussion, I have to ask--then what do we call a perfect, ideal place? Or do we call it Utopia because it can't exist, and therefore it is nowhere...?
Although it was refreshing to see someone speak about something other than their own work, this lecture was a bit frustrating because of it's subject matter, its seeming lack of relevance to architecture at all, and because he was reading to us rather than speaking from his own wealth of knowledge. I admit, I did like to hear about the history of 'utopia' for the first 20 minutes or so, but then I kind of lost track of what direction we were heading in, and why.
The question and answer period after the lecture was much more engaging than the lecture itself (at least to me), because 1) I got to find out what others had picked out from the lecture and 2) Tony Vidler responded to these questions in his own voice, rather than his voice recorded in words on a page, and 3) the discussion broadened beyond the subject matter of the lecture. It' clear that since that the question and answer portion of the evening was most interesting, and that is not entirely typical of other lecturers, that hearing Vidler speak for himself was invaluable and clearly he is an extremely intelligent person who is confident in their knowledge and opinions. It's rare to find a lecturer who is so willing to answer questions thoroughly and with their mind fully in their responses.
(2 hours)
Although it was refreshing to see someone speak about something other than their own work, this lecture was a bit frustrating because of it's subject matter, its seeming lack of relevance to architecture at all, and because he was reading to us rather than speaking from his own wealth of knowledge. I admit, I did like to hear about the history of 'utopia' for the first 20 minutes or so, but then I kind of lost track of what direction we were heading in, and why.
The question and answer period after the lecture was much more engaging than the lecture itself (at least to me), because 1) I got to find out what others had picked out from the lecture and 2) Tony Vidler responded to these questions in his own voice, rather than his voice recorded in words on a page, and 3) the discussion broadened beyond the subject matter of the lecture. It' clear that since that the question and answer portion of the evening was most interesting, and that is not entirely typical of other lecturers, that hearing Vidler speak for himself was invaluable and clearly he is an extremely intelligent person who is confident in their knowledge and opinions. It's rare to find a lecturer who is so willing to answer questions thoroughly and with their mind fully in their responses.
(2 hours)
Thursday, March 22, 2007
3/21 Ben Fry Lecture
This had to be my favorite lecture all year, of any class or any event. This semester I've had a newfound and passionate interest in Industrial Design. I've also been more and more interested in programming and automation, which I've been exposed to in 2 classes this semester--Multimedia Authoring and Digital Fabrication. Therefore, this lecture was so perfect in its subject matter, since it was entirely about the things I've been thinking about lately. Furthermore, in Human Factors class, a guest lecturer, Scott Summit, came in and talked about his experience as an Industrial Designer, which was another source of my interest.
Ben Fry was pretty incredible. He was extremely smart, but still managed to convey his ideas clearly to all of us, despite the fact that most of us are far behind his breadth of knowledge in programming and information systems. I particularly enjoyed the projects where he presented his trial-and-error style of approach, and ultimately came up with a simple and clear solution. I think the one in particular that I remember best is a diagram that shows which airports connect to other ones through a certain airline. He started out his process with nodes connected by a mess of straight lines, and this did not read well at all. Ultimately, he put all of the names of the cities in a straight horizontal line, and made connections among them using colored arches, where the height of the arch corresponded with the distance from the one city name to the other. It was a remarkably legible and clear solution. I was amazed for many reasons, but the most notable one is learning about the short time frame he (and other designers) has to complete assignments.
His work with programming as a way to organize genetic data is also fascinating. It seemed like a great way to organize enormous amounts of data--with a loop of information controlled by a program. The potential for this approach to design and information systems is enormous. Loved this lecture.
(1.5 hours)
Ben Fry was pretty incredible. He was extremely smart, but still managed to convey his ideas clearly to all of us, despite the fact that most of us are far behind his breadth of knowledge in programming and information systems. I particularly enjoyed the projects where he presented his trial-and-error style of approach, and ultimately came up with a simple and clear solution. I think the one in particular that I remember best is a diagram that shows which airports connect to other ones through a certain airline. He started out his process with nodes connected by a mess of straight lines, and this did not read well at all. Ultimately, he put all of the names of the cities in a straight horizontal line, and made connections among them using colored arches, where the height of the arch corresponded with the distance from the one city name to the other. It was a remarkably legible and clear solution. I was amazed for many reasons, but the most notable one is learning about the short time frame he (and other designers) has to complete assignments.
His work with programming as a way to organize genetic data is also fascinating. It seemed like a great way to organize enormous amounts of data--with a loop of information controlled by a program. The potential for this approach to design and information systems is enormous. Loved this lecture.
(1.5 hours)
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