Dec 2007
Happy New Year!
12/31/07 Filed in: Rambling
From the Brooklyn G Train to the Burnside Bridge
12/27/07 Filed in: Ideas
We have been laying low in a subleased apartment
(which includes a rental cat) in Clinton Hill,
Brooklyn. Since this is a neighborhood I do not know
very well and the rainy weather in New York is
preventing much exploration- we are using this time
to bone up on 'computer stuff'. I have done some
minor improvements to my blog, which include this new
title photo that Andrea Grover
took on one of our trips to the Buffalo Bayou in
Houston. Thanks Andrea! We finally installed
Leopard onto our computers and are starting to
work on a new NodeVideo website, in
preparation for our return from the world-wide
tour in June 08 and the conclusion of
Towards A New Architecture.
In the midst of all this downloading and file sharing, we are having that perennial conversation about where we should move to next.
Head West Young Lass
Urban: Top of our list for years has been the glorious (although damp) city of Portland, Oregon. Although I struggle with anxiety about climate change (cool grey days) and the economics (will we be able to pay the bills as we launch out with NodeVideo without the safety net of my dayjob), I am excited by the scale of the city (biking/walkable neighborhoods) and the city-wide emphasis on sustainable, community-initated development. In the background Johnny keeps whispering "Ah, that sweet Oregon air", the phrase a man once uttered to us outside the PDX airport.
Desert: I love the dry air and blue sky of the West Coast desert. There are days I can think of nowhere more perfect than a little Adobe house in Joshua Tree, Los Angeles or Tucson. But is perfect weather really a reason to relocate somewhere? Nah, I mean we are not looking to retire.
Along these lines I am a daily reader of John Weeden's blog WeedenArtsWatch about life in Memphis, TN. I admire the excitement and commitment he feels for his hometown, even though we will not be heading South this time around.
How Hip is too Hip?
How much of the hype should you believe or ignore when considering a relocation? While working as curator at the Art Museum in Asheville, NC I was involved in a few projects that involved the local Chamber of Commerce. During this time the Chamber had a rebranding campaign going on and the city's new slogan was "Asheville, Any Way You Like it". Most of my friends and I agreed that this slogan sounded sexual, especially since Asheville has a rather risqué reputation throughout the Southern states. During this re-branding (sexing up) campaign there were at least 4 articles in the New York Times about this small city in the mountains of Western Carolina. Public Relations agencies know how to do their jobs when it comes to this stuff.
Before moving to Asheville, we lived in the belly of the beast, in that cusp of hipness, the border between Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I actually loved living here because it was easy to get into Manhattan one day on the L-train and really easy to feel far away the next, while riding your bike up and down Manhattan Ave- Brooklyn's little Poland. Greenpoint was the right scale neighborhood and the small food markets rocked. The only problem was the high cost of living but we found a clever and affortable solution, temporarily. We bought a 1969 camper on Ebay and drove it into Brooklyn from Michigan. The camper was parked inside the video studio (a former taxi garage) and VOILÁ we owned a small studio apartment close to the studio for the cost of one month's rent. After 6 months it started to get too cold for camper living in New York and we were getting tired of going down the block to shower at the YMCA. The decisive moment came when a woman I knew from the neighborhood was raped around the corner in broad daylight. It was time to end our experiment in urban homesteading and move down South, kicking off what would become our somewhat migratory lifestyle.
Before the little camper in Brooklyn, I lived for several years in Troy, New York. A city that seemed most proud of being the hometown of Uncle Sam, the guy in the big top hat who sold rotten meat the Army. But what attracted most of us to Troy was its proximity to New York (under 3 hours) and it was cheap. By cheap I mean $500 apartments in regal old brownstones or the 5,000 square foot loft along the Hudson River that we rented for $800 a month. Sure the loft was cold as hell in the winter but is obviously the biggest place that I will ever live. It was a 'land rich, cash poor' city, good for young artists who wanted to experiment without lots of commercial pressures and within a supportive small community. That said, Troy was defiantly a rundown post-industrial cities where you needed to make your own entertainment and espresso. So I almost choked recently when a guy in Houston told me that he considered Troy to be "the San Francisco of the the East". Who created that slogan? and could it possibly be true? Had the city changed that much since 2002 or was it all hype?
In searching for our city of the future we are weighing many new options, grown up options, of what makes for a great place to live. I am trying to avoid places that reference Richard Florida's ubiquitous book The Rise of the Creative Class and wish that I could consult with Jane Jacobs, the activist who championed community-based city planning and wrote the personally influential book The Death and Life of Great American Cities. In the midst of making Pro-Con lists and daydreaming about the future, I find myself returning to Chas Bowie's fantastic article "The H-Word Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Word "Hipster" especially today after seeing this snarky picture-post on the Portland Public Art blog.
Update: Frank Rose just sent me this link about the various attempts to rebrand the image of Houston. In the year 1915 the city leaders of Houston created the slogan "Houston: Where seventeen railroads meet the sea" in an effort to rebrand the city as the railroad center of the Southwest. Imagine that.
In the midst of all this downloading and file sharing, we are having that perennial conversation about where we should move to next.
Head West Young Lass
Urban: Top of our list for years has been the glorious (although damp) city of Portland, Oregon. Although I struggle with anxiety about climate change (cool grey days) and the economics (will we be able to pay the bills as we launch out with NodeVideo without the safety net of my dayjob), I am excited by the scale of the city (biking/walkable neighborhoods) and the city-wide emphasis on sustainable, community-initated development. In the background Johnny keeps whispering "Ah, that sweet Oregon air", the phrase a man once uttered to us outside the PDX airport.
Desert: I love the dry air and blue sky of the West Coast desert. There are days I can think of nowhere more perfect than a little Adobe house in Joshua Tree, Los Angeles or Tucson. But is perfect weather really a reason to relocate somewhere? Nah, I mean we are not looking to retire.
Along these lines I am a daily reader of John Weeden's blog WeedenArtsWatch about life in Memphis, TN. I admire the excitement and commitment he feels for his hometown, even though we will not be heading South this time around.
How Hip is too Hip?
How much of the hype should you believe or ignore when considering a relocation? While working as curator at the Art Museum in Asheville, NC I was involved in a few projects that involved the local Chamber of Commerce. During this time the Chamber had a rebranding campaign going on and the city's new slogan was "Asheville, Any Way You Like it". Most of my friends and I agreed that this slogan sounded sexual, especially since Asheville has a rather risqué reputation throughout the Southern states. During this re-branding (sexing up) campaign there were at least 4 articles in the New York Times about this small city in the mountains of Western Carolina. Public Relations agencies know how to do their jobs when it comes to this stuff.
Before moving to Asheville, we lived in the belly of the beast, in that cusp of hipness, the border between Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I actually loved living here because it was easy to get into Manhattan one day on the L-train and really easy to feel far away the next, while riding your bike up and down Manhattan Ave- Brooklyn's little Poland. Greenpoint was the right scale neighborhood and the small food markets rocked. The only problem was the high cost of living but we found a clever and affortable solution, temporarily. We bought a 1969 camper on Ebay and drove it into Brooklyn from Michigan. The camper was parked inside the video studio (a former taxi garage) and VOILÁ we owned a small studio apartment close to the studio for the cost of one month's rent. After 6 months it started to get too cold for camper living in New York and we were getting tired of going down the block to shower at the YMCA. The decisive moment came when a woman I knew from the neighborhood was raped around the corner in broad daylight. It was time to end our experiment in urban homesteading and move down South, kicking off what would become our somewhat migratory lifestyle.
Before the little camper in Brooklyn, I lived for several years in Troy, New York. A city that seemed most proud of being the hometown of Uncle Sam, the guy in the big top hat who sold rotten meat the Army. But what attracted most of us to Troy was its proximity to New York (under 3 hours) and it was cheap. By cheap I mean $500 apartments in regal old brownstones or the 5,000 square foot loft along the Hudson River that we rented for $800 a month. Sure the loft was cold as hell in the winter but is obviously the biggest place that I will ever live. It was a 'land rich, cash poor' city, good for young artists who wanted to experiment without lots of commercial pressures and within a supportive small community. That said, Troy was defiantly a rundown post-industrial cities where you needed to make your own entertainment and espresso. So I almost choked recently when a guy in Houston told me that he considered Troy to be "the San Francisco of the the East". Who created that slogan? and could it possibly be true? Had the city changed that much since 2002 or was it all hype?
In searching for our city of the future we are weighing many new options, grown up options, of what makes for a great place to live. I am trying to avoid places that reference Richard Florida's ubiquitous book The Rise of the Creative Class and wish that I could consult with Jane Jacobs, the activist who championed community-based city planning and wrote the personally influential book The Death and Life of Great American Cities. In the midst of making Pro-Con lists and daydreaming about the future, I find myself returning to Chas Bowie's fantastic article "The H-Word Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Word "Hipster" especially today after seeing this snarky picture-post on the Portland Public Art blog.
Update: Frank Rose just sent me this link about the various attempts to rebrand the image of Houston. In the year 1915 the city leaders of Houston created the slogan "Houston: Where seventeen railroads meet the sea" in an effort to rebrand the city as the railroad center of the Southwest. Imagine that.
Merry Christmas
12/24/07
Upcoming travels for us at Node Video
12/13/07 Filed in: Rambling
We are heading back out with the boys in the New Year:
Jan 12- Seoul, Korea
Jan 15- Tokyo, Japan
Jan 17- Singapore
Jan 19- Bangkok, Thailand
Jan 22- Beijing, China
Jan 26- Perth, Australia
Jan 28- Adelaide, Australia
Jan 29- Melbourne, Australia
Jan 30- Sydney, Australia
Feb 1- Brisbane, Australia
* Johnny and I produce the video screen show during the concert. I am the videographer, who does the live camera shots of the band (using a variety of different cameras) while Johnny VJs these live camera feeds into his greater mix to create the video show. He uses VDMX software from Vidvox.
South of the border
12/11/07 Filed in: Rambling
We are in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. I am not sure I have ever been to such a tourist driven economy & it has been a bit overwhelming. Time Share offers, beach cover-ups, boat rides, trips to the jungle, fake tattoos, silver jewelry and anything else you want comes directly to you on the beach, over and over again. To escape this we took the 45 minute water taxi over to the remote village of Yelapa. This special spot has no cars, only got electricity a few years ago and has the best fish tacos that I have ever tasted. But if you need a hand with your luggage you will need to call upon a mule to help- travel light.
In the future, if we were to come back to PV I would book a one night stay in old town at the Hotel Casa Dona Susana, because it is beside the best coffee shop/ bookshop in town Una Pagina En El Sol (A Page in the Sun). After morning coffee it would be time to board the 45 minute Water Taxi to Yelapa, where I would stay at Hotel Lagunita in room 6 or 15. Buenos Suerte!
DeKam Vs Nalepa Wrap Up
12/07/07 Filed in: Art
DeKam Vs Nalepa could not have happened on a more perfect night, it was almost 70 degrees in downtown Houston. The skyline was beautiful and a mixed crowd of a few hundred came out for the performance. Some sat on blankets with picnic suppers & drinks, while others stood front and center watching Johnny and Steve work their laptops. Johnny utilized the architecture of the site as projection surfaces and it was amazing the see video that at one moment was bouncing off the cement pilings of the Sabine Street bridge and at the next moment reflected back up from the water in the bayou. This was a true site-dependent installation and very cool! I am excited to see upcoming public projects from the Buffalo Bayou Partnership.
-Here is the article in the Houston Chronicle about DeKam Vs. Nalepa
Houston premier of DeKam vs Nalepa
12/04/07 Filed in: Art
Houston: Join us this Thursday for a one-time-only, site-specific spectacle on the Buffalo Bayou. This environmental light and sound installation is the creation of video artist Johnny DeKam and composer / laptop musician Steve Nalepa. The show utilizes a special multi-moving mirror projection system, adding a new dimension to the visuals. Stroll beneath the bridges of the Sabine Promenade to experience DeKam's abstract moving geometries and architectural juxtapositions against Nalepa's electro-ambient "Left Coast Liquid" music. Here is a peek at the site
Produced by the good folks at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts
Launch of An Atlas of Radical Cartography
12/03/07 Filed in: Ideas
I am so excited about this project/publication!
Thursday, December 6th @ 7PM - Free
Bluestockings Bookstore, 172 Allen Street, New York City
between Stanton & Rivington (Near 2nd Ave- F/V)
Reading: Mogel & Bhagat "An Atlas of Radical Cartography"
Please join editors Lize Mogel and Lex Bhagat to celebrate the publication of "An Atlas of Radical Cartography," a collection of 10 maps and 10 essays exploring social issues from globalization to garbage. Cutting across the boundaries of art, literacy, and activism, radical cartography calls upon us to utilize maps as political agents for social change.
For more information & to order your own copy: An Atlas of Radical Cartography
Thursday, December 6th @ 7PM - Free
Bluestockings Bookstore, 172 Allen Street, New York City
between Stanton & Rivington (Near 2nd Ave- F/V)
Reading: Mogel & Bhagat "An Atlas of Radical Cartography"
Please join editors Lize Mogel and Lex Bhagat to celebrate the publication of "An Atlas of Radical Cartography," a collection of 10 maps and 10 essays exploring social issues from globalization to garbage. Cutting across the boundaries of art, literacy, and activism, radical cartography calls upon us to utilize maps as political agents for social change.
For more information & to order your own copy: An Atlas of Radical Cartography
We were here
12/02/07 Filed in: Ideas
Up: Matt Coolidge from The Center for Land Use Interpretation
Down: Rich Pell from The Institute for Applied Autonomy
Yesterday at The Aurora Picture Show
Matt McCormick's blog has great coverage of the weekend
Matt McCormick at the Aurora Picture Show
12/01/07 Filed in: Art
Last night You Are Here was kicked off
with Matt McCormick's performance Future So
Bright: Live. Todays events begin at 1:00
with Nato Thompson's talk about Experimental
Geography, followed by a talk by Rich Pell
from the Institute for Applied Autonomy. There
will be a coffee break around 3:00 that will be
followed by Matt Coolidge from CLUI with his
talk Points of Disinterest in the Gulf Coast
Region. See you at The
Aurora!
