COLUMBIA PARIS

"The Bold, The Beautiful"

Paris! 

Delicately draped over the Hills,

breathtakingly displayed below the letters that spell

HOLLYWOOD;

in all her remarkable glory.

more on chance... John Cage and the likes

John Cage's 4'33 is really a piece to think about. It's funny because it's so awkward... but that's almost the point. It allows people to enjoy silence. It lets them relax for a bit and open their minds. It provides 4 minutes and 33 seconds of free time... and Cage left it to chance what the audience would do with that time. It is quite the spectacle.

4'33

I had never thought to use chance in art before reading about Cage and his ideas. I always think of art as something you have to put time into brainstorming, designing, and eventually executing. My goal is for my end result to be as close as possible to my original idea. But art isn't perfect. That's what is so beautiful about it. You can work with your "mistakes," you can absolutely digress from your original idea. Chance art is exactly that, but you're working with something you cannot control. So even the artist is surprised with the end result. Awesome.



other artists...

Dove Bradshaw:

R A D I O   R O C K S    1 9 9 8 - 2 0 0 8

A Limited Edition, 2008, Boxed Edition of 10; Self-published on the occasion of the Radio Rocks exhibition at Larry Becker Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA and Permanent Radio Rock Installation, Bolognano, Italy, beginning in 2006

30 pages, 7 x 5 inch archival inkjet prints of plans and installation shots accompanied with an artist's text and a CD of the portfolio; each page has sounds of radio emissions from Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Earth; housed in a 7 1/2 x 51/2 inch box, wrapped in an inner sleeve

reference

Salt, 1996-2006, self-published on-line, 2009

Print version: Edition of 10, see MULTIPLES

Negative Ions I and II, and Salt, Half Heard, in salt boulder and granular form subjected to a slow, steady drip of water, accompanied by a salt work titled, Six Continents, consisting of salt taken from each continent, are represented in a variety of installations, including one in a Rome where the dripping action took place through a square cut between two floors. The text is by the artist, accompanied by reviews and comments by John Cage, Thomas McEvilley, Peter Frank, and Christopher Knight.

reference

Alison Knowles:

In the process of papermaking particularly the shapes formed by the wet pulp as it is left to air dry are respected and become indigenous to the sculpture. In performances I am drawn to objects for their sound. My orchestra consists of beans, toys, papers, and words .... Each instrument comes out of silence, makes its performance, and returns to silence. --Alison Knowles, Statement.

reference

improbable monument

possible ideas...

my culture jam

by the way...

watch the documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop" if you haven't already. It's very cool.

culture jamming

Culture Jamming is something that I've noticed but never dwelled on as a concept. I visited New York a number of years ago and was instantly aware of the insane driving and incessant honking. Because of this, signs were posted telling the public to "Honk Only if Danger." One day, I walked by one of these signs and the "D" had been scratched out, changing it to read: Honk Only if anger. I found this to be hilarious and awesome, but did not think of "culture jamming." Similarly, whenever I see stop signs that have been changed to say "STOP WAR" and the likes, I immediately get the undeniable urge to do something like that.... something that I now know as "culture jamming." It's fantastic; it has the ability to open eyes, and force people to think twice... and allows for a public statement standing by anything that someone feels so strongly about to voice in the most wonderful and thought-provoking ways. It's creative vandalism that makes you think. If you notice it.

Unfortunately, a large percent of our population does not notice it. Or isn't affected by it. As Marc Dery discusses in his article, media is brainwashing. Everyone is hooked to their television... the device that tells them only what they want to hear and shows them only what they want to see. So there's no room for extra thought... there's no space for questioning. It's pointless and meaningless... until culture jammers come spice it up.


The Yes Men:

http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/plattsburgh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK9Cs_UcTEE


Logos over time...

Columbia Pictures: The Columbia Lady

MGM Studios: MGM Lion

reference

more culture jamming...

reference

reference

this one just looks cool

reference

indeterminacy

CHANCE RADIO

You'll need:

• a radio
• 30 free minutes
• recording device
• computer with QuickTime player and Jing
• a deck of cards

Steps:

1. Choose a radio station, any radio station.

2. Over the course of 30 minutes, every 3 minutes record whatever is playing
    for 10 seconds. 

    (you should end up with 11 recordings, 1 minute and 50 seconds in all
     [if you accidentally record a second or two longer, that's fine])

3. Put the recordings on a computer and use QuickTime (or the likes)
    to compile them.

4. Grab Ace (being 1) through Jack (being 11) from a deck of cards.
    Shuffle them. Lay them out, side by side, in front of you.

    Use that to decide which order to put the recordings in.
5. Use Jing (or the likes...) to record. 

6. Compose a song!


ChanceSong












(Brian Machado's Chance System) CHANCE EXPRESSION

or...