September 23, 2008
Burning Books
"The same infinite detail and awareness could be projected through the radios and televisors, but are not. No, no, it's not books at all you're looking for! Take it where you can find it, in old phonograph records, old motion pictures, and in old friends; look for it in nature and look for it in yourself. Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us. Of course you couldn't know this, of course you still can't understand what I mean when I say all this."
- Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Posted by mikage at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2008
Framing
To begin:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Geraet_beim_Optiker.jpg
Partially the idea I referred to in the last discussion - a device that allows for the layering of frames. While the idea of concentric circles (frames within frames) is a good one, it is incomplete since it is a vertical observation. The phoropter type of machine allows for horizontal observation, where frames can be alternated between in layers - more like being able to removed a slice of bread from the middle of the loaf, rather than having to open up an entire Russian doll, quirky metaphor though that be.
In truth, that wasn't actually the machine I was envisioning. I've yet to figure out how to properly describe it though - perhaps I may sketch a quick diagram but I'm rather poor at that artistry.
Posted by mikage at 03:19 PM | Comments (0)
September 07, 2008
Entry 1: Negotiating Space
Clearly (given plus or minus a hundred percent vision obscurity), this is my first entry. As of yet, I am a bit uncertain about this site but it shall be my project-within-a-project, I think. I'll play with it and develop it until, ideally, by term end I'll have it blended, rather than contrasting with the actual project.
Speaking of, my tentative direction for my project is attachment, materialism and physicality. During our September 2nd class, we pondered into a discussion on productive-efficiency as opposed to aesthetic-effectiveness. Not to suggest that they are entirely separate, of course, but my curiosity is exactly where a digital, paperless, pure thought sort of ideal is pushing us towards, and to examine what sort of feelings are pushing against that ideal. References will include various sources stretching from dypstopian literature such as 'Brave New World' or 'Fight Club', to reading up on more recent cultural trends, such as Steampunk or (as was put) the Digital Natives of this generation. From my limited pondering, there may also be some inclusion of Buddhist texts, due to possible correlations (or distinct difference) between the pure thought digitality and Zen.
Shall resume and develop as needed.
Posted by mikage at 04:04 PM | Comments (0)