Gosh, these things keep getting smaller. The first one, I paid stipends to artists to play pieces that resonated with the inspiration, but now cuz I’m broke, I just show up with a zine and read from it and hope that the people at home watching the live stream are enjoying the feeling of not having to show up in person?
It was great to have Sasha there. She really brought a lot of great insight to Julia Kristeva. I have been really enjoying Kristeva’s book, Intimate Revolt.
I really enjoyed Sasha’s poem. It felt booming and passionate, also ancient. The way she writes is intriguing because it uses great and long words.
I did another round of Dance Therapy/Dance Playback. It was nice having such a small audience. It felt intimate and short.
Klanghaus event, WitchHaus was chill. I had my worries because I think that witchcraft is an often disrespected religious orientation. Made into stereotypes and misunderstood. But, it was fine. It was smooth and bright. I brought my face paints and enjoyed making the event a little more festive. I handpainted the WitchHaus banner at the front of the house. It’s such a fun addition because it’s so big and welcoming.
I focused more on the promotional videos. It was a great experience making three short videos and posting them to social media. It was so cool having performers from Klanghaus dressed by the event curator, Sasha, and a little time carved out to be at the venue and get some sweet shots.
Jeanne sang text that Sasha wrote and it was stuck in my head all week and I loved it.
the first carousel storyfirst pages of the other carousel stories
Hard to write about a writing project. So much writing and so much more.
I kept having this feeling like I wouldn’t do something unless it was for an art project. Like I couldn’t find meaning in brushing my teeth or reading books I wanted to read. I had a burst of energy from a blossoming romantic one-sided crush and I decided to pour it into a simulated art residency.
It’s a thought experiment of what would I be doing right now if I was at a residency– I think the best way I’ve describing it is a text-based solo RPG. I felt like I couldn’t just start writing about my feelings, but I could write about me writing about my feelings.
This month’s zine for Kat’s Zine club is a typed version of the notebook I kept during the residency. I also used instagram’s carousel feature to create small sets of images that relate to each other in a weird picture book way– 10 images or less– recreating them doesn’t give the satisfaction of the swipe to turn the page of a very short story.
I’m excited to create a similar but actually really different experience for other people using this approach of simulation or fictionalizing.
It’s going to need a few trials to hone it into something that I feel confident about — I enjoy the hope that it will help people achieve the residency experience without having to take time off of work and lose money in travel, etc.
One of the interesting approaches is the social media limitation. I used social media less during my imaginary residency and when I did, I pretended that I needed to have a director sign off on it.
It really helped me focus and ask myself the question, can I be reading right now? Instead of scrolling–
I loved visiting this place and interacting with the objects and mystery of the weather. I decided I had to end my residency because that’s the premise. Is that it has an end. And now I get the great adventure of taking on a new role as a docent.
When I was in middle school, I was really into text-based RPGS. I would like to ultimately get the very same kind of forum going for this, and probably should do that in the next iteration but then also I am intrigued about a google-doc forum. Especially because it’s a different kind of accessible.
Now that I’m writing this, I think that it is going to be a forum eventually like the ones I enjoyed in the early oughts. I want to style the html so it has that vintage website vibe– so exciting! I love a project that changes and gets more structure as it goes on.
(Nightworld is still there, but also different looking but kind of the same)
Laura Cohen asked me to participate in an absurdist symposium called Group Therapy. I was assigned a time and a room.
In the past, I’ve done these photobooths with the overhead projector. Some people have interacted with that and interacted a similar way at this event. I specifically took a less active role in the composing of the projected image.
It felt good to step back and admire the way that people approached the visual props. It did feel awkward having an intention but then feeling like there was not a right time to announce that I was offering postcards of these images they were creating if they opted for that. I think next time, some signage or a written script would help the public interacting with the set-up a possible guided goal involving a souvenir.
I did enjoy seeing someone put their own hair into the composition.
As someone who has had a long time interest in art as therapy, being in this performance art setting was a real treat.
Klanghaus event, Forever Seminar was a hit. The art collective I’m in, Klanghaus, had a retreat to Detroit (that I couldn’t attend due to financial reasons), created a show collectively and polished it up for a reprise in Oakland at Teddy’s house.
I enjoyed collaborating with Ben Unger on a rave room using blacklight! I also installed some fiber optic barettes that seemed to play well on the Robocop inspiration. It was a collaborative effort with Teddy Hulsker, host and director.
I want to seize more installation art opportunities. I am curious about that feeling of immersion, which is why I like theatre so much. It’s all around you and it’s not normal.
I also took a lot of pride in making this “ONLY ZUG” banner. I was grateful for being able to have some say in what it said– some of the slogans were very long and wouldn’t have the same impact.
It was magical and trying. It was interesting being around so many privileged people. I liked that I didn’t have to worry about people as much as I do when I walk the Oakland and San Francisco Streets. Everyone there has a home, has a place to seek help for free (without paying extra).
It was interesting learning how to accept gifts, give gifts, and tolerate the weird bartering that happens. It borders coercion but new cultures are kind of like that because you want to be polite as a person who hasn’t adjusted. Maybe the awkward exchange is the gift in total?
I want to go back. I miss it. I think that about all vacations and artistic productions where multiple people are involved. The temporary reality that we create, I become too comfortable and then the decompression.
I definitely want to bring that jenesequoi to more of my daily life. Sometimes, I get to wrapped up in pricing art, that I forget what gifting is: the most magical thing I’ve experienced.
I also want to say that I retract what I said. It’s not a festival. I think that their intention of it being a community and not a festival should be honored, though it meets my definitions of that word– there’s something else there that they are elevating. I’m not sure what it is.
I’ve had this idea for a while now. But it’s really got legs because now I got a uke and a dedicated instagram channel for quick lullaby magic.
I am putting it out there that I’ll do one for you for $5. It’s a quick thing where I improvise and play the chords I know. Minute long songs are a great way to decompress.
Are snapchat videos art? Anyways, I’ve been working with a character who is a kid and it’s really adorable and addictive. Making the videos makes me feel good and cared for.
for quick lullaby magic.
Kismet Arts Tangent 