by W+K London
Archive for the ‘dreams’ category
Hu Ming
November 28th, 2008
I thought this artist was a perv, until i realised it was a woman and read her story.
During the Cultural Revolution in China, Hu Ming spent her school days either drawing Chairman Mao’s portrait or memorizing his infamous red book, nothing else was allowed and Hu Ming found it very boring, so she begged her parents to let her enter the army, she was only 15 years old. As her parents were in the army it was not such a difficult task. So in 1970 she became a solider. She was stationed in an army hospital ‘254′ in Tian Jin a hospital of 5000 people.
Hu Ming’s parents knew that their dream of their daughter becoming a surgeon was futile, as her family and ancestors come from a long line of artisans, masters in exquisite wood carving of Buddha’s for the temples.
While Hu Ming was serving in the army hospital, she had numerous postings. Starting as the hospital broadcaster/announcer, a librarian, and a lone projectionist, traveling with a truck, and the same eight movies to seven different locations. Often she was the only woman at these locations. While as the hospital announcer she found herself often in the commander’s office, in trouble due to her careless mistakes. One night instead of the daily recorded wakeup bell at five in the morning, she played the call to arms at three in the morning! Everyone except Hu Ming assembled in the hospitals quadrangle expecting the worst, the commander knowing Hu Ming well went to her office to find her fast asleep.
She loved her sleep at this stage and at this time everyone was required to read Chairman Mao’s red book every morning between 7:30 till 8:30, however Ming would without fail fall asleep the moment she opened this book, she became notorious amongst her colleagues for being sound asleep every morning at this time and often would be found in dribble. People were starting to talk! Maybe she was losing her mind; she was not toeing the party line. Her commander at this time was a kind and wonderful man, who was a fatherly figure. At this time he called her into his office for a word …”Ming he started, why is it that you fall asleep each morning, you must read Chairman Mao’s book?” Ming replied “Sir I cannot help it, every time I open this book I fall asleep, it is so boring, if it were a story book then I would have no trouble”. “Ming he bellowed you must never say this again to anyone! As you would be in serious trouble. He then reached over and gave her a tub of tiger balm and told her to rub a little into her temples each morning at this time, and which he hoped would help her stay awake. Fortunately this did work for Ming and not too soon as her compatriots were starting to talk about her. However Ming loved her sleep at this time as it not only gave her a kind of refuge, but a place to dream and use her imagination. To this day she still paints many people asleep. In retrospection she say’s that nobody was ‘talking real’ during this period of the Cultural Revolution, and it was very dangerous to speak one’s truth, as any dissent would end in a jail sentence.
Her commander also gave her a clock, as to not sleep through and miss the time she was to play the morning bell. Ming slept with this clock for 6 years; however she still had trouble sleeping in and not hearing the alarm, or just setting the alarm to the wrong hour!
Her time as a Librarian was a godsend for Ming, and changed her most profoundly. During the cultural revolution, people were only to read Chairman Mao’s red book, or his poetry, or some history that was of the “right” sway…all other books were banned, and most were burnt in huge bon fires, yet for some reason of the three truck loads of books that arrived at the hospital, they decided not to burn the last load, and it was Ming’s task to categorize three rooms of books piled a metre high on the floors.
She was not allowed to read the books of course, but when she found amongst the mounds of books, classics from Tolstoy to the story of Oliver, she read everything she could get her hands on! She also found records of classical music…the library became a wondrous place for her she would awaken whilst within its walls and fall asleep once she returned to the outside world of the cultural revolution. She would also to much peril smuggle some of the books out of the library under her shirt to give to her girlfriends, and would sit around with them and play some of wonderful music she found.
However it was one day in that library that she found a book that would change her life forever, it was an life drawing book by Michelangelo a book of human anatomy, the figures were of men, and it was the first time for the now 16year old to see the nude. She was in a mental turmoil as she was both absolutely fascinated, yet petrified, as to be found with this would be serious. However despite the danger she took the book back to her room to study and copy the drawings, so she might be able to draw the human body so well. She kept the book in her pillow, along with her underwear and bra’s as it was just a convient place to keep them, though one day she discovered to her horror that both the book and her underwear were gone. Ming was in shock; she knew the consequences and wondered who it could have been. She instanting thought of the only man to have a key to her room, and she also knew that there were men around that deliberately stole women’s underwear.
Then one day her commander called her into his office, in a voice, that could not be mistaken, she sits down and he places the book in front of her and demands to know where she got this! “From the library” replied Ming. “Ming he said there are naked male images in this book, they are wearing no clothes! And you have copied these images as well! Why to you like this kind of material”? {This kind of book was considered pornographic at this time} Ming was very scared and started to cry, and she also started to believe that she had a problem, she thought to her self that maybe everyone was right “I’m not mentally well” but she retorted “please do not tell my parents”
The commander never reported the incident, however the book was never seen again and the underwear was stolen by another person, whom Ming was sure to be her immediate boss ( an ex-pilot ) as he had one of two key’s to her room. From that time on she kept her underwear inside her pillow. The cultural revolution required men and women to be homogeneous, women were not to display their femineity or to wear face cream that contained any perfume, Ming did not see shampoo until the mid 1980’s , hence the womanliness of her army girls in her painting.
Lenovo creates SMS ‘kill pill’
November 26th, 2008
New service will allows users to disable a lost or stolen 3G notebook by sending it an SMS message.
From early next year, Lenovo’s new Constant Secure Remote Disable service will allow owners of the latest ThinkPads to shut down their system by sending it a special SMS message from your mobile phone. Once the laptop shuts down, the self-encrypting hard drive will scramble the data.
Up to 10 mobile numbers can be associated with a single notebook, and the content of the SMS itself must registered with the service so that the laptop will shut down only on receipt of that specific message (which could be anything from a simple ‘SHUT DOWN’ to ‘Klaatu barada nikto’ if you’re a fan of classic sci-fi movies like The Day The Earth Stood Still (oh, and if you’re nerdy enough to remember how to spell it correctly!). You’ll get an automated SMS reply to confirm the notebook has gone into lock-down mode
http://apcmag.com/lenovo_creates_sms_kill_pill_for_thinkpads.htm
comment: sounds like an idea for new media art…
The (Mostly) True Story of Helvetica and the New York City Subway
November 25th, 2008
There is a commonly held belief that Helvetica is the signage typeface of the New York City subway system, a belief reinforced by Helvetica, Gary Hustwit’s popular 2007 documentary about the typeface. But it is not true—or rather, it is only somewhat true. Helvetica is the official typeface of the MTA today, but it was not the typeface specified by Unimark International when it created a new signage system at the end of the 1960s. Why was Helvetica not chosen originally? What was chosen in its place? Why is Helvetica used now, and when did the changeover occur? To answer those questions this essay explores several important histories: of the New York City subway system, transportation signage in the 1960s, Unimark International and, of course, Helvetica. These four strands are woven together, over nine pages, to tell a story that ultimately transcends the simple issue of Helvetica and the subway.
http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/the-mostly-true-story-of-helvetica-and-the-new-york-city-subway?pp=1
Walt Whitman II
November 24th, 2008
Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times “People ask if I am a published poet,” he said. Reaching into his tote, he produced an anthology that was a tribute to Whitman by Long Island poets. He opened to a page where, signed Darrel Blaine Ford, the following lines were set down:
Walt, you are my gestalt
you are my malt
your Leaves of Grassare
my universal pass.
Pentagram’s new work for Musuem of Arts and Design
November 22nd, 2008
Identity, Typeface, Collateral, Exhibition Catalogs, Products, and Advertising:
Michael Bierut and Joe Marianek
Signage, Wayfinding and Exhibition Graphics:
Michael Bierut, Rion Byrd-Gumus and Kai Salmela
Dynamic Media:
Lisa Strausfeld, Christian Marc Schmidt, Kate Wolf and Christian Swinehart
http://blog.pentagram.com/2008/09/new-work-museum-of-arts-and-de.php
Palin interview with turkeys beheaded in backdrop
November 22nd, 2008
Ms. Pacman Music Video - The Go! Team
November 21st, 2008
This is old but I miss watching this in Pratt cafeteria after class.
Mcdonald’s done right in Japan
November 21st, 2008
Why does everything look cooler in Japan?
McDonalds recently launched two Japanese concept restaurants in Shibuya and Omotesando called Quarter Pounder. As expected, or not expected, the place is totally amazingly on-point. The super simple menu is limted to a Quarter Pounder, Double Quarter Pounder, fries and drinks. That’s it.
Curious why they would open a restaurant that only sells Quarter Pounders? According to Business Week, it all comes down to the grill. “McDonald’s has sold its Quarter Pounder in the U.S. since the early 1970s. But until a few weeks ago there was only one place in Japan where you could get one: in Kumamoto prefecture, on the southern island of Kyushu. Former McDonald’s officials say the fast-food chain’s outlets in Japan lacked the proper grill to churn out the burgers in big quantities.” There you have it.
http://acontinuouslean.com/2008/11/21/its-official/
Official website: http://www.quarter-pounder.net/
:phunkstudio presents New World
November 20th, 2008
:phunk studio’s new universal theme park
:phunk studio explores deeper into the creation of their own imaginary universe to build a new globalised theme park of our inner world. The multi-media collection of artworks collectively illustrates a dysfunctional tale of an apocalyptic society where good and evil co-exist. It is a world inhabited by both man and god with its own contradicting system of universal truism and values. :phunk studio has infused its own unique visual language, iconography and wit to create an urban mythological tale informed by social satire and popular culture. It reflects the collective’s multi-cultural identity, background and environment. :phunk studio has developed an original illustration technique that is inspired by the halftone screen and shading techniques of comic books and manga to illustrate this ‘Universe’. It is an evolving visual system that seamlessly references and reinterprets their diverse influences such as traditional Chinese philosophy, craft and folklore, Hong Kong pulp fiction, Japanese manga and otaku subculture, Western popular culture, art and design movements into the creation of a universe populated by its own world of creatures, objects, people, ideologies, buildings, landscapes, cities, and natural forces.
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