Time-based restriction, unpredictability.

This table will self-destruct. The top of the table is structured as a grid of concrete pixels. Each time a new table is produced, one pixel is removed from the design. Following these rules of self-destruction, the shape becomes more intricate as it diminishes. This project converges elements of mass production and handmade craftsmanship, resulting in a limited series of entirely unique tables that will end when the shape is no longer desirable.

No greater a website
has been
or will ever be
created
by homosapien

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44368636@N00/sets/1652689/

My film professor mentioned that the cuteness of Japan arised as a result of World War II, that after the bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, Japan became a child of America when American forces occupied Japan. As such, Japan has this child-parent relationship with America (which is still present today), where Japan looks to America for ‘approval’, and so a ‘kawaii’(cute) culture grew out of the Japanese people, resulting in manga, anime and toys like Hello Kitty. Professor Spigland also mentioned that there’s a whole book on this, titled something like ‘After Hiroshima’ which talks about the culture in post-war Japan. I’m curious if ‘cuteness’ was ever present in Japanese society before the war, and if it wasn’t, then his point might very well be true, because if you look at Korean or Chinese culture, that ‘cuteness aspect’ isn’t present, even when all three cultures stemmed from the same root.

“The title of T. Murakami’s symposium, held at Yale was called “Little Boy” -derived from the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The talk examined ideas from TM’s superflat theory e.g. 2-D origins of Japanese pop art coming from the aftermath of LittleBoy and high-low art having no distinctions in Japan, but it also suggests that Japanese pop art didn’t come from the West. ”

—comment left on Murakami’s Youtube video

One witness told commissioners that
she had seen sexual intercourse
taking place between two parked
cars in front of her house.

For sale: Mixing bowl designed to
please a cook with round bottom for
efficient beating.

milk drinkers are turning to powders

Iraqi head seeks arms

squad helps dog bite victim

Madonna discussed sex with David Letterman
 

’twas brillig, and the slithy toves
did gyre and gimble in the wabe
all mimsy were the boroggroves,
and the mome raths outgrabe.
(sentence with no semantics but understood only through syntax)

syntax first approach to parsing, rather than semantics.
the parsing of the sentence refers to how you group words together in phrases.

Luxury brand executives who declare that their items can be made only in Western Europe because Western European artisans are the only people who know what true luxury is are being not only hypocritical but also xenophobic. They are not selling “dreams,” as they like to suggest; they are hawking low-cost, high-profit items wrapped in logos.

-we can never be free of everything: freedom of one thing is a form of restriction. It limits you to everything but the thing itself.

-dont use too many variables.

-when you want to be free of something, you have to think about what you are restricted from.

-instead of showing a concept, the concept can be exercised or experienced.

-accidents can be good.

Music by Greg Churchill
Video by www.Yo-Lo.com

find 20 things that relate to freedom. show how they relate.

One of the things that i was thinking about on the way back after our discussion was what everyone is interested in these days, and one of them is facebook, or profile sites. And then i was thinking, could it be because people feel really disconnected so they need something to latch on? To summarize, people today are really lonely, and that’s kind of the state of the human condition today, if we think about it. could our project then be talking about why we are so lonely today, or could it be about helping people overcome this feeling and connecting people, or in a larger scale, the world? It sounds a little bit like my _friends project, but no, i’d be interested in doing something that will actually improve people’s lives.

 Anyway, thats just some thoughts, feel free to respond or we can talk about it more next time. About the books, i change my mind and think maybe its important that we both write a paragraph or two about our book and film selection, just to help ourselves articulate when we talk to each other, and then exchange our write-ups when we meet. It doesn’t have to be formal, just casual writing will do. Here are some questions that we should think about while writing the paper:

1) what the book/film is about, or the argument that the author is stating, if any
2) how the content of the book/film is used to serve the author’s thesis (how he proves his point)
3) why do you like or hate this book/film

 i think those are pretty important questions we should defintely tackle, and then if you additional material you are welcome to write more. So we should have it all printed by next week and we can talk about it. If possible, we could sit down together to watch certain excerpts from the film. Hope this isnt too much work. Let me know your thoughts or suggestions, if any.

Journal Entry while in Japan for exchange after a vigorous discussion:

There are the two extremes, art and designs. And anything in between is not worth settling for. Sometimes it’s necessary, but it should not be what we strive for. And the two diverge in what the function of each is, however they come back round if the method and attitude of discovery and exploration is the goal. And that is how good design can end up being appreciate as art, even if there was no intention to be art itself.

Interesting art allows people to relate to it. If you create art for yourself, without the intention that people can get something out of it, and purely for the sake of showing it off, it should be kept at home and only for that purpose. However it is important to continue to create, and constantly appreciating things, so that they inspire ideas for art that has a purpose.

Art is not defined simply by that fact of calling it art. Things can be appreciated as art, even if they were not intended to be. It just depends on how the viewer appreciates it. And yet the initial attitude and approach of solving the function is what determines what will be more highly regarded and what is not.

i was thinking how in design, we learn that form should always accomodate concept, and that it should provide a certain function and not be just mere decoration. So i was thinking of superheros changing costumes and thought of Batman and Superman; how Superman’s costume doesnt really do anything for his powers, but Batman needs his cape to block bullets and his claws to attack. Then i think again and realise maybe Superman’s power is greater because it is formless and cannot be seen.

If you strip Batman, he is useless. But if Superman is naked, he can still fight.

So what have we learned today?