Rich Pell from the The Institute for Applied Autonomy is talking about engineering and how the job of the engineer is more about solving problems for their funders then solving real problems. The ‘Institute’ is very interested in the design and evolution of technology, and is behind actions such as TXTmob, the GraffitiWriter robot, the Streetwriter vehicle, and the surveillance camera tracking I-See. Rich started the lecture with showing this amazing video and then went into an overview of several of the group’s projects. IAA does some pretty awesome stuff and i highly recommend watching the video and spending a little time on their website: http://www.appliedautonomy.com/index.html
After giving an over-view of IAA, Rich went on to talk about their new project Terminal Air, which looks at how amateur plane spotters using the internet have become the scourge of the CIA in noticing, mapping, and logging the flights of private aircraft run by companies that appear to be fronts for covert, and possibly illegal, activity. They make frequent flights to Gauntanamo Bay and the Middle East, yet have no publicly traceable data. IAA is creating a dense database of these planes and flights hoping to draw attention to this mystery and wonder who is running the secret CIA travel agency.

i also just learned that Bree Edwards is also live blogging the symposium here

here we are at day two of the YOU ARE HERE symposium at the Aurora Picture show and presented by the University of Houston. I rocked the house last night with future so bright, and today comes the smart stuff.
first up is Nato Thompson giving a lecture about his upcoming show Experimental Geography and talking about artists who look interrogate their environments. Nato is a curator artist who currently works at Creative Time and curated the The Interventionists show at MassMoCa and recently produced Waiting for Godot in New Orleans with artist Paul Chan. I like this idea of experimental geography; “Geography benefits from the study of specific histories, sites, and memories. Every estuary, landfill, and cul-de-sac has a story to tell. The task of the geographer is to alert us to what is directly in front of us, while the task of the experimental geographer—an amalgam of scientist, artist, and explorer—is to do so in a manner that deploys aesthetics, ambiguity, poetry, and a dash of empiricism.”

“your finger nails grow at the same rate that the tectonic plates move.”

I AM HERE
On Friday November 30th I will be performing the live version of future so bright at the Aurora Picture Show in Houston as part of the You Are Here symposium. Other artists involved include The Center for Land Use Interpretation, Nato Thompson, and the INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED AUTONOMY, and the show looks to explore how contemporary artists and researchers are using maps and tactical media to document and understand their environments. I am very stoked to be a part of this show.
THEN I WILL BE HERE
After a couple days in Houston I will then proceed to Miami for the Miami Art Basel Art Fair, where the installation version of future so bright is part of the official program and VERY STEREO will be rocking out at a secret dance party. I also plan on drinking a pina colada.
If you happen to be in either of those locals please drop me a line. Below is a video clip of me performing future so bright at Holocene a couple months back that my pal Dalas shot…


Future So Bright from dalas verdugo on Vimeo.

YIKES! Am I being stalked? Last week the tag in the above picture, reading “if this were art you’d be in a gallery right now” appeared just up the street from my place. I am not sure, but it certainly feels like it is referencing my film The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal, and it’s literally a block away from my house in place where i could not miss it.
There has always been a small, yet vocal, group of people who absolutely hate this movie. My assumption has been that these people are young graffiti dudes who have never actually seen the movie but have a very hostile, knee-jerk reaction to the title. You can find their rants in graffiti chat rooms and websites, and in the occasional nasty email that someone sends me out of the blue. They usually say something along the lines of “I’ve never heard of anything so retarded in my life” or “this sucks you’re gay” (these are direct quotes) and they clearly don’t realize that the movie is pro-art and pro-graffiti.
UPDATE: SEE THE COMMENTS BELOW FOR MORE EXAMPLES!
The funny thing is that there are some very well-known graffiti artists who love the movie, and it’s actually been featured in several ‘street-art’ group shows along side artists such as Barry McGee, including the totally awesome Beautiful Losers program that Aaron Rose curated. I think that anyone who has seen the movie and has half a brain can pretty much figure out that the movie is not anti-graffiti.
But this new message puzzles me. I can’t tell exactly if it is pro or con, and whether it is directed at me or a broader audience. It kind of seems like it has to be directed at me, because the statement clearly falls within an already established context. Unless, of coarse, the writer is being completely self-referential, and not making a statement about graffiti removal but graffiti itself. It could be that the fact that a buff serves as the backdrop is little more than artistic coincidence, and the writer is making a statement that graffiti itself is not art.
Or, it probably is just all in my head. But still, it creeps me out. If you haven’t seen the movie, or maybe you just don’t remember it, here is an excerpt:

The project initially started as collaboration with my pal Avalon Kalin. He was the first to label the buffs as an accidental art form, originally calling it subliminal art. Our conversation continued for several months, and we quickly realized that the aesthetic interpretation of graffiti removal served as an incredible metaphor for so many things; from official/social control of the visual landscape to the ‘authoritative’ anointification of what is art and what isn’t. The funny thing is that the film really isn’t about graffiti at all, but rather the need for independent thought when it comes to interpreting the environment around you.
*While on the subject of graffiti removal, I must make note that I believe there is an exciting new movement happening down in Woodburn, Oregon. I was there just a couple days ago and noticed some buffs that couldn’t quite fit into any of the stylistic form categories I list in the film (symmetrical, ghosting, and radical). This new category might be best described as “organic” and consists of traits found in both symmetrical and ghosting while also portraying a clearly natural, nearly life-like quality. Very amoeba like!