Disturbing the Peace

For today’s space invasion I decided to disturb the peace at the library. 

My idea was to simply stand against one of the large windows on the first floor, and press my face and hands against it looking inside at the people sitting in the tables and computers. I did so for at least a good 2 or 3 minutes. The windows are so close to the tables that just standing there for those few minutes was very awkward and nerve racking. As soon as I walked over and stood there staring at them like some creeper, the people who were facing my direction looked straight at me. Looking confused, they told their friends and then they stared as well. I didn’t know where to look, so I kept my eyes moving, trying not to make direct eye contact in order avoid gazes. Then as soon as my friend took the picture and the flash went off, they all started raising their heads trying to see what was going on. It was at this moment that I decided to leave, since I felt like my presence was successfully disturbing.

I decided to do this because I saw a particular group there earlier today and they were really in to their work in one of the study rooms, and I just thought it would be amusing to see their reaction if I just walked up to the glass and stood there with no real intention of doing anything other than invading their space.

In a place like the library where the sole purpose of people being there is to focus on their work, I realized it would be the perfect place to attempt something like this. I realized that people at the library get distracted very easily, when I went up to the window, I made no noise to alert them of my presence, they were just simply looking around when they noticed me. 

The Nexus

I went to go check out the library for the first time the other day. I heard it was a quiet place, where you could watch YouTube videos and check your Facebook in peace. Sure enough when I got there, all the computers were taken by these hard working students, so I decided to go exploring this bizarre place. As I exited the elevator of the 8^th floor, I realized that I wasn’t in Kansas anymore, Toto. Instead I was in this dark place filled with book shelves and desks, so I grabbed my wand out of my handy dandy back-pact and “LUMOS!” I could see. I walked around and saw students hard at work, when all of a sudden I look outside the window and see a swarm of Tamarisk Beetles start attacking everyone one on campus.

I stood there horrified as I helplessly watched my fellow gauchos running for their lives. But what can I do? I’m just one person, and it’s not like I’m Harry Potter.

As it turns out, the beetles weren’t beetles at all, but a figment of my imagination. It’s one of the countless of abilities that an art major, such as myself, picks up after spending four years in a university. It’s either that or I have gone delirious from lack of sleep due to all-nighters and party time.

When I finally came back to the real world, I went back downstairs and decided I better do my best to be productive in the few hours I had left for the day. So naturally I went home. I got on my skateboard, and it wasn’t long before I was trampled by a stampede of two wheeled monsters. I got up and ran for my life, realizing that this place is too intoxicating for both me and my sanity.

Nexus Response

The thing about merging fiction with reality is that more exciting narrative can be created. We read and listen to this kind of stuff all the time through social networks, TV and any type of media. It has become a norm in our daily lives that we don’t even notice it anymore.  Wikipedia is a perfect example. Everyone relies so much on it and becomes one of the first resources for our questions. But who is to say that someone didn’t “infiltrate” it and purposefully wrote false information on a subject. We don’t bother to check its validity, because that is why we went to Wikipedia in the first place. Depending on what you’re expecting or really hoping for from outside sources, having a little bit of fiction swimming with factual information, can be a little more exciting than just regurgitating information over and over.

 My response to the nexus assignment was based on the daily lives of the gauchos. Waking up and going to class, following a day trying to catch up on late assignments in the library only to be distracted by the wonderful world of the internet. Why not add some monsters in there? Everyone has their own monsters, whether they are all nighters or midterms and finals.

here's the link

http://www.dailynexus.com/2011-03-29/biocontrol-beetle-beats-problematic-plant-species/

monday!

                Today's lecture was very interesting, especially since it consisted about the media and how quickly an idea can be spread with a touch of a button. With social networks these days, a person’s ideas can go very far, this could be a bad or a good thing. The question then becomes, what can be ok to post and what cannot? After all, text holds no emotion and can be taken the wrong way depending how you read it.

                The idea that whatever you do or say becomes your identity and forms the kind of person you are, has a stronger impact than what is initially thought. Artist such as Albert Chong and Anne Noggle, really play into this idea and take it to the extreme by showing the audience an unexpected side to their beliefs and concepts. As a result they define themselves, as artists who do not care what is thought of them, and therefore release all their ideas and culture to the fullest, without shame or fear. To me, getting over something like that is very difficult, which is why I hold back a lot of the things that I would like to say or express. But I’m sure if the concept is strong enough, exposure to these fears become a small price to pay.

sunday

The theme of confession is a scary one, no one wants to tell their secrets to the world. There has to be a way to still feel secure and express that fear. Perhaps just explaining your fears in the form of a scene or a picture would be best; even poetry can be a powerful play with words.
As for sequences and narratives, the first thing that pops into my head are stories and music videos. Or a collaboration of pictures that work together in a series to create a story or an idea.
For an alternate persona, choosing to be your opposite and acting it out for a day or so can be very challenging, especially if you don’t want to be your opposite. How would you stay motivated to be that way when you might have strong feeling against those opposing characteristics?
Personal space for me, is very important and necessary. I need that bubble to feel a sense of flexibility, and I know that everyone else does too. Any intrusion to that bubble can be problematic, awkward, intense, and a whole other bunch of negative adjectives for a person. But I think that the idea or what is taken from that insecurity holds different ways of approaching problems and concepts.

Journal 6: reading responce to chapter 1 and 2

So what is a comic? According to Scott McCloud it consists of a lot more that what is expected. All the different concepts described in detail really make you think about the distinct difference that is involved in making a comic. The simplicity in the imagery and ideas bring to life a simple narrative that can only be experience through space, juxtaposed to film being expressed in time. In addition the different elements such as icons are introduced to illustrate different places, things, people and ideas.
            I never really thought about these different aspects, at least not in the same way as I do when I look at comics. Everything is put in such a way that really makes me think about everything I have seen. The difference between a comic and a film, or a painting for that matter is completely different. They all have to be seen in their own specific ways, which is why they were purposely made that way.
            Margaritte’s “ceci n’est pas une pipe” explains this further, by saying that the pipe in the picture is not a pipe, but a picture of one. That’s stating a fact, but a fact that we overlook and therefore give different meaning to the object being viewed, for example, a stop sign is not a law, it’s a symbol of one.

Journal 5: reading responce

            The introduction consisted of some basic background information pertaining to five artists who have decided to take their own interpretation of art and create controversial work. Artist such as Marcel Duchamp, john cage, jean Tinguely, Robert Rauschenberg, and Marcel Cunningham, have “broken barriers” that consist of real life attributes other than those that would be classified under art.
            Modern art has taken a turn in which they are more like to embrace these kinds of ideas, that seem involve both interactions and reactions to pieces of work. Moreover the idea that pop art has invaded or destroyed those ideas and values of traditional renaissance has become controversial to the idea that perhaps pop art is more like an amendment to the traditional. After all we couldn’t have learned and created the works of art that we do, without knowing the history of what brought art to life in the first place. With newer generations, come modern ideals that require an alteration in ways of thinking and expressing one’s self.
As Tinguely put it, “once you get rid of the notion of art you acquire a great many wonderful new freedoms.” In my opinion, this concept should be one that should be experimented on, because having the question of whether what your creating is art or not, becomes more of a restriction to what you’re willing to experiment with or create.

Journal 4: technology

These days, or should I say, years, I have relied a lot on my iPod. I always seem to have headphones on no matter what I do, which is why I will probably end up deaf by the time I am 40 or 50.  Despite that, I love my iPod and it has definitely made things a lot more exciting for me. I love walking around campus just listening to music and not having to worry about anything. If it were suddenly taken away from me, I don’t know how well I would recuperate from that change; it would be like someone telling you, you couldn’t wear a left shoe anymore. Of course with practice we humans adapt to abrupt life hiccups; but I don’t think I could do it, it’s become so addicting that I’m sure I would always try and find some way to cheat the system, and put headphones in my ears. Now that I write this, it’s kind of sad to think about how easily I’m bought for something like an iPod. It makes me think about how I didn’t even care for them when they came out, let alone when they didn’t exist. But now that I have had a taste of their brilliance, I don’t want to give it up.