Media-N: Journal of the New Media Caucus

I published an essay on the Walking as Drawing project entitled, Omniscient Prosthetic Eyes: How Satellites are Changing Our Sense of Place.  

It appears in Media-N, which is the Journal of the New Media Caucus of the College Art Association.
The issue is Art & Infrastructures: Hardware.

Spaces & Flows Conference: Amsterdam, NL 11.22.13

Here are the collected paths of participants in Amsterdam, NL from the Spaces & Flows Conference on 11.22.13. Thanks to everyone who took the time to walk. The group was from  nations all over the world, and from a variety of disciplines: architects, urban planners, designers, artists, and theorists. I really enjoyed the thoughtful and challenging questions during my session and it was great to see everyone engage in the project from the different perspectives of their research. 

Walking in Amsterdam is obviously controlled by canals and bridges. It started raining in the middle of the walk and I am sure that this affected some of the walks in interesting ways. Some said that they stuck with familiar pathways, others looked for a coffee shop to duck into. Several people took the opportunity to reach a green space such as the zoo or a park.

Walking as Drawing: DC II 10.7.13

Local Project: Long Island City, NY: 9.21.13

 

Starting in front of PS1 in Long Island City, we walked for 30 minutes on Saturday 9.21.13 starting at 4:30 pm. Thanks to El Paper Magazine and Local Project!

I think it's interesting how the grid imposes itself on the paths, but the diagonals cut across that pattern. From the conversations I had with people, various factors influenced their walks from the wind (it was intense) to avoiding where they worked. One participant added rules to the project, following the color red through the streets. Check out Richard Alomar's amazing sketch blog here: http://nycsketch.blogspot.com/

Santa Cruz, Bolivia

I was invited to participate in an exhibition at Fundacion Simon I. Patino in Santa Cruz, Bolivia by Natalia Gonzalez Requena and Phil Hessler. The show was called Delineadores, and we all decided to make site-specific work for the show. It was an amazing experience.

The city is divided up in circular Anillos, or rings. There are at least 6 inner anillos. I thought this was interesting coming from DC where the beltway surrounds the city. I decided to make this a part of the walking project. I made the limits of the walk the first anillo, which worked out well since Patino is in the center of the city. Residents of Santa Cruz met at Fundacion Simon I. Patino and picked up maps. We walked for an hour around sunset.

I took the abstract lines of the collected paths and made a wall drawing with tape collected from local shops. Some of the tapes were shiny and caught the light of passing cars. This was in front of a window on a busy street.

 

Jatiwangi Art Factory, West Java, Indonesia: 7.30.11

11 people gathered at the Jatiwangi Art Factory on July 30th, 2011. They walked through the small village of Jatiwangi for one hour, thinking of their paths as drawings. Thanks to everyone who came out to participate!

This was the first time I have made a drawing with a group in a more rural setting. I think it is interesting how the lines are much more varied and erratic because there are small alleys and passageways everywhere. The aerial view shows that the houses developed without a city plan. This area is known for producing the ceramic roof tiles that most Indonesian houses utilize. These tiles are used all over the village: to construct walls, for walkways, and for ornamentation.

Jatiwangi Art Factory is located in the center of the village, and is housed in a roof tile factory. Arief Yudi and a group of 38 artists, musicians, designers, video and producers have created a strong art residency and art production space that focuses on interaction with the community. They still run a ceramic shop and produce musical instruments and record interesting percussion music. The have an independent radio station in the back yard as well!


We met in the gallery space and discussed the project. Then they walked for an hour. One participant said that this was the first time he had walked through Jatiwangi village. Most people use motorcycles to get around.

The next day I ran a workshop on 'Experimental Drawing' and we created a series of process works. It was great to interact with artists and musicians on this level. Even though we spoke different languages, we were able to communicate through art making, and they poured a lot of energy into their artwork.

Thanks to Jatiwangi Art Factory for hosting me! It was great to see a group of artists so motivated to link their artwork with the community.