Crowd sourcing Bentham!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/books/28transcribe.html?ref=arts

Why the Mind Sees the Future in the Past Tense

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704156304576003432223218682.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_lifestyle

Facebook Event Page

Invite your friends!!!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=166465970055178&num_event_invites=0

IMPORTANT END OF SEMESTER SHOW INFO

WHERE: Center for Intergrated Media Room A116 (level 1 by the mail boxes)

WHEN: TUESDAY 12/14 4P-10P (CLASS - 4P-6P)

WEDS 12/15 7P-9P

INSTALL: MONDAY 12/13- 10A-3P, TUESDAY 12/14 11A-3P

DE-INSTALL: THURSDAY 11A-12N, 1P-7P

FOR QUESTIONS- SEE TOM OR MEGHANN (OFFICE B101- HOURS- MON-THUR 11A-7P)

Here's a quote from Norman that might help us define our Parallel World project space- a scripted space within a context of a new canon- or 'anti-canon.'

"In effect, the history of the last fifty years is increasingly

about the crisis in representing space, from conceptual space to

virtual space to cyberspace to cinematic space to public space to

intimate space/identity. And the era when these Scripted Spaces,

these narratized, themed illusions began to take over begins around

1955. And not only in the fine arts, of course, also in architecture,

in urban planning, in themed environments. And finally, in media

environments - directly into the internet, games, media art. At last,

we begin to see the new canon emerging, for as surely as the stock

market opens every Monday, a canon must emerge in the art world.

Even if it is an anti-canon. But is it an anti-canon really? Instead

of abstraction, we have the ironic staging of space. Instead of

Enlightenment traditions of ontological real, we have Artifice, the

art of the handmade illusionistic space.

And even museums are being redesigned, reinvented as cultural tourism.

Space is problematical, an allegory for global madness, a soothing

journey into a sublime nowhere, a re-enactment of the invasion of the

self by entertainment, which stands in for global economic authority.

The canon then will be more architectonic, more about themed illusion,

trace the end of irony, let us say, from Pop into hyperbolic home

entertainment. Both Pop and Minimalism are potential points of origin,

not the post-modern moment, but rather a post-war paradigm as starting

point."

Here's the whole interview-

http://osdir.com/ml/culture.internet.nettime/2007-08/msg00103.html

States Falling Apart Under Mounting Debt.

NewYorkTimes, Dec.4, 2010

Mounting Debts by States Stoke Fears of Crisis

Mounting Debts by States Stoke Fears of Crisis

Paleo-Future Blog

"A look into the future that never was" 

http://www.paleofuture.com/

an awesome blog related to this class!

project proposal

A glass terrarium filled with living plants, seeds, dirt, rocks, and man-made remnants, including trash, building materials, asphalt/concrete, food. It is an enclosed ecosystem exploring how the contemporary state of the 'natural' world is forced to coexist with the man-made. Both are presented as organisms which grow and/or decay. It is presented in a terrarium to highlight the existence as spectacle, something alien, which is separate from the viewer via the glass. This functions to bring attention to the irony of putting this ‘mundane’ scene into a gallery space to be viewed as ‘art’, when the living artifacts are all around us all the time, mostly remaining unnoticed in our day-to-day activity. However, this world between the pavement remains an influence on our physical world as well as our psyche/ unconscious. The two worlds of seemingly autonomous nature and human residue can no longer be seen as naturally opposing or separate—no longer parallel.  A dejected dimension, yet akin to the ecotone, where two ecosystems meet at their edges, giving rise to unconventional diversity and interaction. This space is a global ecosystem in itself. 

This piece is inherently a time-based piece, as physiological changes will occur—namely growth and decay, birth and death, but also mutations, and possibly a variety of other mysterious dynamics. Ultimately, this set-up presents organisms normally understood to be at odds, forced into a confined, alienated space. On the one hand it is survival of the fittest, on the other it is about a dialectic between organisms. The man-made materials are living in that they interact with what is around them, are symbols, signifiers, and remnants of human creation/consumption, embodying the greater organism at work: humankind. This work is initially set-up with the hand of the artist (human), and then is left almost entirely to its own devices, self-contained with the exception of light (water will not be added during this exhibition). Within the gallery space, the plants cannot exist long without additional light—thus the interference of the florescent tube. The human is essentially the catalyst of this growing global ecosystem, which is on the fringes of society and the wilderness—the in between space, the fringes of consciousness of our very existence.

Celeste M. Evans

parallel worlds final project

1. description- intentions, theme
2. specific sources- materials
3. scale- the appearance it might take
4. what your process has not answered on this; or how it might change as you work on it
5. reminders- accompanying text perhaps for the wall or site

Maybe not plasticity - but certainly plastic!

http://singularityhub.com/2010/10/31/actroid-f-female-telepresence-robot-looks-super-real-creepy-video/

Virtual Pop goes live in Japan.... check this out-

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/11/japanese-pop-star-takes-the-stage-as-a-3-d-hologram.html

http://singularityhub.com/2010/11/09/cant-miss-videos-of-japans-3d-hologram-rock-star-hatsune-miku-in-hd/

... talk about plasticity! 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/nov/11/princess-hijab-paris-graffiti-artist

Ruin Porn in Detroit

This in from Norman-

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/11/10/detroit.environment/

"With plasticity, we are not facing a pre-given difference, but a process of 

metamorphosis."

I was thinking about Catherine Malabou's talk last night on plasticity, attachment as pathology and her position that there is only one (singular?) world. I was also reflecting on her conflation of capitalism with globalization.  My searches led me to these articles in The Nation (www.thenation.com) by Susan George and William Greider.  I'd like to share them for purposes of furthering the discussion in class.... enjoy.  

http://www.thenation.com/article/another-world-possible?

http://www.thenation.com/article/155848/end-free-trade-globalization

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men - Depression-era landscapes by Walker Evans

The tunnel people of Las Vegas and Abandoned New York

Deep beneath Vegas’s glittering lights lies a sinister labyrinth inhabited by poisonous spiders and a man nicknamed The Troll who wields an iron bar.

But astonishingly, the 200 miles of flood tunnels are also home to 1,000 people who eke out a living in the strip’s dark underbelly.

Some, like Steven and his girlfriend Kathryn, have furnished their home with considerable care - their 400sq ft 'bungalow' boasts a double bed, a wardrobe and even a bookshelf.
Austin Hargrave Las Vegas tunnels

Deeper underground: Steven and Kathryn live in a 400sq ft 'bungalow' under Las Vegas which they have lovingly furnished with other people's castoffs

FULL ARTICLE HERE:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1326187/Las-Vegas-tunnel-people-How-1-000-people-live-shimmering-strip.html

Another interesting post of a story and pictures of an abandoned area of New York.

"In a different era, Edgemere's seaside was a thriving resort, with grand hotels, a bustling boardwalk, and thousands of residents. Today, it is devoid of buildings and permanent residents, and "has stood vacant, except for plant life and wild dogs, for more than 35 years, when thousands of summer bungalows and stores were plowed under as part of the Arverne Urban Renewal Project, a massive building project that was put on hold and never revived," according to the Rockaway newspaper The Wave. The city continues to maintain the streets in south Edgemere - to some degree - with signs lurking in the bushes and new curb cuts floating like islands in the urban wilderness. But few sidewalks remain intact, most roadways are pockmarked with potholes or covered in shifting sands, and the entire area is used as a communal dumping ground. Clothing, mattresses, toys and used condoms are discarded in the middle of streets. Some remain undisturbed for over a month. "

ARTICLE HERE:


http://kensinger.blogspot.com/2010/09/south-edgemere-wasteland.html

The Web That Time Forgot

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/health/17iht-17mund.13760031.html?_r=2

From Tuesday, June 17, 2008's NYT:

MONS, Belgium — On a fog-drizzled Monday afternoon, this fading medieval city feels like a forgotten place. Apart from the obligatory Gothic cathedral, there is not much to see here except for a tiny storefront museum called the Mundaneum, tucked down a narrow street in the northeast corner of town. It feels like a fittingly secluded home for the legacy of one of technology's lost pioneers: Paul Otlet.

In 1934, Otlet sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or "electric telescopes," as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a "réseau," which might be translated as "network" — or arguably, "web."

Historians typically trace the origins of the World Wide Web through a lineage of Anglo-American inventors like Vannevar Bush, Doug Engelbart and Ted Nelson. But more than half a century before Tim Berners-Lee released the first Web browser in 1991, Otlet (pronounced ot-LAY) described a networked world where "anyone in his armchair would be able to contemplate the whole of creation."

Although Otlet's proto-Web relied on a patchwork of analog technologies like index cards and telegraph machines, it nonetheless anticipated the hyperlinked structure of today's Web. "This was a Steampunk version of hypertext," said Kevin Kelly, former editor of Wired, who is writing a book about the future of technology.

Otlet's vision hinged on the idea of a networked machine that joined documents using symbolic links. While that notion may seem obvious today, in 1934 it marked a conceptual breakthrough. "The hyperlink is one of the most underappreciated inventions of the last century," Kelly said. "It will go down with radio in the pantheon of great inventions."

Today, Otlet and his work have been largely forgotten, even in his native Belgium. Although Otlet enjoyed considerable fame during his lifetime, his legacy fell victim to a series of historical misfortunes — not least of which involved the Nazis marching into Belgium and destroying much of his life's work.

The entire article is worth a read. Check it out.

Name- Readymade

Check this project out- it explores the use of the 'name' as a 'readymade'...

parallel worlds- parallel identities?

http://www.aksioma.org/name/

NAME Readymade is a "Name changing” gesture perpetrated by three Slovenian artists who, in 2007 officially changed their names to the Slovenia’s economic-liberal, conservative prime minister at the time, Janez Janša.

All three of the Janez Janšas’ private and public affairs, their performances, writings and exhibitions – in a word, their entire lives – have been conducted under this name ever since.  Janez Janša works through a series of artistic, political, administrative and mediatic actions performed by himself together with Janez Jansa and Janez Jansa. Works exhibited in this show (valid ID cards, passports, credit and bank cards, driving licences, birth and marriage certificates, and so on) are generated by the reality itself.

NAME Readymade - THE EXHIBITION

Curator: Zdenka Badovinac

http://www.aksioma.org/name

Name as Readymade 

An interview with Janez Janša, Janez Janša and Janez Janša by Lev Kreft

www.aksioma.org/interview_kreft.html

NAME Readymade - THE BOOK

Museum of Modern Art Ljubljana, Oct. 2008

www.aksioma.org/name_book

Speaking of Hollywood in the age of collapse...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/11/metro-goldwyn-mayer-files-for-bankruptcy-after-creditors-stirke-deal-with-icahn.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/aamir-khans-3-idiots-becomes-bollywoods-biggest-grosser-1859492.html

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-10/27/c_13578414.htm

What's wrong with this picture?

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/10/19/business/global/20101019-ghost-slideshow.html

Here's a link to a text by Russell Means, it's from a speech he gave in 1980- Means speaks to the problem of indigenous cultures becoming "Europeanized."

http://www.countercurrents.org/means181010.htm

Here's an excerpt-

"But each new piece of that “progress” ups the ante out in the real world. Take fuel for the industrial machine as an example. Little more than two centuries ago, nearly everyone used wood–a replenishable, natural item–as fuel for the very human needs of cooking and staying warm. Along came the Industrial Revolution and coal became the dominant fuel, as production became the social imperative for Europe. Pollution began to become a problem in the cities, and the earth was ripped open to provide coal whereas wood had always simply been gathered or harvested at no great expense to the environment. Later, oil became the major fuel, as the technology of production was perfected through a series of scientific “revolutions.” Pollution increased dramatically, and nobody yet knows what the environmental costs of pumping all that oil out of the ground will really be in the long run. "

Hi Everyone- Out of our Detroit discussions we see alternative and parallel strategies of land use and geographic narratives-

http://www.hantzfarmsdetroit.com/

http://www.urbanfarming.org/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/us/30detroit.html?ref=us

Here's a new project by artists Julieta Aranda and Anton Vidokle that proposes a parallel economy to our current neo-liberal model- it's called Time/Store... another utopian economic alternative to our 'morning after' hyper-capitalist collapse?

Time/Store on Essex Street follows the historic Cincinnati Time Store, opened by the American anarchist Josiah Warren in 1827 as a three-year experiment in alternative economics. Warren's idea was to develop an exchange system where the value assigned to commodities would come as close as possible to the amount of human labor necessary to produce them. For example: 8 hours of a carpenter’s labor could be exchanged for eight to twelve pounds of corn. This system eventually led to the creation of time currency, and to contemporary time banking—an international movement of alternative economics.

http://www.e-flux.com/timebank/

Through the Eye of the Sufi

Parallelism and intersection

parallel |ˈparəˌlel; -ləl|

adjective

1. of lines, planes, surfaces, or objects) side by side and having the same distance continuously between them : parallel lines never meet
2. occurring or existing at the same time or in a similar way;
3. computing involving the simultaneous performance of operations.
4. of or denoting electrical components or circuits connected to common points at each end, rather than one to another in sequence.
5. the opposite of series.

noun

1. a person or thing that is similar or analogous to another a similarity : e.g. he points to a parallel between biological evolution and cognitive development.
2. a comparison : e.g. he draws a parallel between personal destiny and social forces.

phrases

[in parallel]occurring at the same time and having some connection.

Orig

mid 16th cent. : from French parallèle,

via Latin from Greek parallēlos,

from para- ‘alongside’ + allēlos ‘one another.’

(fig.1)

After a brief analysis of the above terminology a curious conflict arises, pertaining to wether parallel can include points of intersection pertaining to the subject being addressed in any specific context. (fig.1) Basic perspectives on this issue vary, ranging from basic geometry where parallel lines don’t meet, and more mystical perspective believing that two parallel line in fact meet - same as any other aspect of creation.

Sufism & Parallel Lives

(fig.2)

Here, applying the basic principles of Quantum physics and application of the behavior of atoms to the human condition, it is believed that all forms of creation, at their very core are in fact created from nothing but wave structures. When these waves cross at specific points and frequencies, they manifest in material forms - ones that we refer to as tangible, materiality, etc. - while at all other times these wave forms are non-tangible (such as spirituality, sound, gamma rays, etc.) (fig.2)

(fig.3) Isfahan Mosque (Dome), Iran

Bringing forth the idea that parallel applies to intersecting as well co-existence, we can conclude the from the Sufism existential perspective, that we - s well as all forms of creation - are created by waves, that at times manifest as bodies. Hence we do in-fact live “parallel lives” at every moment of our existence. This is belief is reflected in various Islamic Sufism art forms throughout time, but more specifically the Tazhib form. (fig.3)

Notes:

• Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter.

• Sufism is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a ṣūfī (صُوفِيّ) or a Dervish. Most consider themselves to be in search, and hence "students" of Sufism. Traditional books or conventional methods are discarded in search of a direct relationship with one's god.

Classical Sufi scholars have defined Sufism as "a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but the one and only creator (also known as God).

Pierre Huyghe's Carpenter Center Project

Thanks everyone for a great class- all of your comments, posts and questions were wonderfully challenging and insightful!

... and thanks to Larissa James for sharing her work- here's a link to Larissa's site-

http://larissajames.com/#photography/series/bus

...and thanks to Amy for sharing her project at the Carpenter Center- here's a link to the Pierre Huyghe's Le Corbusier/Carpenter Center project that I mentioned-

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/11.11/01-huyghe.html

...and here's a link to some recent images of Las Vegas- a portrait in parallel-- economic collapse embedded in a desert landscape of casino capitalism- 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/27/las_vegas_foreclosures_unemployment_nevada__n_774257.html#165747

:-)

http://parallelworlds2010.tumblr.com/

161 Greatest Arnold Schwarzenegger Quotes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDxn0Xfqkgw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtDIcdbFfaI

-Cory Thomas Hanson

James Raymond

The idea of a parallel world is a very loose term. While the idea conjures up imagery of science fiction tales including time travel, wormholes and space exploration, the term is more based in reality than we believe. While people haven’t discovered any alternate dimensions, our actual world is devised up of an endless amount of cultures and lands to explore. Now with new technology such as television and the Internet people can suddenly conjure up images all over the world. With this new technology people can see images never seen before however the price of this is a loss of exploration.
It is hard to believe that a few hundred years ago that the planet was uncharted and mysterious. The idea of a someone discovering a new continent must have been the closest to discovering a true parallel world. One of the most famous and memorable fiction made about this feeling is the comic strip Little Nemo. The comic strip, which began in 1871, followed the boy Nemo who while sleeping would travel to slumber land and have various adventures. While this parallel world was a surreal and fantasy world filled with magic and monsters the world was clearly a caricature of the real world. When Nemo dreamt that he was in the ice kingdom he was in Russia and when he was in the jungle he was actually in Russia. The comic shows the childlike feeling people have while discovering new things. And while Little Nemo shows the brighter side of colonization, it gives a glimpse into a world filled with wonder and mystery that does not exist anymore.
Although the planet is now fully mapped and, humans are still trying to find ways to simulate the feeling of exploration. Video games emerge such as Second Life where people literally build and create their own worlds. And while the feeling of walking through a poorly constructed 3D environment may not compare to discovering Africa, it shows that there is a need and desire for discovering a parallel world.

The novel "Day of the Locust" and the Hollywood dream dump

Picture from "Singing in the Rain" - a film that indulges in Hollywood's art of artifice


From Day of the Locust:


"In the center of the field was a gigantic pile of sets, flats and props. While he watched, a ten-ton truck added another load to it. This was the final dumping
ground. He thought of Janvier's "Sargasso Sea." Just as that imaginary
body of water was a history of civilization in the form of a marine
junkyard, the studio lot was one in the form of a dream dump. A Sargasso
of the imagination! And the dump grew continually, for there wasn't a
dream afloat somewhere which wouldn't sooner or later turn up on it,
having first been made photographic by plaster, canvas, lath and paint.
Many boats sink and never reach the Sargasso, but no dream ever entirely
disappears. Somewhere it troubles some unfortunate person and some day,
when that person has been sufficiently troubled, it will be reproduced on
the lot."



"But not even the soft wash of dusk could help the houses. Only dynamite
would be of any use against the Mexican ranch houses, Samoan huts,
Mediterranean villas, Egyptian and Japanese temples, Swiss chalets, Tudor
cottages, and every possible combination of these styles that lined the
slopes of the canyon.

When he noticed that they were all of plaster, lath and paper, he was
charitable and blamed their shape on the materials used. Steel, stone and
brick curb a builder's fancy a little, forcing him to distribute his
stresses and weights and to keep his corners plumb, but plaster and paper
know no law, not even that of gravity."


Hollywood is a hub for parallel worlds. Movies can take you to any time, to any place without being there. Movies also depict places that actors aren't actually present in. Blue screens and painted dropbacks (from the time of author West) can be the showcase of your dreams.

Moreover, the actual neighborhood or landscape of Hollywood also provides residents the possibility to live in any kind of house-- a palace, a tudor home, or even in the style of a buddhist temple. People can live and indulge in their fantasies- the artifice in the studio migrates to (an artifice of) the home.


Read the novel here for free: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0609041.txt


Singing in the Rain scene:

"New Forms of Fiction"

William Gibson, Zero History, Network Realism

where i found the article:
http://technoccult.net/archives/2010/10/25/network-realism/

original article here:
http://booktwo.org/notebook/network-realism/


Celeste M. Evans 

utopia dystopia

Detroit Links

Hi Everyone- I posted some links related to our discussions today on Detroit.

See the Links page.

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000183 EndHTML:0000004955 StartFragment:0000002375 EndFragment:0000004919 SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/jamesraymond/Desktop/Parralell%20worlds.doc

The idea of a parallel world is a very loose term. While the idea conjures up imagery of science fiction tales including time travel, wormholes and space exploration, the term is more based in reality than we believe. While people haven’t discovered any alternate dimensions, our actual world is devised up of an endless amount of cultures and lands to explore. Now with new technology such as television and the Internet people can suddenly conjure up images all over the world. With this new technology people can see images never seen before however the price of this is a loss of exploration.

It is hard to believe that a few hundred years ago that the planet was uncharted and mysterious. The idea of a someone discovering a new continent must have been the closest to discovering a true parallel world. One of the most famous and memorable fiction made about this feeling is the comic strip Little Nemo. The comic strip, which began in 1871, followed the boy Nemo who while sleeping would travel to slumber land and have various adventures. While this parallel world was a surreal and fantasy world filled with magic and monsters the world was clearly a caricature of the real world. When Nemo dreamt that he was in the ice kingdom he was in Russia and when he was in the jungle he was actually in Russia. The comic shows the childlike feeling people have while discovering new things. And while Little Nemo shows the brighter side of colonization, it gives a glimpse into a world filled with wonder and mystery that does not exist anymore.

Although the planet is now fully mapped and, humans are still trying to find ways to simulate the feeling of exploration. Video games emerge such as Second Life where people literally build and create their own worlds. And while the feeling of walking through a poorly constructed 3D environment may not compare to discovering Africa, it shows that there is a need and desire for discovering a parallel world.

Parallel Worlds - The novel "We"

Parallel worlds are the alternate futures and pasts of our reality— different and darker shades of what is and what could be. While parallel pasts rethink our history, parallel futures follow the possible consequences of our actions in the present. These types of parallel futures, dystopias, project a fearful conscience of the current living— if we continue to live a certain way, our future will be disastrous. Writing that depicts such parallel futures are like light houses in the dark-- warning us of impending danger of crashing into shore if we do not take caution.

Dystopian texts portray types of parallel worlds where mankind has either failed or succeeded too far with his technological advancements. The successful, technologically advanced futures are the most intriguing, because man's fabulous achievements are always failures in the end. Technology comes with a price, as man sacrifices himself in order to achieve things greater himself. Consequently, man assumes the role of God and loses his self in the process- sacrificing his spirit, emotions, morals, history in exchange for perfect equations, formulas, and ultimate human order. The dystopic world is then utopic in having an overly organized society.

One of my favorite dystopian novels that depicts such hopelessness (or doomed triumph) is "We," written by Yevgeny Zamyatin. The diarist/protagonist, D-503, is a first hand witness to the inevitable and terrifying future, and his candid thoughts not only capture the experience of the future but project the changes within mankind- his altered sense of identity, attitude, behavior, emotions, beliefs, etc. Zamyatin shows the future humankind to be repulsed by the very thought of actually being human-- morality, poetry, and emotions such as happiness are to be shunned or distorted into praise for the oppressive government ruling over the narrator's world. The concept of soul is dead within such a society. The Garden of Eden is replaced then by the Garden of Superior Technology and Infallible Logic:

"The ancients' God created ancient-- that is, prone to error-- man, and so erred himself. The multiplication table is wiser and more absolute than the ancient God. It never-- repeat, never-- makes a mistake. And there's nothing happier than figures that live according to the elegant and eternal laws of the multiplication table. No wavering, no wandering."

May 68 -redux in parallel

Thanks to Eliot for drawing our attention to what's happening in

France- the strike is entering its fourth day....

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/world/europe/16france.html?ref=global-home

Ways of Worldmaking and Haunted Media

I mentioned Nelson Goodman's Ways of Worldmaking this week in class, thought I'd send some information about it if anyone is interested. Nelson Goodman was an American analytic philosopher, who's students included Noam Chomsky and Hilary Putnam, who focused on topics in aesthetics (as well as other things). His Book, Ways of Worldmaking (which can be previewed on Google books HERE) posits that we are constantly producing new "worlds" all the time out of previously constructed worlds. The work is very relativistic for analytic philosophy but is extremely accessible. I highly recommend it.


I also thought I'd also mention Haunted Media by Jeffrey Sconce for those who were interested in spirit photography, the paranormal, and new media. Jeffrey Sconce is a media historian and cultural theorist at Northwestern University and his book, Haunted Media (which can be previewed on Google books HERE), is a history of new media starting with photography and moving all the way into the contemporary period. It is brilliantly written and his thesis is smart and cogent. Again, I highly recommend it.

Persian Art of Tazhib: The Micro & Macro

animation& the uncanny/jan svankmajer's alice & wonderland as a parallel world

Metropolis (behind the scenes)

Nostalgia in Day is Done

In 2005, Mike Kelly presented "Day is Done," a project that appropriated found images of high school ceremonies and yearbook portraits into a series of performances, sound works and installations. Reproducing these images and events alongside the original documentation, Kelly created doubles of these rituals and thus created an uncanny work of fact and fiction, memory and reality. The resulting work presents a personal utopia/ dystopia through one's nostalgia for simpler days and the recognition that memory romanticizes the past and inevitably distorts the reality we so strongly miss.

James Raymond - Dark Krystal a world within our own mind

उटोपिया द्य्स्तोपिया

Gandahar-Cory Thomas Hanson

From _Magic Highway USA_ (Disney 1958)

also, first minute and 40 of this.

William Mumler - A Spirit Photograph

Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts