Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Relational Form
From Relational Aesthetics - Nicolas Bourriaud (1998)
"Otherwise put, the role of artworks is no longer to form imaginary and utopian realties, but to actually be ways of living and models of action within the existing real, whatever the scale chosen by the artist. Althusser said that one always catches the world's train on the move; Deleuze, that "grass grows from the middle" and not from the bottom or the top. The artist dwells in the circumstances the present offers him,so as to turn the setting of his life (his links with the physical and conceptual world) into a lasting world. He catches the world on the move:
he is a tenant of culture, to borrow Michel de Certeau's expression'. Nowadays, modernity extends into the practices of cultural do-it-yourself and recycling, into the invention of the everyday and the development of time lived, which are not objects less deserving of attention and examination than Messianistic utopias and the formal "novelties" that typified modernity yesterday. There is nothing more absurd either than the assertion that contemporary art does not involve any political project, or than the claim that its subversive aspects are not based on any theoretical terrain. Its plan, which has just as much to do with working conditions and the conditions in which cultural objects are produced, as with the changing forms of social life, may
nevertheless seem dull to minds formed in the mould of cultural Darwinism. Here, then, is the time of the "dolce utopia", to use Maurizio Cattelan's phrase... "
"Otherwise put, the role of artworks is no longer to form imaginary and utopian realties, but to actually be ways of living and models of action within the existing real, whatever the scale chosen by the artist. Althusser said that one always catches the world's train on the move; Deleuze, that "grass grows from the middle" and not from the bottom or the top. The artist dwells in the circumstances the present offers him,so as to turn the setting of his life (his links with the physical and conceptual world) into a lasting world. He catches the world on the move:
he is a tenant of culture, to borrow Michel de Certeau's expression'. Nowadays, modernity extends into the practices of cultural do-it-yourself and recycling, into the invention of the everyday and the development of time lived, which are not objects less deserving of attention and examination than Messianistic utopias and the formal "novelties" that typified modernity yesterday. There is nothing more absurd either than the assertion that contemporary art does not involve any political project, or than the claim that its subversive aspects are not based on any theoretical terrain. Its plan, which has just as much to do with working conditions and the conditions in which cultural objects are produced, as with the changing forms of social life, may
nevertheless seem dull to minds formed in the mould of cultural Darwinism. Here, then, is the time of the "dolce utopia", to use Maurizio Cattelan's phrase... "
Monday, February 1, 2010
Toxic Waters- amazing NY Times Series
The NY times toxic waters series.
My relationship to the NY Times is tenuous- while I think they do bring up important issues i feel that their slant is always far less urgent or revealing then the situation merits (especially anything they've written around Natural Gas Drilling)- However with their Toxic Water Series I must admit they've done a wonderful job. I first noticed this series with their front page story around drinking water with the little boy's teeth, it also really helped hit home the failure of NYC's CSS system- and showed very plainly all the CSOs stating clearly- that virtually every time it rains in NYC it pollutes. However the most interesting article I read was the one I posted to our news forum- about La's water. I had actually just returned from a Grey water installer's workshop in LA- when I read that article in the airport! That reservoir is a few mins drive from my friends house (the one where they put all the black plastic balls)- and i kept thinking I drank that water. And to lesson to all the people who object to the Dr's work- it baffles me. I really don't understand their argument. Also the Clean Water Act- I really don't understand how we can be following an out dated law- that 1) we don't properly enforce and also 2) when environmental conditions are rapidly changing (or degrading) and we are also probably dealing with a whole host of new chemicals, dynamic industries and also years of all these chemicals interacting with each other....the series has a great link on the left side that allows you to search by state what contaminants in our water supply- even thought it met two standards: the legal limits established by the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the typically stricter health guidelines. The data was collected by an advocacy organization, the Environmental Working Group, who shared it with The Times.
In the Catskill/Delaware system (I live in Brooklyn):
Trichloroacetic acid levels were below legal limits, but above health guidelines
11 contaminants found within health guidelines and legal limits: Bromodichloromethane, Chloroform, Copper, Dibromoacetic acid, Dibromochloromethane, Dichloroacetic acid, Lead (total), Monobromoacetic acid, Monochloroacetic acid, Total haloacetic acids (HAAs), Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs)
2 contaminants tested for but not found: Arsenic (total), Bromoform
Who puts in place the health regulations vs the Safe Drinking water act? What are NYCs health regulations- how does it compare to other cities? How are the people who regulate the health regulations hired or voted in?
I then clicked on another link to a drinking water quality report shows by the water utility and provided to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) by the New York Department of Health- Bureau of Public Water Supply Protection. It is in the next post which shows their results.
My relationship to the NY Times is tenuous- while I think they do bring up important issues i feel that their slant is always far less urgent or revealing then the situation merits (especially anything they've written around Natural Gas Drilling)- However with their Toxic Water Series I must admit they've done a wonderful job. I first noticed this series with their front page story around drinking water with the little boy's teeth, it also really helped hit home the failure of NYC's CSS system- and showed very plainly all the CSOs stating clearly- that virtually every time it rains in NYC it pollutes. However the most interesting article I read was the one I posted to our news forum- about La's water. I had actually just returned from a Grey water installer's workshop in LA- when I read that article in the airport! That reservoir is a few mins drive from my friends house (the one where they put all the black plastic balls)- and i kept thinking I drank that water. And to lesson to all the people who object to the Dr's work- it baffles me. I really don't understand their argument. Also the Clean Water Act- I really don't understand how we can be following an out dated law- that 1) we don't properly enforce and also 2) when environmental conditions are rapidly changing (or degrading) and we are also probably dealing with a whole host of new chemicals, dynamic industries and also years of all these chemicals interacting with each other....the series has a great link on the left side that allows you to search by state what contaminants in our water supply- even thought it met two standards: the legal limits established by the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the typically stricter health guidelines. The data was collected by an advocacy organization, the Environmental Working Group, who shared it with The Times.
In the Catskill/Delaware system (I live in Brooklyn):
Trichloroacetic acid levels were below legal limits, but above health guidelines
11 contaminants found within health guidelines and legal limits: Bromodichloromethane, Chloroform, Copper, Dibromoacetic acid, Dibromochloromethane, Dichloroacetic acid, Lead (total), Monobromoacetic acid, Monochloroacetic acid, Total haloacetic acids (HAAs), Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs)
2 contaminants tested for but not found: Arsenic (total), Bromoform
Who puts in place the health regulations vs the Safe Drinking water act? What are NYCs health regulations- how does it compare to other cities? How are the people who regulate the health regulations hired or voted in?
I then clicked on another link to a drinking water quality report shows by the water utility and provided to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) by the New York Department of Health- Bureau of Public Water Supply Protection. It is in the next post which shows their results.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
From NYtimes: "Is there an Ecological Unconsious?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/magazine/31ecopsych-t.html
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Amazing video about Grey water and Rainwater projects in Germany
Just wade through the first 5 mins- it gets really interesting
http://www.susana.org/lang-en/videos/the-innovative-turn
http://www.susana.org/lang-en/videos/the-innovative-turn
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