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| Happy New yar, we have started the year off in a bang, the moth isn't over. The above photo tells a lot of the insensitivity of us as people. |
"This expansion, in turn, gave birth to bohemian society and the modern art movement,
symbolically inaugurated by the "Salon des Refuses" of 1863. When a number of
important artists rejected by the salon demanded to be heard on their own (including heroes of subsequent art history like Edouard Manet and James Abbott McNeil Whistler): "Having prompted many people to turn to art as a career and attracting large numbers of them to Paris, and having vastly expanded the audience for artworks, the French Salon system contributed to its own demise by creating demands it could not satisfy"
It is impossible to say whether the current unbalanced growth of the visual arts economy will produce some similar sea change or lead to new channels of artistic distribution-or even artistic currents tied to social movements generated by the current instability of capitalism. What we can prophesy is that the sphere of the visual arts, buoyed by the developments of neoliberalism but also distorted by them and increasingly stretched and unequal beneath its patina of glamour and luxury, has created a situation that is highly combustible.
the future will be determined, in great measure, by what subjective forces come to the fore to respond to the objective material transformation that have taken place---which makes it all the more important to have a clear map of the contested territory."
Ben Davis,
9.5 THESES ON ART AND CLASS.
Chp. Art and Inequality -
Prospects and Predictions - pg. 86,87.
We sat
there on the pavilion, Hilton...
Ah, at
this moment life is good, meh belly full…ah have a small studio to create… I
have had the ability to walk all the spaces of Trinidad and Tobago and the
world. I sat in a village with poets in Columbia, sipped wine in Oz, Cape Town,
with Madi Phala I sat in his neighborhood Shabeen; we drank home made beer,
listened to intellectuals in Berkeley. I have had my share of the space and
there is still more places to go and things to accomplish. So when you look
back at the walk, that I have taken. I can say that I speak from a comprehensive
journey of the world and of my community. |
| THE CENTRAL BANK HAS LAUNCHED AN INITIATIVE THAT SPITS IN THE FACE OF ORIGINALITY. GOES AGAINST WHAT THE ARTISTS IS ABOUT THE ABILITY TO MAKE ORIGINAL WORK WHAT ABOUT COPYRIGHTS, LACK OF INNOVATION, A POOR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW ONE MANAGES AN ART COLLECTION, WHAT ABOUT THE ARCHITECTURE. WHO GOING TO SPEAK FOR THE BUILDING? THIS CAN BE TRACED TO THE OVAL WALL PROJECT, WHICH WAS INITIATED BY THE TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO ARTISTS SOCIETY; ARTIST KILLING ART... ARTISTS KILLING ART! ARTIST KILLING LIFE, |
Next
week there will be a meeting by ACTT, the Artists Coalition of Trinidad and
Tobago, this Saturday, around 9 a.m to 2pm there will be an action meeting for
the residence by the Save the Savannah Committee, there will be carnival, murder,
a child abused, a woman beaten by her partner; we will move, wake up, bounce
starter and roll down the road, traffic, KFC, lime on the Boulevard, squat,
chop de 100 year old tree down. Another buss pipe; no matter; what will come
from it, now it is oil, tomorrow gas. De man down the road can erect a building
in your view, set up on your life spot and there is almost no hope for you to
get some redress from him or the other man who blast a fire stick near your bed
12 O’clock midnight to celebrate the many holy festivals we have or he feel jus
to buss off a fire cracker.
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THIS PROJECT TELLS ME THEY HAVE MONEY!
|
Living
in Trinidad and Tobago is stress; stress from fear, stress from the assumption of
fear, a knife to your throat, a bullet for your chain, fear of the boss man,
fear of the police, people are shutting down. SO WE PRAY,
line up in the $100 pray line, bless us in wealth; we line up more at the LOTTO
machine, hoping to get the million dollar jackpot.
We
line to eat all the oily foods, smoke all the cigarette, drink all the rum, the
vodka; because this is carnival country! So we party through everything; even a coup.
Then we die at 45 from diabetes, hypertension, heart attack, prostate cancer.
Sugar, salt, flour and alcohol,
Put
something sweet in de salt, some salt in de sweet.
So
there it is; Trinidad and Tobago; a
sociological, environmental, psychological, physiological stress disorder; on a slow cultural death.
There
is a lack of cultural confidence, that is why we have signed the international
treaty, EPA, which have allowed for the overwhelming flooding of degrees in
this space where any old institution can come and up and set up shop. We find it
hard to acknowledge the good in a person’s
thought, to help, nurture, invest; where it can benefit everyone.
We
reach!, when you on the NEWADAY, TUESDAY 7 JANUARY,
front page see two dead young men, when at Christmas time yuh hear the thieving
parang band, by Marcia Maranda, yuh know we reach a position that we need to
sit and clear the air, why the f*&k am I an artist.
Yeah!
I want to sell my art, I want to show in the gallery, but is that all I want. I
want to make work all sorts of work. Sculptures, furniture, social design,
installations, animation…I want to farm, see the plantains grow and sell them,
eat them, hang out on the land with friends and colleagues, the villagers and
talk about farming, art, life. Also I
want to add value to my energy as an artist….
In extension add value of me; as a form belonging to a wider ecosystem,
which I have come to respect and value.
BUT
I WANT TO LIVE…AS HUMAN…AS RIGHT…
I read
a few things; I will like to quote.
The
Library of Muyinga – By Belgian Architects, Belgian studio BC
Architects and members of the local community.
“Local materials
research
The challenge of limited
resources for this project became an opportunity. We managed to respect a short
supply-chain of building materials and labour force, supporting local economy,
and installing pride in the construction of a library with the poor people's
material: earth.
Earth analysis: "field tests
and laboratory tests" - Raw earth as building material is more fragile
than other conventional building materials. Some analyse is thus important to
do. Some easy tests can be made on field to have a first idea of its quality.
Some other tests have to be made in the laboratory to have a beter
understanding of the material and improve its performance.”
Project Description: Library for the community of Muyinga
Location: Muyinga (BU)
Client: ODEDIM
Architect: BC architects
Local material consultancy: BC studies
Community participation and organisation: BC studies and ODEDIM Muyinga
Cooperation: ODEDIM Muyinga NGO, Satimo vzw, Sint-Lucas Architecture University, Sarolta Hüttl, Sebastiaan De Beir, Hanne Eckelmans
Financial support: Satimo vzw, Rotary Aalst, Zonta Brugge, Province of West-Flanders
Budget: €40 000
Surface: 140m2
Concept: 2012
Status: completed
Location: Muyinga (BU)
Client: ODEDIM
Architect: BC architects
Local material consultancy: BC studies
Community participation and organisation: BC studies and ODEDIM Muyinga
Cooperation: ODEDIM Muyinga NGO, Satimo vzw, Sint-Lucas Architecture University, Sarolta Hüttl, Sebastiaan De Beir, Hanne Eckelmans
Financial support: Satimo vzw, Rotary Aalst, Zonta Brugge, Province of West-Flanders
Budget: €40 000
Surface: 140m2
Concept: 2012
Status: completed
I quote the above which
shows how and why research can be used in old technology to enhance the
contemporary. Check the budget $40,000 Euro = $346,959.52 TTD
UNICORNS, MENTAL ATHELETES, AND CAGED ANIMALS (WITH SUPERPOWERS): AN
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE DESIGN TEAM BEHIND GOOGLE X.
Posted by Mason Curry
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“I
should note here that I didn't actually get to see
Heinrich's Design Kitchen, as Google X is, not surprisingly, extremely cagey
about access to its facility. The best I can do is tell you that it's one big
room stocked with 3-D printers, a laser cutter, a laser welder, a wood shop,
simple metalworking tools, casting equipment, a small materials library, and a
"giant" CNC mill for doing large-scale models—basically, a playground
for fabrication nerds like Heinrich, who likes to come in to work early so he
can spend some time making stuff first thing, before getting sucked into
meetings and other workday commitments. "Pretty much anything you can
imagine, we can build," he says.”
“The
Kitchen works closely with X's user-experience team, and the remaining three
X-ers I met in Mountain View are members of this group. Although they are
deeply involved in the design of X products—they essentially incubate new
projects, including early research and concept work, as well as handle
implementation and testing—none of them has a traditional design background; in
fact, all three would be more accurately described as psychologists than
designers. Ricardo Prada, who leads the team, earned a Ph.D. in human factors
psychology from George Mason University. Mac Smith and Dhvani Patel-Smith, who
are senior researchers on Prada's team (and are married), were graduate
students with him at George Mason—Patel-Smith earned a Ph.D. in applied
developmental psychology, and Smith's Ph.D. is in human factors and applied
experimental psych.”
The
two above quotes, tells a lot about what we will want in a design space.
1. The workshop environment to
build.
2. That all designers, don’t
necessarily need to be designers; but, they do need to understand the human
form, both from the physical and the mental. That is why we need to interact
more closely with our ethical and progressive academics and researchers at the
University of the West Indies and soon University of Trinidad and Tobago.
ON
DESIGN AMBITION. By Martyn Perks, Posted by Core Jr.
“But
to criticise the Indian space program is wrong for two reasons. First, it will
help bring about many technological benefits that will help improve the lives
of millions including the poor. Thanks to India's ongoing investment in space
and weather satellite technology, many thousands of lives were recently saved
from a coastal cyclone in October due to early warnings.”
“The
second reason is that, as Samanth Subramanian, the India correspondent for The National,
writes in The
New Yorker, the project will give many people in India
an all-important "spurt of optimism and confidence that can urge people,
even for a brief moment, to lift their eyes upward and aim a little
higher."
“ By collaborating with engineers, scientists and architects,
perhaps they can. For example, well-designed 3D CAD software interfaces help
architects create master plans for new towns and cities, visualising how
infrastructure and resources fit together. Designers are also an integral part
of helping people get around more easily: signage, information systems to the
prototyping and design of transport systems. The problem isn't a shortage of
skills. Rather, it is a matter of being more ambitious in thinking up ways that
designers can help.”
The
above tells the story of us why will a developing country will invest in an
industry that will spurn bring design to the fore front. How it is developed
and used is a debate that’s needed to happen within spaces such as these. We’re
not above having these conversations of the moral and ethical use of innovation
within our space. For and industry that will need the investment of millions of
state and private sector funding, we will need to start having these
conversations.
What
we can learn from the drug bust of the (
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2014-01-21/dea-progress-6b-cocaine-case-suspects-sight
) recently,
1. It shows how lazy we’re, we
have lost our innovation to keep up with a drug cartel who are willing to
invest their money in and on innovative ways they can get their product to
market.
2. It provides a platform on what
type of innovation is needed, the investment, and where it will come from.
For
sure what it shows, with a clear intention of will, you can get your product,
there!
So
here is the wish list.
1. ACTT – Artists Coalition of
Trinidad and Tobago – I will like to see ACTT, not to relinquish their
activism, but embrace that they need to become an independent Arts Council.
2. The
Trinidad and Tobago Artists Society
– need to figure if they belong to a professional artist’s community and a
society, which includes an ethic, philosophy, economics or just to themselves as
Sunday Painters; Just rolling along, as the society falls apart.
3. DCFA – Department of Creative and
Festival Arts, University of the West Indies – Dem just need to get proper
facilities, proper tools, workshops,
studio space etc. Dem got to look like a proper art school.
4. THE
STUDIO – I
want to be more involved in the construction of the 3D elements of my work,
both in sculpture and design; broaden the studio functionality even more, that
I will be able to embrace the widening expanding discussion of innovation.
5. I
will like to see
more conversation happening from the artists community that we can stymied the negative
intellectualism that has been constructed around art and design.
Dean
Arlen
21
January 2014
HERE WE BUILDING THINGS FOR PEOPLE, THIS IS WHA IT ABOUT.
