Signs: What Are They?

Signs are physical abbreviations for larger concepts. They are pictorial markers for events, people, places and ideas. They carry both a literal, or denotative, meaning and a social or human prescribed connotative meaning.

"Part Artistic Terrorists, Part Vernacular Critics;" A Response To Mark Dery's 'Culture Jamming'

In this reading, Dery shouts out a warning to the masses about overbearing evil of the media and their ability to mold the perceptions of the nation. He points out instances in which the media has overtly created news in order to captivate audiences around the country. Bottom line? Money of course. The hazing of the masses for the highest possible revenue for the corporate empire that has slowly grabbed a hold of everyone one of us and has made a home in living rooms around the nation. How are we to combat that which deceives and intellectually feeds us from birth? The watchful eyes of artists and intellectuals catch these rouses and make public the lies and subliminal messaging through guerrilla tactics. As Lorin Mcalpin is quoted, "We are trying to fight for attention as hard as Coca Cola fights for attention." We the artists must fight back for the honor of free speech and free (and unedited) information! Mcalpin insists and reassures that this fight is possible. She says that "[I]f anyone is angry enough and has a Xerox machine and has five or six friends how feel the same way, you'd be surprised at how far you can go."

I feel the most informative section of this reading is the section titled "Culture Jamming" in which Dery describes the various forms that this fight takes. Not only does he give a thourough description of the methods of each art form, but he also gives examples of artists and past work. Paper and wheat paste are the weapons of the children mad at their media parents.

extended body artist (late)

I came across this the other day and got really excited. The portable projection computer is here! Pranav Mistry of MIT has created a wearable interface that allows wearers to access the internet as well as apps or runnable programs via the use of natural hand motion. Though the project is still in it's early stages, the prototype is essentially a combination of a camera, a portable projector and a mirror that is hung around the neck of the user. The user projects images onto any surface (if no surface is present, a hand will do). The hand motion is captured via the camera which picks up on the color caps that are secured to the tops of the fingers, although it is pointed out that nail polish may work just as well to differentiate fingers. In order for the whole set up to work, however, a cell phone is necessary. The cell phone acts as the processor for the system. Here are some links for the TED website:

An interview with Mistry: http://blog.ted.com/2009/03/11/sixth_sense_pranav/

The projects release at TED: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUdDhWfpqxg&feature=player_embedded#!

Fun With a Dead Bunny

I had a leftover bunny from the project (he lives in my car for sentimental value) so i let him lose around SF State
:"3

Intervention Time!

This, I believe, is my favorite project so far. For my intervention I decided to go with a real world meets cartoon clash. For my monument I chose the mechanics monument on Market st in the financial district. I felt this was the perfect statue do to its overly masculine style. What I decided to add to the statue was bristol paper cut outs of dead, smashed and bloodied bunnies along with blood splatters.
The main point that I was trying to get across, although fairly abstractly, was the conquering and slaughter of nature through MANkind's endeavors to advance technology. I chose bunnies in particular because they are one of natures gentle creature that have only prey. They are not predators. Bunnies, in this instance, symbolize innocent as well as nature. Not only has mankind ravaged nature but has also slowly killed human/ mammal innocence in pursuit of becoming "superior".



Here is a site that describes the history of the Donahue brothers:
http://www.baycrossings.com/archives/2000/05_May_June/bay_characters.htm

Here is a brief description of the Donahue memorial fountain aka the mechanics monument:
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM4PPG_Mechanic_Monument_San_Francisco_CA



This project has spawned numerous other ideas such as creating a parking fee sign that should be placed at a specific on ramp in my hometown that is constantly packed with rush hour traffic that normally leads commuters to sitting on the on ramp for minutes at a time without moving.

There is also a third project Id like to do that involve an overpass in Pittsburg that is great for putting up posters due to the heavy rush hour traffic that creeps beneath it. This project would involve putting up a large poster that reads: SUPPORT CHILDRENS ART. This poster would be paired with cartoon characters that has a children's story style to them.

I really enjoy mixing cartoon with reality. Its like real life photoshop!

Change a Logo

For this part of the culture jamming project I took the San Diego Comicon logo and changed it to reflect how the convention has evolved over the past few years. What I changed in the logo was the "comic" text and changed it to say "corporate." I also added a dollar sign in the eye of the logo. I made these small changes to show how the convention has began to cater toward mass media and big media corporation. The convention has become less about comics and art and more about commercial media and profit.

logo project

For this project I wanted to focus humanitarian sort of effort. Instead of creating a logo or sign that would cause viewers to question others, I wanted to create a design which would have them reflect upon themselves. I wanted to pair text and picture in a cohesive way which was not intimidating to to viewer. As a result I came up with this adorable logo with two birds which reads 'conscience conscious.' The text is a spin off of the phrase "krishna conscious." I wanted the logo to be able to awaken the viewers from their hazy ego centric state by first grabbing them with color and then secondly by confusing them with the text. I felt the alliteration made the slogan catchy and the use of approximate homonym would cause the viewer to pause and try to recall which word means which. 'Conscience conscious' asks people to become aware of how they treat people as well as how their actions affect the greater whole. The message can be seen as altruistic and a precursor for the idea of 'cosmic conscious.'

Here I made the logo into a sticker pasted it in a campaign slogan which if read with the logo would read "It's all about the conscience conscious." I originally wanted to post it in parks as a way to promote courtesy and respect between children and also be seen by parents. However, I was to short to post the sticker on the park signs. I settled for a campaign sign for the school district instead. The only thing I would do different is make the logo bigger so that it can be readable from the road adjacent to the sign. Certain printers were running out of ink even though the cartridges were just changed, so I had to settle with a small print!!!