(love)story

to continue with my random batman finds

deutscher modernismus

i brought up ludwig mies van de rohe's grave in a conversation today. and so, i decided to revisit some of his works, partly due to reading about the bauhaus and partly to show my lovely sister-in-law his buildings. and i've decided that sometimes, i wish i could be a modernist architect. or maybe just once talk to good ole ludwig about his ideas. a few years ago, i would never have considered myself a modernist lover. i used to feel very closed off towards this type of building, not really understanding it, and thinking it was so stark and uninviting. now, however, i can say fully i would give anything to live in the farnsworth house. i am lately more impressed with architecture than most other visual stimuli, and it makes me want to spend time talking with these geniuses and wanting to hear their explanations of space. but then again, some things don't need explanations. they are truly wonderful without anything at all.

click on images to make them bigger!

floating staircase, the arts club of chicago

seagram building, nyc

museum, berlin

crown hall, chicago

farnsworth house, chicago

there is not one but many silences

Imprisoned by four walls
(to the North, the crystal of non-knowledge
a landscape to be invented
to the South, reflective memory
to the East, the mirror
to the West, stone and the song of silence)
I wrote messages, but received no reply.

envoi by octavio paz

from stone to cloud

exactly

we'll listen to thunder road

although i am not sure if i am in the summer of my life, i am definitely changed since moving to california. i have seen the pacific. i was awed. people are right about that. there was a slight movement of my soul, hardened from heartbreak and cold weather. although i am not sure if this is the place for me, as i seem to have left my heart in chicago, my head tells me daily i am in the right. i am scared though. i am scared to fall in love with california. or maybe i cannot until the rest of me catches up with my head. i am slightly more than lost sometimes. i think about splinching, an unlikely harry potter term. i am splinched between here and there. and really, no amount of magic can fix it. i suppose i have to stay stuck a little while longer.

hadrosaurus

the state dinosaur of new jersey.

no more empty clotheslines

i stumbled upon this and really enjoyed the idea. it should continue around the country.

Instant Grant Program from Steve Lambert on Vimeo.

i'm looking at earthworks. i am looking at lots of things, actually, but i am hoping to schedule some trips to see remaining earthworks in the west. the agnes denes' piece (may not be a typical out in the wilderness earthwork) takes place in lower manhattan, and is reactionary to the empty lots that dotted manhattan at that time (1982). she harvested the wheat and it was sent around the world to be replanted. a sort of end to world hunger. but i'm interested in her taking over this lot, and just creating this wildness amongst the city. obviously, there are city gardens, but this is something of a grander idea. its something that really resonates with me.

agnes denes


robert smithson


walter de maria


michael heizer

(love)sick

1. pennies- paper bird
2. sea anemone- jets to brazil
3. going to georgia- atom & his package
4. i break horses- smog
5. your rocky spine- great lake swimmers

6. lover, you should have come over- jeff buckley
7. i should have known better- she & him
8. american music- violent femmes
9. for emily, whenever i may find her- simon & garfunkel
10. mt. st. helens- mirah

the first day of my second life

i have this idea that detroit will be the city of the future and we will all be left in its wake. one might laugh at this idea, knowing that detroit is in a constant state of rest and unrest. a shrinking city. a place of vandals and wildflowers. i now consider it post post-industrial, although i have never visited. but things happen in detroit, as much as one might be turned off by the idea. such efforts of the heidelberg project, object orange, and others (i am in the midst of finding these others) are reinvigorating detroit. or maybe they are just the beginning of the mass renewal that is starting to happen and this urban utopia i dream of invigorates detroit in the wrong direction. but, luckily, things move slowly in detroit, and it will take more than a few new buildings to bring the major capitalists. it is not a global city and it really has no chance of becoming one, so my bet is a safe one. rebecca solnit wrote a great article published in Harpers about detroit and its return to something other than a city, more than a city. i suppose we'll see what happens.

first exposure

the suburban

cuts

i've decided to start a new exhibition space out of my house. or rather i should say, out of the outside of my house.

i'm naming the space cuts and i plan to host a monthly exhibits. i will collaborate with artists to do more site specific works since the space is so unique.

it looks very raw at the moment, as it has some junk stored inside. but i am also digging on the rawness and hopefully people will utilize that aspect.

i am absolutely loving school, but at the same time, i am feeling as if i am not creating enough. this outlet will definitely help and i feel will get me more involved in the community here on the west coast. and of course, i plan to use what i am learning (and have learned) in this situation.

Official knowledge has disregarded almost everything of significance that's happened in the history of the world.

-Avery F. Gordon