PSFK Trends

It's always interesting to enter into a community of people that you do not necessarily consider yourself a part of, and find, upon entering, that you really fit in; that your interested in the things that they are interested in, that you have something relavent to say.

The trends on PSFK are incredibly fascinating to me. Sometimes the posts are almost humorous, for instance, there is a new luggage trend that Samsonite is creating that makes a suitcase into a wheel instead of a rectangular object. But the great part about the site is that there really is something for everybody.

There was some music-related trends that were really interesting to me. One dealt with a music site that had been shut down that had once allowed users to make their own mix tapes and have their own sites where the tapes could be listened to. The other was a post about a group of kids making musical instruments out of household products.

The fact that there could be a post about "iNap," an application that one can download on their iPhone to make sure they don't nap through their subway stop (something that I think would be very helpful for a lot people I know), next to an article about a man who has created and flown with man-made wings, next to a really interesting photography exhibit, proves how vast this community is; how there is a place for all interests.

Stepping In

In CNN.com's article, "Designers developing virtual-reality 'Cocoon,'" readers are introduced to the "Cocoon," a mechanism that allows users to literally step into another world, virtually at least. The machine would recognize the users' movements and accordingly, operate to move around with the users' motions. For the gaming world, this would mean being able to incorporate one's entire body into playing video games. The Cocoon could also be used to create virtual museums that one could literally walk through a museum instead of simply looking at pictures online when you were unable to go to a real museum. In terms of shopping, it would literally allow shoppers to walk around shops, pick up books from shelves, etc.

But this leads to the question of where this leaves the real world. If you can step into a bubble and be virtually anywhere you want, who is to say that you will ever really need to leave your house? Social networking can be done, shopping can be done, even cultural outings can be had, by simply inputting where you wish to go or what you wish to do. Would a machine like this, like the mind-reading headset, destroy human interaction and life in the real world?

Mind Reading

"So add that up: a wireless, remote, brain reading/writing device that can scan, interpret, and communicate with someone across the room, without them even knowing it. Connect that to the Internet... and talk about brainwashing possibilities. What if some hacker could figure out how to write viruses to people's brains? It's actually a little scary." - quote from the Article on CNN.com "The Future of Gaming is All in the Mind."

This may be the most unsetteling article I have read in a while. It sounds as though this electronic company's creation of a brain wave-reading machine that will ultimately allow gamers to play with their minds, not only their hands, is a little too Orson Welles for my taste. What does it say about our culture that this type of machine is being created -- a machine that can read people's minds and then direct virtual actions?

While it sounds intriguing in a science fiction project, Matrix-movie, time-traveling, kind of way, the implications of such a machine seem hard to ignore. While it may free up the hands of gamers and create a new way of looking at the gaming world, it would almost unarguably end up in the hands of dangerous people with dangerous ideas who would use such a machine to propogandize, or "brainwash" as the article notes.

Where is the line drawn between amazing technological advancement and disturbing, robotic-like, tools?

Issuu.com

As the Fashion Director of NYU's fashion magazine, NYCHIC, and as a magazine journalism concentration in Gallatin, I am always interested in seeing where the world of magazines, in light of major sales decline, is adjusting to a new, web-obsessed/dependent culture.  

This semester, after having a lot of financial problems with our last issue, I hesitantly suggested to the editorial board of NYChic that we start doing a website instead of a tangible publication.  I say hesitantly because I personally love magazines -- holding them in my hand, being able to rip things out, etc.  For some reason, I have always looked at the "Webzine" as a destroyer of journalism as we know it.

What's so great about issuu.com is that the magazines on the site were created solely for the internet, and this is where my train of thought changed.  Prior to knowing about this site, I had thought of online magazines as the final stages of a publication's fall.  Elle Girl couldn't cut it on the newsstands so they became a website. Teen Magazine, YM, etc., all faced the same crisis.  It just seemed like a lesser version of something that was not bringing in enough revenue for survival.

Looking at the various online magazines on the site, however, proved to me that, if you go into creating an online magazine knowing that it is for a specific audience, in a specific space, you aren't "giving up," rather you are thinking about magazines and journalism in a different way.  In a way, it's kind of a rebirthing of the way we are thinking about writing/magazines/etc.  

David Fried piece at the Sarah Tecchia Gallery

I absolutely adored this piece.  Aesthetically, the piece was very appealing to me.  As a highly organized person, I am instantly attracted to organized, clean things.  The balls that move around the square or rectangular block were very geometrical and very orderly.  Each of the balls, as Sarah Tecchia explained in her office, had a personality of its own, and this also was very appealing to me.  Especially in the piece in the gallery owner's office, which she said reminded her of "Skittles," really seemed almost pet-like.  Because of their vibrant colors, they really seemed to have their own personalities - some more sensitive than others, some drawn to other balls, some shier.  

Of course, there was the other layer of fascination regarding the technology that goes into the "kinetic interactive" piece.  Interestingly enough, there are no messy wires inside, which goes along perfectly with the exterior of the piece.  I'm sure a lot of people who see the piece want to know how it works -- how a collection of balls can just move around based on sound, without messy wires or having to be plugged into anything.  I, on the other hand, think part of the beauty of the piece, is that we don't know how it works.  It adds a level of mystery to the highly interesting piece of work.

Doug Aitken's "Migration" exhibit at 303 Gallery

I have never really been able to understand or enjoy video instillation.  I remember when the new MOMA opened a few years ago there was this whole video instillation exhibit in the back of one of the floors where a lot of the Warhol's hang.  I tried to sit and watch and get it, and I really didn't -- I couldn't get into it.  

After seeing the exhibit at 303 Gallery, my relationship with video instillation changed.  I found myself fascinated mostly by the format of the piece.  Seeing something on a screen that large and that close up had a huge effect on me.  I was able to really see the textures of the animals that were on the screen.  The "plot" of the video also fascinated me.  The concept of an animal as large as a moose could be in a hotel room, walking around, was truly absurd -- much in the same way that any Absurdist or Surrealist painter would include a strange object in an ordinary scene.

"Untethered" Exhibit at Eyebeam Gallery

I was extremely taken aback by the artist that showed us around Eyebeam.  Most significant out of the two works she had done in the exhibit, I was extremely interested in the "Gentrify" tape that was intended to be used to "rope off" areas that were being gentrified, in hopes of de-gentrifying them.  The artist, Geraldine Juarez, allows the tape to be distributed by anyone, virtually, in any amount.

As a New Yorker my entire life, issues of gentrification and urban planning have always fascinated me.  The idea of performing acts of social commentary through art in such a public space really interested me and sparked my curiosity.  

Aesthetically, it is a very catchy piece.  One is frequently drawn to "Caution" tape, aware that something had occurred in the space that is being roped off and wanting to know "why"?  The fact that there is a parallel being made by "cautioning" and "gentrifying" is a really important and interesting concept to ponder.

I also found that it went along very nicely with the entire aura of Eyebeam which really excited me.  Everything had an important meaning behind it:  Juarez's other piece that we saw, a money-donation machine instillation, was taking a look at issues of philanthropy and what it means to give to the arts without "getting" anything out of it.  The t-shirt design center was not only a chance for gallery goers to interact with art, but also helped AIDS research.  And this idea of the art being meaningful is also seen in the space itself, very communal and innovative.