Ladybug FunkyFonic Headphone! Santa please!

People Magazine's Cool Kid Gifts for Every age is plugging for your 5 year old female audiofile, a pair of Ladybug FunkyFonic Headphones, $28 from modernlola.com.  They may want to think of making adult size pairs...I want some!

_______________________ _________________________________

Sympathic Resonance at the Wired Store

                








Another installation at the Wired Store was a giant marimba by Joshua Kirsch, titled "Sympathic Resonance” . 

I was on the top floor in the beginning and had no idea how this work was controlled or triggered.  The store had just opened and there was a seating area nook of sorts, located right after walking up a staircase. "Sympathic Resonance"  silloutted the view, and in the seating area, a sign said "please ask for assistance" on a gadget.  Sonicly not related to the work, Sympathetic Resonance, was the gadget in question (an alarm of some sort).  Myself being a rules person, I did nothing, but really appreciated the button pusher and his girlfriend right behind me that set off a high pitched alarm that even "assistance" had trouble disabling.

Sympathic Resonance is marimba, (analog in sound), while down below a synthesizer of sort,  being triggered by a touch keyboard on the lower floor.  Sculpturally, it is stunningly beautiful and I wish I had a loft that it could live in.  In many ways, it reminded me of  the wales or prehistoric animals that are often suspended up overhead at a Natural History Museum.  Sympathic Resonance was much more enjoyable hearing others who know how to play piano work the keyboard over my mary had a little lamb recall but it was amazing to look at and beautiful to the ears. _______________________ _________________________________

Wilderness Machine~Wired Store

While in New York, I was pretty happy to be able to go to the opening of the The Wired Store, a temporary bodega, in an old Tower Records shop, right before Thanksgiving.  Of the many things that was a great surprise was a corner with many different art installations and less consumer products to give and get for the Holidays!


I had already been enchanted by Arcade Fire's the WIlderness Downtown website.  I even shared my digital postcard I sent to myself with a few others, so I was surprised and intrigued by a magic machine titled the Wilderness Machine. It takes the ideas and application of the website and prints an analog/hardcopy postcard you take away and plant into the ground.  --the paper has seeds!  Nothing like a little free magic and inspiration for the season-- more valuable than anything you can buy! _______________________ _________________________________

Turner Prize goes to a Sonic Artist

Here's a NY Times article on Susan Philipsz, recipient of the prize earlier this week.  Looks like her medium of sound is different from mine in that she uses the voice and strictly sound vs my preference for some sculpture or object and field recordings or sounds from memory. The work is now in a gallery but looks to be a bit more interesting in site specific areas.  Love the related writing of Telegraph art critic, Richard Dorment. 
Turner Prize
Susan Philipsz
Richard Dorment _______________________ _________________________________

Thunder and Lightning

Sorry, but as an audio person, I loved the costume for thunder! Makes me start thinking about Halloween costumes....

_______________________ _________________________________

My Work-SKY-airing on CKUT's Easy Sonic Living

So I spent the last week in New York, attending Association of Independent Radio/Harvestworks- radio seminar called Sounds Elemental: Sky.  I met a number of composers and sound makers as well as reporters and producers doing all sorts of work from documenting artists at the NEA to Los Angeles producers to a gal from Montreal!  

Caroline Kunzle of Montreal offered to air our works from the week for her weekly program in Montreal.   The program will air this evening at 11 pm Montreal time on ckut 90.3 fm. Listen here http://bit.ly/fZA1fs

The image is my view of the sky I woke up to every morning from the NoHo loft I stayed in for the week!

_______________________ _________________________________

Annenberg Space for Photography

Erin Scott

Gallery Report

This is a review/paper from a class a year and a half ago.  I still stand by the disappointment I had at going to a new and wonderful space for photography and much of the images were projected or slide shows on screens.  I still want to see the physical photograph if that was how it was made and captured!

A visit to the inaugural exhibit L8sAng3les at the newly open Annenberg Space for Photography was an exciting and appropriate curation.  It featured eleven Los Angles photographers, three of whom are celebrated staff photographers at the Los Angeles Times.  The work of 2004 Pulitzer Prize winning, LA Times photographer, Carolyn Cole made one stop and take a second look.  One reason I was compelled to linger was that photojournalism and documenting gruesome events was a reason for my choice to not to pursue studying photography in college.  Cole has been to many war torn areas including the Middle East, Kosovo and Afghanistan and covering these places for over twenty years. 

The image that haunted me was an 11 x 14 color photograph, taken August of 2004 in Iraq after /during the Battle for Najaf.  It is a close up of a U.S. Marine and he is looking off the left, with a bead or two of sweat on his face.  His arms and relaxed and behind his head.  The camouflage make-up and his hairline make a line that looks like a headband or scarf at first glance.  Between the light on his face and chest and the white of the camouflage makeup, the image doesn’t feel like war photography or photojournalism but fashion photography.  His painted face is also dark around the eyes so the whites of his eyes stand out.  This image of a soldier is anonymous as the patch on his right breast doesn’t show or reveal his last name.

All that is described above seems to be a conscious decision on the part of the photographer.  Either one can’t show identifying features of soldiers in combat or this as a choice makes the image one of “everyman” and it shows a quiet moment in the midst of chaos.  The pose also makes one think about what is normal when in war.

There was much to learn from this exhibition.  The Annenberg Space for Photography sounds exciting, but the place is a lesson in new museums and practices.  When visiting the location on a Sunday, there was very little activity around the space.  While a thriving business district on the weekdays, there is no support of other business to make this a weekend stroll or day activity.  One can’t stumble upon this space but must have the destination in mind to visit.  As it is called the Annenberg Space for Photography, one would expect to see photographs.  There was very little hung on the walls or wall space for that matter. Much of the space uses digital frames and LCD displays to showcase the work.  While this looks forward to new ways of curation, most was displayed like a power point or Ken Burns pan and scan presentation so the onlooker was told where to look versus interfacing and interacting with the image as an image.  It will be interesting to see what future exhibits look like at this space.

_______________________ _________________________________