Kara Walker's Lecture

          On Monday, September 19, 2011, Pratt Institute hosted a lecture for Kara Walker in the auditorium of Memorial Hall. Kara Walker is an African-American visual artist who's artwork is known all over the world in websites to museums, to world-wide movies. She paints, draws, does prints, make postcards, and create silkscreens. Kara Walker graduated from Atlanta College of Art and later on transferred to RISD (Rhode Island School of Design). She said that she never really lived in Africa but heard sad scary stories about the people living there. She received a postcard that said "Some class, eh?" which made her "misunderstand" what's going on and "feel complicated seeing the image" (Walker).

          Kara Walker is into romance novels. She started using silhouettes due to western romance novels. She believes this lyrical and low comedy artwork is her passion more than painting because it's the "author's desire into the body of the reader" (Walker). She doesn't want to paint because she came from a family of painters trying to find a specific voice or art that's different from others. She also thought that "there's no place for black women in history of western art" (Walker) before she entered RISD.
         
          She also host puppet shows and plays with them telling the watchers about African-Americans being captured, being enslaved, being put in jails, and getting killed. She also talks about the origin in how the Africans came to this place. There are lots of music, music, and lighting in the puppet shows that she hosts.

Everyday Space: the work area

The work space (Pratt Studio) that I used to work in during my freshman year is like my second home as most people has been spreading around in Pratt. I was told that I'm the Asian girl who is found sleeping somewhere around the Pratt studio's floor or the tables. This was not a good rumor to hear but it seems to make people happy to know that I'm the funny one that does that. This year I changed a lot. Now that I don't live in a dorm and that foundation year is over, I tend to work a lot more in my own studio with my laptop and my study guides.
During my freshman year in Pratt, I carried a blanket and a pillow around to the studio. I would tell my friends to wake me up after thirty minutes of rest but it seems to not work at all. Apparently I'm a heavy sleeper who gets up unconsciously and goes back to sleep without even remember that they tried hard to wake me up. People always asked "how can you sleep in such an uncomfortable place?" I actually have no clue how I do it but I do know that after sleeping for four hours in the studio, I wake up with my arms and legs fallen asleep which hurts a lot. But its better then not being able to wake up in bed when you are needing to take a short nap to finish your work again. But the work space of Pratt Studio was cozy and very friendly with all my friends to be around with me and a table space for my own. We each take up a table in the studio to work on our Drawing homework or our LCD homework. We made tons of mess but  we end up cleaning the table for other people to use it the next day.
Now that freshman year is over and my sophomore year has started, I work in my apartment with my roommate (aka my best friend). Even though its a lot smaller then the spaces in the dorm rooms and the studio, it's a lot more cozier and warmer to work in. Plus we don't need a large work space now that we don't need to draw a 22x32 drawings. Also we are graphic designers so we basically need our expensive laptop that Pratt recommends us to get with expensive programs that we have to buy or maybe 'download' on the Internet. But this work space isn't like a home to me comparing to how I lived my freshman year in the Pratt Studio. This year my friends and those that saw me lying around in the studio would still call me "the girl who slept in the Pratt Studio".

This video was created by Wongfu Productions (one of my favorite YouTube video bloggers which I would definitely recommend for everyone to watch their videos) and it's about 'everyday objects' that we love to use but do those objects love us back?

http://youtu.be/pSrXMFcQ4dY

OMG this made my day :) A squard from a Cardboard Company (this sounds funny) made a short YouTube film with machines and guns and warfare items out of cardboard. 

http://youtu.be/vAz-Ax330tE

Perec's Work

1. Perec's argument in "Approaches to What?" is about inanimate objects or objects that speaks to us unexpectily and we questioning them unnoticeably. Things happen to us where we don't know that it's happening to us. We question the simplest objects that can't really talk humanely. We also do things where we don't notice ourselves doing it but later question ourselves why it happens. For example, Perec says "... we live it without thinking, as if it carried within it neither questions nor answers ... We sleep through our lives in a dreamless sleep. But where is our life? Where is our body? Where is our space?" This tells the reader how we don't think towards that. We just do it. It's the same as getting up from your bed and brushing your teeth doing all that on your own unconsciously like anesthesia. 
2. 

• "At one time or another, almost everything passes through a sheet of paper, the page of a notebook, or of a diary, or some other chance support on which, at varying speeds and by a different technique depending on the place, time or mood, one or another of the miscellaneous elements that comprise the everydayness of life comes to be inscribed." This is a great quote because it shows how "time" and "speed" happens in writing but it just happens to us without seriously thinking. We read but we don't read the whole thing. We skim through to get to the main point of the story or the main sentences.

• "The Page" by Perec would be a great reference to be displayed at MoMA in the "Talk to Me" section. It talks about writing and space that happens in everyone's daily life normally but psychologically confusing. "Talk to Me" tells the viewer that humans and objects can interact with each other. Writing shows how we unconsciously write write write without stopping. We write but we don't know why we are writing. We write but we don't know how it all gets on the computer without us really thinking through what we want to write. We write and use different speed and time in writing not knowing what will happen next which slows us down. 
• For blogging, whenever you make a mistake, the internet corrects it for you. When it comes to writing on a piece of paper, you make an error but you just keep writing without noticing that error. Blogging automatically shows the world about what you wrote but on a piece of paper, only you or the people you showed it to can see that writing. To most people, typing is faster then handwriting. So most people blog on the internet but not write on a paper. 
• I've never blogged before so I'm not sure what the concept of blogging is. But Facebook, Microsoft Words, InDesign, texting, etc. is where I do most of my writings on. I text constantly to my friends wherever I go, walk, ride, and eat. I text text text and never stop. Texting is the fastest way for me to contact people other then calling them or looking for them. Whenever I hear about some shocking news, I unconsciously start texting everyone that's important for them to know what I know. 
• Like Facebook, it gets us going to find the facts on what's happening to our friends, families, celebrities and other interesting people's life. We unconsciously go through their Facebook page and read their status or view through their pictures without even thinking why we are doing it. We might want to know who they are dating, what they are doing, and what they now look like, but what's the real reason why we are doing all this? I believe it's because everyone in this world is just used to doing what they have been doing every single day and they know that it's their everyday life routine so with that and out of boredom, they Facebook stalk on people on their own will just to entertain themselves. 
• Writing is happening because you are told to write especially when it comes to class, job, or anything with assigned work. When one becomes a writer, they write. They have to write in order to make money and to publish their book to the world. Students write because they have to write to get an A on their grade. To keep your job, you have to write or design to not get fired. Writing happens constantly and its something you must do in the future for a good life. 
• To me, the role of body is equally involved in digital writing and in manual writing. In both digital and manual writing, you use your brain to think about what you want to write, you use your hand to type or handwrite your writing, you use your body to breathe and energize yourself to write a good story, you use your eyes to see what you are saying, and you use your body part of your body to sit down for comfort to write your story. 

"Talk to Me" Response

“Talk to Me” Response

This was a very interesting project ever developed in Museum of Modern Art also known as MoMA. Observing and mesmerizing every single idea in the “Talk to Me” section was a great experience. The one idea that really caught my attention was the “Menstruation Machine Takashi’s Take.” I didn’t understand what was going on at first or what the metal, bird-shaped sculpture was, but after reading the description many times and watching the video over and over again, it reminded me how badly I really wanted men to feel the same way women have to go through with their period. “Menstruation Machine Takashi’s Take” was designed by Sputniko! It was established in United Kingdom. The media used for the Menstruation Machine are aluminum, acrylic, and electronics. This machine could be used by men, children, postmenopausal women, or others who wants to experience five days menstrual period. You wear this machine around your waist and it compresses on your abdomen which gives you the same pain and bleeding women gets when having their period. Inside the device is built with a blood dispensing system and electrodes.

In the video, a boy named Takashi built the Menstruation Machine to test out how it would feel like to be a girl with menstrual period. He dresses up like a girl and puts on the machine around his waist. He goes out with a girl friend and does an everyday activity that girls do when they go out. The machine later hits him and he starts feeling the pain. Takashi has felt his first hand experience with menstrual period.

My brother used to make fun of me whenever I have my period and I always confront him that he doesn’t know this feeling of pain and that he should one day experience it. I’ve never imagined that someone would actually develop this machine for the opposite sex to experience it.

“Talk to Me” shows the idea of us humans experiencing nature or technology that’s not very interactive with us. They might not be able to move or speak to us but they do have a way to communicate with people. The objects interact with us in different ways that helps us to understand them or develop from them. Everyday objects are always there in the world and has a connection with the users. The communication comes from technology, nature, and toys. It’s very neat to know that these do exist and that normal junks can communicate with you. The objects could help us with skills and develop a better understanding of life.

Like the Menstruation Machine, Takashi’s interaction with it was pain and how girl’s feel with menstrual period. But afterwards, he smiled when the pain when away as if he experienced something very unique. He later forgot about the pain and went back to his normal, girl, fun routine.