Well blogspot, Its been a while.

Like the man holding the taxedermied wolf in the image above, I am carrying this blog back, post-mortem. (But would you have known it was a dead wolf if I didnt tell you? Exactly.) I have quite fully converted my life over to tumblr since 2009, but I think there is something worthwhile in this little corner of the internet that I have dubbed "haptic arts." So all you haptic arts fans (all 0.5 of you?), lets hop to it!

Let's take a moment to define haptic arts. Haptic refers to the touch or tactile. Art is art (if you want to have a discussion about what art is, I suggest you take it elsewhere, since I am content to define it quite broadly, here). I will take this space to muse on: tactile arts, artifacts, the intangible, the virtual, and the physical. Since 2009, I have become more and more interested in food studies, farming, and the pleasures of eating with good company. I see a connection with all of this, so I will be taking the time to explore that in the blog posts to come.

Drum Set

Drum Set is both tactile and artful; thus, it belongs on this blog. Orange you glad I shared it?

TUMBLing

My other blog--no not that one (since I have been terrible about updating it) and this one will be drinking from the same 'creative well'. This other blog is a new experiment in web presence/identity creation online. I would call it a mistress but it's more so the baby blog to the blogger version. I don't expect too much link cross-referencing, just this one mention today. Really its a tumblelog or 'tumblog.' It lends itself to shorter posts, links, photos, etc. I have been making an effort to make my posts pithy-er since Jan. 3, but it does not feel like the right place to just drop in a link, quote, or video; that place is Tumblr.com.

From the MCA to the Whitney; Jenny to Bucky

Jenny Holzer: Project Protect has moved to the Whitney. The next thing at the MCA that I am going to evangelize about is Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe. I am, afterall, an architecture groupie. (Here is the feature site for the exhibit.)

On Fuller:

As the myth goes, he went to Lake Michigan to end his life. Instead he was struck by his purpose: “You do not belong to you, you belong to the universe.” Thus, he began his 56-year experiment of “guinea pig B” (“B” for “Bucky”) to see what “an average, healthy human being” resolved to solve problems “on behalf of all humanity” could accomplish.

The MCA's feature site also provides us with quotations from good ole' Bucky. Here are a couple of examples:

"A designer is an emerging synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist, and evolutionary strategist."

"Dare to be naïve."

and...

"Probably the most powerful of all trends today is man’s increasing communication."

Twitter, meet Blog

Haptic Arts is now on Twitter and exploring a new social media with the following in mind:

Natasha Mitchell: Now this really challenges our core sense that we are a singular self, a single identity contained within a singular skin.

Robert Bosnak: Yes it does completely. Actually it is becoming more or less recognised within many sides and fields and schools of psychoanalysis that we are a very dissociable collection of states. This used to be seen as abnormal psychology but we begin to see more and more that that is more or less the norm. If it becomes extreme then you get people with what used to be called multiple-personality. So then the states are completely disassociated, they have no contact with each other. In the normal way the states are relatively independent and autonomous and there is contact between them, but it is not that I am a single self that over/during my life fractures. No, I am as far as I can see it, a multiplicity of states that is in a constant state of interaction.

Spring is (almost) here!

In honor of the warm weather in Chicago today, Haptic Arts got a makeover. I hope the muse comes to you similarly.

Evening Tweed. Tangible.

Evening Tweed is a graphic design collective. Their designs are really fresh (see image above) and thought provoking (see image below).


The image above is of Ferrofluid, a magnetic liquid.

After adding Evening Tweed to my bookmarks bar, I came upon Tangible in their blog. The description of this book is particularly well-crafted, so I am sharing it here.

The borders between graphic design, illustration, art, interior design, architecture and craftsmanship are becoming increasingly blurred. More than ever before, graphic design is being used as the underlying medium together with multiple practices to manifest creative visions. Following in the footsteps of Hidden Track (2005) and Tactile (2007), Tangible presents further developments from the work of young designers and artists who are experimenting with this multidisciplinary approach and creating outstanding original “tangible” designs.

These designers from different disciplines are choosing to no longer work exclusively in two dimensions, instead dealing intensively with space, materials and physical products. Each chapter in the book features different trends and styles demonstrating various approaches and solutions to this new area of graphic design. Graphics morph into spatial sculptures, the intangible is made visual through handmade craftsmanship, physical experiences, visual environments and staged spatial installations such as art installations, interiors and architecture as well as urban interventions.

The striking visual work in Tangible indicates the rise of graphic-inspired interior designs as artists, graphic designers, typographers and illustrators transform their ideas into shops, restaurants, hotels and fair stand designs (Source).