"esh" pronoun

Inthecomplex is picking up a project that member Sandra Sitron began working on in 2002, the integration of a gender neutral pronoun into the English language. The new pronoun is "esh". For information on usage and history go to www.esh-pronoun.blogspot.com. Inthecomplex's first "esh" event will take place September 10th, 2009 at the Rauman Kaupunginkirjasto in Rauma, Finland.

Inthecomplex is especially interested in the Finnish response to the new pronoun as Finnish language does not use gendered pronouns.  Promotional materials will be distributed and questions will be answered. 

Rauman Kaupunginkirjasto

(Rauma Library)

Alfredinkatu 1

Rauma, Finland

September 10, 2009

15:00-18:00

GPS drawing

ALL from NYT article by MALIA WOLLAN

"Part sport, part art, GPS drawing lets runners, walkers, cyclists and hikers imagine themselves anew, mapping their track lines across cities, roads and farms, and sharing them online"

at bottom: Mr. Montelongo's GPS drawing of a character in Atari 2600 “Pitfall!” game on a Google Earth map

Ron Eglash + African Fractals

"Ron Eglash is an ethno-mathematician: he studies the way math and cultures intersect. He has shown that many aspects of African design -- in architecture, art, even hair braiding -- are based on perfect fractal patterns."

Remote Satellite Imagery of Forest Cover

These satellite images (each 50x50 km) include one in European Russia, one in east Siberia and two in the Russian Far East.  The Sikhote-Alin image (upper left) shows fire scars (light blue) and logging roads in the Primorsky Kray (RFE).  The Previdinsk image (upper right) shows intense clear-cutting of only Spruce/Fir forest (dark red) region in central Siberia.  The Vanimo image (middle-left) shows intense clearcutting of coniferous forests (light blue).  The Lesino image (above) shows encroachment by the city of St. Petersburg, clearings for agriculture, and bogs (brown).

My friend Karen Schleeweiss has spent the last few years studying remote satellite imagery of forest cover while working toward her doctorate in Geography at University of Maryland, College Park. Dialogue with her has sparked my interest in new technologies in mapping.

Continuing with the themes of mapping and geography, my new co-residents at MoKs, Kaspar Wimberley and Susanne Kudielka, have clued me in on a psychogeography fesitval that's happening in New York City this September called Conflux.  Taken from the website: "Conflux is the annual New York festival for contemporary psychogeography, the investigation of everyday urban life through emerging artistic, technological and social practice." Incidentally the deadline is extended to August 15.

-Sandy

Data is Nature blog- by "Paul"

My (L) new favorite blog. I keep wanting to repost everything from this blog because the projects are so fascinating, but I won't, that is pointless. . .  take a long look yourself. And at the author's own work.

dataisnature.com

Survival Skills

INTHECOMPLEX will begin work next month in residence at Raumars in Rauma, Finland.  We will collaborate with two groups of elementary school children.  The project will encompass a range of media culminating with a video.  The work will investigate future evolutionary options for plants and animals through the creation of new environments, new sounds, and new bodies. One group of students will create the environments, and the other group will create the reactions. The work will be edited and mediated by INTHECOMPLEX members in New York and Finland. The project will be completed September 2009.

Rhizome

Went to great performances at benefit for Rhizome.org last night the the NEWmuseum. Artist Kevin Bewersdorf performed (interview here) as well as musicians Tanlines and Glasser. The 'meat tower' catering was an interesting touch!

Oblique Strategies Deck

The Oblique strategies is a deck of cards created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. The original deck, created in 1975 has been followed by many subsequent variations. Each card contains a phrase or cryptic remark which can be used to break a deadlock or dilemma situation. I first read about these decks on Designer Stefan Sagmeister's website- as a creativity tool in the advice section to students. Above is a photo of the 5th edition set.

Eno says in an interview with Charles Amirkhanian about the cards (Berkeley 1980):

The function of the Oblique Strategies was, initially, to serve as a series of prompts which said, "Don't forget that you could adopt *this* attitude," or "Don't forget you could adopt *that* attitude."

Dig IT! at the Smithsonian

Dig It! The Secrets of Soil is an exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History on view from July 19 2008 – the corresponding website has copious interactive tools and links. 

Above is one of the many charts from the website- showing 8 of the 12 basic types of soil orders. 

(Soil orders reflect the environment in which they form, their age, and the ecosystems they support. Some soil scientists also propose to name a thirteenth order. Anthrosols would include soils formed or influenced by human activities. Scientists outside the United States use many other soil-naming systems.)

Driessens & Verstappen

Driessens & Verstappen is an Amsterdam based artist couple. 

Their research focuses on the expressive possibilities that physical, chemical and computer algorithms can offer for the development of generative processes. 

'Fulgurite Endoscopy' 

The above machine is part of an installation the group made. A fulgurite (buy your own here) is a tubelike formation in sand or rock, caused by lightning. The immense heat in the core of the beam makes the sand vaporize, and a beautifully glazed inner surface remains. A machine is developed to observe these inner structures of fulgurites. The objects, mounted on an XY table can be viewed through an endoscope.

'Morphotheque # 9'

Wild potatoes have relatively large diversity of form. Form characteristics are in part genetically determined, but environmental factors (climate and soil structure) influence the ultimate form at least as strongly. The industrial potato has become rather uniform due to Man’s continual selection and cultivation regarding form. That is also the intention, for peeling irregular potatoes is impractical and even more important: it is very uneconomical. Potatoes for consumption are reproduced via clones to ensure product characteristics remain constant. In the northern European industrial agriculture there are strict checks on the growth quality of the seed-potatoes. The soil structure is also maintained as homogeneously as possible and artificial fertiliser ensures sufficient nutrients. In spite of that control, some tubers or roots do escape this imposed uniformity. These amusing and suggestive forms stimulate our imagination. Because these differently formed products do not meet standards, they cannot be sold to consumers, and we are therefore never allowed to see these variants in form. If by accident this does in fact happen, then they are associated with pathological deviation, disease, degeneration and ugliness. A farmer selling carrots and potatoes at an Amsterdam market experienced this as provocation when we asked him if he could put the irregular, strangely formed variants aside for us: "How can you even think that I would grow inferior and malformed products!" Normally speaking, these deviant growths disappear into potato starch or they serve as cattle fodder. Sorting takes place in large distribution centres and on location, we made a selection out of a great number of rejected products, representing the variety and diversity in form within the species. We thought it was important to record the forms in their three-dimensionality, and not only by means of photography. For this reason a copy was made of each form in a durable material and it was then painted with acrylic paint so that the colour impressions would also match the original. In Morphotheque #9, one of the carrots stands out immediately. Here it is the straight form that is different, and in fact it is the only carrot from the supermarket.

Local River

Mathieu Lehanneur created 'Local River' home storage unit for fish and greens. Anticipating the growing needs and influence of locavores (a group of culinary adventurers who eat foods produced within a radius of 100 miles) 

Click on his name to see more of his fascinating and inspiring projects.

Paracelsus

a depiction of the alchemist Paracelsus