You Can't Tell Your USB from a Hole in the Wall

You Can't Tell Your USB from a Hole in the Wall: "

Aram Bartholl is mortaring USB drives into walls, curbs, and buildings around New York. These dead drops, as he terms them, are peer-to-peer file transfer points with true anonymity. Bartholl has a residency with EYEBEAM, a truly fascinating incubator of and studio for new ideas in technology and art.

The project has five initial locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, with more to come. Bartholl has posted a photo gallery of the installations, too.

The furtiveness of squeezing your laptop or mobile against a wall is rather intimate--these may be dead drops, but they're also data glory holes. And one more thing, too. The concept pricked at my memory, until I remembered the Finn from William Gibson's Neuromancer universe. In Mona Lisa Overdrive, the Finn has lost his corporeal form, but Molly seeks out his advice in a disreputable alley.

A tight beam of very bright light...descended until it found the thing at the base of the wall, dull metal, an upright rounded fixture that Kumiko mistook for another ventilator...

Sally stepped forward, the beam held steady, and Kimiko saw that the armored thing was bolted into the brickwork with massive rivets. 'Finn?'...

'Moll.' A grating quality, as if through a broken speaker. 'What's with the flash?'

Image by Aram Bartholl via Creative Commons.


"

Portrait of a Boy with a Long Beard

Portrait of a Boy with a Long Beard: "Flying eyeballs. Pissed-off bearded ladies. Mummy Jesus. The Wolfman. The lactation of St. Bernard. The Jesus & Mary UFO invasion.* And the Phineas Gage of 1550.



These and more at the gallery of unexpected motifs in Renaissance art. [old-school NSFW]

from Metafilter.

Maggot paintings used to interest kids in forensic entomology

Maggot paintings used to interest kids in forensic entomology: "


Steve Silberman sez, 'A forensic entomologist -- who calculates the time of death in murder cases by studying the presence of insects and larvae near (or in) the corpse -- uses maggot 'paintings' to get kids interested in science. 'I stay away from talking about murder with elementary school children,' says Erin Watson, 'but there's still something for them to learn.''

Maggot art is made by gently dropping the larvae into blobs of non-toxic, water-based paint. As the maggots crawl across paper using their hook-like mouths, they drag streams of paint behind them creating what Watson calls 'Maggot Monets.' After a little coercion, children become enthralled with the project, says Watson, which has caused throngs of eager youngsters to crowd around her table at past exhibits.

Maggot Monets
From boing boing
"

quintessential quotes

quintessential quotes: "

A work of art is finished, from the point of view of the artist, when feeling and perception have resulted in a spiritual synthesis.

Hans Hofmann

"

Benoit Mandelbrot, RIP

Benoit Mandelbrot, RIP: "

Nothing in the news media yet, but many folks on Twitter and colleague Nassim Taleb are reporting that the father of fractal geometry is dead at age 85. We're not there yet, but someday Mandelbrot's name will be mentioned in the same breath as Einstein's as a genius who fundamentally shifted our perception of how the world works.

Tags: Benoit Mandelbrot fractals mathematics obituaries"

What’s Your Boomerang?

What’s Your Boomerang?: "

Think about that thing you keep coming back to, no matter how hard you try to suppress it.

It could be writing. It could be painting. It could be coming up with funny one-liners. It could be a particular skill or perspective that we picked up during a formative period of our development that really frames how we operate in the world.

I call these things boomerangs. No matter how hard you try to throw them away, they keep coming back. They creep up in your thoughts when you let your guard down or you find yourself doing them when you’re in the flow. You suppress them one year to have a manifestation of it come up three years later.

Some people spend their entire lives running from their boomerang. This is especially true when accepting your boomerang makes you a weirdo.

Try as hard as you might, you will never be able to get away from your boomerang – it’s a part of who you are. Running from yourself is an exercise in futility because wherever you are, there’ll you’ll be.

Once people accept and lean into their boomerang, they start thriving. Great companies are built on boomerangs. Great careers are built when people use their boomerang rather than continually try to get away from it.

Not only do people become happier when they accept their boomerang, their lives become a lot easier. All of the energy they spent trying to throw and run from their boomerang can now be leveraged in their lives. Time, energy, and attention are finite, and, really, how much of your precious resources do you want to spend avoiding the thing that will help you come alive?

Dig deep for these questions:

• What’s your boomerang? You already know – you just need to name it.


• Are you allowing yourself to use it or are you resisting it?


• If you’re resisting it: what if you could be happier being yourself and accepting your gift rather than struggling without it? (You’re not in high school anymore.)

When it hits you this time, it might have a little additional force. I take full responsibility and I’m not sorry. I want you to flourish, even if I need to nudge you out of your own way.

If you liked this post, you might like these, too:

1. When Will You Let Go? It’s sometimes hard to let go of what you’ve built,...


2. Don’t Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth Ever heard the saying, “Don’t look a gift horse in...


3. There Will Always Be Challenges I was walking with my mom up to Sherrard Point...

"

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Artists

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Artists: "

In the early 1990’s Steven Covey wrote a book entitled “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” which became a huge best seller and still sells well today. It was a book that provided a holistic and a principled approach for problem solving, living and adapting to change by seeing opportunities rather than problems.

I believe that there are also seven habits which artists should follow to become highly effective and successful. And, though I am detailing only seven, I am sure that the readers of this article can contribute other successful “habits” as well.

The seven habits of highly effective and successful artists are:

1. Being passionate about your art

Foremost, the artist must have a passion for their art and everything that is associated with being an artist. Why? Because there will always be barriers to being an artist. . . but, if you are passionate about what you do, these issues will be perceived as challenges or detours to success, rather than “problems” that halt your progress.

2. Staying focused despite distractions

A successful artist will not be distracted from their art and their commitment to achieving their goals. To be successful at most things requires a focus and a “singleness of purpose” and art is no different. Successful artists are focused, and their art is a priority in their lives.

3. Having a specific vision of your success

Artists who are successful have a vision and see themselves achieving great things in their chosen profession. Despite any roadblocks, problems or defeats, their vision kept them working towards their goal. Then, after achieving a goal, a successful artist will create new goals and a new vision to work toward.

4. Being persistent in the face of adversity

Most people face adversity and quit. People who get past the adversity do so because they persist towards their goal. Persistence is the difference between a successful artist and an artist who quits.

5. Choosing professionalism in all dealings

A successful artist is a professional in all of their dealings with the public, gallery owners, art reps and suppliers. It is as simple as that. If an artist is not professional, then no matter their talent, they won’t be successful for very long.

6. Open to maximizing all opportunities

A successful artist is ready to leverage any and all opportunities that come their way. Whether that opportunity is to fill in quickly for another artist at a gallery, give an interview, write an article for a blog or give a speech to a group, a successful artist sees that as a chance to network, promote their art and build their brand.

Unsuccessful artists see those opportunities very differently—as situations that interrupt what they were doing! But any artist who is engaged and ready to capitalize on those opportunities will get a LOT back in return.

7. Willing to view art as a business

Successful artists see themselves as business people. They understand that other people who they are connected with in the art world are also business people and they conduct themselves in that manner too. Now more than ever in today’s marketplace art is a business. Art is a competitive business and an artist will learn how to successfully operate it as such or they will eventually fail.

As I said previously, there are other habits and traits of successful artists beyond what I have outlined above. But I truly believe that if an artist is talented and applies these 7 habits to their craft, they will be successful.

For more articles from John R. Math, please visit ArtMarketingStrategy.com.

"