Unofficial Manifesto

I must say that this is a pretty deep handout. It makes you think more about the quality of art and goes into detail about how public art is more than just a display of one's emotions and/or feelings of what they think out of life.
My two favorites are number 11 and 14.
No. 11 speaks that art isn't something you'll see and then shouldn't be concerned about due to the fact that it won't be there again. "Art is always worth worrying about." I believe that quote is true because it takes a lot of work and thought behind one's piece to display the message they are trying to get out into the audience. If the viewer sees your piece as nothing but an everyday thing, then it's like no one cares for what you put your heart and soul into. No one really gives a damn about what it is you are putting out there for them to see.

No. 14 is speaking of the quality of one's public art.
"Quality may mean many things in many different contexts, but it certainly means something in the end: you should be willing to fight for it."
I love that quote to the max because it's simply saying that regardless of what it is, if it means something to you then you should do what you can to stand up and fight for it; whether it's an item, a piece of land, a belief, a thought, anything. People may not see the value or quality of it but it doesn't matter on their part. The important thing is how much it matters to you. So regardless of what others will think, still fight for what it is you are after and succeed no matter what.

Keep Me in Your Memories...

Memories…

so fragile to the point where they can make you or break you. I’ve heard many things come from different people. A lot of them were happy or random, very few were sad and/or tragic. Perhaps people never wish to discuss such painful thoughts of the past. Then again, who would?

At the very first thought of me collecting memories I was happy to no ends. For one, I had finally found something to collect. Two, this was something I would enjoy collecting. Anyway, the memories were collected from people online, as well as people around me. I had wanted to have most the work hand-written to make it more realistic as I post them on the bulletin board but typed was fine as well. The board itself was 24” X 36” and would have been presented on a wall in a gallery at eye level for the viewer to be able to walk up to it and read all the memories displayed. I would also have a small table with a stack of paper, note cards, or sticky notes where they can also write something they remember and add to the collection. This would be an experience the viewer would have as being apart of an art piece for at least one moment in time. Also, if they did not wish to write something, I would have an old-fashion Polaroid camera that they can take a picture of themselves and post the picture onto the board. Why not a digital camera? To make it more like an old photo album you would find in the back of a closet as you are cleaning it out one day.

I had it where the ones that weren’t handwritten by the person themselves, I had typed up and posted it onto the board. The names at the end of each one were real or made up by how I know the person. Each index card was 3” x 5”. Each colorful post-it sticky was 3 7/8” x 5 7/8”. And the typed paper varied in sized depending on the length of the memory. They were posted on there by push pins and perhaps taped to make it just a bit messy in a sense. I want this to appear like an office board where everyone has posted work wherever there was a space possible. This reminds me of the boards I’ve seen around campus with different advertising on them in different angles, directions, and even stacked one over the other.

Why Assigned this Project

Why have we been assigned something like this? At first i would suggest it would be because it was required for us to do. But after all the many projects, the speakers, and the many artists we've seen, i realized that it's more than just a simple project. It's a way for us to tie together all the elements we've learned so far and how to present them in a more meaningful fashion that would go well with our piece.
To me this final project is a way to see how far we've come as artists and how much we will put more thought into how we wish for things to be done the next time we work on something. It's like putting your skills to the test in a sense. Then again, it may not be Ms. Malena's intentions at all.
She may just wish to see what ideas we can come up with in the end of the semester after so many others have been done.
Either way i see a benefit to this piece for it's as if we are collecting something that matters to us the most. And/or something that could have a symbolic meaning in our lives.

5/2/08 Collecting

Woo! Meh b-day! Today was..well...interesting. Trying to collect memories from people was a lot more difficult than i thought. Everyone mostly responded "uhh...." "well...." or "i don't remember anything". Eh... i suppose it was because i asked them on the spot. However giving them a bit more time they was able to come up with something. However it wasn't a variety of things. Most of them were random memories which i don't mind at all, just wishing i could get more.
I decided to do it as a bulletin board posting. I was going to do a video but why do that and make it technical? I want this to be somewhat old-fashion in a sense and make it more of the past instead of present. ^_^