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To Do Lists
We have too many of them.I need a clear calendar. Testing a new system - To Do Tags: kMind, kEye, kConnect Alphabetically ordered by priority. They're applied to blog posts so there are notes + that sense of urgency. But even though one might be more urgent than the other it might not be more important, just more pressing - something to do sooner. kAction? I don't think it's necessary to identify things in action. We should focus on keeping them in action and finishing them rather than just overly describing the process. End.
NeochaEDGE
NeochaEDGE "is a Shanghai-based creative agency that produces inspiring visual arts and music content with China’s leading creators – the EDGE Creative Collective – for the most forward-thinking brands and agencies in the world." It is also a "web-magazine dedicated to celebrating Chinese creativity." View them: edge.neocha.com
They have a presence in the East Coast USA - Boston.
Leap - Art in China
Leap Magazine (艺术界)The first bi-lingual (Chinese and English) art magazine. It's broken up into three sections "上, 中, and 下 (top, middle and bottom) are differently conceived." Their site is just a splash page - keep an eye on it. http://leapleapleap.com/ Brought to my attention by Benjamin Bacon
Intro by Redbox redbox.studio.cn
"LEAP (艺术界) is a brand-new bilingual magazine covering Chinese contemporary art and culture. In the words of Chief Editor Philip Tinari, it’s “a magazine about art in China, or rather art and China, that aims to do things ever so slightly differently from the dozens of art magazines which have emerged here in Beijing since auction fever began in 2006.”
The first issue was released just in time for the Lunar New Year, and features interviews, profiles, exhibition reviews, and a collaborative look back at the past ten years of Chinese contemporary art from leading figures. But mixed with serious criticism, there’s also a fashion photo-spread entitled “Caochangdi Last Supper,” and comic-like illustrations by Xu Zhen’s MADEIN. With a healthy dose of pop and irreverence, LEAP seems determined to not be just another Chinese contemporary art magazine."
Video preview on Youku Interview with Chief Editor Philip Tinari on 3030
Xpert Financial
A new service with a new model for funding private companies. "A new company has won approval from US regulators to serve as an online exchange for shares in private companies such as Facebook." (Financial Times)
Xpert Financial will be the first electronic exchange with formal approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to deal in private company stock." Letting them bypass traditional venture capital financing." (Financial Times)
I'd like to get an inside look at Xpert, but they are in stealth.
It's great that there are options to traditional models of funding as opposed to venture capital, which is having trouble as a business model. Late last year at a conference, some people were mentioning that venture capitalists would fund a company and push it until an IPO so the VC can gain their principle back plus profit -instead of the VC earning profit from their portfolio company generating revenue. Not everyone feels positive about Xpert or Facebook raising funding.
"Goldman SPV to sell Facebook to "hi net worth clients" at $50bn valuation? What could possibly go wrong? Ponziconomy: back with a bang!" - Umair Haque via Twitter @umairh
"Facebook & Goldman Sachs in a private deal only for the rich to make insiders rich? It doesn't feel right. Google did it much better." Bruce Nussbaum via Twitter @brucenussbaum
Source: See Financial Times for orgional article in it's complete context here.
Approval for Xpert to deal in private company shares, By David Gelles in Charleston, South Carolina Published: January 3 2011 22:03 | Last updated: January 3 2011 22:03 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7a2040f2-1775-11e0-badd-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1A83CqsoJ
Conferences + Events
A list of conferences + events to keep an eye on: Idea Festival http://www.ideafestival.com/ - Louisville, KY TEDxManhattan http://tedxmanhattan.org/ SDN - SDNC11 - SCAD Interaction 11 - in Boulder
If you want to host a TEDxManhattan viewing party for those that won't make it to the actual location let me know. Maybe TEDxManhattan-but-in-Brooklyn. I'm sure there will be a lot of options cropping up, probably some at Parsons, but backups never hurt. See Details for hosting a TEDxManhattan viewing party. And their page on MeetUp
The Critical Gift of Design
Elaine Scarry of
Parsons Event Description:
| NEW YORK, December 14, 2010—A new theory of design has recently emerged that moves design toward more interdisciplinary, humanitarian ends. In the spirit of the holiday season, Parsons The New School for Design and the Köln International School of Design (KISD) will explore what design is capable of giving to the world with The Critical Gift of Design, a conference and exhibition featuring leading international designers and scholars, taking place at The New School December 16-17.
“We understand that design is not a neutral act,” said Joel Towers, executive dean of Parsons. “With the Critical Gift, we are taking a step back to assess how we have used this power throughout history—for better and worse—and how we might apply it in the future to benefit an increasingly complex and global society.” Bringing together design and the social sciences, participants will discuss what makes design attractive or repulsive, humane or inhumane, social or antisocial. The conference will feature a keynote address, “Beauty and the Design of Aliveness,” by Elaine Scarry, the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University. The conference will also be driven by breakout discussion sessions led by participants, includingPaola Antonelli, senior curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art; Ruedi Baur, graphic designer and cofounder of the interdisciplinary network Intégral Concept; Marco Piva, founder of the architecture, interior, and industrial design firm Studiodada Associates; Uta Brandes, professor of gender and design and of design research at KISD; and Jamer Hunt, director of the MFA program in Transdisciplinary Design at Parsons. "Design has gained an importance and a self-consciousness that requires it to be much more critical—against its own stupidities and against inhumane social and political activities," said Michael Erlhoff, founding professor of KISD, who co-organized the conference with Clive Dilnot, professor of Design Studies at Parsons, and Cameron Tonkinwise, associate dean of Sustainability at Parsons. Extending the ideas of the conference is the corresponding exhibition The Present, featuring work by Parsons and KISD students, which will be on display in the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons December 16-19. Through critical product design, subversive videos, satirical stories and controversial projects, The Present will challenge visitors to consider whether design is a gift or a curse. The exhibition will highlight work produced by the first class of students in the MFA Transdisciplinary Design program at Parsons, a collaborative, studio-based program that applies design solutions to complex global problems. |
[singlepic id=388] Notes from the Opening Conference Presentation given by Elaine Scarry: "We have a lot of beautiful objects in the world. Do we need more? Yes. The answer is obviously yes" as more and more continue to pour into this world.
Three Sights of Beauty, one of which is symmetry. -Symmetry in objects is beautiful well known. -Symmetric in justice. -reaction of the perceive to the object of the beauty.
Justice: Justice is alway artefactual, never natural. (or artificial?) beauty contributes to justice with the desire to create more and more in the world. If you bring an object into the room, its beauty effects those in the room. Justice is more expansive (like Apia's concept of cosmopolitan) - it effects people in different locations.
Asymmetry Discrepancy of poor: - widening asymmetries of wealth and increased stratification. She also brought up the increased power of weaponry. I'd like to extend that to other concepts that I have heard about the asymmetry of power. It's not just asymmetry between nation-state and nation-state where one nation-state can destroy many others or the world. That asymmetry also exists on the scope of the individual - one individual can unleash massive damage to a city.
Concepts - -concepts we speak on "fairness" -speaking in the realm of "justice" -infinity, distribution - all terms for plentitude. -radical un-selfing. -Timelag
Crowd questions: "Aren't machine guns and bombs beautiful? As they are symmetrical." How real is symmetry as "our eyes cannot see parallels" so what happens is that "we construct symmetry." (see Crafting Hybrid Design with note on how lines are only abstractions)
Designers + Theorists mentioned: -Charles Rennie Mackintosh -Plato's Phaedrus
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Parsons The New School for Design is one of the most prestigious and comprehensive schools of art and design in the world. It is an integral part of The New School, a research university with a strong legacy in the social sciences. Based in New York, but active around the world, Parsons is committed to creatively and critically addressing the complexities of life in the 21st century. For more information, visit www.newschool.edu/parsons. (Parsons Press Release)
The Köln International School of Design (as part of the University of Applied Sciences Cologne) was founded in 1991 as the first completely transdisciplinary design university. Through projects and seminars, students study all of the teaching and research areas offered by KISD, such as Service Design, Design and Economy, Gender Design, Interface Design, Design and Identity, Design for Manufacturing, and Design Theory. KISD offers a 4-year BA Integrated, a 5-year BA/MA in European Design, and a 2-year research-based MA Integrated. As about 35% of KISD students do not speak German, almost all of the projects, seminars, lectures, and courses are held in English. For more information, visit www.KISD.de. (Parsons Press Release)
Parsons Press Release - http://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2010/criticalgift.htm Info in German - http://www.koeln-nachrichten.de/bildung/hochschule/koeln_kisd_new_york_ausstellung_design_2010_dezember.html
Atlantis - Urbanism of Inclusion
URBAN@PARSONS PRESENTS:
URBANISMS OF INCLUSION: ATLANTIS TRANSATLANTIC EDUCATION PROGRAM
Pecha-kucha presentations followed by a panel discussion with:
Teddy Cruz, Bruno De Meulder, Kelly Shannon, Glenn Smith, Brian McGrath, Miodrag Mitrasinovic
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CITIES, NATURE & URBAN DESIGN: CASES IN BELGIUM AND VIETNAM
Lecture by Bruno De Meulder & Kelly Shannon, KU Leuven University, Belgium
Kellen Auditorium 66 5th Avenue, Sheila Johnson Design Center
Friday December 17, 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 2010
Find more information about the Atlantis Program here.
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[singlepic id=599] My Chunked Notes: Image of stakeholders diagram showing relationships and influence mobilepic 1 patchworks mobilepic 2 social ecological structure
Miodrag Mitrasinovic "These schools got together because we share two things in common. One of which is social inclusion the other of which is design."
3 lenses of design 1. Human centered approach- not top down, not formal But from middle out 2. Process orieted approclav not driven by form or driven by interaction. But driven by socio enivonrmental and political action 3. Nexus of teaching, researh, knowledge and action
"How we can uneaeth new bodies of knowledge and codefiy them across the differnt types of action in the spectrum?"
Threads that went through all of the presentations: -Social inclusion -Designs' capacity to bring about change -Promiscuous areas
[singlepic id=600] Teddy Cruz "The right circle concept of cities is a sociological concept organizing data. Cities are based on permiscuois systems. Like la la didn't have a grand plan." "Designers are schizo by nature." "We can create new social relationships." "Without alterting the very rigid economic policies and political framework." "Design can become a service to rethink the economic policies and political frameworks"
"The science of the city and interieing in the city. The designer can be the one to intervene with the problems in the city. Design can come to a resolution of the conflict that words could no longer don. The power of negotiation through design can create a spatial solution" (But I think that it also provides solutions that are not just spatial). "Design can "do more than talk but [actually] create agency."
Not just "spatial relations and visual representations. But also the ability to is not led by buildings or systems but by the reorganized social systems. Corporations and co-managers of resources. My own cirticq of my own process...we lack the tools. Drawings are limited. What other devices allow us to translate those new roles of entrepreneurship."
Kelly Shannon Relationships of people to their own environment. Space and interactions with space. Translate it so those actions can redefine the tip down legislation. [singlepic id=601] [singlepic id=598]
_________________________________________________________________ addy thoughts: I really appreciate the way architects organize their work.
Feedback Map
Enhanced Elements for Sensory DesignPeople have a "rapid way in which they move through daily life routines, electronic media provide resources for self-imaging." (Appadurai)
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additonal: As a map it is now both an input and output source.
Sources: Modernity at Large, Cultural Dimensions of Globalization, Arjun Appadurai, Chapter 1 - Global Flows, page 3-4
Fightonomics - Documenting Play
Goal: Research and document the most important aspects of play from its inception to its completion. I aimed to understand the core mechanics well enough to apply it to another domain.I actually documented a game within a game. That would be the gambling (the second game layer) on top of the sports match (the first game layer).
[singlepic id=337] [singlepic id=338] [singlepic id=339] [singlepic id=340] [nggallery id=24] Sources: Photos - of the television screen while watching pay-per-view Fall, 2009