In short, composing an assemblage involves thinking and writing with your entire “three-dimensional” or “360°” perspective: personal / autobio.; career/discipline; community; entertainment / culture. (prompt: Try specifying and noticing which dimension emerges most prominent in your thinking and writing at first, through your entries.)

— “Praxis” (10-Jan entry)

 
 
“Assemblage Expression” Final Project

 
» Due:               Sat 24-Apr (11pm deadline)

» update:         Reflection page can be posted on Sunday (if necessary; penalty-free)

 
 
“Resource Directory”

• Assignment Page (updated)
   

• Tech Support (layout guide)
   

• Blog Discussion (new comments, useful to review)
   

• Strongly suggest reviewing all instructions and criteria.
  Deadline for email, to guarantee reply in time to revise/apply: Sat 24-Apr 6 pm.

 
 
Vaka (live)
 
 

 
 
M 15-Feb read: Strickland & Lawson: Slipping Glimpse

Presentations: Groups 1 & 2
— review Presentation Page
Collaborate online in advance, preparing specific points for class (required)
 
— review Project 1 page

 
W 17-Feb read: Strickland & Lawson: Vniverse

Presentations: Groups 3 & 4
 
Weekly Blog Entry: optional / extra credit
» suggest: entry about Strickland (as relay); or Exercise: “Micro Scenes” (p.92)

 
 
R 18-Feb “Studio”: Workshop (praxis, “tech-support”)—Project 1

» Due: (before class) Workshop Prep.

 
 
F 19-Feb “Studio”: Composition Work (independent)

Note: necessary to show progress (“in progress”) this afternoon,
in place of today’s class (otherwise, no Att/Part. credit).

S 20-Feb          » Due:  Project 1

update: (posted by/on “Saturday night” — no deadline time now,
but I will check pages on Sunday morning.)
 
— deadline for email to guarantee reply: 8pm
(I will certainly read and try to reply afterward;
definitely send any “emergency notifications” regardless.)

• preview/test image software (any of these free, web-based programs):
  Pixlr; Phoenix; or Photoshop (requires registration);
  optional (less dynamic):
  Picknik (collage); Wordle (text clouds; two key tricks here)

   

• review assignment (including updates after Wednesday class)
   

• Finish collaborating with group, online discussion (for continued participation/presentation credit) — especially about Relay lesson/rationale and pending questions.
   

• Post a new blog entry with
  • at least one question (conceptual or formal) — including request for specific technical instruction in Studio Workshop;

  • tentative topic for Part I, and whether “discovery” or “founding invention”; also, qualify how part of Career dimension, if necessary (e.g. related/general field, to which your career relates; this is flexible, but rationale is important);
    — with provisional idea for sources (both scholarly and otherwise).

   
   

• Update blog:
  • Create new Project page (with 3 sub-pages)
     

  • Fix blog layout/org. formatting, if necess.
    (e.g. Pages: Inventory, Project 1; Entry Categories: Weekly, Exercise, other, etc.)
     

  • Attempt any design techniques you’ve not tried thus far, in a test entry or page:
    • Embedding media: Image, Audio, Video (from Web)

    • Uploading from cpu. (to Media Library or Page/Post)
    • Formatting an entry, including text styles, links, Lists, and Blockquote
      (these have buttons in toolbar)
    • Making an image a hyperlink (“Insert” command);
       

      ---

       

    • Formatting an entry in HTML view (cf. Webmonkey):
      e.g. < HR > (horizontal line, like ^that^);
      centering lines of text,
      embedding objects (like Google Map);
      creating a Table to arrange/display mixed media (see below).
      Webmonkey Table basics

     

  • » note: all of this constitutes attending Thursday’s class with adequate preparation (Att./Part. credit); I will gladly demonstrate how to design or fix something (within limits of assignment scope and free Wordpress account features), as long as you have attempted already (e.g. embedding and resizing images) and posted a question for “tech support.”

   

  Technical Instructions(from Wordpress):
  • Embedding Images

  • Video Instructions (for YouTube; cf. Google, Vimeo, etc. on page)
  • Adding Audio Instructions
  • Google Maps

   
   
   

  ---

  ---

   
  

  a table layout allows better formatting of text and images…           without needing to make an image in photoshop, which you’d hav to edit everytime means editing & uploading for each change.
  	You’ve already seen several examples on this blog so far

  
   
   
  ]]> http://garyhink.net/course/S10/2010/02/praxis-invent/feed/ 7 http://garyhink.net/course/S10/2010/02/threadwork/ http://garyhink.net/course/S10/2010/02/threadwork/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:53:01 +0000 Gary Hink http://garyhink.net/course/S10/?p=540  
  

   
  Bordando el Manto Terrestre by Remedios Varo (1961)
  (“Embroidering the Earth’s Mantle,” center of triptych here)

   
  
   

  book we passed around, which I’d “randomly” grabbed from my office: Lines of Flight: Discursive Time and Countercultural Desire in the Work of Thomas Pynchon. As we’re not reading Pynchon this term, I’ll postpone the anecdote about his mystory in relation to his novels; more evocative today is the painting on Mattessich’s cover — which is (seemingly) a minor & early reference in Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49. In the narrative, the heroine (Oedipa) identifies in a moment of great sadness — Punctum? — with the seamstresses trapped in the tower, who are sewing the material that comprises the land & seas , the “tapestry” of the earth…

   

   

  • Relay: we parallel “structural role” of Oedipa, in her engaging with art — feeling as though “I’m charged with making something…?” (rather than “I’ll buy/wear that knitted product!”) Keep in mind responsibility inherent in our method…

     

  • Analogy: recall/review Ulmer’s discussion and theoretical musings on making felt (pp.35-6), as a new understanding of “text.” ThreadWork (embroidering / knitting / quilting) works in this same “category” of our experiment — especially to remind us about our recent examinations of
    process, material objects (materiality), and Family dimension
     
    (I’ve added this last part from my popcycle — as my mom has knit a few items after being taught by her grandmother — with the hypothesis that folks’ ancestors might have made quilts in the 19th century. Although this could also shift into the Historical/Disciplinary or Cultural/Myth dimensions for another project.)

     

  • Contrast: Narrative “threads” are rarely “sewn up” neatly or nicely in life experiences, unlike the dominant conventions of popular culture (Victorian novel → Hollywood Screenplay → TV dramas → ?).
    Consequently, we will not try to “smooth out” the seams (seems, or semes); nor will we disregard the “needle” (analogy = instrument for composition?) and time/stages. (more on this later)
    More important, we’ll want to recognize the many threads “running” (?) throughout our entire popcycle, if not within every dimension — attentive (“attuned”) to which emerge prominent or secondary/complementary, whether continuous or fragmentary…

   
   
   

  • Theory: This book and image provoked my thinking about sewing with a connection to Deleuze & Guattari — rather than painted triptychs (another mini-lecture postponed, Deleuze & painting).
     

  • Ulmer references these theorists in the “felt-making” discussion (which I’d forgotten until reviewing now!); he poses a crucial question for the method and project: “is felt homogeneous or not?” (p.36).
    This issue directly concerns, with great import, the concept of “choral category” in chapter 4 — whether one mood/voice can emerge prominent (yes, Stimmung), without our disregarding all of the associations (as Literate Mode would insist).
     
    — crucial lesson: “A choral category gathers and holds heterogeneous information in place by means of a shared mood or atmosphere. The widesite is our personal chora, showing the winnowing system of our identity that sorts the world of our experience into a pattern of coherence” (Ulmer, 101).
     
     

  • Deleuze (sometimes with Guattari) is the premier philosopher of heterogeneity and experience; in the same discussion of felt and fabric that Ulmer quotes, they theorize patchwork against the territorial space (structure/domination) of embroidery — as in Varo’s painting.
     
    “Patchwork, for its part, may display equivalents to themes, symmetries, and resonance that approximate it to embroidery.
    But the fact remains that its space is not at all constituted in the same way: there is no center; its basic motif (“block”) is composed of a single element; the recurrence of this element frees uniquely rhythmic values distinct from the harmonies of embroidery (in particular, in “crazy” patchwork, which fits together pieces of varying size, shape, and color, and plays on the texture of the fabrics).
    “She had been working on it for fifteen years, carrying about with her a shapeless bag of dingy, threadbare brocade containing odds and ends of colored fabric in all possible shapes. She could never bring herself to trim them to any pattern; so she shifted and fitted and mused and fitted and shifted them like pieces of a patient puzzle-picture, trying to fit them to a pattern or create a pattern out of them without using her scissors, smoothing her colored scraps with flaccid, putty-colored fingers.” [— William Faulkner, Sartoris (1956); quoted in Deleuze & Guattari.]

     
    An amorphous collection of juxtaposed pieces that can be joined together in an infinite number of ways: we see that patchwork is literally a Riemannian space, or vice versa.” (476, A Thousand Plateaus)

    “The smooth space of patchwork is adequate to demonstrate that “smooth” does not mean homogeneous, quite the contrary: it is an amorphous, nonformal space prefiguring op[tical] art.” (477)

     

  • lesson for praxis (project composition): assemblage is comprised of heterogeneous elements, with an emergent mood-tone (tune) of Stimmung — potentially, resonance among/between the elements, understood (produced?) through my emblem (discovered by mapping the popcycle).
    More about resonance and assemblage later in the experiment;
    but now, we see the vital role of chora for discovery/invention.

   
   

  ]]> http://garyhink.net/course/S10/2010/02/threadwork/feed/ 1 http://garyhink.net/course/S10/2010/01/chora/ http://garyhink.net/course/S10/2010/01/chora/#comments Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:22:48 +0000 Gary Hink http://garyhink.net/course/S10/?p=326
  Note: “Inventory” Page created and updated (notes through week 3 for each item)

 
M 01-Feb Internet Invention Chapter 4 (96-122): “Cosmogram”
» reading tip: closely review “Comment,” “Remake,” & “Office” sections.

Also read / view: Chemical Landscapes Digital Tales by Falco & Pinto (relay)
 
Digital Ulmer? (new media relays) optional — view time permitting
• Relay (Chora-mapping p.114):     Not Found by Christophe Bruchansky
• “Remake” (p.115):                     Cruising by Ankerson and Sapnar
• Relay (ficelle p.119):                   Strings by Dan Waber
• Synthesis relay?                   — Career mem(e)blem? (p. 104)

 
 
W 03-Feb Read: Like Stars in a Clear Night Sky (Sharif Ezzat) & The Cape (J.R. Carpenter)

Also view (before class): Sigur Rós Heima (U.K.) & Hvarf-Heim (U.S.)     — Relay?

 
» blogging tip: Prompts — “Cosmogram” (109), “Mapping Home” (110), “Vernacular Genres” (113)

 
R 04-Feb Screening:

My Winnipeg (Dir. Maddin, 2007; 80 mins.) & Sigur Ros—Heima (Dir. DeBlois, 2007) (clips)

 
 
F 05-Feb Due: Exercise 2 (“Memory Glimpse” & “Mapping Popcycle”) Notes & Design Tips below.

Note: work independently (not meeting)

Personal Sacred

Cosmogram

Memory Palace

Domestic Altars

Mapping the Popcycle

 
 
 

---

 

‘Hvarf’ (say “kvarf”) means “disappeared”, which is what almost happened to this material… It also means “haven”, which kind of links it to the concept of ‘Heim’…	‘Heim’ means “home.”
Relay?
Ásbyrgi — “hoofprint of Odin’s horse, Sleipnir“

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

---

 
 
 
Exercise 2

Due: 05-Feb (posted on blog by 6pm); 500 words min.; 10 points

— Note: total word count; both prompts required (1 or 2 entries).

 
Part I: “Memory Glimpse” ( see prompt p. 90; 200 words? suggest: less than half of total response)

— Note: compose as a scene, with any method of description (including narration, but not necessarily; consider perspective…). Contemplate the prompt Qs before responding, and be sure to include; yet, should not identify the two categories plainly / separately (as in literate mode). e.g. scene description, then atmosphere, then concrete details.
Rather, apply the connection of chora and Stimmung into practice: describe mood as expressed by particular features, figures, images within the scene.

 
 
Part II: “Mapping the Popcycle” ( see prompt p. 114; ~300 words plus image)
 

• — Note 1: connection to Part I is optional; need not artificially configure either response to suit the other. (In fact, early memory scene might not have even occurred in hometown; likewise, “hometown” is flexible, defined more by location of one’s “formative years,” ~grades 4-12?)

 

• — Note 2: Follow the prompt closely; exercise is not to document which locations you recall best or feature most prominently in memory, for example. As we are focusing on the Family and Career/Discipline parts of the Popcycle, responses should describe interpellation by and one’s engagement with these dimensions (last instruction in prompt, with emphasis on the “how” — consider this thoroughly in order to reply thoughtfully). More on this if necessary, if I receive Qs on this point…
   

• — Note 3: Hometown Image (required)
   
  — reminder from Ulmer (personal anecdote): effectiveness not measured by “how slick” the output looks; indeed, valuable time could be wasted toward this end, neglecting the crucial aspects of the prompt (and “exercise” in terms of one’s learning).
  His mapping the key locations (in his MyStory) is most significant in example, not the aesthetic quality: Miles City, 1962.

   
  — With this in mind, images can be schematic (prompt for “diagram”); even more abstract/impressionistic if one likes; and less concerned with “accuracy”
  (Realism = Literate = contrast) than chora.
  — consider different types of maps, such as Census, Transportation/Routes, District/Zoning (e.g. Municipal types, Schools, Voter); obviously, relative to your Popcycle and location
  (e.g. one school district in my town, so not a salient choice; might seek beach topography though…).
   
  — optional, not required to create/customize one like Not Found, using Bing or Google.
  Then, embed the map in your Exercise post:

  in GMaps, click Link –> customize and preview –> copy entire code in text field –> paste in your blog entry in HTML view of Post editor.

   
  Google Tutorial
  

   
   
   
  — perhaps better than embedding an interactive map is adding a custom image you’ve created.
  (assuming you have some program of the “Paint/Brush” variety to customize images;
  if not, or alternatively, Pixlr; also, free but windows-only Paint.NET.)
   

  • If the map is an image, just save/open it in your software; or open from the Web using Pixlr
     

  • If you need a “screenshot” (likely) to manipulate:
    • Mac OS X — “Grab” application; save image to desktop; open this file in Paintbrush.

    • Vista & Windows 7 — “Snipping Tool” application; save image, open in Paint.
    • Fastest (but least efficient and customizable): capture entire screen to Clipboard, paste into program. Mac: (simultaneously) Command+Shift+4; Win: “PrtScn” button.
       

    • Web-based screenshot tool (recommended): Pixlr Grabber Firefox Plugin.
      (capture, open to edit in Pixlr, or save to desktop; adds many image-editing functions to your browser)

     

  • Finally, upload to your blog — “Upload/Insert” command in Edit Post view or Media Library (recommended for managing multiple images)

   
   
   

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