Updates from Christa Forster Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Christa Forster 10:49 on 13/10/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    “Local, Supportive Community (Like This One)” 

    I appreciate what Michael is up to with his paper for the Art Historians of Southern California, arguing for “Hacking the Timeline” in order to widen the scope of women artists’ role in art history. And I also appreciate what Kate Johnson is doing in this mode as well with her documentary, “A Dancer’s Journey,” which will air November 20 in LA on PBS and nationwide on PBS in 2015 (schedule to come).  One of the concrete things I learned while working on my recent performance “What’s on [My] Mind?” is how hard we have to fight for our story to make it into “History.” And it IS a fight — often, frankly, a war — that determines whose names will be remembered by the generations to follow.
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    • Christa Forster 10:52 on 13/10/2014 Permalink | Reply

      When I say God’s job, I really mean the job of gods

    • Vanessa Blaylock 11:21 on 13/10/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Awesome Xta! I sadly can’t remember the author who said this, but here it is:

      Men write about important things, like war; women write about unimportant things, like family.

  • Christa Forster 20:49 on 06/09/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Book Machine Houston 

    I’m gonna be taking “What’s on [My] Mind?” to Book Machine Houston tomorrow — Sunday, September 7, 2014. I’ve got 3.5 hours with a graphic designer to make an artist’s book. Drinking fake wine and getting my shit together!

    Trying to represent the breadth of what it was. We’ll see how I do.

    http://www.blafferartmuseum.org/book-machine-houston-texas-contemporary/

    Screen Shot 2014-09-06 at 10.47.38 PM

     

    • Ciara 00:06 on 07/09/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Christa, this sounds fantastic! Good luck and have fun working with the designer:-)

      • Vanessa Blaylock 05:52 on 07/09/2014 Permalink | Reply

        Oooh, this does sound fantastic! You’ll be staying for the discussion after?

        The Book will be a glorious tactile experience. I’m also interested in this new “World Wide Web” thing I’ve been hearing about. I wonder if they’d give you files so you could put some or all of your book online?

        I’ve been wondering a lot (without much progress) about how to create more immersive experiences in cyberspace: Books, Narrative Storytelling, yes, Cornel Boxes, etc.

        Cyberspace has more serendipity than just about anything in human history. Its unboundedness lets you create your own adventures, but it makes it hard to craft anything for others to experience. When you have a Book be it a book with words or images, on paper or eReader, it seems to be an agreement between artist and reader to spend some chunk of time, large or small, focused on a specific story or experience, narrative or game.

        See what a nice job I did of making your project about meeee! haha. Anyway, have a great time, I’m sure we’re all excited to see what results! 😀

    • Vanessa Blaylock 06:26 on 07/09/2014 Permalink | Reply

    • Christa Forster 08:01 on 07/09/2014 Permalink | Reply

      LOL. So true, Ikea!! Funny.

      Van, you say “Cyberspace has more serendipity than just about anything in human history. Its unboundedness lets you create your own adventures, but it makes it hard to craft anything for others to experience.”

      William Blake, also speaking of boundaries, says “The want of a determinate and bounding form evidences the want of idea in the artist’s mind.” I wonder how Blake’s idea speaks to the artists crafting in cyberspace?

      What intrigues me about performance is that while it does have a “determinate and bounding form,” that form is temporal, by nature diffused in the audience’s and the creator’s imaginations.

      Blake championed what he called Eternal Truth, which was visible through these determinate and bounding forms. Most of his contemporaries’ work appealed to the senses rather than the intellect, resulting in mere “blurs and blots,” as he said.

      I think your active searching to figure out how to “bound” something in the “unboundedness” of cyberspace, Van, is awesome, an odyssey toward what Blake would have called an Eternal Truth. The irony is that the serendipity that you mention is transitory, but it’s within this bizarre space where supposedly nothing every disappears (the www). How does this condition affect the imagination? individual and cultural?

      IDK!!

  • Christa Forster 11:11 on 14/07/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Mixed Berry Shake Hangout (unofficial) Minutes 

    Vanessa
    Kate and Michael
    Photos from today’s Mixed Berry Shake Hangout.  In virtual attendance: Ciara Finnegan, Christa Forster, Michael Masucci, Kate Johnson, Vanessa Blaylock.Molly Ross and Rebecca Longworth chimed in by email but were not able to meet up with us today.

    Items discussed:
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    • Ciara 02:38 on 15/07/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Thank you for posting the minutes, Christa. It’s really helpful to have this record of our meeting and the links are great too. I enjoyed the Ant Farm documentary trailer – it was interesting to hear Doug Michaels speak of how they arrived at the name Ant Farm – (though I think “Chip, Chuck and Doug” has a catchy ring to it too and happy associations of chipping away at an idea, chucking out the stuff that doesn’t work and er…Doug…hm…dug, past tense of dig and…eh…erm…well, okay, just Doug then!)

      I think I conveyed a slightly wrong impression about the name issue in our hangout – it was not so much the name itself that I struggled with (I’m fond of “The Berries”) but rather more that felt uncertain about the identity of the group to which the name refers. This only really became a problem for me when I tried to describe us in an email to Sher Doruff. I’d grown to think of us as a sort of online artist collective/artist-led initiative but I wasn’t quite sure if this was a view held by the other members. I didn’t feel entitled to make such assumptions about the identity of the group, particularly as I wasn’t “with the band” at the beginning 😉

      Anyway, I absolutely love Christa’s idea of doing an action or performance together that celebrates our commitment to the group, opens it to further participation and, in some way, serves as a little signatory act.

    • Vanessa Blaylock 16:01 on 15/07/2014 Permalink | Reply

      It’s so interesting that Christa & Ciara & Michael & Kate all seemed to be bring up ideas that I thought fit well together. I agree with all of it! Or at least whatever I thought the zeitgeist of it all was! 😀

      I’d love to move on these compelling ideas right away! However for myself, I think July & August are just too buried in other responsibilities. But you all certainly don’t have to wait for me! You can totally run with any of this in whatever form(s) make sense.

      • xtaforster 21:59 on 20/07/2014 Permalink | Reply

        I never thought I’d hear Vanessa say she was buried under too much work! She IS mortal, after all. xoxoxo

        Here’s a name I’ll throw out there — ARACHNET (did you remember my mentioning that spiders are my spirit animals?) Anyway…definitely has a stronger bite than berries. I do love the anti-oxidant connotations of berries, though.

  • Christa Forster 22:43 on 13/07/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Some Mixed Berries rolled into Los Angeles 

    and had a physical meet up. It happened today at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Michael Masucci, Kate Johnson and I — Christa Forster — lunched at the outdoor cafe and loitered in the “Becoming Los Angeles” exhibit.

    7/13/2014 Michael, Christa and Kate at the NHMLA

    Michael Masucci, Christa Forster, Kate Johnson, July 13, 2014, Los Angeles


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  • Christa Forster 12:22 on 09/06/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Christa and Hugh on Coursera: Understanding Research Methods 

    lightbulb

    Hello. Just met up with the Mixed Berry Shake team for our June hangout, and Hugh and I (he showed up late Ciara!) promised to post here on .Re/act what we’re up to in a the six-week summer MOOC we’re undertaking: Understanding Research Methods via Coursera.

    Here is a link to the question Hugh is developing and some discussion around it: How do Arabian women artists view the status of women within the Middle East?
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  • Christa Forster 15:38 on 27/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Tomorrow from 9-10am PDT the second #1850charla will… 

    Tomorrow, from 9-10am PDT, the second #1850charla will happen on Twitter. I hope to see y’all there, and perhaps you’ll bring some other time-travelers or just plain old charla-tans with you. Please feel free to spread the word. Last time (February 28, 2014), we had some good tunes, interesting exchanges, and a few job offers!

     

    • Ysidora Pico 15:43 on 27/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Thank you for the reminder! I will see you there. I hope to see Isabella, Donnie, Mr. Sweetman (blush), and Aunt Renie there. And what about our comadre, Vanessa? And Ciara?

    • Michel Nostradamus 18:54 on 27/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Very good! I shall be pleased to attend (but you already knew that, right?) I hope I do not wear everyone out with my venting. The Princess of Florence is doomed; the Queen of France is being blamed for the very war she worked so hard to prevent; difficult times. Being a see’er of truth in such times is an unpleasant affair at best.

  • Christa Forster 13:57 on 13/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Twitter essay by @tejucole “@apieceofthewall” 

    photofrom@tejucole@apieceofthewall
    I’m fascinated by how @tejucole is using Twitter. 

    Definitely someone to follow….

     

  • Christa Forster 19:11 on 04/03/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Adding bios for my band of brothers at… 

    Adding bios for my band of brothers at http://ysidora.wordpress.com.

    Need to be finishing memorizing!!!!!!!

     

  • Christa Forster 20:33 on 28/02/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Reflection on #1850charla 

    Here’s a post wherein I reflect on the relationship between the #1850charla installment of the What’s on [My] Mind? performance project. How does today’s event relate to what I’m doing on March 12, 2014?

     

  • Christa Forster 20:29 on 28/02/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Just finished the timeline for the #1850charla today… 

    Just finished the timeline for the #1850charla today. https://twitter.com/xtaforster/timelines/439577717525078016

     

  • Christa Forster 12:51 on 28/02/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    I want to thank everyone who joined me… 

    I want to thank everyone who joined me today on the Twitter stage for the #1850charla, especially @mediciprincess (Isabella Medici), @patrick (Patrick J. Sweetman), @donnie (Donnie Archer), @auntrenie (Aunt Renie) and @ysidora (Ysidora Pico). xoxoxoxo

     

    • Isabella Medici 14:07 on 28/02/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks for inviting us! It was a wonderful experience. How does it relate or connect to your 12 March event?

    • Aunt Renie 02:27 on 01/03/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Thank YOU so much Christa, the pleasure was all ours. It was a lot of fun spending a little time with your wonderful troupe of people. AND, as you’ll see in my post above, I was also able to do my MU AF&S interview during the charla! Say hello to the new Director of the Clinic!

  • Christa Forster 13:33 on 26/02/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Plan for Upcoming Twitter Chat — #1850charla!! — on February 28, 2014 

    Okay, February 28 is only hours away, and that’s the day we take our #1850charla to the Twitter stage. I…I don’t really know what’s going to happen, but let’s pretend I do.

    The original plan (from the .Re/cipes page) was to

    pull sentences from…letters we’ve crafted (from our past to our present) to tweet out, using the hashtag #1850charla (a charla is the Spanish world for a “chat.”)

    However, some of you may not have written a “letter,” but you still want to participate. Some may have been using this .Re/act page as your letter. And some of you may have written many missives; you may want to tweet out the whole collection in one fell swoop.

    Anyone who wants can participate in anyway he or she wants. You will be participating if you use the #1850charla hashtag.

    Schedule A: Between 9am and 10am PST (5pm to 6 pm UTC), the #1850charla “performance” will take place. If you are available, please join us on the Twitter stage during that hour. We will be chatting about _________________ (I’m still taking suggestions — from myself and others! if you would like to suggest a topic, please post it in the comments here. I’m very open to suggestions right now!

    Here are some useful resources for prepping for the chat, especially if you’ve never participated in a Twitter chat before.

     

    Schedule B: If you are unable to attend the 9am to 10 am PST chat, then please consider contributing to the #1850charla throughout the day; you can do so by posting something related to the topic/s and adding the hashtag #1850charla. 

    On February 29, I will “Storify” or create a custom Twitter timeline for the #1850charla and share it here on .Re/act and via Twitter.

    Thank you so much for your participation so far. I am truly grateful for your playful and adventurous spirits!!

     

     

    • Christa Forster 16:51 on 26/02/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Link for directions about how to customize a Twitter timeline.

      https://dev.twitter.com/docs/custom-timelines

    • Isabella Medici 04:29 on 27/02/2014 Permalink | Reply

      How wonderful Christa. So this is not the thing called “Tweetchat” but rather a “Chat on Twitter” (with #1850charla) – is that right?

      And then we can participate about our letters or whatever else for the one hour… or the rest of the day?

      See you Friday! 😀

      • Christa Forster 14:06 on 27/02/2014 Permalink | Reply

        That is right, Isabella. I think, yes. What you said. I am looking forward to our exchange! LOVE!

    • Patrick J. Sweetman 10:05 on 27/02/2014 Permalink | Reply

      See you all there. Looking forward to it. Some great stuff written.

    • Aunt Renie 19:33 on 27/02/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Sometimes I FEEL like I was born in 1850!

  • Christa Forster 18:18 on 01/02/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Here is an interesting project an episode of… 

    Here is an interesting project, an episode of Downtown Abbey (I don’t watch it, so I don’t really “get” the story in this guise) as it might appear on FB.

    http://happyplace.someecards.com/28889/downton-abbey-facebook-recap-season-4-episode-4

     

  • Christa Forster 13:49 on 23/01/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    Will he give Ysidora a soul 

    Will he give Ysidora a soul?

     

    • Oscar 23:27 on 23/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Ah, Christa, maybe Ysidora should see a philosopher about that. I know a good philosopher in Paris…

      • Meg O'Ryan 09:22 on 25/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

        Hey Oscar! I hope your Paris Philosopher isn’t the same Tree Surgeon you sent Donny to? That guy who kept running around “une mechanisme”? Not pretty.

        What do you mean “Will Ysidora get a soul” Christa? Ysidora’s the only person I’m sure has a soul!

        • Christa Forster 15:41 on 25/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

          Dear, Meg. You are truly kind. Ysidora blesses you!

          The thing is–have you ever heard new age people or philosophers or theologians or recovering addicts say something along the lines of “you will become that which you fear” or “fear begets fear” or “Be careful what you fear, you just might get it” or something like that? Well, guess what Ysidora’s greatest fear was? That she would lose her soul! And (you guessed it) she lost it.

          She feared this because from a young age (let’s say four), she was taught to fear it by the Fathers, the Frays, as in Fray Juniperro Serra, et. al. Because of these dudes (Franciscans), she lived in fear that her soul would perish, that it would not live on in the “promised” land, the paradise, the place named Heaven, where these guys assured her Suffering did not exist. And she suffered, a lot, so of course, she wanted to go to this place. But whether it was because of the dogma from the fathers or the repression of her desires or a combination of both, she ended up acting in ways that caused her soul to, indeed, perish. In short and in full, she lost her soul to the silence engendered by her shame.

          In never sharing her story — her story did not fit with the governing narrative, which by the way, was guarded, albeit drunkenly and whimsically, by her brothers and (less drunkenly and whimsically) by her husband — her soul shriveled up; paradise was lost.

          • Meg O'Ryan 18:53 on 25/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

            OMG Christa, that is so sad! You know what will cheer you up? I just read this amazing piece about a guy who was able to use “new media tools” (back in the 80’s or so) to give voice to the voiceless. You should go read it right now!
            http://practicebased.re/search/blue-eyes-kenneth-hughes-first-film/

            I don’t mean any offence to anyone, but I think sometimes religion and “religious people” can just be such bullshit. You should talk to Izzy sometime about all her family’s shenanigans (be warned: it doesn’t take much to get her started) Her dad engineered the election of, like, 3 Popes! And they “paid” him back! It just makes me so sick to think about the number those guys did on an innocent soul like Ysidora. (it’d be so great if you could get her to join the conversation here!)

            Thinking about that Kenneth Hughes thing though, I think there’s real hope there. If you think about it, the world we today take for granted, our Western Liberal Democracies, with human rights and civil rights, all that probably would have been impossible without the rise of The Novel. I think it was the novel that let people, really for kind of the first time, experience other people’s lives.

            In a way it’s all about who has access and control of information. The novel created shared experience and empathy. The Franciscans you talk about used the power of knowledge and lack of knowledge to manipulate Ysidora. Today we have an amazing access to knowledge. Google can fetch any article. Wikipedia can explain any concept. YouTube can teach any skill. And with MOOCs you can learn, often for free, from some of the most amazing faculty the world has to offer.

            IDK if you’ve ever had to sit thru one of Vanessa’s Free Culture rants, but in a way, she’s right: a non-neutral net hurts everyone. And pretty much, a non-neutral net means massive profits for broadband providers as the morph the freedom of today’s Net into pretty much Television2.0. (and not the empowering EZTV kind of television, but the Banality2.0 kind)

            So I guess we should seize this moment and use the Open Web to share and learn as much as possible… and… oh look! I guess that’s what we’re doing right now!

            Maybe Ysidora2.0 can redress some of the injustices of the past. I hope so.

  • Christa Forster 04:25 on 22/01/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Coursera is adding another facet to its online… 

    Coursera is adding another facet to its online learning opportunities — Specialized Learning, where they offer multi-layer curriculums rather than one-shot courses. I think it’s a good development.

    https://www.coursera.org/specializations

     

  • Christa Forster 13:58 on 19/01/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    So Many Xtas 

    Hi Vanessa, do you know why my Wavetar/Gravetar shows up when Michael makes a comment on one of my posts? It happens with a couple other folks, too. For example, http://practicebased.re/search/number-1-first-blueberry-hangout-2014/

    ¡Mille Grazie!

     

    • Oscar 09:29 on 20/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Crikey, Christa, Michael’s a ventriloquist?????!!! I’ve simply got to meet him (or maybe I already have, eh? 😉

  • Christa Forster 12:40 on 16/01/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    Ancestors from 1850 in Conversation! 

    Let’s put an ancestor of ours from the year 1850 in conversation with one another, in the present, on Twitter.

    Why?

    To see what happens!
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    • Isabella Medici 19:04 on 17/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

      What a fantastic project Christa! (anything that gets me out of the catacombs is a fantastic project! 🙂

      Could you give this letter to my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter Vanessa? TY!

      http://mediciprincess.com/your-shitty-luck

    • Christa Forster 01:07 on 18/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Dear Isabella, so GREAT to hear from you. Thank you for reaching out to us from 450 years ago! I think our luck is good (rather than shitty) to hear from you, a PRINCESS no less. I am interested in what you say about how “false nostalgia and blind romanticism always make past lives more simplistic. Easier than they were. Harder than they were. Other.” I’m pretty sure I understand what you mean by “other.” But I’m wondering if you’d like to talk about this more, This “otherness” that you seem to propose is a product/consequence of nostalgia and romanticism.”

      If you have other things to deal with (like washing your hair, which I’d totes understand — it’s a DRAG) I get it. Still, since we have you on the line and all….

    • Oscar 16:38 on 18/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Hello Christa,

      Thank you for your invitation to participate in this project! I’m intrigued by the idea of engaging in conversation with an ancestor. While I have no recollection of my life before 2003 and, currently, no desire to probe my personal history beyond this, I am keen to trace the history of my craft – to tune my ear to the whispers of dolls and their partners long since decomposed…
      The 19th century was, by all accounts, a rather busy and exciting time for ventriloquist dolls and their human collaborators!

      • Isabella Medici 02:55 on 19/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

        Hello Oscar. Is it “the marionettes” of which you speak? I loved them so as a child! They were a rich and frequent part of the entertainments that my father arranged at Palazzo PItti.

        Dearest Christa, I am confused, “wash your hair”? Do not you simply braid it up and forget about it? As for your questions, I am not certain I have answered them, however I have written another letter that may be of some use:
        http://mediciprincess.com/vegetarian/

      • xtaforster 03:06 on 19/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

        Welcome, Oscar!

        I love your name. How was this name chosen for you?

        I, too, am interested in the history of your race, the traces of races which have marked themselves in your lineage. I cannot wait to learn more about this! Thank you for joining us.

        • Oscar 21:18 on 19/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

          Thank you! This ancestor mining is so much fun, Christa! As to your question re. my name – well, the truth is, I kind of moved into it (it was waiting for me). I find it easy to say, easy to spell, so I consider it a good fit. I used to have a different surname but shed it because it felt uncomfortable and contrived. I’m happier with “Devent” which we created in order to facilitate my online communication (all those demanding forms!). I’ve had a similar conversation on this subject with Ellie here: http://megoryan.me/post/69899480046/oscar-autonomy#disqus_thread

  • Christa Forster 12:35 on 16/01/2014 Permalink | Reply
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    1850 Twitter Chat Invitation to Participate Call for… 

    1850 Twitter Chat — Invitation to Participate

    Call for participants up now at .Re/cipes:
    http://practicebased.re/cipes/product/1850-tweetchat

     

    • Vanessa 20:07 on 17/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Hi Christa! This is so wonderful! I hope it’s not too confusing, but over on .Re/cipes (The Open Art Cookbook) instead of “Blog Posts” we make “Products”! 🙂

      On the “+NEW” menu, instead of
      +NEW >> POST

      just do
      +NEW >> PRODUCT

      I can help with any of the details. I’ve put your Tweetchat up in the form of a “Product” and updated your link above. (and now it also appears on the home page of .Re/cipes

  • Christa Forster 17:04 on 14/01/2014 Permalink | Reply  

    Teju Coles Story in Retweets 

    Yesterday in our hangout, I mentioned Teju Coles’ story in retweets as inspiration for the Twitter Chat performance I’m developing. Here is a link to a story about this performance of Coles’.

     

  • Christa Forster 14:55 on 31/12/2013 Permalink | Reply
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    Reading this article I thought of Michael Masucci’s… 

    Reading this article, I thought of Michael Masucci’s worry that our technology could be creating a cultural vacuum. If the grid goes out, what happens to all the art that is stored there digitally?

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/30/we-need-to-talk-about-ted

     

    • mjmasucci 23:14 on 01/01/2014 Permalink | Reply

      Interesting article, Christa. I liked how it clearly describes the “American Idolization” not only of science, but of thought in general. It has become far more important how many re-tweets an idea gets, than if the idea has specific merits for discourse. In such a paradigm, the flat earth theory would have won.
      TED is infotainment, disguised as discourse. That’s not necessarily bad, but the model needs to mature, evolve, and become less like a sales pitch, and more like a discussion (hard to do with its one-way lecture format).

  • Christa Forster 17:56 on 30/12/2013 Permalink | Reply
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    Building My Second Self 

    Screen Shot 2013-12-29 at 8.09.57 PMI have been pursuing my second self for the better part of the past 24 hours.

    In my attempt to create my Second Life avatar, I have spent more than three hours getting my hair done, three hours trying to decide what to wear, and at least three more hours trying to figure out how to wear what I have decided to wear. It’s almost as confusing and frustrating and ridiculous as it sounds. I’m doing this because I hope to participate in Vanessa Blaylock’s Dance for Camera: The Planets. The deadline for making my avatar is, like, yesterday, because Oceania Planetary Park (LEA 27) CLOSES on 1 January 2014. Alas, we thought we had more time — story of our lives (our first AND second lives).

    The learning process has been tedious, riveting and downright funny. For example, it took me over two hours to go from this, to this, to this and FINALLY — after scouring forums — to this!
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    • Christa Forster 18:32 on 30/12/2013 Permalink | Reply

      FYI — Vanessa has been a most accommodating and generous teacher. Thank you, Vanessa!

    • Vanessa 19:35 on 30/12/2013 Permalink | Reply

      Go Xta! The way you Dance, Walk, Stand, Pose, Fly, or anything else is by animating the 21 joints of your avatar’s body. You can create your own animations with a free, easy program like QAvimator (unfortunately it may not run (or will freeze) on current Macs) Fine on PCs.
      http://qavimator.org/

      The “how to” tutorial:
      http://youtu.be/h_-3c_aC-O4

      You could also use Poser or any other body modeling software.

      Besides making your own, there are also a zillion animations for sale in SL. “Dances” of every kind from Ballet to Hip Hop and even a few Ninja moves. And lots of “stands” “walks” etc. If you look at SL Marketplace, down the left column of categories, you’ll see animations:
      https://marketplace.secondlife.com/

      You could also search for any specific type of Dance or Walk you’d like. I’ll send you some In-World LM’s for shops where you can go stand on a base and try out lots of different animations.

      • Christa Forster 05:34 on 31/12/2013 Permalink | Reply

        Okay, so I went to a place:http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Thyris/254/60/24, and I created a dance, which I like! The dress works well with the moves. 🙂

        Before I could “take [the] dance,” the notecard told me that I needed to purchase a Dance HUD, so that I could attach the dance I made to it. So I did. Then I went back to my Dance Master Terminal and “took dance.”

        Now, I have no idea what to do. I went to LEA 27 to see if I could dance it (my dance:), but I remembered that I can’t unpack stuff there. So I went to a public sandbox, but when I clicked on the Dance HUD, there was no option to “wear” or “do” the dance.

        So now I’m stuck again.

        Let’s meet tomorrow…I’ll be up available around 9:30 am CST. I’ll check in with you then.

  • Christa Forster 00:21 on 17/12/2013 Permalink | Reply
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    Open Culture 

     

    Screen Shot 2013-12-16 at 6.15.37 PM

    Today I referenced Open Culture while hanging out with the Blueberries. My recommendation is that Michael promote the EZTV archives by tweeting out links to different content, the way Open Culture promotes its content.

    Screen Shot 2013-12-16 at 6.18.05 PM   Screen Shot 2013-12-16 at 6.19.56 PM

     

    • Vanessa 01:09 on 17/12/2013 Permalink | Reply

      Gravatars are tied to email accounts. So if the email associated with a site is different than the email for your gravatar, you might get a “waveatar” instead.

      You potentially could have a different email address on your own WP blog, and here on .Re/act and you could even have a different email over on .Re/search. If you wanted to, you could change the email on address on any or all of those sites, and then the corresponding gravatar would show up on comments.

      • Michael Masucci 23:16 on 19/12/2013 Permalink | Reply

        Thanks Christa,

        I will definitely start looking into this and the other flavors of social media that you, Vanessa and others are suggesting. They are all really great ideas. Around Jan 18th, we plan to announce the formal press release, not just about the EZTV Museum projects, but some related events, including several exhibitions and performances (including one that Van will be virtually participating in). We will attempt to distribute ti through both existing social media channels, but also through more traditional press outlets. This will be in conjunction with USC, as well as through the email lists of about half a dozen art organizations here in LA.

        Your suggestions have been great, and much appreciated, so never hesitate to give your thoughts, criticisms, etc. as we move forward.

  • Christa Forster 21:45 on 16/12/2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , ,   

    Nutritious Blueberry Experience 

    Screen Shot 2013-12-16 at 3.42.03 PM

     

    Team Blueberry hangs out and discusses our PBRA mooc experience. We agree that

    1) we’re missing a formal “farewell” video from our Professors Leslie Hill and Helen Paris,

    and

    2) we love each other.

     

  • Christa Forster 18:47 on 06/11/2013 Permalink | Reply  

    I came across this prompt today on Plinky… 

    Screen Shot 2013-11-06 at 12.47.04 PM

    I came across this prompt today on Plinky, and I thought it might help artists brainstorm about their websites if they are participating in Vanessa’s Micro-X challenge.

     

  • Christa Forster 13:55 on 03/11/2013 Permalink | Reply  

    Another Phenomenal Day (Individual Assignment, week 4) 

    I used the Kozel transcript instead of the video; because of the transcript’s portability, I explored my project in my backyard on another glorious Houston day. I noticed a more dramatic interplay between nature and civilization than I would have had I been in my office/classroom. Anyway, the true research/practice space for my work is my journal/notebook (earlier I said it was my office/classroom, but honestly it’s my journal, which I make sure is always small enough to take anywhere).

    (More …)

     

    • Vanessa 14:35 on 04/11/2013 Permalink | Reply

      haha Xta! That totally makes sense that your “studio” is your paper journal. You’ll never guess, but I think mine is my online blog! My blog that you’ve been looking at is actually new, a new sprout to focus on Virtual Public Art. My 4-1/2 year blog is
      http://iRez.me

      When that site first launched it was a way to document performance works. Back then I had more experience with Wikis than with Blogs, and it was kind of a coin toss which to use. I kind of thought a wiki might be better for documenting, but I went with blog on a whim. For a while it was just a place to document works. Later it also became a place to express ideas. Later still it grew into a community space with 3 dozen authors. And while I do my work, Performance Art or Public Art, as an avatar in 3D virtual worlds, over time the blog, perhaps like your journal, became not just the adjunct documentation place, but the primary focus of energy.

      I love that sentence, “Spend some time engaging in low-focus data retrieval”. There’s so many ideas in there.

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