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Volunteering at GAFFTA has been an amazing experience thus far. Learning how art and technology converge and intersect has really got me excited about the future of art. At the same time, I’m venturing back into the philosophy and critical theory I read in college as well as exploring new text. With the latest UpgradeSF meeting and attending GAFFTA exhibitions and artists talks (some of the most amazing minds gather at these events, by the way), I’m excited to be…
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Regionlism is defined by the Merriam-Webster online dictionary as, “consciousness of and loyalty to a distinct region with a homogeneous population“. Well, I highly doubt the ‘homogeneous’ part. San Francisco is home to such a diverse population. In any case, I had the pleasure of attending the fourth official Upgrade SF meeting and the discussion entailed regionalism within the New Media Arts specific to the Bay Area. This past meeting included the following speakers: ZER01 Social Media Manager, Danielle Siembieda OFFSpace co-founder, Kathrine Worel Micaëla Gallery owner, Micaela van Zwoll Each presenter explained their role in the…
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Writing everyday for 365 days is taxing. Emotionally (dealing with insecurities), intellectually (doubting rationales, statements, learning facts, and thinking critically), and physically (yes, typing non-stop and editing for a few hours is hard on the hands and wrists and eye strain from the laptop). The experience has been both challenging and engaging. Challenging in that there’s ALWAYS something to write about but harnessing all of these nebulous thoughts swirling around in my brain on a daily basis can also be…
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Lately, I’ve been diving back into my philosophy text from undergrad days and re-exploring ideas that made little sense to me back then. I wouldn’t exactly say that the same ideas are understandable now but experience has led me to think much more critically. The most interesting aspect of what I’ve been reading has to do with this French philosopher named Jean Baudrillard and how he believes that meaning is derived from knowing what something is NOT. Basically, a dog…
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Ethnography brushed up against its paradoxical death in 1971, the day when the Philippine government decided to return the few dozen Tasaday who had just been discovered in the depths of the jungle, where they had lived for eight centuries without any contact with the rest of the species, to their primitive state, out of the reach of colonizers, tourists, and ethnologists. This is the suggestion of the anthropologists themselves, who were seeing the indigenous people disintegrate immediately upon contact,…
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Social history is widely understood, but what is ethnography? It is a genre of researching and writing with its roots in anthropology. Its main investigative method is “participant observation” – a cluster of qualitative modes, which include firsthand experience of the environment, careful visual observation, attentive listening, casual on-the-hoof interviewing as well as formal in-depth interrogation, and the analysis of telling details and key documents. Participant observation is a self-conscious formalization of the naturalistic modes through which we learn generally; toddlers…
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Reinterpretations, remakes, and contemporary works are strategically placed throughout God Only Knows Who the Audience Is: Performance, Video, and Television Through the Lens of La Mamelle, engaging viewers in what is almost an infinite loop of observation that changes with every go-around. Douglas Davis’s The Last Nine Minutes (1977) welcomes viewers to the second floor of the exhibition. The video piece involves Davis walking around a space that simulates a dark cave. Viewers’ anticipation bubbles to the surface as they wait for him to…
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Paid a visit to The Curiosity Shoppe on Valencia Street (San Francisco, CA) yesterday. It’s one of my favorite places. It’s a treasure trove of amazingness. I couldn’t walk out of the store without a new publication. I bought Average Magazine founded by artist, Kate Pocrass. One word: Brilliant. I don’t know how she would feel about this but it’s like the Seinfield (I’m a HUGE Seinfeld fan) of print. It’s about all of these, well, average things in life. For goodness sake,…
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My brain has been mush the past few days and I think it has to do with deadlines. I’ve met a couple of them this past week and still plugging along with revisions but wondering where the steam has gone. There’s one piece, in particular, I’ve been working on that has me going in circles, which can be good (forces me to craft my words well and a great exercise in thinking critically) and bad (because I’m ALWAYS reading about art and am not very…
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Videos of Hennessy Youngman have been floating around the internet for months. I can’t believe I haven’t posted something about him until now. A few of my Facebook friends (all artists) have posted his videos. His ability to mesh humor and art theory is not only entertaining but makes art accessible. His approach gives performance and video art quite a unique face. He also makes exploring and navigating through art theory rather fun. Would you like to learn more about…
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writer | artist | scholar
Dorothy R. Santos, Ph.D. 