Brion Gysin and the Dream Machine

Brion Gysin was an artist, traveller, writer, and alchemist of the 20th century. He was a great friend of author William Burroughs, who used his cut-up technique. The cut up technique, which definitely shows some parallels to Dadaism, is a literary style in which text is cut up and rearranged to create a completely new text.

Bryon Gysin's Dreamachine is another one of his cool discoveries. The Dreamachine is simply a cylinder with slits on the slides, placed on a record turntable and rotated. The light bulb underneath the cylinder, illuminates through the slits and creates a visual stimuli. Behind closed eyes, the user will see all sorts of patterns, shapes, and colors, and might even enter a hypnagogic state. It can be pretty intense, but the experience is over as soon as the user opens their eyes.

to try it online: http://www.netliberty.net/dreamachine.html

McCarthy

Joseph McCarthy was an American politician and Wisconsin senator from 1947 to 1957. During this time, millions of Americans were accused of being communists and Soviet spies. This era known as the Second Red Scare, only further increased the tension that was induced by the Cold War. Within McCarthy's ten year term, he was responsible for the blacklisting and accusation of around 200 citizens. The term "McCarthyism" was coined, to criticize his anti-communists pursuits. The term is used more broadly today to describe any unsubstantiated accusation or attack. 

McCarthy became a popular subject for political cartoonists of the 1950s:

McCarthy propaganda posters:

Bauhaus

Bauhaus was a school in Germany that is now very well known for the approach to design that it taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933 and specialized in crafts and fine arts. The school aimed to teach many various techniques and approaches collectively. "Bauhaus" translates to "house of construction" in German, which is most definitely reflective of the art and style that resulted from it. The Bauhaus style became one of the most influential currents in Modernist architecture and modern design, in Western Europe, the United States, Canada, and Israel.

Bauhaus architecture:

Bauhaus art and furniture:

 The style is clearly like nothing that had ever been done before. Some famous artists of this time include Marcel Breuer, Werner Drewes, Max Bill, Gerhard Marcks, and many many more. 

Grid Art

It took me a while to get inspired for this project, but after a few days of thinking, an idea finally emerged. I decided to make a grid out of a bunch of pictures of myself and others, or pictures I have taken throughout the years. I shrunk all the pictures dramatically and gave them a yellow, red, or blue tone. I originally planned to make a larger picture out of these photos but I just didn't feel that was personal enough. After our last class (learning about Dada as well as our next Xerox project) I was messing around with my scanner and got a nice scan of my hand. After a while this is what the result came to be...

I had a few extra pages from Ravenheart (the 81 cent book i used for my flip book) and decided to cut strips and weave them together, making yet another grid. My eyes and lips on my hand was just an impulsive idea, to give it a more personal feel.

Dada

The Dada movement is extremely interesting. It is completely unique and original-- the name, the way it came to be, the style, and the artists involved. It is an art that has never been seen before. In Hugo Ball's Dada Manifesto he explains how "Dada" is meaningless, yet so meaningful. To Americans, the word is known to all as typically a baby's first word meaning, "dad." In French it means "hobby horse," "goodbye" in German, and so much more in many other languages. 

So, why use it to name this movement? To kill all curiosity, it means nothing. The artist took the word an drained it of all meaning. Much like the art itself, it means whatever you want it to mean. Peanut butter sandwich, glue stick, sea otter... that's dada. Dada is simply originality. 

Dada developed in Zurich, Switzerland as a result of World War I. Marcel Duchamp, Tristan Tzara, Hans Arp, Max Ernst, Hugo Ball, Man Ray, and Raoul Hausmann are just a few of the many artists involved in this movement. Collage, photomontage, assemblage, and readymades are all Dada techniques. 

Video Games and Violence

For nearly 40 years now, video games have been an easy way for humans to escape reality (for a couple of hours, anyway). Like all other technologies, the art of the video game has gradually improved, becoming more and more modern and realistic. They can be educational, interactive, and even violent. In fact, violent video games are extremely prevalent today for players of all ages and genders. So we wonder, myth or fact: are violent video games and bullying related? Many parents believe this is a fact, and try to censor the violence from their children. To me, the two are unrelated. If a child is a bully, it has nothing to do with the games they're playing; it is however related to the parenting they're exposed to. It sounds harsh, but the parents are doing something wrong if their child is bullying and they believe it is because of a game. In addition to that, they might want to reconsider buying the violent game for their child if they do not like the behavior they believe it will cause. I can't even believe something like MAVAV exists... Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence...

"Video game addiction is without a doubt, becoming this century's most increasingly worrisome epidemic, comparable even to drug and alcohol abuse. All the while, the video game industry continues to market and promote hatred, racism, sexism, and the most disturbing trend: clans and guilds, an underground video game phenomenon which closely resembles gangs. Parents NEED to be aware of the hidden dangers." 

If this is a parent's worst nightmare, it is seriously time for a reality check.

Why "Apple" 

How does such a common, everyday word such as "apple" represent such a successful computer company? Where did it come from? The answer, quite interesting, is revealed in Steve Jobs' biography. The name was actually created by none other than mastermind Steve Jobs himself, of course. Apparently, Jobs had spent some time working on apple orchards in Oregon, which inspired the name. He liked its simplicity as well as the "fun, spirited, and not intimidating" aspect. The original logo was actually an image of Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree, referencing his theory of gravitation.