Inspired by our local researcher into ghostly happenings and teller of tales.

He can be found, followed by a procession that may be of this mortal coil (probably not to be honest), walking the twilight streets mumbling about his discoveries. 

Experiences at the End of the World.

I have always been interested in the idea of the engineered 'happening'. The microfestival, the haunted house, the Bus named Furthur, the ritual. I was planning on beginning, finally, to get it rolling and founded and begun this year. I had such plans! And then; pandemic. 

So, this morning as I muse again on what could be done to work around this and think of a festival of masks, a ritual of solitude or distance it struck me; a path! A path to walk with those of your bubblenor yourself where you can experience sights and sounds and tastes and all without some other lunatic breathing at you or pushing through. An experience of progression, moving through space, with only you, and your kins, thoughts and laughter and mindfulness. 

I still believe a festival of masks may work too, especially a postapocalyptic plague party or Goblin-King ball. 

To think on.

Send it into the world!

One of the issues I had as a younger artist was a high-tension paranoia about my art and ideas would be stolen, aggravated by the very new and suddenly wow-people-really-like-whatever-this-is internet and the many, many, articles about copyright theft by the VERY SUPER DANGEROUS internet superhighwaymen that dwelt therein. Obviously it was a real problem for creatives just stepping onto that new road to our future, and it became a huge problem for absolutely everybody who creates anything at all a few years later. Now? Now it's a right bugger.

There's a danger though, with taking thrle neccessary precautions that come with working creatively and openly with the entire planet. That danger stifled and limited me and I see it happening to others.

The solution I found, and it's only my solution and only one possibility, was when I came across one of my many piles of old sketchbooks devoted to whatever obsession I had devoted myself to for that month. I flicked through concepts and art I didn't want to lose, was actually pretty proud of and wanted to show to my friends and peers and the old worry kicked in; but what if someone steals it?!

Well, bugger it, thought I. Because, when it came down to it, I hadn't used the ideas, I hadn't even remembered I had these books or even that I'd drawn the very things I was so proud of. If I'm not using them then why the hell shouldn't someone, maybe, possibly, see them and twist them (exactly with other peoples work but shush I'm different) and run with it. Maybe it's actually incredibly arrogant to think that the stuff rotting in the attic is someone else's gold; or even original. As a creative I have evolved an eye for what pieces of my work people will like but often, very often, I am suprised by what they love. 

And these unfinished projects and pieces and ideas are unfinished because they weren't ready yet; because I'd hit the limit of where I could take them. It was time to let them go, just like a fledgling getting booted out of the nest. I knew my baby had potential but I'd failed it and hidden it away in the attic like a crippled Victorian relative when I should have opened the window and let it go. So what if the baby joins a cult, or never pays me back for all the breastfeeding, or just fails further and vanishes. That evolution. And Ideas evolve and change whether to success or death, just like everything else.

Anyway. Long story short: your work is doing nothing if it's sitting in a binbag in the attic or a unamed folder on your harddrive. You know if it's good, if it has potential because you're working it and you'll know if it takes. If it doesn't, let it go. Send it out into the world and see what happens. It may well come back to you as something incredible and you might not even recognise it just like our children. 

Send that sketchbook fledgling out into the world and see what happens!* It's your duty.

*not the good one though, jusy the one with a dodgy leg

2020 Vision Test

 I forgot all about this and thought it long lost and gone forever unto the night. 

But Lo! It lives!

microfestivals and Second Life

ok. it seems, from viewing this heat map of folk around the sims of SL : http://lab.kathar.in/heatmap/ that folk prefer small close gatherings than huge parties (though it might be a question of lag problems).

that seems consistant with real life as well. even if you go to a huge festival you'll often see a distinct grouping amoungst the festival goers. SO! is my new fascination for the concept of a microfestival part of the new idea of thinking cities. is this how we deal with large populations? by grouping into small parties and thinking like tribes people ina jungle. The terminology is often used lie we are bands of hunter gathers living in a vast chaotic but understanable environmental system.

i got made redundant by the way and pa's broked his wrist. So i've been busy and away in case anyone actually checks this :D

Community as Tribe

Soo first post and this aint really for anyone else but me to have some kind of place to chuck ideas down without innumeral text files i wont ever read again. and i get to add dates so i know what when and who and all. I dont intend to edit much. I dont really intend to do anyting but hamer workds down as fast as i can so i get them saved. Dont read it if you dont like it. Bums to you fishface! :D

I've been thinking a lot about building a passionate and fired up community feeling within the students i run through my innovation lab here at college and that (possibly depending on redundencies) should expand and become the focus of the secretish plan for next year. I've realised that the key is to create a tribe. If i can induce and soft programme these kids with a motivated, excited and, most importantly, FUN attitude to learning and life then i'll have taken the ost important step to getting them shifted form the attitude i seem them arrive with. now it might seem like i'm treating them like machines, and i probably am, but i do see them as thinking, laughing, living humans as well. I just understand that as thier brains have been formed by parents, schools and media they have been wired with some bad mind bugs. Its so easy for us staff to see them as "pain in the arse idiot trouble makers" but in actual fact goddam it education is the last thing most 16 yr olds want after boring hatefull school. Its our job to change that... in actual fact its MY job specifically to change that.

So i create a tribe. Any tribe worth its salt is bonded on many levels, whether through family, location or more complicated systems of conneciton like symbolism, beliefs and archytypes. I just have to work out the best of these connections in our environment to utilise. Symbols are easy. I can use logos, memes and tools (from phones to consoles). Location is easy, once i get them to treat the tribes village, the place they are going to be spending 6 hours a day for the next year or so, as another 'home' then they become each others family. Theres always a risk that the family will become disfucntional in some way but usually the intoriduction of family project can shake them up. See! i told you this was just a goddam nonsesne rant! :D