Human Morality (Hauser)

Part 1 Marc Hauser lecture.

Decision theory and double effect

This is the second part of an edited version of Marc Hauser's lecture on human moral psychology.

The promised LAND

"Momin chalks up her L.A. move to a bit of a Wild West fantasy. “[L.A.] is a place where you choose how you want things to be, and there’s an idea that you can actually make it happen,” she says. (W, nov 09)

Shamim Momin, former contemporary curator of the Whitney, has founded the non-profit art organization LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division) along with Christine Kim (curator at LACMA) .

According to their statement, "LAND is a public art initiative committed to commissioning and producing site- and situation-specific projects with national and international artists, in Los Angeles and beyond."

"So last fall she and Christine Y. Kim... began holding salons at Kim’s home. The get-togethers “started with tea and ended with wine,” according to Kim, and included seasoned artists Mark Bradford and Glenn Kaino, and Olga Garay, the executive director of the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, among others. The conversations sparked Momin’s new venture, a “museum at large” called the Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND)."
(Thompson, W magazine)

Mathew Barney in Brazil

“DE LAMA LÂMINA” (2004-2009), BY MATTHEW BARNEY, IS ONE OF THE NEW PERMANENT INSTALLATIONS INAUGURATING IN INHOTIM

“De Lama Lâmina” (2004-2008) may be considered the latest achievement of a project that began in the performance with the musician Arto Lindsay, during the 2004 Carnival in Salvador, Brazil, and documented in the homonym long film, already part of the Inhotim collection and shown since 2008. By taking the candomblé from Bahia as a source of reference, Matthew Barney weaves in this project a complex narrative on the conflict between Ogum, orisha of the iron, the war, and technology, and Ossanha, orisha of the forests, the plants, and the forces of nature.

"A site-specific creation, “De Lama Lâmina” (2004-2008) is the first permanent installation developed by Matthew Barney for a museological institution. The artist has chosen to place the work amidst a eucalyptus forest, viewing the displacement experience as part of the project. After walking a winding path to reach the work, the visitor faces a seemingly unfinished scenario: two geodesic domes of steel and glass, attached to each other, amidst iron ore hills and fallen trees. Inside, space is taken by a huge tractor that lifts a resin tree. Used in the shooting and in the performance, the tractor is here transformed into a big sculpture. Tension is generated by bringing together opposite poles that constitute the work’s organizing principle, evoking the dualism between creation and destruction, fertility and death."

Instituto Cultural Inhotim is an original museum complex, formed by a non-linear sequence of pavilions in the midst of a botanical garden. It is focused mainly on contemporary art and environmental issues, in addition to research and education in these two areas. It is a place where knowledge is produced based on its art pieces and botanical richness.

*All info taken from Inhotim site.

Feat of..

What the World Eats, Part I

What the World Eats, Part I
Lovely visual narrative on world family diet, from Time.

The Intelligent Hoodlum

“It ain’t where you from, it’s where you at.” Rakim

Intelligence is the most effective form of violence, resistance and opposition. There is a pungent flavor, polemically inclined and rooted in historical irony that can only be achieved through this marriage of disparate elements. A breaching experiment in itself, undermining expectation, the intelligent hoodlum frees spirit to overcome circumstance and environment. The mind of a young adult steeped in tragedy and dissatisfaction, asking the questions that matter and listening to the answers. **Bless you**

Asch Experiment

The Asch conformity experiments were a series of studies published in the 1950s that demonstrated the power of conformity in groups.

Carrie Mae Weems | Thirteen Questions for Wynton Marsalis & Cornel West

At times, asking the questions can be just as (if not more) important than having the answers spoken.

Art21:

Upcoming Course : Liam Gillick at MCA

Utilizing the concept of a "breaching experiment" I will begin this course wearing an eye-patch. Halfway through the introduction, I will openly switch it to the other eye.
In social psychology a breaching experiment would be utilized to examine peoples' reactions to violations of commonly accepted social rules or norms. In this context, it speaks to the students' capacity for the unexpected and their ability to challenge or question what they see.
Thinking as a form of resistance.

"It is no longer possible to regard the contemporary work as that to be walked through. Rather as a period of time to be lived through, like an opening to unlimited discussion.. The contemporary artwork's form [spreads out from its materiality]: it is a linking element, a principle of dynamic agglutination. An artwork is a dot on a line." (Bourriaud)

Art21 : Season 5

Art21 season 5 Airs every Wednesday on PBS beginning Oct 7, 2009

click on title to link to Art21 blog

Food Pairing

Check out this site for creative flavor pairing.
http://www.foodpairing.be/
click on title to link.

If thoughts have mass..

then gravity must also be exerted.
Gravity, a fundamental underlying force in the universe, is proportional to mass and distance between 2 objects.
Einstein's theory of relativity adds to this; he predicted that objects with great mass deform space around them, causing light to deflect into them.

A fascinating theory, the concept of Noetics is a prevailing theme in the latest Dan Brown novel The Lost Symbol.
Noetic sciences look at how the world around us affects us on a quantum level. So just existing in the same electromagnetic spectrum as someone else means you're being influenced by them in some way.

Imagine the force collaborative thought might exert.

Noetic sciences are explorations into the nature and potentials of consciousness using multiple ways of knowing—including intuition, feeling, reason, and the senses. Noetic sciences explore the "inner cosmos" of the mind (consciousness, soul, spirit) and how it relates to the "outer cosmos" of the physical world.

Seven Deadly Sins in the US

Wired magazine recently published this interesting (yes, flawed) mapping of the United States based on the seven deadly sins.
click on title to view article.

Kevin Coval : G-dself get Loose

A lovely portrayal of the partnering lines of jews and hip hop.
click on the title to watch this spoken word performance.

The Paper Chicken : a Yom Kippur story

Forrest Bess

As part of an ongoing internal debate regarding the relationship of sexuality and enlightenment, I have recently been acquainted with and intrigued by the personal trials of the artist Forrest Bess.
Seemingly tormented by the notion of becoming a whole, spiritual being he was obsessed with his theory of self-inflicted genital mutilation (a sort of anatomical manifesto) as a means to achieve this goal.
Forrest Bess, "a painter and bait shrimp fisherman from Texas, had devised a grand theory involving symbolism, androgyny, and immortality."
Some of his works are now on view at the MCA as part of the painting exhibition Constellations

Pataphor

Pataphor (noun):
1. An extended metaphor that creates its own context.
2. That which occurs when a lizard's tail has grown so long it breaks off and grows a new lizard.

Pataphorology is a science invented by P.A Lopez and derived from the science of pataphysics as described by Alfred Jarry.

As part of an upcoming series, I am manipulating the concept of pataphor to describe a division of assets. Specifically the Japanese gameshow aesthetic will represent a situational incarnation of zero-sum game theory. The original "lizard" so to speak, is rooted in personal mythologies of love, marriage and possesions.