I was walking back from the subway to my sister’s house, and met an athletic-looking woman walking her dog, a pretty greyhound-like creature. I like dogs, so I gave it my hand to sniff. The walker said “She’s supposed to greet people, because she’s being trained for search and rescue, so do you mind if…” and let her jump up and say hi to me.
Who knows, might run into that dog again…
Coffee with painkillers attached.
This picture was taken from the roof deck at 300 Mercer, next to the Tisch school at NYU.
I went to see TheUpgrade at the Eyebeam gallery in Chelsea, featuring a presentation of three pieces developed at ITP on the subject of surveillance. Interesting emphasis in the discussion, away from the well-trodden areas of politics, privacy, security, etc. and instead exploring the joy experienced by those doing the surveilling.
The three pieces were in(security) by 31 down, Little Feet by, uh, Little Feet and GSN (Generative Social Networking by Christian Croft and Andrew Schneider.
I was struck by the theatricality of the presentations – two of the pieces were presented as a marketing pitch to an imaginary audience of customers, and two relied heavily on PowerPoint. After 16 years in cubicle-land, it was funny to encounter PowerPoint driven pitches in the context of an art installation.
I went to see Matthew Herbert at Irving Plaza, great show. Opening act was Skye, lead singer for Morcheeba.
Herbert is an interesting sampler-based performer, always very original. For Wednesday’s show, he was performing with a jazz ensemble, letting them get up to speed and then seamlessly joining in with his sampler magic.
His stage persona is very funny: an eccentric, jerky hybrid of David Byrne and Buster Keaton.
One of the most original performances I’ve seen in a long time: the music, technique and staging all different from anything I’d seen before.
You are currently browsing the Gian Pablo Villamil blog archives for August, 2006.
