| Presentation
The presentation this evening went well. I was
worried something embarrassing would happen, like I would
spill my drink or my laptop wouldn’t project. I always
like it when speakers start off with a story about who they
are. But I didn’t have any old photos of me or my
family. So instead I found Pittsburgh on the msnearthmap
and zoomed in to the Elgin house. I could actually see the
grey smudge which was the house, awesome. I talked about
how I used to walk up to the reservoir all the time and
sit on the edge looking at the water. It had to do with
growing up and wanting to escape and be in my own space.
The satellite photos are from 2003 so I explained that I
could be in that photo somewhere, very small and blurry.
Then I pulled up some photos from the show at Works and
talked about what it meant to me to make art about the office.
In my proposal for the residency I stated that I wanted
to take photos of Charles Schwab’s office and create
a blog that would act like a record of events. By letting
the general public keep track of what I was doing, I hoped
to ensure that I would get the work done. I hadn’t
planned on the blog turning into an entire website. And
I really didn’t expect CS to care enough about what
I was doing to make a call. My spying started out on the
street but quickly turned into a study of their online identity,
which is made up of layouts and logos. I had to learn how
to study and mimic them without copying or infringing upon
their trademark.
The result of all these elements is my site. It does in
fact contain photos of the office, and it does contain a
blog which keeps track of my thoughts and efforts. But rather
than flaunting these activities in the face of CS, it is
trying to hide beneath their notice. Several messages of
doom are hidden throughout the site for those who know what
to look for. I figure that CS has all my info now and will
be checking up on me regularly. All I have to do is keep
my nose clean and I should be OK. So I plan to continue
to spy as well as be spied upon.
The brilliant students had some really good questions.
One was about the idea of an accomplice, whose presence
is obvious from the photos of Charles but whose identity
is not revealed. Maybe I should do some recruiting for people
who enjoy cushy stakeouts. Another suggestion was that I
look at the global identity of CS, who after all has offices
in HongKong. It might be worth applying for an international
espionage travel grant. Another question was about the prints
of the photos, which are large and glossy. They appear to
be bound for a gallery, so where does that leave the website?
Maybe the prints can act as pointers to the website, and
vice-versa. Since they are such different venues. Unless
I want to plop a laptop in a gallery and let people surf
from there.
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VISA
I applied
today for a CS VISA card. It would be fun just to have
the card, but it comes with a free ipod shuffle and who
can resist that? I’ll be podcasting before you know
it, me and Mr. Curry. I wonder who would subscribe to hear
the latest recordings of zippers and buses. Charles doesn’t
have much of a credit line, but he’ll be able to use
the card.
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