Locative media + situationalism

The one topic I feel has stuck to me the most out of this class is the idea of situationalism. To be put in a situation and be able to mold and bend to anything that situation might bring is an amazing concept. If more people would be able roll along to the little bumps life throws along the way maybe more things in life could be better accepted.

http://rhizome.org/

Rhizome is taking the concept of locative media and mixing it with art. This online art museum is a new way to interact through art.

For our bus tour I was thinking about choosing the art museum as my place to stop. The art museum has played a huge roll in my life throughout the years. It one place I can go to just clear my head. From a young age I would have the chance to go there for school trips. Growing up in Philadelphia the schools would take there kids there each year. The first year I moved to New Jersey they decided to take their first school trip to the art museum. At one point my group got separated from the others and got lost. Another girl in the class was also a new student who moved from Philadelphia, the two of us saved the day but leading the rest of the group back to the front on the building where the rest of our class was. That day, me and the other girl became quick friends and continued to be best of friends for years after that.

One of my best friends just moved away, but our thing to do together was go to the art museum. We would sit there for hours discussing each piece until we couldn't think anymore. It was one of the best times in my life. He recently moved to Atlanta and has told me about how awesome their art museum is. We decided we're going to send each other pictures of pieces that interest us and talk about it through e-mail since we can't see each other everyday anymore. By doing this we are saving out friendship, and a piece of it that means so much to both of us.

With this website it lets any person sit there and have their own art museum at home. With an interactive account of the different pieces each person can interpret and compare interpretations and not even be in the same room. Art brought me close to so many people, this website could do that for others.

Watch your back

I was assigned to watch my back. That's it just watch my back. Hmmm, how am I going to sit there and consciously watch my back at all times? Watching your back is something you do with out even knowing your doing it. It's a protection reflex that I would assume we all learned through out the years. With this assignment I decided to go a different route, instead of watching my back all week I came up with a new accessory to watch your back. I took the concept of the rear view mirror. A rear view mirror is used to watch behind you while driving, but what can you used to look behind you while walking? That is my invention, the rear view mirror for purses and book bags. The thought is to attach a mirror to the shoulder strap of a bag. The mirror should sit sightly forward so the person is able to look into it with out leaning their head too far back. The mirrors come with optional light which would be hooked up to a battery inside the bag. Each mirror should be customized to match each bag it goes of. For instance if a girl is wearing a blue Coach purse, the rear view mirror should be blue, and if Coach would put their name on the accessory then it should have the coach logo as well.

The purpose of this invention is to protect yourself. While walking on the streets a person never knows when they are going to be approached. With this invention you'll know what someone is approaching you from the front and from the behind.

Picture soon to come!

cr:NPNN

Shut up and Dance!

I know this is not an assignment but the other day I decided to wander around the city after class on a beautiful day. As I walked down Walnut Street I just took in all the sights, with no time restrictions, it was nice. I came across a venue with this sign above it and I immediately grabbed for my camera to take a picture. I am not now, nor have I ever been a dancer, or even into dancing. So what is the purpose for my blog name, and what done this saying mean? Well to me this saying is a huge part of my life. I originally got it off of my favorite television show, That 70's Show. In an early episode the "gang" goes to a night club and the main character Eric can't get in until the end of the night when he finally convinces the bouncer. After they get home from the night club, Eric and Donna have some tension between each other, but that all goes away as soon as she says "Shut up and Dance!" Ever since I saw this episode I have used the saying in my own life to break any tension I maybe encountering with somebody. To me the saying is a way to look at life, whenever life gets too out of control, don't complain about it, just Shut up and Dance, and problem you had will go away for at least that minute.

When first assigned this task, I immediately had a bad feeling about it. To me following a person with out their knowledge is completely creepy, and a bit illegal. The idea of my grade was more intense than my scene of pride, so I sucked it up. I e-mailed another student from the class to see if he wanted to join me in the assignment. In class we were told we could have people follow us, following people, and this is what we did. We started in front of our class room and Jayme picked who he was going to choose first. The choice process was strictly random. We picked a side and a direction and the next person to pass on that side would be the person we followed. In Jayme's case the first person we picked had majorly long legs and a normal walk for him was a sprint for us. Next we knew he was out of sight. So we picked a new object to follow. The next person lead us to Reading Terminal, where we decided to get some lunch. After lunch it was my turn to follow. Starting right outside of the Reading Terminal I hunted out who I was going to follow. I found my man the same way Jayme found his, the next person that walked on a certain side of me at a certain time. The first person to cross was this man with what looks like luggage. He was wearing brown pants and a black jacket, which seemed to clash together a little bit. Maybe he was an out of towner of a business man to have the rolling bag that was in his left had. He was average height, and not overly attractive of a man. I was able to follow him for about a block and a half. He seemed to be in a major rush. He flew down the street with the wheeled bags following behind him. By the time I reached this light (above) it had already turned red. I had no choice but to stop, unless I wanted to be admitted into the hospital for tire tread marks. So I decided it was about time to pick another person to tail. This man was tall and good looking, I was a little happy the other man was in a rush. Nicely dressed in a business suit, it was obvious this man was either going to work, or had some kind of business meeting. He didn't walk too fast so I was able to choose how close I actually wanted to get to him.

I followed him for a while, and he never seemed to catch on to the idea that he was being followed. When we got to our starting point we struggled to figure out if we should continue or go home, we decided to figure out exactly where this man was going. Finally he reached his destination!

When he reached Republic First Bank, I wondered what his job was there, if he liked it, if he had his own office. We went through the idea of going inside, but with my strong morals against this project in the first place held me back from actually entering the building. We decided it has been a long day and we should probably wrap it up. So in the end, I have documented my first stalking experience.

Wander

Our homework for the week was to wander, and to document it. But how do you wonder and document it. When I wonder I get caught up in something mainly a blank mind, or the opposite, too much on my mind. In the process of wandering I loose to knowledge of the known world and I am strictly in my own world. I would say this week I have experienced two different types of wandering. One was when I went to the car show. I would get lost from my group of friends everything time they turned around. I got so into the awesome cars, and wanted to look at them at my own speed and see the ones I wanted to see without a while group conducting my every actions. As I would wonder around the convention center I thought mainly of three different things, the cars, my life, and where in the world my friends could be after not seeing them for an hour or so.

Another time I had sort of wandered was this weekend, my friend convinced me to go to Maryland with her for the night to visit her old school. The three hour drive there and back were full of many moments of mentally and physically wandering. Physically because thought I was in the car with someone who knew where they were going, I did not. And though I did have a destination, it was uncertain to me exactly where that was. While driving my mind wandered through the scenery. How beautiful the land look as the sun was rising. How the morning sun glistened over the newly frozen river. As we would pass the street signs I wondered who would come up with some of the names for the streets.

I know I was supposed to document these moments, I just don't tend to take pictures when I do wander. I thought it was out of the wandering characteristic.