Bod y electric

I am creating this blog as a way of documenting my thought processes in regard to my art practice. As an artist who is interested in going public with her work, I think it's important to document those processes in a public place! Maybe create a forum to facilitate discussions, or a space where I could bounce ideas off other people and get feedback... at the very least, I'd contribute to some google searches.

The title pretty much says what I want my art to say (and is also a clever pun if I do say so myself). I want to talk about bodies. I want to talk about technology in relation to bodies, to people. I want to examine the gap between the virtual and the real and bridge it. And then I want to make it wider, tear it apart. I want to question technological determinism. I want to contribute to the marriage of art & technology. But most of all, I want my art to do something...

Most of this blog will document the self-learning I'm about to embark on over the summer in preparation for the special studies course my friends and I arranged over at UCSD. We have a group of extremely talented folks - programmers, artists, designers - who all have an interest in doing hands on work with technology such as augmented reality or programmable matter. In particular, I'm interested in designing electronics for fashion. I don't want my designs to be just aesthetically pleasing though, I want it to say something as well. I really admire Japanese designers such as Rei Kawakubo or Yohji Yamamoto precisely because their art says something. They design in such a cerebral and meditative way, and I want to do that with my art.

The graduate student who is helping us - also one of the coolest human beings ever - lent me her lab's extra Arduino Lilypad to play with over the summer, along with conductive thread and conductive fabric tape. This summer I'm planning on learning some basic electrical engineering stuff.... hopefully I'll be proficient enough to do some really great work next school year. I'll also be learning how to make clothes by hand. And how to operate a sewing machine. So not only will I have some new skills by the end of the summer, but some new clothes as well haha! This all sounds like a lot of work, but CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

Well. That's all for now, I think. If you're reading this, thanks for reading. Stick around, and I'll be sure to make it worth your time :)