patterns

i've signed up for the wardrobe refashion 2 month challenge. the idea is to not buy any new clothes for two months, but rather to refashion, reuse and recycle those that are already in the closet or the yarn/fabric stash. i would have liked to sign up for longer, but i'm not sure that my sewing skills (or lack thereof) are up to it. my fabric and wool stash certainly is though! anyway, as i'm not sure that i can handle complicated clothing, i'm also taking the curtain refashioning challenge. i'm moving in a couple of weeks, so cushion covers and curtains will be the name of the game! i'm going to start with this pattern (see picture). it looks fairly straightforward, and i can follow it in my head. there may be pictures up here next week of a pile of scraps, but i have to start somewhere!





speaking of patterns, and perhaps of sernedipity, i have, of late, become interested in the international journal of pattern recognition. it's not that i actually understand any of it, being a complete and utter neophyte when it comes to technology, much less to artificial intelligence. but, like sewing (and perhaps in conjunction with sewing) there's no time like the present to learn.

the blurb from the journal's website reads:

This journal publishes both applications and theory-oriented articles on new developments in the fields of pattern recognition and artificial intelligence, and is of interest to both researchers in industry and academia. From the beginning, there has always been a close relationship between the disciplines of pattern recognition and artificial intelligence. The recognition and understanding of sensory data like speech or images, which are major concerns in pattern recognition, have always been considered as important subfields of artificial intelligence. On the other hand, topics like knowledge representation, inference, search or learning that belong to the center of artificial intelligence, have constantly attracted the attention of researchers working in pattern recognition. IJPRAI is the first to cover both fields in one periodical, and particular emphasis is put on papers which are in the intersection of both fields. However, it is open to articles from "pure" pattern recognition and "pure" artificial intelligence as well.

* Contains current material on applications and theory research in:
o Image Processing
o Natural Language Processing
o Computer Vision
o Speech Understanding
o Pattern Recognition
o Robotics and Related Fields
o Expert Systems
o Artificial Intelligence
o Knowledge Engineering
o Neural Networks

neural networks, knowledge engineering, pattern recognition ... yesssss.





and speaking of patterns of another sort. i recently came across ray fenwick's photo set on flicker. each pattern is accompanied with a statement: "Who doesn't like patterns? I'll tell you who: bad people with foul hate in their hearts," or, captioning thee battle of excelsior gulch (shown here), "Totally inappropriate pattern made from another drawing. Suitable for pajamas worn at an all-night coke/chips/nintendo/drawing party." meandering through the site, i came across this, the very t-shirt that i had (literally) just bought from threadless for tim's birthday present. is there a pattern in the things that i like? definitely.





everything on fenwick's site is awesome ... but i'm particularly fond of the truth bear.

upgrade/upchuck

i was at the upgrade conference (critical practice resuscitation ... or cpr) in montreal today. i gave my spiel on radical knitting and the viral knitting collective, talking about the possibilities of mixing low-tech and high-tech activism as a potential for encouraging the spread of ideas across political, gender, age and ethnic lines. the whole idea of the conference was that it would be more discussion than presentation, and it did turn into an excellent debate over the future(s) of activism and tactical media (is it stagnating, heading for inertia, or about to explode), the use of pedagogy in encouraging new activisms, and the difficulties presented by the term "gender" when combined with technology, the use of technology as tool, and time. that is, teaching takes time, new ideas might take in a minute, or they might not surface for several years. the world, however, seems to be inexorably speeding up. the question on which the panel ended was how might we, as activist practitioners, educators, artists etc. think of ways to work within this time lag, and to encourage whatever triggers might activate now latent resistances.

unfortunately i was only able to stay for the one panel. i'm usually not a conference speak-and-dasher, but this time lucy ate a huge chunk of ... well, i have no idea what it was, but it was certainly colourful when she puked it all over the floor. so i was on barf patrol and had to come home to clean up. dogs. both of the cats looked on with that form of disdain peculiar to superior cats, but i believe lucy is feeling better now. she ate part of her dinner, and unless she's found a new spot for her own spiels, it seems she's done. eating crap off the sidewalk is the one thing that we have been completely 100% unsuccessful in her training. that dog once consumed three wagon wheels complete with wrappers before i could even tug the leash ... and that time she showed no ill effects at all. i hate to think what she ate this time.

in any case, in honour of lucy's gastric issues, i present dorothy's waffle, by canadian artist sara genn. i went to high school with sara, but had actually forgotten that until i came upon this video. i adore it! and will enjoy watching it with lucy.... see how (sort of) well behaved dorothy is?

3. geraldine brooks year of wonders: a novel of the plague
girl with a pearl earring suffers through the plague. who knew there were so many proto-riot grrls in the seventeenth century? having casual sex, popping bubos, riding horses bare-back and engaging in witch craft is just par for the course for anna, heroine of this "based on a true story" novel by journalist geraldine brooks. it's fine for what it is (an historical novel with a twentieth century protagonist) ... but the moral of the story seems to be either than if everyone around you dies an extended, pus-filled, painful death then you will most likely become a feminist, or perhaps, if you are a feminist, everyone around you will die an extended, pus-filled, and painful death. or be attacked by a maggot-ridden baby (it happens, i swear).

you can read the intro here



4. janis hallowell the annunciation of francesca dunn
teenager serving meals to the homeless in a local café is mistaken by chester (the hackneyed sage-like street-dwelling visionary) as a reincarnation of the virgin mary. one false pregnacy and several dubious healings later, francesca becomes to centre of a cult of worshippers, while francesca's academic mother is off frolicing in the hills of arizona looking for plant fossils. mum comes home and freaks out, carts off francesca, rumours of abortions lead to hysteria and, surprise, surprise, someone is sacrificed to save all from their sins. the reviewer from publisher's weekly writes "The conceit is snappy, and the narrative moves effortlessly, but the novel lacks a genuine sense of the spiritual lives of its characters. Instead of exploring the intricacies and ambiguities of religious faith and revelation, Hallowell builds her story on platitudinous sound bites."



5. elizabeth peters guardian of the horizon
more amelia, more parasols, more lost oases! there is enough stereotyping and dodginess in this one to make me squirm, so i wouldn't rate it amongst my favourite peters's extravagazas. but, nevertheless, the amelia peabody series is an excellent way to pass the afternoon. unfortunately this was the last one for me... i've read the whole series now. boo hoo.

there's a review you can read here



6. elizabeth george playing for the ashes
my mum's recommendation.... it was pretty good, and george has a way of expanding the traditional slim mystery volume into something much more detailed and engaging. however, i suspect that my mother might have had ulterior motives! the family relations in this novel are such that we look like the most functional of functional families! and if the strained family relations don't pique your interest, perhaps the spineless cats will?

elizabeth george's website can be found here

is there a doctor in the house?

whoo hooo! i am now officially doctor myuglysweater. yay! the defense went really well, so i'm feeling half euphoric, and half stunned that it's over. my 24 year career as a student is done. yeesh.



illustration thanks to david shrigley

my last day as a grad student

today is my defense. i'm heading off to my university in half an hour (eep)!



image thanks to toothpaste for dinner

30 fun things

in honour of my partner's 30th birthday, and because the sun is shining (but my paper still isn't done).

1. a hilarious article from the onion

2. ink polaroids

3. questionable content, one of my favourite online comics

4. cat and girl, another of my favourite online comics

5. carey young. i'm not a huge fan of the ybas, but i do think that young's work is interesting, and, despite her best intentions, politically motivated.

6. cocoa locale - the best cupcakes in montreal (and the place where we will be going for birthday treats)

7. the weakerthans - one of tim's favourite bands, and one of my favourite websites

8. anonymous juice. the zine of a friend of mine from undergrad. i should contact him ... we haven't spoken in ages.

9. preloved. delicious remade clothes

10. wardrobe remix. cooler people than me, in cooler clothes that i have

11. phinished. where would i be without phinished? sitting here still working on chapter 1.

12. me and you forever t-shirt. excellent movie, excellent t-shirt

13. and speaking of miranda july...

14. and speaking of t-shirts

15. supermaggie (i just got a t-shirt from here and am very excited about it)

16. dogs and laser beams = wonderful

17. monks and cheese = even more wonderful. we take lucy here sometimes ... the cheese and cider are delicious, and so is the scenery.

18. the journal of aesthetics and protest. enough said.

19. amelia peabody. i'm obsessed with parasols and emerson

20. the planetarium (where we're going today for birthday fun)

21. vices and versa - my favourite bar in montreal ... even if it is miles from where i live.

22. hippo noodles (thanks tabitha grimalkin for this)

23. strindberg and helium

24. lewis island - best trip i ever took, and near where i'm from

25. fresh - juice for life. i often wished that i lived in toronto for fresh and for the knit café

26. germaine koh. one of my favourite artists

27. jill bennett empathic vision - one of my favourite academic books

28. pandas (who doesn't like pandas?)

29. cute overload. i can't help it - ever since i saw the picture of the husky puppy in the refridgerator i've been hooked!

30. lynn canyon. site of my childhood and still one of my favourite places on earth.

yay for birthdays!

creative cities

montreal was just announced as the latest UNESCO creative city.... very interesting. canada has been a bit arm's length on the whole creative industries/cultural capitalism thing, at least in terms of public consciousness.

"The Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity has designated Montreal as "UNESCO City of Design" as part of the Creative Cities Network," announced today Gerald Tremblay, Mayor of Montreal, and Benoit Labonte, member of the executive committee responsible for culture, heritage and design.

With this honour, Montreal becomes the first North American city to join the recent UNESCO City of Design network after Buenos Aires (August 2005) and Berlin (November 2005), in addition to other cities recognized by UNESCO in other fields of excellence, including literature, music, food, cinema, folk art and digital arts.

Through this award, UNESCO recognized the effort and enthusiasm of the public and private sectors, Montreal civil society, as well as the city's potential for economic and social development in the field of design. With the participation of the design community, Design Montreal, applied for this honour at the request of Benoit Labonte and the Montreal executive committee. The certificate will be presented by Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization as part of a visit to Montreal scheduled for the month of June.

"After becoming the headquarters of the International Design Alliance (ICSID and ICOGRADA) last year, this UNESCO award represents major international recognition for Montreal and all our creators and players involved in the fields of design, culture and economy," said Mayor Tremblay. "This title rewards the sustained efforts by Montreal and its partners since the publication of the Picard Report in 1986 which focused on design as one of the priorities of metropolitan economic development. Montreal already exports knowledge in the field of strategic design promotion, since its original Commerce Design Montreal concept was picked up by the cities of New York, Saint-Etienne and Lyon, and it will continue to do so as part of the "UNESCO Creative Cities Network". Design is also one of the elements of the Imagining - Building Montreal 2025 game plan, in which Montreal committed itself to becoming one of the world's most attractive cities, through design quality and innovation," added Mayor Tremblay.

"Design is a strategic strength that Montreal must develop. The honour bestowed by UNESCO acknowledges both past experience and our visible commitment in the field of design. It must now serve as an incentive lever to accelerate implementation of the recent municipal action plan Montreal, Design de ville / Ville de design, launched in September 2005. We firmly believe that a strong combination of design, architecture and urban development contributes directly to the quality of life in Montreal, highlights the sense of pride of Montrealers, as well as the interest of visitors and investors," said Benoit Labonte.

Montreal is a city where design and designers, be they involved in the fields of interior, industrial, graphic, fashion or architectural design, represent a dynamic force of cultural and economic life. According to recent statistics, design is responsible for 20,356 jobs in Montreal's metropolitan area and economic spin-offs of more than $750 million. Also, 65.3% of Quebec workers involved in the field of design live in the metropolitan area. Montreal is the only North American city to have established, as early as 1991, a bureau dedicated exclusively to the development and promotion of design. Important achievements are owed to this bureau, including the Commerce Design Montreal competition, which has contributed to the rise of Montreal as a city of design.

Montreal is clearly part of the network of cities of knowledge in the field of design with four universities teaching design, architecture and urban planning, as well as five university research chairs in those fields. Montreal is also home to a rich network of high-level establishments dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of design, including the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Centre de design de l'UQAM, as well as the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts with its decorative arts collection. Montreal also hosts numerous design-related events, several of which occur in May, referred to as Design Month. They include the Montreal International Interior Design Show and the Gala des prix de l'Institut de Design Montreal.

According to the interim director of the Arts and Cultural Business Division, Mr. Indrasen Vencatachellum, "The global alliance of UNESCO has created the Creative Cities Network to support cultural pluralism and to make creativity an essential engine of economic and social development. This network wishes to promote development by using the potential of local cultural industries through partnerships with the public and private sectors, sharing sound practices and knowledge internationally. By using this network as a springboard, cities pool their experiences to help each other to strengthen local skills and increase the diversity of cultural products available on the national and international markets."

source: http://blog.kennisland.nl/knowledgeland/archives/2006/05/
http://www.ccnmatthews.com/news/releases/show.jsp?action=showRelease&searchText=false&showText=all&actionFor=595286

gloom

it is not just the weather in montreal that is making me gloomy these days (we are currently on our 12th straight day of rain), but also the paper that i am struggling to finish. it was due at the editor's on friday ... and i'm still trying to write a decent opening paragraph.

the abstract, which i whipped off in haste upon receiving an email from the editor requesting a submission, is sitting like a weight on my shoulders. not only has it proved difficult to find examples, but i actually disagree with what i originally wrote:

Capturing the Movement: Anti-war Art, Activism and Affect

In a recent exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, one hundred pairs of used combat boots were arranged in rigid rows on the gallery floor. The boots were suspended from the ceiling, the left one of each pair slightly raised. As visitors moved through the space of the gallery, the air currents of their presence stirred the installation, making it swing eerily in the dark space of the gallery (fig. 1). Through the gallery marched the haunting presence of an invisible army, incorporating the viewer in an anti-war statement through the overwhelming and dizzying effect of the echo of a pervasive but invisible military power. The affective/emotional reaction tied the visitor into much wider currents of the then-current anti-Iraq-war movement, as well as the consequences of a military-economic machine on contemporary life in North America. The simplicity of Québec artist Dominique Blain’s Missa, comments on the seductive power of military organization, the atrocities of war, but also, I suggest, on the basic involvement of all viewers in the currents of conflict (and current conflicts) in the contemporary world.



Missa contrasts markedly with the majority of anti-war art, photographs, and posters that circulated after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and it is this contrast that I would like to explore. Without denying the importance of photography and new media arts to anti-war activism, this paper suggests that a number of contemporary artists have purposely turned away from new media (i.e. digital works, web-based works, photography etc.), instead using low-tech or no-tech materials in attempts to contrast their work with the vast technological resources of a military-industrial complex. Following this idea, I suggest that a number of artists have implicitly equated new media with a video-game mentality of war, and have turned to the simple and the affective in a series of intimate works that contrast the technologies of war through the most basic of materials – string, wool, thread, embroidery, used boots, pencil and paper. Suggesting that as critique such works depend on capturing movement – in the eerily swinging boots in the work of Dominique Blain, in the intimate gestures of the repeated stitches of knitted landmines and bombs of Barb Hunt and Maria Porges (figs. 2, 3), and pencil lines that trace the lines of networked connections between the military and multinational corporations in the work of Marc Lombardi – this paper argues for a rethinking of the use of new media in contemporary anti-war art. Beyond the mere shocking, much recent anti-war art relies on metaphorically performing the trauma of the war in the bodies of those on the home front. As such, I suggest that there is a slippage here among the anti-war “movement,” the “movement” of information through the channels of internet and viral communications, and the kinetic and affective energy that is used to incorporate viewers into traumatic anti-war activist art works. In this paper I question the reasoning behind turning away from new media, and suggest that occasionally agitation and activism can occur in the quietest of spaces.





******************

so i'm still trying to turn this into a decent (and nicely succinct) paper, without moving too far from the original claims. however, this has led to two weeks of procrastination and (as my mother would say) lollygagging and gallivanting.

in the lollygagging and gallivanting file, i did go to an excellent architecture in helsinki concert, i saw pride and prejudice (and was pleasantly surprised by it), i spent a day at the anarchist bookfair, and then i sat around moping, reading mysteries, getting progressively more nervous about my defense (this friday), and avoiding the paper. so add seasonal allergies on to that, and i am about as gloomy as gloomy gets (and lucy agrees)....

The Knitting Map

As part of the EU Capital of Culture project, the city of Cork, Ireland, recently staged the Knitting Map. I've included the site description below, but essentially groups of knitters gathered to "knit" the movement of people in the streets, changing weather patterns, and the "experience" of walking through Cork. In each case, movement in the city is represented through knitting patterns (i.e. cable, garter, ribbed etc.), while weather patterns are evoked through different colours of yarn. I find the intimate interweaving of experience, mapping, movement and weather (not to mention the global linking of knitters, and the networking of cities and creative industries present in the Capital of Culture project) to be exemplary of new possibilities for global networking that functions both within and against neoliberal capitalism. This project was not an activist one, but in its format and execution I see myriad potential. The Knitting Map project will, most likely, play a central role in my postdoctoral work.



From the Knitting Map site:

"Imagine This...

Above the earth there is a satellite which looks down at Cork and watches the movements of people and cars around the city. Through a strange technical alchemy, this information is transformed into a knitting pattern, which constantly shifts – some hefty cabling during rush hour; quiet lulls of stocking stitch on Sunday mornings; bobbles of blackberry stitches for the un-quotidian gatherings of Cork mortals. Down in the city there is a large empty hall, with a semicircle of chairs. It is here that fifty people knit for a year. They work in relay, their knitting moving slowly into the space between them, where the strips are sewn together to form a single vast document of the city. The hue of yarn shifts with the weather, and the descent of the year. During the day, people arrive to view the installation. They hear low voices, and the tapping of knitting needles. Before them this great knitted cartography, moves gradually across the space and then begins to pile up of the floor of the hall in the half-light...

Commissioned by Cork 2005, European Capital of Culture, The Knitting Map drew its inspiration from Cork City, celebrating its place at the cultural heart of Europe. The Knitting Map is not a literal map; instead of a single still image, it is a moving, evolving translation of the busy-ness of Patrick Street; the wetness of May or the frostiness of November. The Knitting Map took the pulse of the city throughout 2005.

Different technologies observed and measured aspects of the city centre: the movement of people, as well as the weather – how rainy, warm or windy it was. The Knitting Map translated this information into a vast knitting pattern which was updated daily. In the Crypt of St Luke's Church overlooking the city of Cork, up to twenty knitters were knitting every day, and the Knitting Map grew into a vast, textured, colourful textile, that documents what happened in Cork in 2005. During the year, we had more than 2500 knitters from 22 different countries taking part."



The technology for the Knitting Map was created by half/angel, a company that sees itself as interested in both emerging technologies and also in performance, dance and choreography. The two founders, Jools Gilson-Ellis and Richard Povall, have both written PhDs on the company. Unfortunately the links from the website to their writing were not working when I last checked, but there is still plenty to explore in the archives.

50 book challenge

well, i never was one to turn down a request (thanks tabitha grimalkin and pam), so i hereby begin the 50 book challenge, "twinkies" and all.



1. achmat dangor's bitter fruit.
very beautiful, very layered ... the kind of writing that slows down the reader. it is languid, in spite of the intensity of issues covered in its plot. the story of a family struggling with their past(s) in post-apartheid south africa, it uses an economy of words that i found inspiring. at the same time, however, that economy forces the reader to focus on surfaces. it left me disturbed, and unsure of any grip that i might have had on it - the words slid away even as i read them.

apparently i needed a break from the booker award-winning set, because i went on a bit of an elizabeth peters rampage after finishing bitter fruit. i love elizabeth peters. i would love to be elizabeth peters. complete with a phd in egyptology from the university of chicago, she now writes mystery and suspense novels, many of them tracing the exploits of the irascible archeologists amelia peabody and her husband radcliffe emerson. personally i can't get enough of them, although i noticed that the one that i gave my mother is still sitting on her bookshelf unread (hmph). thanks to tabitha for introducing me to these!

2. Elizabeth Peters, The Last Camel Died at Noon
Pretty typical Emerson-Peabody antics. This one wasn't my favourite, but I really just can't get enough of Amelia and her parasol!

3. Elizabeth Peters, The Copenhagen Connection
Not one of the Amelia Peabody series, I have to say that I found this book a little lacking. Still, it made the subway to and from the university a little more entertaining, particularly because of all of the hysterics over "Margaret's bathrobe"

Currently reading: Geraldine Brooks, A Year of Wonders
and Jill Bennett, Empathic Vision

novel ideas

i've handed in my dissertation, so myuglysweater is back up and running.

a group of friends and i were recently talking about the tendency for graduate students and university faculty to be addicted to a veritable cornucopia of chemical substances. oh was I ever revealed in my true nerdiness. i mean caffeine, drugs, alcohol, yeah all of those things are great, but the one thing that truly obsesses me, the one forbidden pleasure, the prize that kept my going through the last eight months of writing is, i'm sorry to admit, the lowly novel. actually, not even the novel, but the library book. i guess my ideas of capitalist accumulation have always been somewhat askew - there is something in the idea of giving back an object that i own in memory but not in fact that is the delicious pleasure that keeps bringing me back to the library. that and the fact that there are always more books (as i said, it's a little bit obsessive).

for the last eight months (aside from a few plane trips) fiction has been strictly forbidden, for i can't just pick up and put down a book. no, i have to read the whole thing in one sitting. and in the final months of writing, finding enough time for that was impossible. that and the fact that like a mountain of crack, i can't just read one book, but have to read fifty (there were some troubling moments for me when i read james frey's million little pieces). this has long been a secret. i wish now that i had worn my nerdiness with pride, that i had chatted with the librarians, made friends with the reading club, been the first to find out about the incoming books (isn't that how it works in fiction?). but instead, i organized my trips to the library as an exercise in stealth.

in retrospect, i'm sure that none of the librarians ever talked to me because they must have thought that i was a complete freak. my stealth operations involved various hats, different hairstyles, forcing other people (generally my mother) to take out books for me, complete silence (i never actually talked to any of the librarians whose judgment i so feared) and all accompanied with a general queasyness that i still get when i cross the threshold of that particular library - its yellow walls, its now-retired librarians, its particular smell of paper and glue and carpet. i could glide silently between the shelves in that library, i could pick out a new book at a hundred paces, i remember the configuration of the stacks, the pictures on the walls, the colour of the carpets, the shelf of civil war novels to be avoided, better than i remember my house. it was a dry pleasure cut short by the sweaty-palmed nervousness of having to approach the front desk with my stack of books. i don't know what i expected; it seems to odd now, to have feared the wrath, or the judgment of a small town librarian. but whenever i hear the words "painfully shy," it is this walk from the carpeted staircase to the polished floor in front of the desk that i think of, the intolerable pain of having to face those stoic librarians with their averted eyes yet again. i don't know what it was that i feared. i wasn't so popular that having my nerdiness revealed would have been social suicide, i wasn't so unpopular that hanging out in the library covered for complete social ineptitude. i think that it was the fear that the librarians must believe either of those options, and to hear them voice it would be to make it true. my carefully guarded nerdiness (i believed) seeped out only when i allowed it. in truth, it was probably visible from a mile away - hence the reason why not a single person has ever questioned my path to grad school.

i would take my stack of books home, and i would set it on the hearth in front of the fireplace, and i would curl up in the corner of the couch and begin. i looked up this morning and realized that twenty years later i was still doing the same thing. i came home from the public library yesterday, having already been turned away by yet another librarian (you have too many books out already), to arrange my stack and work my way through it. i was on book number three when i decided to write this. and to confess not only my addiction to fiction, but also my abominable taste. growing up with a small library and an addiction to feed meant reading a lot of dean r. koontz and catherine cookson.

i basically have two systems of judgment: 1. good fiction that i like, and generally take my time to read and 2. bad fiction that i like and speed through like a demon. unfortunately reading so much has not made me a very successful judge of good and bad. nor was i ever tempted to take up english so as to learn how one might judge properly. in hindsight, this was probably a good idea. as an art historian i can never go into the gallery without a crush of theory of knowledge preceding me. it's hard to see a painting when derrida and foucault and deleuze and guattari and butler and virilio and spivak and whoever else happens to be present are blocking the view. it's hard to smoke crack, um, i mean read a book, if you have to dissect it first. so i still have the stultifyingly annoying habit of saying, i don't know why i liked it, i just did. and with this, i introduce myuglysweater's summer reading project. i have plenty of academic and other work to get through this summer. but, for the first time in months i also have spare time, and i plan on dedication that to catching up on fiction reading. i might even put up a few reviews here and there.... or maybe i'll just sit on my butt reading.