innovative times

here are some images of my dancing machine at the "innovation" exhibit last month - special thanks to anyone that came out to see the show and my friends nasreen and umit for the photos!
i never quite got the whole thing completely finished the way i wanted to, but i was able to prove that the concept worked, which was all that mattered in the end.
i'm busily working on a convergent media project now with four other people - it will be absolutely epic! i'll post some process work soon.

until then,

alessa.

guys and girls

when did they stop doing this sort of choreography?

upcoming exhibition

 

i just finished designing the poster for the group exhibition that i'll be showing my dancing machine in. i was a bit pressed for time, but i'm hoping it still looks half decent! if you're in london this upcoming week then please do stop by because it is so worth it - we will be showing photography, film, video and new media work from last semester's "innovation" module. private viewing is on friday 15th january if you want to hang out with me and my classmates.

hope to see you there!

alessa.

homebound

i almost wet myself when i first saw this. i reeeally love foster's home for imaginary friends - it's probably one of the best childrens programs i have ever seen! and yes, i do still watch cartoons - people that put an age-limit on cartoons are unworthy!

i thought it was quite a fitting clip for this post since the canary islands (aka my home) also happen to be very hot - i'm headed there tomorrow for winter break. i am dead excited to not have to wear a minimum of ten layers of clothing for a few weeks and not have too much work to worry about. oh! oh! and my mum's food and new years eve with the gang and the cat and christmas and the overall goodness of just being home! aah good times...

once i've had some time to collect my thoughts i'll post about my final project and how that went, but for now i'm busily finishing off a critical theory essay on realism, modernism and postmodernism - fuuuuun.

i'm actually not sure i'll be able to get on the internet at home so i might not be back for a bit, but hopefully there'll be heaps to post once i do return! so get yourself excited, because i already am! yay!
love,


alessa.

dance dance revolution

i've been busily working on my final new media project for this semester so i haven't posted here for a while. i also have to keep two blogs for some classes at university so i've gotten a bit confused as to what i'm posting where. anyways, this is what i've been doing with my time:

in case it isn't obvious (which is most likely the case), i'm building a machine that's going to turn peoples physical outputs that occur during dancing into real spin paintings. it's going to be presented as an arcade machine and i'm using an arduino to program the whole electronics/robotics aspect of the project.

i've been having a really good time woodworking these past few days, but i still don't understand the whole computer programming aspect of the whole thing and i don't know if i'll ever wrap my head around it - i really wish i could though! there are just so many possibilities to put this technology to use in my future installation work!

i'm not even sure i'm going to be able to finish the whole thing on time so things are quite stressful at the moment. it'll all be over in a week though - i have to keep repeating this in my head in order to keep myself up and running.

i hope to get back to you soon with more work,

alessa.

oh kaye

a couple of weeks back my flatmate and I went to a free talk that tony kaye (the director of american history x) was giving at the nissan cube store.

i can't begin to explain how weird the whole thing was. some of his paintings were up which were sort of interesting and sara wanted to nab one to put up in our living room but i managed to stop her just in time and they were giving out this gross free wine (i guess one should never complain about free booze really). kaye played with a band at random intervals and "answered" some questions. i was pretty convinced he was off his face on drugs because he made no sense whatsoever and was a complete mess.

it was one of those disillusioning moments no one ever wants to experience. it's when you see your hero on the ground and you want to help him up, but at the same time you feel so let down. i guess it's just the realisation that if the industry manages to break someone like him, then what are your own chances?
we left early, as did most other people.


alessa.

illustration god

so i went to the ica today, where james jean was giving a talk about his work, influences and inspirations. oh yeah and tara mcpherson was there too, but i'm not really into her stuff to be honest (maybe if i was like 10 i would be).

it was uh-maaazing! he briefly talked about his upbringing and his inspirations, which are so obviously referenced in his work, i can't believe i never saw them before. he also showed a lot of work that isn't available online and a lot of his very early stuff. it kind of makes you want to curl up in a ball and die because he was already pretty much a genius at age 19 and his work just keeps getting better over the years even though it seems impossible!

oh yeah and then he also signed stuff, like these two fables covers:

or my sketchbook:

i also had a nice little chat with the man himself and he flicked through my sketchbook (this was the point when i was pretty sure i was hyperventilating and would have highly appreciated the ground below me opening up and swallowing me) - it was probably one of the best moments ever!

i would totally be his groupie anyday!
love,


alessa.

p.s. my presentation went over fine and dandy!

good morning sunshine

its 2.30am and i've only just finished a powerpoint presentation that i somehow forgot i have to give tomorrow - now i need to get to writing a 1000 word summary of said presentation. urgh. and all i want to do is listen to this (oh the memories!):

it feels like an appropriate time to shout the f-word at the top of my lungs, but i won't do that since my flatmate is fast asleep in the room next to me.

in other news i got told today that i have been a bigger enrichment to someone's life than the invention of sliced bread - it's the sort of thing a girl likes to hear. oh yeah and also, i have a really good weekend to look forward to, which is what's keeping me going right now

goodbye and good night,


alessa.