I think I need to clean my camera lens because every photo I took today of my latest pair of Ruffled Colorwork Socks had this huge white blob in it.









We both think she's finally lost some weight. Next week I'll get some photos of her in roughly the same positions as the 1st week she was here for comparison.

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For (Visual) Art's Sake

Danielle Van Ark's photos often seem unreal, directed. Yet reality seems to provide her with events so rich they seem definitely out of this world. Out of mine, for sure.
See also her great Taxidermy series...

EXITO=success / EXIT=exit

I am delighted to inform you that I have been invited by the TR Warszawa theater (Warsaw, Poland) to create and direct a video department/workshop/center/section/thing. There is great enthusiasm concerning the project on both sides.
Thus, I am thrilled to be going back to Poland (at least for some time).
Thus, I am extremely sad to be leaving Portugal (at least for some time).

I hope to have more on this initiative in a few weeks.

For now, all my friends and friends of this blog are invited to a farewell party on February 2, at a place that will be disclosed any moment.

UPDATE>> we will be partying at the Lounge bar (www.barlounge.blogspot.com, although I have no idea how knowing the virtual address can help), at rua da Moeda n.1, in the Cais do Sodre area (by the post office, near the ETIC school). We'll be starting around 11pm. See you there!

Find New Jersey now and win!

Is it possible to take a picture of New Jersey regardless of where you are in the world?

If you think you can answer this question with an image of your creation, accept the challenge of iheartphotograph and participate in the contest.

Two great Josephs

"To be hopeful in an artistic sense it is not necessary to think that the world is good. It is enough to believe that there is no impossibility of it being made so."
- Joseph Conrad

quote taken from the lengthy and uneasy, but interesting Guardian article about Conrad.
(found here)
I should look better and find material that would do justice both to Joseph Beuys and to Joseph Conrad. However, the video above, although somewhat naive, does present Beuys at least in some respect, and has excellent footage from his I Like America and America Likes Me. For more resources go here, and a great overview of Beuys and his influence on today's art can be found on this Tate page.
As for the article about Conrad, its style does actually do justice to the Polish writer. And it is certainly enlightening. However, other suggestions are welcome.

What links those two? What impresses me? Beyond a difficult, though creative, dealing with one's identity - which that doesn't really make them stand out among artists... A sense of a profound and paradoxically bitter optimism. And amazing self-discipline.



Desert:

The Fat is on the Table
Maurizio Cattelan on Joseph Beuys

beuys is dead
beuys is also uniting love and knowledge
beuys is more present in a desert freak
beuys is sponsored by museum für moderne kunst
beuys is appointed professor of sculpture at the düsseldorf academy of art
beuys extends ulysses by two chapters at the request of james joyce
beuys is surely not a sartre follower, but of course there are many parallels
beuys is mentioned next to steiner
beuys is back in town
beuys is back in belgium, in berlin, US, active in germany
beuys is the contemporary artist responsible for the popular notion that politics is an aesthetic activity that anyone can engage in
beuys is inspired by steiner
beuys is not so reactionary as to deny the existence of the entire art history repertoire
beuys is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential post-war german artists
beuys is the identification with everything from mythological 9gures and historical personages to writers and artists
beuys is a mythical figure in the art world, however
beuys is particularly significant in the light of his introspective research on the possible reuni9cation of human and natural life
beuys is in the creation of the social sculpture
beuys is either loved or hated
beuys is considered one of the most
beuys is widely regarded as one of the most important german artists since world war II
beuys is demanding sun instead of rain/reagan
beuys is more like an evangelist
beuys is famous for an extraordinary body of drawings
beuys is such an obvious candidate; he started making art following a breakdown that was a result of his experiences in world war II
beuys is represented in depth in dia's permanent collection
beuys is
beuys is among the most famous of today's artists
beuys is one of the most famous performance artists
beuys is valid because wolfgang laib shares his belief in the transcendent power of art
beuys is another sculptor that
beuys is one of the major figures in post-war german art
beuys is known for his shamanistic artist's persona
beuys is among the world's most comprehensive
beuys is in these digital photographs represented not by him directly
beuys is a real people's artist understood by a professor
beuys is megjelent a kövek mellett és hamarosan heves vita bontakozott ki közte és a közönség között
beuys is a 1972 lithograph in which the essential feature is that of beuys as everyman
beuys is elvesztette
beuys is átvett és ami interszubjektiv jellege miatt nem volt
beuys is called to account by his presumptive offspring
beuys is veel materiaal verdwenen
beuys is questioned by the activities of maclennan
beuys is instructive
beuys is very important in mail art
beuys is understandable
beuys is known to
beuys is not completed by his death
beuys is i was never secure and happy in the world of galleries from the very beginning
beuys is and how it is pronounced
beuys is cleverly recontextualised in
beuys is of course enormously interesting
beuys is l'eminence grise of community building as an art form
beuys is interested in the proportions between crystal and amorphous states
beuys is able to evoke the experience of the past
beuys is a magnificent
beuys is based on three stages
beuys is a special case because of the build-up of a curious sense of obligation to respond positively
beuys is the generation of my father
beuys is talking about the much wider concept of creative potential
beuys is regarded as one of the most significant personalities of the past
beuys is steeped in the struggle of world war II
beuys is a big influence right now
beuys is unavoidable
beuys is purely a decorative artist
beuys is hype
beuys is cited as the great collaborator of the twentieth century because
beuys believed everybody was a potential artist
beuys is on e-bay
beuys is a mythical figure in
beuys is one artist i wanted to ask you about
beuys is one of the biggest art world phonies of recent years
beuys is probably unique in the history of art
beuys is supposed
beuys is a very controversial sculptor
beuys is grounded in a tradition of narrative sources that is often absent in american art of the same period
beuys is hardly a household name in the history of twentieth-century art
beuys is the great shaman of twentieth-century art
beuys is represented with his monumental work created shortly before his death, lightning with stag in its glare
beuys is best known for declaring "everyone an artist"; koons seems to declare that everyone is a consumer

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Knitting Three Colors Per Row

In a perfect world all stranded color knitting patterns would specify just two colors per row. However, there are times you'll see three or even four colors per row (Dale of Norway, I'm looking at you!) in a color pattern chart. So how do you hold all those yarns?

First of all, you don't even have to knit three or four colors per row. Instead you can just knit with two colors and later go back and duplicate stitch the third color. Or you can just knit with two colors, slipping all the stitches that are to be knit with the third color. Then you go back and knit the exact same row again, slipping the stitches you just knit and knitting the third and fourth color stitches you slipped previously.

Still, if you want to knit 3 colors per row there are many, many ways to do this. All are a variety of the methods I've shown last week. You can put all three yarns in your left hand, 3 yarns in your right hand, or 2 yarns in one hand and 1 yarn in the other hand. In knitting with 3 colors a row you don't even have to worry about finding a method that doesn't tangle because they all do as far as I can tell. I generally stop a few times per row to detangle the yarns when knitting 3 color rows.



Here's how I hold the yarns for a 3 color row. The background color is again in my right hand and the other two colors are both stranded over my left index finger.

I knit the yarn in my right hand English/American style and grab the specific yarn I need from my left hand finger and knit continental. This method is slow-going though.

I plan to try the method shown above the next time I have a three color row. I'll put all three colors in my strickfingerhut/knitting thimble and simply use the right hand needle to grab the color I need. I haven't experimented with this method much but I do think it will reduce tangling and the tangles that do occur will be easier to deal with.

Guerrillas looking for Budapest museum director

The site claims:

Position Summary

Museum Director

Director I, Full Time

Monday - Friday, 9:00am - 6:00pm

Hiring Range & Group: 2-4.000 EUR / Month

Closing Date: Open Until Closed

The Ludwig Museum Budapest (LUMÚ) is one of the major Hungarian Museums and exhibition spaces, and holds the most important collection of modern art in Hungary. (...)

Our aim is to create an alternative platform for applicants in order to emphasize the opportunities which lie in this position in order to put LUMÚ on the global map with an internationally recognizable program.

If you wish to apply please send your application (concept) as told below. We do not evaluate but only post all applications on this website.
We hope all decision makers will consider all information collected on this page and will be influenced by your ideas and concepts. We hope they might consider the applicants for the official call. There have been precedents in Hungary where the highest positions have been hijacked by public initiatives in the midst of political status quo. We believe that if you are a sound applicant, you can become the director through public support.

Basically, here is a beautiful case: a group of people really passionate about contemporary art want to have a good museum. So they try to be active. They see that the formal way of solving the issue seems impossible. So they take matters in their own hands, and they announce a pseudo-contest. You can send your candidature, but - and this is the brilliant part - they will not judge it. They will limit themselves to showing those in charge that you exist. And, hopefully, those in charge will take you into consideration when looking for the right person.

Sounds impressive. Guerrillas fighting for justice. Guerrillas who don't want to take over, only think out-of-the-box to try and open minds. After all, if there are competent, interesting candidates out there, why not present them?
A few things worry me slightly: 1) As of today, there is still no candidature online. People don't take it seriously? Possibly. Or maybe, they are not ready to take the risk of becoming associated to something that seems quite a rebellious initiative (after all, it does suggest the Museum has a good chance of receiving the director the politicians will nominate, no questions asked)? 2) What can the real force of such an initiative be? Doesn't it remind you of the rallies that have been so popular these days, say, against the invasion of Iraq? The guerrilla tactics seem more like an interesting phenomenon than an actual force.
Now, the real question might be, what is the strength of this particular utopia?
I hope it does raise the issue of a fair selection. And even if a director is nominated from among the friends and relatives of the Right People, they will have to stand up to the challenge of being compared to the other candidates. The unofficial ones.
What better place to start this sort of initiative than a museum of modern art?
Now, this only works if competent people do send in their proposals. And impress the heck out of everyone.

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Species p.2

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I am waiting to get more photos of various methods of knitting with 3 colors per row.

I have held off showing you some photos of Bubbles because I was hoping by now I'd be able to do some before and after photos of her weight loss. I think she has lost a little weight but we need to continue our efforts. She is still living in just one room to keep her and Jack the cat separate so she isn't getting as much exercise as I'd hoped.



She has the best bunny room filled with boxes and baskets and toys and hay and pet beds and blankets and even a stuffed bunny friend she is "grooming" here.



I like to hang out and read on the floor with her. The other night it sounded like there were about 20 coyotes howling right outside the window and I went in with her and she didn't even seem perturbed. Occasionally if I'm lucky she'll come up on my lap. She's such a sweetheart!

Species

What is absolutely astonishing about this photo by Jill Greenberg is that it seems almost as if taken by chance. Although it is a carefully studied pose, its context is nowhere close to the conceptual play we see here. It is part of a series portraying primates in a relatively classical way - their faces showing somewhat human characteristics, with adequately human titles ("Anxious", "Dude", etc.). They are wonderful and funny pictures, but this one here is really something else. The title is "Mala Centerfold", and that seems an understatement. We are not in front of some cheesy centerfold here. Oh, no! - this is the real thing, this is the indecent Olympia, this is the lascivious Maja.
It is challenging Darwin to a truth-or-dare.
And it is delicious.

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2 videos found by chance

Star, by Alexander Reyna


Metalosis Maligna, by Floris Kaayk

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Stay with us for part 2 of Extreme Best Wallpaper Pack : Hi-Resolution

Two-Handed Two-Color Stranded Knitting

Occasionally you'll hear someone tell you there is only one right way to knit with two colors. I've heard people say that two-handed knitting is the best method. That is complete nonsense. It is the same as saying only English/American knitters can knit lace or only knitters who use circular needles can achieve beautiful hand-knit socks. I think the right method for you depends on your hands and how you hold the needles. Many incredible and extremely advanced color knitters don't use two hands.

I do use the two-handed method and frankly, I adore it. I actually pout a bit if I have to knit some ribbing or a stripe with just one hand. So I do want to urge all new color knitters to try using two hands on a small project. It only took me one sock project to fall in love with this method and the feeling of flow when using two hands.

To me the benefits of two-handed knitting are the relief the dominant hand gets and the sheer speed. It is much faster for me because I can start one of my hands knitting with the second color before I'm even done knitting with the first color with the other hand. I hold the right hand needle like a pencil but for some reason I don't with the left hand needle.




I tension the yarns through my fingers as shown although the yarn is too low on my left hand in this photo. When knitting I keep the yarns above my middle knuckles. The yarn in my right hand will be the background color and the yarn in my left hand will be the dominant color. In Carol Rasmussen Noble's Fair Isle mitten book, she says the stitches made by the left hand will be slightly larger if you're normally an English/American knitter and after looking closely at my knitting, she is definitely right in my case.

My method of weaving the yarns through my fingers is a pain if you need to get up frequently while knitting but I have at least learned how to keep the yarns woven through my fingers like that while changing from one dpn to the next.



To knit the left hand yarn, you knit Continental and either grab the yarn by going over or under the yarn. I go over.



When I need more yarn I simply lift my index fingers like this and pull more yarn out from the skein.



To knit with the right hand yarn I simply knit English/American and wind the yarn around the right-hand needle.

Using a Norwegian Knitting Thimble/Strickfingerhut

First of all, there are several kinds of strickfingerhuts and the kind shown here is NOT the preferred kind to buy. Instead go for a metal one that looks like THIS as it fits your finger better, won't break, and holds the two yarns farther apart which is the whole purpose of this handy gadget. If you google "knitting thimble" you'll find a wide variety - there is even a type that fits over your fingertip like a sewing thimble.

The biggest advantage of using the plastic type shown here is that it can hold three or four yarns. In fact it may even be the best method of knitting 3 colors per row without excessive yarn twisting. Anyway, they're all around $3 so get a few and play with them.

Strickfingerhuts are mainly used by Continental knitters although I occasionally hear of a right-hand knitter who has figured out a way to use one. It normally goes on the left index finger and I like placing it as far down toward my middle knuckle as possible. That way I don't have to lift my index finger so high while knitting.



To use the plastic type, you open it up and insert the strands of yarn and close it up again. With the plastic type I put the two yarns as far away from each other as possible.



To knit the lower yarn you simply go over or under it and grab it and pull it through the knit stitch on the needle.



To knit the higher yarn try doing it similarly to yesterday's post on two colors in the left hand - grab the higher yarn by going over it and pulling through. You can use the rest of your fingers to hold/tension the yarns however you like. Many Continental knitters say that this handy gadget has greatly increased their 2-color knitting speed.

Tomorrow I'll talk about two-handed two-color knitting and this weekend I'll discuss some methods of knitting 3 color rows.

Here are my latest Roy G Biv socks knit in worsted weight yarn from the stash. I wish I'd been able to find a brighter yellow in the stash.

Knitting with Two Colors in Your Left Hand

HOLDING TWO COLORS WITH YOUR LEFT HAND

Continental knitters shouldn't be afraid to try to knit with two colors in one hand because it is done very similarly to how they knit with one color.

With this method you tension both yarns over the left hand index finger. Here's how I do it.



By stranding the yarns as shown (one going over and one going under the middle finger) I can try to avoid the two yarns ending up too close to each other on my index finger. (A strickfingerhut can also help keep the yarns separate but I'll talk about using one tomorrow.)



The yarn lowest on the finger is knit normally - by taking the right hand needle, putting it through the stitch on the left hand needle knitwise, then going over or under the lowest yarn with the right hand needle and pulling it through the stitch. I don't think it matters much whether you go over or under the yarn to grab it. Here I am going under the green yarn.



To knit the color held higher on the finger, nearer the fingertip, you take the right hand needle, put it through the stitch on the left hand knitwise, reach beyond the black yarn and grab the green yarn and pull it through the needle. I've tried grabbing this second yarn by either going under or over the yarn and I've found that using the needle to grab the color by going OVER the yarn is faster for me.



Here the black yarn is pulled through and I'm back to where I started.
As I said, the biggest difficulty I have using this method is how to keep the two yarns separate enough on my index finger so I can easily choose one color to knit. I do notice I lift my left index finger often to help tension the two yarns. Or I can use a strickfingerhut/knitting thimble. More on that tomorrow.

I will have info on knitting with 2 colors in the left hand tomorrow.

This week has been a week of pleasant surprises.


This week's CSA box (not completely local but from farms all over the region) from Los Poblanos Organics is not really a surprise but I just love getting it each week and planning menus around it. I think there is a vegetable pot pie in our immediate future.



Mary Tess surprised me with a lovely box full of Knitpicks Palette in 7 colors, a Red Sox DVD, a mitten cookie cutter and quite possibly the world's only glove knitting bumper sticker.



After several weeks of NEVER using her litter box Miss Bubbles is now completely litter trained. And I really didn't even do anything. I guess I'm just lucky. She got an extra treat today for being such a good girl.

A few amazing finds, and a very subjective text

Magnus von Plessen, Felicity

It is hard for me to imagine a live performance that would have (that I would find to have) the density of some visual art. Yes, I distinguish those quite clearly, mainly by the dilating of senses I experience when watching most performance, as if there was no way of just getting to the point, or points, or of just hitting me with whatever they have. "Just". There is justice in this just, a sense of the right measure, like an object where the proportions feel right. I simply cannot recall a single performance I have seen where the proportions just felt right. It seems time and a live body introduce elements that are somehow completely out of the scope of my spectator experience.
Compare the best you've seen on stage to this:






The above images, by the astonishing Tim Hawkinson, are more than powerful: they range from publicity-like to classical sculpture to highly conceptual (the last one is a self-portrait mapping of all the area the artist sees on his own body, the picture before is a Balloon Self-Portrait, a blown-up mold of the artist), and yet each of them seems complete.
Or see these, by Huma Bhabha:


How are we to compete with the perfection of something that is? Another language, you will say. Another state of presence. And yet, the choice of what to lay my eyes on remains. And diversity is no argument, when time after time what is live seems to be disappointing, less thrilling, less surprising, exciting, fresh and bold than what remains there not waiting for the sight. But then again, it is also less exciting than film, which seems only to live when seen!
Indeed, it is perfectly useless to speak of the spectator's responsibility in all this, when the spectator admits he is not up to it and instead choses something less desperate, even as it may be darker and, at least on the surface, less active.
(Both poor quality reproductions are by Magnus von Plessen)
And yet, after having written all this, I still feel that live art somehow retains an incredible potential. Not because it is live, at least in the sense of having live people in front of you, but rather, in the sense of it being an event, and so, something that remains unexpected, but also unfinished, incomplete, and fragile in its egomaniacal form ("look at me!"). I'm still not sure where this is heading, it remains confused, but it might have something to do with the amazing phenomenon of enjoying something while it is bad, enjoying it because you appreciate it as an event, enjoying the fact that you are in the privileged position of



PS: Here is a picture dedicated to the effort of some colleagues from a theater project that has been on these days:
(The picture is by Amy Stein. I believe the title is Domesticated.)