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A Handy Tip for the Easily Distracted

The perfect remedy for a highly, highly distracted state.

 

Miranda July: The Future on Nowness.com.

From the film
Miranda July: The Future
The Artist and Filmmaker Presents An Exclusive Vignette Inspired By Her Magical New Film

Miranda July dreams up an idiosyncratic solution to the interruptions of modern life in “A Handy Tip for the Easily Distracted.” An offcut from July’s latest film, The Future, the scene has been reconstituted by the actress, writer and filmmaker for NOWNESS, complete with a score by David Byrne collaborator Steven Reker. July drew on her performance art piece, “Things We Don’t Understand and Are Definitely Not Going to Talk About” for her sophomore feature; it follows 2005′s Me and You and Everyone We Know, which won the Caméra d’Or prize at Cannes. The film’s plot centers on LA couple Sophie (July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater), whose decision to adopt the sickly stray cat Paw Paw sees them grapple with the impending responsibility of the pet’s care. This being a July vehicle, things take a characteristically kooky turn, with Paw Paw stepping in as narrator, and the couple embarking on a quest to seize the day: Sophie strives to reach her artistic potential by creating a definitive dance number, and Jason hands his future over to fate, following “signs” from the universe. We spoke to the prolific July, who has also exhibited as a performance artist at the Guggenheim and the Whitney Biennale and written for publications including The Paris Review and The New Yorker.

i (heart) marco brambilla

I mean, come ON. Marco Brambilla, your work blows my mind. My friends, see for yourself, in three steps:

1.]  Begin here, with Kanye West’s music video, Power:

2.]  Then check out Marco’s ridiculous (in a good way) video installation, “Civilization, in the elevator of The Standard hotel in New York City (I am chastising myself for not having gone to see it in person when I was there last. I should know better. I learned about him first through this piece a few years ago.).

3.]  And then go peruse his other work (my personal fav is “Ghost”).

I promise, your eyes and ears will say nothing but *delish* and *love*.

(sigh)

Telling an Old Story New

The Holocaust

Listen: Podcast on Radio Johnny

An interview with Mark Rothman, Executive Director, Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
Show length: 29 minutes

The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is the oldest such museum in the United States. Established in 1961 by a group of Holocaust survivors, the museum lost its home in 1994 due to an earthquake. For years, the organization moved its exhibit around, and in 2010, it established a permanent home in Pan Pacific Park.

In this podcast, I interview Mark Rothman, Executive Director at the museum, about the creative process of designing this new building. He explains how they chose to deliver this challenging content, their curatorial philosophy, and how visitors are engaging with the rich technology that drives their visit. He also addresses the challenges of exhibiting content in a way that does not subvert emotional connection, but personalizes and makes relevant this tragic part of our past.
Listen to podcast

Intentional Environments: Designing a Culture of Co-creation

Just gave this talk with Kate Rutter at Adaptive Path’s UX Week Conference.

SYNOPSIS

Design doesn’t happen inside a vacuum. It happens inside teams, inside the context of relationships, inside physical spaces, inside organizations with very particular cultures. Ignore that intricate ecosystem, and you might as well give your project a death sentence.

Teresa Brazen and Kate Rutter draw from their experience bringing this holistic outlook to the design process. Pulling from methods used in filmmaking, fine art, design research, facilitation, improv, and UX design, they craft “intentional environments” for their teams and clients. These literal and figurative environments cultivate work that is actionable, co-created, co-owned, and much more likely to succeed in the world.
They discuss the benefits of intentional environments and walk you through how to design them and methods for keeping them activated throughout the design process. You’ll walk away understanding how to cultivate intentionality, co-create without compromising output, and inspire teams and clients along the way. But more importantly, you’ll have a powerful new framework that will enrich your entire design process.


SLIDE DECK FOR DOWNLOAD


VIDEO OF THE PRESENTATION

Puddle Song

Puddle Song playfully explores creative expression, judgment, and censorship. Soon after the work’s protagonist innocently loses herself in a moment of wonder and joy, she realizes she is being watched. Her perception of the judgmental gaze of another person imposes on her excitement, and puts an abrupt end to her spontaneous creativity. This film is one is a series of tone poems that explore human behavior and emotion within the framework of a single moment or situation.

Love Struck

A short sound and image study of the arc of emotions in a lover’s pursuit: anticipation, tension and release. Love Struck is one is a series of tone poems that explore human behavior and emotion within the framework of a single moment or situation.

Breaking In My New Art Studio

My friend Kate Rutter (designer, artist, crazy intelligent, all-round awesome lady) and I christened my new art studio with a vision board exercise. We cut out, pasted, glued, drew, painted images and thoughts about the futures we want to create. Highlights of the day were sun prints and packing tape transfers. Oh, and homemade white Sangria.

It’s good to have a bona fide creative space to think in.

Ask DJ Spooky

You love Paul Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid). Or, maybe you just don’t know you love him yet. But, trust me, you do. Your love for him is in you. Waiting to find its way out.

Whether you already love him, or don’t know you love him yet, there is a likely a burning question in your mind…one you’ve always wanted (or will want) to ask him. One that keeps you up at night (or will), that you mull over (or will) as you stare out the window while you’re being creative. It’s one of those annoying brain itches you can’t scratch with your short brain arms.

Well, my friends, relief has come. Think of me as your conduit, a portal that will deliver your question to the man himself. I can scratch your brain itch. Let me explain…

I’m excited to announce that Paul Miller, composer, multimedia artist and writer, will be a keynote speaker at this year’s UX Week (Adaptive Path’s conference for user experience design folk, for those of you not in the know). He’ll discuss his book, Sound Unbound, a collection of thirty-six essays from musicians, writers and artists like Brian Eno, Moby, Chuck D, and Bruce Sterling. These are reports from the front lines on the role of sound and digital media in an information-based society. In preparation for his talk at UX Week, I’ll be interviewing him and sharing our conversation on my blog and Adaptive Path’s blog later this month.

Paul describes music as a social network that is “not about individual creativity but a collective process”.  In that vein, rather than crafting interview questions myself, I’ll be collecting questions from friends and colleges. I’ll take your questions, print them out, put them in a bowl and randomly select a handful, letting fate guide where the conversation goes.

So, send your questions to me at teresa@adaptivepath.com by Tuesday, May 24th.

For some Paul Miller goodness, check out his official website, his book, his Sinfonia Antartica project, his Rebirth of a Nation project or the DJ Spooky iPhone App.

And to get a sense of the kind of things we might hear at UX Week, here's a snippet of him at SXSW last year.

UX Week is August 23-26 in San Francisco. Have a look at our speaker line up and register at the UX Week website.

The NO Project

I started a photo series a couple of years ago as a way to document and pay attention to the pervasiveness of NO in American culture – as expressed through signage. A few interesting observations:

The frequency of NO signs varies by location. In cities, there are a lot of rules about how you can interact with public space (ie: parking) and where you are (or are not) allowed to consume beverages, food, and cigarettes.  In rural areas, there are fewer signs, but there are very clear (and adamant) rules about how human beings are allowed to interact with nature. In my travels to other countries, these nature rules don’t necessarily exist — or if they do, there are far fewer. Nor do many other cultures have the same frequency of NO signs in urban areas.

I’m particularly intrigued by handmade signs. It’s curious that people make signs forbidding or discouraging behavior of other human beings with the expectation that these demands will be met. It’d be interesting to do a study on how often these handmade signs are adhered to as compared to government generated signs.

My overall insight thus far is that there are a high number of demands upon American behavior expressed in signage, and we’ve become quite accustomed to seeing these notifications.

See more photos on Flickr.