human energy system

2012-02-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

self as an/other: identifying as ‘I’ that which is not me, defining as ‘not-I’ that which is myself.

photography on remote with Rachel Petersen, 2012.

http://www.thingspowerthemselves.com/selfasother

2012-02-04T08:11:00.000-08:00

2012-02-02T19:20:00.000-08:00

life activates thought; thought in turn affirms life, recalling something essentially forgotten. the most powerful tool is withdrawal of consent, non-cooperation. awareness folds in upon itself and the senses become mere adjuncts to an isolated and abstract mind. the individual becomes so grotesquely alienated that the self must disguise itself as an extraterrestrial in order to not cause alarm with the truly bizarre dimensions it encompasses.

confusion is a very important space to be in.

it's completely necessary to get confused to have an idea about a solution.

until the hammer is not useful anymore, all problems are nails.

2012-02-02T12:29:00.000-08:00

2012-02-01T21:03:00.001-08:00

2012-01-31T13:12:00.000-08:00

behind the superficial roles of original and copy there is the mark of an original trauma which can be revealed through the tracking and repeating of symptoms - each iteration, in a sense, a revised translation of the initial condition that was its source.

2012-01-22T22:18:00.001-08:00

2012-01-19T17:52:00.001-08:00

2012-01-14T10:24:00.001-08:00

2012-01-06T09:43:00.001-08:00

2011-12-26T08:33:00.001-08:00

2011-12-22T08:02:00.001-08:00

2011-12-12T09:22:00.000-08:00

2011-12-11T17:59:00.000-08:00

atsuko kudo, test shoot

2011-12-09T14:04:00.001-08:00

2011-12-08T09:24:00.001-08:00

2011-12-07T13:15:00.000-08:00

in death there is variation and new beginnings. the universe continually provides us with physical systems that never run out of variation – which, like a fractal, create infinite numbers of the same patterns expressed differently. these systems must adjust and adapt to ever-changing conditions while entropy continuously permeates all aspects of existence. systems and conditions in this universe are always in flux with no absolutes outside of our own abstract thinking. for the human energy system, though, perhaps it is not the final condition that defines a life, but rather the process of becoming as a whole.

energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed.
the form when we start does not matter; the form when we end does not matter.

our energy is simply transformed into something different.

2011-12-04T10:51:00.000-08:00

Paolo Minissi, 02071957 - 11232011

2011-11-23T12:30:00.001-08:00

2011-11-08T08:38:00.000-08:00

evasion is a good weapon for avoiding all familiar paths. if you know the way, its not the way. calculated disruption followed by incalculable vapidity quickly degenerating into the merely silly and then toss in a few offensive banalities just to make sure you are judged. now an important question arises wanting what? my advice is to go on immediately to another topic.

2011-11-04T12:29:00.001-07:00

2011-11-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

2011-10-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

2011-10-18T07:12:00.001-07:00

2011-10-13T14:10:00.001-07:00

2011-09-19T07:49:00.000-07:00

2011-09-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

from a transpersonal perspective, as individuals mature, the sense of self expands. the term transpersonal, or literally "beyond the mask," refers to self-transcendence and an evolution of the self-concept from a sense of identity which is exclusively individual to one that is deeper, broader, and a more unified whole.

at each stage of transformation, our self-concept proceeds through a process of differentiation, transcendence, and integration. once mental, emotional, and physical representations of the self-concept have been differentiated, the self transcends or dis-identifies from them. "masks" or iterations that are transcended are not lost or discarded, but subsumed in a more complex and inclusive organizational structure. ultimately, self-transcendence calls for the integration of both personal and transpersonal definitions of one’s self.

the individual who pursues this dimension of identity never arrives at a destination, because who one thinks one is turns out to be only an illusion of a separate self that ultimately dissolves into the larger whole.

2011-09-13T13:47:00.001-07:00

the term 'nym' refers to the pseudo-identity that arises from anonymous digital activity, for use as a proxy for the individual. the relationship between a nym and the underlying entity may be 1:1, or an entity may have many nyms. additionally, multiple entities can share a singular nym. under such arrangements, a person sustains separate relationships with various organizations, using separate identifiers, and generating separate data trails. these digital trails can be designed to be very difficult to link; or they can provide a mechanism whereby the veil of pseudonymity may be lifted, subject to appropriate conditions being fulfilled.

in the contemporary contexts of data-intensive relationships and internet-mediated communications, pseudonymity and multiple nyms have become important facets of human identification and information privacy.

2011-09-08T12:09:00.001-07:00

finally updated
http://thingspowerthemselves.com

2011-09-07T14:35:00.001-07:00

Iris Van Herpen, 'Capriole' Collection F/W 2011
inspirational laser cutting

2011-08-25T11:16:00.001-07:00

2011-08-16T12:46:00.000-07:00

the point of the game can be generalized: to play.
the game is playing us and not the other way around
our concern is with limiting and also liberating the initial conditions of play

2011-08-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

all significant truths are private truths; as they become public they cease to be truths and become facts. treating facts with imagination is one thing, but imagining the facts altogether is quite another. it is interesting how some can claim to be knowledgeable about situations that don’t concern them, without any more than their own opinions and imagination to construct a deluded perception with. the greatest ignorance is the assumption that one's own opinions are infallibly correct

2011-05-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

Observation is itself a projection, dominating the perceptual plane while remaining limited by the measurement capabilities of it's instruments, a barely navigable psychosis of contemporary culture.

Seeing is itself seeing itself - releasing the deep ambiguities inherent to all open experimental systems -
the observer becoming the observed.

Language leads knowledge to a state of paradoxical ambivalence in which the locus of interpretation connects all distributed semiotic fields to such degree that no system of oppositions retains its capacity to accurately describe the conditions of the living.

Create your own sense of vision - editor-surgeon prying deep into the folds of the real.
The viscera, spilled out as in dissection and cut away from its context, reanimates itself.

2011-05-16T21:45:00.001-07:00

2011-05-13T13:19:00.000-07:00

fantasy_edit HDR toning visual comparison. click image for larger view

2011-05-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

new space, in progress. white walls

2011-05-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

Synthetic Twin collaboration, 2011.
reprise of 2008 thesis project, Self and Other.

photography: Scout Pare-Phillips
creative concept/ direction: Rita Minissi

retouching: Scout Pare-Phillips
mesh-edits, fantasy-edits: Rita Minissi
models: Scout Pare-Phillips and Rita Minissi

2011-04-27T22:16:00.001-07:00

Commercial Web 2.0 platforms are attractive because they allow us to explore and build knowledge and social relations in an intimate, personalized way. In this dynamic, the commercialization of users and information is one of the central factors through which this enrichment takes place. As a consequence, alienation disappears, and within the Web 2.0 world there is no separation between the marketing of user information and the subjective enrichment of users: what used to be two separate processes are now one in the augmentation of social and cultural factors.

This double movement allows alienation to seems like its opposite. The process of restricting our identity to its articulation on social networks appears to us as an opening up of possibilities, thanks to automated recommendations, archiving, and the facilitation of immediate feedback on our broadcasted gestures. The commercialization seems like authentication, proving at the institutional level that our selves have social value. It also seems like an escape from old-economy impersonal market relations, because all transactions are deeply personalized and specific, and thus seem identity-validating. This gives the impression of a community, in relation to a now-outdated sense of what consumerism was once supposed to imply — mass conformity. Consumerism is now the inverse, hyper-personal identity oriented, with the “unique identity” as the ultimate product being sold and resold to the same individual subject.

The expansive range and variations of social network users demonstrates how processes of Web 2.0 worlds are both highly personalized and standardized. That is, the representation of ourselves takes place through a platform’s universal algorithmic logic. As users, we input personal information into the platform, and in turn, the platform represents us on the user-interface as the aggregation of bits and pieces of images, texts, sounds, videos, and links. The user-interface becomes a site where the exploration and extension of ourselves is continuously negotiated through a techno-cultural mediation.

2011-04-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

2011-04-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

there should be a clear separation between evidence and the interpretation of evidence, with the limitations of interpretation kept in mind. through the advancements in human sciences disciplines, there has been a growing awareness that almost anything can be constituted as 'data' and the problem lies not so much in gathering data, but in managing and interrogating it in original ways. generalizing broadens the implications of comparisons and propositions, whereas personalizing restricts their relevance to a self-target relationship. without taking a postmodern position that judgment depends solely on the position of the observer, it is nevertheless true that observers and audiences vary.

if forced to make deductions based on information that is incomplete and out of context, the perciever will draw very generalized, abstract, and sometimes inaccurate knowledge. drawing personalized formations from content that has been specifically generalized is obviously not an ideal system for impression formation. it is always important to distinguish between content that is general and that which is personalized, without immediately assuming what it is about or in relation to.

2011-04-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

performance tuning

profiling
optimization
adaptive control

2011-04-12T15:24:00.000-07:00

what-happens-to-a-society-that-cannot-distinguish-between-reality-and-illusion

2011-04-08T06:54:00.000-07:00

2 horses, 2010. 28"x44" spliced scan for reproduction.
half-size and low-res for the internet. original NFS

falling horses, 2010. 28"x44" spliced scan for reproduction.
half-size and low-res for the internet. original NFS

new drawings available soon in limited editions of 10 reproductions per drawing

full-size high resolution scans
color-matched to original
archival quality media

2011-04-03T20:26:00.001-07:00

2011-03-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

deep down we long to give up, to come clean, as part of a general desire to be known or recognized. the prospect of surrender may be accompanied by a feeling of dread and or relief, but its ultimate direction is the discovery of one's identity, one's sense of self, and one's sense of wholeness.

the recognition of value and meaning in the desire to surrender runs counter to many prevailing attitudes in psychology, but was perhaps best represented and understood by carl jung. masochistic behavior can potentially be imagined as a cultivation of what jung called the "shadow" - the darker, mostly unconscious part of the mind, which he regarded not as a sickness, but as an essential part of the human psyche. the shadow is the tunnel, channel, or connector through which one reaches the deepest, most elemental layers of psyche. going through the tunnel, or breaking the ego defenses down, one feels reduced and degraded. usually, we try to bring the shadow under the ego's domination, but embracing the shadow, on the other hand, provides a fuller sense of self-knowledge, self-acceptance and a fuller sense of being alive.

jung's idea of the shadow involves force and passivity, horror and beauty, power and impotence, straightness and perversion, infantilism, wisdom and foolishness. the experience of the shadow is humiliating and occasionally frightening, but it is a reduction of essential life, which includes suffering, pain, powerlessness and humiliation. submission to the loss of control serves to embrace our shadow rather than to deny it. the result is the achievement of an inner life that accepts and embraces all aspects of our identity and allows us to live with a deeper sense of our true self.

2011-03-23T06:52:00.000-07:00

“fantastic realism”
a bias for the grotesque and bizarre, but with calmness and a transcendent aesthetic.

chaos into structure

2011-03-21T21:25:00.000-07:00

a mask conceals, but also has the ability to protect the personal (inner) identity in a social sphere, to which extent it can reaffirm the right of identity (privacy of self) and potentially be its fitting expression in certain situations.

a role is also an indefinite idea: a person must of course perform the role, but its outline is prescribed by an external source. the role can describe an expected pattern of behavior, mean the postponement of “true” identity by a substitute identity (acting), or help to differentiate between the public and the private self whereby a forced or even a split identity can result.

identity is, for its part, a complex and controversial subject, which always eludes definition. the ambiguity lies in the fact that identity is a multi-faceted personal style in which the ever changing whole continually reacts to new experiences and express itself.

working concepts:

- manipulation through adjustment to a role (the role could be a mask in itself)
- distinction between identity as role and identity as communicative action
- deconstructing the search for the inner person

2011-01-23T06:59:00.000-08:00

Designer + Machine = Product
directly incorporating a new machine or technology into the design processes in order to create new products

Concept = Machine = Product
work that is both inspired by machinery and incorporates machinery in the finished product

Product = Machine
products that become, as a result of the process, machines

Designer through Machine = Product
products that were created as a result of a machine-mediated process, not completely removing the designer from the design process, but giving over a substantial piece of the design phase to the machine

2009-12-15T10:48:00.000-08:00

TO BUILD

YOU LIVE

YOU DIE

THESE ARE

CONSEQUENCES

LIVE, OR DIE: MERE CONSEQUENCES OF WHAT YOU HAVE BUILT.

WHAT MATTERS IS BUILDING WELL.

2009-12-06T16:48:00.001-08:00

In public, there are two interpretations of a performance: the one we make for ourselves, and the one that is made for us. By deploying or subverting social and cultural practices, we learn to exert a degree of control over how we are perceived (how our identity is perceived) with this control becoming a dimension of the performance.

What happens to the individual who creates an identity online that does not exist in real life? Performance and social networking has, I think, more to do with putting yourself on a stage while not being able to see the audience, but unlike any venue for expression we had before, you can be pretty certain that the audience is there. Perhaps the most noticeable difference with an internet performance is that it leaves absolutely nothing fixed in place; we leave open the possibility that, not only is an internet identity a legitimate presentation of the individual, but also that the individual, theoretically, gets as many internet identities as she wants and that they are all legitimate.

2009-11-06T10:49:00.000-08:00

primordially undifferentiated
alone-one-all
enlightenment is: do what you want

let slide sweetly
the transformations
of thinking

mind over matter
and mind over pain

2009-03-06T09:48:00.000-08:00

“we do not pretend that an individual construction is anything more than a conjecture which awaits examination, confirmation, or rejection.”

construction, as freud defines it, is itself a useful construction. it provides the model in this text, which to some extent proposes a psychopathy of discourse, of what discourse should be and do – that is, to take it out of the realm of fetishism into that of construction and the realm of future developments.

to some extent, a construction is that which generates more constructions; that multifaceted discourse we call ‘culture’ is comprised of innumerable such constructions or, perhaps more accurately, co-constructions, in a variety of verbal and nonverbal media. a construction unites image and representation, symbol and history, icon and narrative in a conception that moves its audience to complete and extend the construction; it is in this sense that construction adds to its perceiver’s life: it makes it possible for individuals – and perhaps therefore society, though more slowly – to give up repressions (using the word in the widest sense) belonging to early development and to replace them by reactions of a sort that would correspond to a psychically mature condition.

if a discourse that acknowledges the extent to which it is constructed can do for a society what psychoanalytic construction can do for an individual, then it matters what values we endorse in our critical writing, whether we are sexist, elitist, irrational, sentimental, or otherwise backward.

to acknowledge that our discursive constructions are not mysterious emanations with lives of their own, but rather ‘willed human work,’ would be to acknowledge the communities of contestation and constraint within which we work together, and which we construct.

2009-03-02T00:32:00.000-08:00

h u m a n e n e r g y s y s t e m

there is a strong need for differentiating the real and the non-real. controlling the mind is a major factor in moving beyond it and perceiving reality or absolute space. a smart mind is not necessarily a strong and stable one. consciousness and awareness are two different types of being, one is affiliated to energy and the other to eternity, one is a product of movement and sensations and the other is a product of stillness.

thoughts have no capacity to experience themselves. there is something beyond thought which is doing the witnessing and is unaltered by the thoughts. that something would be the self.

ego boundaries must be hardened before they can be softened.
an identity must be established before it can be transcended.
one must find one’s self before one can lose it.