Electronic Disobedience.

The digital communication mode of expression has become more and more our reality. From hyper links to severs and wireless connections, these intangible elements are entering our lives friendly. Since the early preschool years, a child is already master of a world of computer digitalized toys and his education will be busted at home by nurturing his imagination with alternative realities and his or her existence, soothed with lullabies of digital fantasies.

This newly digitalized dimension is recent to our technician world, at least it is as a public source, but the mere circumstance of its existence speaks of a stage in the modern world civilization in which we have finally agreed in sharing an outstanding source of power: information.

Looking superficially into the world of digital communications, its structure reveals a lacking center of control. Digital information is confined, following the same pattern that creates it; it is more of a constellation of stars or a spider web rather than a pyramid or a circle. Thus the access to this information lacks from its origins, a centralized source of control; everyone can access it and produce it. Moderate literacy is required to have make use of it and enormous potential is acquired by those who do it.

Corporations may have access to resources and economic models of marketing, politicians are in control of stability but people like never before has access to powerful information. We are not considering secret codes, war plans, marketing stocks, what we value here is the power of expression enacted by the individual. In contrast with the controversial forum of international negotiations, or a conference dictating the focus of discoveries, or a lecture assigning participants the role of listeners, the digital route respects race, color, gender and age. Religious believes are not segregated from a convergent flow of personal opinions. Disobedience emerges as the emancipation against silence, against taking turns or against speaking the truth.

This attempt of empowering our own voice, when expanded to a mass of billion people, begins counting. A group turns into a community and later into a society of a nation and of the world. Never before has an individual been allowed to defeat the loneliness and hopeless assumed by its limited condition of singularity. The digital dimension has convinced us of the possibility to reach out, to take the lead and to stand above in the crowds while becoming united with all others.

I am here is the prevailing message, presence through texts and images revealing the character value of an idea, a vote counting for one consumer at a time, a person´s choice counted as a client, the individual ideas of a student, the rights demanded as a citizen.

Round the earth we have the possibility of contact. This is an amazing possibility among all human beings. The more we enact our choices, critiques, votes and requests, even though virtually, the more strength as public and society we gain.

One important step into the future is the capacity to organize ourselves as we evolve with the information we share. It is naïve to expect this computerized devise of communication will support a status quo. How can we organize our societies?

These reflections lead next not only to the meaning of digital disobedience but to the end of it. The outcome or the enactment is blurry. I personally consider that a disobedience which takes place in written only, regardless of the number of followers, is somehow hollow. More important than the number of followers, is the result of the expression. I have not seen anything yet which reveals a change. In a way, as we dare to express electronically, we are hiding behind a shield of technology which original purpose was not that of integration of social webs. How are the manifestations of opposition and dissatisfaction we state in the internet turning into a solid change? It is intangible, still, perhaps this is the stage of babbling and later involvement will be able to tip actions but nothing yet apparently.

The problems we face in the 21st Century demand proportional solutions. Maybe this is the beginning of a collective awareness which will mature into attitude, behavior and action. However, there is risk in supporting second and third hand information. We are also in the era of masking truth and we do not know if there is really any one real. We ignore the real issues and even issues which are hidden from our reach.

As we all embark in the electronic crusade, we ignore the individual who goes side to side in live with us. We devaluate direct dialog or deny it if it doesn´t reach us through an electronic messenger. When we realize about this dehumanization of electronic communication, it may be to late to rescue real human relationships. There are extremes of the absurd when family members living under the same roof communicate amongst themselves electronically, only! Students have not had a printed book any more. Physicians produce prescriptions across the ocean for patients they only knew by an electronic file.

What are we disobeying? Who will reprehend us? I suspect we are all aligned ding exactly what an evil mind formulated. Leaving behind the real power which emerges from a personal relation and from individual responsibility, rather than fantasizing about a collective heroic reaction somewhere in cyber dimension.

Haven´t we learn something during the last millennia of our civilization? The far we go from nature the more difficult it will turn to survive. The answers are not in technology but in spirituality, we need to reach in, to find inside to start with us and limit the actions to the control of our infinite wants. If everybody does the same, instead of writing electronically abut it, we may change. We must realize first that the phantom we are all fighting is a mirror image of our own behavior collectively. We all have demands for gods and services, thus we support a capitalist economy which sets unfair rules for developing nations.

We have children perpetuating the oversize population that the earth can carry and in time producing waste that can not longer is recycled. We have forgotten our ancestors and have no ties to place, nor to wilderness. Under these circumstances, who can write the first complain?

Critical Ensemble.

The essence of avant-garde within any context of its multiple meanings will be that of an experimental attitude; an effort to push the boundaries that have been predetermined by years’ accumulation of cultural norms and regulations. It is within our nature to eventually try to break free of what we find to be restrictions within societal processes.

In the end, individually or communally, we reach a point of passionate longing; an impulsive attempt to reach the unreachable and taste novelty, to rebel against any form of constraint. Yet, in this article we find how the participants of such movement carefully crafted their thoughts, planned their actions, and perfumed, in such a cautious manner so that it wouldn’t be associated to any previous historical or artistic signage. Nonetheless, I feel that in the attempt to avoid this, the end result is still quiet similar to the roots of this term. Often, we try too hard to be “off the hook”, to possess and maintain an original place, unrelatable to any preexisting visions, and still the end result may be found to recount preceding ideas, revolutions, insights.

The status-quo becomes a contradiction of itself, avant-gardism preventing to maintain current and existing state of affairs, impeding a sense of stability. A pushing of boundaries sets a new constant rhythm for society, and the initial surprise that avant-garde was set out to accomplish becomes somewhat predictable.

Sometimes the ramifications of efforts in this movement appear small at firsthand: small numbers lead to small outcomes. Yet, with matters such as this, the greater product results from consistency and continuity.  Examples such as the N5M dealing with tactical television proves how even though the number of followers and participants was relatively small, the impact in the long run that this event had was marked more strongly by its outcome in the future.

While defining this organization, ‘tactical media’ came to be referred to as “a critical usage and theorization of media practices that would draw on all forms of old and new, both lucid and sophisticated media, for achieving a variety of specific noncommercial goals and pushing all kinds of potentially subversive political issues”. This issue was rooted deep within the cultural realm and hence aspects of avant-garde brewed its significance and brought up, in a peaceful confrontational manner, all the different façades that media subconsciously implements upon a society.

In the process, while taking upon such a revolutionary challenge, there occurs a redefining transformation, and a division of prophecies:  the theorization of the end result, and the actual historization. The difference between these results occurs, perceptively, because of unpredictable matters, as well as the alteration that time provides.

To conclude, the aspects of Critical Ensemble’s epitome explores the definitions that create boundaries, deems its impact as open to co-optation, and sets tactical media as being ephemeral, all within the cultural realm of society today.

Infernal.

What revenge! Getting a crowd to assemble as a band out of nowhere and tie them into a collective spirit to express its own rhythm. There is much room to explore the context. Infernal is a reflection upon our inner noise, the noise we all carry within our own heads, a very laud disturbance emerging from the confrontations we enact day to day.

Infernal makes me ponder about the unconscious mind of our modern world. We no longer dwell in silence, nor in solitude and certainly neither in our inner spirit.

A band the size of our own imagination prosecutes us in every action we take, following us at every corner and anticipating our arrival in any public place and encounter. In our sleep and during work and school, television, videogames, ipods, walkmans, we advance technology to the extreme in order to isolate from others, we consciously want to ignore our neighbor, our children and the worst of all our selves.

We need a band to echo, melody and laud expression of others, we need to belong in order to communicate with others and we o it due to several lacks.

As individuals we no longer trust the power on a single voice, we do not trust it because we fill it has no volume and because we fear it will not be heard.

We have not chosen an instrument to represent our melodious message, little do we know about cords, winds, brass, our identity has been jeopardized by the massive thinking and massive confusion.

We need to join the crowd, accept the collective ideas, and build our own pentagram to merge with unison.

The band of our minds will become advocate of anything which is already been exposed and followed.

How could we orchestrate our own ideas? Who can teach us to get the control of our own rhythm and refrain from our own to engaging in massive anonym voices before we stand on our own…?

We go lauder and lauder, our civilization makes more noise than ever, the machinery to transform our landscapes and our minds are more powerful, there is noise everywhere. We have joined the band of the 21st Century; a band which has copied from the military and destroyed balanced familiar nucleolus, as the noise impedes us from hearing the inner voices. We have joined the band of the disruptive noise as we advance in the name of our planet without listening to its clamors. We have exhibited our repertoire in a band which leaves behind elders and children.

Why do we mimic an idiosyncrasy of ethics about land only when we are part of a larger expression? Why do we have to communicate a message through words or music and not with our own example and daily actions?

It is a very interesting possibility to trace the courage of expression to the moment in history when street children joined groups and bands because they could not find a suitable platform of expression, or the appropriate means to communicate frustration.

Our inner voices have been muted; the main reason being the non existing listener. Although there may be the encoder of a message and the message itself, there is no decoder. We do not listen to ourselves. Long ago we did devaluate our own inner conscious and voice. Previous bands of war silenced our ancestors, silenced musicians and conquered and exterminated nations with bombs, shuts, explosions, fire. There are other noises today and other battles. The worst situation is that the noise we have in our minds is transmitted from the moment a baby is born to the next generations. Even before birth we are polluting their peace with all kinds of external stimulus, believing that music and other rhythms may help these new human beings to develop what we value the most, the mathematical scheme to train their minds in order to acquire so many skills needed to manipulate everything.

What about the wind? the rain? the ocean waves? our laugher? These rhythms are more and more confined to shrunken sites without proper acoustics. Those melodies are not in the gamut of our band. And there is one more element which is missing….Who is our audience? Who are we playing for, who will applaud to us after the show is over. Who will we bow to?

While all human beings are engaged in the band we have forgotten about our audience. Who is listening to our chaos when we are all trapped in producing this blast? We are shouting to our selves, and we have taught others to perpetuate this infernal situation, for eternity, into everlasting life. There is no audience to entertain. We are becoming consumed by our own guilt.

Where will all this take us? I learned a children song long ago, assuring that all things should perish while music alone should live. I am certain this could be the case. I have confidence that this was but the first movement of a very simple and primitive attempt of instrumentalization. As human race, we can learn to become fine-tuned, let's begin by choosing the write instrument, advance to enhance this sound of others and finally, obey the metronome of out moral timing. Several famous movies have conveyed hope to change, amazing teachers have been enable to reincorporate the harmony of challenging youth, music is the means, we just do not know any better, but music will find its way, we will settle our minds and quiet noise till we are able to remain in silence, clear from temptations to speed development, at ease with only five notes on a pentagram, and trained as attentive listeners of the beauty and the echoes of nature all around us.

We were meant to dwell in paradise, we can still bring it back, it is all within ourselves. We invented instruments, no mater where we evolved on Earth previous civilizations crafter cords and wind instruments, percussions, our own body is an instrument of music we must clear our rhythm. Let us enjoy, share with the world, recall the famous movement Up with the People, and be at ease with each other first, respecting each other’ss voices.

Ephemeral Art: Dance of Change.

Over the kitchen floor two ice cubes bumped into each other. There is nothing to ask yet about their sudden presence outside the freezer, not about the circumstances which lead them into this bizarre condition.

All of a sudden they become animated as I see one of them gently gliding towards the other. Indeed there is impetus out of now where to allow them to move. Their transformation begins as they enact slow turns. I am sure there are conscious, Matter is alive, and water is the source of life. During the next fractions of a second these ice cubes will perform millions of steps in a complex choreography of transformation. The audience is ready. Their outermost surfaces turn into smooth corners as they capture heat. I look at them carefully and find an infinitely thin layer of water. They are melting, they no longer have a pointe and sharp aspect, they subside, and their corners become rounded as they keep gliding in the increasing amount of fluid merging from them.

To the naked eye, this ephemeral dance has a beginning and end but only to our inner eye the ice cubes dance will result in becoming part of us, we will not be able to watch the third act in which the liquid phase turns into vapor and eventually is incorporated in the air and inspired by us.

The ephemeral dance of these ice cubes is eternal. And we are not only spectators but complies, not only beholders but stages for their performance.

Insider their structure the real perpetuation takes place at microscopic level, change of stage is the result of energy. All these steps, all the moves have been practiced over and over to perfection before our very eyes. We were lucky to be called tonight for this private presentation.

Both cubes flattening, rounding, expanding, what an extraordinary performance, They say it over and over again I am water, I am water. I am you.

Style Wars: Art confrontation between several worlds.

Mine is a view with a house. The construction is modest, windows broad. The large openings have always welcome light from these desert latitudes. I am sure it is this source of energy the one igniting this amazing Style wars between my brother and I, bot art majors at U of A.

Inside the modest construction our great artistic scope merges, sometimes complementary, others defeating each other. It is a fair competition for space, for light and for admiration of beholders: mainly our parents.

First space conquered was the wall of my bedroom. “Mirror door into the future” with the identity of a Sweet Sixteen present from my parents was a massive piece of art reluctant to be confined to space only. The object is magical, its conquer goes beyond space as it trespasses also time.  With a back side quote from my parents, this reflection structure is aimed at fulfilling each dream I want to come true, so its large dimensions assure it is not overseen by any intimate guess into my private space at home.

In response to this monumental manifestation to uncertainty and subconscious fantasy, my brother marked the adjacent wall with emblems of our past. Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli were glued to the entrance as his attempt to assure in the same room the presence of our ancestors and the divine power of these Mayan, Aztec and Olmec protectors. These pre-hispanic figurines are miniature replicas of powerful Gods and demons which invade my thoughts.

His sculpture style war goes beyond our historic roots, deepening into our religious domain and trespassing the traditional Catholicism into which we were brought by our parents. I guess this art exposure reveals my brother’s back side of his soul.

My partent’s room is adjacent to mine. They are respectful of this polytheism mark but my mother is certain to highlight who is the patron of our family and house. To the left side of their room  a portrait of virgin de Guadalupe sets a soft trasnsition towards her religious believes. Tonantzin is represented by this religious portrait, but now only a monotheist perspective. Virgen de Guadalupe portrait is second in importance when compared with the prevalence of honor site at thome.

As we enter the living room, high above the chimney, an oil on canvas 1ft by 1ft piece acknowledges, my own criteria. Avoir un pere is the painting with which I identify the most, and its composition is suitable for all of us at home. There is no need to define terrains and oppose ideologies, This works of art brings together, harmony with the light penetrating our life through the glass windows of our modest house.

Mapping Senses: Looking within our wild nature to find our place.

Where are we? Several answers have been offered to this question for the last portion of our co-existence in this planet. An eagle possesses in front of me and immediately takes of getting altitude fast. The scene for this bird is sharp, with stereoscopic sight this winged creature watches me now from above, she knows where we are, and she can focus on details we oversee in our daily routines. The image interested by this bird positions us exactly over an entrapment impossible to see for all other humans in our civilization. We have reached the point of no return. There is no escape. Swirling on the skies this bird can see our position into a blurry future an overexposed past and a blindfold present. She sees our shrunk horizons….

A new flavor! This one is an exquisite addiction: the taste of transformation I share this tangling sensation with only one group of creatures on Earth: human race and this is the reason which brings me to you today, marvelous creature of the wild. I come to ask for your forgiveness for the consequences of my pleasure in palatable transformation.

I see you polar bear, you are a hunter, like we humans used to be. Your taste for fish dictates your moves on the top of the world. My taste for transformation dictates mine oil around the rest of this tiny planet. While your alabaster fur is nourished with the by the oily cod, fleshy salmon and tender sea lion fat, our selfish minds are overfeed with unlimited wants. We do not share the same tastes and we are neither in the same place nor condition on this earth.

Few centuries ago we served as appetizers all the sweetness from the tropics, then as first course we continued with the rich moisture of greens devastating most tropical rain forests and still hungry we requested second servings of sun dried arid landscapes. Melting polar glaciers are waiting for desert and this is what I apologize for now. I can’t help it, I need to indulge in every crumb of earth left and drying every drop of oil and gasoline occult under our 5 billion years old dining table. ….

Hey you!! Yes you Beluga. Can you hear me? Please listen I am hear, watching you from land, millions of years ahead of you in evolution. I must shout so you listen clearly. Do not move forward, do not evolve, stay as you are! This adaptation and survival skills of our species leads nowhere. You can hear me I am sure, you can eco-locate the effects of devastation you do not even imagine outside of your oceanic blue surroundings. I am convinced this is the reason for you to possess such a sophisticated listening sense, so that you can hear us humans even from far away, trespassing hydrosphere into atmosphere. Do not get lost please; keep your way and the way of all others under these blue waters. When the human is ready you beluga appear…

A bitter and profound odor captivates me as I stare at the massive reptile in front of me. Just as I would act in these circumstances, the serpent waits as he attempts to interpret the source of emission. Does she realize she has the ability to capture and exert power as I do? Soon this information will be encoded in his minuscule brain. As I admire him I think about the similar wires which we are equipped with to respond to smell. For us the scent which we are encoding is the one of power, the intangible fragrance is intoxicating and we are equipped to perceive even the most minuscule particle of power.

Apparently dormant like this cold blooded being, we suddenly react to this smell of power and we crawl over rough terrains in search of this object only to find it and realize the odor is deadly poisonous. This snake knows better, now I know why he wouldn´t have followed this tempting fragrance.

Experimentations In Daily Life

I choose to become smaller.

Because it’s easy.

Because there is a fear of doing the opposite:

  Becoming bigger.

 Would any efforts actually lead to anything?
Would I succeed?

I am already small.

  Nobody that doesn’t know me has to be aware of my existence.

I exist
      only to..

            Only for

Me.

Myself.

And you.

Would you notice if I changed?

    Do you see me as I shrink…

(Is it any different!)

To eventually.. disappear.

There is effort in doing the opposite.

   More is required.

More for more.

   Less…
for

   less.

The air that I breath
The space that I take
The marks I make

Will they stay?
Will they fade?

Small.

As they are.

I felt this assignment was meant to be depicted in poetry, and illustrated (since it cannot be done ‘live’) through art.  I believe that a lot of people can relate to “becoming smaller” in a deeper sense than an experimental experience in trying to occupy less space (in a more literal manner).
There certainly are days in our lives where we feel like we significantly occupy less space; the fact of the matter being that we do. In comparison, by degrees, to a school, a city, a country, the world, a galaxy, the universe. Aspects of our reality that often take for granted or simply tend to ignore.

We are important because of the ways in which we influence people. We are important because we are so to people.
In trying to become smaller, you may feel people notice you less, there is not as much conversation, yet the noticing is still there, the talk still exists, no matter how much someone tries to lessen it. Thus, this is proof too that regardless of how small one may try to become, or how small they may already feel, we still exist.