Congratulations to Dave Kalina and his team at Tiger Style Games for winning the IGF Mobile Best Game Award at the 2010 Independent Games Festival for their amazing iPhone game Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor. This review explains better than I could how well the game is designed. When I beta-tested the game last year, I knew it was something special and really showed the promise of indie gaming so I am so glad that it is receiving both the commercial and critical success it so rightly deserves. Bravo guys, you deserve it!

Buy it:

Follow live updates at the Guardian.

Update 6/20: New evidence emerges of fraudulent election results. Washington Post

Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Map painted on a wall at Becker Elementary on 906 West Milton St., Austin, Texas. [Google Map].

“Unlike most other projections, the Dymaxion is intended purely for representations of the entire globe. It is not a gnomonic projection, whereby global data expands from the center point of a tangent facet outward to the edges. Instead, each triangle edge of the Dymaxion map matches the scale of a partial great circle on a corresponding globe, and other points within each facet shrink toward its middle, rather than enlarging to the peripheries.”
– Fuller, Ideas and Integrities (1969 ed., p. 139) [via Wikipedia].

Here it is with Google “street view.”

View Larger Map

If you are the painter of this mural, please contact me, so that I can give proper credit on this page.

From their coverage during the Democratic National Convention, we can assume these fences will also be used to detain protestors who march outside of Denver’s sanctioned Free Speech Zones. These “processing centers” are the perfect weapon for any future power-hungry administration that require a built-in infrastructure to suppress mass dissent, all built underneath the political cover of anti-immigration policies. Here’s a map showing where over 32,000 immigrants are detained on any given day. The alphabetic rows of empty cages in this Denver warehouse just gives me the creeps. See for yourself by watching the clip on YouTube:

Recent raids in Postville, Iowa and Laurel, Mississippi involved the detention of 400 and 350 workers respectfully. Reports have also circulated that in the event of a hurricane hitting Texas, evacuees would need to prove their citizenship to avoid detention and deportation. We should be more respectful to members of our community who work and contribute to our country, than to lock them up in detention centers and ship them away from their families. Have we no sense of our past, to realize that immigration has always been our future?

These detention centers must be shut down. Further, we should hold any new leadership accountable so that they renounce the mass dentention centers, mass immigrant arrests and suppression of dissent policies of the failed Bush presidency. Make no mistake, a government that detains innocent people in mass detention facilities has the capability to detain you as well.

History has shown us many times over what happens when a country allows its government to pick and choose which of its inhabitants belong. It never ends well. Our culture should not rely on locking up large groups of people in unknown/undocumented mass detention facilities to enforce an unfair system that offers only potential citizenship, while the same detention centers become potential weapons of mass suppression.

The new citizenship test (CNN, MSNBC) became law on October 1, 2008. New test, but same broken naturalization system (PDF from Reason Magazine).

Also on October 1st, the United States has stationed a military unit for domestic use to serve as an on-call emergency unit. “This new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.” Let’s hope the third infantry first brigade combat team serves only in an emergency capacity and not used to round up immigrants, or to quell the public’s dissatisfaction with its government or the upcoming election results.

Please register to vote and please vote for Obama.

tags: detention, dissent, election, immigration, detention-centers, obama, naturalization, free-speech, citizenship

If any of his clients would rather work with a real web designer you should contact me. Most of the proof is in the code itself, but it is not hard to spot visually either. He is stealing all of this code from my original css/xhtml/php work at okaymountain.com which he recently took my name off the copyright (i think that might even be illegal). As expected though, the lazy Kaz Raad still left my name on the footer of the front page and the mailing list page. Here are the examples…

• okaymountain.com
• msieben.com
• handmadeaustinwomen.com (now changed)

Homepages

Here he at least changed a few font sizes and modified it from my more contemporary div-based layout to a table-based layout that would work with his Dreamweaver install. Notice they all follow the same news format (in the code it is exactly the same), News Headline, then “posted on 12/23/2008″, and then the paragraph. By keeping my stylesheet and css class definitions, Kaz was able to easily modify a few font-sizes and typefaces. The main menus and news items all use the same WordPress generated code that I created from templates.

Inner Page

Whether its the copied left-side navigation, the square thumbnails with captions that float, or the headline, it is pretty clear to me that some serious borrowing occurred here. Maybe I should be flattered?

Mailing List

I installed my customized version of web-insta mailing list for Okay Mountain, an open source software. He copied this installation, which the license allows for handmadeaustinwomen.com and msieben.com. It just bugs me how similar they are though.

If it weren’t obvious yet

I left the saddest example for last. In this screenshot of handmadeaustinwomen.com’s contact page (it’s on the about page also), you can clearly see that the title of this page still says “About OKMT”, which is stolen from the okaymountain.com page. I mean, come on Kaz, check for errors when you copy!

The backstory

This all started in 2006 when I designed okaymountain.com for the local Austin gallery upstart as a favor to Nathan Green and Michael Sieben, two really amazing Austin artists. Michael Sieben did most of the graphic design and came up with a really good look and logo. I spent time coding it out and working it into a WordPress template. They needed to be able to edit themselves, so I worked hard to make it easy to edit through WordPress. Then, I poured in the content they had, setup a custom mailing list php-based application. There was a lot of content because every artist involved had their own portfolio page. It took about 60 hours all-told, a full-time gig as far as I’m concerned, and a donation to the arts community in the hopes that another alternative space would thrive in Austin, Texas. I was taking a clear paycut for this work, as I passed up several freelance jobs to get it completed.

The agreed upon compensation for this site was a work from the opening exhibition by Jason Villegas. How cool is that right? The site was a bit slow because Okay Mountain had to host with really awful and unreliable Dreamhost to save money, but it worked and they were able to edit it, it looked like Michael Sieben’s designs, had a functioning mailing list and integration with flickr. Not bad for a first draft, and I was committed to making changes and updates throughout the year to make it better.

So I went to the preview for Jason’s show, picked out my piece (pictured below) and told Sterling Allen. Jason’s work is so elegant, I loved the little drawing and the details on the whale. I had to have it.

Sterling said the piece was too expensive at 1400, or maybe it was 1600, I can’t remember. Instead, he was willing to offer me $500 store credit…erhem I mean gallery credit. I was completely dumbfounded. Really? Even though we agreed to it? Even though I told you my expectations were for a piece with a market value over $3000, as I had done in previous trades? Even though my 60 hours were already done and you had a functioning site on time? Even though I would have charged you a lot more if you paid me hourly? What a fool I was to trust you bunch of schmucks.

I looked around to salvage the deal and discovered the brilliance of Sterling Allen’s business acumen. Okay Mountain doesn’t sell anything for $500. It was $100 or less, or $1000 or more. So I could either have 5 things of questionable collecting value, or I could pay the mountain another $700 for something that was really worthwhile. Genius, get your workers to buy stuff from the company store like them olden days. So I decided better just to grab the cash and maybe buy 1 item for 100 just to have a little memento of the whole thing, nevermind the updates that would have been made during the year as needed, and as part of the collective spirit I thought I was engaging in.

Then, they hit me again with it. Sterling couldn’t give me $500 in cash, because it was store credit and the store had to pay the artist 50 percent, so he offered me $250 bucks. So I said Okay mountain, you win, I’ll take the hush money. $250 for 60 hours of work. Thank you for respecting me as an artist and for supporting my work. Well played sir.

So what, why am I crying about it?

I have a problem with holding grudges. I do it rarely, but when I feel that someone has been a real asshole, and gotten away with it, it is always hard for me to shake. The Austin arts scene is sort of a walk-on-eggshells kind of scene, though, so noone really speaks in public about those things, although in private I hear differently. I have been so privileged with the opportunities I have received to exhibit in Austin, so it just comes with the territory I guess. You take your lumps and move on, and try to do better the next time. However, with everyone desperate for opportunity, any criticism is marginalized as an attempt to derail the potential success of some future austin arts market. My story about Okay Mountain will probably be included in this, we’ll see.

After reading the following article in the recent Austin Chronicle that essentially begged people to buy Austin art, or in more palatable and egalitarian terms “support” austin artists, I was struck by The Sterling Allen’s quote:

Not to reduce art-making to monetary terms, but an artist getting paid for his work translates to more studio time and other resources for making better art. No artist I contacted would stop making art for lack of sales – no one is an artist for the money – but having someone buy work can be the ultimate compliment and motivator to keep on working. And as your career gets more serious, it helps you pay for supplies, studio space, rent, life. As Sterling Allen explains: “[Getting paid] didn’t used to matter. I liked showing, and it was a bonus to sell. In the past few years, it has become more important. I respect my own work that much more, and it simply isn’t enough to have someone like it. I want to be rewarded for it. I also would like to get to the point where I wouldn’t have to go to work and sit at a computer all day and instead just focus on art. I will always make stuff no matter what, but it is very encouraging to sell work. It keeps you going. As we get more mature and ambitious in our practice, the cost of making work also goes up. I didn’t used to need a studio. I also didn’t used to worry about safely shipping work. The more serious and dedicated you become, the more expensive life gets.” Show And Sell by Clayton Maxwell, Austin Chronicle, May 14, 2008, Vol.27 No.28

It just breaks my heart that Sterling isn’t rewarded for his work (image at right) and that he has to sit in front of a computer all day to make art. Welcome to the elite club of privileged college educated kids who are lucky enough to have jobs in this economy working on a computer. Don’t take it for granted!

Clearly, the larger point that artists in Austin need to be paid for their works is correct, and they need to help educate the public on new forms of art and art experiences that they may not yet know about. But, we have been witness to an unprecedented boom in art prices and an unprecedented boom in the very very rich. This can not be over-stated so our expectations have to weathered with this knowledge. In addition, I think it is a little naive to think that you would be making a living as an artist after only 5 years out of college without an MFA from a major arts school in a major arts market, but every little bit of editorial coverage of the matter helps, i guess. If Austin wants to be a successful visual art market then we need to stop thinking that the work going into behind-the-scenes gallery work can all be volunteer. The incentive to make the arts market great will be driven by the potential profits, not just the not-for-profit grants which get sucked into new buildings instead of new works anyway.

Open Doors Expansion opened this past weekend. These are a few photos of my installation, Stairway followed by pictures of the work in progress and the original scale model. The work features a 20-foot steel staircase with a 6-inch cement base that surrounds a pre-existing wall and is covered in over 6500 collected/donated trophy statuettes.

Stairway will be on view at the Dallas Contemporary until January 12, 2008. I will continue updating this site with new photos, videos and text as it becomes available.

This installation would not have been possible without the help of my family, C+J Services, Martisa Asghari, Iraj Asghari, Alma Asghari, Leslie Connally, Joan Davidow, Benjamin Feldt, Till Richter, Arturo Palacios, Tristan Rhodes, Maximilian Toth, Jeremy at Austin MacFab, Myron at the Meadows Foundation, Cruz Reyna, Eagle Forklift, all the artists of Open Doors Collective and the hundreds of trophy donors who I have communicated with over the past two years. Photos by Shaune Kolber (1-3, 5,7), Hunter Cross (8,9) and Paul Abbott (4,6).

tags: dallas, open-doors, exhibition, dallas, contemporary-art, site-specific, large-scale, art, sculpture, installation, austin, dallas, events, news

Work is steadily progressing on my trophy-covered stairway to be installed in November as part of the Open Doors Expansion exhibition at The Dallas Contemporary. With the help of many generous individuals and Texas’ thriftstore abundance, the trophy count has topped 1,500. However, I need more trophies.

If you or your family members have any old trophies boxed up in the garage and would like them to be re-used and digitally archived, please consider donating them to this project. If you know of any trophy-makers liquidating old stock or athletic organizations freeing up store-rooms, please don’t be afraid to contact me to arrange a pickup. I am willing to arrange shipping if neccessary.

Focused Re-Use

I feel that the process of collecting trophies is a key element of the work and began in earnest in mid-2005 as part of the develoment of Arch for Open Doors’ In Between. This work focuses on re-using these golden statuettes en-masse, each representative of a particular person at a particular moment in time.

In effect, each statuette represents a datapoint from someone’s competitive life and through their individual choices for co-operation, something larger is created. The distinct impulses for competition and co-operation are brought together. Further, the work’s construction and reliance on recycled material expresses well the concept of “small pieces loosely joined” and supports ideas of a more sustainable art practice that need not look like nature or feel like garbage.

Often, I hear trophy donors say that they wanted to free up space. Your donation of these trophies requires an implicit acknowledgement and acceptance of the shifting priorities in your life as new objects, priorities and memories lay claim to the importance once held for the trophies and competitions they represent.

Population Representation

Each trophy is to be photographed and archived online. This trophy archive is a mass of individual’s metadata, a representation of a participatory population and document of the changing styles in the last 50 years of American trophy-making. The work contributes to the digitally knowable identities of the individuals involved. In this way, the memories of the trophies are honored while their physicality becomes part of a larger more communal form.

Here are links to the online portions of the project, still very much in development. I look forward to everyone experiencing the installation in Dallas, TX in November 2007:

Trophy Collection, 2005-2007

• Arch
• Stairway (Maquette)
• Trophy Collection (Archive)
• Project’s Flickr Photos

tags: recycle, cooperation, competition, crowdsourcing, trophies, trophy, collection, trophycollection, archive, art, sculpture, installation, austin, dallas

This is the passing glance, the war seeping into the daily reading. The rendered fighter jet strafes into the audience’s crosshairs, then the hero shoots, filling the screen with a flash of red. How clinically cartoon of you. Is this distilled war-profiteering for the arm-chair general? Or is it good ole’ fashioned learn-from-mistakes Journalism? Surely there exist international policies that can bring about less of this footage for the History Channel’s stellar line-up.

Election – Nov. 7

Speaking of international policies, it seems like forever since we started staying the course with the never-so-great Decider and his Republican Party. As a willing participant in the globalized free market, isn’t it time to change the course? Early Voting is available at local schools and grocery stores but ends this Friday, Nov. 3. If you are in Travis County (most of you Keeping it Austin), then you can vote at any of these early voting locations (pdf). Of course, that is if our benevolent electronic voting machines are working properly. Bring your driver’s license, Texas ID card or voter registration. Not sure what’s up for grabs? Check the Chronicle’s coverage.

If you miss the early voting convenience, please please please make time on Election Day – Tuesday Nov. 7. So there, you got everything you need, rock the vote.

Studio 107 – Nov. 5 (3-6p)

On the smaller scale, I have four new works to show you. A series of intricate remote control button networks and a glass stack built with emerging shapes of purple, magenta and sea green 3M brand arrow flags.

You can see them starting this Sunday, when Studio 107 has its Holiday Punch opening reception featuring works by Candace Briceño, Nancy Brown (part of Open Doors Expansion), Jason Buchanan, Hunter Cross, Sarah Nix Ginn, Terra Goolsby, Baseera Khan, Leona-Scull Hons, Simeen Ishaque, Deborah Roberts, Takako Tanabe and Jessie Tong. The exhibition runs until January 1, 2007. 906 E 5th St, Austin, TX – Map and directions.

Blue Theater – Nov. 9 (10.5p-1.5a)

In addition to the recent works, I’ve been organizing an evening of music for the Complicate Everything Fall Review. The Nov. 9 music show starts at 10:30 following the night’s performance of The Assumption by Refraction Arts. Thursday is pay-what-you-can at the Blue Theater, and our show is no exception. 916 Springdale – Map and directions.

Special guests this year include San Fran’s own Marco Panella and Roger Thomasson who will perform songs from critically-hailed 2006 release Dark Side of the Cop. The Always Already start the night off, Mediums subdue with jazzy bombast and Aaron and I give you some Randy-Newman-learns-to-love-his-laptop crooners to finish. Did I mention it’s practically free? It’s also the closing night for Mass Gallery’s 20MB video show curated by Aaron Dubrow (Austin) and M.F. Tichy (NYC), so get out there and do it all in one night. Bring your extra cash to support the musicians by purchasing their CD’s.

Nov. 9 Schedule:

• 10:30 – The Always Already – mp3
• 11:30 – Dark Side of the Cop – mp3 – on tour
• 12:30 – Mediums – mp3
• 01:00 – Cross and Castillo – mp3, mp3

Moving In

My new place is cozy. Cacti for a fence and two small holes in the screen from when it swings open snagging on the mailbox. The band next door stays up nights whooping bluegrass while the red-lit house across the street throws parties. A drunk fratdaddy kicks over trashcans, while a boy dressed in drag screams on his cellphone in the middle of the intersection and a girl driving her BMW skips the stop sign. What’s not to like?

tags: election, art, austin, music, moving