dead drops (the hoes of the digital world)

Aram Bartholl, a German artist, has launched a new project called Dead Drops. Basically he's stuck five USB flash drives into walls around NYC and seeing what happens. People are invited to go to these sites to download and upload files. (Here's the story in his blog.) And, as Forrest would say, "You never know what you're gonna get."

Doesn't this whole thing seem kind of, well, dirty? Walking around New York inserting your computer into these projections on city walls and seeing what kind of cool/scary things pop up? Shouldn't loving computer owners be worried about digital STDs? No? I don't know.

I guess my speculation is pretty useless, since this "interactive art installation" is only in NYC. BUT he says he intends to expand Dead Drops into other cities. Could this project turn into a national digital orgy? Will it turn into a fabulous and inspiring sharing of ideas, or become a nightmarish Russian roulette of perversity? Are copyright infringements and lawsuits over pirated material about to ensue? With all of the controversy in the past decade over file-sharing, where does this fit in?  I'll be interested to see where this all goes. It might fizzle out or become huge - Keep your ears open!

And, in case you missed it, here's what else I've been writing about lately:

- Bizarre species of monkey discovered: how do you say "michael jackson nose" in burmese?

- I've forgiven Hermione for getting with my man Ron Weasley: love her: emma watson 

- Brown bears in Russia feasting upon the dead: zombie bears

the wonderful world of albert kahn

I'm in a history nerd tizzy over the photo collection of Albert Kahn, a Frenchman who amassed examples of the earliest type of color photography (autochromes) from all over the world in the early 1900s: Morocco, Germany, Cambodia, Iraq, Brazil, China, Benin, Syria, and more. The pictures are fascinating - sometimes beautiful, sometimes disturbing (like one from Mongolia; there's a woman with her head sticking out of a big wooden box, sentenced to death by starvation). I've included a few examples, but you've got to check out the whole thing (from Musée Albert-Kahn). BBC Books has recently published the collection in ridiculously-expensive-hardback form, and it's definitely going on my wish list!

a french cutie hanging out next to some rifles, circa WWI

chinese dude not looking stereotypical at all

my dutch kin (where i get my good looks)

hotties

swiss guard - as always, snazzy dressers

cool not-so-conventional art

"The Creatrix"

I've just discovered Mark Ryden's Wondertoonel collection, which has an awesome creepy Tim Burton thing going on. His work is too unsettling to hang all over the walls (for me at least), but it's definitely very interesting. He describes his artwork as "the visual debris from contemporary pop culture," which I think is a pretty good way to put it. He currently has work on display in Los Angeles, but I'm hoping he makes his way to Texas soon. His website, http://www.markryden.com, is definitely worth a visit.





British artist Jason de Caires Taylor and MUSA (Museo Subacuatico de Arte) are doing their best to save the coral reefs near Cancun. Taylor created these statues (made from a unique cement that encourage coral growth) based on casts from local Mexican people. As you can see, the ocean is pretty barren in this spot - Here's hoping it works!

I've also just become familiar with Brooklyn graffiti artist Dain, who after a couple of New York shows displayed his work at a museum in Paris over the summer. The snobby French didn't run him out of town, yay! He's apparently quite an enigmatic man. He's elderly (that surprised me) and therefore really inspired by old Hollywood glam he remembers from the 50's and 60's.

And, for good measure, a little bit from E.H. Shephard, Pooh's illustrator. Aw.