People in the background of paparazzi photos

Bugs

Genocide is going on as we speak. What must be in the billions, bugs are senselessly slaughtered everyday. Surely the world is big enough for the both of us.

PS: this is just a rant

Gaps

Society is largely composed of gaps. Gaps in logic. Gaps in intellect. Gaps in reason. Gaps in justice. Gaps in equality. But in this case I speak of socioeconomic gaps. Through the course of a society's lifespan, those who function as the make up of it's existence see changes. As people depart, they fall off like a rusted piece of metal in a pipeline. This in turn leads to gaps needing to be filled so that the water system will flow smoothly and properly. Some gaps are located in the not so pleasant areas like irrigation, and in relation to others some are more privileged than others as some gaps needing to be filled serve more clean stages of the system like water fountains. Similar gaps emerge as socioeconomic gaps. This perhaps is best understood in terms of jobs. Jobs need to be filled. In order for society to work smoothly these vacant positions or socioeconomic gaps need to be filled. In this sense, someone needs to make the hamburgers we eat, someone needs to clean our rubbish, someone needs to count corporate earnings. The question then becomes which gaps do I fill? Do I even have a say? Or is it dictated by circumstance?

PS: this is just a rant

See It And Forget It

See It And Forget It

Wunderkammer 2.0

Oh The Spectacle!

An interactive website made in response to contemporary cabinets of curiosities.

A Canadian Suburban Townhouse: An Aural Perspective

Up until now, I never really listened to my home. Although, in hind sight, I now clearly remember the affective power that sound held throughout my childhood. I remember when I was younger, I would awake to a sudden noise in the middle of the night, or rather I had woken up because of a nightmare, only then soon to be followed by a sudden sound that lead my imagination in the darkness of the night to sore to unimaginable places. It is said that, ‘the scariest thing is one’s own imagination.’ Sounds that were in reality simply the expansion and contraction of wooden floor panels or closet doors or a neighbors footsteps, it would be these sounds that lead me too lye still with my eyes wide open in pitch darkness of my room in fear of my own imagination until I would fall asleep. It would be these sounds that would paralyze me, afraid to move, in fear of being killed or kidnapped. The house is clearly breathing and alive.

The fragility of the North American suburban architecture creates an interesting soundscape. The toothpick-like four-by-four framework and thin drywall walls, make the suburban townhouse aurally porous. Even though the visual and cultural discourse of suburbia points to the notion of extremely privatized and isolating space, the pockets of town-homes and semi-detached houses in suburbia on the contrary can also be seen, or “heard,” as a very human and communal space. The profitability of these suburban developments leads to the low cost materials used to build the rapid suburban sprawl in order to maximize profit. As a result, the thin materials become permeable to sound. The suburban landscape derives from the trend of real estate house flipping and upgrading. It is a place to quickly and safely turn a profit and climb the social class ladder. As a result, these spaces engage in and foster racialized thinking, as people flee from places considered “poor,” “bad,” and “uncivilized” to places that are understood as “rich,” “pleasant,” and “civilized.” Although the suburban landscape in visual discourse is understood as a space of racialized thinking, there are fruitful paradoxes and ironies that exist, which suggest room for hope in such urban places lake Richmond Hill or Mississauga. “Richmond Hill is a sprawling suburb where immigrants go to get away from other immigrants, but of course they end up living with all the other immigrants running away from themselves” (What We All Long For by Dionne Brand). This paradox is reverberated in the aural landscape of the suburbs. As suburban dwellers move into new “private” townhomes and semi-detached homes, life does not entirely become solitary and private. In moments of seeming silence and isolated peace, a neighbour’s life intrudes through sound. Sometimes blatant and irritating, but most of the time it can be “invisible” and become a part of the “private” soundscape, learning to ignore them.

Sound can also be identified as a socioeconomic marker, as my parents fled from loud Hip-Hop filled parking lots of an earlier neighbourhood to the now automated stereo Islamic prayers that vibrate through the bedroom walls every morning at 5am, and now again seeking new refuge from these “unpleasant” sounds. Who knows what the next sound will be.

However, there is something poetically beautiful about suburban lives bleeding through shared walls, lives traveling through sound beyond the boarders of one’s home. Sound is subversively teaching us to become more tolerant. Even though the standard of drywall and plywood are arguably weaker to our European counterparts’ standards, it may in fact be a good thing that thin walls are the standard.

The Illusion of Catharsis Remix

The Illusion of Catharsis from Thomas Zukowski on Vimeo.

Part 3 of a collaborative Remix Project. In this video I react and build upon a video of a music video and film mash up of "cathartic" and emotional moments. I overlay a doctored Mastercard logo, in an attempt to raise questions of the cultural consumption of art and all things "cathartic." My guiding question stems from an earlier rant/blog entry (amarkmaker.blogspot.com/​2010/​06/​ilusion-of-catharsis.html). What role does "art" truly play? Here I suggest that "Art" has largely become a kind of fuel consumed to quench one's thirst, a thirst for catharsis, a thirst for meaning, to feel connected and somehow "whole." A thirst that returns and can never be entirely or permanently satisfied.

Online Empathy

Online Empathy Remix from Thomas Zukowski on Vimeo.

In this video I juxtapose video/images indicative of the contemporary online cabinet of curiosities in which silly dances, drunk people, and celebrity rants fill our virtual shelves. And in continuation of my interest in the affects of such online technologies on human behavior, I again ask if this archival of memories on this scale through this technology makes us more empathetic or narcissistic.
As a result a juxtapose the visual zeitgeist with a lecture that discusses theories of an empathetic civilizations. In retrospect of the video where, "are we really an empathetic civilization?"

Obsessive-Compulsive

Obsessive-Compulsive from Thomas Zukowski on Vimeo.

A continuation of Me, Myself & I.

An experimental collage using Max/Msp/Jitter

Me, Myself & I (password: facs1939)

Assignment 2: Lab 4 Group 4 from FACS 1939 on Vimeo.

The multimedia performance piece of Me, Myself & I, stems from the overarching question of “why do we do what we do?” The piece is a collaborative attempt in exploring the human obsession with memory and the archival of memories. Hence, in attempt to answer the central conundrum of why humans are so obsessed with the archival of memory, the performance positions this question in the context of contemporary web culture, where millions upon millions have become active archivists, storing private memories in public spaces like video recordings on YouTube, photographs on Facebook, as well as diary entries on Twitter. In reference to these digital technologies, Me, Myself & I’s digital zeitgeist asks more directly whether these archival technologies make us more empathetic or increasingly narcissistic? All in aims to answer humanity’s true motivations for the persistent archival of memory throughout human history.

Me, Myself & I acts as a kind of cultural critique, passively suggesting an answer through a kind of montage of digital-social-zeitgeist-montage, highlighting the irony in the banality of the narcissistic cultural behavior. The extraction of the predominant ‘web user content’ points to the fundamental dreams and desires that underly the basis of much of humankind’s history. As a result, Me, Myself & I suggests that humanity’s compulsive-obsessive drive to archive its memories is not a contemporary phenomenon. It is not a result of technologies bending and manipulating humans to their will. It is a result of a simple desire that I believe existed embedded in the human race from the times of our ancestors, to the times of Caesar and Napoleon, and all the way to the present day. It is a dream not exclusive to those in positions of power. It is a dream shared by all classes and all races. It is a dream shared by both you and I.

“What I dream of is what all humans dream of, the dream of eternal life promised to us by our Gods. I want to live on like our memories of the Great Romans. I want my footprint to be immune to the high-tides of the sea. I dream of being relevant.’

Media Performance: Me, Myself & I

Assignment 2: Lab 4 Group 4 from FACS 1939 on Vimeo.

Theory on Life: Joe Rogan's Theory on Life VS Singing & Clapping Man

I can't say I had planned this remix, it somewhat organically happened as both of these videos had some sort of profound resonance, especially when viewed in juxtaposition. What happened was simply having two videos stand out in mind that promoted two very different ways of viewing the world. I feel that I am frequently on some ground agreeing with both very different perspectives. When I turn to the web for inspiration I am often caught between two extremes, which I have juxtaposed. On the one hand I am often faced with the inspiration of very serious political and philosophical ideas ethics, justice, and life, and on the other hand I face the radically opposite inspirational forms of happy-go-lucky/feel good/john lenon & love is all you need.

I still struggle to understand myself what happens in the mind of the viewer in relation to this remix. So what I think happens, is not an argument that is presented, but rather confronts the viewer in a way that provokes a critique or evaluation of human life. At least in terms of myself, I am confused and don't know which perspective of life to agree with (the pessimistic or happy-go-lucky).
Like the previous remix, this one has a certain profound humor, as the power of serious pessimistic philosophy on life death clashes with an endearing amateur folk singer who sings about a near death experience with a happy-go-lucky demeanor.

I smile and laugh while at the same time,
I'm forced to philosophize about human life

A similar artist is Franceso Vizzoli's E! True Hollywood Story
-in which I am not sure if it is a parody and I should laugh, or
-whether I should critically reflect upon a subconscious call to
deconstruct the perpetuated desire to be relevant and famous, or
-whether it is "truly" an E! Hollywood Story

Motivational Speech

I could care less

What's wrong with us?

How to Save the World Manifesto

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Standing In a Hallway With A Camera: an intervention / an assignment

I am not relevant