Week 26-27

Oct 29, 2016

I'm in New York City: my first time in the US (and on the continent, in fact). It's very interesting because everything seems so familiar — probably as a result of growing up with American media — but is still subtly weird. If in Frankfurt I had boarded another plane and had flown eastbound for an equal distance, there would have been a much more noticeable contrast in culture.

I joined the fantastic folks at moovel lab, to exhibit Roads to Rome at the IEEE VIS Arts Program in Baltimore. For a more-academic-than-usual take on our project, read the conference paper.

In New York, I'll attend the Graduate National Portfolio Day and then fly to Los Angeles on Tuesday to visit ArtCenter and UCLA. Exiting times!

What do you do when you're trapped in a flying pipe for hours? You read. GoatMan by Thomas Thwaites, for example:

I tried to become a goat to escape the angst inherent in being a human. The project became an exploration of how close modern technology can take us to fulfilling an ancient human dream: to take on characteristics from other animals. [...]

Anyway I ended up in the Alps, on four legs, at a goat farm, with a prosthetic rumen strapped to my chest, eating grass, and becoming a goat.

It's a hilarious read, following Thomas' insightful consultations with various experts on his quest to take a holiday from being human: "The dream is to gallop".