Budget Slasher Horror.

Pennywise

© Jorgel007, via http://welcome2creepshow.tumblr.com/

Trump is preparing his own slasher flick, featuring The Budget. Most Trumpoids won’t care, they will most likely cheer this massacre on, but those of us who cherish things like art, social justice, education, the environment, because our earth sustains us, and other commie hippie stuff are in for a very bad ride. As per usual in the rethug agenda, anyone who isn’t rich is gonna get screwed.

Incoming President Donald Trump’s administration is already working on preparing his budget. And it looks like it will be far more extreme than anything the Republican Party has proposed so far.

The blueprint Trump’s team is working with as it crafts the plan would cut federal government spending by $10.5 trillion over a decade, according to The Hill’s sources.

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To get such deep cuts, the Trump budget contemplates completely eliminating a number of programs, particularly at the Departments of Energy, Justice, State, Commerce, and Transportation.

On the chopping block, according to The Hill, would be the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; the Department of Justice’s Legal Services Corporation and Violence Against Women Grants; funding for the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Electricity, and Office of Fossil Energy, among others.

It’s likely many other programs will be cut as well, even if they aren’t eliminated entirely. […] But if the House Republican budget is any guide, programs that serve the most needy are likely to be in danger. That proposal derived 62 percent of its cuts from low-income programs, such as food stamps and Pell grants, even though those programs account for just 28 percent of non-defense spending.

Think Progress has the full story.

The Fine Art of Calling Bullshit.

Carl T. Bergstrom (left) and Jevin West, of the U. of Washington, want to teach students how to survive the avalanche of false or misleading data shaken loose by shifts in media, technology, and politics.

Carl T. Bergstrom (left) and Jevin West, of the U. of Washington, want to teach students how to survive the avalanche of false or misleading data shaken loose by shifts in media, technology, and politics.

Facts and figures are like cow pastures. Unless you squint, you can’t always tell how full of bullshit they are.

Carl T. Bergstrom and Jevin West, a pair of scientists at the University of Washington, think it’s time to arm students with boots and shovels. They have published the outline of a course, titled “Calling Bullshit,” which would try to teach how to spot bad data and misleading graphs at a time when bending statistics has become a popular art form.

“Pending approval from the administrative powers-that-be at the University of Washington, we hope to offer the seminar in the near future,” they wrote on a website they built for the course. “In the meantime, connoisseurs of bullshit may enjoy the course syllabus, readings, and case studies that we have lovingly curated.”

The Chronicle caught up with Mr. Bergstrom, a biologist, and Mr. West, an information scientist, to talk about their course.

The full interview is here. All I can say is that we need these courses everywhere. On street corners, even.

I notice a poster of a squid over the door – this must be a Cthulhuian plot!

What Art Under Trump?

Illustration: sophiazarders.tumblr.com.

Illustration: sophiazarders.tumblr.com.

Margaret Atwood has an excellent article up at The Nation about the chill which is already sweeping over the artistic community at large. Atwood is no stranger to dystopian scenarios, but thankfully, those were fiction. We may well be facing an artistic dystopia very soon.

Of what use is art? It’s a question often asked in societies where money is the prime measure of worth, usually by people who do not understand art—and therefore dislike it and the artists who make it. Now, however, the question is being posed by artists themselves.

For American writers and other artists, there’s a distinct chill in the air. Strongmen have a well-earned reputation for suppression and for demanding fawning tributes: “Suck up or shut up” has been their rule. During the Cold War, many writers, filmmakers, and playwrights received visits from the FBI on suspicion of “un-American activities.” Will that history be repeated? Will self-censorship set in? Could we be entering an age of samizdat in the United States, with manuscripts circulating secretly because publishing them would mean inviting reprisal? That sounds extreme, but considering America’s own history—and the wave of authoritarian governments sweeping the globe—it’s not out of the question.

In the face of such uncertainties and fears, the creative communities of the United States are nervously urging one another not to surrender without a fight: Don’t give up! Write your book! Make your art!

But what to write or make? Fifty years from now, what will be said about the art and writing of this era?

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In the short run, perhaps all we can expect 
from artists is only what we have always expected. As once-solid certainties crumble, it may be enough to cultivate your own artistic garden—to do what you can as well as you can for as long as you can do it; to create alternate worlds that offer both temporary escapes and moments of insight; to open windows in the given world that allow us to see outside it.

With the Trump era upon us, it’s the artists and writers who can remind us, in times of crisis or panic, that each one of us is more than just a vote, a statistic. Lives may be deformed by politics—and many certainly have been—but we are not, finally, the sum of our politicians. Throughout history, it has been hope for artistic work that expresses, for this time and place, as powerfully and eloquently as possible, what it is to be human.

This is a do not miss article. Outstanding, and highly recommended.

Nano Lord Voldemort.

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Auburn Engineering graduate student Armin VahidMohammadi won first place in a national research organization’s Science as Art competition for his depiction of an engineered nanomaterial as a character from the “Harry Potter” movie series.

VahidMohammadi, a doctoral student in materials engineering, created a digitally enhanced image of his research that bears a resemblance to Lord Voldemort, the villain in the “Harry Potter” series. After submitting the image for consideration to the Materials Research Society’s Science as Art competition, he won first place out of 168 submissions. The award comes with a $400 cash prize.

“I am honored to have my work showcased and recognized by such a prestigious organization,” VahidMohammadi said. “It was exciting that the competition allowed me to connect materials science with popular culture in a way that the general public can appreciate.”

Held since 2006, the Science as Art competition offers materials engineers and students the opportunity to transform their research into images renowned for their aesthetic qualities.

Using a scanning electron microscope, VahidMohammadi was examining particles of an engineered nanomaterial when he noticed a particular particle that resembled Lord Voldemort. He colorized the image and digitally enhanced it by adding eyes and teeth.

The particle pictured is known as Ti2C, which is a member of a family of two-dimensional, layered materials called MXenes. Ti2C has a wide array of applications, including as electrode materials for batteries and supercapacitors. The particle shown in the image is five microns in length, or roughly 10 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Very cool work, this! It would make a great poster.

Via OANOW.

The Glass Room.

The Glass Room installation view. All photos courtesy of Tactical Technology Collective and the artists.

The Glass Room installation view. All photos courtesy of Tactical Technology Collective and the artists.

The Glass Room, a pop-up exhibition organized by Tactical Technology Collective, a Berlin-based non-profit working to promote technological activism, done in collaboration with Mozilla, the non-profit behind the popular web browser of the same name.

The glitzy and pristine white space was filled to the brim with tech-inflected artworks, many of which were disguised as objects you would typically find in a high-end tech store. But the sterile appearance was ultimately a façade; there was no consumer tech for sale within the space. The works were joined by the desire to expose viewers to the malicious underbelly of the wonderfully convenient Information Age.

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Separated into different categories depending on the type of issues explored in the works, the pieces were as compelling as they were harrowing. Forgot your password? by Aram Bartholl consists of a series of books where the artist compiled the 4.6 million passwords leaked by Linkedin in 2012 within their pages.

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Located in the Data Detox Bar section of the exhibition, Julian Olivier and Danja Vasiljev’s Newstweek is a device that manipulates online news headlines that you don’t like or don’t fit your narrative into ones that are more “appropriate” to your sensibilities.

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In Unfitbit by Surya Mattu and Tega Brain, a FitBit is attached to objects like a metronome or a drill to trick the device into thinking you are working out, thus selling fake, inaccurate data to your health insurance that hopefully lowers your premium.

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“The Glass Room was inspired by two things: First, a desire to make the questions raised by living in a data society tangible and accessible using real projects, humor, and good design. Secondly, to use the language of commerce as a way to critique our enthusiasm for new technologies,” says Stephanie Hankey, a co-founder of Tactical Technology Collective and an organizer of the event.

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Although The Glass Room has already concluded, full documentation of the works can be found on the project’s website, along with a series of informative resources, and a hilarious 8-day “Data Detox Kit” meant to cleanse you of your over-connectivity and oversharing tendencies.

Check out more of Tactical Technology Collective’s projects and exhibitions here.

You can see and read more at The Creators Project. I wish I could have seen this one in person, it’s bloody brilliant.

Underwater Sculpture Garden.

The Raft of Lampedusa.

The Raft of Lampedusa.

Many of you may be familiar with Jason deCaires Taylor, sculptor and environmental activist. His work is renowned and highly known. A new sculpture garden has been created in Atlantic Ocean, Las Coloradas, Lanzarote.

Working in partnership with The Cabildo of Lanzarote, Jason deCaires Taylor constructed the first underwater contemporary art museum in the Atlantic Ocean and Europe on the 28th of Feb 2016. Situated in clear blue waters off the south east coast of Lanzarote, Spain, the unique, permanent installation is constructed at around 14m deep and features 10 different installations with over 300 figurative works.

It most celebrated works include: The Raft of Lampedusa, The Rubicon and The Vortex.

The project draws on the dialogue between art and nature. It is designed on a conservational level to create a large scale artificial reef to aggregate local fish species and increase marine biomass whilst, on the other hand, questions the commodification and delineation of the worlds natural resources and raises awareness to current threats facing the worlds oceans. The central concept is depicted by means of a monumental gateway and wall, which include a series of installations based on the dialogue between past and present and the divisions within society with both political and social comment. The works incorporate for the first time large architectural components and an underwater botanical sculpture garden referencing local flora of Lanzarote, which has unique status as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

The Museum is constructed using environmentally friendly, pH neutral inert materials and the formations are tailored to suit endemic marine life. The museum was completed in December 2016, and is the first time large scale architectural elements have been deployed underwater occupying a barren area of sand-covered sea bed (approximately 50m x 50m), The artist invited local residents and visiting tourists to participate in the project by modeling for a life casts. A process where the body is covered in skin safe sculpting materials and a cast of the body and face is made to produce a figurative sculpture to be included in the museum.

The project has created a habitat area for marine life whilst defining Lanzarote as a modern, dynamic and cultural island celebrating its unique natural resources. The project is the first underwater museum in Europe and the Atlantic Ocean and over time will become the first destination of artificial reef diving among the European diving market, leading to increases in revenue for the local economy and help support the diving, snorkelling and sailing industries. It will also attract cultural tourism with higher purchasing power that will reaffirm Lanzarote´s cultural and artistic affluence based on the legacy of Spanish artist Cesar Manrique. The permanent installation is designed to last for hundreds of years but will be an ever-changing exhibition as marine life changes and transforms the surfaces of the sculptures.

For those who are unfamiliar with Mr. Taylor’s work, you can read up at The Creators Project.

Tyrannophobia.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs.

If you’re a fan of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, or just an adventurous and generous person, here’s a scent to dissent and help with, Tyrranophobia.

Fear of Tyrants

This has jack all to do with Yule or winter, but it sure does apply to current events. Proceeds from Tyrannophobia benefit the ACLU, thereby helping stem the imminent assault on civil rights. Birch tar, tea leaf, and black raspberry strangled in an iron fist.

Tyrranophobia at BPAL. Yes, I ordered the Tyrranophobia, and the Cryophobia.

The J20 Strike and Art Walkouts.

(graphic by Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic).

(graphic by Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic).

The #J20 Art Strike is imminent and we’ve compiled a running list of spaces that will be closing for Inauguration Day. The Art Strike is intended as an act of solidarity with the broader slate of #J20 events and, as the movement’s site puts it, as a

tactic among others to combat the normalization of Trumpism — a toxic mix of white supremacy, misogyny, xenophobia, militarism, and oligarchic rule. Like any tactic, it is not an end in itself, but rather an intervention that will ramify into the future. It is not a strike against art, theater, or any other cultural form. It is an invitation to motivate these activities anew, to reimagine these spaces as places where resistant forms of thinking, seeing, feeling, and acting can be produced.

Since there are thousands of spaces across the country, we decided to start local and contact New York-area galleries and art nonprofits to see which would be closing — museums will be listed in a separate post. Below this list is another listing of those spaces organizing special programming for January 20, the day of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Full article at Hyperallergic.

(image courtesy Ana Cecilia Alvarez, Beth Fiedorek, and Alexandra Leon).

(image courtesy Ana Cecilia Alvarez, Beth Fiedorek, and Alexandra Leon).

In solidarity with the nationwide #J20 movement, students at CalArts in Southern California are organizing a walkout “against the president of Donald J. Trump on inauguration day, January 20,” in their words.

Organized by students Ana Cecilia Alvarez, Beth Fiedorek, and Alexandra Leon, the event is slated to take place at noon local time. The official flyer includes the #J20 Art Strike statement that was released last week. CalArts is considered one of the leading art schools in the country, if not the world.

Hyperallergic reached out to the organizers to understand their motivation for the action. “Organizing around J20 at CalArts was catalyzed by that particular reaction that occurs to political angst when it meets a vacuum,” Fiedorek and Leon told Hyperallergic.

Full article at Hyperallergic.

Senbazuru: 1,000 Cranes.

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All photos © Johnny Tang.

In Japan there is a tradition known as “Senbazuru” (literally 1000 cranes). According to legend, if one folds 1000 paper cranes they will be granted a single wish by the gods. The cranes are usually strung together and hung outside the outer walls of a temple. As they are exposed to the elements and slowly decay, it is believed that the sacrificed cranes will carry the folder’s wish up to heaven for the gods to receive.

I am an impatient American, so I decided to burn mine.

I folded the cranes over the course of a year, personally creasing each beak and wing myself while steadfastly refusing the help of others. I did this because I wanted to know what it felt like to bring each crane into this world, and then banish it into the next. When I first started this project I was hoping to create a huge fireball in the snow. “This will be so cool” I thought, “there’s no way I could screw this up.” But when the moment of destruction finally came, the little bastards refused to even light – instead they just simmered quietly, laughing at me.

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These fabulous photos are by no means all of the ones in this project. There are many more, and you can click on each one and read all the details of that particular shot, at Johnny Tang Photo. This is stunning work, on more than one level, and it certainly deserves very wide exposure. I’m no stranger to long term projects, but I don’t think I could ever fold 1,000 cranes.

Rediscovering Scarecrows.

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Made in collaboration between photographer Kate Fichard and plastic artist Hugo Deniau, ‘Scarecrows’ is a series that invites the former tradition ousted by sharp technological progress. The project was born out of Fichard’s observation that the tradition of blanking out birds from the crops has faded recently in France. “I noticed that scarecrows no longer exist on fields and vegetable gardens. Unfortunately, today they are replaced by pesticides and protection nets.” Being sensitive to environmental issues, the photographer decided to bring back the tradition and offer the meeting with these mysterious sculptures once again. This time, however, scarecrows are inspired by the idea of contemporary terror by using objects and colors tied to pollution and attacks that ruin the environment. Fichard, who got very much involved in the project, plans to continue travelling around different fields and produce more works, aiming at publishing a book or an exhibition about the subject.

All images © Kate Fichard

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You can see more of these amazing statements at iGNANT.