Zombie Girl- Augmented Body

For my Augmented Body project I chose to cover myself in the full body tattoos of Rick Genest.  His stage name is Rico the Zombie Boy... so I went with a Vaudeville Circus theme and took on the name Zombie Girl.  Rick is featured in his own Freak Show where he performs tricks such as "brain flossing" with worms.  For more information on him check out my presentation in a previous post.

"I didn't do it because I wanted to be different; I did it because I wanted to be me.  Everyone has their own opinion, their own ideas on what beauty is." -Rick Genest

Freak Show Series: Zombie Girl 1 & 2 challenge sensibilities on what is seen as beautiful.  The world's perceptions are always changing thanks to those who push the envelope, a lot like how Rick Genest redefines the world of high fashion.

Original photos used for this project:

Partner Project Results

For Alyssa's project we (creepily) took photos of passengers on Bart that looked into the camera phone's lens as we took a snapshot.  I then took the pictures I got into photoshop and layered them with an opacity of 20%... This was my outcome...

Playing with Chance: My Results

For step one I started at the front of the pier and worked my way down asking as many people for high fives as I could, I probably would have gotten more if I hadn't tried explaining what it was for to each person I asked.  My high five race led me to the back of Pier 39, I got 11 high fives so I counted down my recent calls list to the name “Andrew.”  I used the ‘A’ in his name to lead me to my first store, Alpaca Fashion… But it was closed.  So, we moved onto the next shop with an ‘A’ in its title and that was Alcatraz Gift Shop.  

After roaming around the store for a while pretending to look at things, a man was leaving to meet back up with a group of his friends. We followed them as they worked their way around a corner and into the Bubba Gump Gift Shop, I continued to follow him around the store but his friends rushed him out and he never got a chance to notice me.  

Here's me being a creeper following my victim in the gray shirt.

This led me to option B in Step 3, going to the Sea Lion viewing area on the side of the pier.  Once I got there I was instructed to blow bubbles at passersby and was lucky enough to have some kids around me to react to them by running through and trying to pop them, a couple adults participated too.

Here's the photo I took of my surroundings from Step 4.

By the time my two minutes were up, I was at five people.  I counted down my contacts and came to the name Dalya A, I gave her a call but no answer… So I counted down five more names and landed on Carolyn B.  She answered and told me her favorite color was turquoise, the most turquoise building I could find was a shop called Bliss and the first turquoise item I found were these earrings for 12 dollars. 

This gave me 12 minutes to work on my drawing.  We found the nearest bench and I pulled the words ‘flying,’ ‘detective,’ and ‘fire.’  For my drawing  I had to incorporate these words as well as what I saw at the Sea Lion viewing area, this is what I came up with:

Presentation on Rick Genest, Body Augmentation Artist

http://prezi.com/ulnegqxy7msi/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Artists and Scientists working with Augmented Bodies

I wanted to start with Douglas Coupland's list on what the future will be like, I found it interesting so I'm really just posting this for myself as a future reference.  Its somewhat similar to the predictions we had to make after reading the Vannevar Bush article.

http://www.nextnature.net/2010/10/douglas-coupland-a-radical-pessimists-guide-to-the-next-10-years/

An augmented body I have been familiar with for a while is that of the Human Barbie.

http://www.nextnature.net/2012/12/human-barbie/

The ultimate augmentation... Immortality!

http://www.nextnature.net/2013/05/the-holy-grail-of-immortality/

Because human mortality does play a large role in a lot of my other work I think I will play with this idea of immortality in my augmented body piece, which is why I want to photoshop myself into a god.  Maybe I could also cover myself in full body tattoos like Rick Genest.

Zombie Rick is an artist, fashion model, and actor known for movies like 47 Ronin, Carny, and was even featured in a Lady Gaga video.  He's probably who I will end up presenting on.

Another "freak show" style body modifier is San Diego's Dennis Avner, the Stalking Cat, slowly turning himself into a tiger.

Here are some links to scientists who work with body augmentation, I found these interesting so I wanted to include them in my blog for future reference.

Sleeping Less and Better?

http://www.nextnature.net/2013/05/the-pursuit-of-debunking-sleep/

Get ready to hide from the drones!!

http://www.nextnature.net/2013/05/with-stealth-wear-hide-from-unmanned-drones-in-style/

Creepy Bionic Man shows us the future of augmented bodies

http://www.nextnature.net/2013/02/bionic-man/

Google's latest idea to bring you and your phone even closer.

http://www.nextnature.net/2013/11/google-wants-to-tattoo-a-phone-onto-your-throat/

Women in Korea getting plastic surgery to permanently smile:

http://www.nextnature.net/2013/09/feeling-sad-ladies-in-korea-go-under-the-knife-for-a-perma-smile/

Ear implants that let you listen to music or record a conversation without anyone noticing:

http://www.nextnature.net/2013/07/invisible-headphone-implants/

Cyborg bladder:

http://www.nextnature.net/2012/06/thirsty-with-a-cyborg-bladder-youll-never-need-to-drink/

SHIT GOLD!

http://www.nextnature.net/2012/12/a-pill-for-golden-poop/

Chance Operation

Participants will be equipped with a backpack/bag holding:

-bubble wand

-pouch of numbers 1-9

-box of folded paper bits (with words)

-and a map.  

YOU WILL HAVE TO ALSO BRING A SKETCHPAD AND YOUR FAVORITE COLOR MEDIA (COLORED PENCILS, MARKERS, WATERCOLOR SET).

Inviting as many friends as you can will make this experience a lot more fun, they can join in at anytime, just make sure one is always filming and/or taking photos of you fulfilling each act.  It would also come in handy to have a friend there in charge of a stop watch for certain tasks you'll have to perform.

Start at the front of Pier 39.

1. High five (either strangers or friends) and see how many high fives you can get in 1 minute

(Even more fun if you have a friend there to race you, and whoever gets the highest score, that number will be used to see what the next task will be)

2. Use your number of high fives to scroll through your recent calls list in your phone. (For example if you got seven high fives, go to the seventh most recent call in your phone). Take the first letter of the first name of the caller, and then find a shop with that letter in its name.

3. Go into the shop and wait for someone to leave… Follow them… Stay with them until they enter another store and go in after them.

à If by the time you get into the store they notice you (make eye contact) then:

A. Go to Bubba Gump’s

If they don’t make eye contact with you whatsoever then:

B. Go to Sea Lion Area

4. When you arrive at the next location, take a picture of what you see around you.

5.  Blow bubbles where you are, for two minutes, see how many people try to pop or catch one, use this number for next task.

(If no one reacts to your bubbles, pick a number out of the pouch.)

6. Use the number you got from bubbles popped and count out that number while going through names in your contact list. Call that person and ask them what they're favorite color is.

(If that person doesn't answer, countdown that number again in your contacts until you call someone who does answer.)

7. Look for a store that has that color on the facade or sign of the building.

8.  Enter that store and look for an item in the store that also incorporates this color and see how much it costs.  Whatever the price, convert each dollar into minutes; this is how long you will have to work on your masterpiece! You can stay on the pier to draw it out with the color pencils and sketchpad provided in your backpack.

9. Find the clear box which is holding a bunch of bits of paper in your backpack, pull three pieces without looking.

àYou must incorporate every word you pull out of the box into your drawing in however much time you were given by the item in the store (from step 8).  

10.  Also draw something in the photo you took in step 4, (this should be included in the same drawing).

BONUS: You may create a series of these by giving yourself different amounts of time by finding other items in the same store with the same color and picking new words out of the box.

For a shorter experience of this chance operation:

-Start in whichever store you would like

-Perform Step 3 and proceed from there

My Favorite Chance Artists

So... I am really loving Improv Everywhere, I like how their work becomes an entire experience.  I can't stop watching their videos on YouTube, so hilarious!

They have created a series of short videos where they bring characters and scenes from movies like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Indiana Jones into the real world.

Pretty Hilarious

I really enjoyed their MP3 experiments and thought this would be an interesting idea for this project, creating some sort of audio scavenger hunt through this city and having someone record your experience and the reactions of those around you.. something I may be looking into more for this next project.

Of course it won't be the same without a big group, but maybe it would create a more personal experience.  I'm thinking audio with instructions and a bag of supplies. 

When I studied detournemont in a past Humanities class my teacher introduced us to Pinky, the creator of TV Carnage.  He compiles a bunch of the worst and most strange moments from television into movies that will leave you cringing and laughing hysterically.  I watched a film by Pinky called Casual Fridays and I highly recommend checking it out.  This made me think of another idea for a project using the TV as a medium.  For example a type of game where the participant would have to roll die and whatever number they got they would have to record scenes from that channel and them compile everything they recorded to flow in one short film.

And here's Pinky to explain a little more himself! I've also included his website.

http://tvcarnage.com/

http://tvcarnage.bigcartel.com/product/casual-fridays

Allan Kaprow and The Happenings

Allan Kaprow was a pivotal figure in the shifting art world of the 1960s; his "happenings," a form of spontaneous, non-linear action, revolutionized the practice of performance art. While Kaprow began as a painter, by the mid 1950s his interest turned to the theoretical, based primarily on the shifting concepts of space as subjectively experienced by the viewer. Kaprow emerged from the group of artists known as the Rutgers Group, based out of Rutgers University where Kaprow taught art history and studio art. Kaprow was among the many artists and critics who focused on an intellectual and theorized view of art, rejecting the monumental nature of Abstract Expressionist works and instead focusing on the act of their production. In particular, his influential essay, "The Legacy of Jackson Pollock," (1956), called for an end to craftsmanship and permanence in art and instead demanded that artists shift their attention to "non-concrete," or ephemperal, modes of production.

KEY IDEAS

Kaprow's happenings changed the definition of the art object. "Art" was no longer an object to be viewed hanging on a wall or set on a pedestal; rather, it could now be anything at all, including movement, sound, and even scent. Kaprow stated, "The everyday world is the most astonishing inspiration conceivable. A walk down 14th Street is more amazing than any masterpiece of art."

Kaprow was very clear that his works were connected with art and not theater. He stressed that his happenings were in the same category as the action painting of Abstract Expressionists and not with scripted scenes involving actors playing parts. Kaprow's pieces involved spaces he physically altered, with sights and sounds as deliberately composed as any canvas by Pollock or Rothko.

Kaprow rebelled against the prescriptions of Clement Greenberg, both in his art and in his writings: formal aesthetics, Kaprow believed, were no longer relevant when the art left the canvas. Kaprow's work was based on an "aesthetic of regular experience," a transient and momentary experience felt by the viewer being as significant as a painting on canvas

CAMILLE UTTERBACK

http://camilleutterback.com/projects/active-ecosystem/
This is the artist that did the Text Rain piece we looked at in cladd. This link will lead you to her piece called Actice Ecosystem. I love her use of digital art and interactive projections.