So last week in class i did my art presentation on Shepard Fairey. When i was doing the research on his art, I had some issues interpreting what he was trying to get across. I got a little bit worried that i was going to get up and sound like a complete idiot when i was presenting, since part of the requirement was to have an interpretation of the art. I actually surprised myself when i got up to present, because I was able to a little bit of on-the-spot interpretation. This had nothing to do with a lack of preparation, because I actually spent quite a few hours trying to decide what to say about his art. I think that i may have been trying too hard to look at the art and figure out what was going on. I think that I may have been over thinking the whole thing, thus making it much more complicated.

I dont really know what my point is, or if this even makes sense, but i found it somewhat interesting.

Today in class there was a presentation on Stelarc. I found his art to be somewhat interesting because it is not the kind of thing that I would have ever thought of in regards to art. I was always under the impression that art is by definition a painting or a scupture. I never really thought about the fact that it can be a performance. It does make sense, though because music is a form of art, and it involves performance art as well.

I do not fully understand what the significance of the 1/4 scale ear on his forearm is. I guess that it is interesting because it was grown in a lab from his own tissue, but as far as i can tell, this is all that makes it a "real ear." From what I understand, there are none of the internal elements that make an ear an ear. It dosent connect to his brain in any way as far as I could tell. Therefore, it is not a functioning ear, but simply a mass tissue that looks like an ear. Maybe there is something that I have overlooked, but this is my take on the ear project.

I do find the robotic extensions of his body to be interesting. It shows that the human body is similar to a circuit board as mentioned in class. These projects show that the miniscule electrical impulses that travel through the human body can be converted into movement of both the body itself as well as an external item.

For Tuesdays class we had to create an acount on Second Life and go into it and play around for a bit. I have never been one to play video games, or computer games. I got Super Nintendo when I was like ten, and never got anything to replace it, because quite frankly I never played it. I have just never thought that it is fun to sit and play video games when there are so many other things to do that make a difference in the real world, not a virtual world. That being said, you can probably guess that I am not a big fan of second life.

When I first went into this virtual land, I had trouble doing anything because I have a slow learning curve when it comes to video game controls. I did figure out how to fucntion after a little bit of fidling, and I also discovered that you can fly in this world. You can pretty much walk or fly around wherever you want, and you can see that there are other people in the virtual world, doing the same thing that you are. You can talk to these people, and you can see that they are also real people somewhere, some just trying to have a good time, and some probably so unhappy with their lives that they need to create an avatar in a fictional world to live their lives through a computer game. I am not saying that everyone on this website is a loser or anything, but I do believe that there are a good number of people on there that really wish they could just live through second life instead of their real lives.

During class last week we discussed Martin Minsky's article "Will Robots Inherit The Earth?" The part that I found most interesting was the part that my group was assigned to discuss. This was the issue of brain transplants, and whether or not they are feasible and right or wrong. I believe that when you transplant someones brain, they are not the same person. I think that they would become a person with some of the traits of both them, as well as the donor. I think that if parts of the brain could be transplanted to save someones life, it could be beneicial, but there is the sensitive issue of population control to consider as well. The population of the earth is growing rapidly, and although it may sound insensitive, we need to consider this as well. Pollution and poverty would both become worse problem than they already are if the population rate increases any more rapidly than it is currently.

While visiting the Museum of Fine Arts the other day, I found that the Egyptian section was very interesting. It was cool to see the tombs and statues, that are thousands of years old. It is cool to think about how thousands of years ago, these pieces were being made by egyptians, most likely for some noble member of society

I thought that the piece called "Falling" at the Axiom art exhibit was quite interesting. The idea was that when you put your face in the box, you feel as if you are falling. This is done through a set up of eccentric cams that are used to spin chains around, but they change speed and direction because of the shape of the cams. There are mirrors in the back of the box that you see you face in, but it is through these chains that are constantly moving. If you look at it for a minute, and focus, it creates a pretty cool illusion of falling.

I have never been the type of individual that can look at a painting and realize that the artist is telling a story. I have only been able to see that the artist has painted a picture on a canvas, in hopes of pleasing the viewer. I hope that through this class I will be able to interpret the meaning of art.