I'm wondering what Mark meant to capture here - the reflection or the mansion in the background. These seem like two different pictures imposed on each other. Almost looks like something from a Holga camera.

Why am I curious? Because this photo was taken using one of the cheapest cameras on the market, and it's a masterpiece. If you can't see it closely enough, click on it. It's amazing what Mark managed to do with one shitty $2 disposable camera that was probably knocked around, x-rayed, and sat on before it ever got to Dubai let alone got back to the US.

This photo will never need Photoshop. Look at the guy's sleeve -- textbook chiaroscuro. This piece has an amazing sense of foreground and background. But there's an added layer of complexity when you realize that the "foreground" in this picture is actually our (and Mark's) background, aka the real guy who's actually creating the reflection. I can't think of any other way that this picture could have come through this way unless Mark was intentionally trying to photograph the reflection of the young guy and not the chunky Dubillionaire suite, and that just proves how subtle his eye is.

Then the miracle that the picture actually came out after it went through more airport security, had layovers in Amsterdam, Paris, New York, LA, all the while bouncing around with all the other cameras in a bright yellow bag with Arabic script printed all over it that I used a precariously weak ponytail holder to close. For some reason, a lot of our photographers ripped the paper and some of the components off of the cameras we gave them, and thankfully this didn't affect the photos either.

This photo is a miracle. I worried (often) that our film had been shot or ruined, or maybe didn't even work in the first place. These cameras were the 2-buck chucks of photography. Now, I realize they were harbingers of genius.

See more of Mark's photography of Dubai and some of our cameras at the Wallenberg 160 Gallery near the staircase.

Worlds of Dubai, or Dubai by Dubai

December 2010 - ongoing

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Thanks to Emma Webster and the 160 staff for making the gallery happen. Stay tuned for more Dubai by Dubai/Worlds of Dubai exhibitions this quarter...

_______: A Debut in Performance Art -- construction

1 － Independence Day - Timeline

It’s been a long journey and the show is going up next week. From auditions last quarter to rehearsals this, from weekly production meetings to figuring out non-traditional lighting, we’re about a week and a half from opening night and it’s pretty nerve wracking.

Here’s the information for our performances:

FREE ADMISSION
April 21-23 2011, 7:30 pm
Thursday, April 21st, 7:30PM - French House, 610 Mayfield Ave
Friday, April 22nd, 7.30 pm - Roble Theater (in Roble Hall), 374 Santa Teresa St.
Saturday, April 23rd, 7.30 pm - Synergy, 550 San Juan St.

Hope you guys can make it! Tickets can be reserved at http://goo.gl/4PUOD

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For documentation’s sake, this was our timeline for the past two quarters:

WINTER QUARTER
Early February: General preparation and planning
February 23-24: Auditions
February 26: Casting decisions

SPRING QUARTER
March 27: Rehearsals begin
April 5: Visit by Word for Word San Francisco
April 12: Visit by Word for Word San Francisco
April 13: Flyering begins
April 21-23: Performances…!

"Re-": react, reflect, recount, reflex

A bit about our project, Re-:

Inspired by SiCa’s theme of Memory and the work of Frieder Weiss, we are working on a collaborative work between dance and an interactive motion tracking video system that will be performed as part of the Dance Division’s Student Works Concert on May 13, 2011 at 8:30pm and 10:00pm in Roble Gym. With Ali and me serving as both choreographers and dancers, the work’s foundation will be rooted in dance. An interactive computer system designed by Hunter will be strongly integrated through the use of live motion tracking technology and projection. To our knowledge, no work of this kind has been created at Stanford ever before. While dance is frequently performed on the typical stage venue and interactive sound and video systems are developed separately at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), this will be the first time that the two creative mediums join forces.

This unique partnership between dance and technology will generate an interesting dialogue on the idea of memory. On one hand, the overall conceptual basis of the work is cause and effect. The learned choreography that the dancers perform acts as the cause that stimulates the motion-capture system and affects the nature of the images projected onto the screen. In this way, the dancers represent memory while the projections make those memories tangible through visual abstraction. Additionally, the narrative context for the work will further explore memory. Although the choreography will not tell a linear story, it will subtly evoke the idea that the performers are reminiscing on memories of the past. The projections might include images such as water effects that reflect pictures (representing memories) which the dancers distort by using their movements to stimulate ripples throughout the projection.

This affiliation with memory is echoed in our project’s title, Re-. Through the process of developing the outline for this work, we were consistently using words containing the prefix “re-”: react, reflect, rewind, recount, retrace, reflex, etc. We then came to realize that, by definition, the prefix “re-” attaches the theme of memory to nearly any word that it is paired with. Thus, we have decided to title the project “Re-” because of the fact that this work will provide a multidimensional commentary on the theme of memory.

Progress Update:

While we have made a lot of progress so far, there is still a lot of work to be done before the May 13^th performances. Due to the fact that this is much more complicated that a typical dance work, most of our group meetings have been more about planning logistics than actual dance rehearsals. For instance, we had to meet with the Dance Division’s facilities manager to ensure that our equipment would meet the fire codes to Roble Gym and that we would not blow the fuses to the dance studio. Ali and I also met with the four other choreographers who will be presenting work in the performances to discuss the format of the evening. Our group also struggled for a little while as we tried to figure out the best way to obtain two 7x10 foot rear projector screens that would stand on their own.

Meanwhile, we found a great music artist (Chris Carlson) who is currently composing the score for our work. Hunter is busy working on some fantastic projection images. Ali and I have made good progress in the studio, but we still have a long way to go. Here’s a quick glimpse of what we have so far:

Drug Wars

For this project I am doing a large charcoal drawing (by large I mean 72"x 112"). I will be receiving the paper next week, and I will start doing the final drawing. For the first couple of months I was doing research about the current drug problems in Mexico (the so called "Drug War"). After thorough research and conversations with faculty, I arrived at well oriented conclusion about the situation in Mexico. I will try to depict in my drawing the different elements that fuel this conflict and narrate a story of the "war".

Here is a sketch of the final drawing:


The drawing resembles Mexico National Flag, with some variations. The drawing is divided in three sections: On the far right, there is the Mexican elites controlling President Calderon (who acts like a dog) and the army in the background as a threat in the horizon. On the far left there is the American side of the problem, a group of people consuming drugs, lost in a vicious and disgusting environment, and the American government feeding the monster (a million headed snake that lives under the Mexican soil - the illegal drug industry). In the middle there is the Mexican people, guarded by an eagle which is attacked by the snake.

There is a lot of symbolism in the drawing, however it will make more sense to explain it once I have a more rendered view of the final drawing. I will keep posting...

Second Poster Done

This poster was pretty fun to make. I divided the poster into regions, each with a different motif. Then I had the regions melt and expand into each other, which worked better for some than others. I think maybe a more circular region structure would have blended better. I'll try a more unified structure for the next poster.

First Poster Finished

Alright, I've finished the first poster. It ended up having a balanced amount of semantic and non-semantic content. I wonder how it will look when I print it out.