Source Artist - Discovery

Magazine as conceptual vehicle

2011-08-31T10:59:00.000-07:00

So much attention has been given to social media - monetizing it to justify the time and attention investment...and meaningfulness of networking.
The sustainability of the work has been an obvious consideration from the start and in that nailing down a simple to understand service serving a market that is growing was not as easy as I initially expected.

On one Side: Helping Luxury Service Providers advance relationships with women who want responsible luxury goods/services. Product - Podcast production with strategy - I produce purposeful conversations and create an engaging context for sharing them.

On the other side: I provide value to my social network by selecting people and their brands to be featured or introduced to a new market.

For obvious reasons I am interested in both all this personally and as sign posts of social evolution. I love exploring these ideas and will continue to do so, but unless I am only interested in conversing with myself I have had to do a better job of connecting with others.

The concept for Context Magazine is an experiment in Magazine as Interactive Art and exploring the potential of social media as part of an inclusive value creation infrastructure. The artworks are Art-i-facts in an Art Based research series about inclusion, social responsibility and women supporting each others highest expression...especially finding mediums work to engage more change agents across typical demographic divides.

For quite some time in the research aspects of Art Based inquiry I struggled to find a media that inspired me, allowed me to bring those ideas together and was accessible to the people I wanted to engage. I think we are making similar use of social media to move ideas forward and so I am curious about what our inquiries have in common.

Big ah-ha was realizing the magazine as a conceptual vehicle facilitates bringing together groups that are sometimes socially conditioned to resist each other.

Plenty of idealism boiled down to a conversation about using flip-page magazine channels as alternative distribution to replace the function and eliminate the barriers of the gallery. Very much the way that other artists are exploring how to use the internet and social media to disseminate public art...I am interested in defining Art Based Solutions as part of a model for community change.

In Context Magazine I want to embrace the opportunity to develop accessible collaborative artworks that help the business agenda and the BIG dreams...allow women to feel inspired and supported by sharing stories of the journey that give our lives Context.

The Free eCourse builds on helping people make better strategy decisions by learning to better understand the context of their problems and Solutions. I am really happy about this progress in being able to show how this Art Based Solution emerged.

Stay tuned....

Economic Stimulus from the bottom up:Art, Questions and a TEDTalks video

2011-06-17T07:17:00.000-07:00

Project:Forgive postcard#3 by Yvette Dubel

Despite the rhetoric, most economic policy is designed to preserve the status quo rather than address the deep rooted sources causing the problems. There are some things policy can not dictate, like your desires. You have immediate desires and Big Desires. A big desire would be embodied in your hopes for hopes for the world and yourself in that context.

So often businesses, especially smaller enterprises, don't want to take on big issues or develop BIG VISIONS. Remember your business and consumer habits exist in a context we call the world.

One of the reason I had to reconnect my work to my artist practice was that I couldn't help but connect the moving pieces that kept the bigger picture in view for me.Source: Economic Stimulus from the bottom up:A Question, Art, and the Business of Life

In my artist practice, the interconnectedness of the projects I work on is easily visible for me. Wearing my artist hat, I am able to summon greater wisdom than wearing the "strategy consultant" label.

By allowing the work to lead the way, an awesome journey has continued to unfold. One of the things most people have a hard time with is connecting the moving pieces to see the interconnectedness showing them their innovation opportunity. Are you paying attention to your discovery process? Instead of being overwhelmed we can learn to make sense of our interconnectedness and make better strategy decisions.

The postcard from Project:Forgive that I included in this post is part of a series that evolved from Project:what-is-peace? that kicked off Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy back in 2006. The first collaboration was NGO Art Studio in the Republic of Macedonia where I had my first up-close lesson in how international aid can go horribly wrong. Some of the funding for the Peace Day event came from an organization that required that certain speakers be included. Little did I know that these "suggested speakers" were considered war criminals by the residents. It almost brought the peace celebration to a halt as it stirred issues that were never really resolved after the Balkan War.

If meaningless activities can exist and be accepted as performance art then why not meaningful action? Just as any other artist's history shapes their work, so to does my background in advocacy, community development and as a business consultant.

As part of the Art:Works solutions are an integral part of the completed works to advance a peace economy and improve communities.
(Go to webantiphon.com to learn more)

Do you find yourself making statements like these?

I need a long term strategy not just a marketing blitz.

Things are changing so fast, and trying to keep up is exhausting me.

What used to work isnt’ working anymore, and now I don’t know where to turn.

I don’t know what information is meaningful for innovation in my business/organization or industry.

I know we need to make changes, but I don’t know how to recognize innovation.

[caption id="attachment_570" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cultural Fusion collaboration with NGO Art Studio in Macedonia"][/caption]

In the absence of Peace - things like profit take a nose dive in value. I guess we can call that part of the Business of Life. How do we know this? Because if there is a lack of peace within you, it makes it difficult to enjoy business success. If there is a lack of peace around you, it creates a very difficult environment in which to attain your goals.

So the question of "what is peace?" persisted and raised its head again during a collaboration with a county history museum and a few community leaders heading up the project locally. It was a collaboration that made me question what was really possible given the partners involved. I knew it would be a long term project based on the amount of resistance it encountered early on. Collections for the large scale work continue now, but were halted for a time. As a community project, the objectives were not driven by attainment of profits. Instead this project was focused on developing an open knowledge resource. Lines were drawn in the sand and alliances fortified - making the IT part of the project easy in comparison to the people problems.

Then I began to question the role that forgiveness plays in finding peace. That's when a line from the play Rent grabbed my attention.

The opposite of war isn't peace, its creation!

While politics has historically dictated economic plans and policy, it is important to remember that the political is personal and the personal political. For a number of reasons (which I look at more closely in the book), this became very clear to me after my father's death. I turned my attention again to the personal motivation for aspiring to see Project:what-is-peace? to a satisfying conclusion. For those that don't know, that series is connected to several Regional Economic/Community Development partnerships and initiatives to serve businesses and communities. Economic stimulus from the bottom up takes a quantum leap when we answer the following question.

How do we transform resistance?

[caption id="attachment_532" align="aligncenter" width="188" caption="From Bloodtrails by Yvette Dubel"][/caption]

As much as that is a communal experience of self in relation to - it is also a deeply personal one. It goes to the heart of personal responsibility as the foundation of any social responsibility program or objectives.

It began to seem like a flower sprouting new branching out with new stems which grew new blossoms. Project:Forgive was certainly one of them. Bloodtrails - which spawned the picture above, is a darker piece (deals more with pain and disappointment) that relates to both those projects. However, it is itself part of another collaboration called Touchstone Learnings that generated as its first completed work "Guided by blood trails: Political revelations in learning." That collaborative piece has been accepted for publication so will share more about that when the book is published as part of an anthology later this year.

In addition, exciting progress has been made in defining the scope of the next Touchstone project. While it looks at issues of teacher identity within institutions, it simultaneously informs my personal inquiry. My interest is to increase understanding of the life teachers who bring not just lessons to get students gainful employment, but lessons aimed at living better lives and being better glocal (global-local) neighbors.

No doubt that Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy is an ambitious undertaking, but it is worth the effort....and because I LOVE it, it doesn't feel much like work :)

Social Innovation as Modern Art

2011-06-04T05:58:00.000-07:00

I recently started play Empire Avenue and shortly before that I was re-visiting post-it note tabs in Michael Heim's "The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality". I was having a conversation with someone about selecting an Index because my indecisiveness on that had kept me from claiming a profile on Empire for awhile. We had just finished talking about Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy, when I mentioned the book - that's when the documentary in my next post was shared with me.

Our conversation provided more support for contextualizing the validity of the work (Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy) but isolating components for specific conversations is another matter.

As art it is inspired by what I have shared previously in this blog and written about in other documents - as an alternative to protest art: development of a socio-technical infrastructure that achieves the public and market objectives described at the commencement of the series. The basis of my work as an art movement based on research, discovery, creation/development uses collaboration to achieve results toward the goals of public and private sector. This is the source of the Community Change Model developed. Before reducing outcomes to practical results like increasing customer retention or creating more economic opportunities for more people, the bigger context for the enterprise is seen as part of the socio-technical infrastructure and its design/refinement.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="720" caption="TimeLine abstract (i)"][/caption]

There are different Art:Work projects associated with various components. Different kinds of art lend themselves to specific types of objectives, but there is also an impressive amount of overlap. The concept map showing that reduces some of the complexity by focusing on organizing for action planning includes some attached sample material - will be shared exclusively with my subscribers (Sign-Up is FREE, see subscription box on the right @webantiphon.com).

This concept map is a vital part of understanding how the this work in Art Based research can benefit your specific goals and objectives. For the right businesses and collaborating partners this can mean simply maximizing marketing investments, to increase visibility, sales and brand value...or this can be the move that helps increase your enterprise's capacity for innovation.

And to help put the value of this kind of endeavor to develop a more evolved concept IT infrastructure into perspective I share with you this excerpt from pages 38-39 in Heim's "The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality":

"...In contrast with literate cultures of the past, we face an enormous volume of stored information. Our ancestors face the task of slowly learning from experience, of gleaning from life whatever they could discover. They then tried to amplify whatever they could confirm. They learned how to pass along an expanding knowledge base. They stored knowledge impersonally in writing and eventually learned to automate knowledge so that it could become information.

Today our task seems to be the reverse of that of our ancestors...Our task is to hold onto the anchor of our own experience to find meaning in the sea of information...

Hypertext helps us navigate the tide of information. In skipping through hypertexts, we undergo a felt acceleration of time..."

Evolution of Institutional Critque

2011-04-11T03:42:00.001-07:00

Postcard Series:ProjectForgive.org Artist:Yvette Dubel

Thought I would share some thoughtful insight on alternatives and the evolution of institutional critique...

"But again, how do we as an audience register, and participate in, the exploration of institutional site? In Los Angeles, the small storefront Machine Project offers an extraordinary example of “ideological insertion.” A performance and installation space that investigates art, technology, natural history, science, music, literature, and food, Machine’s enterprise relies on “hands-on engagement” to make rarefied knowledge accessible. Recently, the Hammer in Los Angeles invited Machine to create a new kind of interactive museum, and last November, Machine was invited to visit the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, “orchestrating ten hours of performances, workshops, and events experimenting with LACMA’s expansive grounds and enormous collection of stuff.” If the practice of institutional critique reflected critically on its own place within galleries and museums and on the concept and social function of art itself, Machine has leapt into this territory, but, instead of merely unmasking the “institutional membrane,” invites us to experience the institution anew."

Re-Source: http://blog.art21.org/2010/04/30/some-alternatives-to-institutional-critique-2/

Some Alternatives to Institutional Critique, Laura Fried. (Art21 blog, April 30th, 2010).

Take Heart - Confessions of a Change Agent

2011-02-22T09:18:00.000-08:00

Today is a good day so I am not feeling like the woman in the picture above at the moment, but I have been there. Being a change agent is part choice and part obsession. The commitment has been a choice for me, but the drive to part of leading change has been a life long obsession - it is a core part of who I am. I honestly can't say I know how to be anything other than who/what I am and I wouldn't be happy being otherwise.

Now having said that, let me confess something to you - it can be exhausting, not just for me but for people around me. That's because I eat, sleep and breath Art Based research (Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy) and Community Change Management.
I talk about it, I read about it, I dream about it...

But life work balance is something we all have to pay attention to if we want to avoid burn out. Before I embraced this reality, I experienced burn out when I was working as a community development consultant. The main reason was that my obsession was tainted by persistent frustration. For me the solution was to break free of the community development box, although I am still very much concerned with community development I found that sphere as a sector to be very resistant to change because of its entanglement with politics.

Coming back to my first true love, art was healing for me. Developing Cultural Fusion as an A/r/tographic model for community change answered a call from my soul - it expresses my deepest calling to serve and create. It puts me pack in touch with the way of being that I find is most conducive to supporting those interested in and willing to change.

Re-Thinking the Way We Think About Social Impacts

People who know me are aware that I have been exploring linkages between CRM (customer relationship management) Strategy and CSR (corporate social responsibility) programs for a number of years. Mostly I have met with a good deal of frustration but I’ve come to far to give up now, so when I find enlightening or encouraging news it helps put the wind back in my sails. Lately my attention has been on programs to assist survivors of violence but I also remain engaged in crime prevention and reducing recidivism of ex-offenders.

Recently I was introduced to Social Impact Bonds and it is definitely an encouraging step in the right direction. The paper I am going to link you to shows how the model can be applied to reducing recidivism and government spending. What is inspiring here is the financial investment model – certainly helps address parts of the problem, risk management for socially motivated investments. What they’ve done right….There is no doubt that employment and community support are huge issues in reducing recidivism. In addition to the model discussed in that paper, there is also a need and space for broader understanding based on open research (such as Art Based research) and event sponsorship funding models are worth considering as a less restrictive alternative. Is there an opportunity here for new approaches that tackle multiple dimensions of the problem to be explored and developed? I find that what is missing is support of innovation whereby there is space for discovery and open participation of those impacted.
Read the rest of this post here

Emotionally Engaged with Technology

2011-02-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

New Video Project coming soon....

Just as advertising in its modern incarnations have been summoned by the needs of business as usual...I wonder what remains to be discovered to serve the needs of newly defined contexts of social enterprise and the commons. I think the concept of interactive public art that can be accessed in private spaces a paradox worthy of some Attention.

Recently a friend of mine shared with me that he has found the love of his life using an online service. While we were hanging out one evening, observing the way text messaging technology has allowed them to nurture this emotional bond, I thought of all the ney-sayers of fifteen years ago who warned that email was destroying the human connection.

What many people failed to consider was the ways that we would be changed by this new technology. Technology is not a wall to be scaled it has been transformed into an enabler. One of my early Attention experiments was about using music to consciously share Attention...it raised more questions.

This had me thinking about the way perception of the computer voice has been humanized...for example, think of what that computer voice means when it is communicating with or for someone for whom that door would have previously been closed? The man who could not speak to those closest to him without the computer enabled voice that converts his text to speech. In that kind of context the computer voice takes on an unfamiliar intimacy.

For this video project (it may be the first of a series of them) are interested in exploring how to make sense of this paradox - how to make it practical while at the same time going into the artistic inquiry rabbit hole.

Obsessed With Being Practical

Interesting that I chose something like article marketing to play around with since it does related to the Cosmic Tree Memorial Art series and the memorial art planter business. After pondering some of the market research findings - namely the strong appeal of the memorial art concept for pets.

Using an article I done to increase traffic to http://memorial-planters.com/new to create the first audio track for the video "Not All Memorial Planters Are Created Equal". Next to interject supportive content for a contrasting experience I am adding an instrumental track for "My Heart Will Go On". I am definitely using some text from the article in the visuals with the memorial planter header as the static background...

It should be interesting...certainly it is an interesting experiment to think and work through.

Driving Custom Cremation Keepsake Trends

2011-01-28T13:05:00.000-08:00

Driving Custom Cremation Keepsake Trends

By Yvette Dubel

If you are researching funeral services, funeral alternatives or custom cremation keepsakes, how happy you are with the result options will depend upon your reason for looking.

Customers, can I have your attention please?

Yes, I'm talking to you.

If you are doing research as a customer you may be looking for:

Immediate help that you don't have to think too much about - a death care package

Service or product solution that meet your requirement for thoughtful traditional death care service according to what you and your guest expect

Personalization of the expected - including attention to budget management

Personalization that is ecological and open to fluid expression

Primarily budget conscious alternatives

Most of the options you will find are very conservative and formal. Certainly there is nothing wrong with that; it serves those who want it.

On the upside you will find the number of providers offering green services has increased substantially as ten years ago virtually nothing of the sort existed as a personalization option. Of course, this is still a vague term since what that means seems to vary from one context to another. The difference now is that you as a customer, are empowered to direct "green standards" through your spending choices and provider selection.

Now what if the service experience you want is what most people would consider a bit exotic or unusual?

When I was researching for my father's memorial service, I knew I needed an experience that felt authentic. That meant it needed to express the specificity of our father - daughter relationship. And this is how the funeral alternatives industry emerged. They provide a customized service, often at lower costs, that do not sneer at creative expression as part of the memorializing experience.

Our connections to deceased loved ones are unique, sometimes complicated and loving but always personally specific so ultimately that is what you are probably really looking to express through the service or custom cremation keepsake you select.

"For decades, the cremation rate in the United States was less than 4%... in 2000 nearly 25% of the deceased were cremated; and in 2006, the cremation rate was projected to be 33.53%. As a result, the market for traditional funerals with traditional caskets has actually declined and in 2007, CFSA estimates that about 1,729,500 of 2,380,926 deaths resulted in the use of a traditional casket." the Casket & Funeral Supply Association of America reports.

As cremation rates have seen increased - it was being driven by more subtle social shifts. One being more value being placed on creative attributes in funeral alternative services, cremation keepsake and cremation urn alternatives. Instead of "put your name here" personalization, new product trends emphasize a more authentic personalization product experience. As these type of customer need grow, simultaneously death care providers are struggling to figure out how to respond with less access to monetary capital and limited staff resources.

These products may not be as easy for a customer to find, but they are worth the effort of digging a few pages deeper in search results to discover. There are also tools like the funeral alternatives and crematory directory listings where you can find growing resources being developed to address these gaps in information connections. Unlike old gate-keeper models that control customer access to information, Look for resources developing free to access services such as validated listings where contact information has been verified and confirmed. When you have a unique concept for what you want, the way you want to remember your loved one - whether it was a family member, a pet, or a friend you have every right to find help getting what you want.

Yvette Dubel is an artist, researcher and community change management consultant. She specializes in innovation, art based solutions, social capital, social responsibility, meaningful marketing, customer retention program development and seeing the connections between the seemingly unconnected. Dubel the artist+ founding-partner in SoulFood Studio originator of the #1 Original Memorial Art Planter from the Cosmic Tree Memorial Art Series http://memorial-planters.com/new. The co-founder of Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy Series & Research Project, and you can read her Community Change Management blog at http://webantiphon.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Yvette_Dubel

http://EzineArticles.com/?Driving-Custom-Cremation-Keepsake-Trends&id=5813884

Forgiveness - the gift

2010-12-25T11:11:00.000-08:00

Here is an excerpt from my a-n.co.uk: Artist Talking, Exposing contemporary artists' practice
blog.

The recent state supported season of commemorations for the American civil war have been unexpectedly soul stirring. It forces me to take notice of the uncomfortable space that Acceptance calls on one to occupy.

Artist: Yvette Dubel, 'Project:Forgive postcard3', paper collage and digital media. Photo: Y. Dubel.Courtesy: SoulFood Studio. Postcard 3 from Project:Forgive - a global call for attention to forgiveness as a path forward. Open invitation to the public to contribute and expand the project.

In response to an editorial piece by the director of the Fairfield County Museum, who has inspired other works in this series going back to "what is peace?" genesis of http://ProjectForgive.org , that was published on The State newspaper website - in reply, I posted the following comment:

Can we agree that a terrorist is a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells? In the context of the civil war - that seems to fit the confederates.

The bottom line is that many are calling for us to celebrate Domestic Terrorism. Was Lincoln's response that different from Bush's response to contemporary terrorism? It seems that the national policy has been pretty consistent in dealing with that kind of activity, so I repeat the question being asked by many who have not posted here - "what is there to celebrate?"
A terrorist is a terrorist. Whether born here or elsewhere, actions define a life and that is the legacy they leave for their descendants...as well as, in many cases, wealth built on the backs of slaves.

I also know Pelham and wonder how as a fellow student of history the obvious can be so grievously overlooked? But that also helps to explain a great deal about why things are as they are - and would ask you to consider the role of the history museum in being a place to continue dialogues about histories lessons versus enshrining the south's past with its corresponding prevalent mindsets. For example, The Oral History Project and similar exhibitions at the museum in Fairfield was an encouraging step in the right direction of increasing inclusion and the diversity of perspectives on history - very good for opening dialogues that could move the community forward. Instead, such projects have been shut down and gotten menial support at best - while fund-raising to preserve more destructive elements of our historical past have gotten full attention and considerably more funding support.

The rationale for what the confederates did - and those who think it is something worthy of celebration is every bit as logical as our modern day terrorist and their supporters.

I wonder if there will be a call for non-accusatory remembrances of September 11th in a couple hundred years? Will there be a call for the descents of those victims to be understanding of the rationalization for the terrorists crimes? How does that attack that lasted a single day compare with this one that lasted four years?

Perhaps a more constructive way of acknowledging this part of history would be to focus on Forgiveness - where to forgive is to give up hope of a better past.
If anyone is interested in continuing THIS dialogue I invite you to contact me and join me in ProjectForgive.org I am in the process of developing art and events focused on bringing people together to explore the reality and context of Forgiveness - it is the healing salve we need to strengthen our communities and families. Perhaps this time of recognition for the civil war could be a chance to explore its legacy and maybe - just maybe we can increase the peace.

Someone else mentioned a candle light vigil, which is a good place to start because each person can remember who they choose and honor lives lost - I'd be up for that...

Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2010/12/19/1611832/commemorative-events-can-benefit.html?story_link=email_msg#comment-115171745#ixzz194LjeYNb

Winter Magic

2010-12-25T09:08:00.000-08:00

Today, as is every day really, an opportunity to appreciate life and to keep squabbles in perspective ( http://ProjectForgive.org ) .

As much as some things stir my interest in protest art, there is also the interest in its alternative. Artist4theHomeless.org started as a student blog and has grown into an inspiring vision for a non-profit community organization. It embodies the new community organization that has learned to use global reach (social media, information and communication technology) to empower knowledge sharing and social marketing (increase awareness of perspectives from the homeless community) using institutional styled models.

In contrast to the conceptual resistance is organic beauty - natural wonder...and the wonder that is creative inspiration.

Since I missed posting this on the Winter Solstice let's imagine this is posted simultaneously now and Dec. 21, 2010. This is actually the Holiday - Winter Solstice post since I feel a need to look for all that there is good to appreciate as part of a personal cycle.

Source:http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/winter-solstice.htm

In the Northern Hemisphere, the gloomy winter solstice has been responsible for many symbols, ancient myths and religious beliefs over millennia.

In ancient Rome, the winter solstice was celebrated at the feast of Saturnalia, while in pre-christian Britain, the end of December centered around the pagan Yule log in a fiery display to melt the heart of a cold and dreary winter.

Today, a similar response to winter doldrums is the celebration of Christmas by many cultures around the world complete with twinkling lights, holiday feasts & lively festivals.

Civil War Commemoration and Christmas Contention

2010-12-24T12:51:00.000-08:00

This Christmas season has me wondering about the disconnect between expressed ideals and the created reality. Even as I observe this in myself I see how it frames the questions of interest...and the work it inspires in this series.
[converging research interests - Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy:evolution of oral traditions, art based research: cultural vocabulary, A/r/tographic community change research model, Prallaxic Praxis:Touchstones Learning, Public Art a Public Service in development of open source solutions]

Living History and Pubic Protest Art

My Aunt and Uncle were among those who showed up to protest the gala event attended by director to whom my questions about the Fairfield County Museum were addressed in my comment post at the end of this blog entry. Reports I heard said the protest attendance was a bit higher at around 250 no need to split hairs over that. Protesters using and gala attendees alike were using theatrical cultural references to demonstrate political revelation in public performance.

Picture below includes director of Fairfield County Museum mentioned in conclusion of this post.

For revellers, the Civil War wasn't about slavery
By David Usborne 5:30 AM Friday Dec 24, 2010
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10696285

"Inside the hall, 200-odd guests, all white and some in period costume, gathered on Tuesday to see a re-enactment of the signing of the secession document. When it was over, they instinctively joined the cast in singing the anthem of the South, Dixie, before dinner and dancing.
Outside, a racially mixed crowd of about 100 held electric candles aloft at dusk to begin a protest march through downtown Charleston, singing the songs of Selma and Montgomery, including We Shall Overcome. Each camp thus indulged in their forms of theatre before taking to their beds."
..."The South lost the war but they really won it, because they continue to say the war was not about slavery, which is not true of course," argued Blain Roberts, an assistant professor of history at California State University, who attended the Secession Gala to conduct research for a book. "They won the memory of the war, at least."
But the United States is only at the beginning of a four-year stretch of events to commemorate the Civil War, which will peak with the anniversary in November 2013 of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address."

Identifying sources in Cultural Vocabulary

Of the articles I found about the specific even that provide the emotional energy culmination for this post - It would be this one from a New Zealand news site that seems to best express the heart of the matter while conveying specifics of conflict and finally, why it is relevant today.

For revellers, the Civil War wasn't about slavery goes on to say...
"I am a proud American and I wouldn't want our country to go through that again," Bill Norris, 60, a maker of banking machinery and gala guest, said. Yet, he wonders, what if the Confederacy had won?
"A part of me does regret it didn't happen," he said. "I believe at some point in dividing the country. We would be better able to govern ourselves in smaller groups. Why should New Yorkers be able to influence government in South Carolina?"

Defining Multiple Contexts

While I do not argue the need for the American Civil War to be acknowledged as part of our national history, I do find some predominate interpretations to be problematic. I find it hard to ignore the obvious question when people want to celebrate the confederacy.
What would it mean for the nation today IF the Federal government had not preserved the union? Is it possible to make it a side issue a core principle and reality being denied by the confederacy was the freedom of my ancestors - the right to belong to themselves. As a matter of function of the humanities to serve the public, the history museum as a resource for the commons, must be acknowledged as an institutional authority where programmatic successes are concerned.

Since a predominate intention of this work is to use these ideas and feelings to advance the art work as inquiry and discovery I continue to use this blog to talk to you about its progress.

The piece shown to the left is a mixed media painting "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"The dancing was interrupted only once when a plastic oak tree draped with fake Spanish moss toppled over after being sideswiped by a damsel who had briefly forgotten how impractical those old-fashioned skirts were.

Givens found all the questions about slavery pesky. "We are not celebrating that and this is not malicious," he said. "It's about honouring our forefathers for their tenacity. It's about the bravery and courage of our ancestors.

"Can you not be selective about what you are nostalgic about?"

On hand to galvanise the protesters was a local clergyman, the Rev Nelson Rivers. "If Japanese Americans chose to celebrate Pearl Harbour this way it would be outrageous and would not be allowed to occur and that is what is happening here tonight," he said into a megaphone.

Tangee Rice, 57, an African American woman, drove 190km to the march and was wearing the same hat her grandfather had worn marching with Martin Luther King. "The Confederacy is not something to celebrate," she said. "It's just not right." About those re-enacting the start of the Civil War, she said: "They still haven't grown out of it, and it's really sad."
Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10696285

Understanding Contexts

Understanding the contexts of questions and conclusions has pushed me to hold ProjectForgive.org in view. I want to side step the issue of blame without giving up the opportunity to present questions about how what is relates to what has been.

I was not happy when Webb Introduced Bill to Establish Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission but at the same time that I contemplate the political revelations, I ponder the apple as a persistent image with cultural significance. This piece marks precisely, an element in the cultural vocabulary that my work has been exploring with inclusion of feminist art inquiry.

Most who attended the recent ball as part of these "festivities" reenacting the state's secession ball in Charleston, S.C. are clearly marking a different set of touchstones in association with the Civil War and its southern legacy from those conjured by "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree".

Feminist art undertones

Issues of race and gender have commanded attention as part of articulating identity and deciphering national identity in a global tribe. Images that came to me when working on Surviving the South piece are reemerging in another work in process. I am preparing to cut or rip this one, still untitled, into pieces that will be applied to a found object with a sense of history - looking back, but redefined in this new context.

In response to an editorial piece by the director of the Fairfield County Museum, who has inspired other works in this series going back to "what is peace?" genesis of ProjecForgive.org , that was published in The State newspaper website I posted the following comment:

Can we agree that a terrorist is a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells? In the context of the civil war - that seems to fit the confederates.

The bottom line is that many are calling for us to celebrate Domestic Terrorism. Was Lincoln's response that different from Bush's response to contemporary terrorism? It seems that the national policy has been pretty consistent in dealing with that kind of activity, so I repeat the question being asked by many who have not posted here - "what is there to celebrate?"
A terrorist is a terrorist. Whether born here or elsewhere, actions define a life and that is the legacy they leave for their descendants...as well as, in many cases, wealth built on the backs of slaves.

I also know Pelham and wonder how as a fellow student of history the obvious can be so grievously overlooked? But that also helps to explain a great deal about why things are as they are - and would ask you to consider the role of the history museum in being a place to continue dialogues about histories lessons versus enshrining the south's past with its corresponding prevalent mindsets. For example, The Oral History Project and similar exhibitions at the museum in Fairfield was an encouraging step in the right direction of increasing inclusion and the diversity of perspectives on history - very good for opening dialogues that could move the community forward. Instead, such projects have been shut down and gotten menial support at best - while fund-raising to preserve more destructive elements of our historical past have gotten full attention and considerably more funding support.

The rationale for what the confederates did - and those who think it is something worthy of celebration is every bit as logical as our modern day terrorist and their supporters.

I wonder if there will be a call for non-accusatory remembrances of September 11th in a couple hundred years? Will there be a call for the descents of those victims to be understanding of the rationalization for the terrorists crimes? How does that attack that lasted a single day compare with this one that lasted four years?

Perhaps a more constructive way of acknowledging this part of history would be to focus on Forgiveness - where to forgive is to give up hope of a better past.
If anyone is interested in continuing THIS dialogue I invite you to contact me and join me in ProjectForgive.org I am in the process of developing art and events focused on bringing people together to explore the reality and context of Forgiveness - it is the healing salve we need to strengthen our communities and families. Perhaps this time of recognition for the civil war could be a chance to explore its legacy and maybe - just maybe we can increase the peace.

Someone else mentioned a candle light vigil, which is a good place to start because each person can remember who they choose and honor lives lost - I'd be up for that...

Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2010/12/19/1611832/commemorative-events-can-benefit.html?story_link=email_msg#comment-115171745#ixzz194LjeYNb

I Have to Confess - but this is just between us

2010-08-02T08:10:00.000-07:00

I was all excited about posting this update, but then I realized the flash drive with the photo I wanted use is MIA. OMG!!! I am just hoping and praying that one of the dogs doesn't find it before I do.

I didn't plan to turn this blog into my confession but....

While I am committed to advancing peace with my work, especially via Cultural Fusion, I see as part of that process that I have face my own contradictions.
When my father died I was was charged with making the calls to his friends. One fellow, he said they were best friends - stands out in my memory because I had to bite my tongue. I still wonder exactly why he said what he said to me just before I ended the call.

"You know your Daddy and I agreed about a lot of things. One of them was that each race should stick to their own. Whites should marry whites and blacks marry blacks."

I didn't ask him why he was telling me this, but I wondered if my Dad had talked to him about me and my husband. Had my father told him how he felt about not being invited to our wedding?

Again I am reminded of how I was inspired to do the TimeLine...the seed of inspiration was found in my heart reaction to the fact that it took twenty-one years for our surviving parents to meet. And although this was not a matter of distance or anything that might make sense, within certain circles of the family, people like to pretend this means nothing and it just happened that way. Only when I started working on this piece did I finally get honest with myself about how I really felt about it all. At the end of the day I believe it is all connected and this will help me become a better person and a better artist.

Evolution in Feminist Art

Working on my feminist art essay over the weekend I realized why the TimeLine installation has struck deep resonating chord that harkens back to the start of Cultural Fusion. That is because it points again to the project and question "what is peace?" that officially got Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy underway.

In working on the essay I was reminded of how the expected dialogue about the divides is like a dog chasing its tail. A great deal of energy is conserved for better use by realizing the source of the tail in motion which is being chased.

My friend and co-founder in Cultural Fusion reminded me of something quite significant about resistance. That resistance is the fuel for change. For example, by resisting the status quo of the day the Civil Rights Movement was able to encourage change within the system it was resisting.

I see the same issue arising in my contemplation about feminism and feminist art in contrast to black feminist and humanitarianism. While realizing that the feminist movements most noticeable contribution to the south has been legal and policy changes on domestic violence and violence against women, it was the civil rights, diversity and affirmative action policies that had/have the most significant impact on the lives of women of color.

I believe that is because of these underlying realities that resulted in most feminist art's failure to speak to audiences of marginalized people not systemically embraced by mainstream feminism. In addition, the dominate culture of the south has not been conducive to the messages espoused in the most accessible feminist art. One reason is that it contradicts many of the patriarchal assumptions that prevail in the bible-belt.

The breakthrough afforded by the TimeLine project has been that my understanding of proximity of ideas in a given space has taken on an unexpected depth. In this piece I am exploring, among other things, how I can personally co-exist with people I support and those I not only disagree with but actively resist.

While on my trip in S.C. a couple of weeks ago I was confronted again with exchanging pleasantries with people I know are active supporters of the old confederacy and carrying its legacy forward. To my mind these people are terrorists and terrorist supporters but that thinking does not help me in my mission of peace building.

With "what is peace?" I began defining the foundation of Cultural Fusion as an art series. Rather than labeling as right or wrong - through TimeLine I am endeavoring to engage increasing numbers of people in contributing to my understanding of the connection between personal and public history. It is my hope that the piece and the interactivity that takes shape will help more of us to understand how the personal creates the public and how the way one life is lived impacts others. History cast a shadow on the present and creates the foundation for the future. If we don't make sense of our history then we carry that confusion, anger, hatred, and denial into the future. Peace through Art is definitely a possibility for the individual but how do we expand that to include the world?

That is part of the history, the history of love, peace and progress - to be included in the TimeLine art piece....noting that it does not exist in isolation.

I will be inviting a few of my friends to join the TimeLine Group to begin contributing events in the next week or so, if you would like to be invited as well please let me know.

Feminist art inquiry as a Humanitarian Endeavor

2010-07-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

Pausing from painting and making notes of events to be added to the TimeLine....

This morning I watched a deer through the window as I washed the dishes. The scene from one perspective appeared peaceful and quiet, but for the deer I suspect it was a different experience. It seemed to eat nervously...looking up at every sound or movement, ready to dash off into the woods at the slightest hint of a threat. He presented a contrast to my peaceful and thoughtful creative hiatus.

Thinking about recent events and epiphanies my recollection of the visit with Kitty, featured in this picture, outside a reconstruction of a slave cabin - she is dressed in historical attire for the historical re-inactment.

I have been reflecting on how my perception and understanding of my cultural as well as intellectual inheritance has evolved - shifted and expanded.

Turning this issue of black feminism around in my mind as if it were an object being examined in hand - increasingly it is the humanitarian nature...the inclusiveness of it that seems to distinguish it from the more established feminist construction. At the same time my deconstruction of race persist in calling for my attention - when I peel back the layers of the socio-political construct I find diverse cultures anchored in a spiritually (rather than religious) imbued intellectual tradition. Mainstream feminism, like the predominate culture from which it emerges, our contributions like those of others marked as minorities, have been too often devalued.

I know their value.

Recently while discussing this with my Auntie she said something that had left behind an echo that persist - “While white women were out protesting and demanding the right to work, black women were working in their homes taking care of their children and cleaning their houses”

I thought this was a profound, if obvious, observation. Rather than pushing for the right to work - black women were/are asserting their right to freely select their occupations. In many cases, this has included being home to raise their own children.

After a long history of sexual exploitation, the journey to reclaim one’s self esteem and right to claim self as SELF is a paramount aspect of black feminism. Instead of focusing merely on women’s issues, black feminism (as I have internalized it) broadly wraps its arms around all who have been and are being oppressed. These personal experiences shape and give meaning to public histories.

Following a visit to the Living History Park in North Augusta, S.C. and a documentary about the progress and reactions to land redistribution in South Africa. First the living history park - we again visited with Kitty, who is in her seventies, volunteers to ensure that our historical experience is included in such projects.

Second, in the documentary a descendant of Dutch colonist, with black workers working in the background, tells the interviewer that the native blacks are unskilled and ill-equipped to do the work the enterprise required. I wonder who he thinks has been doing the work that has made his farm profitable up until the time he was expelled?

Why have the skills of our black ancestors been minimized or ignored when it made so many wealthy?

Black feminism, to my heart and mind, is about espousing the value of the workers and laborers, as well as everyone else. Its attention to equality and inclusion, feels more genuine and may offer a way forward in addressing the persistent issues of racism, classism, sexism, etc.

How does this translate into feminist art?

This piece (along with two others in this series) has been sold and is now in the private collection of R. Howard

Unlike much of what I have seen of feminist art that focuses on aspects of human physicality, my work seems to be more concerned with the experience of humanity from my cultural perspective(s).

I will post more pictures (eventually) of the more recent work(s) that are emerging as part of a "southern recollections" revisited series within my current cfAaP series.

Where does the road end?

2010-07-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map

On the way back from Spartanburg we drove through Newberry following the road that is now considered the scene of a recent hate crime. Although I had read about and discussed the occurrence previously with a family member who lives near the area, seeing the scene of the crime has left behind a different kind of psychic residue - a deep sadness. Still our communities can not honestly address the depth of the issues even when they bubble to the surface with such violence.

"All that is certain is that a Black man – 30-year-old Anthony Hill – was shot in the head with a shotgun and his body was then tied by rope to the back of a truck and dragged for over 10 miles along a rural road in Newberry County, South Carolina.

Law enforcement followed a trail of blood and gore to the home of a white co-worker Gregory Collins."
Source: http://www.eurweb.com/?p=28609

As far as we have come, we still have so much farther to go. Where is the road from the past leading?

It Took Twenty One Years for Our Parents to Meet

2010-06-26T05:02:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year my father-in-law and my Mom met for the first time. We have been married for almost twenty years. Am I the only one who thinks that is odd at best and revealing in truth? It just so happens that we are an "interracial" couple....some would say that is beside the point.

I was thinking about how that event looked on the TimeLine of our lives, in relation to the place where they converged. Then I looked at other public history events and started to think about the BIG TimeLine of Humanity. I want to visualize, experience and share more deeply the personal in the public. Public history is not other, it has a relationship and contributes to the context of our personal histories. This has been a consistent idea since I started the What is Peace? series in this Cultural Fusion experience back in 2006. That project is anchored in my oral traditions and history work but I have been stuck about how to move it forward until now.

This TimeLine Installation represents a turning point because it accessible. It uses materials that are familiar which are presented in familiar environments. It is tricky to figure out where/when to push an audience and where/when to just BE with the audience in a sharing space.

I can't believe it has taken so long to take a serious look at this issue of feminist art and southern culture. Rather than a departure from the work I was doing prior, this is actually a deepening and framing of a topic that has gotten increasingly broad. Although I was looking at Life Learning and how it related to the various projects I am doing around cultivating/enhancing SOCIAL CAPITAL for community driven development....it does come down to some core issues that have been allowed to fester....given only band-aid attention.

The TimeLine itself though is not judgmental, it just is. It does not judge what did or did not happen, so I believe it will create a neutral space for multiple realities to co-exist allowing us to stand face to face with paradox, lies, truth, and recollections of them all.

I am using the IHMC Concept Mapping Tool to work out my idea for the online installation. Currently my idea is to use two different photographs to do two versions on different websites...the photographs will show different perspectives. On one the convergence point is clear with a more overhead view while the other is more straight on at ground level.
Interaction - Posting Events on the TimeLine
At this time my plan is to use existing tools to allow others to add events to the TimeLine - both personal and public history events. So you might add your birthday, the day you met your partner, the birthdays of your children, or when your parents married.

Then alongside that are the historical events that take place around the world but are not noted in history books or perhaps only one side is told.
Now is your chance to chime in. Do you have a website about your parents escape from their nation of origin during political upheaval? Add that event and link to the resource in the TimeLine.

At this point I am planning to make it as easy as possible for people to contribute but at the same to deter SPAM posts.

IF YOU WANT TO COLLABORATE TO DEVELOP THIS PIECE - LET'S CONNECT!

Where is this Going?
I will be looking for alternate sites to install the piece to be videoed and photographed - I have two that are of special interest to me at this time.

The next incarnation of the online installation will be that those envelop years getting the most Attention will create a breeze - representing what we have termed Attention Gravity.

Next phase of interaction will be a postal project - I will invite people to contribute handmade envelops and post cards to represent A REQUEST FOR or GIFT OF Forgiveness. The place for those to be mailed will be posted once I have these first two installations done online.

TimeLine a WebAntiphon in Institutional Critique

2010-06-25T01:49:00.000-07:00

In continuing to think about my response to the question of how feminist art and the movement have been internalized in the south. Feminist art wasn't really something we saw in our environment, those are among the least likely shows to have made it to my neck of the woods when I was growing up. If an artist insisted on showing work that was seen as inflammatory, then they find themselves without a place to show....unless one just put it out there beyond the ivory towers. The feminist movement has an example in the impact of "trickle down" theories. What have we learned about how this has worked in economics?

It has been the legal changes that have been the clearest evidence of its impact. For example, legislation ending the legalization of marital rape and domestic violence being taken more seriously.

Perhaps because basic assumptions of freedom were arguably more grievously overlooked in southern culture, that asserting ones worth and right to choose include and reach beyond the expected.

Generally speaking, once cases were overturned by the Supreme Court it would take about 20 years before the new laws were embraced or actually took affect down south. For example, Brown vs. Board of Education was a 1950 case ending racial segregation in schools under separate but equal. However the high school in the county where I attended did not integrate until 1970. Interracial marriage was legalized 1967 by a Supreme Court overturning Virgina ruling that said equal punishment for the crime of interracial marriage made the practice just. But when I was growing up it was not unusual for interracial couples to be asked to leave establishments, denied admission, or otherwise made to feel unwelcome or harassed.
Even in 1989 when my husband I were newly coupled, I recall a BBQ place clearing out when we entered at lunchtime. The service was colder than the food we were served. It could be that all those people just happened to have to leave when we sat down - but I have not gone inside a BBQ restaurant since. On another occasion, I recall getting upset with a hostess who wanted to sit us in the back near the kitchen although the place was not crowded. Since it has happened previously, on that occasion I wanted to know why we were be seated in this dreadful dark corner by the kitchen. I didn't get an answer but we were given a better table.

The case that led to marital rape being called Rape was decided in 1970, I think, but certainly this and related issues made the lives of many women I knew difficult because lax enforcement and stigma can be more powerful than the law.

What is emerging is that I am curious about the class division in the feminist art movement as being related to the issues of Institutional Critique. I wonder if it is class as much as race that has been the issue limiting discourse around those topics relevant to women's movements. However, with little effort this emerges as a humanitarian and ecological movement - a shift towards peace building rather than war making.

What IF the opposite of war is CREATION?
that is the question that reflections on the play Rent prompted me to Re-consider.

The Art Installations I recall from my early exposure were all in urban environments...usually presented in pristine sterile contexts. What happens if instead of fighting about the way it has been I put my attention on creating solutions... and then continue building on what I learn?

I put up the installation and a retired school teacher came over to ask about it. I briefly explained the art concept as being a TimeLine putting world events in the context of personal experiences to create a more accurate historical picture.
She shared with me about her and her husband's family history as a (white) sharecropping family. His mother was known for the speed in the cotton field. She had met her husband when he returned from the Vietnam War.

I will be adding their events to the TimeLine.

The encounter demonstrated that put in a familiar setting that "high art" can attract those people who would avoid it in an institutional setting.

Cultural Fusion: Feminist Art Inquiry

2010-06-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

I have been revising the front page of the development site - working out an overview. I am actually working on client painting and an essay on feminist art. Although I had not intended it I find it touches upon my interest in Institutional Critique. Also as someone who grew up in the bible belt south - with few exceptions feminist art that I saw or read about did not satisfy. I don't know if I knew at the time what I was seeking. My work was calling me to explore to better understand "Self in Relation_to"...

What exposure to post modern ideas in feminist art did give me was insight into what was being done to break old rules to create new ones and that there was a place for thinking differently about things.

Ann Sprinkle Ph.D would have a perfectly valid way of developing a piece around the idea of sex in public spaces, but it is the approach and results of Lorna Simpson which would interest me more. Not because of anything having to do with race, gender, class, or sexuality. Looking first and foremost at the work I find Simpson's approach to be both intimate and intellectual.

Similar to the forerunners of web launched and maintained projects, Cultural Fusion is possible because of the webs potential to expand the scope in ways that would be cumbersome at best without computers and Information Technology.

"Learning to Love You More is both a web site and series of non-web presentations comprised of work made by the general public in response to assignments given by artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher. Yuri Ono designs and manages the web site.

Participants accept an assignment, complete it by following the simple but specific instructions, send in the required report (photograph, text, video, etc), and see their work posted on-line. Like a recipe, meditation practice, or familiar song, the prescriptive nature of these assignments is intended to guide people towards their own experience"
Source:the Learning to Love You More website http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com/hello/index.php

The Guerrilla Girls offers a historical perspective. In May 2010 they celebrated their 25th Anniversary. Pictured on their site are photographs documenting the first Guerrilla Girls posters. From the site http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs074/1101979383554/archive/1103354100081.html: "25 years ago, some posters went up on the streets of New York and all hell broke loose. The posters showed how bad things were for women artists in museums and galleries and everyone started talking about the issues. The press release from May 6, 1985 stated: "Simple facts will be spelled out; obvious conclusions can be drawn." The Guerrilla Girls were born!"

Faye Wattleton

Faye Wattleton (born Alyce Faye Wattleton on July 8, 1943) is the first African-American and youngest President ever elected to Planned Parenthood (1978–1992). Currently, she serves as the President of the Center for the Advancement of Women, and also serves on the board of trustees at Columbia University. She is best known for her contributions to the family planning and reproductive health, as well as the pro-choice movement. Source: wikipedia

CNN, Anderson Cooper 360° from Ctr for the Advancement of Women on Vimeo.

The feminist art movement refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to make art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and reception of contemporary art. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_Art

How did I know?
In the deconstruction of concepts and beliefs that has defined the process of developing Cultural Fusion - the movement had more influence because the discourse needed to explore inclusiveness as a practice.

At the same time that I am seeking a better understanding of my collaborators' personal culture I am also exploring what my internalized experience of being a southerner or whatever has given by way of personal vocabulary, style and culture. Each of us acts as a filter for the cultures that grow and en-hearten us - like a plant grown in regional soil, it flavors who we are. Yet, at the same time, we are part of a global family called humanity and it is those universal questions like "what can I do?" that has continued to move Cultural Fusion forward.

Questions leading the way

At a personal level I have come to value my commitment to Pay Attention to the questions, feeling to learn how to distinguish the right questions from the distraction. But not for the purpose of avoiding the distraction. Instead the intention is to make a conscious selection between them - to increase awareness of their distinctions.

In addition to revising the main page of the Heuristic Model
I exploring why Alice Walkers' womanist perspective contributed more to my cultural vocabulary as an artist than did any of the feminist visual artists I have been introduced to up until this point.

Just as I have learned to love my southern accent, I am likewise interested in how southern culture from a woman of African decent expresses itself as a matter of understanding pieces of a creative intellectual tradition.

How does this cultural foundation shape my experience with concepts in feminist art?

The video above featuring Paula McClain and Faye Wattleton addresses the issue of race and gender in terms that illuminate the limited impact of the feminist [art[ movement among women of color. Essentially the issue is one of different experiences and priorities. Where the experience of people of color has been systemically devalued a core part of the growth process is coming to find value in ones contributions and creations. I am working on this essay after being inspired by a call for submissions from a couple women's studies journals on feminist art.

While modern feminist art seems to have been shaped more by the misnomer that sexual experimentation and displays are the same as personal liberation I see the opportunity to invite consideration for inspiring deep contemplation about the valuation of the diverse experiences of women who live outside of academic institutions and lesbian cultures, not to exclude them and paying attention to including us. - Them and Us becomes We.

Finding the personal in the multifaceted feminist movement brings one face to face with those challenging issues of race and culture. Why is information of this quality much less accessible than the mindless objectification and degradation of women/people? How different might the learning experience of the public be were works

like Positively Breaking Taboos: Why and How I Made the Film "Period Piece" [with Responses] by Emily Erwin Culpepper, Gannit Ankori, Karen L. King, Sarah K. Peck and Claudia Ann Highbaugh were as easy to access as instructions to build an explosive device, latest public scandal or celebrity gossip.

Positively Breaking Taboos: Why and How I Made the Film "Period Piece" [with Responses] by Emily Erwin Culpepper, Gannit Ankori, Karen L. King, Sarah K. Peck and Claudia Ann Highbaugh Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Fall, 2006), pp. 125-153 (article consists of 33 pages) Published by: Indiana University Press on behalf of FSR, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20487867

Attention to inclusiveness has been conceptual rather than a matter of practical experience, and this is something I am interested in changing through my exploration of feminist thought in personal culture. I support gay marriage, reproductive AND BIRTHING freedom...life learning as a community solution for an educational system that is not working for many. The feminist agenda of interest to me is radically inclusive. Whereas my reaction to work Like Judy Chicago's Red flag seems to make that less of a priority. Might it have less resonance with women whose experience orients them towards sanitary pads rather than tampons? My issue was not one of finding the tampon or menstrual blood as a subject objectionable,[ to the contrary one of my favorite poems invites us to imagine the butterfly shaped blood stains we would leave if we abandoned all effort to contain and stop our blood flow for that one week each month.]

The impact of the feminist movement in southern culture is most evident in the new legal vocabulary where the consequences offer more deterrent leverage via the political organizing of feminist who have shaped changes in the justice systems perception of issues such as domestic violence could be seen as a race neutral policy issue. []N.Y.U. REVIEW OF LAW & SOCIAL CHANGE [Vol. 32:191-THE JUSTICE SYSTEM AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE:ENGAGING THE CASE BUT DIVORCING THE VICTIM by LAURIE S. KOHN*

20 Harv. Women's L.J. 263 (1997) Sex, Sense, and Sensibility: Trespassing into the Culture of Domestic Abuse; St. Joan, Jacqueline

The full implications of FREEDOM TO CHOOSE reaches far beyond sexual expression, religious affiliation or not, or reproductive choice to go to the core of personal identity. Birthing freedom seem to be regarded as less sexy topic gets far less attention. This is especially true when the range of choices is considered beyond the scope of sexual orientation. Of interest to me are the implications on FREEDOM life learning as core personal and social educational reality.

Alice Walker has writes about honoring the difficult in a way that speaks to the deconstruction of personal identity that finds race deeply embedded. When Walker is wrestling with the challenges of her relationship with her male partner of more than a decade at the same time that she was being attacked for her portrayal of men in her work (The Color Purple). The courage she demonstrates in presenting her characters and overcoming her fear of humiliation illuminate a space that compels me to insist that new spaces for intellectual and creative inquiry beyond the wall of ivory towers.

I feel that my frame of reference even in looking at my visual art vocabulary - is based on expression that is less brazenly sexual in the pornographic sense and more in the direction of the soulfully sensual with an orientation towards the union [collaboration or sharing] and creation [art, meals, life, etc.]. I have always been too traditional to be fully Bohemian and too Bohemian to be fully embrace tradition - moving back and forth in the space in between and on the margins. Not trapped in either room.

The Discovery: Paradigm(s) of Possibility

Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy [an Art:Series and an Art:Movement] that has given birth to a number of solutions and methods for discovering solutions.

This approach defies the walls separating knowledge silos and industries.

More than brainstorming - Source Art that has emerged from Cultural Fusion gives you the experience and insights that come from uniting head and heart to work together. Using an A/r/tographic approach that engages Institutional Critique on occasion while paying attention to where questions lead.

Reading Kafka Improves Learning, Suggests Psychology Study

ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2009) — Reading a book by Franz Kafka –– or watching a film by director David Lynch –– could make you smarter.

Cultural Fusion Mission:

To apply art based approaches to help clients and collaborators address the challenges, explore the ideas of interest to them and experience awareness that sees beyond known needs to discover potential.

Artist Statement: from Yvette (evolving)

Seeking to explore ,engage, and apply Cultural Fusion art based approaches to create community/public art that also act as multilateral solutions for new ideas, technology & models for addressing complex challenges. This includes integrating personal experience story narratives that contribute to the evolution of opportunities and artwork.

What if the opposite of war is creation?

What if [Compassion + Generosity of spirit]] = the other L word?

What if forgiveness heals?

This Art Based reseach explores/advances a new paradigm that eliminates or greatly reduces poverty (materially and spiritually) based on promoting value of diverse expressions in arts & oral tradition, innovation that empowers the best in individuals within communities/organizations/businesses, and Radical Inclusion as a norm. With the mission to create Art:Work that delivers solutions to automate global social responsibility.

Specific areas of interest include: Creating/Advancing technology for sustainable living, developing/researching system models as a means to Ending or decreasing Poverty. addressing issues related to homelessness & hunger, Ending Slavery/Human Trafficking, domestic violence.

As an inquiry into art with purpose the Art Based research seeks as a component of functionality the project aspires to result in the information technology and social system infrastructures that support easy glocal (globally local) deployment of new projects as part of this Art:Work first and foremost. As communities of practice become a more normalized concept the concept of community itself expands. People are now having to learn to manage global relationships in terms of geographical spaces giving way to a range of meet-up events uniting a few or many. The concept of region is being redefined and the impact of innovation will serve some regions over others.

Using Art as the base line, the spaces between the business market view and human/ecological services can be seen and experienced as a paradox.

Flashback Lullaby

2010-06-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

Flashback Lullaby

Performance artist
cast in a post matinee
week night Performance
a fight for your life drama
featuring the soundtrack for
Lullaby Flashback

Opening
with a melodious
declaration

"You are my sunshine..."

Drowned out
and then stopped
by
the howling creak of doors
opening and closing.

Muffled words
escalating with
Explosive intensity!

Resistant feet
play percussion
pound pound pound pound on the floor
as body is dragged
sound in motion
down the hall

Choking screams
are stylized vocalizations
punctuating
lyrics
shaped to strike like threats
warning
in loud hushed tones

Crashing dishes
are cymbals echoing down the hall

For an under aged audience
praying for nightmares
to interrupt
this god damn it lullaby.

Making Connections: The Tower is Haunted

2010-02-06T06:41:00.000-08:00

Painting above is another from the most recent series. The poem below is one I wrote as part of an art based research dialogue on educational reform. The painting came first but is about the broader scope of interest to me as it has been expressed in cfAaP House of Cards diagram and installation concept..but as the thread connecting the frames shows some systemic elements link all the others. One of the major challenges is that most people are overwhelmed by the big picture but "solutions" made without this level of understanding often do more harm than good...and by the time that is obvious the damage is done. What is the alternative?

Warning: The Tower is Haunted

Ghosts of the plantations and overseers

loom and creak until

replaced

by Research Studios and the vision of Source Artists

Life

no longer outsourced

Birthed above shark infested waters

Tamed by the slyness of Red Riding Hood's Wolf

gnashing teeth

swallowing greed

devours

deny

redemption

reform

in transformation

within the alone-ness

growth

Institutional

healing

internal

Rotten to the core

ingesting proves fatal

exposure a hazard deterring

revelation

shared

once burned, twice shy

One love, One world

blooming ideals in a flower garden

should =

no fear of poisoned decoys

skull f***k

waiting to render pregnant winged ones flightless

Warning: Keep away from gardens in alabaster towers

Their basement bellies

in screaming silence

conceal bloody pulps

would be-s

ripped from the womb

time after time

blood trails and smudged prints

are not definitive evidence of robbery

our abortions are rebranded

Selective Birthing (TM)

sanctioned by Alabaster Towers Inc.

Clipped crimson buds

poorly cloned

and implanted into suitably branded uteruses

birthed by less suspecting

blind

ethereal extremities

who regurgitate

life sustaining after birth

into shark infested waters

Kafka & Art - a new day for learning?

2009-10-15T02:51:00.000-07:00

Recent research supports the rationale that art that pushes the boundaries of what is known and ushers in new mental models may be just the thing to help teach the masses to apply new mental models.

In the new book I am co-authoring with Ron "The Inner World of Innovation" I explore how new mental models emerge and take shape. In that process I am also producing the body of work and collaborations that have ushered in the realization of Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy.

Why now? Because it is necessary for us to develop new ways of approaching learning, economics and growth. I believe it was Einstein who said (and I will paraphrase) we can't use the same thinking we used to create a problem to fix them...and art is more important that knowledge because art embraces the world.

New research suggest that exposure to bizarre, surreal storylines such as Kafka's "The Country Doctor" can improve learning. Apparently, when your brain is presented with total absurdity or nonsense, it will work extra hard to find structure elsewhere.

See Reading Kafka can improve learning

Attention, Art & Social Capital in Branding

2009-06-15T17:36:00.001-07:00

After a few requests and a bit of encouragement I am sharing Part 2 of what started out as storyboards for a project. This is Part 1 of a presentation I was encouraged to develop and share. With a slight bit of tweaking it works as slideshare presentation - I may convert these to eliminate the need to advance each slide but in the mean time...I hope it encourages people to think and question some assumptions about branding, attention, social capital and of course - the role of Art Based research and the benefits to the private sector, organizations, and communities. Please feel free to contact me with questions or feedback.

Attention, Art & Social Capital in Branding

View more Microsoft Word documents from Yvette Dubel.

Cultural Fusion Art as Solution

2009-06-15T17:33:00.001-07:00

This is Part 1 of a presentation I was encouraged to develop and share. It has evolved from storyboard slides I was working on for a project. With a slight bit of tweaking it works as slideshare presentation - I may convert these to eliminate the need to advance each slide but in the mean time...I hope it encourages people to think and question some assumptions about branding, attention, social capital and of course - the role of Art Based research.

Cultural Fusion Art as Solution

View more Microsoft Word documents from Yvette Dubel.

Moving Forward with Determination

2009-06-15T05:58:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I watched "Rocky Balboa" again because my husband had not yet seen it. It was my recollection of two scenes, that made look forward to seeing it again. Like many of the books I read - after I see a movie I often forget much of it. However, this speech from the movie sticks with me - especially on those days or at those moments when I get discouraged.

While I feel ego has been put to rest in my quest - I also feel we are the vessels of the dreams that seek expression through us. That is what my journey as an artist has been about - and although it would be easier to just paint or do something that was easier for most people to comprehend, I realize that is the challenge of doing something new.

"When you have a dream - you have to protect it. People can't do something themselves they want to tell you, you can't do it." (from the movie Pursuit of Happiness)

Yes, I have had those moments where I wondered why I didn't have an easier dream, something easier - simpler.... like "normal people". For whatever reason(s) that is not what calls me - that is not who I am. I suspect like many of you, I seek to live a life that is authentic and true to who I know myself to be....and sometimes that isn't as easy as we would hope.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." Chinese Proverb

No one else can walk your journey for you - even if others are with you, your experience feels like a solitary one. Because there will come a time, maybe more than once, that you will have to reach inside yourself and find out what you and your dream are really made of.

So what keeps you going?
What helps give one the persistence and tenacity to keep moving forward?
That is also part of who we are.

I share this clip because when you feel you have hit the wall....that life has knocked you to your knees and you are doubting that you can get back up and keep going. Please remember that it is in you to do it.

Details & Addendum

2009-05-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

Update 10/25/08 2:58pm

Addendum

My observation since posting this is that often in marketing or public relations what is done/intended and what is said do not match. And consumer will accept the lie. This is another contrast with customer.

In Business there are companies that serve both, so it is not a matter of right or wrong but rather I feel it informs these ideas about value distinction in:

1. Branding- building a community brand where the community defines the brand

2. Messaging campaigns

3. Valuation metrics (must know what to look for in order to know what to measure)

4. Market positioning based on where value is delivered

I feel these may form converging points to transition between the old which is crumbling and the new which is emerging. This seems to be the points that are addressed in Cultural Fusion.

See Also

http://sourceartist-ydubel.blogspot.com/2009/05/big-pictue-and-risk-of-not-seeing-it.html

which adds Quality, not Quantity, as the main ingredient for the transaction

The Big Pictue and the Risk of Not Seeing It

2009-05-24T17:40:00.000-07:00

Had been mulling over some ideas about qualitative evaluations of Attention since I posted a few of the slides from the storyboard I had done with ppt to share with a few people for feedback.

Current dialogues about Attention are mostly superficial - referring to metrics like page views or duration on a page to evaluate qualitative attention. This is connected to other metrics called demographics which reduce people to labels and dollars.

Without questioning these underlying assumptions one is not seeing the whole picture. It like talking about an orange and only referring to the peel. If you don't get beneath that you miss some of the best parts of the fruit.

I was reading the updates to Ron's site having followed an awesome chat with Merik of Morphle earlier today about "Cultural Fusion Happenings". I found this passage and I realized this was a Source:Convergence helping to see a bit more of the answers to questions that led Ron & me to cofound Cultural Fusion.

Let me show you what clicked - as much to share with you who care to pay attention to access it, as to make note of it for myself as something I want to include because it was one of those Ah-Ha moments.

From Ron's site:

Create Attention
What is the origin of attention? How to wake up attention?
By using your imagination - Harry Palmer
I really look forward to this vacation!
By using your fantasy, you create energy. It looks like you touch an inner well, the source of energy. Creativity, in this context, is the gap between thinking (neo-cortex) and feeling (belly brain).

SoulFood is the method or model for this process. And this is key to understanding how to "work" with Attention to address challenges holistically

Soul Food emerges from oral traditions as a soulful tradition not be confused with an intellectual tradition. Rather than rely on known knowledge (intellectual tradition) it relies on the bridge between the intellect and creative intuition (soulful tradition) as am approach to developing new solutions for increasingly complex situations.

Furthermore it provides illumination about how to do this with integrity (purity of ingredients), value for the individual, and appreciation for context.

Starting with the insights from Source:Acceptance

Through this approach one finds balance and peace...here in the context of mixing ingredients, recipes, etc it is akin to "cooked just the way you like with the ingredients available to you".

In the WebAntiphon:Clear_CRM_Strategy scheme of things this approach acknowledges the value of each person served and consulted by helping you find the recipe for the SoulFood:Meal or SoulFood:Dish that best suits your needs and taste:

After noticing Ron's Twitter update I followed the link and these questions caught my Attention:

how do we keep balance between income and spending of attention? you PAY attention.
- what is the full width of an economic transaction? besides money there is also the currency of attention involved. what does the equation look like? VALUE equals a percentage (x) of money PLUS a percentage (100 - x) of attention?
- what happens with attention when we scale the economic transaction to infinitely small?

What I would add to what Ron has said is that it is a matter of quality.
For example, the spice Saffron. At $72.95 an ounce (28.35 grams), you are paying $2.57 per gram (24 servings) or 10 cents per serving it is an expensive spice that requires a good deal of attention. See: http://saffron.com/cons_guide.html Because of its value both culinary and monetary it attracts it invites you to pay attention and it is used sparingly in most recipes.

So as Ron points out with his equation (100-x) of attention...what I see is that although the quantity of attention may be small or reductionist - it is the quality of the Attention that makes all the difference. It doesn't take much saffron to add infuse its essence into a dish and the experience of in the context of a recipe vs a an actual dish or meal are not the same.

Check out this page to dig deeper: http://comfusion.pbworks.com/Attention_and_CRM_in_TransactionEquation

My understanding is that this means we must develop an understanding of really that integrates what we know. If we know objects are not solid but made up of lots of tiny particles, for example, at what point does this understanding get integrated into our general understanding and way of operating?
When do we develop social systems that catch up with our science?

Context for understanding the value of SoulFood

* Historically, much of fundamental physics has been concerned with discovering the fundamental particles of nature and the equations which describe their motions and interactions. It now appears that a different programme may be equally important: to discover the ways that nature allows, and prevents, information to be expressed and manipulated, rather than particles to move. For example, the best way to state exactly what can and cannot travel faster than light is to identify information as the speed-limited entity. In quantum mechanics, it is highly significant that the state vector must not contain, whether explicitly or implicitly, more information than can meaningfully be associated with a given system. Among other things this produces the wavefunction symmetry requirements which lead to Bose Einstein and Fermi Dirac statistics, the periodic structure of atoms, and so on.

* Pasted from

The understanding of our operating and management systems must evolve within the larger context of what we know about quarks and leptons.

There are six different types of quarks, known as flavors: up (symbol: u), down (d), charm (c), strange (s), top (t) and bottom (b).

Pasted from

There are six flavours of leptons, forming three generations.

Pasted from

Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy is about creating more than what is created and SoulFood is the framework for this paradigm.

Since the rate at which challenges when resisted, will present themselves and so any solution that can not see the big picture.....

If I am one of the drops of water at the crest of a wave - How to warn or help the people beneath?

A connection must be made between the drop of water, which is connected by context of the tidal wave/ocean to all the other drops of water, and the people on land in the path of the impending wave.

That is the potential of Cultural Fusion that is great than the sum of its parts (the artwork projects) but also imbues it with significant added value distinguishing it from previous work in the tradition of installation art.

So now I am considering that I will share the whitepaper with a few people and this blog helps with the conclusion I wanted to revise. Excellent!

Art Based Research in Community Intervention & Mental Health

2009-04-27T04:43:00.000-07:00

With the dismantling of community mental health system and the erosion of personal support networks new alternatives must be devised. Currently I am working cf House of Cards series with that forming a recurring imagery/concept to be confronted. In contrast to the typical approach of assuming only bureaucratic systems can explore and solve these challenges, Cultural Fusion is interested in addressing them in the context of self organization, freedom, personalization, social media/technology, ecology, economics and social evolution via art based research.

The results are multilateral solutions, an art series, that combine visual art (performance, media/software, recycled materials, installations, sculpture, paintings) as well as music and audio. That while operating as art, and community intervention – are also operating as business solutions that promote innovation in economic development.

This is an excerpt explaining our collaborative Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy series as a demonstration of the SoulFood model I have been developing as a Source Artist.

While it advances the idea of “Self Referencing Creativity” it has been inspired by key scholarship in the areas of community mental health. As art imbued with this layered integration it seeks to pioneer new approaches to project/product development and management that promote a culture of peace. While at the business or economic level this is best understood from the perspective meaningful marketing, CRM Strategy and Global Social Responsibility; at the personal - community level it is chiefly as an expressive therapy approach to community intervention/prevention strategy.

This work is distinguished by its policy of Radical Inclusion - integrating mental health, arts and culture, history, economic development, and personal development that goes to the roots of several issues including: domestic violence, poverty, crime, depression, a host of “at risk behaviors”, etc. Rather than seeking to exclude needs, each person is allowed the time to identify and distinguish real needs from perceived ones. Resources and “intangible assets” are valued above lacks or deficits.

One of the primary benefits of this approach is its attention to integrity – starting with the integrity and transparency of the SoulFood:Ingredients included in any given project recipe. Here in this paper attention is on the community mental health model and theories that were the basis of the early inquiry into this work.

In beginning to approach community economic renewal my instinct was to go to the weakest links first – homeless, those needing mental health services, neglected seniors, those living in economic poverty, and the disenfranchised (included the previously incarcerated). The point of Radical Inclusion is that the needs of all sides seeking inclusive expression need to be brought to the table and integrated into the Recipe.

Client engagement is critical, and this is the basis of using interactive high art concepts with multiple components that also operate on the level of a project-based expressive therapy approach as opposed to traditional cognitive therapy to deliver community mental health intervention/prevention programs.

Primary experience, which exists apart from language, is described by language (a representation, or secondary experience). Language is that secondary experience created by verbalizing primary experiences. Verbal psychotherapy, then, is a procedure for the verbal processing of verbal descriptions of events. According to discourse theory, language constructs its own reality rather than corresponding to it.

Among those practitioners who use them for the purpose of representation, action methods generally are regarded as more vivid and memorable and having more impact than verbal methods. Action methods simultaneously engage cognition, affect, and behavior and better engage those clients who process information predominantly in visual and kinesthetic modes. When used as interventions, action methods provide novel ways of altering habitual patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

According to some psychological theories, formative experiences that occurred at a preverbal stage of development can be accessed only by nonverbal methods. Also, there is evidence that traumatic experiences are stored or encoded differently from non-traumatic ones, suggesting that experiential therapies may have the potential to shift traumatic experience in cases in which verbal ones cannot.

“The map is not the territory.” Action methods get clients to venture into the territory of experience, enriching those clients who have come to rely solely on the maps of verbalization. Experiencing these methods provides both a way of discovery in terms other than verbal ones and material that can be juxtaposed with verbally encoded representations. In sum, action methods put verbalizations to the test of experience.

Although psychotherapy will continue to be a verbally mediated process, the inclusion of action methods appears to promote significant clinical change in relatively short periods of time, making them particularly valuable in brief therapy and with populations not very responsive to talk-only therapy.

Why use an empowerment-based model? Empowerment may be defined as a process through which people become strong enough to participate within, share in the control of, and influence events and institutions affecting their lives; in part, empowerment implies that people gain particular skills, knowledge, and sufficient power to influence their lives and the lives of those they care about (Torre, 1985). The process of empowerment is ongoing and involves changes in three dimensions of one’s self: personal, interpersonal, and sociopolitical participation.

The personal (self-perception) dimension involves attitudes, values, and beliefs about self-awareness, self-acceptance, belief in self, self-esteem, and the feeling that one has rights. The interpersonal dimension involves acquisition of knowledge and skills, assertiveness, setting limits on giving, asking for help, problem solving, accessing resources, critical thinking to participate and work with others in networks and systems of mutual aid and education in order to enhance the world they live in. The political dimension involves participation by joining appropriate social organizations, giving back by helping others, making a contribution, voting, writing letters, teach others what is learned, and taking control in generalized areas of one’s life are specific skills that will be cultivated during participation in this fully implemented program.

The underlying assumption of empowerment practice is that clients are generally disempowered through membership in devalued and oppressed groups; that the system of governmental policies and services is a barrier to achieving desired goals; and that learned powerlessness is an attribute of many clients (Albert and Green, 2002). Therefore, practical empowerment attends to power issues and promotes the creation and discovery of personal and group empowerment among clients.

Affirmational Psychology a later model I learned of that contributed to the work and let to a few major project collaborations.

It is my hope that in sharing this document that others who have similar interests....working in related areas will contact me. I have finally had a breakthrough in visually connecting this series as it evolves and organizing the huge amount of content I have already generated. In conclusion a few links to key pages in the Development Workspace:
Cultural Fusion Futurist
This is one of the primary projects - an installation called cf House of Cards Installation i
Defining Installation for SoulFood context

Stuck with new piece, working on others

2009-04-23T14:30:00.001-07:00

The cf House of Cards has continued to evolve. I finally got the sketch of the installation modified and put online as a conceptual drawing. At first I was fussing over details before remembering the concept would be modified for the space it is install in.....as part of the virtual counterpart I am working on a digital piece - my reason for finally learning Flash.

Unfortunately, it is not going quite as I intended. The image above is the overlay layer, the original diagram is being modified to go underneath with the top layer parting, so to speak, to see the diagram text associated with the original cf House of Cards. One of the problems is the rippling water effect I was doing for half of the top layer seems to conflict with the script being used to provide the interactive component for the viewer. Since trying to fix it has finally given me a headache I have taken a break from it.

The on site installation requires a few things I still haven't completely ironed out so I am considering possible collaborations to help address that...namely the augmented reality, software art and 3D VR integration.

One of the things I am really excited about is that the piece integrates information that has value/merit in practical terms but it is transformed by its inclusion in the piece. I am hoping the discussions with potential tech partners will deliver the tools to make the information and content being included usable for the audience.

The installation needs a home so I have wondered about what the smallest size space could be....still not quite sure about that.

Reaching Out for OutReach

2009-04-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

Vote No on Prop 8: Yes vs. No - watch more funny videos

Since finishing the first play and starting the next couple - one of which could be Act 2 for the first one....I have been pondering positioning the piece when it is performed.

Since Proposition 8 took the scene I have thought about how my play goes beyond the standard excuse given for supporting a policy of discrimination. That excuse is usually religious in nature (See Proposition 8:The Musical)but what has gotten far less attention is what is really driving church fueled homophobia - I suggest it is rooted in denial, self hatred, and self rejection. I guess that would be a key theme in the play.

I was struck by reports about support for the ban which indicated that:

Proposition 8 draws its heaviest support in Republican strongholds such as the Central Valley and Inland Empire of Southern California, according to recent polls. Its biggest opposition is coming from Democratic bastions such as San Francisco and Los Angeles along the coast.

But two Democratic constituencies -- African-Americans and Latinos -- are leaning toward the ban. Among likely black voters, 58% supported Proposition 8 compared with 38% who opposed it in the most recent Survey USA poll. Among Latinos, 47% supported the proposition while 41% opposed it; white voters were nearly evenly split. The reason, "Yes" officials say, is that church attendance is strong in many minority communities. WSJ.com

In the Huffington Post I found a piece on Rev. Al Sharpton's response that resonated with my own views.

"There is something immoral and sick about using all of that power to not end brutality and poverty, but to break into people's bedrooms and claim that God sent you," Sharpton said bluntly. He made the remarks as the keynote speaker of the Human Rights Ecumenical Service

"It amazes me," he said, "when I looked at California and saw churches that had nothing to say about police brutality, nothing to say when a young black boy was shot while he was wearing police handcuffs, nothing to say when they overturned affirmative action, nothing to say when people were being [relegated] into poverty, yet they were organizing and mobilizing to stop consenting adults from choosing their life partners."

This has all inspired me to look at partnering the Human Rights Campaign or a similar organization to make the play part of an educational outreach that moves beyond PR.

If anyone reading this is interested please contact me to discuss further.

In the same time it takes to be bored you could....

2009-03-25T00:02:00.000-07:00

I don't understand people who complain of boredom. I can't recall the last time I was bored but I can tell you it was before I discovered I was an artist. That means prior to 1987 which was around the time I did my first painting "Portrait of a Soul".

I have always believed that only boring people get bored. There is so much to do and so little time that I just don't understand the tendency. If you are sitting doing nothing, then enjoy doing that. There is so much to be inspired by, so much to create that I don't know where there is a place for boredom. With the stuff in life that we "have to do" that the time to do what we want is precious beyond measure. Create more of that and enjoy it more.

The main reason I have several projects in the pipeline at any time is that I try to find a balance between projects that need to get done, and the ones I want to do. Also, if there is a delay with one it's not a problem because I have others to pay attention to until the first situation is sorted. Each at different phases rather than push through them, I move between them as I consider the next step. Because I do keep working on them they do come to completion and I get to check them off the list of works in progress.

At last after three years in the making I have finished writing my first play. I have shared it with a few friends for feedback and will continue to tighten up the dialog. And having completed it I feel that at some point I will write more of them.

I have the start of what will be Act Two of the first play or perhaps a related One Act play on its own. In fact, I have another manuscript from a short story developed for another project that I think would work well adapted into a stage play...there were several angles I was interested in exploring in that piece so this could be one path to do that.

One thing with the first play is that I wish I had found more humor in it so that is something I am looking for on the next read through. It was a piece conceived with malice and birthed through acceptance, rather than forgiveness. After all was said in done what was there to forgive really? Who was I to ask someone to apologize for being who they are or assume I need to forgive them for the same? It wasn't going to change anything and what transpired had provided the inspiration, as well as the initial anger that fueled my start writing the play.

I guess the time is drawing near when I need to be able to tell people what the play is about. Not as easy as it would seem since there is what the play is about (the action carried out by the characters) and what the play is REALLY about (what the characters do, why and what it represents). Those are the kind of details probably only of interest to me :-)

Recipe for a New Paradigm

2009-03-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from our evolving concept paper

I hope to have this finished soon but in the meantime I will post parts of it to my blogs.

This document emerges from the realization that there is a recipe for capitalizing on the potential of a given situation. Much like cooking there are a lot of consistencies in the process, but what may seem like small differences are actually quite significant in the results produced.

While this is not to debate whether to continue investing in existing system, but to suggest that alternatives get attention. Consider that many of our old systems are based on the needs and thinking of the industrial age. Even in attempting to adapt to the information age, changes were largely superficial and do not reflect the depth of our current knowledge of information or organic systems.

Rather than a debate, this paper invites discussion on and consideration for how to develop structures that integrate more of what we have learned about freedom (creative expression), information and natural systems. This is a strong basis for developing strategies for working with rather than against the flow.

An analysis of seven tropical forests around the world has found that nature encourages species diversity by selecting for less common trees as the trees mature. The landmark study, which was conducted by 33 ecologists from 12 countries and published in the journal Science, conclusively demonstrates that diversity matters and has ecological importance

Pasted from NSF news summary

As an art based approach, the process for creating with attention towards multilateral potentiality that cultivates social capital requires a different world view. It is not based on either or, but and. Existing systems which are cracking at best and crumbling at worse, were not designed to enable inclusion. Inclusion supports diversity.

Another reason to support - explore - invest in Art based research is that Art Embraces Diversity and helps chart unknown terrain about 12:34pm from TweetDeck

To get better results we need to cultivate more original ideas using what is here identified as "self referencing creativity". Again, this is not an either or situation but in addition to what is coming from traditional institutions. Many ideas develop outside of them not by ignorance of the various programs and bureaucratic processes, but because they do not offer the context conducive to their maturation. The very environment they foster is counterproductive in this new paradigm.

It requires less energy to flow with the water moving down stream than to hold that water flow back. This energy expenditure is also expressed in resources required and the efficiency with which they can be applied to the challenge.

Decision makers would be well advised to keep this common sense example in mind when considering why broader and deeper perspectives are needed to make better decisions. For example the self organization phenomena represented by the growth in peer to peer networks gives new insight into the understanding of culture and collaboration. Within these networks there is a wealth of great ideas and the nation/community that benefits will be the one that makes it easiest to advance them. This new approach will actually reduce risk, and this counter intuitive idea needs to be explored because it could actually be the salvation for economic stabilization and renewal.

Stone Soup with SoulFood:Ingredients

2009-03-02T03:11:00.001-08:00

How can change come if everyone only keeps doing what has been done, with most attention going to how to manage - aka resist change?

Rupert Sheldrake with his work on Morphic Resonance has suggested that biological evolution is connected to habitual patterns of behavior.

In the hypothesis of formative causation, discussed in detail in my (Rupert Sheldrake's) books A NEW SCIENCE OF LIFE and THE PRESENCE OF THE PAST, I propose that memory is inherent in nature. Most of the so-called laws of nature are more like habits.

My interest in evolutionary habits arose when I was engaged in research in developmental biology, and was reinforced by reading Charles Darwin, for whom the habits of organisms were of central importance. As Francis Huxley has pointed out, Darwin’s most famous book could more appropriately have been entitled The Origin of Habits.

That seems to suggest that growth depends on radical departures from those conditioned patterns and management systems intended to maintain them. However movement in the "right" direction can not be assured, but likelihood might increase if action was taken towards healing-wholeness rather than based on merely defensive reaction. Could this be the key to understanding conscious evolution of humanity in the context of daily existence and its challenges?

Sharing rather than competition....collaboration based on understanding and value of contrast - this is the value of the cooking metaphor. The reason the Stone Soup story reverberates in my psyche like a mantra.

Pieces that seem unconnected, in reality converge and fuse to show new possibilities. This piece was inspired by Tom's post about intellectual property.

SICU Group discussion:Posted by TOM Merilahti on October 1, 2008 at 5:06am at ONLINE: REGISTER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND PROVE COPYRIGHT WORLDWIDE!!!

One of SICU's collaboration partners is File-Reg International Ltd. The company presents an online registration service to prove copyright worldwide with registration servers on different continents.

In many cases, and in most countries, you automatically acquire Copyright when you create your work. But how can you prove it existed at that moment?

Register at File-Reg and we can provide that proof!

Victims of Copyright violation or data theft find haven here!

Are you a victim of data theft, Copyright violation or plagiarism - and can prove it? then it may be possible for you to register all your future work free of charge until 2010.

Judicial Proof

Registrations can be used as proof in a court of law. Further registration with a lawyer, solicitor or notary is not necessary. The registration system prevents fraud since it is not possible to change or recreate a registered file or document. Registered files can provide proof of development and strengthen application for a patent.

An example of what you can register

Media: Concepts, Designs, (RTV) Formats, Photo’s, AV...
Science: Data, Logs & Journals, R&D, Calculations...
Software: Web pages & Complete sites, Applications...
Other: Business plans, Presentations, Ideas, Contracts...

1.) REGISTER WORK WITH OR WITHOUT SOFTWARE!
2.) DOWNLOAD FREE: Non-Disclosure Agreement and other legal docs
3.) FREE TRIAL: Login now and try free for two weeks

Register online now!

Take a look at the most reasonable prices as well!

From my reply to the above post at SICU Group in SICU ART:

I actually found the philosophy behind the company founder and the service to be inspiring. I have been using it for a few months now and have registered at least a dozen files and concepts so far. I found it easy to use with no learning curve. It started for me a line of inquiry of SoulFood:Ingredient(s) and recipes as intellectual property. I began working on this idea of recipes as the basis of algorithms to be registered and that is what this video is about...and represents documentation of the starting place of this line of inquiry. I would have used the company's logo but I don't have permission for anything like that - but I would love the chance to continue evolving this work in connection with a logo or marketing strategy for file-reg.com. We'll see what happens next because this is only a starting place....

I enjoy the lines of demarcation I find myself compelled to create and then curious about what happens if I selectively wipe them away....

Inspired by my Previous Work - RE: Absentee Black Fathers in U.S.

2009-01-25T07:54:00.000-08:00

I know I posted this painting previously but since it was inspired by the death of my own father- it is connected.

This morning was scrolling Twitter updates I had missed since my last log in and a post to an article about "Absentee Black Men Fathers in the U.S." grabbed my attention. Reading it I was reminded of something I had written awhile back.

I have been working on a multimedia performance piece to be a collaboration with poet Dawn Green, painter Irena Gapkovska and a dancer and musician still to be determined that is inspired by thoughts that is the stek-jes of this essay.

Once I finish my reply to the post that inspired THIS POST, I will link to it here.

The hyperlinking is quite funny to me as I had to make this post before I could link to it in my reply at Ecademy and I had to post this one before I could finish that post.

The Right to Choose to Think

Thoughts from a Pro-Choice Advocate

Sexuality is a fundamental part of being human and alive. It is powerful, even in its distortion it carves our lives in the same way that flowing water engraves the planet. As we struggle to harness hydropower for its best use, so it is with our sexuality (in the best cases). This is not a result of some philosophical hiatus; it is the effect of day-to-day choices. So is it really so arduous to accept that thinking humans should view their choices around sexuality in a larger context?

Take honor for instance. Honor and its sister Integrity are issues normally presented as side dishes on the buffet of religious dogma, untimely asides to the cornucopia associated with sexual bliss. I often wonder why this happens. Am I the only one who feels these issues are essential to an individual really being attractive enough to be considered sexy? To me, this means going beyond the (dehumanizing) objectification of persons towards (humanizing) evaluation, to place "sexiness" in a holistic framework. How can the presence or absence of the substances which make us really human be regarded as "irrelevant"?

In my own experience with human services, I have witnessed levels of denial that boggle the mind. For me, the cold water in the face has been to see actions, even among health educators specializing in STD/HIV prevention, that totally contradict the prevention-based behaviors they advocate publicly. If love is what you do not what you say, then I hold that the same applies to who you are?and who you will be. Who we are is the result of accumulated choices. The right to choose for women, however, is usually thought of in terms of termination of pregnancy. Yet, the power of freedom to choose can serve us as women, but only if we view it in extended terms. The right to choose needs to begin with a number of fundamental issues that we really think about. This should mean thinking in searching ways about partner selection and thinking about consequences, irrespective of the socially hyped up emphasis on sexuality as being only about "feeling", an emphasis that makes us ignore the effects of sexual stimulation and feeling with regard to, for example, integrity, procreation, or STD transmission.

The right to choose in the sexual arena begins with partner selection, and whether there will be one at all. The reality that between 34-46 million people are living with HIV/AIDS indicates the truth about people's choices, despite what many would claim about how they live and who they are. Globally there were between 4.2-5.8 million people newly infected in 2003, so there are definitely some people to whom what I am discussing here is very relevant.

Among my friends, one of the consistent patterns I have witnessed in their relationships is the total lack of thinking about partner selection, even when offspring was the result. It seems that time and again people settle for less and then wonder why they don't get more. The extreme consequences of disconnecting judgment from sexuality seem so obvious that I am amazed that the patriarchal myths still have so much influence. I blame this largely on the trend of making thinking "unsexy". Commercials, mainstream movies, television, music, and the deluge of input from the Internet are all mission-driven to titillate by employing the most superficial elucidation which, combined with the passive acceptance of the audience, almost invites the spoon feeding of skewed truths. It is an attempt to package sexuality in terms of everything that is superficial, involving only surface seeing, feeling, and experiences.

Ironically, many of the purveyors of pleasure and everything that's supposed to be hedonistic and liberating end up echoing the usual divisions between the "serious" and the non-serious, between thinking and feeling, between thought and pleasure. One of the most obvious manifestations of this has been the elevation of celebrities to demi-gods. Would everyone cease knowing how to dress themselves, without celebrity wardrobes to mimic? Would we stop knowing what it means to have fun, to find and achieve sexual pleasure, without advertising? Would we have no idea of how to relate to each other, or how to choose not to relate, if that is where our sense and instincts lead us? I for one, think we'd all manage just fine. Think how many emotional calamities (romantic and otherwise) could be avoided if issues that are so often defined as "non-sexual" (integrity, honor, political judgment) were a part of the sexual evaluation criteria.

It may seem like an unfashionable thing to talk about, but I will continue to point to this truth?Thinking is sexy. Which makes issues like honor, integrity, and politics sexy, too. All those repressive ideas that pigeonhole human experiences into what is fun and what is staid are actually the heart of the idea that thinking is "unsexy". Waking up to that may make us realize just how much the dominant myths about "pure feeling and pleasure" are based on patriarchal ideas that are far from fashionable.

Originally published in Quiet Mountain Essays; vo.I, no. IX

Dream, Vision, Advocacy - reaching the right people

2009-01-15T18:12:00.000-08:00

Just prior to the New Year Ron Wopereis asked me if I could fall in love with 2009;Dawn and Desmond Green invited me to celebrate my experience of life as an amazing creation-life as art. Delighting in the exploration of essential components of conceptual process art related ideas.

If you followed this link because you wanted what you consider "straight forward marketing advice" or resources skip down to the end of this post. 35-50% of sale proceeds go to charitable causes In addition to the early adapters, I have been working with Ron Modro to partner with transitional homeless programs in the States.

I could and will go on about Cultural Fusion as an art based solution to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The purpose of this blog is group content and ideas for pieces I am working on... I plan to use the process to discuss this as an art based solution and touch on some socially significant ideas for further inquiry...pointing to the economic connections. The financial costs of ignoring these social issues is difficult to measure because numbers don't give complete stories. Likewise an emphasis on what has not worked and expecting better results has its own outcome. I invite those that are interested to join us in exploring/developing this one as part of advancing your work.

What kind of year do you want to create?

Increasing the peace, means increasing experiences of abundance.

It begins with each of us as individuals committing to peace within to address the systemic issues that can not be resolved through government legislation or corporate policy alone. Nor is assisted by devotion to woundology

Instead of playing out the victim in distress, how about we become our own heroines and heroes in our story?

If you were your own hero what would you deliver to yourself this year?

My dream for 2009 is to accept a fellowship to develop a plan to spend the next three to five years focusing on research in art based solutions - specifically there application to regional economic development and technology innovation.

That is what I love to pay attention to. All the work I am doing now advances that work but a fellowship would shift the energy in a direction that supports the artistic inquiry.

If anyone knows of an organization that is interested in supporting this kind of work by all means make an introduction.

Installation #1 - inspired by the idea of a source download

Many people study NLP to develop the skills to see the signs anticipating response, but i found much of that could also be experienced through paying attention to attention. One of the great things about the internet is that it is much more conducive to finding people with whom you want to share attention.

This points to a new set of skills required for the new context presented by cyberspace where social networking is expected to grow.

According to the report by Jupiter Research, the total number of people online will climb to 1.8 billion by 2012, encompassing roughly 25 percent of the planet...Overall, the number of users online is predicted to grow by 44 percent in the time period between 2007 and 2012.

This means increase in number of people creating cyberspace, so clearly we need to explore this process from different perspectives. Certainly our historical perspectives are proving inadequate, so the pay off beyond the creative experience is off the charts in terms of satisfaction or rewards.

What needs are being feed in this new environment?
One - it provides the space we need to express and find inspiration. While also creating a place to document the discovery of attention based perspectives. The result is that we have a context that supports developing social capital driven authenticity, collaborative ways of thinking and approaching situations.

In this context you succeed by paying attention to your own attention. Learning to distinguish quality attention is vital to understanding the right investment of intangible and physical resources. One result is that we create our own worlds.

What defines a planet, universe, or town in cyberspace?

Blogs then become a place where people interested in your ideas can learn more about them. I see that as a key part of understanding your SoulFood:Ingredient.
note to self: use this for space as metaphor for process story

As we move towards open systems one has the choice of resisting by creating laws to criminalize the unwanted behavior to protect closed systems OR developing new systems to address current and emerging challenges capitalizing on open systems.

An open system is a state of a system, in which a system continuously interacts with its environment. Open systems are those that maintain their state and exhibit the characteristics of openness previously mentioned.

Open systems contrast with closed systems. Systems are rarely ever either open or closed but open to some and closed to other influences. [1].

Developing systems to support open systems as expressed through Radical Inclusion and social capital can quite logically be used to create new economic opportunities/activities based on wholly different frameworks.

i find it easier to conceptualize this as art because the pieces that are related, their relationships are clearest to me from that perspective. Then it takes on the ease of mixing scraps metal with fabric made from recycled plastics, clay, paint, a flower from the garden with five leaves from the ground and polymer gel medium

My new motto is
You don’t need to reach every person; you need to reach the RIGHT People.

Rather than assume who the right people are, I shall endeavor to find out.

I know many of you reading this will not care less about my artistic inclinations and introspective musings on my art - whether installation, digital works, play, painting, or mixed media experimentation. But I would guess those people would not have read this far.

And if you are reading this because you stumbled upon it looking for marketing resources or edutainment that is not too complicated.
Perhaps one of these resources will assist those of you who are new to doing business online and are looking for internet marketing information of the more mainstream variety - see
Do you suck at marketing?
Free Internet Marketing DVD
Website Marketing Strategy

When I first entered the world of knowledge products/services, and internet marketing software I was part of the beta testing for some of Russell Brunson's products which I went on to promote for the social sector looking at how to use the web to generate larger income streams than they were getting from donations and traditional fundraisers.

In studying the needs to develop the support systems and trainings to meet the needs people bring, I realize this information has a great deal of value for people new to this online world or struggling to make sense of it. For example, there are lots of people who don't know what there passion is but they want to start an online business.

Dream Manifesto with free ebook offer
Simpelology blog with free course offer
12 Month Word of Mouth Transformation Program

People in many sectors are going to have to re-invent themselves and develop new business models to thrive. Combining techniques and resources is a good start. If you are looking at strategies for monetizing your web properties you may find value in these resources.

"How A Wrestler Accidentally Stumbled Upon One DARN BIG SECRET To Launching A Seven-Figure Online Business With NO Money and NO Time..
…And How You Can Learn His “Insider” Secrets To Living A Life Of Abundance…Even If You’ve Never Heard Of A Squeeze Page Or Autoresponder!

Here's your chance to finally jump off the ebook merry-go-round and create your OWN online empire selling your OWN information products!”

Blue Print for a Revolution
Although I this promotion focuses on musicians, there is much value for all seeking to provide creative services.

Simpleology Great Teachers Series: Jacque Fresco Teaches Drawing

Rise of the Author

Look at how you can find new opportunities to meet your needs in ways that also support the best in others.

Perhaps turn your knowledge base and passion into a product or service or find new markets for existing ones. Cultivate a mindset of abundance by paying attention to the value of what you have and how it can be leveraged or harnessed.

In addressing some of the more persistent and costly (financially and socially) challenges I find it is worth looking at how existing resources - professional and personal development - can be made available to those who can most benefit from them. That is a core part of inspiration to commit to Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy to create art with purpose.

Lovely dream, but what does it take to see it happen?

2009-01-15T11:29:00.000-08:00

Bernard Lietaer talks about the relationship between the money system and sustainability

While there are those within institutions that see the problem, I find there are far less who understand the fundamental issues that are being ignored that will have a dramatic impact on the outcomes expected from current investments of majority of attention and resources.

In Cultural Fusion I find an opportunity to explore a radically different conceptual basis for open system organizations or frameworks. Art based solutions allow a depth and breadth of perspective that does not seem possible (or natural)within knowledge silos or through the lens of judgment.

After I get this sorted out I will move most of it to the comfusion an new Oci Novosti websites.

Instead of telling someone else what they should not do, what would happen if I paid attention to what I was doing? Then it is more natural to be inspired - paying attention without negative emotional charge. And that's an important part of flexibility of perspective.

Had a chance to work on revisions to my play, tentatively called "In Your Own Backyard". One of the big issues now resolved was framing a tawdry drama inspired by my early observations and frustrations developing multifaceted programs to address homelessness/poverty/domestic violence/HIV/AID prevention and interventions within a specific community.

The play explores first the region as community. It is a hot spot for STDs including HIV/AIDS, political corruption, intangible deficits of all kinds and how they translate into a series of events that will redefine community and define a region for decades.

It was inspired by three southern communities ranking first, second and third in the nation for chlamydia and syphilis. After noticing discrepancies in the local numbers for the counties and CDC (center for disease control). Closer attention to what was driving these stats and how a drama

I learned what "community revitalization" really means. It is part of that Orwellian inspired industry of Spin Doctoring, which one refers to the people who manage dialgues. This seems intended to suggest a distance between the the carrying out of a misdeed and spinning of it.

Based on my observations I developed this idea to engage more people in the BIG ISSUES by breaking them down to a scale of impact that people can conceptualize. The time for this to happen is sooner rather than later.

In times of distress - domestic abuses increases. This has never been a good situation but in light of mandatory furloughs for state social intervention agencies and insufficient funding of community based programs - without attention could have increasingly tragic results.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 :As families confront the impact of the current economic crisis, social service agencies across the US are seeing growing numbers of cases of domestic violence and child abuse. The correlation between financial stress and the growing incidence of such cases is shown in increased calls to hotlines, visits to emergency rooms and the utilization of social services and shelters.

My informal survey from contacts I have in grassroots advocacy report a similar story...shelters are seeing almost daily increases. Considering the numbers falling through the cracks before all this the prospects are troublesome of more being doomed to be cast in invisible shadows. Although no one will say the words, actions and priorities speak quite clearly about what (who) is valued and who is not.
For example, what is the message when billions are committed to financial sector bail out due to circumstance they created, and cut backs for those that serve the people impacted? These messages are internalized and to play out to have political, social and economic impact on larger scales.

Looking at my own little sphere of "what can i do?" I am allowing expressions of solutions in the context of seeing what is being dealt with and transformed.

I could write more white papers, articles, research papers but fewer people would digest the information. Therefore the impact would be limited because it would perpetuate an underlying belief about value or rather values.

Tiger Woods A Game

Today Jeremy reminded me of what it takes for Tiger Woods to maintain his A Game. Listen to the show to see what he said about that.

Of course most of us know this intellectually - many of us want it for ourselves. But how many people think of this for people who are considered poor, who have survived being abused, or witnessing abuse overcoming serious odds to break cycles of violence?

It is no secret that these questions are connected to issues of incarceration because a significant number of people in prison could have been diverted with successful intervention providing them with personal development tools alongside opportunities to realize their potential professionally, and express themselves creatively.

I am writing my play as a series of connected stories because I want to explore the complexity of this tangled set of "facts" and observations for example - Consider that at least sometimes privatization of prisons has been used as a perverted kind of economic stimulus and redistricting tool. If we want to reduce crime - increase the peace - -then it is important that we begin to see where the underlying attributes are institutionalized?

Who is considering the long term impact of this kind of thinking?
And regardless of what your ideas are about the situation, the reality is that are more people are released from prison we must find way to
1.minimize the damage to children left behind
2. successfully re-integrate them into society if we want to reduce crime and the costs of managing the crisis caused.

There have been numerous academic studies and policy reports and journalistic accounts analyzing our prison boom, but this phenomenon cannot be fully measured in numbers.....America is expert at turning citizens into convicts, but we've forgotten how to transform convicts back into citizens...And so the legacy of our prison boom continues—and we continue to be defined by our desire for punishment and revenge, rather than by our belief in the power of redemption.

Now to be honest as I write this I know it is not an easy thing to learn forgiveness but having dealt with these issues personally I believe the rewards are worth the effort.

It is no small thing to have ones self survive and thrive despite such harsh conditions. When people have been encouraged by something i shared, i feel that i have been given a gift. To avert the worse case scenarios we have to set about the business of creating alternative structures and programs that can support regional collaborations. However, I believe that what a region is will come to be redefined with the evolution of cyberinfrastructure.

BUT what can we learn from people that make it? What is making it?

I am learning to be curious about what others believe before jumping to judgment. Does the need for resistance decrease and does less resistance translate into more efficiency over the longer term. By that i mean might it be worth looking at how personal intervention - focused on those that are already committed and motivated but just need access to resources pay off many times over.

What changes if we make that adjustment in our attitude?

"FREE Video Reveals The Amazing Money-Making Secrets Of A 28-Year Old Convicted Felon Who Earned $100 Million Dollars in Online Advertising!"

Because much of what has been done will not work in this emerging context- it is important to identify what information to build upon- that which can shift much faster than our organizational dinosaurs, individuals creating the trends in P2P, open source, social enterprise development, employment & social media will command the expected attention.

What's on the other side of the dark side of the moon?

2009-01-11T07:54:00.000-08:00

It is not so much the I that has inspired me as much as the inspired i is observing, expressing and creating. I imagined that this is not apart from the flow that guides the phases of the moon or the path of the clouds.

I in i- had one of those amazing pieces floating into place epiphanies. When we sing/experience the song of our soul there is nothing like it. I used to think of it as My process, now i get it that it is the process.

"When our wounds lead to breakthroughs that connect to the sacred through inspiration - healing is possible & growth is the natural outcome." From: Breaking through woundedness to heal

Hind-sight is 20/20 and so there is nothing quite like the view of staring back for a clearer view.

How strange it might seem to pay attention this thing that can not be seen directly, only evidence of its existence witnessed and document it. Like other invisible forces (gravity) we learn through observation. It is a mistake to think this done only with the mind.

You don't know what you don't know until you know what it is you don't know.

[1/10/2009 11:25:21 AM] Ronald Wopereis says: ok read it
[1/10/2009 11:25:35 AM] Ronald Wopereis says: when you are on the dark side of the moon
[1/10/2009 11:25:49 AM] Ronald Wopereis says: how would you know which side is dark ? or ... what darkness is?
[1/10/2009 11:26:04 AM] Ronald Wopereis says: i believe that life, as we know it, is this dark side
[1/10/2009 11:26:10 AM] Ronald Wopereis says: ?

i pause to listen -
there is a song that calls for me to find it
to allow myself to hear,
not just the melody -
but the base line, the words -
invisible layer of inspirations

together in the holon
parts, the rhythms that depend on the pacing of the notes,
- rests, pauses, shouts and whispers

sounds
that like the wind
travel in unseen streams
but none of us doubts its flow.

you caught me!
looking in your direction
i was watching this flow
and when it whirled in your direction
i couldn't help but pay attention

1. Morphle

As a collaborator there is Source:Converge on Attention and Source:Love infused into solution aka technology and cyberinfrastructure the language Merik uses (open source code as language) + community culture =

For reasons i could not explain my attention had been drawn to object oriented programming six or seven years ago. Even then i was trying to figure out how this would support the creation of this cyberinfrastructure of holistic technology.

And so there is this experience of coming full circle within a multi-dimensional reality one sees it is not flat. It is the never ending spiral. I continue to explore this ... It seems to me that these are what I am coming to see as "foundational" concepts - points of reference in terms of paths in the the process.

Breaking through Woundedness to Experience the Sacred

2009-01-05T04:23:00.000-08:00

THIS POST IS STILL BEING WRITTEN

On Thurs. Sept. 4, 2008 I posted the start of a video idea I was playing around with that changed quite a bit by the end.

Pondering the journey to my interest in this piece, I looked back at this one "good bye metamorphosis" . I started it during the summer following the death of my father. It is a digital piece that I intend to explore as a deconstruction series.

The imagery was inspired by The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung) is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into an insect. (source Wikipedia)

Flash back to 2006...

The question - after taking it all in and knowing that collaboration was the way - I understood that any hope of peace meant a transformative commitment to living in peace- The question was: "what can i do?" That was the one that pointed my Attention in the direction of the door.

Imagine that your fingers have been slammed in the door. To stop the pain you decide to tie off the lower part of your arm at the elbow to interrupt/stop the flow of attention to the pain. Is that really the best response when you consider the consequences and risk exposures that flow from that choice?

Now what if you allow the attention to move in the direction of the traumatize area? Your Attention would first flow to an awareness of where your hand is now. Before you make a move to heal, you need to first get your hand out of the doorway.

Then you might realize your actual intention had been to open the door and walk through.

Instead of seeing this through the lens of the problem (symptoms) we see from a higher perspective of flow where events and ideas converge to create realities.

This piece was connected to, was the precursor of Home vs. Place of Origin - not in any official genealogy of the work but according to that trail of tears and giggles that lead us to our inspiration....our awareness...and if with the right Attention our expanded consciousness. Our ability to see the interconnectedness of our life experiences and choices is enhanced by our willingness to do so.

Cultural Fusion emerged from the energy of the question "what is peace?" back in 2006 when Ron and I decided to pay attention to this.

On a personal level in what is peace I was grieving the many losses that were commanding my attention at the time. Interestingly, several of the people I engaged in the first couple projects of this work also had someone they had lost that they felt moved to express a tribute to through some clarity in life direction.

For me, it was the death of my Grandma Lottie (paternal grandmother) that dominated my attention. Recovery from that loss led me to see that I had used my connection to her to connect to my father. For example, I would look at a photo and say I have my Grandma's eyebrows. Well, not until after my father's death did it occur to me when looking at his photo that I had his eyebrows. He had inherited her eyebrows and been the one to pass them on to me, but I refused to see it that way...until I did.

When we started Cultural Fusion it happened because Ron's work with Attention (See: Bilocality and the inner world of attention) helped me start a new phase in the quest to heal my relationship with places of origin. See Bert Hellinger's work here and Ron's Attention Diagram here. As fate would have it Ron and I found we shared an interest in this work and Ron is a trained/experienced representative.

[9:18:37 AM] Ronald Wopereis says: once you see in in the diagram, the whole thing is easy to understand
[9:18:57 AM] Ronald Wopereis says: shortage of attention or love on one side, immediately affects the other side,
[9:19:14 AM] Ronald Wopereis says: and while attention flows through generations, it affects the next diagram
[9:19:30 AM] Ronald Wopereis says: ( = diagram of next generation in bloodline)

In SoulFood: Individual or Personal Level

To me there is the game and then there is the essence of this paradigm that supports healing. Soul food is depository of Love that flows forward through time to reach across generations.

In what is peace? series part of what I am interested in is reconciling my own conflicts to find deeper levels of peace so that I may contribute that to the world in which I hope to be a part of creating a culture of global peace. In terms of place this started with my concern for Human Rights which is where I cut my teeth in social advocacy with Amnesty International and homeless shelters. In the peace series, I found it was my relationship with the south that called for attention. During a disturbing research trip I was inspired to start "Surviving the South" as part of that leg of the journey.

The most obvious conflict was connected to the concepts explored in Home vs Place of Origin. It is no secret that I am still searching for a place that FEELS like a place you love to love - one I am happy to love as my hometown...a town I can fall in love with. When I find it I will consider that my hometown.

I have been working on a play about this for two years. My relationships to place in many ways mirrored a playing out of women who don't see their pattern of selecting abusive partners. When they first leave there is this sense of living in freedom that has to be discovered before one can really get on with living - thriving instead of surviving.

There is a relationship to this connection to place, the absence of it, an abundance or deficit in social capital ---->in relation to place---> that has an economic impact because it has an economic expression in its component. This expression is more complex than our narrow consumer behavior driven economic analysis would allow one to see.

Whether you can observe a thing or not depends on the theory which you use. It is the theory which decides what can be observed. - Albert Einstein

In the past it has been easy enough not to pay attention to this less obvious side of economic systems. However as more people are interested in solutions rather than band-aids to what is unfolding, some will start to see the wisdom of kind of art as art based solution research <---> Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy is an application of Attention:Bilocality knowledge base and SoulFood model.

This morning I had my breakthrough!

Breakthrough: Chipping through a wall with no idea how thick it is. The breakthrough is the moment when you can see the light on the other side starting to peek through.

The play is about a woman who returns to live in the town where she was conceived and abused. While we learn about the community we also see how she has used her conscious choosing to transform wounds into triumph - and showing by contrast how genuine encounter with the sacred - transmutes the sinister and the tawdry.

I had been working on revisions to the opening for very close to a year and suddenly this morning I got it! I will share more about that later.

All of this is what I was/am expressing in this Home vs Place of Origin series...and the lesson that led to the video was that I am my own Home.

This is the most recent version of Home vs. Place of Origin.

The breakthroughs today are connected to Cultural Fusion in a profound way. Having made this personal journey through the work where the personal, social and the political are intimately related....What has changed?

The concept for the Cultural Fusion "business website" has finally come together!

In the works associated with Cultural Fusion I have come to see how these sources of inspiration are connected to a wide range of issues and I am inspired that I have these characters and art works through which to express my insights and conclusions.

When our wounds lead to breakthroughs that connect to the sacred through inspiration - healing is possible and growth is the natural outcome.

Invitation to Collaborate, Contribute and Promote your Project

2008-11-12T06:20:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share this with you as it is a way to participate in the Cultural Fusion Experience and help promote your project, organization, etc. Also because I am using this as a way to scout for collaborators for the Cultural Fusion Tour....we can discuss that later if that is of interest to you. Of course, anyone else that is interested is also welcomed to contact me.

See my latest blog post or post to the forum about inviting people to contribute for the next video.

After much discussion about the branding of Cultural Fusion, Cherrie of Global Gia Marketing had a brainstorm session this past weekend and she came up with the concept.

I point this out because it could be a great way to start promoting various artists, events, and communities/organizations that are or will be participating.

Could you help introduce this opportunity to the artist community where you are?
My thinking is you could have a few or several artist shoot their clips in your national art museum or similar with their work in the background (2D work, performances, etc) or as part of the reading itself.

What do you think?

If you are interested, or know anyone who is please join me at the Cultural Fusion Group Network because I will be using the group to coordinate this endeavor to make things easier (manageable).

All the best,
Yvette

Process as Art, More Insights from Source Artist Process

2008-10-16T17:29:00.001-07:00

There are those conversations that for some mysterious reason come at the just the right time to help crystallize an idea or lesson.

Imagine, a 20 year desire takes center stage and I felt compelled to make my mark as an installation artist, rather than confining myself to my previous explorations that rarely ventured beyond the land of canvas or paper. I felt drawn to software and digital art although I knew virtually nothing about the tools of the trade.

Gradually it started to dawn on me that if I announced this intention that I was opening the door to let whoever wanted to pay attention witness my growth process as an artist. When I realized and accepted what I was setting out to do, I had not even learned to use Photoshop. Since then I have made playing with various tools to work out ideas part of the process art concept.....

Recently I had a conversation that helped me understand you don't let what you don't have stop you from doing what you need to do. If I waited for someone else to see the value in what I have been working on then there would be nothing to communicate it now. I had to start in order to increase the potential for the goal to be realized.

Last week Dawn was discussing fear in her blog. Later as an aside she explained the reason for shining the light to clear them out.

Today I had one of those conversations that allowed me to see more fully the fears I had overcome to pursue Cultural Fusion…and what the phrases, "art as philosophy" and "art with purpose" mean for me.

Tonight I have had a deepening of my experience and understanding of why process art as a core component of the installations I have been developing.

Process artists were involved in issues attendant to the body, random occurrences, improvisation, and the liberating qualities of nontraditional materials such as wax, felt, and latex. Using these, they created eccentric forms in erratic or irregular arrangements produced by actions such as cutting, hanging, and dropping, or organic processes such as growth, condensation, freezing, or decomposition.

Source: http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/glossary_Process_art.html

What they refer to as random occurrences I see as synchronicity when they advance the work to become part of the process. In this multilateral framework these are points of Source:Convergence.
Where most work has been concerned with growth in context of plants or base perspectives, this one is concerned with growth in consciousness, self awareness and personal fulfillment on the individuals and collective/community levels.

Process art

U.S. and Europe, mid-1960s
Process art emphasizes the “process” of making art (rather than any predetermined composition or plan) and the concepts of change and transience….

Their interest in process and the properties of materials as determining factors has precedents in the Abstract Expressionists’ use of unconventional methods such as dripping and staining. In a ground-breaking essay and exhibition in 1968, Morris posited the notion of “anti-form” as a basis for making art works in terms of process and time rather than as static and enduring icons, which he associated with “object-type” art. Morris stressed this new art’s de-emphasis of order through nonrigid materials, pioneered by Claes Oldenburg, and the manipulation of those materials through the processes of gravity, stacking, piling, and hanging.

Source: http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/glossary_Process_art.html

Where formal discussions of process art is concerned with "properties of materials" and expanding the understanding of "unconventional methods".

The adaption of Process Art to a context that is possible of engaging larger communities rather than ascribed as a luxury of the few.

Taken several steps further SoulFood as framework for the Source Artist Process-internal. Attention has been paid to the survey of the ingredients .

This is most definitely research into the metaphysics of art applied to real life challenges.

1. Personal growth through art as process
2. Transparent model for the above as part of sustainability and community renewal
3. Research and Development into implementations of open economies as part of the above
4. Helps define intangible assets and economies that can leverage opportunities previously mentioned
5. Concept for works of art that are interconnected expressions of the above

Accepting the Process and Lessons in Peace

2008-10-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

There are not many places that support large files, so I have really come to appreciate what makes Youtube the top video sharing site.

Originally, I had planned to only share these videos internally with the core team I have been working with, but I changed my mind. One of the reasons I decided to share them although it doesn't perfectly reflect my vision is that this series is largely inspired by my own issues with perfectionism....breaking an old pattern to learn about self-acceptance. This is major issue in creating peace, as the lack of it in the world is a reflection of the same lack in each of us as individuals.

If we can not accept ourselves then we can accept someone else and this leads to the need to be judgmental, blame, and even punish others.

The opportunity to be loss makes it worth the risk for my ego to share this imperfect video and I see that if I didn't I would miss the chance to be the first or one of the first to chart this new territory.

In addition, this is how space is made for other people to join in. This There has to be room for others to join and express the best of themselves and that means they need to see the change their contribution makes in really clear ways. If I waited until I covered all the pieces myself or just hired professional firms then the chance to engage people at the grassroots level in the most meaningful ways would be loss.

That is fundamental to the concept, expressed ideally in "stone soup" story.

In this case, I show up with an idea and a pot--- Ron was the first to pay attention, which led to everyone else that followed having something to pay attention or contribute to - intangible assets (knowledge, talent, etc.) or physical resources (money, technology, etc.) expressed in the SoulFood model as the vegetables, meat, spices and that is how the meals (aka projects) come to be....we then can document with these videos and artworks that Cultural Fusion process and see how it take shape in a way that to me seems more honest than if it was just written as an article, paper, etc in retrospect.

So that is what I have learned and has led to this little series I am playing with now. For paid client projects I would hire a team but at the moment this serves it purpose and is not intended to represent a finished product.

Enjoy!

Art and Politics- An Alternative to Protest Art

2008-10-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

I have long been an advocate for end user led innovation, especially in IT. Recently I have been pondering connections between our failed check and balances in U.S. political arena. I generally don't get into politics here but because we have only traveled further down this road I feel I have an obligation to at least put some questions and information forward. It is hard for me to believe that Americans don't care, and it seems that those outside the States may be completely unaware of what is happening.

Also, with my interest in social capital this has been a primary instance that I have been paying attention to for a number of years. For several years, I have asserted that this decline in social capital would have economic consequences and I feel the market crash is an indicator of this.

Cultural Fusion has emerged from my interest in finding an alternative to Protest Art because as an artist we have an responsibility/choice to comment on the times we live in as we see/experience them.....and even better, Cultural Fusion intends to be part of solutions. Obviously, I like to keep things as positive and proactive as possible and this is no exception.

Key questions I have are:

Did the Gonzales firings in the Dept. of Justice thwart investigations into voter fraud or irregularities?

Why did Kerry concede the election when he knew that not doing so would have supported checks and balances working to investigate questionable results?

Why are the people shut out of the process of selecting voting machines and operating software?

Given that these issues have gone largely unaddressed what is the point of the Presidential campaign where no one pays attention to such a fundamental usurping of political credibility?

Will ignoring this problem yield results similar to what we have seen on Wall Street?

AND what does that mean for you?

The series of video projects I am working on now are not blatantly political but the ideas I am exploring them have evolved in this context (at least in part). However, the video art projects are less concerned with rehashing the problem(s) as much as it is presenting a context for solutions....not by focusing on the symptoms but going to the heart of the matter which really isn't so much about politics as it is the status quo in general. In that paradigm the underlying deficit in social capital - and the personal expression of that reality in the lives of millions of individuals merit attention that can perceive the broader context.

For up to the minute info on this issue see Black Box Voting
If you have not seen it already, please watch and share this video

the beginning:Home vs Place of Origin

2008-09-04T07:22:00.000-07:00

This is an Art:Work under construction. I decided to do it three or four segments that will be brought together in the space. Each segment will be a central part of creating spaces, framing them if you will, inside that larger venue space.

So here is the beginning minus most of the music/sound. If you have suggestions, feel free to post links to audio in the comments.

In addition to the issues of place and affection that sparked this piece for me, it is being shaped by my work in Art as Interface.

One of the striking findings I have had during this development process is the issue of Radical Inclusion in relation to technology. And perhaps the most surprising thing has been the connection this has to my work in the area of Relationships and Connection.

Clarity 2.2 to be released

2008-06-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

Sitting outside enjoying the morning with my animal companions including a few visiting birds, my attention was fixed on my decision to re-visit a software I had actually forgotten about until I stumbled upon in a folder. The funny thing was this captured my attention when I was actually pondering something I thought was completely unrelated....the recent death of my father.

You see, I am in process of updating my Clarity: Relationship Valuation Analysis software. Originally, it sold for around $50 but version 2.2 is going to be distributed for free! I am approaching this as my official move into the realm of software art as I do have other plans for it that include making it available to as many people as possible who can benefit AND using it in an art installation and performance pieces I have been developing with Desmond and Ron.

Yes, I am going to be giving it away. Why? Well that I will share with you in my Source Artist blog shortly. I was working on the revision until around 2am this morning because it is clear to me the program, and its supporting services can be a great service to others. What are the supportive services? The personal coaching via podcasts, teleconferences, and hotline services (phone and online) AND some special retreats we're developing for Jamaica. We will work out a way for anyone who need these services to access them, so stay tuned. I will not post the access numbers in public, so those who are interested will need to contact us to get subscription info which includes those access numbers.

You can contact me through this site or any of my others if you do not have my personal email address and I will reply ASAP. For now, however, we have provided these services to only a personal network of friends but now it is being offered to you.

Visit this Cultural Fusion community for more info

Source Arts Outreach

2008-05-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

What is going to be the focus of this blog?

Why am I starting yet another one?

These are a few of the questions I thought I should have answered BEFORE I did this, but somewhere along the way I just decided I would discover those answers along with you.

I have been working on a collaborative art series called "Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy"
and although that is still in development I am not sure how this will connect to that, other than both having a connection to me. Both flow from my quest to express this connection between personal intention, clarity of consciousness, system solutions and art/creative expression.

My first line of thinking with regard to this blog is that I will explore using it to share podcast with subscribers and develop the "outreach hot line".

I have been exploring how this works to support someone as an intervention when their mood starts to shift, before they find themselves knee deep in it.....you can call the hot line to be connected with a frame of reference that supports you in dealing with the reality facing you AND your power to create the reality you choose.