oil & water

OIL & WATER DO NOT MIX from Happiness Brussels on Vimeo.

process shots

moss graffiti recipe

from environmental graffiti:

Originally created by horticulturists keen to add interest to their garden designs, this recipe for moss can be used as an environmentally-friendly alternative to spray paint.

RECIPE

You will need a blender to make the mixture and if you plan to grow your moss outdoors you will also need a seed tray filled with compost.

• Several clumps of moss
• 1 pot of natural yoghurt or 12oz buttermilk (experiment to see which works best)
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• Plastic pot (with a lid)
• Paint brush
• Spray-mister

Seemingly, getting the recipe to work can be quite difficult, the location and weather conditions need to be spot on. Moss thrives best in damp areas so if you have to grow it indoors make sure you spray it with water frequently. As soon as it starts to grow, transplant it in your chosen location and watch your graffiti art spread.

brincos

Judi Werthein's "crossing trainers" come packaged with a compass, tylenol, map and flashlight and were distributed to people in Tijuana (also sold in a high-end boutique for $250), where many jump the border lines into San Diego. Werthein has spoken out against claims that she is aiding and abetting illegal immigration, stating she is rather sparking discussion on the issue.

disconnect visual research

roadsworth

palas por pistolas

Artist Pedro Reyes melts down the guns of Mexican city Culliacan and uses the scrap metal into gardening tools as an anti-violence campaign:

Carolee Thea: How did Palas Por Pistolas come about?

Pedro Reyes: I was invited to do Palas Por Pistolas for the botanical garden in Culiacán, a city in western Mexico with the highest number of gun deaths in the country. The gardens are beautiful and bucolic, considered the best collection of tropical plants in the Americas, but outside the walls, violence prevails. My project tried to bridge the two worlds. My initial step was to organize a campaign in cooperation with the city government—collecting weapons and melting the metal into shovels that would later be used to plant trees in the city and beyond. It’s like a transmutation of metal motivated by the social design embedded in the process of removing the weapons from circulation—like agents of death turned into agents of life. I want to believe that by taking 1,500 arms out of circulation we might save a few lives, but the real purpose of the piece is to add a story to the world, so in other cities they will say, “In Culiacán, they did that. ”

ny times: google cars

smarter than you think

Google's self-driving cars have faster reaction time than humans, 360-degree perception and do not get distracted/intoxicated/tired. Reduced number of accidents (= lives saved)? Great. Yet another thing we've outsourced to technology? Not so great. Obviously this is an incredibly exciting advancement, but where do we as a people draw the line? What about public transit or carpooling? Both of those also lower accident rates through reducing the number of drivers on the road with the added bonus of reducing auto exhaust. In my opinion, the last thing we need is another means of writing ourselves further out of reality.

creative caffeining

Illustrator samples for next Hatch meeting:

brianna's hummingbird

collectives contd

• The 62 (www.the62.org) is an art and design collective in Brooklyn, New York
• Red Sun Press (www.redsunpress.com) is a collectively owned and operated union printshop in Massachusetts
• Eggplant Active Media Workers’ Collective (www.eggplant.coop) specializes in non-profit web design with two teams located in Vermont

a word on design collectives

from backspace.com:

Collectives, also known as “co-operatives,” “cooperatives” or “co-ops” are groups of individuals who join together to undertake an activity for their mutual benefit. Co-ops may be for-profit or not-for-profit, unionized or not, and legally incorporated or not — what’s different about a co-op is that it’s owned and operated by its members.

You may be familiar with a neighborhood food co-op or credit union. These are consumer co-ops which pool resources to offer discounted services to their members.

Graphic design collectives are “producer co-ops,” owned and operated by their employees. This is quite different from a firm with an employee stock ownership program. Co-op workers share in decision making and responsibility, as well as profits and losses.

Why form a cooperative? One argument is that organizations owned by the communities they serve are more accountable, and can emphasize service over profit. When employees govern their own workplace, they can design a happier, stable and more equitable work environment.

But there’s also the value of organizing according to one’s ideals. Though we are supposedly living in a democracy, most of us spend our days working for private tyrannies. Living and participating in a democracy should consist of more than just voting once a year. We should be able to participate in the decisions that affect our lives.

One member of a cooking collective sums it up: “We’ve tried not only to feed people well, but also to treat people well. Over the last 30 years our company has come to represent something bigger than we ever anticipated, and something better than the usual business.”

connect

wheat gum-pasted exercise in nyc

project II - disconnect collab

toy makers fight for exemption

A new federal crack-down has some toy manufacturers up in arms. Originally, the Consumer Product Safety Act was put in place in 2008 in order to combat the influx of tainted children's toys manufactured, largely, in China. This led to the recall of some 45 million toys and other children's products. The new regulations put in place call for more safety testing and a reduction in the permitted amount of lead. So where's the problem? This Safety Act is extremely vague, making it unclear what exactly falls under the title of "children's product". For example, a pack of paperclips sold at an office supply store does not need to adhere to the guidelines, while paperclips that are packaged in a children's science kit must be tested for lead. The vagueness of the act has placed extra hardships - cost or otherwise - on smaller, independently operated toy makers. In a revised draft, released this month, the commission granted exemption to model train makers and several others.

NY Times article
handmade toy alliance

corn

review of michael pollan's ominvore's dilemma

food inc documentary website

king corn documentary website

food fight documentary website

• over the past three decades, consumption of high fructose corn syrup has increased 1,000%
• more than $50 billion paid to corn farmers in the past decade
• the prevalence of obesity in children 6-11 has quadrupled in the past 25 years; in adolescents 12-19.5 it has doubled

innocent till proven guilty?

New York Times article on BPA (bisphenol A)

While some have written it off as "junk science", others are not taking the presence of bisphenol A (BPA) in their plastics or their bodies lightly. A presidential panel on cancer and the environment concluded that the link between BPA and several diseases, including cancer, is growing; BPA is one of many that fall under the title of "endocrine disruptors". Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that act on the body's receptors in cells - in the case of BPA, it acts similarly to estrogen hormones.

After reading Nina Baker's The Body Toxic, I too, am beginning to question the safety of man-made products and their dubious chemistry. Unfortunately, current U.S. policy states that chemicals are only banned if they are proven to be harmful. I am strongly in favor of the European Union's "precautionary principle", which states that if there are any plausible health concerns related to a specific chemical, it is banned until proven otherwise.

There are simple and easy steps to reducing BPA exposure, however. Plastics that contain the chemical are clearly marked with a "7", although not all items labeled "7"' contain it. Secondly, stop microwaving plastic containers! Once microwaved/treated with boiling water, BPA's rate of leeching into food or beverage is increased by a startling 50% (Baker). I don't know about you, but the phrase "better safe than sorry" sounds especially appealing in the case of endocrine disruptors.

keepin' abreast

Finally! Smaller-breasted women are speaking out against the super-padded bras that are typically advertised to them. Its extremely demoralizing to subscribe to the marketing ploy that if you're lacking up top, you're insufficient and therefore should spend as much as possible in order to pad your way to a more "desirable" bust line - which, by the way, isn't fooling anyone. "Often a push-up bra stands away from the body in an unflatteringly way that makes even the most assured woman wish she had more to 'fill' the cup" (NYX). Several labels (many of which are listed in the article) are coming up with designs that actually Fit and Flatter a woman's body. It's time to stop being shamed into hiding behind perceived societal ideals and love yourself.

how to insert hyperlinks

1. go into the "edit html" tab
2. type in: <*a href="URL GOES HERE">LINK TEXT GOES HERE <*/a*> (delete the *'s)
3. thats it!

a href is the reference anchor and the <*/a*> indicates that the link is now over. make sure you remember that part or your entire text will become linked.

here's an example of what it will look like

here's an example of what happens if you don't close the link

magilla guerilla

examples of subversive art

designers, visionaries and other stories

a. my attention span loves essays
b. out of all the selected readings, chapman's designers, visionaries, and other stories goes beyond the standard "evole with the world" mantra. chapter one disproves the idea that in order to prevent harm we must stop consuming - the self-loathing that inevitably follows is completely contrary to progress. instead, rerouting our old habits is key. designers can help in this rerouting process if their work allows for measured improvements - promoting models of long-term sustainability.



also, the preaching-to-the-choir method is totally ineffective. if the point of sustainable design is to reduce mankind's impact, successful designers must go where the biggest impacts lie (not with like-minded people, that's for sure).

get pissed: walmart edition

for at least ten years, women have received less pay and fewer raises than the men who work for walmart. this class action lawsuit is now being taken to the supreme court (please don't throw it out)

women vs walmart

At what cost do we as Americans benefit from such cheap products? Walmart's social and global effects are startling, to say the least.

wal-mart documentary

what is social design, anyway?

Design is an integral part of present-day society. As our world is constantly evolving, expanding, or otherwise in motion, it is imperative that We remain always informed, always engaged. Social design allows for such information exchanges; it is the responsibility of us, as designers, artists, and creative minds to spark the conversations that continue to shape and reshape our world.

Eco-artist Lars Schmidt on Social Design:

We as a society must first become aware of ourselves and our surroundings, thereby beginning to understand the connections between all life, organic or otherwise.

NY Times: remarketing

With what Google is calling remarketing, specific advertisements now seemingly "follow" individuals even after they have left the original retail site. For weeks, Julie Matlin was met with a pair of shoes she had, at one point, considered purchasing. Though not actually intrusive, many are concerned that remarketing violates their right to privacy (others will be shown the same ads when using your computer). With advertising getting increasingly clever (and creepy), will a "do not track" list be in the near future?

too much

stuff