http://babel.massart.edu/~sgenova/

Web site needs tweaking

I made my home page and three other pages

but I'm having trouble getting the links to work. 

I know it's a simple thing that I'm just not

doing properly, so I'd like to have someone

help me get it straightened out tomorrow.

I'll bring everything on my rugged hd.

Thoughts on "A Whole New Mind"

I like Daniel Pink's thoughts on creating products that not only have exceptional design but also

look and feel good to the touch. I found out very recently that one of our new friends works at

an innovative design company in Newton called Continuum.

Here's how Continuum describes itself on their web site:

Continuum is a design and innovation consultancy. We are a group of design strategy, brand experience, and product innovation experts.

That's High Concept, High Touch, and Market Testing, too!

They use 6 to 8 people per project, a designer, an engineer, a color theorist, a scientist(if necessary), musicians, Industrial designers, and a psychologist, all approaching the "problem" from a different perspective. I really like this model, because you are working on a daily basis with very high level thinkers, you are challenging yourself to do your best work.

Working as a team usually produces stellar results, which they almost always do. 

Smart right AND left brained people WORKING TOGETHER= a good company

 

Learn about my history below...

http://steveteach.tripod.com

New Buddha Drawing!

Here's a quick sketch I recently made at the Museum of Fine Arts.

I only had 15 minutes to draw something because they were about to close,

so I found this wood carving and started drawing. Having only a limited

time to draw forced me to get "loose", which I like.

New Media Artist

I'm new to new media so I'm not familiar with any of the " hot" or best people, but I kept intersecting with work by a pretty famous local hero, John Maeda. He's a mega superstar of MIT fame, but what drew me toward him was his thinking. He's a graphic designer, software engineer, scientist, professor, all rolled into one seemingly "normal" guy. I just found out he lives in my town, and I can actually picture he and I having an amazing discussion on design, where I sit there in total agreement with him because he would explain things in a way that, I, a total novice, could understand.
His background is MIT and Japan (PhD). In June 2008, he will assume the position of president of RISD. ( Wikipedia) In 1999 he was named one of the 21 Most Important People (Designers). In 2001 he received a National Design Award for Communication Design.
What I like most about John is that he is helping to make "design" and "technology" easier to understand by the non-technical people out there in the world. He takes complex concepts and ideas and s-i-m-p-l-i-f-i-e-s them down to the bone.
I would imagine that his mind works like a spark plug in your cars engine, popping new thoughts and ideas into his head that he immediately sits down to figure them out. He can simplify these concepts for "us" to understand. I like what he's doing and the way he's doing it!

Video experience #1

Melissa and I came up with  good ideas for the video. What we found hard to do was turning those ideas into interesting video footage. Actually, our plan was to make a funny video, which I think we achieved with half of the video, (the "magic" part). The second half of the video was not as successful as the first, so I think we could have done better.

My definition of new media

My definition of new media is one that combines ALL or parts of traditional forms of media, synthesizing these into a new or original artistic statement. I guess new media has to include the use of computers or video to capture and display the work. The best thing about new media, to me, is that it becomes instantly available to an audience for viewing as soon as it has been produced. I don’t mean a few people going to a gallery show to look at the pieces hanging on the walls. I mean through the internet, millions of people can view and post comments on the work, giving instant feedback to the artist, allowing the artist to edit, revise, and resubmit the work based on the comments or feedback. I guess an added benefit of new media is that “ instant feedback” and quick delivery into mass media and culture. So in conclusion, new media borrows from one or all aspects of traditional media, as decided by the artist, and is a personal narrative created in a format that is instantaneously available to be seen by the world, and has the potential to become a part of the cultural fabric of the society as well.

Comments on Aspect Videos

I think “new media” should do something that you can’t do in traditional media, and say something to the audience that’s fresh and visually interesting. Out of the many videos that were shown, the three pieces that were the most successful were:  “Type Rain” , “Soap Opera Blenders”, and the "Yes" men.

Type Rain took an interesting idea and pushed it into a new realm of art. It engaged the viewer visually, and somehow it began to grab me emotionally , too. I wanted to be in the piece playing with the letters, seeing if I could create something interesting with this “new” way to manipulate type. It was like watching a dance performance, where art and body movements collide peacefully and calmly in three-dimensional space. I could see this type of idea used in the classroom, as a teaching tool for kids of all ages and abilities. It might even be used ( if it was altered slightly ) for kids with disabilities, in wheelchairs, teaching them how to spell, read, and learn in a new way. I wonder if the artist ever thought about allowing this piece to be used as a teaching tool. I’d like to make that happen.

The second piece I liked was the Soap Opera Blenders. It is true for most men, me included, that not all, but a lot of what we hear from women sounds like the same old complaint or nonsense. I’ve been married for 17 years, and after a while it all sounds the same. What I liked about this piece is the low-tech solution to this idea of women speaking in “noise”. The sex scene was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time, and it reminded me of pranks with my old roommates. I think this was a perfect solution to a boring and useless form of TV, the soaps.

The third video I liked was the "Yes" men. This is a smart group of people doing good for society. I wish more people would have the guts to think of things like this and to prepare and produce them as professionally as these guys do. I wish I had the #*@@ to do that!