This is a new style of dance that is very popular in France now. Supposedly dancers have some grammar of gesture and by dancing they can communicate- convey a story. I couldn’t find much info on the web. I guess most of it is in French. 

I’ve been seeing lots of interesting stuff lately. Here are some links. Check it out:

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/category/before-their-time/

http://angesleva.iki.fi/projects/dyno/index.html

http://www.MasterNewMedia.org/

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9500E5DF163CF937A25751C1A9659C8B63
http://www.siggraph.org/s2003/conference/etech/food.html

http://www.skinsandwich.com/ku/

http://mixedrealitylab.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=449&Itemid=205

http://www.sms.mavt.ethz.ch/research/projects/braintrain

http://julianoliver.com/levelhead

http://www.lushprojects.com/cyclepong2/index.html

http://www.frontdesign.se/sketchfurniture/

http://mi-lab.org/projects/incretable/

http://www.setpixel.com/content/?ID=waterfall

http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/designing/placebo/placebo_bottom.html

Yesterday I went to see the Blue Man Group.
I never really seen them performing before so I didn’t know what to expect, except that it was supposed to be very, very good. I have to admit I had a bit higher expectations for this widely acclaimed show but it was good and worth seeing.

I was stunned how simple (but clever) tricks made people laugh… The audience was going crazy seeing actors’ simple moves and gestures. I realized that you don’t need to do much to make people laugh. Simplicity is the key. The only think the actors had to do was to move funny, not to talk and not to smile… Actually not smiling and keeping their face straight made blue men look exotic and like aliens and maybe that’s why people loved it so much.?

However, I was impressed with the great actors-audience interaction. Without spoken words the blue men were able to communicate and capture the audience. They knew how to work and they made audience be part of the whole show.

For me, Blue Men were also good in creating and building anticipation. Many times during  the show I was thinking: “what are they going to do now…, are they really going to do it”…?”

While watching the show I was thinking about Charlie Chaplin and how he too was able to communicate, entertain and tell stories using only movement, gesture and sound.  I realized  that you don’t need many “ingredients” to create a powerful and thrilling show. You just need the right combination…..
It also reminded me that I often forget how important is sound to the whole experience….

Another important element of the show was getting audience to move and awakening their “touch” senses. I don’t want to give away too much and not to ruin it for people who haven’t seen it before, but I have to say that was the high point of the show… (Although it make me think about waste…. I hope they do recycle…)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RamNJn9jXk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM-mfEMssy8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqinuidaj-E

As you know I’m interested in words, dictionaries and contexticons….
I found this site which offers an interactive and very cool mind map/visual thesaurus. It’s easy to use and it gives many information about specific words, ect…

You can subscribe or run a free trial. It’s fun. Check it out:

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/

I finally started going through the pile of books I got myself for this summer. Here are some of my favorites:

Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior
by Desmond Morris

I couldn’t take my eyes of this book once I check it out of the library… I was even walking through the street looking through it!!! (it’s quite heavy but magnetic!)

It is “old” (70’s) but excellent book that easy and fun to read. I was very excited to read it and it realized that I’m very interested in psychology and sociology, which is not only necessary in my work but if everyday life.  This book clearly explains how people use various types of gesture ( I didn’t know there was so many), non verbal signals, facial expressions, body postures, symbols, etc.  to communicate or not with others.

Nonverbal Communication in Interpersonal Relations
by Virginia P. Richmond, James C. McCroskey, Steven K. Payne

I found this book also very informative and interesting. The authors gave many examples of non verbal communications techniques and stuff.  The authors look also at many social and cultural factors that influence the communication between people.

They mention a research done on time and people’s attitudes toward it…. Surprisingly to me, Boston was the place where time goes faster than in any other place in the world, even New York!!!

(I know everything goes fast here, I see myself always being “busy” and rushing from place to place. Recently, I’ve noticed I’m getting very upset when people walk slowly on the side walk and I can’t pass them by but I always thought nothing can beat New York New York)

Anyway, the researchers compared speed of people walking on the street, people having/checking their watches, time in which the mail gets delivered, orders processed, etc…. With it, according to the researches comes the highest percentage of people with heart deceases right here in Boston.

So stay cool and don’t freak out on people on the sidewalk on while driving….
Check out those books if you get a chance.

Thinking about non-verbal communication I looked back at its master.

Charlie Chaplin is considered of  the best mimes and performers ever.

His acting was understood and appreciated around the world. In the  time of the silent movie era, he was able to tell explicit story using only his body, gesture and facial expressions.

This is my favorite scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0aUJHF746s

It reminds me  a little bit of my “Tell me a secret” game.

“What female want and male will do” -that’s a title of a 2 part program from Nature/PBS about the most complex sexual behaviours of animals. I flipped through TV channels yesterday night and stopped by accident on this program (part I). I was fascinated with the topic and complexity of nature. Check the program listing and watch it- it’s funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n43eAC8H9Hc

They showed was many interesting scientific details about how animals behave and how their bodies’ structure help them mate or how it may make it more difficult..

Because of my interests in dance and movement I was enchanted by the Riflebird’s dance. In case of that kind of bird the male has to performing a special dance to get the female. (Humans do that too but in a different way I think, not by “dance” but by presenting other things…)

Here is a video of Rifle Bird I found on you tube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PVUCF3vJQA

and other birds dancing:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=v8MRXAXEtFM

Last weekend I had a chance to see “Harry Widener and the Prisoner of AZKAJAM” at Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, where two groups were singing: The Callbacks and The Veritones.

I have to say I didn’t have much expectations because I’ve never seen a group perform live, but the show was amazing and the whole atmosphere surprised me.

http://www.harvardcallbacks.com/

The Sanders Theatre is quite old and it might look serious but the atmosphere was not serious at all! There was couple of hundreds of people, young and old and all were very enthusiastic and cheerful. I was surprised because in difference of many performance that I’ve been to, during this one the audience was supposed to scream and yell and make any other loud sounds too… (Off course it was all civil). The singer who gets most yelling and responsive voices ranks high… Few people got standing ovations.

The singers were very responsive and interacted with people. I’ve never seen such interaction between the audience and performers!!! It was really really COOL! At one point the singers had invited some of the alumni and friends from the audience on the stage and then they hugged and sang together. Although part of the show they were dressed in tuxedo and night gowns everyone was relaxed and laid back!

I was also surprised because some of the male singers, who looked very serious and proper in their outfits, and fit the perfect image of “the geek” when came out to sing were awesome! Members of these groups came in different shapes, sizes, height, nationalities and skin colors which made this show more real and authentic.

(When I see some American movies about college kids, proms, etc. I don’t get to see such diversity there … Usually directors hire beautiful and handsome actors and make them look not attractive or “ugly”.. Going to this live performance was 10 times much more worth it than going to whatever movie in the cinema… So if you ever have a chance go see it -it’s open to public:))

The two groups took turn on the stage or performed together. My friends and I liked The Callbacks much better, because they not only they sang great but they improvised in the same time and had interesting choreography. The dynamic of performers interacting on the stage brought another layer of entertainment to their show and intrigued me. They have thanked their “stage manager” who I think did a terrific job.

When I was watching the show I was thinking about the workshop we had with Merry Conway and I think that thanks to her I could appreciate and understand what’s going on the stage much better. I wish I had a camera to show you what I’m talking about but the pictures above is all I found on their site.

Anyway, nice atmosphere, people’s interaction, singing +makings sounds and off course the improvisation made this show a huge success. I could tell that other people had fun,were relaxed and just enjoyed themselves.

After thinking forward with the Masssagin Media Conference2 lets move back in time…

Dali Atomicus,1948, photo by Halsman

My friend told me about the famous photographer Philippe Halsman who is famous for photographing people jumping. Halsman he’d asked many famous people who posed for him for portraits to jump in front of the camera. He wanted to capture a unique portrait of a person in which one looked more “natural”, more “real” without the typical face/mask people put on in front of the camera….

Philippe Halsman also coined the term “jumpology” according to which, when people jump there is a lot to learned about their character and personality. I’m going to dig deeper into his philosophy and I’m trying to get his book “the Jump Book”, which I anticipate will be more revealing than internet.

It’s worth mentioning that Halsman had inspired many people for ever.He created a genre. I looked on flickr and other sites and I found thousands of images of people jumping just for the sake of jumping… Some pictures are realy funy.

You can find more on Halsman:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Halsman
“Halsman commented, “When you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears.”

I knew the photograph of Albert Einstein but I didn’t know it was Philippe Halsman who took it. I liked it very much, as I saw it many times on a small post stamp but I’ve always thought it was kind of a “mug shot”. Once you look at the enlarged photograph you can see the real quality of it even though he was not jumping at that moment.

Massaging Media 2 Conference, Boston’08

What is next with the technology and design?
How should we prepare our selfs and our students for the future?
What stays what changes?

I think these were the questions hanging above the attendees’ heads.
http://www.massagingmedia.org/

After few hour nap I am able to post some pictures I took at the Massaging Media 2 Conference in Boston. The intensity of program and the weather made me very tired. The nap let my brain and body regain some energy, which I lost at this 3 day event, and finally I’m starting to process all the “data” recorded there…. I’ll be processing that and the “Processing” for some time….

I think the Conference was a success and it was well organized. It was a good chance to meet interesting people and see teachers from various art colleges.

I was very proud of our DMI program, MassArt and our professors!

Meredith Davis from North Carolina State University talked about Masters and Phd Design programs, and about the directions the design educations should go. She gave excellent presentations and it was a pleasure to listen to her.

I did my BFA in Graphic Design at MassArt and now I’m back for MFA. I think that Meredith Davis’s visions of education has been well implemented at MassArt and I was surprised that her ideas seemed revolutionary for some other teachers… It was comforting to know that MassArt is going in the “right direction”.

I also talked to some professors and they were surprised/impressed by the diversity of people/backgrounds/work we do at DMI. That was fun!

However, I was little bit disappointed in the quality of some presentations from the breakout sessions… (Maybe I had a bad luck in choosing ones, there was so many sessions going on in the same time it was hard to be in 2 in the same time.) Also, I had very high expectations for teachers and at the conference and I was wondering how these people teach, if they can’t present their ideas in organized and clear way….???

I was laughing at Jason’s comment, that “if I can’t read the slide  (the viewer) what’s the point of showing it”?
We-designers always try to reinvent things and design according to what we think looks best, but I agree with him, 22pt size is a must for slide presentation!

It also made me think about presentations we – students at DMI program have to do. We all agreed that practice makes us better….

Hopefully everybody learned something new.