Grabble

The Wasteland and Rhythm

When I was 18 and living in my mothers apartment, I read The Wasteland, by TS Eliot. I was uneducated about poetry, but had written in journals since the age of 7. My own writing attempts were pale and clumsy. But I remember this one particular day when I found the Wasteland. I recognized the rhythm in the language; I saw the architecture; it appeared as a building, a thing, where words lived on top and breathed. I remember feeling exuberant when seeing this, and trying to explain it to my mom. I read it aloud hundreds of times. My happiness fell on deaf ears.

Later, in school, I took a class on Pound, Eliot, and E.E. Cummings. It was during my undergraduate studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They had the most interesting liberal arts classes, taught by inspired teachers. This course was taught by Paul Ashley, who came from Grinnell College. There were only 7 of us in the class, which made it lively. In his course I learned about the technicalities of poetry, and things like iambic pentameter. I found this fascinating, but the initial discovery I made on my own, by listening to the rhythm in the text, was the understanding that has lasted.

Emily Carr's Valor

There is much about the work of Canadian artist Emily Carr that I don't find interesting. But her life has always been of interest. The fact that she lived on her own, and traveled into deep forests alone provides proof of valor. I often used to spend time on the western edge of Vancouver Island. There is a road that ran along the coast, and then ended at a small place called Port Renfrew. On one visit there, on a day heavy with rain, and bleak, we stopped at Port Renfrew, before turning back, (you always had to return, it was the end of the road...). There was only one place to go; a small wooden lodge-like place. It was part bar, part restaurant. We walked in, and it was dark and filled with smoke. A few rough-hewn men sat at the bar. One might have been a biker. I looked around and on the walls there was only one image. It was a full length photograph of Emily Carr. This meant something about her life.

The Strength We Have

The other day I had one of those odd moments we all have. My intention was only to have dinner. But I found myself surrounded by an assembly of personalities and presences that left me with something; an idea, a thought, a reminder; of how resilient we can be.

There was an older couple, perhaps in their 70's. She was Mediterranean. Her hair was disheveled but she wore jeans that had been pressed. He was boyish. Slightly overweight, but with James Dean hair, albeit white. They both wore glasses. I don't think they were married. Their conversation was not that of a couple who had been together for a long time. Their individual patterns of expression were not in sync, but varied. I realized after a few minutes, that the woman was the stronger of the two; she was alpha. Her face was lively and animated and she spoke with excitement. I could not hear what they were discussing, but it didn't matter. It is often the case that actual words convey much less than the whole of the expression of body and tone. He was duller. He organized things on the table, noticed details, cleaned spots. She was on to much larger things. She seemed to be telling stories, pointing out possibilities, providing direction. When she walked there was confidence in her gait. He moved heavily, along side her. She was only a simple older woman, but I felt I was in the presence of something much more, some sort of large spirit with enormous resilience.

At another table, was a small family. The man was in his fifties. He had white hair, that was fairly long, and was balding slightly. He was thin, and looked like someone who does Yoga. His skin was bronzed and shiny. He was with his wife, a quiet, non-descript woman, also in her fifties, with straight brown hair, and glasses. Their daughter was in her early 20's. She was striking, but mostly because of her youth. During their conversation, the father directed all his conversation to her. The mother seemed to be an outsider. It felt odd, as if the father was on a date. He flirted with his daughter, and tried to impress her with his knowledge of the world. The daughter seemed not to notice the flirting on the surface. But she must have sensed it at some level. I wondered how the mother could just sit in silence, as some sort of table accessory. The whole thing felt a little sick and unhealthy. At the same time, the things the father talked about were interesting to hear. "New Zealand was a warrior country. Australia was once covered in grass, but the Aborigines felt it could be a danger, so burned it all off, creating the current landscape. Rabbits did well there, as there were no predators. The male Kangaroos will fight to the death, until they achieve their position."

Life is beautiful.

Swarms and Cents: An Overview of Social Media

Earlier this year, I decided to try a new approach to teaching. When I taught at universities there was much about it I enjoyed and felt was of value; the creative aspects of structuring and presenting new topics, and collaborating with the minds of others. So, in honor of those experiences, I am beginning to put together a series of 1/2 day seminars, on topics which seem relevant. I wanted to do a seminar on the stock market for those in the humanities, but found I am not quite ready to do so. When you start talking about the world of finance to those in the arts, it is immediately interpreted as something best left in the dark. My sense is the arts can either be consumed by the markets, or address them. I prefer the latter. Hopefully I will be able to figure this out, and offer a workshop soon.

Never-the-less, I have decided to start my seminar series with something less volatile. and address the world of Social Media. This subject is also deeply related to the financial markets, but we don't need to tell anyone that just yet...

If you are interested in the subject, and want to attend a 1/2 day seminar in Seattle, go to the WRLDs Workshop page to learn more and apply. I decided to cherry pick participants so that the group dynamics can operate at a fairly high level. You just need to write a brief note on why the subject is of interest, and provide some information regarding your professional and educational history. The first seminar takes place on June 14th, but you need to apply by May 25th. It should be lively; I hope you can attend.

Carrying Water

I have meant to post this long ago. It is a design for carrying water, called the Q-Drum. There are other versions, but this is one of the best.

G O O D

I stumbled across Tinselman's site, (he is one half of the Myst team). I did so in my own search for glass eyes, which tells you something. His site was so dense with things of interest, that I forgot time, and became lost, (just like in Myst). He had one thing, that I had to include here. It was too good. Pehaps the best use of robotics I have ever seen. It is the Robotic Chair, designed by Professor Raffaello D'Andrea. I do not think I need to say more. The video says it all.

The buried of our landscape.

Artist Susan Robb talked about her work and exhibition this morning, at the Lawrimore Project, in Seattle. She is an articulate and charismatic artist, and her work, (this is the beginning of her career), is intriguing on many levels. Because I have participated in so many critiques, I find it difficult to separate the artist from their work, and I came to the conclusion that it really is useless to do so. We are our work.

The audience who came to hear her speak, sat around a fire pit; it was one part of her work. She described being in the desert, and an awareness that overcame her, when she and her friends would just stop, and spontaneously build a fire. They did not need to engineer a fire pit, as there was no danger of uncontrolled fire. It was just a walk, a stop, a fire, then a move on. She described an immediacy to accessing the fire building, and the fire. The "system" was not apparent. (My interpretation). I like this thought. Her ability to pay attention to such subtle things, without an overly cumbersome need for language to dominate, will make her future work lively; I look forward to it.

Her talk reminded me of an experience I had in Poland. Another artist and I had decided to collaborate on a performative piece, during a short-term residency, outside the town of Poznan. We took a walk one evening, looking for a location; it was the middle of February. There was snow on the ground, and the rivers and lakes were frozen. We wandered along a path, near a frozen river. She was from an area near Big Sur, and I was from Seattle, so wandering in the woods at night, seemed normal. We came across an odd stone structure. It appeared ancient, like a crypt, with a slightly rounded top, above ground.
The remainder of it was underground. It had a slight 1/2 moon opening, in the front. We crawled into the space. Inside, we found only a rusted mattress, (only the metal inner springs). In the dirt, piled up against the opening, we began to dig. We found the most odd things; First, a completely carbonized apple, with one bite taken out; the flesh and skin completely black. Then canisters of methane gas. And lastly balls of yellow yarn. Below is an image of the carbonized apple, and a fresh apple, peeled by our hosts. We dipped both in beeswax, and then heated them both over a flame, allowing the wax to drip.

I won't go into detail about the performance we did. It no longer matters, as some work is best forgotten. But these findings still intrigue me. The part of Poland we were in had been ravaged during World War II, and later by the Russian and communist influences. There were many buried things. Our host had taken us to an underground tunnel, to the east of Berlin. It had been built by Jewish prisoners, for the Nazis. One crawled down ladders, hundreds of feet, into the darkness. We then walked for nearly a mile, carrying flashlights, that we were told to be careful and watch, as they might lose power.  In silence we walked through the dark tunnel. With out speaking, at a very quick pace. At certain points, we stopped to examine a structure, that had not been completed; the initials of the workers carved into the metal and rock.

Later, I met a young Polish artist, Katarzyna Podgorska, (I knew her by the name Kasia), whose work was often made of salt. She made a bed of salt, (which represented more value than many pounds of gold), also cupped salt in her hands, as she made praying formations. then left the negative forms of salt in dark enclosed spaces. I also read, about the Wieliczka Salt Mine, in Poland, where intricate images were once carved into salt by the miners, in ancient times, and can still be seen today. People make pilgrimages to this mine. Slowly, over time, they are dissolving, from water seeping into the caves....(tears)....

All of these things, these pieces of the earth, and culture, are our living landscape. And now Susan Robb, has begun to unravel a part of this story through her work.

Announcement: WRLDsAnalogii

WRLDsAnalogii
A Nomadic Market: shop, play, barter, learn

WRLDsAnalogii creates a new relationship between buyers and their objects, embedding meaning into the flow of currency. 

We establish a story or theme each quarter, or four times a year. This story describes pivotal events in the markets that also impact us as a culture. We then select a series of found objects, as many as one per week. Each object has a current story and a pre-history, which reflects the current state of our financial markets and the objects we have found useful in the past.

We deposit gold on each historical object. The gold transforms the object into a direct form of currency. It shifts the role of the object from use-value to exchange value. At the same time, because the gold deposit sits upon a historical object, it embeds history into currency; allowing meaning to remain embedded in the flow of valuations.

We have created a unique method for purchasing and owning these objects, which also reflects methods used in the financial markets. The structure is in a sense, educational, yet it is also based on gaming practices, barter, and exchange.

You purchase an option on an object which allows you to bid on it, during open bidding. There is only one owner per object: the winning bidder. There are multiple objects within a given theme, (such as The Golden Sieve). Owners of objects can barter and exchange objects with other owners within the same series, while the theme is still active.

All monies received from options are used to purchase additional objects, as well as fund research on maintaining transparency in the financial markets. 

The number of found objects during the theme are limited to the stories shelf life, or period it is available.

We hope you will embrace this new form of free-market expression.

Please visit WRLDsAnalogii.

WRLDsAnalogii is a subsidiary of WRLDs, LLC.

Blue is used as a stand-in for black

As I work on a new project, which I hope to release in the next week, I have spent far too many hours on the computer. I found myself in need of taking a break away from it today, and spent the day outside. I went to a park in Seattle that I have been going to for many years. It has a certain wildness to it; many trees are old and gnarled, there are vast fields of tall grasses, and sandy bluffs that overlook the water, (Puget sound), and mountains. Then there are deep forests with trails. It is also a former army base, so there are oddly preserved gothic buildings from the mid century, painted yellow, well maintained, yet boarded up. I like it because you can wander through a field, and discover an old aggregate concrete road, or sidewalk. It gives you the sense that nature has swallowed up civilization, and will do so again. Somehow this feels reassuring.

I also had a thought based on a painting I saw in passing: blue is used as a stand-in for black. It's true. In many paintings, artists prefer to use a vivid cobalt blue for living things that are actually black or gray. It is as if they can't face the darkness, or colorless black void. So they replace it with a vivid blue. When we are sad, or in a dark mood, it is referred to as a blue mood. When I was going to school in Chicago, located in the basement of the Art Institute, (the museum), at times when I felt near exhaustion, (I had to work 3 jobs and take 18 credit hours, during this time), I would go to the Chagall windows, and sit in their blue light. This had an amazing restorative effect. I know there are new age stories about color therapy. I do not know if I believe them. I do not tend to like dogma of any sort. But I know, darkness in all forms, even exhaustion, prefers to be represented by the color blue. Life is so strange

Node forms of creative production.

I have been contemplating a descriptive phrase which has been rattling around my brain: "node forms of production".

This phrase refers to certain types of artistic practices. I thought of it after listening to a very interesting presentation on "distributed methods of production"; referring to collaborative works in architecture.

I think distributed production or collaboration is of great value, but, I do not think it is the end all and be all. In all complex living systems, there are places of concentration, where a presence will emerge in a relatively coherent field of activity, and act as a magnetic catalyst. Soon, the quiet field is disrupted, as the weaker entities, move towards the unknown, volatile force. In certain forms of computer programming, this is called a "strange attractor". 

There is an interesting, very simple example of this. The output of the program produces the strange attractor. The input, or constant, (K), determines the form of the strange attractor. You can write a program in just a few short lines of code to see it in action. It is based on the Malthusian population equation, written in 1798:

y = x + k*x*(1-x)

This is a simple Javascript version I wrote, if you want to try it:

function initialize(){
k=1.5;
x=0.2;
count=0;

new_string =new MFString('start');
}

function isActive(){

for (newnum=0; newnum<6; ){
y =x + k * x  * (1 - x );
count++;
newnum++;
new_string[0]= count;
new_string[newnum]= y;
x=y;
}
}

This program is like a little machine. It has an input and an output. You put a number in, and spits out a new number, using that output as its next input; feeding on it's own output. Doing so has odd consequences, and produces the strange attractor, "the presence in the field". If the number input, (K), is in the lowest range, after a certain number of iterations, or cycles of running the program, the output will become 1, and there will be no change. There will be a burst of random numbers, that soon all change to 1 and the program "looks" like it has come to a halt.

If you then change K to a slightly higher range, (from 1.5-2.56), after a certain number of cycles, the output starts toggling, back and forth, between 2 numbers, forever. They call this the "region of bifurcation".

And finally, if K is above 2.56, the output appears random. It is likely not random, and a pattern could be seen if you had a large enough display to observe the output from all the cycles, and recognize a pattern. But few have this kind of perspective.

This brings me back to node forms of production.

In the code above, the input number, or K, changed the output, or landscape that could be observed. It was a single number. It was a node, or location, that contained meaning, and fell within the structure of the whole. It was not a set of numbers, it needed to be a single number, which could change over time.

I think, within creative production, there is a need for individual, concentrated production, as well as collaborative distributed production. I like calling this "node production". The individual, creates the K (or constant), which changes the output or landscape of cultural production.  Just as in the program above, the field might end up with an even, toggling of opposites, a flat singular plane, or a rocky random terrain. But the input of an individual value, provides this "meaning". It is different from distributed production where groups or committees provide a value. Distributed production is more about consensus building. It is more about maintaining the status quo. It can produce engaging results. But it is not often, about change.

Patti Smith

Patti Smith has an upcoming exhibition at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain. She is one of the most hauntingly beautiful humans; both physically and intellectually, and as an artist.

She said reading Blake: "reminded me of how elegantly he lived through personal strife and poverty, how he kept his personal vision"

She published a book of poetry in 2005, called "Auguries of Innocence".  I listened to her read from it tonight. (There is a recording of her reading on the link above.) The first two poems she read stumbled. It was not their content, because they contained layers of meaning, and were built with skill. But it was more of an incongruity, between the presentation, the persona presented when reading, and the content. It was as if Patti Smith, felt foreign reading them. She then went through an interesting set of things, playing the guitar, singing, then reading old poems/lyrics, (the familiar to her  audience). Towards the end, she read poems with an intensity and rhythm that matched their content; and at this point, the poetry could be heard. Rap is poetry with a single beat, like punk poetry. There could be other kinds of of "readings", with complex rhythms, and layered voice. This was where she was towards the end, and it worked.

The Poet and Gloria, 2005:

Patti Smith in 2000, (skip past the introduction...):

Recent but more raw version:

Can I build?

Sherry Turkle has done perhaps some of the most interesting social research of our time, on the ""subjective side" of people's relationships with technology, especially computers". She is a clinical psychologist, and the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT and the founder (2001) and current director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self.

I became aware of her work when I decided to teach a class on older MOO (Multi-User Object Oriented) game programming in order to nudge my students into gaining some detachment from the graphic laden world of MMOG, (massively multiplayer online games),  environments, which I had taught earlier. I was hoping by venturing into older, less immersive text-based virtual worlds, they might be able to consider the social and psychological structures they encountered in online networked environments.

Her earlier work focused on networked gaming environments, like MOOs, MUDs, and MMOG's. Her more recent research has focused on artificial intelligence and robotics, or evocative objects.

In early 2000, I attended a lecture she gave, where she presented images from the research of Rodney Brooks who developed a robot infant, which had baby "states of mind" that change with your actions to it. This was before there had been any announcement that this infant robot was to be sold through Hasbro as a consumer toy, (it was later pulled from the market). The lecture was interesting, but it was actually in the subtext found in the photos that struck my attention.

I have failed to find the images online, but if I do I will post them here. They showed a typical robotics lab, filled with electronic and mechanical gear, and several male researchers. In one, a male researcher was holding the baby robot over his shoulder as a caring mother might do. The robots were programmed to be very life-like, with facial expressions created by the movement of artificial "muscles" under their "skin"

This research has since evolved. But after spending the last week at a conference in Second Life, (SL), called Life2.0, these images have resurfaced for me.

The role of women in Second Life, does not seem to have evolved much. I keep waiting for this to occur. But I am not sure it ever will.

One of the speakers was a woman, (she had a woman's voice at least for a while). She is a controversial figure in Virtual Worlds, and was initially thought to be man, as she had a male avatar. Later, a story came out in the New York Times, showing an image of her, as a woman, and said, she was a translator of the Russian Language. She is outspoken, forceful, aggressive, cruel and on many levels brilliant. They did not mention her "history" to the audience, in her introduction. I found it out later. She appeared as a male avatar when she did her lecture. After further research, I am not yet convinced she is a woman in real life. Not because of her personality. But something else. Never-the-less, she could be.   

This was of interest to me, because I have recently changed to a male avatar, as my female avatar was altered, (I have said hacked),  for a brief period, in the first few days of my "life" on SL. I changed to a male avatar to see if it too would be altered, and to see how my interactions might be different. My male avatar so far has been left untouched. Perhaps writing about it here will only cause it to be attacked...But I then thought....

Someone at the conference mentioned that the average demographic of programmers at Linden Labs, (the company behind Second Life), is a 33 YO Caucasian male. I have no proof that anyone at LL altered my avatar, but I was told by someone who has been active on SL for years now, that only someone at the Linden Level could access it. So let's just entertain this idea for a moment, that someone from the average demographic at Linden Labs, was having "fun" with my avatar. Isn't it interesting that they felt compelled to alter or disfigure my female "doll", or representation, (avatar), but they had no stomach for disfiguring my very very white male avatar, (see images on the side bar)?

Some slightly critical comments were made during the conference about having an avatar that does not accurately represent your gender. I was addressed as "s/he" in chat. I have run into several female avatars who revealed themselves to be males. But I have not encountered many females presenting as male avatars, except the speaker I mentioned above. But as I said, I am not convinced she is a female. Second Life allows you to operate in a (heightened), hyper-social state. You do not have to live by the confines of your biology, if you can manage it. This allows for a lot of interesting things to occur, and it has great value, (thank-you Linden Labs). 

If the male researchers at MIT get to make babies, I am hoping in Second Life, I will be allowed to build things, without too many rabbit holes being created, "just because they can". This is something that has been an up hill battle for me at every turn, in my current biological form. Can those in or under Second Life continue their suspension of disbelief long enough to allow my male avatar to thrive, and build along side others? Or will I be relegated to the traditional role of writing about my attempts or the achievements of the biological men?

It's something to ponder.

Also, the speaker I referenced above, accused me of being a feminist. May I add, I am not, nor do I think feminism has benefited women who want to build with technology. On the contrary, the males I encountered in technology centers, were happy to see feminists appear, as they did not compete for the same resources as their male counterparts.  I think feminism has further marginalized women in technology. But that is only my current opinion. It could change. 

Tumultuous Markets become Social Objects: An invitation to achieve transparency.

WRLDs recently initiated a call for participation, motivated by the past few weeks of market upheaval, and the impact it is having on our global culture. We are seeking input from those deeply involved in the financial markets. We are asking participants to tell us what they believe to be the most important market event, (or series of events), that occurred recently, as well as any correlating events in the broader culture. We will use this information to collaboratively generate a new WRLDs Social Object. We have released a video as part of this call, (included below). The video is intended primarily for those within the financial markets.

As I begin to translate WRLDs into Second Life.

In preparation for some building I am about to undertake in Second Life, I attended a conference today, in-world, (on Second Life).

It was the first large organized meeting I had ever attended online, or in Second Life. The presentations focused on building 3D environments in SL, and featured those who claim some experience.

The technologies used in SL are fairly rudamentary, in 3D terms, (open GL). They maintain this level of implementation in order to allow many to connect and interact, using Linux, Mac OS, or Windows.

I am considering translating a version of WRLDs System Objects into Second Life. At first I was looking forward to beginning. But since then, I have had some experiences that made me realize the boundaries between what is above, (what is seen), and what is beneath, (what is controled by coders) is very thin. As with any governing structure, what is beneath involves power and authroity. And as with any social organization, it becomes political, and potentially open to the distortion or violation of ethics that can ensue with absolute power, (to create through code and also to destroy).

I am going to go ahead, and if nothing else, I will use it as a basis for writing about an attempt to build in SL.

If you want to build "things" in second life, with complex details, you don't upload geometry. Instead, you do "texture baking", applying textures to what are called "sculpties" which are basic geometries in SL. You can build complex models, with texture and material properties in Maya or other apps and then export them using a script written by Carl Linden, who developed SL. This translates them into a series of textures which can then be applied to a scupltie in SL. The result will look very much like your original model. These techniques were outlined by SL name Xenius Revere, a highly skilled Maya modeller. 

Another method took 2D bitmap images, and translated them into 3D terrain, using different coding languages. In this image, an image of a wasp, became a 3D terrain, using AWK. This presenter, SL name Anjin Meili, is willing to give away code for these translations. He claims not to be an artist, just a coder, but his approach and complexity were artistic.

There was also a presentation by SL name Blackbox. He is a German programmer, who is interested in finding methods for implementing L-Systems and other autopetic and artificial life programming techniques in SL. He had some examples that showed his intentions, but seemed frustrated with the hurdles he was experiencing. Everyone was fascinated by his presentation, as forms sprung to life, albeit slowly, as he cast out his programs for us to view.

One other worth mentioning, was SL name Yuzuru Jewell, from Japan. He has a business, where residents in SL can draw outlines to create the basis of a 3D form. The objects are easily constructed, and a great resource for those with no interest in learning new complex systems.

There were 2 others, but I did not take notes on them as I was having connection issues. my apologies if i left anyone out.

Also, I wanted to mention another version of "the watch" for those who know what this means. In the main auditorium on SL, as the conference began, I spotted a perfect example of "the watch, shown here. A watch is a fetish, on Wall Street. I first learned of this from someone in my family who started out in physics to please his father, and then moved to Wall Street after completing his PhD. He is now a manager at an investment bank. I then looked in Trader Monthly magazine, and found it to be dominated by ads for watches. They are complex machinic forms.  I think they represent the "form" of the market, and so symbolically speak to traders. They are a mini verson of the complexity of the trading apparatus. Anyway, this one was worn by an avatar.

 

The highlights were animated so that it grew as a spectacle within the space. I find it interesting that it has emerged in this environment. I wonder if it will become a symbol for the new economy that is emerging in Second life and represent the opposite of what it does for those on Wall Street? Or, will it become the same thing...a symbol of membership, but also, a symbol of having fallen into the complexity of the markets. I later found that these watches are offered in "jewelry stores" in SL, but the stores do not follow the traditional scale of economy established outside of SL. Anyone can afford one.

 

An interview with David Sokol, on WRLDs

In January 2008, I did an interview with David Sokol on WRLDs, at the request of Surface Magazine. At my request, I did the interview via email, hoping to maintain some accuracy:

Marta Lyall and David Sokol(orange):

First, I'd like to know about you. Your online interview indicates that you've taught at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Washington, and worked as a retail broker. With what department were you affiliated, and do you still teach?

I arrived at Carnegie Mellon in 1995 as a tenure-track faculty member in Electronic Time-Based Media, for the School of Art. When I arrived, the other tenure-track faculty members in my area were Simon Penny, whose area of interest was robotics, and John Sturgeon, who worked in Video. My assignment was to oversee computer-based, interactive work. At the time, there was a push for faculty from the School of Art to get involved with faculty in fields outside of their own area of expertise. This led me to develop research and courses that were interdisciplinary. For example, I taught a course in 1998, where art students had some access to a biotechnology laboratory. The course involved researching linguistic concepts of biology and technology, developing, observing and analyzing physical biochemical processes, and developing, observing and analyzing biologically modeled technical processes.

In 1999, I was offered a tenure-track position at the University of Washington, overseeing New Media in the School of Art. At the time, there was no New Media Program at the UW. My hiring was interesting, because there was very little support for New Media within the School of Art itself. Because of this lack of support, I forged relationships with faculty outside the School of Art who were involved in interdisciplinary studies; in particular, with Phillip Thurtle, a researcher and theoretician of science, and Elizabeth Rutledge, a genetics researcher in the School of medicine. We wrote a successful grant for a course which had a laboratory component where a small subset of the 150 students in the course, would undertake experiments in tissue culture, and bring their observations back to the larger group, for broader discussions. Even though the grant for the course was approved by the Director of the School of Art, and funded by the Simpson Center for the Humanities, it was not allowed to be promoted to students, by the School of Art. It is interesting to note, that it is still being taught at the University of Washington outside the School of Art. Because of the lack of access to computing resources, much of my other teaching at the University of Washington involved other forms of interdisciplinary studies, including a graduate course for MFA students on the cultural symbols associated with financial markets.

In 2002, I left academia in order to develop a location outside of academia that addressed interdisciplinary work which incorporated the creation and dissolutions of markets. In part I had begun to understand markets through the work of George Bataille, in The Accursed Share, and then later through my own research about the financial markets, including working for RBC Dain Rauscher, and earning my series 7 and 66 NASD licenses.

If WRLDS is devoted to realizing, aesthetically, all forms of scientific exchange, why did you decide to start with market data?

First of all, I don’t think I could say that WRLDs is devoted to realizing aesthetically, all forms of scientific exchange. One of the core interests in developing the financial markets as the first project for WRLDs, was to find a method to address the human experience of trading since the creation and dissolution of markets has such broad implications for all of us; we experience it in all aspects of our lives. It is the foundation that allows something to flourish, or recede, not only in the US, but globally. The financial markets were designated as the first project because they are the foundation of all other work.
In the practice of many of the sciences it seems as though interacting directly with physical materials brings researchers outside of their "looking apparatus", (as discussed with great clarity by Michel Serres, in "Hermes: Literature, Science, Philosophy"). Physical structures provide information which is unexpected, and difficult to control. In the practice of human trading, (not algorithmic which is a different story), it is as though one forgets that there are at times millions of other individuals attached at the same moment, via this technological apparatus, exchanging information, (the buy and sell), in a trading transaction.

My intention for our current project through WRLDs, was to develop our virtual space, (The Foyer), so that one could build a virtual form using your own trading data, in real time, to both gain some distance from the experience of the transaction, as well as share it with others, and transform it with others; to use the data to "build something" which could have some value, other than the "exchange value" of currency.

I wondered if this occurred, if it might not be similar to what I observed in the sciences when researchers interacted with physical structures, or worked with those outside their fields, which often brought new insights into their work. Our current tools for trading, all repeat the same approaches to trading data, with slight refinements or variations. It seemed there had to be other methods that used more of what Derrida might consider as an expanded form of writing as in a hieroglyph; where a single abstract symbol contains layers of meaning. This would be in contrast to a symbol such as the letter "A", or a number, which by itself, has very little significance. Letters or numbers have to be combined within a specific syntax, in order to be understood, and this syntax is always an ordered and closed linguistic system. In WRLDs, the goal is for objects to operate as a hieroglyph and contain meaning outside of language.

What's the personal appeal? And what data matrices do you want to tackle next, and how will that alter the mission of WLRDS?

I can’t answer all of these questions, because at this time, WRLDs is very deeply involved in addressing this first project. I do not think that the data set will alter the structure of WRLDs. I think it will however change the way the data is translated into a physical form; that is, it will change the parameters that are used to create a form. With this data set the forms have a circular motif because the information moves in cyclical, circular patterns. This will not be the case for forms generated from other fields.

When did you officially launch WRLDS, and when is the Foyer expected to open?

The corporation was formed in January 2007, but the website was not released until August 2007. The Foyer is expected to open within the next month, if all goes as planned.

Are there criteria for membership in the WRLDS system? (If not, do your current members have certain traits, wealth, gender, careers other than trading, geography in common?) Are there certain social networking or other responsibilities that accompany membership, or is each member allowed to work with his member page how he pleases?

There is not a criteria for membership in the WRLDs system at this time. This will change once the Foyer launches, and people assemble into groups. The most important aspect of the Foyer and membership is the database that is created from user input based on their trades. This data needs to be accurate, and verified. Otherwise, the forms that are developed from the data, and used to communicate with others would be meaningless. The virtual object generated on a member page is based upon the verified data they enter. This data is then used to generate a public object in The Foyer, (if the member wishes to allow their data to be public). The public object reveals information about the trading experiences of the group. All virtual objects change in real time, as data is received. Any public virtual object can be printed as a physical object by any member. In addition, any member can designate the virtual object on their member page to be a public object, and printable by all other members or only by members of their designated group.

Regarding Library editions, how do you decide that a rare moment in the marketplace will be a departure point for a new object?

The context for a library object is chosen by research, based on movement in the market and events in the culture. In a sense, they are small monuments marking events that impact us. The Goldman Sachs object was a significant mark, in the decline of the housing and credit markets, which are now impacting us as individuals and as a global culture. It is interesting that when many mortgage lenders were first dropping into bankruptcy, (last summer), that Goldman made significant earnings, because they anticipated this change. It always seems that when there is demise a market is created which profits. We are not making a judgment on this, we are simply marking it.

Concomitantly, is now an exciting time to be making Library objects, considering the instability in the market?

The market is always unstable; but appears stable depending on the time reference you use to analyze it. There is profit in a down or up market, and there is also loss. It is only a change in pressure, from one market to another. Bataille would say that where there is an opening, something floods in to fill it, creating both pressure and a vacuum at the same time. Library Objects are created as markers, and it is very important to document what is occurring in the current market environment.

Do Library and System objects relate to your mission differently? Do they comment on your "market for markets" concept differently?

Library objects document the impact of the markets as a broader cultural force; they are editorial. They also allow WRLDs to link to traditional retail markets. System Objects are linked to individual interactions in the market. They are based on the results of someone venturing into the markets, interacting with the data, and coming out with a result, (profit or loss). Their form changes constantly, and the object that is chosen to print, is based on the member’s sense that a particular moment in their trading history, or that of others, should be documented.

Your website posits these objects as sculptures and, potentially, as light sources, considering that some objects (which ones, exactly?) are internally illuminated. Do you foresee the objects fulfilling other functions, like furnishings?

I am not sure I see them as sculptures. System objects are pieces of information which can be formed into an architectural structure that occupies space. They are not meant to be singular objects. The newest version of a System Object, "System Object 2", has parameters that allow the thickness of the wall of the object to be varied, based on profit or loss within a specific time frame when the stock was held by the individual. They are the only ones lighted from within. They can also be linked together, in linear forms or rows. I do not think of them as furnishings, but as objects that occupy space and convey information. But then we do have other furnishings which do this, (televisions and monitors), so I suppose they are furnishings if they occupy a space in your home or office.

How did you determine the basic shapes and materials for these objects? Were there shapes and materials that you rejected, and what symbolic meaning do your final choices have? Also, will these shapes and materials change when you begin representing other data matrices?

The shapes of these objects have a circular form, because the information from a stock is cyclical. In technical analysis, the charts are all cross-sections of circular forms. We chose monochromatic materials, in order for the information to be read more easily, within any environment. The materials will change over time as the mechanism that we work with to "print" the objects changes. We are currently investigating other mechanisms... The forms of the objects will definitely change when the dataset changes, as information tends to move in patterns specific to its content.

Could you also walk me through different characteristics. For example, the density of the material has to do with profit or loss so profit shines more brightly, while loss is more opaque, darker. What are some other ways to read the market information in these objects?

This information is best explained on our web site on System Objects. But briefly, for System Objects of type 1:
The diameter changes on the profit or loss. The height changes based on the time the position was held in the market, (including all round trips). The number scores or rings on the surface vary based on the number of "round-trips" that were made by the trader. A round-trip is comprised of the buying and then selling the stock. Traders often make multiple round trips in a position, or stock transaction. For instance, they may buy and sell it several times over the course of a week.
The surface details change, showing the number of shares held.

There is also a code for the stock symbol, (this allows us not to reproduce the stock symbol on an object).

Library Objects have more complex metaphors which determine their forms. These can be read about on our web site.

Your website refers to these objects as printed. What exactly is the fabrication method?

I can’t provide all the details here, but in general terms, proprietary software gathers the user input, and changes the parameters of the 3D file which serves as template for the object. It then sends a copy of that changed file to a 3D printer. There are currently size limitations, because of the printer and the cost of the materials. We also have technicians, who create molds of the printed objects, and slip cast them in bisque porcelain, if a porcelain object is requested. As I mentioned above, we are looking into other mechanisms for producing objects, and by this I mean replacing the 3D printer with something else. It is interesting, and we should have an announcement on this soon.

Although I know you've broached this topic on your website, could you synopsize your main desire for translating market data into an aesthetic good? What statement do you want to make about the market, about information and its effect on culture, and/or about inspiration for art and design objects? And do you think that realizing this data, aesthetically, will recast the importance of the original data in a way that more primitive visualization techniques (i.e., the common line graph) have not?

As I mentioned above, WRLDs objects are symbols with layers of meaning, similar to a hieroglyph as described by Derrida as an "expanded form of writing". The meaning conveyed to the observer is complex, and has nuances which are not conveyed with symbols embedded in linguistic structures. Line graphs, or all quantitative tools used for analysis, are designed to simplify the data, and break down the complex information into noticeable shifts so actions can be taken. They are in a sense like abstract nets, which frame or capture particular aspects of data. When I worked at Dain, I found it very interesting that the ideas the analysts used, (which filtered down as actionable events to the traders and brokers, generating a movement in a stock), were in part based on a set of currently popular financial algorithms. So, a company, and their products, might expand or implode, based on data generated by a series of abstract symbols in a specific syntax. This abstract mathematical information was then used to justify the analyst’s position, (to downgrade or upgrade a stock). It had very little to do with the actual value of the product. This abstract system also had the power to create or destroy the viability of a product.

This is similar to what happens in all specialized fields based on language. Abstractions tend to be used to filter results and determine outcomes. But larger composite structures, such as objects, inject broader cultural information. It causes those involved in the specialized abstract language to consider the abstraction from another perspective, and brings the information into a shareable social space. I think this will be even more interesting when the objects are generated through The Foyer, because the larger unpredictable social structure will provide feedback which will alter the way the data is used.
I have been communicating with people involved in Second Life, about "interoperability", which is an engineering term that describes shifting information from one form to another, such as from the virtual to the physical. This area is developing rapidly and is seen by others such as, Giulio Prisco, a scientist in Madrid as "enabling a personal manufacturing revolution: exchanging physical objects on the Internet with virtual creation at the sending end and physical print-on-demand at the receiving end, in other words a first example of interoperability between physical and virtual reality." He considers WRLDs to be an example of interoperability.

He goes on to say, "in my article, "Globalization and Open Source Nano Economy" on KurzweilAI, I try to imagine where this trend may lead: "Instead of shipping physical objects, their detailed design specification in a "Molecular Description Language" (MDL) will be transmitted over a global data grid evolved from today’s Internet and then physically "printed" by "nano printers" at remote sites"."

Although WRLDs is only beginning, I believe translating information across forms, breaks it open, allowing other meanings to escape. Without this "breaking open", we become defined or captured by our data, which can be used within any context deemed useful.

My name is not his.

This is an artist's response to the _subtext_ contained in a recent artist's video called "Truth Serum", sponsored by the "OFFICE OF EXPERIMENTS TRUTH SERUM MESSAGE 1" , produced in support of  CAE, (Critical Art Ensemble, aka SK). If you wish to view the original, you can find it on YouTube. I do not wish to link to it here.

The images of work that flash briefly in the video are earlier works of mine, chosen intentionally. (There is a background story, an experience, that I wish to remain silent for now). 

The Eye Movie, is from a web-based piece on the attachment to and interface of the Internet, in 1996. It was done soon after a piece I was working on called "Flesh Machine" in early 1996.

The Bone Samples, are early artistic experiments I did, exploring the practice of science, and the relation between the biological and the technical, using artistic methods, in 1997.

The last is an image of a machine I created, called the "Sectioning Device" which addressed the social and psychological sectioning found within the most revered centers where technology is developed. It was controlled by input received from the Internet, in 2000.

Abstractions vs Simulations as Experience

I have been involved in 2 abstractions over the past 2 days. I have spent more time in Second Life, and I have been active in the markets; spending 8 hours at a time "researching". In the real world, the season is turning to spring. The sun was out today; a rare occurrence these days. I mention the weather because my experience on my computer has been very engaging. So much so that when I leave it, and move about physical spaces, my mind tends to overlay the movements and tone of the programmed life in Second Life, onto these spaces. The movements of my avatar, in Second Life, are compared to the way humans move here. My dreams even contained Second life spaces and navigation. It is odd. The feeling of the sun on my face has become meaningful...

I like Second Life. There are many beautiful spaces that have been created, and I have just scratched the surface. I still feel vulnerable in the environment because I do not know the nuances of the interface or scripting capabilities that other "residents" know.

Although I find it enjoyable to move through and interact with simulations of places in the real world, part of me still wishes that a new, programmed world, would not need to imitate, but could base forms in the space on other criteria. Although, at the same time, the idealized forms of Second Life are gratifying. But my sense is, that once you saw everything there was to see, then it just becomes a more layered albeit richer communication technology. But if instead, the landscape where one interacted required you to develop new linguistic codes, (new words and symbols), for the things encountered, then it would be even more engaging as you would be asked to learn a new language, as you do when you go to a new country, or when you enter your life as a newborn.

One interesting location being developed includes several data visualization projects, by Melanie Swan and her developers. In particular, a 3D interactive object, (a graph on oil consumption), which allows your avatar to stand on a rectilinear surface, with other avatars if you like, and then pick and choose data to be displayed. Doing so generates square "rods" across the surface. The graph is based on Cartesian coordinates. You can choose a country from the X axis perimeter, or an amount of oil consumption from the Y axis perimeter. This data, then grows across the surface. There were 2 of us on the grid, so with each of us choosing, it became interesting how the graph controlled our movement. For me, the data behind the graph was less interesting than building these physical forms which impacted us socially. But I also liked knowing that there was real data behind the forms, and I believe once the newness of the form wore off, I would start to think more about oil consumption. Also. the deep blue rectilinear surface, with it's surface of ridges, gave you a sense, that it was a material surface, and even that it was smooth but also composed of barriers, (the oil consumption).

The balance of scale

Last night I came across the work of Cynthia Greig. She had participated in a show with someone I had once known from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, my alma mater.

I was drawn to the images that inverted scale like this one:

The image to the left is not listed on her main web site. But I find it to be one of the most interesting as it reflects ideas conveyed by someone else whose work I find significant, Michel Serres, and his mention of the determining power of our "looking apparatus".  We develop all of our technologies, based on what we can see within our own bodies, (our medical technologies). And we understand our bodies, (our medical knowledge), based on what apparatus we have for viewing their details. We are always trying to find a way to achieve balance in scale; which of course, is always out of reach.

The Game of Chess

The mechanisms embedded in the market, both social and technical are making themselves apparent these days.

Since I live on the west coast, I am up at 5am each day, to watch the world prepare for the opening of the market. It is during the hours between 5 and 6:30AM, when the market opens that breaking news often appears, or stocks that are transforming show signs of change as they trade in what is called the "pre-market". One of the first things I do is turn on CNBC. Most brokerage firms or anyone associated with the markets, provide this channel to traders, as part of their work environment. I never had cable until I became interested in the market.

CNBC is a force in the market. It is owned by GE, (General Electric). There are an interesting array of personalities, that present information to it's viewers and each one has a role to play.

During my time working in the markets, I have noticed something about the way stocks move. Take for instance Sallie Mae, the company that offers school loans, and then packages and sells the loans in pieces to investors. Here is a blurb about Sallie Mae from Wikipedia:

"The company primarily provides federally guaranteed student loans originated under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) and offers resources to assist students, parents, and guidance professionals with the financial aid process."

I spoke about them in an earlier post. According to written news reports, they needed to obtain funding of 35 billion dollars by March 1st in order to back their loans. In the recent weeks, they have been in trouble and cut back on their lending of student loans, impacting students across the nation. This was in the most part due to a takeover bid that had been abandoned, by a private equity firm, and the impact of strategies they used to lower the value of Sallie Mae to make it an attractive purchase.

Friday was the last trading day before this March 1st deadline. I felt strongly, as did many others, that this funding would be supplied "some how", as the government had fallen for the lobbying strategies of the buyout firm, and had cut funding to student loan programs, in part causing this 35 billion dollar deficit that was now rippling through university student loan offices. Congressmen had written letters asking for support from the government and others, to fill this gap.

By midday, the stock had not moved. Then, around 2PM, it began to drop rather dramatically. It dropped more than 2 dollars, or 8% of the stocks value in less than 2 hours. It looked from the outside, that the funding was not going to occur. People began posting on consumer message boards, that there was likely no funding coming, and Sallie Mae was headed for bankruptcy. More selling occurred. Then a news story was posted that the  New York state government was going to subpoena Sallie Mae, regarding some lending practices; even more selling occurred. On a closer read of this news story, this event had actually occurred weeks earlier. Odd timing that it appeared now, just as people were anticipating Sallie Mae to receive funding by the March 1st deadline, (which would cause the stock to go up and this news would bring the price down). I then looked at the options for Sallie Mae as this drop was occurring.

[Options are things that one can buy, which allow you to purchase or sell a stock at a specific price. They are purchased if you think a stock will go up, or down in the near future. You can then buy the stock at that price, even if it is selling for a different price. For example, if you think a stock will go up, you can buy what is termed a "call" option. When the price does go up, you "exercise" the option, and buy it on the market for cheaper than it is now trading. Then you sell the stock at a higher price, and keep the difference, making a profit.]

The March calls were stable, their price was not dropping. This meant traders thought the price of Sallie Mae was still going to go up... This, along with the old news being disseminated, hinted at a price manipulation. The price of the stock was being forced down.

This is a common occurrence in the market. Just before a big event, or news story that will cause a stocks price to pop, the price will drop dramatically on some news, rumor, or even by delayed news. This allows those with a larger trading capacity, who trade thousands or millions of shares, (hedge funds, brokerage firms, and banks), to buy large lots of shares at a low price, and then when the price pops, make huge profits.

Sure enough, after the market closed for the day, an announcement was made, that Sallie Mae had received the funding it needed. Who ever bought at the lowered price, was now set to profit when the price pops on Monday morning, at 5AM or sooner.

This type of price manipulation IS the natural landscape of the trading markets.

CNBC plays a role in forming this landscape. They have done so recently with their reporting on the bond insurers, which caused stocks like Ambac, (ABK), to go up and down, making profits for those who knew about or anticiapted the news. More about this later...

There is also a role things called Credit Derivative Swaps play in all of this. These are another mechanism, (financial instrument), which can be purchased, and sold, (like options). They allow one to profit on the perceived value of a company. Serious players use these types of instruments. They were created fairly recently, by a brilliant young trader fresh from Oxford university. I am just learning about them, but it appears, that they may be part of the reason it may be profitable for some large financial institutions to have a mortgage and credit crisis. In a sense, it is as if some huge conglomerate players, are playing a game of chess, with the markets and winning. Unfortunately, their winning streak has dire consequences for the rest of the culture, and those on the opposite side of the trade. There are winners and there are losers...

Market Cycles and Profits for Smart Money

Over the past two weeks, as I watched the financial markets and continued with my research, I came across several things, which seemed worthy of a description. Please remember, this is a cultural interpretation of financial information, researched and written by an artist; nothing more.

Since September, of 2007, most of the investment banks, (symbols such as MS, BSC, MER, (respectively Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch)) that had holdings in CDO's (Collateralized  Debt Obligations), and  more specifically CMO's,  (Collateralized  Mortgage Obligations, or mortgage loans that were packaged and divided into shares and then sold to investors), have lost significant value. This is no surprise given the news we have heard this past year about the mortgage, credit and housing markets. As we noted on WRLDs, (WRLDs.com), and documented with a recent Library Object, Goldman Sachs did not lose value during this time, as it took the opposite side of this trade, and shorted these positions, making a profit while others suffered great losses.

Two weeks ago, the media began to focus on the bond insurers, who also insured CDO's and CMO's for investors, (mostly banks), as part of their portfolios. This was only one part of their holdings. The other consisted of insuring holdings for municipal debt. This debt allows local and state governments to build and support things like bridges, schools and museums.  Many of the investors who own this debt are mutual funds, included in pension portfolio's for older Americans, as it is considered a "safe investment".

William Ackman, (considered very Smart Money), is a forty-something billionaire, activist investor and owner of a hedge fund, Pershing LLC. His father is a real estate magnate, who understands mortgages, and the real estate market very well, and is one of the founders of Ackman-Ziff. He is a person of influence in the real estate markets. William "Bill" Ackman, the son, went to Harvard, and when he graduated, he started a hedge fund, named Gotham LLC.

A hedge fund is just a private holding of monies provided by investors, and managed by someone or a few people who are good traders. The investors are usually very wealthy people, who invest hundreds of thousands, or millions of dollars, and expect a high return. They also understand that the fund manager will take risks to provide this return, but since they are wealthy, and will not be crushed by a loss, this is acceptable.

Gotham was funded by the Ziff family and other family members of his colleagues at Harvard. The amount of funding he received to start Gotham, was seen by Wall Street, as unusual for a recent graduate, with no track record.  Eventually he dissolved Gotham, and started Pershing, LLC.

Bill Ackman had begun lobbying against the bond insurers as early as 2002. This means he wrote letters and went to congress, telling people that the bond insurers were headed for financial trouble, creating in a sense, a self-fulfilling prophecy. Since the bond insurers were public companies, and traded on the market, their shares began dropping in price. At the same time he was doing this, he had a short position in the bond insurers, so each time the price dropped, he profited, eventually making billions of dollars.

This is an interesting story, because now a similar situation is occurring with Sallie Mae, (stock symbol SLM), which provides funds for student loans. Also in 2007, a private equity firm, (like a Hedge Fund, only rather than invest in the market, they own a part of or whole companies), J.C. Flowers, began lobbying congress, saying that they should cut spending for student loans. At the same time, they initiated a buy out of Sallie Mae, which at the time was very profitable with a share price of $60. The price is now close to $22. per share. Lowering the price of a target company before a buyout is a common practice; you want to buy the company when the shares are at the lowest price possible .

And in July 2007, a bill _was_ passed by congress, which supported the effort by the Flowers group, slashing funds for student loans, much of which was slated to go to Sallie Mae. With this loss of revenue, the price of Sallie Mae dropped dramatically, and the Flowers, group then offered less money to buy Sallie Mae, as expected.

But, Sallie Mae said no to a lower price, and the equity fund tried to remove it's offer to purchase the company. This left Sallie Mae with a hugely reduced market value, scared investors, and the media and congress feeling that the company was headed towards ruin; future student loans were in jeopardy. Sallie Mae had much less liquidity to fund new loans, and was required to cut the offerings in their loan programs at several universities. This included not allowing certain students to have more then one loan, or serial loans. This could cause many students to interrupt their education, as serial loans are a normal part of funding the education of many students without family support.

Had the equity fund not begun the lobbying in the first place, in order to lower the purchase price, Sallie Mae would most likely still be profitable, congress would not have enacted a bill which slashed student loan funding, and more loans would have been available to students in 2008.

In February, (earlier this month), several European banks, and Bank of America stepped in, and offered to provide funding to replace the lost government revenue for Sallie Mae. But on the date it was to go through, the media reported a delay in the funding. The same day, a group of senators asked the government to provide emergency support for Sallie Mae. The bank funding has not been withdrawn. But apparently something else is brewing.

In the capital markets cycles of price do not occur out of context. What the media is reporting, and what we are feeling as individuals, is the bottom of an economic cycle. It is unlikely the down cycle is occurring because undeserving people with bad credit obtained poorly underwritten loans, which they were unable to comprehend...

A high price becomes a sign of strength, and attracts active investors or private equity, (wealthy investors who wish to make a profit). Because of wealth and position, they are able to influence government and the media to impact the target, weakening it, so they can obtain it as an asset at a lower price.

In some cases, as the target is weakened, profit is made by taking a short position, (trading to profit on a loss). Once obtained, the value of the asset then rises. providing profit to the new owners or new holders of the investment instrument, (as in stock). Often as in the Savings and Loan Crisis of the 80's and 90's, once the asset is at it's lowest value, the potential new owners seek support from the government for the asset, which brings public monies into the asset, increasing it's value and staving off any further losses which might have occurred from their earlier efforts to devalue it. The government interventions also reverse the public perception of the down trend of the asset "class".

A bold glimpse behind the mirror.

On Friday, 2/15/2008, Jamie Johnson appeared on the Closing Bell, on CNBC and discussed his film, "Born Rich". He is one of the great-grandsons of the founder of Johnson & Johnson Inc. Through this film he reveals insights into the psyche of the wealthy. It is a bold and unprecidented move for someone from his class.

The subject of making wealth transparent, is of great interest to me, and has been the subject of my work and research as an artist and independent scholar.

It has been very difficult finding a forum for work which addresses these issues on either the conservative or liberal channels. Traditional art venues have specific political agendas, and anything which is not aligned with them is often viewed with skepticism. Bringing up work which addresses the economy in depth, has been met at times with hostility.  I think in part this is because those who oversee the major art venues, are often from wealthy families. Or if they are not, they are unwilling to learn about the structures within the economy, for a myriad of reasons. Also, as Jamie mentioned, it is taboo or "crass" to discuss money in circles which have it. This insures that the financial markets remain opaque to the broader culture, yet no one is immune from feeling their impact.

I was surprised to see someone from the Johnson family produce a film that addresses the subject of wealth. I know of another Johnson heir, John S. Johnson, who also makes films and is involved in New Media. I do not believe he has ever wanted to discuss the economy or wealth through his work. I think it is very positive, that Jamie has taken on this project. It marks a definite shift in the art world. 

I noticed that Dennis Kneale became very angry, and seemed to feel that the wealthy were somehow being attacked by this film or by the act of producing it. He brought up the issue of taxes paid by the wealthy, and questioned whether participating in this film had something to do with some sort of grudge, (in the case of the Buffet granddaughter, who participated).  Jamie is young, and aligned with specific political agendas, as are most artists, as I mentioned above.  He responded by mentioning key figures which of course could be seen as red flags to anyone with contrary views. Never-the-less, there is great value to what he has begun, beyond any political agenda.

My own work has involved studying the markets since 2002. I began this when I was teaching courses which addressed disparate disciplines for artists; starting with computer science and biotechnology. In 2000, I wrote a successful grant with a theoretician and historian of science and a medical researcher to teach a course where artists worked directly with tissue culture in order to better understand the "looking apparatus" used within our sciences.

At the time, this course taught at the University of Washington, and its predecessors which I taught at Carnegie Mellon University were politically difficult to approach, implement, and sustain, (they are now common place). Because of this, my resources were reduced, and I was left to teach seminar courses on interdisciplinary studies.  This is where I first encountered students from the school of business and became inspired to better understand the markets. Later, in 2002, I taught a graduate level course for artists called "$: A Cultural Symbol". It was informed by the writing of George Bataille, in "The Accursed Share", which has a depth of metaphor about the markets and the economy that I found to be very beautiful.

I left academia in 2002, and decided to try to develop a space where artistic observations could be put to use to further transparency in fields within the sciences and the financial sector. Financially, it has been very difficult to achieve, since it involves creating a new market, and breaking new ground without family or institutional support.  Never-the-less, I believe strongly in the need for this within our culture, and that it is a valuable role for artists. It is beginning, and it will succeed.

As part of my research for this project, I worked for a short time at RBC Dain Rauscher. Since then, I formed an organization, WRLDs, LLC, (You can learn more by visiting our web site at WRLDs.com).

We take on a series of projects which address specific disciplines. Our current project addresses the financial markets. Based on data from the markets, social objects are created, that shifts the location of information, and hopefully creates more transparency about the field. We do this through two methods. One involves a social networking environment, (currently under construction), where users enter trading data, and create a shareable virtual 3D object. This object can then be transformed by "printing" it as a 3D physical object in various materials. Doing so results in the creation of fields of social objects, located in architectural space.  These are called System Objects.

We also create objects which are designed by us, involving metaphors which document pivotal, combinatorial moments in the markets. We call these Library Objects. For instance in September, we published an object to document the events that occurred during the week of September 18th, 2007 which we felt were significant to our culture. This has proved to be the case as it documented the position of Goldman Sachs, and the role of the Federal Reserve as the markets began to capitulate in the recent mortgage and credit market recessions. 

Our goal is to create a social space, which extends out into the broader culture through the establishment of a new profitable market which also provides transparency and education about the financial markets which profoundly impact us all. 

Landscapes of Things

Today, it was sunny, and I landed at a coffee house, reading the paper, and came across a review on the "Owls Head:On the Nature of Lost Things", by Rosamond Purcell.

I loved the description of William Buckminster, and his collecting. It was in part similar to a story I heard once about an island off the shore of Japan, that _only_ contains discarded electronic goods, some never opened. It too documents our interests and our relation to the idea of progress, as a physical landscape. Images such as these, inspired me to view information as something to be gathered and assembled into physical objects, which can occupy architectural space.

Accelerating Interoperablity

This was written by Giulio Prisco, a scientist in Madrid, who has some interesting insights about the drive towards interoperability:

"Besides the virtualization of reality, there is an important trend toward the realization of virtuality, with technologies that permit giving physical reality to information and virtual objects. The WRLDs system  allows users to generate both virtual 3D and physical objects from their trading data to create a shareable social object from the symbolic language of trading. This is an example of desktop manufacturing (3D printing, or fabbing) technology, which will soon have an impact comparable to that of personal computing in the 80s by enabling a personal manufacturing revolution: exchanging physical objects on the Internet with virtual creation at the sending end and physical print-on-demand at the receiving end, in other words a first example of interoperability between physical and virtual reality. In my article "Globalization and Open Source Nano Economy" on KurzweilAI, I try to imagine where this trend may lead: "Instead of shipping physical objects, their detailed design specification in a "Molecular Description Language" (MDL) will be transmitted over a global data grid evolved from today’s Internet and then physically "printed" by "nano printers" at remote sites"."

Interoperability and the use of symbols and abstraction for exchanging information.

I wrote the following for a discussion occurring on Interoperability for Virtual Worlds in 2008. I thought it might be of interest here as well.

Regarding financial analysis and what we are doing at WRLDs.

I worked as a licensed broker in order to further my understanding of the markets, and am still active as an independent trader. (I worked as a broker after my faculty experience in interdisciplinary work involving art, technology and the sciences). One of my core interests in developing WRLDs, was to find a method to address the human experience of trading. The creation and dissolution of markets has such broad implications for all of us; we experience it in all aspects of our lives.

In the practice of many of the sciences it seems as though interacting directly with physical materials brings researchers outside of their “looking apparatus”, (as discussed by Michel Serres). It brings in information which is unexpected, and difficult to control. In the practice of human trading, (not algorithmic), it is as though one forgets that there are at times millions of other individuals attached at the same moment, via this technological apparatus, to exchange information, (the buy and sell), in a trading transaction.

My intention for our current project through WRLDs, was to develop our virtual space, (The Foyer), so that one could build a virtual form using your own trading data, in real time, to both gain some distance from the experience of the transaction, as well as share it with others, and transform it with others; to use the data to “build something” which could have some value, other than the “exchange value” of currency.

I wondered if this occurred, if it might not be similar to what I observed in the sciences when researchers interacted with physical materials, or worked with those outside their fields, and bring new insights into trading. Our current tools for trading, all repeat the same approaches to the data, with slight refinements or variations. It seemed there had to be other methods, that used more of what Derrida might consider as an expanded form of writing as in a hieroglyph; where a single abstract symbol contains layers of meaning. This would be in contrast to a symbol such as the letter “a”, or a number, which by itself, has very little significance.

Instead of copyright: A new instrument in a world of distributed personas.

On the sidebar to