Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
u.p.c.o.m.i.n.g. s.t.u.f.f.
So, we have been off the blog for sometime. Sorry. We have been real busy in the studio. We are preparing for several upcoming exhibits. We will be traveling to Venice, Italy next month for a top secret mission (more later). In early January, we will be in Baltimore working on our Go project at the Contemporary Museum. At the end of January, we will be presenting WETLAB in a group exhibit at the MAG. Followed by our POSTWAR ART project at MOCA on the first Sunday in February. Finally, we will be in an exhibition at the Laguna Art Museum in mid February.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
VIA Environmental, Health and Safety News: Water - The REAL problem... not CO2, carbon, energy or oil.
Via Environmental, Health and Safety News
The top five biggest average daily users of water are the U.S., Australia, Italy, Japan, and Mexico - all five of these use well over 300 liters daily. The countries where water poverty is the worst and water usage is the lowest are Mozambique, Rwanda, Haiti, Ethiopia, and Uganda - these five use 15 liters or less daily. While some parts of our water footprint, including how much corporations and agriculture use or waste water, are not under our control, we can find simple ways to cut our daily water use, and even save money.
The U.S. has one of the largest water footprints, and the absolute highest daily household use of 575 liters. Our large footprint is primarily because of our beef habit - large consumption of meat per capita. High consumption of water-guzzling industrial products also contributes.
Amazingly, one kilo of boneless beef takes a massive 16,000 liters of water to produce, much of that used to grow the grain the cows will eat. One hamburger uses 2,400 liters of water! We in the U.S. also have the dubious distinction of being one of the eight countries - the others are China, India, the Russian Federation, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil, and Pakistan - that together represent 50% of the entire world's water footprint. Weekday vegetarianism, here we come. We can also stop buying bottled water (the bottle itself entails the use of 7 liters of water) and really reduce paper consumption (10 liters per sheet).
The simple truth is that in many countries, water is pumped up for agricultural use at a higher rate than it can be replenished. While India's water footprint is below average at 980 cubic meters per capita, the massive population makes the country's overall footprint 12% of the world's total. India has faced dire water shortages, but on the bright side the country has adopted more rainwater harvesting than in other regions. By harnessing rainwater, villages like Rajsamadhiya have become self-sufficient in their water supplies. India's higher incidence of vegetarianism (approximately 30% of the population) does play a role in keeping individual footprints lower - the water contained in our diets varies with a vegetarian diet using 2.6 cubic meters of water each day.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Crossing The Water by Sylvia Plath
Crossing The Water by Sylvia Plath
Black lake, black boat, two black, cut-paper people.
Where do the black trees go that drink here?
Their shadows must cover Canada.
A little light is filtering from the water flowers.
Their leaves do not wish us to hurry:
They are round and flat and full of dark advice.
Cold worlds shake from the oar.
The spirit of blackness is in us, it is in the fishes.
A snag is lifting a valedictory, pale hand;
Stars open among the lilies.
Are you not blinded by such expressionless sirens?
This is the silence of astounded souls.
Black lake, black boat, two black, cut-paper people.
Where do the black trees go that drink here?
Their shadows must cover Canada.
A little light is filtering from the water flowers.
Their leaves do not wish us to hurry:
They are round and flat and full of dark advice.
Cold worlds shake from the oar.
The spirit of blackness is in us, it is in the fishes.
A snag is lifting a valedictory, pale hand;
Stars open among the lilies.
Are you not blinded by such expressionless sirens?
This is the silence of astounded souls.
The Old Men Admiring Themselves In The Water by William Butler Yeats
The Old Men Admiring Themselves In The Water by William Butler Yeats
I heard the old, old men say,
'Everything alters,
And one by one we drop away.'
They had hands like claws, and their knees
Were twisted like the old thorn-trees
By the waters.
I heard the old, old men say,
'All that's beautiful drifts away
Like the waters.'
I heard the old, old men say,
'Everything alters,
And one by one we drop away.'
They had hands like claws, and their knees
Were twisted like the old thorn-trees
By the waters.
I heard the old, old men say,
'All that's beautiful drifts away
Like the waters.'
Underwater Autumn by Richard Hugo
Underwater Autumn by Richard Hugo
Now the summer perch flips twice and glides
a lateral fathom at the first cold rain,
the surface near to silver from a frosty hill.
Along the weed and grain of log he slides his tail.
Nervously the trout (his stream-toned heart
locked in the lake, his poise and nerve disgraced)
above the stirring catfish, curves in bluegill dreams
and curves beyond the sudden thrust of bass.
Surface calm and calm act mask the detonating fear,
the moving crayfish claw, the stare
of sunfish hovering above the cloud-stained sand,
a sucker nudging cans, the grinning maskinonge.
How do carp resolve the eel and terror here?
They face so many times this brown-ribbed fall of leaves
predicting weather foreign as a shark or prawn
and floating still above them in the paling sun.
Now the summer perch flips twice and glides
a lateral fathom at the first cold rain,
the surface near to silver from a frosty hill.
Along the weed and grain of log he slides his tail.
Nervously the trout (his stream-toned heart
locked in the lake, his poise and nerve disgraced)
above the stirring catfish, curves in bluegill dreams
and curves beyond the sudden thrust of bass.
Surface calm and calm act mask the detonating fear,
the moving crayfish claw, the stare
of sunfish hovering above the cloud-stained sand,
a sucker nudging cans, the grinning maskinonge.
How do carp resolve the eel and terror here?
They face so many times this brown-ribbed fall of leaves
predicting weather foreign as a shark or prawn
and floating still above them in the paling sun.
Under The Waterfall by Thomas Hardy
Under The Waterfall by Thomas Hardy
'Whenever I plunge my arm, like this,
In a basin of water, I never miss
The sweet sharp sense of a fugitive day
Fetched back from its thickening shroud of gray.
Hence the only prime
And real love-rhyme
That I know by heart,
And that leaves no smart,
Is the purl of a little valley fall
About three spans wide and two spans tall
Over a table of solid rock,
And into a scoop of the self-same block;
The purl of a runlet that never ceases
In stir of kingdoms, in wars, in peaces;
With a hollow boiling voice it speaks
And has spoken since hills were turfless peaks.'
'And why gives this the only prime
Idea to you of a real love-rhyme?
And why does plunging your arm in a bowl
Full of spring water, bring throbs to your soul?'
'Well, under the fall, in a crease of the stone,
Though precisely where none ever has known,
Jammed darkly, nothing to show how prized,
And by now with its smoothness opalized,
Is a grinking glass:
For, down that pass
My lover and I
Walked under a sky
Of blue with a leaf-wove awning of green,
In the burn of August, to paint the scene,
And we placed our basket of fruit and wine
By the runlet's rim, where we sat to dine;
And when we had drunk from the glass together,
Arched by the oak-copse from the weather,
I held the vessel to rinse in the fall,
Where it slipped, and it sank, and was past recall,
Though we stooped and plumbed the little abyss
With long bared arms. There the glass still is.
And, as said, if I thrust my arm below
Cold water in a basin or bowl, a throe
From the past awakens a sense of that time,
And the glass we used, and the cascade's rhyme.
The basin seems the pool, and its edge
The hard smooth face of the brook-side ledge,
And the leafy pattern of china-ware
The hanging plants that were bathing there.
'By night, by day, when it shines or lours,
There lies intact that chalice of ours,
And its presence adds to the rhyme of love
Persistently sung by the fall above.
No lip has touched it since his and min
'Whenever I plunge my arm, like this,
In a basin of water, I never miss
The sweet sharp sense of a fugitive day
Fetched back from its thickening shroud of gray.
Hence the only prime
And real love-rhyme
That I know by heart,
And that leaves no smart,
Is the purl of a little valley fall
About three spans wide and two spans tall
Over a table of solid rock,
And into a scoop of the self-same block;
The purl of a runlet that never ceases
In stir of kingdoms, in wars, in peaces;
With a hollow boiling voice it speaks
And has spoken since hills were turfless peaks.'
'And why gives this the only prime
Idea to you of a real love-rhyme?
And why does plunging your arm in a bowl
Full of spring water, bring throbs to your soul?'
'Well, under the fall, in a crease of the stone,
Though precisely where none ever has known,
Jammed darkly, nothing to show how prized,
And by now with its smoothness opalized,
Is a grinking glass:
For, down that pass
My lover and I
Walked under a sky
Of blue with a leaf-wove awning of green,
In the burn of August, to paint the scene,
And we placed our basket of fruit and wine
By the runlet's rim, where we sat to dine;
And when we had drunk from the glass together,
Arched by the oak-copse from the weather,
I held the vessel to rinse in the fall,
Where it slipped, and it sank, and was past recall,
Though we stooped and plumbed the little abyss
With long bared arms. There the glass still is.
And, as said, if I thrust my arm below
Cold water in a basin or bowl, a throe
From the past awakens a sense of that time,
And the glass we used, and the cascade's rhyme.
The basin seems the pool, and its edge
The hard smooth face of the brook-side ledge,
And the leafy pattern of china-ware
The hanging plants that were bathing there.
'By night, by day, when it shines or lours,
There lies intact that chalice of ours,
And its presence adds to the rhyme of love
Persistently sung by the fall above.
No lip has touched it since his and min
Water, is taught by thirst by Emily Dickinson
Water, is taught by thirst. by Emily Dickinson
Water, is taught by thirst.
Land -- by the Oceans passed.
Transport -- by throe --
Peace -- by its battles told --
Love, by Memorial Mold --
Birds, by the Snow.
Water, is taught by thirst.
Land -- by the Oceans passed.
Transport -- by throe --
Peace -- by its battles told --
Love, by Memorial Mold --
Birds, by the Snow.
All Day I Hear the Noise of Waters by James Joyce
All Day I Hear the Noise of Waters by James Joyce
All day I hear the noise of waters
Making moan,
Sad as the sea-bird is when, going
Forth alone,
He hears the winds cry to the water's
Monotone.
The grey winds, the cold winds are blowing
Where I go.
I hear the noise of many waters
Far below.
All day, all night, I hear them flowing
To and fro.
All day I hear the noise of waters
Making moan,
Sad as the sea-bird is when, going
Forth alone,
He hears the winds cry to the water's
Monotone.
The grey winds, the cold winds are blowing
Where I go.
I hear the noise of many waters
Far below.
All day, all night, I hear them flowing
To and fro.
Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan
...The pump don't work
Cause the vandals took the handles...
Cause the vandals took the handles...
Going for Water by Robert Frost
Going for Water by Robert Frost
The well was dry beside the door,
And so we went with pail and can
Across the fields behind the house
To seek the brook if still it ran;
Not loth to have excuse to go,
Because the autumn eve was fair
(Though chill), because the fields were ours,
And by the brook our woods were there.
We ran as if to meet the moon
That slowly dawned behind the trees,
The barren boughs without the leaves,
Without the birds, without the breeze.
But once within the wood, we paused
Like gnomes that hid us from the moon,
Ready to run to hiding new
With laughter when she found us soon.
Each laid on other a staying hand
To listen ere we dared to look,
And in the hush we joined to make
We heard, we knew we heard the brook.
A note as from a single place,
A slender tinkling fall that made
Now drops that floated on the pool
Like pearls, and now a silver blade.
The well was dry beside the door,
And so we went with pail and can
Across the fields behind the house
To seek the brook if still it ran;
Not loth to have excuse to go,
Because the autumn eve was fair
(Though chill), because the fields were ours,
And by the brook our woods were there.
We ran as if to meet the moon
That slowly dawned behind the trees,
The barren boughs without the leaves,
Without the birds, without the breeze.
But once within the wood, we paused
Like gnomes that hid us from the moon,
Ready to run to hiding new
With laughter when she found us soon.
Each laid on other a staying hand
To listen ere we dared to look,
And in the hush we joined to make
We heard, we knew we heard the brook.
A note as from a single place,
A slender tinkling fall that made
Now drops that floated on the pool
Like pearls, and now a silver blade.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
M.O.L.D. Bioindicator Incubation Update - Angels Gate
Bioindicator #46
M - Ezekiel organic sprouted wheat
D - Van de Camps wheat bread
F - Ralph's Bakery San Francisco Sourdough
S - Cinnabon Raisin bread
D - Van de Camps wheat bread
F - Ralph's Bakery San Francisco Sourdough
S - Cinnabon Raisin bread
Bioindicator #41
C - Ezekiel organic sprouted wheat
F - Weber's enriched white bread
S - Cinnabon Raisin bread
Bioindicator #33
E - Van de Camps wheat bread
Q - Ralph's Bakery San Francisco Sourdough
C - Weber's enriched white bread
C - Weber's enriched white bread
Bioindicators are living species used to monitor the health of an environment or ecosystem. They are any biological species or group of species whose function, population, or status can be used to determine ecosystem or environmental integrity. Such organisms are monitored for changes (biochemical, physiological, or behavioral) that may indicate a problem within their ecosystem. Bioindicators can tell us about the cumulative effects of different pollutants in the ecosystem and about how long a problem may have been present, which physical and chemical testing cannot.
M.O.L.D. workshop participants will build their own bioindicators using common airborne mold to assess the quality of various bread samples. FS believes that food with less additives, preservatives, and/or related genetic modification will demonstrate more accelerated mold growth.
The food hosts for this experiment will be various breads ranging from certified organic to highly processed. Workshop participants will choose from 110 food-related government agencies for the subject of their bioindicator. The initials from the chosen government agency will be surgically carved out of various bread samples. Each participant will create two identical bioindicators, one to remain in the installation and the other to be taken by participant.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
M.O.L.D. Press Release
M.O.L.D. Bioindicator, Concept Image, 2009
M.O.L.D. by Finishing School
Performance: Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 12-4pm
Exhibition Dates: May 3 - June 14, 2009
Angels Gate Cultural Center
3601 S. Gaffey St. San Pedro, CA
3105190936
www.angelsgateart.org
info@angelsgateart.org
M.O.L.D. Patch, Edition of 100, 2009
About the Project
M.O.L.D. is a hot zone-themed wet lab and workshop that investigates the science, politics, and culture of food decomposition. The audience is invited to participate in various experiments and build their own amateur bioindicators (living species used to monitor the health of an environment or ecosystem) to assess food quality and safety. According to Finishing School, food molds have an anecdotal value in determining the quality of their hosts by demonstrating the presence of decay-fighting preservatives, additives, and genetic engineering. The goal of the installation is to engage participants in a critical experience about the quality and safety of the food we consume.
Students from El Camino College will assist the artists with the project. This project is generously funded by The James Irvine Foundation, Epson America, The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Getty Foundation, The California Community Foundation, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
M.O.L.D. Operational Tactics, Sign, 2009
About Finishing School
Formed in late 2001, Finishing School is a collective identity that explores art, design, and technology through interventions that conflate praxis, play, and activism. Finishing School attempts to demystify the experience of cultural production and engage viewers through various participatory models. Finishing School and their work has been presented extensively both nationally and internationally.
Finishing School was recently the inaugural participants in MOCA's Engagement Party, an ongoing "artists residency" program at MOCA in Los Angeles. Other current projects include Little Pharma, which investigates alternative medicines and lifestyles as a viable antidote to some of the drug industry's pathologies. Little Pharma consists of a series of workshops, roundtable meetings, lectures, weblog, community medicinal garden, and drug themed bike ride. Past projects include Public Interaction Objects (2006), a series of low-tech participatory objects such as meet/greet, a semi-autonomous drone designed to move through public spaces and greet individuals with multilingual salutations representing the six official languages of the United Nations; The Patriot Library (2003), a working library that provides access to books, periodicals, and other media considered "dangerous" by the United States government; and Saturday School (2001), a temporary, nomadic teaching institution offering multidisciplinary classes that dissect, question, and illuminate various aspects of everyday life.
M.O.L.D. Installation Gear, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
US Federal / State / Local Government Agencies and Programs that are food-related
AARCC Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Corporation
ACDC Acute Communicable Disease Control (LAC)
ACP Animal Care Program (CA)
Agriculture & Environmental Stewardship (CA)
AES Agricultural Export International Trade (CA)
AGRICOLA Agricultural Online Access
AHFSS Animal Health and Food Safety Services (CA)
AIP Avocado Inspection Program (CA)
AMS Agricultural Marketing Service
APHIS Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
ARS Agricultural Research Service
ASHRAE American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers
ATF Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
ATSDR Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
BCG Buy California Grown
BLM Bureau of Land Management
BAR Beehive (Apiary) Registry (CA)
BCP Biological Control Program (CA)
BMDD Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases
BSAI Border Station Ag Inspections (CA)
CAHFSLS California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System (CA)
CASS California Agricultural Statistics Service
CBL Brands, Livestock (CA)
CBP California Biologics Program (CA)
CCP California Citrus Program (CA)
CCDHP Center for Chronic Disease and Health Promotion (CA)
CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CDPH California Department of Public Health (CA)
CDMG California Division of Mines and Geology (CA)
CDOW Office of Water (CA)
CEH Center for Environmental Health (CA)
CFMP Farmers' Market Program (Certified) (CA)
CFH Center for Family Health (CA)
CFMP Certified Farmers Market Program (CA)
CDFA California Department of Food and Agriculture
CFS California Food Safety
CHCQ Center for Health Care Quality (CA)
CEQA Agricultural Resources Program (CA)
CIS California Inspection Services (CA)
CICB Inspection and Compliance Branch (CA)
CFSAN Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
CHPDAC California Health Policy and Data Advisory Commission (CA)
COP California Organic Program (CA)
CVM Center for Veterinary Medicine
CEQ Council on Environmental Quality
CID Center for Infectious Diseases (CA)
CSREES Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
CSS California Seed Services
DHS Department of Homeland Security
DOT Department of Transportation
DHCS Department of Health Care Services (CA)
DPH Department of Public Health (LAC)
DQAP Dairy Quality Assurance Program (CA)
DWEM Drinking Water and Environmental Management (CA)
EHS Environmental Health Services
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
EQC Egg Quality Control (CA)
FAS Foreign Agricultural Service
FFEQP Fruit Fly Eradication Quarantine Projects (CA)
FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation
FDA Food and Drug Administration
Food, Drug, and Radiation Safety (CA)
FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency
FFLDRS Feed, Fertilizer and Livestock Drugs Regulatory Services (CA)
Food Facility Closure Listing (LAC)
FMC Federal Maritime Commission
FNCS Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services
FNS Food and Nutrition Service
FREP Fertilizer Research and Education Program (CA)
FSA Farm Service Agency
FSP Food Stamp Program (CA)
FSIS Food Safety and Inspection Service
FSIC Food Safety Information Center
FWS Fish and Wildlife Service
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GIPSA Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration
HHS Department of Health and Human Services
HRSA Health Resources and Services Administration
IHS Indian Health Service
LACFS Food Security (LAC)
LACFSP Food Stamp Program (LAC)
LACSFH Safe Food Handling (LAC)
LHM Livestock Health Management (CA)
MCL Monitoring and Compliance Laboratories (CA)
MDFS Milk and Dairy Food Safety (CA)
MEB Market Enforcement Branch (CA)
MMS Minerals Management Service
MPI Meat and Poultry Inspection (CA)
NASS National Agricultural Statistics Service
NCEA National Center for Environmental Assessment
NCID National Center for Infectious Diseases
NFSE National Food Safety Education
NEP Nutrition Education Program (LAC)
NIH National Institutes of Health
OPP Office of Pesticide Programs (CA)
OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration
PFSE Partnership for Food Safety Education (CA)
PHPPS Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services (CA)
RMA Risk Management Agency (Agriculture)
RFI Retail Food Inspection (LAC)
SBFA State Board of Food and Agriculture (CA)
LACSFH Safe Food Handling (LAC)
WHO World Health Organization
WIC Special supplemental food program for Women, Infants, and Children
USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture
USPS US Public Health Service
Friday, April 17, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
M.O.L.D. Progress Report - 1 Month
M.O.L.D. SAMPLES - Ezekiel Bread Organic Sprouted Grain Bread (4C), Sara Lee Delightful Wheat (3D), Ralph's Bakery Sourdough (5B)
Monday, April 13, 2009
Fight BAC (Bacteria) - FDA PSA
The "Fight BAC" campaign, developed by the Partnership for Food Safety, includes a colorful, 30-second, television public service announcement (PSA) featuring a frustrated "BAC" trying unsuccessfully to spread contamination throughout the kitchen. The PSA highlights the four basic safe food handling steps.
The proportion of foodborne illness associated with fresh fruits and vegetables has increased over the last several years. As health and nutrition experts continue to recommend we add more fruits and vegetables to a healthy daily diet, it becomes increasingly important that consumers know how to handle them properly. Make food safety a priority!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Food Safety Music - Microbes Medley
A two-song medley: "Microbes, They Might Kill You" and "We Are the Microbes" is a parody of Queen's "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions," as performed by Carl Winter.
(c) Copyright 2007. Carl Winter, Food Safety Music. UC Davis.
The animations were produced at New Mexico State University as part of USDA CSREES National Integrated Food Safety Initiative Project Number CD-D-FST-7057-CG.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
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