Jason Warriner » discourse

Art Doctor

jaywar — Tue, 31 May 2011 19:09:34 +0000

Free Ai Weiwei

jaywar — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:16:45 +0000

Dennis Hollingsworth has a good post up about the arrest and disappearance of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

Edo Japan

jaywar — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 00:18:11 +0000

Time to start the new year off on a good note: a link to a great 19th century, hand colored albumen panorama photo of Edo era Tokyo, Japan.

Carbon Absorbing Artificial Trees

jaywar — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:31:13 +0000

Because I can’t resist a good story about simulated nature: Klaus S. Lackner has formed a company to develop artificial treess that will absorb larger amounts of carbon than their real counterparts. If these synthetic forests are built, I wonder what a future civilization will make of the remains of these sim-forests… perhaps they’ll mistake them for some sort of religious monument or maybe they’ll be designated future World Heritage Sites, marking early efforts to combat global climate change. Only time will tell…

Sherin Guirguis Studio Visit

jaywar — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:59:07 +0000

Check out this writeup my friend Sherin got in Beautiful Decay!

Synth Pork

jaywar — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:07:03 +0000

A few months ago, dutch scientists managed to grow in the lab, what was described as “soggy pork.” Which is interesting and somewhat disturbing. Maybe in the future we will all be eating lab meat… I’ll try it. Actually, I’m kind of excited to try it, but it seems like it will never equal the real thing but perhaps it will create something totally new. Test tube tube steaks?

See-Through Fish Spawned in Japanese Lab

jaywar — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:48:11 +0000

Time to ring in the new year with a quick science post: Japanese scientists have created a species of fish with see through scales! It’s like a living Visible Man model. Check it out here. The Tree Hugger post points out that such see-through skin occurs naturally in some fish (there are some great photos of these bizarre fish on their post). Hannah wants a pocket elephant, and I agree, if we’re going to start making custom animals, a pocket elephant would be nice. But we decided that there would be some sort of unavoidable problem if they made them—perhaps they would end up with very sharp teeth and fart a lot? Who knows…

Birds of Prey

jaywar — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:06:21 +0000

So according to this article, 500 years ago, during the Renaissance in Italy, there was an eagle in New Zealand that ate people. That is awesome.

Kitschy Kitschy Poo

jaywar — Thu, 21 May 2009 05:02:01 +0000

The artist Dennis Hollingsworth posted a trailer to an animated film called Cat Shit One which is a war story about mercenary soldiers (cutesy animated animal characters) fighting an ultra graphic war to defend a community under seige.

Dennis added commentary by Roger Scruton and Robert Fulford discussing the nature of Kitsch and it’s effects on humanity—which is something that has always interested me. We live in an environment so saturated with kitsch that it seems impossible to imagine a time that was zero percent kitsch—it’s roots are in 19th century Germany (according to Wikipedia). I’m not sure if it’s possible to separate kitsch from American culture, or if it’s even worth trying. Kitsch is something that is always on the edge of perception—as soon as it becomes apparent it fades into the background noise of everyday life or is incorporated into high art. A cultural ouroboros?

I agree with the point that I think Dennis is Making—that you could blame kitsch (in part) for our culture’s obsession with torture (and worse) but the cruelty exhibited by human society is something that has always plagued us and deffinetly predates any recent cultural changes… the complicated nature of humanity warped by the amplification and distortion of our media soaked environment?

Some gnomes for reading this far (photo by Zellaby):