Upcoming meeting, naming the project and shaping our intent

Hey folks.

First I wanted to say thanks to all of you for getting back with me regarding the meeting on the 10th. I really am excited to meet with all of you and hear more about your projects in person. Also if you have any additions or changes to your projects, please email them to me before the meeting so we are all on the same page.

Secondly, I know you are being barraged by a lot of information via email and blog entries penned by me. I appreciate you taking the time to read them all.

Thirdly, I have been taking a lot of time these past few weeks/months organizing the show and I am still struggling with the title. I certainly want it to be catchy and be as PR "enticing" as possible. I also really like the whole idea of Do You Understand? One of our artists, Kristen, had this suggestion. "As for show titles, my suggestion was to turn the title into a text-like acronym. So the show if it were called "communication through technology: do you understand?" that you could call it "CTT:DYU?" Or in turn we could call it and abbreviated version of itself. comunication thru technlgy: do u understand? (i am not good at abbreviation through text speak but you get the idea). Any thoughts?

Lastly, I sent the description as well as the title over to a friend of mine and he said that both the description and the title might be skewing things more negatively towards technology. And that the description pretty much answers the questions being asked with it's tone, that it begs for art that is anti-technology. Here is the main description:

DO YOU UNDERSTAND? communication through technology

Click + Twitter + IM = Communication. :)

Technological advancements have opened our world like never before. We reunite, collaborate and express our deepest emotions through lines of typed text. We do business at light speed through the click of a button. For some of us it is a breathtaking and necessary utilitarian device to aid us in connecting and communicating with the world for our personal and business needs. For others, it is a new form of social hermitism, with the illusion of real connectivity. Texts and IM chats replace phone calls and face to face communication. Facebook friends have become closer to us than our next door neighbors, and sending a virtual drink to a fellow coworker replaces the idea of hanging out in our “down” time. Classmates, exes and the general garden variety acquaintances from the past are now the forefront of everyday life. But are we as close to each other as we think we are? Are we communicating or are we becoming virtual and physical hermits? Are we understanding each other? Is this better living through technology or are we avoiding life but filling it with emotionless words often misunderstood? There are pro and cons to this brilliantly advanced age. Can we evolve with this technology without losing ourselves?

Local artists in their medium of choice will explore these modern day complexities and through their art will elaborate. Through their projects the complexities of human communication in this “faceless” age will be explored.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

This exhibition is looking to have local artists through a variety of mediums decipher their own interpretations to answer the questions posed in the curatorial statement. Local artists in their medium of choice will explore these modern day complexities of communication and through their art will elaborate and these complexities of human communication in this “faceless” age will be explored. This will be a mixed medium exhibit that incorporates modern technology, soundscapes, film and surrealist imagery as well as painting, sculpture, graphic design, projections, LCD monitors, furniture installations, and walls of text messages, interactive installation and the like. The main goal is a cohesive and thought provoking exhibition.


As a clarification, the intent with this exhibit is neither neither positive, negative or neutral, but the intent should explore the artist's impressions of communication through technology. And in doing so attempts to answer some of the questions I presented in the theme description. I do not want to influence your impression of communicative technology whatsoever. I just want you to express your feelings on this subject via the art.

That's all for now. See you in few days. :)