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The Invention of Up and Down

Mud Brick Library

An Unlucky Musket-ball

#life.#Musket-ball #object #Michel de Montaigne

Expression of Interest: Documents form Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T) 1966-1975

Shoe Probe #3

Manufacturing means the same thing as learning; acquiring, producing and passing on information.

#Education #Design #Vilem Flusser #Intellect #Work #Philosophy #Contemporary Production #Robotics #Manufacturing #Technology #The Factory

LAUNCHING: LUNCH

Bagel? Stomach? Coin? Tortilla? Lunch.

We, the administrators of this blog, would like to invite you and your middle organ to return to the cave. On the back of a taco discover LUNCH: a rudimentary kitchen, bathroom, concert hall and tavern open to all social animals wanting to partake in what social animals usually like to partake in.

When? June 25 @ 6:00pm - late.

Where? Hastings Lane, Surry Hills, Planet Earth.

Why? Apart from freely choosing to do so on the wheels of our own volition, like many organisations and people on Planet Earth Bababa International are in debt. One strategy in dealing with this has been to place our debt against the current global debt of $39 561 762 987 50 and counting. Most debts will look very small next to this figure and will help you to get on with your day, but this can only ever be a provisional measure.

In order to address the problem head on we must first admit that this debt is entirely of our own making: assisted by the bank, this debt is entirely of our own making. We must accept all responsibility for it and for the actions that have become necessary to dissolve it. One such action, among many, is LUNCH.

After being washed away in our first attempt at LUNCH, we expressly invite you to enjoy this dry & worry-free zone.

Contained Liquids

ANOTHER SHOE FOR ANOTHER LIFE

The crisis in shoe making is worsening. The construction of shoes, old and new, conflicts with established patterns of behavior and even more with the new ways of life that we are seeking. The result is a dismal and sterile ambience in our footwear. In the older shoe stores, the racks display row after row of cheaply made heeled marshmallows. On streets the pleasures of walking have been commercialized and corrupted by tourism. In these shoes social relations become impossible. The newly designed shoes have only two all-pervasive themes: low-cost production and comfort — an impoverished expression of bourgeois contentment, lacking any sense of play. To meet the need to rapidly construct enough shoes for entire cities, cemeteries of synthetic leather are being built in which masses of the population are condemned to walk in boredom. What is the point of all the extraordinary technical inventions the world now has at its disposal if the conditions are lacking to derive any benefit from them, if they contribute nothing to leisure, if imagination is absent? We demand adventure. Not finding it on earth, some want to seek it on the moon. We, however, are committed to changing life here on earth. We intend to create shoes, new shoes, breaking the laws that prevent the development of meaningful ventures in life and culture. We are at the dawn of a new era, and we are already attempting to sketch out the image of a happier life, of a unitary pair of shoes — a pair of shoes designed for pleasure. Our domain is thus the shoe workshop, the natural expression of a collective creativity, capable of incorporating the creative energies liberated by the decline of a culture based on individualism. In our opinion the traditional arts will have no role in the creation of the new environment in which we want to live. We are in the process of inventing new techniques; we are examining the possibilities offered by existing shoes; and we are making models and plans for future shoes. We know that we need to avail ourselves of all the new technological inventions, and we know that the future shoe constructions we envisage will have to be flexible enough to respond to a dynamic conception of life, which means creating our own surroundings in direct relation to continually changing modes of behavior. We thus have a social conception of the shoe. We are opposed to the notion of the jogging shoe in which the injection of facile gels and pseudo-technology into heels inevitably reduces people’s direct relations and collective activities. To create a close connection between surroundings and behavior, collaborative shoe fabrication is indispensable. Those who think that synthetic and recycled shoes are going to break up the shared life of the contemporary shoe have little understanding of humanity’s true needs. In contrast to the jogging shoe idea favored by most modern shoe makers, we envisage expanded shoes in which the layout of soles and heels will be replaced by a continuous spatial construction elevated above the ground, including clusters of movement as well as new functionality (permitting changes in use according to the needs of the moment). Since all shoes in the functional sense of the term, will pass over the ground or up in the sky, the concept of the middle can be eliminated. The multitude of different ways of traversing of which the shoe is composed will form a complex and vast social practice. Far from a return to nature — from the notion of idly strolling in a park, as solitary aristocrats once did — we see in such immense shoe-constructions the possibility of overcoming nature and of regulating the climate, light and sounds with these different shoe-forms in accordance with our desires. Do we intend this to be a new functionalism, which would promote an even greater idealization of utilitarian life? It should not be forgotten that once functions are established, they are followed by play. For a long time now, shoe construction has become a game of space and ambiences. The contemporary shoe lack ambiences. We, on the contrary, want to make more conscious use of ambiences so that they correspond to all our needs. If the project we have roughly outlined here risks being taken for a fantastic dream, we insist on the fact that it is feasible from the technical standpoint, desirable from the human standpoint, and indispensable from the social standpoint. The increasing dissatisfaction of the whole of humanity will reach a point where we will all be compelled to execute projects for which we possess the means, projects that will contribute to the realization of a richer and more fulfilled life. http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/3.constant.htm

#shoes #bababa international. MOP #constant #situationism

Shoe Probe #2

Shoe Probe #2 was launched on Sunday the 15th of April at 12 p.m an on-board crew of around 5 persons. Once the probe had reached the upper atmosphere the on-board photographic equipment began recording the passing shoe-forms. Here we see one peculiar and intriguing example. These shoe's have a soft, pale yellow hue and seem to have been hued from some kind of soft, yielding mineral.

The probe returned to the workshop and the participants got to to work. Here we see the process of invention beginning to spark as a participant draws together disparate and previously unacquainted elements.

The participants pulled together their shoes, they also began to form plans and suggest new initiatives. Without knowing the maker's intentions, we can only suggest the intent of these wheeled leisure boats.

Perhaps they are an attack on the idea of leisure, or even an amplification?

How fast can leisure move? How much leisure can you fit into a single hour?

In the vast majority of cases one shoe will always appear with another - the pair. This shoe insists on it's individuality; to the great detriment of it's wearer's mobility.

Conflict emerges as the wearer uses a Japanese hand saw to execute a design of his own.

The status quo is restored.

Here the constructor has combined a colourful pair of gum boots with the egg shell of a magnificent bird to create this sturdy pair of shoes.

This pair of shoes is playing a game of subterfuge and concealment.

A pair of shoes from which the sole has been subtracted. Even an incapacitated object can teach us something about the business of construction.

This constructor has somehow managed to use a pair of boots to subvert gravity.

One constructor spotted a rare pair of cha-cha heels and then seized the opportunity to test them out.

This pair embodies readiness, their dual functionality and eclectic appearance allowing the wearer to seize the day no matter what the day has scheduled.

This constructor approached the shoe with a deconstructionist agenda.

The exploded body of the shoe is brought back together with the assistance of a guiding hand.

The reformed body of the shoe ensnares the wearer.

This prototype suggests some form aquatic application.

This pair of sandles suggests tradition while embracing industry, mass-production and discarded furniture.

Here's a pair for people interested in boats and the see-saw theory of the the universe.

This pair is pure surface with the foot left exposed to the elements leaving the wearer vulnerable or, depending on your point of view, free.

The shoe-constructor experiments with flatness and inversion by turning their design upside down.

his construct is a modification of an existing pair of shoes. The shoes seem to have been transformed into a puzzle and game. The constructor has chosen to emit an explicit set of instructions, leaving us to discover the game's objectives for ourselves.

One intrepid constructor decided to tackle the topic of shoe-obstacles. Here we see a volunteer bravely engaging with two tennis-balls. Tennis-balls are notorious for their ability to interrupt and upend the shoe.

The subject begins to leave the ground, the tennis balls serving as a platform.

The constructor harnesses what had previously been thought of only as a problem. A high-pair of shoes is given new bounce and new balance.

The shoes gathered together.

Shoe Probe #1 Launched

On Sunday the 8th of May we held our first shoe fabricating session. The workshop took place as a part of our exhibition ‘New Movement’ at MOP project space, which will be up until the 22nd of May. The workshop is ongoing also, with sessions scheduled for Saturday the 14th, Sunday the 15th of next week and then the weekend following. With this show we wanted to conduct a kind of ignorant investigation, where we would set ourselves a blunt, simpleminded question – what is currently moving? – and then try to answer it. Before we began we outlined a few parameters in order to condition the way we went about generating answers and to make sure that this conceptual rabbit-chase actually went somewhere: our method would be empirical, that is rooted in experience and observation; that we would try to put aside prior knowledge, experience, and opinion in order to begin from the very bottom of the subject; and, finally, that we would be working towards creating legible outcomes; images, text, video, sound, sight and other media that communicated not only the process, but it’s outcomes and consequences also. We imagined these workshops as a live-test and conduit for the goals of the exhibition. We had a strong sense that shoes were both practically and symbolically important to movement. In the workshop we would invite people to do something we could not teach and which we ourselves could not do – design and fabricate shoes. We hoped that by participating, people (ourselves included) would not only learn about conceiving and putting together a familiar object, but would also think about the whole situation of the shoe: what is required of it, the myriad of forms it takes, how it is produced, why it is produced in that manner, and finally how it might be otherwise.

One idea we had was to make the shoe workshop mobile by putting it on a bus. This thought was based on the observation that industry is mobile, so while a certain area of a city may be known for the way it collects and harbours industry, the actual manner of production draws in huge flows of movement. This may be anything from the transportation of the raw materials of a product, through to the daily commute of the factories workforce, all the way up until the final moment when the knick-knack or doo-hickey is sent out into the world, either to sit on the shelf of a supermarket, or as a component in a larger, more complex manufacturing process. By sticking the workshop on a bus we want to parallel this kinetic initiative while also moving the activity out of an enclosed space and circulating it through other relevant spaces such as a shopping mall (where shoe-usage can be observed and analysed and new shoe-plans formulated), and recycling centre (where the materials necessary for a design can be acquired in an inventive and resourceful manner).

What isn't a shoe? Ostensibly this table seems to fit the criteria of not-a-shoe. However, in the heady business of naive shoe construction, even a clumsy piece of furniture can be mistaken for a pair of shoes.

The table is broken down and then built back up into a pair of raised wooden sandles.

These are the the high-shoes. As you can see, the wearer keeps on their existing pair of shoes. This raises the question of whether the high-shoe is a modification, or amendment to an existing pair of shoes?

Here we see how the high-shoe is an exploration and expansion upon the functionality of a typical shoe. The maker has mixed two new initiatives into their design. The first is height, this pair of shoes is very tall. The second is storage, the void inside each shoe is a potential storage space. Here we see the maker demonstrate this storage potential.

The high-shoes are tested for their walkability. In the first shoe probe we discovered that walkability is central to the coherence and usefulness of the shoe.

The construction of these shoes involves an inner foam core molded to the wearer's feet. The shoe's outer-shell is composed from a pair of scarves, which are wrapped and then tied around the foot.

The cloth-shoes are taken out for a walk. They travel with an eye-catching flash. Their flowing, colour bitten form introduces a languid, soft quality to shoe construction.

This pair of shoes has been fabricated from blocks of styrofoam and seems to reference geometry.

Here we see a pair of shoes being tested at speed. A pair of shoes can help protect the soft, fleshy feet from hostile surfaces. Shoes are enablers.

If you would like to participate in one of the future shoe workshops please send an email to [email protected] so that we can register you involvement.

The details of the workshop are as follows: 14/5/2011: 12pm - 6pm 15/5/2011: 12pm - 6pm 21/5/2011: 12pm - 6pm 22/5/2011: 12pm - 6pm At MOP Project Space: 2/39 Abercrombie St Chippendale Sydney, NSW 2008 Australia

#survival #fashion #learning #life #shoes #MOP #art

THE WEEK SO FAR: BABABA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

This week at Bababa International Airport:

A dog took a wizz into the portal of the airport and then made a swift escape.

Fifteen minutes later and another dog relieves itself in the same spot. The gates have been thrown open.

This gave us reason to revisit some old designs for a toilet renovation.

We completed an application for the Australia Council of the Art's New Work Grant.

The grant is worth $10,000. If our application is successful then we are planning to use most of that to create a new work, however if you feel that you have some great need and this potential money will help satisfy it then please feel free to apply to us, either in writing or in person. We will be happy to consider your application.

We have also been listening to Slick Rick.

#Week #Bidet #Slick Rick #Toilet Paper #Dogs #Pee #Grants

Bababa International Airport Minutes 17/2/2011

In Attendance: Uncle Eric (UC), Flask (F), Jug (J), Pitcher (P), Withheld (W), Jean Arp (JA). Absent: Amphora (A), Charlie Sofo (CS), Fleischmann & Pons (F&P).

New Arrivals: Work bench and storage area, kitchen unit, Imperial Panda Festival Poster, a little more dirt, dust pan, 24 Clocks.

Recent Departures: Light-bulb.

P enters. Cleaning occurs, French tape is played. W enters, greetings and introductions occur. Discussion takes place. J enters. Introductions occur. Discussion continues. All present attendees discuss, among other things, how a city is defined interpreted, and consider the distinctions between what makes a city 'good' or 'bad'.* F enters. Introductions occur. Discussion follows. W exits.

*If you would like to attend this meeting posthumously and contribute to the evolution of this topic, please write in and let us know your thoughts, opinions, complaints. Can a city a) be defined as good or bad, and b) if it can, what counts as an attribute and what counts as a detraction?

Architectural report: Bababa International Airport appears to be undergoing a growth spurt of confused proportions. While some items and areas appear to have matured, others have shrunk, leaving the overall dimensions of the space misshapen and bent. The walls are now too short for the enlarged ceiling height, making them appear stretched and ready-to-snap. The floor, having been placed under squirrelly stress from the walls has begun to buckle, making it wobbly underfoot. Strangely, when occupying the space these distorted incertitudes do not show up, so all present attendees carry on regardless.*

* Please refer to previous post titled: 'Complex Hub No. 1'.

JA, too far away to be audible, recites a poem:

Flyweight Glory

The era in which every scrap of magma separating from the painter

or the sculptor is gathered up

carefully reproduced and accompanied by a dithyrambic text

is nearing its end.

The artist of this era sacrifices divine solitude

for a flyweight glory.

He keeps a suite of courtiers, jugglers, publicity agents around him,

and they sing his praises,

leap for joy before his paintings or sculptures,

and spread about his flashes of wit, his bon mots.

The vigorously signed decompositions,

the soiled tablecloths stretched on frames,

the snot sculptures of this era of flyweight glory

seem to come from another star

than the windows and rosettes of the cathedral of Chartres.

Discussion turns to fruit salad, with no specific agendas being discussed systematically. With the exception of UC, all present attendees vacate the Airport. F & J return. Typing heard late into the night.

Bababa International Airport Minutes 3/2/2011

Bababa International Airport Minutes 20/1/2011

In Attendance: Uncle Eric (UC), Igloo-Giggles (IG), G-Phone (GP), Teepee (T), Tall-Tao (TT), Chloe-h (Ch), Harry (H). Absent: Fuzzy-Intestine (FI), Charlie Sofo (CS).

New Arrivals: Tamale Steaming Pot*, 'Drink Water' collage by Oliver Watts procured through the Swapsie Program*, Colourful Plastic Plates from Mexico courtesy of L & S, Authentic Quasi-Straw Plastic Baskets, Postcard from Ms Grey, New Shipment of Sweeties & Beverages, Blithe-Cockroach.

*A pot used for steaming tamales; an ancient Latin American dish made by wrapping masa (a starchy corn-based dough), with meat or vegetable filling in a cornhusk or banana leaf. Recipe available on request.

*Spontaneously enacted in 2010, Swapsie Program allows registered and unregistered individuals/groups to collect art & objects that might otherwise exceed the weight of their wallets. To find out more about the Swapsie Program or to read the Swapsie Program Charter enquire right now.

Recent Departures: Diet Coke, Reggie-the-Plant, Half a BI Squatting Unit.

T sitting outside of airport when IG & GP arrive (by bicycle). Earlier signs of GP's dentist-induced-numb-mouth appear to have stopped. All enter airport. IG suggests that the first hour should invariably be given over to snacking - to be designated hence forth as Snack Hour*. Pretzels already opened by T are now shared amongst the three. IG & GP share some Saxbys Ginger Beer courtesy of the New Shipment.

*NB: Those wanting to attend Snack Hour in the future should be aware that it usually takes place on Thursdays between 5.00-6.00 PM @ Bababa International Airport, Shop 1/101 Young Street, Redfern, 2016, Planet Earth.

Some recent events are loosely discussed including an email sent by A.D requesting to visit the Airport in February; all present members agree that a prompt reply should occur. Sounds heard outside.

Ch enters (with bicycle).

All present members welcome Ch and remark that her bicycle is 'flash', 'looks fast' and are curious as to 'how long' Ch has owned it. ^^^General Chitchat takes place^^^ T & IG offer Ch a snack or beverage (seeing that it is still officially Snack Hour). GP on phone. Ch declines, remarking that she has just 'had some toast with honey'.

GP, seemingly unaware of the hospitality that has just taken place, offers Ch food and beverages again. T remarks that GP, since his new phone, drifts in and out of a techno-comatose state. To make up for this social foible GP takes Ch on a rousing tour of the Airport.

TT enters (no bicycle).

IG stands, greets TT warmly, and proceeds to introduce TT to all present attendees. The state of the Airport is discussed. TT asks general and pleasant questions concerning the space, cleanliness and decorating motivations. GI, GP & T all contribute to explaining the history of the Airport, such as its former function as a Pornography Shop. IG points out the black plastic bags that still hang on the wall - presumably used for customers who wanted to remain discreet about their purchases at the Pornography Shop. ^^^General chitchat takes place^^^

TT informs the group about his work for an NGO in London. He introduces discussion concerning the remarkable transformation clean water can have on communities abroad, and briefly explains water purification methods that can simply and effectively function using gravity instead of electrical power. GP informs the group of an invention known as the LifeStraw or iStraw that allow individuals to purify water as they drink. The cost and viability of the technology is debated.

TT also mentions recent research that he has been exposed to that supposedly uses the power of the 4th dimension + particular crystals to trap free-energy from the universe, thus harvesting an infinitely renewable resource. All attendees humorously interested, IG expresses doubts.

On the back of this trapping-universe-energy-conversation T mentions the practice of Wilhelm Reich, a Freudo-Marxist Psychoanalyst (1897-1957), who in combining Marxism and Freudian theories, linked sexual repression to both bourgeois morality and repressive economic structures. Reich founded a movement in Austria that combined his theories on sexual politics, naming it SexPol (1928). At this point he turned toward his inventions for psychoanalytical therapy, such as his Orgone Energy Accumulator, a device that could supposedly capture, collect, and store the sexual energy of the universe for later therapeutic use.*

*NB: The majority of this information was added and altered posthumously.

H knocks and enters.

GP, IG & T greet H and facilitate introductions between Ch and H as well TT and H. ^^^Missing text^^^ offers H a drink (Diet Coke). H informs the group about his new purchase, a stereo, which he obtained for a 'reasonable price'. H proceeds to tell jokes. All attendees in high spirits. IG remarks that this is 'the best Thursday meeting' that he's had for a long time. ^^^General chitchat concerning haircuts, jobs and radio programs take place. Huge amount of time passes^^^

Ch informs the group that she is going to leave. Goodbyes occur. H also departs with Diet Coke.

TT, IG, GP & T break for dinner. Take-away ordered from Erciyes Restaurant, 409 Cleaveland Street Surry Hills, NSW, 2010, PE. Dips, Turkish Bread, Pide & ^^^Missing text^^^ dish. Total Cost: $40. Location of consumption: Park.

Engaging discussion concerning the politics of Supermarket locations and practice takes place. Discussion engendered via BI's contribution to the catalogue for the upcoming exhibition, The Right to the City (Tin Sheds, April 8-30, organized by ZB & LS).

TT, IG, GP & T return to the studio. The group touches on a discursive array of topics including TT's father's artistic practice, recent Brushes pictures*, building a workbench for the Airport and more*.

* Brushes portrait of TT (GP, 2011)

*NB: FI, although absent, exerted a strange presence on the meeting. At one point a little puddle of spilt beer took on a remarkable likeness to FI. It remains unknown as to whether FI was trying to contact the attendees via an unexplained liquid-loophole in the universe or was it merely an accident in verisimilitude?

End of Minutes; attendees depart. Airport off.

HUSK THE CORN - GUEST BLOG: CHLOE MELICK 2.0

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