29 April 2009

Propuestas Postfronterizas/ Postborder Proposals

I'd like to invite you to Postborder Proposals/Propuestas Postfronterizas, opening at the BoatHouse Gallery at Plaza de la Raza on May 9th at 4pm. 
POSTBORDER PROPOSALS / PROPUESTAS POSTFRONTERIZAS is a convening of artists working on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border as well as young artists from as far away as the Middle East. Their work considers the complex dynamics of border areas and liminal spaces, and engages the experience of displacement and immigration. The works in this art exhibition provide a doorway into cultural, sociological, and geographic spaces marked by hybridity, and their proposals move away from the simple binaries outlined by immigration and foreign policy and essentialist platforms. 

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS AND COLLECTIVES:

AjA Project, Boredom Patrol (C.I.R.C.A./San Diego), Colectivo La Linea, Ingrid Hernandez, Esteban Martinez, Juana Meneses, Roberto Romero-Molina, Omar Pimienta and Evelyn Serrano

The exhibition will take place at Plaza de la Raza’s iconic Boathouse Gallery. In addition to the gallery hours noted above, the exhibition will be open to the public during and after all performances of the CAP/Plaza de la Raza Youth Theater Program “behind barbed wire” at the Margo Albert Theater in Plaza de la Raza (for information about these performances please contact Plaza de la Raza at 323.223.2475)

08 April 2009

Discussion: Reboot vs. Remake on movies


In the world of cinema when did everything get decided to be rebooted versus movies being remade? It seems through many different kinds of media news towards the moving picture many classics, franchises, movies no older than 10 years are being rebooted.
The first time i heard this term used was with Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins". His vision for the Batman franchise was going to reboot (start over) life back into it. But before this term all other second interpretations of previous films were considered remakes. Now like wild fire all new interpretations of movies are reboots, of course i maybe generalizing. To my understanding a remake is just another directorial perspective on a previously made film. The term of "reboot" seems to go towards a series of films based on the same characters being re envisioned by creative powers (this can be studio driven) to help increase box office sales. Now this definition i propose is not entirely clear or solid. For example, if we take the Harry Potter franchise, the first two films were directed by Chris Columbus. However, the third film took on a different director Alfonzo Cuaron, thou these films are part of a continuous narrative up until this chapter in the story the series took on a drastically different direction in visuals, story telling, etc. to craft a superior movie. Is this considered a reboot to the franchise?
Now when the idea of starting over is clear, as reboot suggests, i cannot agree more such as the recent Friday the 13th series. This was a license that needed to be forgotten or completely redone. This is also happening with the Nightmare on Elm Street series, another franchise that is being rebooted. 
There are a few movies that i'm not sure which category they can be placed, for example 1998's Psycho. This version of Psycho is almost an exact copy of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 Psycho, i say almost because there are some added scenes that the director, Gus Van Sant, has spoken on which were not possible due to the censors of 1960. The same can be said with 2007's Funny Games, here is a film that was reshot exactly and its previous incarnation was only 10 years before. The original is from 1997.
The term of reboot is being strongly used towards the upcoming release of Star Trek headed by J.J. Abrams. Here is a license that has suffered some ticket sale failure, so much that it is said all odd numbered Star Trek films suck. In Abrams case maybe this is a reboot since instead of continuing the adventures of the Next Generation crew (where the series left off) he is starting over with the characters of the original series in their younger years.
For a point of discussion, what is your perspective on the terms Reboot  versus Remade? How about Redone, Retold, Re imagined or plain old updated? 

05 April 2009

Open Studios 09: after event

The proceeding of UCSD's open studios 09 didn't come to an end at its posted time of 8 pm, the festivities made there way up to the second floor of the Visual Arts department. A mass amount of people enjoyed food, music, conversation and eventually dancing. A band preformed at some point. It was good to see my peers enjoying themselves and cutting a rug, i just hope i can blame the alcohol for some of the moves i witnessed by a few but all in the name of fun. Congrats to all that were involved for making this affair happen, you did a great job and your nightly fun was well deserved. 



Open Studios 09: main event

Official UCSD Open Studios 2009 has come to an end. The day long event was a success of interested people visiting the graduate art studios with hungry eyes for art and curious questions.
For myself i received a great amount of drop in commuter traffic that resulted in some splendid conversations and some very pleased individuals of my work. Questions starting out with the general "tell me about your work" to in depth exchanges over the nature of the lovemark or the overall discussion of surveillance and its many forms. Also some talk of the impressive work that existed in my peers studios.
I was graced with the presence of family and old friends, and i hope i made some new ones. In reflection i can say it was an impressive function and i thank all who came out.




04 April 2009

Pre Open Studios 09- Friday

UCSD Open Studios 2009 has begun with its pre event on friday, the gathering was basically for faculty and admits to help them all see what some of us do working late at night in our studios. The function was a small with food, friends, artists, future art grads and good conversation. This pre Open Studios allowed some of us to visit our peers spaces since the main event of Open Studios on Saturday doesn't really enable most of us to mingle.
As i walked around i can say that i was impressed with some of my fellow graduates work, some very exciting projects in the mix in different stages of development. I'm super interested to see how some of them turn out. I hope some of you can come and enjoy Open Studios 2009.