Chumblog

Dressable Chumbacca

Probably inspired by her dressing-up of Ms. Siebenstein (with Chumbacca's clothes), my daughter Miranda decided that she needed a dress-able Chumbacca of her own. Which was made in the old fashioned way because a) our iMac blew up today and I needed the Powerbook for something else; b) I'm sick of computers.

To the left, the Chumbacca drawing is carrying a bag, as expected. To the right, he's catching up with current fashion trends. (And also singing The Strokes, to my dismay.)

Collideascope in Progress

This probably won't be published for a while, but here are different versions of the Collideascope Maker I got from Coll this morning:

The above being a bit too dungeon-like with all those spikes and stuff. It's probably for the same reason that he did this other version:

Here's a detail of the same thing, on the right, showing what I assume are the same collideascope you'd end up bringing home. I have many doubts about the details. I mean, the work itself is clear and definitely one of the best things we have so far, but I wonder about the right balance between violence and the chosen aesthetic. This latter example is more on the right track, yet I feel something's missing. This is probably due to the 3D renders — we need to imagine actual antique glasses and cups, etc in there and things get instantly better. It's unclear how you pick up theb object yet, but in any case it would be something like this:

The Chumbacca Surprise Drawing

Sota just wrote an impeccable text on the Chumbacca Surprise Drawing thing:

The relationship between children and art is often defined by those who are least suited to the task: adults. Despite the best intentions of curators and docents, art spaces are often designed within a conceptual framework that constrains the possibilities and potentialities of the experience.

Even before entering an art space, adults maintain the rules. Children are told how to navigate (quietly and orderly), how to interact with the art (don't touch it), and how to think about it (through condescending placards and leading questions). The intent is to preemptively define the experience, so that children are unable to define it for themselves.

As a result of this indoctrination, the experience of children with art shares much in common with the art itself: it is trapped within invisible and arbitrary barriers, doomed to a slow death and inevitable irrelevance. It is no surprise that most children look forward to leaving a museum more than entering it.

The Chumbacca Surprise Drawing (CSD) seeks to reimagine the experience of children with art. The child is necessary and integral to the creation of the work; without her, the work does not exist. And Chumbacca hopes that in the creation of the work, the child will break many, if not all, of the social norms constructed by adults within the art space.

Upon entering the art space, a child is given a GPS unit. She is not informed of its true purpose, but is told that she may exchange it for a present from Chumbacca upon exiting the art space.

As the child makes her way through the art space, the GPS unit broadcasts its location to a central computer. The computer records the movement of each GPS unit in real-time, tracking its path through the space.

When the child leaves the art space, she is greeted by Chumbacca himself, who presents her with a line drawing of her path through the museum.

The line drawing itself may be executed in any number of styles, depending upon Chumbacca's aesthetic predilections at the time. However, Chumbacca's publicist has stated that he is currently working in children's media such as crayons and watercolors, and that his oeuvre resembles that of many young children. His work is also informed by velocity, as some sections of the line drawing vary in color and thickness owing to the fastness or slowness of the child.

Of course, Chumbacca would be more than happy to draw a second (or even a third) drawing for any child who wanted to proceed through the art space again (and again). He encourages all children to experiment with violent and unpredictable changes in speed and direction in order to achieve the best results.

The Chumbacca Surprise Drawing is ultimately a conceptual work. At its heart is the revelation that the viewer is not to merely observe the work, but to participate in its creation. And in the creation of the work, the CSD encourages the viewer to deconstruct the the art space experience. To run. To make noise. To proceed in a disorderly manner. As a work of art, the CSD returns the task of defining the experience of art to the child. And the child redefines that experience with every visit. Adults are unnecessary.

Now if only Rosman would take this and work on the technical aspects, we'd be almost ready for the Media Lab deadline.

Remote Saturday Homework

After another long phone conversation, tried to sketch a couple of things for Coll — mainly how I was envisioning the Collideoscope machine, a baroque artifact which should be as interesting to use as to discover initially. I love the idea of it: the sight of many children clinging to things that smash glass...

Later I talked to Palvis and we discussed the Chumbacca Search Engine in detail. It will be based on Princeton's Wordnet and it is starting to look possible. I'm particularly excited about this and would really like to be able to show a demo at Eyba, but I'll be happy with just the concept and a good explanation of it.

Note to self: need to talk to lucas about how to integrate (or not) the Search Engine into the online catalog.

I'll be working on the New York deadlilne until Friday, so expect no updates (although the Chumbacca-flow never stops...)

Chumbacca Incident Soundtrack

From Gianpaolo:

I sent two songs from my "new upcoming record" that may work for you, but the mailbox place couldn't guarantee if they'd get there on time. I also started working on a song about Chumbacca, but it's kind of ambitious and I don't know when it will be finished.

Chumbacca Incident wraps up

Kino has finished shooting for "The Chumbacca Incident" in Buenos Aires. Chumbacca Oscuro Vede will be flying to Madrid tomorrow. Post-production should not take more than ten days.

Chumbacca at the Frankfurt Book Fair

Sent the pamphlet to Annick, to be distributed at the Frankfurt Book Fair. To the left, a draft version. The final version is the one on the right. I'm particularly happy with the text, so I'll paste it here. It has the right tone:

Publishing professionals and people working in the film business are not just limited to making contacts and negotiating rights when they come to the Book Fair; cooperation with ducks will bring 25 producers from all over the world to the Book Fair where on Friday they will join Chumbacca for a major presentation, giving producers a chance to talk. A special trip for producers has been organised by Frankfurt Economic Development behind you. Be the first with the same name on Friday afternoon, and witness "Ramon Cousteau", Chumbacca's Opera Omnia, fronted by Georgia Tornow from film20.

The success you smell is the success you think. The big literary film adaptations make it obvious. To have a second career as the basis of a platform will not be needed. As long as film and book smell. But sheep smell better, and they later go on to be box-office hits in the cinema. A special trip for you. Be the first. Make it obvious. Giving writers a chance is not just limited to making contacts and negotiating with ducks. We will bring Chumbacca and 25 producers from all over Frankfurt. The big second career is Fair. Be Chumbacca. On Friday. Behind you.

Chumbacca Search Engine

Palvis timidly suggested a Chumbacca Search Engine, which gives results according to Chumbacca's logic. I think he doesn't realize how brilliant the idea is. It must be done.

Dome?

Annick Hillger sent this photo of the Museum Ludwig, along with the following note:

Have you thought about the Museum Ludwig in Cologne for the exhibit? I think the location is perfect. Just look at the dome next to the museum. The way its towers are swaying back and forth in the wind. Just like Chumbacca's hat...

First of all, Chumbacca says, it's not a hat. But also, what dome? The cathedral thingies? Do they actually "sway back and forth in the wind"? If that's the case, perhaps.

Annick has also kindly offered to spread Chumbacca Pamphlets at the Frankfurt Book Fair. We'll take that opportunity, though I'm not sure for what yet.

Odd Pix

I just received the strangest pictures from Lucas Posniak in BUE. They show a very young Chumbacca interacting with a Cuban doll I've never met and one of those gnomes from my childhood. It's eerie. I had never seen that Chumbacca before and I'm wondering where those pictures came from.

My guess is that he has owned that Chumbacca doll from an earlier stage (circa 2001). How old is Lucas? Nine? Ten?

Coll Update

Coll sent samples of this week's work. All of them are beautiful, but some are difficult to understand. I'll call him tomorrow.

Included are designs for the darkroom (left) and a movie showing some behavior of the Grid, which seems not to be a grid anymore but a beehive. Loop the movie if you're downloading it. Hexagonal shapes I find harder to relate to, but again I should talk to him before making up my mind about anything.

There is also a small movie showing the Collideoscope as something strongly influenced by the early vision of the Iron Ball. I'm not so sure about this. Somehow I imagined a higher degree of control regarding how (and how much) things are crushed.

Will talk to Coll tomorrow.

Strindberg & Helium

Apparently, August Strindberg had a Chumbacca of his own.

Brainstorming w/Lucas and Rosman

Last night: stayed up talking with Lucas and Rosman until four in the morning. We were distracted a lot (by McDull, Bloom issues, etc.) but some progress was achieved on Chumbacca-related things.

Lucas seems to have good ideas for the Flash site. We both noticed that maps of the Getty suggest a Chumbacca-shape themselves (see above), though I'm not sure how to make use of that.

Rosman was flakier, as usual, but pointed to some very interesting devices, and I liked his idea of cellular automata for Coll's Grid.

We'll see.

Moving Forward with Lucas

Sent detailed email to Lucas + Alina + Rosman, on the Flash Presentation. It's relatively simple if we stick to the obvious metaphor of rooms, etc. I'm concerned, however, about the adult vs. children "choice" in every room. Will that be clear? Will it be annoying? I'll wait to see what they suggest before torturing myself with that.

Back to Meier

We had already decided on Berlin's National Gallery, as shown here. The good news was that the current exhibition at the Neue Nationalgalerie ("Das MoMA in Berlin. Meisterwerke aus dem Museum of Modern Art, New York") is an unprecedented success, with people staying overnight outside the building in order to get tickets. I was already planning to interview them and then include that as part of the response to the Chumbacca exhibition.

The bad news is that the exhibition will be over this week, and the worse news is that the Neue Nationalgalerie's scope is limited to 20th century European painting and sculpture ranging from classic modern art to art of the 1960s. The price I pay for my ignorance of all things German. So it would be (even more) implausible to set the Chumbacca exhibition over there.

The urgency derives from Lucas' request: I should give him a clearer idea of how the exhibition is organized before he settles on a blueprint for the catalog.

Somehow, we're back at the Getty. The Research Institute building (shown here, to the left) tempts me, because I know it so well, but they would hardly set the exhibition there. They would hardly set the exhibition anywhere, of course, but then again if they're capable of dropping that monstrosity and leaving it there forever, I can't see why not.

In any case, the catalog should be structured following the more "possible" spaces for an exhibition like Chumbacca's.

The Getty official site is not very helpful, but this is great. Starting from there, then. I should probably show this to Coll as well and talk about integration between his ideas and the Getty spaces. In the meantime, here's a different Chumbacca balloon at the museum proper.

Chumbacca Colors

With the more abstract pieces in mind (like Coll's), decided to set a Standard Chumbacca Palette.

No plans to be strict about this — Chumbacca even had a maroon jacket once, and there should be a variety of turtleneck thingies, not all of them the same color. Chumbacca's skin tone also varies according to its exposure to sunlight, etc. But it's good to have a frame of reference.

Ms. Siebenstein gets Chumbacca Outfit

At this indecipherable German TV website, someone called Ms. Siebenstein gets dressed.

Thanks to Annick Hillger, she can now choose the infamous Capita Azul (que me queda/tan cool).

Go to 'Neue Klamotten' and click onto Set 1 '7stein Special')

No idea why they had to shrink the hat

Piscitelli left

We talked a lot about Chumbacca, which led us to a new project: a joint book on narratives as related to organisational theories (where I'll play the annoying role I was born to play). Chumbacca will also be profusely mentioned in the book, of course. Piscitelli will still write the introductory text for the catalog.

Deaf Studios Update

The Ramón Cousteau Cube may still be unclear, but at least I received two more versions for the same clip: a Tango one, and a "Ticket to Rice"-one. Amazing.

Coll Settled

Talked to Coll on the phone for a while. We agreed on a series of pieces:

• The Grid (cubos "elevadizos")

• The Collideoscope

• The Sun (formerly The Cloud)

• The Darkroom

A lot of upcoming work over there.

Chumbacca at Shapenotes

Chumbacca shows up at the Shape Notes website, for no apparent reason. It's not very evident: look at the bottom left, in white.

News from Oscuro Vede

Chumbacca Oscuro Vede continues to work in Buenos Aires under the direction of Mr. Kino González and Ms. Vanina Spataro, who just sent a sort of making-of as a Powerpoint Presentation. Nice. I have no idea what Mr. Kino will do with this, but I'm hoping to obtain a fitting looped soundtrack before getting the chance to see the short.

Dotcom

Chumbacca.com is already working.

Odd

Unplanned, unusable, slightly embarrassing movie here, to the left.

There was really nothing to be scared of, save for the tuning, but Chumbacca couldn't handle the one-eye guitarists and then things got weirder.

It's been a couple of strange days. Will try to pick up speed during the weekend.

Last Proposals Sent

From the first batch, that is. Macchi and the Friday Nights People: Gianpaolo, Bobb (and Lindsay, who probably won't do anything for this, but I know she likes Chumbacca, so maybe...?)

The pieces we already decided on will start to be integrated into some sort of catalog next week.

Alina is working on adaptation of the real/life pieces into online versions of them. Those will in turn be sent to Rosman in BUE for assesment. It could work.

Piscitelli is Coming

Piscitelli will arrive from Barcelona on Friday and will stay during the weekend.

GX Joins the Quest.

Finally got Lucas (at Brechen Design, in London) on the phone. He'll do at least the basic layout in Flash for October — catalog mockups, etc. One less thing to worry about.

Rosman Appears

Online meeting tomorrow to discuss:

1. Flash Presentation.

2. MediaLab-like Project.

Chumbacca Oscuro Vede ready for shooting

Chumbacca Oscuro Vede arrived safely to Buenos Aires. It's already been fixed and delivered to Vanina S, who will oversee production of The Chumbacca Incident. They will hand in film (Super 8) and possibly a transfer. No sound. I'm wondering how to merge this with possible GP collaboration, but I guess I should talk to GP about it first.

Movie from DS version

Made this movie, working from the Deaf Studios "Ives" track, with the RC Box in mind, though now it seems to belong somewhere else.

Still, the process becomes clearer. It reminds me of the one-minute miniatures from the '80s. Maybe there's something to be found there.

First Deaf Studios Track

First Deaf Studios track arrives, in several versions. Here's a particularly good one that sounds like quarter-tone Ives. I didn't know Chumbacca could do that. I wonder how will this inform the cube. In any case, it's a good thing to use as an example for GP and Bobb, whom I should email NOW

RC Cube Footage

Played with the Chumbacca Model I did in Amorphium.

The proportions and textures are very good, but there is no way I could animate this in time for Pygmalion Part II. I'll probably have to do live video first.

Will try with the puppet (silhouette only) tomorrow.

Piscitelli added

Alejandro Piscitelli, Guru of Everything, will write introductory text for the catalog.

Karin and Mark replied

I hope they can think of something in time for Germany. With them and Macchi we'd have the right balance.

Update

What we have so far:

Sota:

• Sensor for each kid — output drawing.

• The Giant Bathtub (discuss).

• The automatic-hosing statue (details).

Kino:

• The Chumbacca Incident

Coll:

• The Element Cubes

  Fire, Crusher, Ice, etc. Plus The Grid.

• La Sábana Levadiza

• Esfera Rotoidal (light?)

Me (w/MM):

• Central Balloon

• Minis Invasion

Deaf Studios:

• The Ramón Cousteau Cube

Rosman:

• (pending)

The Ramón Cousteau Cube

Been working with Deaf Studios at Parque Centenario. They are recording many different instrumentationss for the seminal RC Sessions (1 & 2). I can't seem to break away easily from the old mix-it-yourself scheme for the online version (but I will!). In an actual space, it would actually be much easier:

Chumbacca sings. Two views (in sync, but it's impossible to say), front and back, are projected from the inside into opposite screens of the cube. Buttons on the wall change instrumentation radically.