BABABA INTERNATIONAL BLOG

The Invention of Up and Down

2011-10-14T07:00:00.006+11:00

Mud Brick Library

2011-08-23T10:08:00.002+10:00

An Unlucky Musket-ball

2011-08-22T13:14:00.005+10:00

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

2011-08-08T15:40:00.003+10:00

Shoe Probe #3

2011-08-07T08:23:00.003+10:00

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

2011-07-22T13:54:00.001+10:00

LAUNCHING: LUNCH

2011-05-31T15:57:00.011+10:00

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

2011-05-28T07:00:00.000+10:00

Contained Liquids

2011-05-24T06:12:00.003+10:00

ANOTHER SHOE FOR ANOTHER LIFE

2011-05-20T23:46:00.002+10:00

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

Shoe Probe #2

2011-05-17T13:23:00.001+10:00

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

2011-05-10T12:00:00.002+10:00

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 us@bababinternational.com 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

THE WEEK SO FAR: BABABA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

2011-04-19T16:33:00.002+10:00

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.

Bababa International Airport Minutes 17/2/2011

2011-02-17T23:09:00.008+11:00

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

2011-02-15T16:54:00.000+11:00

Bababa International Airport Minutes 20/1/2011

2011-01-29T10:44:00.008+11:00

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

2010-12-19T10:07:00.008+11:00

The Table of Solace

2010-12-15T11:45:00.000+11:00

In the name of seasonal friendship and goodwill Bababa International and GOODGOD International will focus their attention on a meal-drink-experience.

Forgo the family and celebrate (the best place on planet earth) GOODGOD's holiday sign-off with a specially prepared meal/drink combo – combining the finest wrapped tamales with the most effective spiced rum – this offer is perfect for group bookings and general home-away-from-home dining.

Stubbornly holding onto the ideal of equality, we're keeping the prices cheap:

A groups of four eats for $50

A groups of eight for $100

That's good arithmetic!

Book a table with by emailing info@goodgodgoodgod.com
or come down impromptu on the night!

Guest Post : A conversation between Liang Luscombe & Charlie Sofo concerning furniture today.

2010-11-15T18:56:00.023+11:00

There was that project from Learning To Love You More in which you made a paper replica of your bed. These are some images from that project:

Anne Farrell

Gwendolyn

I remember I once made a zine about free furniture - the furniture that I made was always made from milk crates.

Chris told me yesterday for the Zero show he thinks he will show all the furniture that he has been given or found that is in his studio - I realised all in the furniture in my studio is also free.

My studio is full of found furniture. My house is full of found furniture! It’s interesting how we manage to cobble together our lives like this from the ruins of modern day Melbourne.

An archeology of furniture: I once had an idea for a show called 100 Chairs. The show entailed cruising around Melbourne collecting abandoned chairs and then taking them back to the workshop to be fixed and improved. My idea was that people could come collect these chairs from the gallery, take them home and use them. It would invoke the ready-made and the entire lineage of chairs in modern art. Yet, the intention of show would be an acknowledgment of the necessity of the chair, it’s usefulness and simplicity and it’s enduring, humble presence in our lives.

My bed has two really special quilts on it; one my mum made and one was made by a great aunt that I never knew.

This is a pillow that is on my bed, it is for Ed.

On my bed is a special blue blanket, one of the the only things I’ve kept from my childhood. It’s small and features a blue woven pattern.

(I also have a special extra pillow, that I keep for friends that sleep over.)

I have a chair in my room that I have only sat in once.

Bed (1955), by Robert Rauschenberg is perhaps one of my favourite bed artworks. I’ve only just realised how much influence this work has had on me.

My friend Joni found this advertisement, it’s for a bed that has my name.

On Friday you spoke of the ground as furniture - I couldn’t stop thinking of picnics.

The ground is perhaps our first and last bed. In traditional Japanese culture, people slept on futons, which are thin cotton or woollen mattresses, placed directly on tatami mats.

(Source: http://samurai-teacher.blogspot.com/)

I am obsessed with abandoned mattresses. Near my studio, there is a house where an old man used to live. One day the old man disappeared and all of his belongings were put into a big skip out the front of this house. Soon after, I noticed the beds from his house were lying on his front porch.

(Most people end up dying in beds. Personally, I’ve died a few times.)

Furniture isn’t silent, it can make sounds when you use it. Not only are human forms indelibly pressed upon the mattress, but their movement is described in sounds produced by the bed’s structure; the slats, the mattress, the bed head, the legs and the base. The bed is an instrument. The chair squeaks as it accepts your weight and the cup sings as it touches the table.

Universe Salsa

2010-11-05T10:24:00.001+11:00

At Bababa International we consider the salsa the condiment of the future. Accessible, adaptable, mutably transnational and enigmatic, the salsa is a desirable accompaniment to uncertain times.

At Bababa International we are interested in both the salsas of tradition - invented by the snowballing intelligence of culture and perfected again and again by the lived-genius of individuals - and the salsas that are yet to be invented.

For example, we imagine salsas that are 4 trillion kelvins hot; a salsa that is 250,000 times hotter than the core of our sun. That's the kind of heat that current science thinks existed at the beginning of the universe. The relatively brief interval following the Big Bang when matter was a slop of quark-gloun plasma.

This salsa will appear like a culinary eternal-return, a fiery promise that appears at the end and which simultaneously marks the next beginning. It will be enjoyed in the company of foods that we cannot yet imagine.

じどうはんばいき

2010-11-02T06:53:00.007+11:00

しゃしん：　きぼりお

Bababa International Airport Meeting Minutes 28/10/2010

2010-11-01T13:39:00.003+11:00

In Attendance: Uncle Eric (UE), Shar Pei (SP), Poodle (P), Rottweiller Metzherhund (RM), Boxer (B).

New Arrivals at the Airport: RM's cheery & unqiue shelving unity, yet-to-be-classified plants, synthetic grapes, plain white envelopes, empty shuttlecock container, yet-to-be-understood standing metal hollow cone, a research photograph taken by P depicting a crate of fruit boxes sitting in front of floral clad unidentified shape.

Tea Served: UE - politely declines, SP - Peppermint, RM - Peppermint, P - Green Tea, B - Earl Grey.

1. The Soothsayer: The project is prioritised following information and helpful advice ascertained from BI's presentation at Dorkbot on 26/10/2010.

1.1 Direction: In light of recent developments and reflection, discussion begins with the need to decide on adjustements to the direction of the project. B presents two directions that may be of use to the choice of direction.

(a)BI adjust their original plan for the vending machine, simplifying the mechanism and it's output in order to achieve an operable completion by the looming deadline, or b) alter the idea for the space so as to deal with the broader issues at play in The Soothsayer, not as a single installation but via other means and methods. B introduces the concept of the space being a Complex Hub. RM is amused and points out that any space described as a Complex Hub is, of course, an attractive prospect.

SP opines that he would only feel comfortable modifying the idea if it is as good as the original proposal, albeit in its own way. He reminds the group of his discovery earlier in the week - The Australia Council for the Art's DIGITAL CULTURE FUND & GEEK IN RESIDENCE program - adding that this would be worthwhile grant to apply for in developing The Soothsayer for the future. All memebers agree with SP and commit to applying before the deadline(22nd Novemeber, 2010).

RM brings to life his thoughts on the potential of learning the technology needed for building the vending machine independently, reflecting on the possibility for The Soothsayer to be a fully operational public fixture rather than a short-lived art installation. P supplements this by suggesting that The Soothsayer could also be transportable - moving to various locations around the city and contributing to the urban stew.

There is general enthusiasm over the possibility of obtaining new skills and knowledge related to electronics, and programming (i.e. data collection, the creation of traffic lights and a robot guard dog). Coversation momentarily breaks off into private discussions between individual members related to this matter.

RM mentions that the The Soothsayer could be developed alongside Problem World - an interactive game BI intends to build whereby the player encounters various problems (global or otherwise) that she can either avoid or attempt to solve. All members agree that both The Soothsayer and Problem World make a nice couple, and vaguely conceive that both machines could be developed concurrently.

RM remarks that he always forgets about tea, and reaches for his ignored mug.

1.2 Consensus Reached: Following the protracted discussion, BI resolve that they will alter their previous idea for the space at Locksmith Project Space. While they will continue to work on and develop The Soothsayer as a vending machine that will be deployed in the near future. The Soothsayer exhibition will be modified to coordinate with recent practical and conceptual amendments.

BI are united in the belief that the exhibition should be directed and focused towards the geographical location of the gallery, specifically, Botany Road. By activating the space through an array of methods (including installing a door on the gallery that rotates around a central axis, maps, vending prototypes, object production and workshops) BI will address The Soothsayer in it various parts, problems, and potentials. All members assent to dilligently cogitate these new developments and get to work.

* Text Missing *

1.3 References: P seizes on a lapse in conversation and intiates a spontaneous show-and-tell. He alerts the other members to the existence of a Bangkok-born artist, Wit Pimkanchanapong. Of particular interest to P are the artist's cartographic experiments, which he thinks may be useful as a visual reference for The Soothsayer exhibition.

Ref. 1 Wit Pimkanchanapong Map Floor

B brings Martino Gamper's 100 Chairs in 100 Days project into the fold, in which the artist/designer invented a range of eccentrically appealing chairs from the motley remains of found materials and senescent furniture. B explains that what he finds particularly compelling about this project is its attempt to refine and produce a practical object from the chaos of domestic/office junk.

Continuing this dicussion on references for The Soothsayer exhibition, RM mentions and explains Richard Buckminster Fuller's thinking methodologies; such as an excercise in which a person is asked to organise his or her ideas on a subject into micro-relevant and macro-relevant categories. RM continues that this strategy was an attempt at locating relevancy. P asks for further clarification.

*Bucky cosmically reminds the group that 'thinking is a momentary dismissal of irrelevancies'

RM thinks such experiments and games could be useful for organising The Soothsayer workshops. He adds that the burden would be on BI to facilitate and secure participants for the workshops, throwing doubt on the dictum delivered in the drama-sports-fantasy Field of Dreams , 'if you build it they will come.' BI all concur that, as a general rule, building it isn't enough.

2. Blog News: SP reports on recent correspondance with Kiborio. As fate would have it Kiborio is working for a vending machine company and is willing to contribute to BI's micro-research blog project by photographing vending machines. SP promises more information when he has it.

3. Taco Progress: B and P relay an earlier conversation regarding OPERATION-TACOS-FOR-GOODGOD (OTFGG)

Ref. Image from Mrs Lee's Cookbook:

3.1 Menu: Sparked by visual flourishes found in the newly purchased Mrs. Lee's Cookbook Mrs. Lee Chin Koon, B and P explain their image ideas for the taco menu. Images for the menu will involve ingredients, salsas, and tacos hovering above a table suspended in space. Infinity and lighting is briefly mentioned.

B and P will develop taco menu to send to GoodGod for potential catering jobs related to sill-season events. B will speak to Tina Melick regarding industry prices for catering menus. B will also speak with Auntie Maureen regarding kitchen regulations and arrange for a visit to The Royal Oak Hotel

3.2 Designs: RM and P describe recent design ideas for the Taco Space. The idea involves a hydraulic balance for cantilevered stools at the Taco bar. Subject to GoodGod approval.

3.3 Feed: B and P will arrange a private meal for the representatives of GoodGod ASAP. Ingredients will be ordered next week.

4. Debt Report: General discussion about the $15,000 debt is thrown into magnificent dissaray as a new business idea bursts forth from the entrepeneurial marrow of the Bababa International Airport: a late night beer delivery service. P miraculously summons the name for the new venture - The Late Night Lagers (LNL) - SP in disproportionate hysterics. P then pulls another name out of the hat - Midnight Middies (MM). SP guffawing.

Beer Served: SP - 1 bottle, P - 1 bottle, RM - 1/2 bottle, B - 1/2 bottle.

Brushes App: RM abosrbed - potentially obsessed - by a new addition on his iphone. Reveals David Hockney uses the same App and exhibits the work made on it. General discussion on the diversity of Hockney's career takes place.

http://bit.ly/bfyih8

6. On the Subject of Minutes: B highlights the madness of the minutes. RM remarks from the airport bathroom that ordering, editing, and omitting must occur.

Complex Hub No. 1

2010-10-31T22:51:00.001+11:00

'To live' means to proceed towards death. On the way, one came across things that blocked one's path. These things called 'problems' had therefore to be removed. 'To live' then meant: to resolve problems in order to be able to die. And one resolved problems either by transforming intractable things into manageable ones - this was called 'production' - or by overcoming them - this was called 'progress.' Until eventually, one came up against problems that could not be transformed or overcome. These were called 'last things', and one died of them.

Vilém Flusser - 'The Non-Object', The Shape of Things: A Philosophy of Design

Future is not a natural state of the mind, it is rather a modality of perception and imagination, a feature of expectation and attention, and this modalities and features change with the changing of cultures. Futurism is the artistic movement that embodies and asserts the accomplished modernity of the future. The movement called futurism announces what is most essential in the 20th Century because that century was pervaded by a religious belief in the future. We do not believe in the future in the same way. Of course we know that a time after the present is going to come, but we don't expect that this time will fulfill the promises of the present.

Franco Berardi - Futurism and the Reversal of the Future, http://www.generation-online.org/p/fp_bifo8.htm

The production of locality is a reminder that even the most apparently mechanical forms of social order that seem to function without design, contingency, or intentionality but simply by the force of routine - what we used to call habit - involve large amounts of deliberate attention, effort and labor. Part of that attention, effort, and labor is involved in collective ideas of what is possible .

...

Physical spaces are part of the material that that individuals works from, draw on, to some extent take for granted, and in other instances highlight, sharpen, consciously use. On the other hand, physical spaces are also objects of the interests of lots of social actors. A lot of work is directed to the production, maintenance, reproduction, distribution, or enjoyment of physical places. Physical places in this broad sense - area, spaces, roads, streets, locations - have a dual relationship with the production of locality. They form part of the condition of its production, and they also form an important part of the object of that production.

Arjun Appadurai, Illusions of Permanence (Interview), Perspecta 34: Temporary Architecture

Bababa International Airport Meeting Minutes: 21/10/2010

2010-10-27T09:48:00.035+11:00

6:00 pm Sydney, 2:00 pm Vientiane Shop 1/101 Young Street, Redfern NSW 2016

In Attendance: Uncle Eric (UE), Guillermo (G), Las Vegas (LV), The Mid-Atlantic Ridge (M-A-R), Planck Length (PL)

1. Pide Revisited: Three pides ordered from Erciyes . Total cost: $36 AUD.

2. Tom Polo Plans Discussion of Artist Tom Polo's response to the $1000 gift. He will purchase gifts for the members of BI - ambiguity; will the gifts be paid for with the $1000 in question, or with funds secured from some other source? So far it seems as though his purchasing strategy is centered on ephemera and charming-junk. For example, on Monday 18th/10/2010 he purchased two brownies. The second gift in the procession was a set of four drink coasters purchased on e-bay.

Image ref. Tom Polo's Gift in Use

3. Blog Fix: Discussion of the formatting of images on the blog. G suggests that all images be aligned to the left of the page - for the purpose of stylistic consistency. LV mentions that he will work on enabling the currently unnavigable archive of blog posts.

4. Foreign Correspondence: PL proposes a new feature for the blog. Inspired by the recent post by Mayra Huerta, a friend based in Guadalajara Mexico, the proposal involves commissioning modest, micro-relevant research projects by friends and associates based overseas. The cities that are discussed include Hong Kong, Philadelphia, Charleston, Tokyo, and New York.

5. Apparition: DJ World Music makes a special-guest appearance, delighting the attendees with his new favourite song; When the Going is Good, by William Onyeabor:

6. Public Relations: PL will contact PR firm Kabuku in order to further convince them of the need for website background consultation.

7. ITEM WITHHELD

8. Debt Revision: M-A-R mentions a meeting at GoodGod that is scheduled for the following day. LV updates everyone on the latest news from the web-side of the business; the forecast is bright. M-A-R then fills the group in on the upcoming Science Dinner, recounting his correspondence with LT. There is general discussion about the project's dates and who would be able to travel to Melbourne should more than one member of BI be required. It is decided that PL would be the additional member. There is discussion of the flash bulb scene from Rear Window , where Jimmy Stewart attempts to divert an assailant by firing magnesium filament flash bulbs. The discussion centres on the futility and desperation of the act.

9. Vending Development: M-A-R and PL circulate a recent discovery. There is a vending machine supplier - Provendor - that is located on Young St in one of the industrial estates adjacent to the Hillsong Church. M-A-R & PL visited the Provendor site where they were able to speak with Kon, a vending technician. Kon was warm and quick to assist, showing M-A-R & PL the various components they were interested in and offering advice as to how they could go about integrating them into the The Soothsayer .

Image ref. Provendor's Warehouse

M-A-R & PL then found themselves drawn to the magnetic rush of Botany Rd where they visited Jay Car Electronics. Here they spoke to Sylvester, who recommended the 16F84 Microcontroller as a platform for the automated components of the The Soothsayer. LV then spoke to a number of developers at his work. They directed his attention to the Arduino, a small, modular computing platform popular amongst hobbyists, designers and artists. LV also mentions that he has been put in contact with an engineer who was involved in the design of a vending machine that would allow users to specify the build of an automobile, which would then be assembled on the spot. LV will try to arrange a meeting with this talented individual sometime soon. Other aspects of The Soothsayer, such as the number of items that the machine will contain, are discussed.

Los Vendedores de Filadelfia

2010-10-21T12:37:00.004+11:00

Bababa International Airport Meeting Minutes: 14/10/2010

2010-10-17T09:55:00.019+11:00

7:30pm Shop 1/101 Young Street, Redfern, NSW 2016

In Attendance: Phillip (P), Jacob (J), Hercules (H), and Min (M).

Not in Attendance: Uncle Eric

1. Echoes from New York - Former Centre of the Universe: H informs the group that an image submitted by C & R Eaves to Robin Gibson Gallery has attracted interest from a buyer based in New York City, U.S.A

2. Outstanding Payment: The recent purchase of two-paper cuts by Oliver Watts is discussed. Payment to be arranged within the week.

3. Homo Faber: P gives life to recent correspondence between himself and the mover behind Dapshare. Plainly narrating his interest in contracting our services, along with his willingness to pay the going market rate along with his interest in viewing the group's design portfolio.

4. Work Possible: P tells of some possible work, a website redesign for a vineyard.

5. Offer Taken UP: Discussion of offer made earlier in the evening by AJ. The prevailing consensus suggests a positive response. H, who will take charge of the correspondence, recalls a comment made by AJ on oblivion.

6. Idea Swamp: P met with Ivan at the gallery. Potential for BI's contribution to go most anywhere, as there is a great deal of flexibility amongst the exhibitors. Discussion of working with the bathroom, both as a concrete space, and as a platform for creative acts. It is suggested that we constrain the scope of the potential work to the bathroom, the bathroom as imposed limit, the bathroom as an end. One idea floated involves the members of BI exclusively using the bathroom of the Papermill. The idea is swiftly rejected on the grounds of being both impracticable and terminally weak. Another idea involves the replacement of the gallery's toilet paper with a very long drawing (already completed). Again the idea falls into well deserved obscurity. Discussion shifts back to the structural framework in which this discussion finds itself, there is agreement that the variables must be honed. This will be done by removing as many formal options as possible. The work will focus entirely on toilet paper, with the bathroom itself serving as the larger, macro-relevant, scope of the project. This is a minor and crippled type of resolution as it does not actually describe the necessary course of action, just the need for further thought. Issue remains unresolved.

Image ref. Toilet:

7. Bike Racket: J gives a report on his recent research into bike-rack relevant materials. Common materials include; hot galvanized steel, and stainless steel tubing. J relates findings on previously proposed recycled plastics, he has turned up many problems. For example, the plastic may not hold up structurally. However a good recycled plastic may be able to handle the stress and compression experienced by the average bike rack. J proposes mod-wood as an alternative; a recycled wood/plastic composite. J has also discovered that an aluminum product that is 60% recycled is available.

2010-10-13T12:50:00.003+11:00

Los Vendedores

fotos: Mayra Huerta

Bababa International Airport Meeting Minutes: 7/09/2010

2010-10-08T09:02:00.034+11:00

6pm, Shop 1/101 Young Street, Redfern NSW 2016.

Members in attendance: The Comptroller (Cmp), The Out-Of-Controller (O-o-C), The Fat Controller (FC), The Master Controller (MC). Not in attendance: Uncle Eric (UE).

1. Liquid Commencement: Meeting commences with one bottle of Malibu, one bottle of Coca Cola, and a disproportionately large bag of ice.

Drinks are prepared in the following proportion:

1 part Malibu to 3 parts Coca Cola and differing amounts of ice.

Drinks are served in various vessels, one of these is not a cup.

2. Van Secured: FC announces that he has made a booking for the van and that it will be available for use on the following Thursday (14/10/10). It will be available from 4pm and will have to be returned by 5pm the following day. MC will liaise with MM regarding the pick up and transportation of the fridge.

3. Fragments, paper and the grip of a quandary: Discussion turns to the upcoming group exhibition at the Paper Mill. MC mentions the Delphi Method, a forecasting methodology invented by researchers working for the RAND corporation in the 1950's. The method relies on panels of 'experts', who are asked to contribute their opinions on the future of a given trend or topic via a series of questionnaires and mediated group responses. Seeking to balance the power of expertise against the fallibility of an all-too-human psychology, the method reflexively massages the participant's responses until consensus is achieved. Discussion turns to using the Delphi method, or some other method or procedure, to process the information extracted from the global-newspaper-set. Except, where the Delphi Method calls for the engagement of 'experts', BI would instead look to an alternative set of enlisted soothsayers; people without any explicit expertise, but with connections to life and, therefore, with insights into how it might be lived in the future. Discussion then turns to the problem of condensing the idea, could we explicitly gear it towards producing the information component of the Vending Machine? The use of the global-newspaper-set is questioned, with the dwindling of foreign offices and the centralization of news-agencies noted as causing a kind of 'sameness' across the set. Although this is only a hypothesis; it could very well be that when the set is collected there will be an incredible diversity of content, fact and interpretation. O-o-C proposes that highlighting this sameness would serve to comment on it. O-o-C states that he is not interested in making this comment. FC suggest using the exhibition as a launching pad for other back-burner projects such as New Movement & Co. General discussion re-iterating the positioning of the work in relation to the the upcoming vending machine project. Particularly with regards to research, the space would be turned over to the conception and production of the objects. Cmp attracted to the in-built deadline of this arrangement. O-o-C questions the gallery-as-studio model.

General consensus reached on the lack of presentable ideas. No solution in sight.

4. Conscription Curating: Discussion of a curated exhibition in which artist's names are featured on an invitation before an actual invitation to participate has been extended. Thus forcing the curated artist's into a decision, either deliver on the fraudulent promise of the invitation and exhibit, or ignore the dilemma altogether. The exhibition would be held at the Airport.

5. Pide Ordered: Pause to order pide from Erciyes.

6. Reader Recounted: O-o-C relates an anecdote in which TM woke up only to find her partner Samuel Whiteman chuckling while reading the previous weeks minutes on his i-pad.

7. Bike Racks Expanded: Bike-rack designs discussed. MC proposes a design that is not a design at all. Instead of a bike-rack proper (a detailed and discrete form with corresponding conceptual logic and justifications) we would propose to stage open workshops where participants would be invited to set their minds in motion and create their own bike-racks.

Our contribution would be a light-weight, portable design studio containing the means and materials relevant to bike-rack design, with the necessary provisions made for every step of the process. Including digital tools such as computers equipped with the relevant software, paper, pens and a small library. Our role would be to work as instigators and participants in the work shop, ensuring that the venture had mobility, while remaining invisible with regards to the development of the participant's rack-ideas. As a participating group Bababa International would also develop it's own bike-rack.

If the idealism of design could be condensed, and expressed as a desire for the active transformation of the world for the better, then the competition invites a confident and discretely conceived vision of the world as it should be. Our contribution would eschew this certainty, instead opting for an immersion in a positively constituted indeterminacy. Founding the whole endeavour on the potential fruitfulness of deliberation, process and a diversity of outcomes. The aim is to encourage autonomy, agency and novelty.

The expanded designer, the designer of the future, is not an individual with a historical umbilical cord and a set of stylistic intentions. The expanded designer seeks the re-definition of the role of design, opening it up to those who use and animate it - everyone.

Discussion turns to the application. Cmp will research community groups who might be interested in the workshop. FC will do research into materials, including the possibility of a rigorous, production aware approach to how the materials will be selected and deployed. O-o-C and MC will develop the written component of the application, and MC will develop the eight required images.

Application due on the 18th of October.

8. Taco Venture Pushed Forward: Discussion turns to proposed taco stand at GOODGOD. Debate centres around the construction of the stand. Cmp proposes a space-within-a-space, expressing excitement over the possibility of erecting a small awning or roof above the service area. There is controversy over the suitable height for the roof, and whether it would be better to have it low, thus constraining the customer's movement in an interesting way or whether it should allow for free movement. Various formal aspects of the stand are broken down and argued over, however there is a general resolution that the construction of the stall will be largely dependent on the physical constraints of GOODGOD itself, as well as the opinions and wishes of GOODGOD's management.

Pricing is discussed, with some controversy over terminology i.e. should the cash register be referred to as the 'point-of-purchase' or the 'point-of-sale'.

Randomised pricing is discussed, the idea being that on some nights the tacos would be completely free, no money exchanged, only tortillas.

9. Distribution Divided: Discussion of zine distribution with MS. Thursday-Friday of the following week set for the completion of the task.

10. Money Matters: Cmp explains an exchange with LL regarding pricing for web development. LL has made an offer of $700, which, in the Comptroller's opinion, would be fair due to the straight-forward nature of the work. The CMP also floats the possibility that the work may either be more or less difficult than he has estimated and as such, in order to maintain fairness, we should be willing to adjust the fee. Making his meaning clear, the CMP maintains that if we are willing to charge more, then we should also be willing to charge less also. However, this depends on the variables, which remain in a state of flux. Note: Is there a distinctly Daoist approach to business?

11. Catering booklet served: O-o-C draws words forth regarding the upcoming BICSS (Bababa International Catering Service) booklet. He has devised a scheme in which the publication will be organized along the lines of the meals; breakfast, lunch and dinner. The content will centre around the meals, with short essays, images and menus corresponding to each.

Bababa International Airport Minutes: 30/09/2010

2010-10-01T19:03:00.037+10:00

6pm, Bababa International Airport, Shop 1/101 Young Street, Redfern, NSW, 2016

In attendance: Mr Giles Thackway, Mr Ivan Ruhle, Mr Thomas Melick and thirty minutes late with apologies, Mr Stephen Russell.

Not in attendance: Uncle Eric

1. Vending Machine:

1.1 Vending Machine Mechanism: Mr Thackway relates an anecdote involving a vending machine observed by both himself and Mr Ruhle earlier in that evening. Mr Thackway claims that the machine, which dispenses zines, seemed to operate on a kind of lock principle, with the deposited money ($1) unlocking the machine's auger. The purchaser would then manually operate the auger using a knob located underneath the coin deposit slot.

1.2 Insight Moment: Mr Thackway, Mr Ruhle and Mr Melick excitedly discuss the possibility for using a similar mechanism for The Soothsayer. Instead of a simple knob-to-auger transfer mechanism the deposited money would unlock a rotary lever. When turned by the user this lever would not only release the selection from the machine but would also serve to power the light and sound components of the The Soothsayer.

* Mr Russell arrives

1.3 Anurag Appears: Mr Russell relates the good news that Anurag, a student of electrical engineering who once expressed interest in signing up with the Bababa International club briefly registered at UNSW, has expressed interest in joining the project. Discussion turns to the possibility of Anurag becoming the sixth member of the collection. Note; discuss formalization of skilled membership pathway program.

2. Minutes Appear: Mr Ruhle proposes that minutes be taken during meetings. Mr Melick mentions that the Fluxus group took minutes and then goes on to elaborate the transcontinental variations in the pronunciation of the word fluxus.

* Minutes begin - retroactively.

3. Cheese Consumed: Mr Thackway, Mr Russell, Mr Melick and Mr Ruhle eat blue cheese and crackers given to Mr Thackway and Mr Ruhle by Ms Mary MacDougall as thanks for assistance with a difficult bookshelf.

4. Assistance Floated: Mr Melick proposes that an intern be contracted to assist with airport related tasks. Specifically; transcribing the minutes.

5. Rates Questioned: Mr Melick relates an anecdote involving Mr Carl Lykert regarding negotiations over payment for a commission. Matter has been suspended until Mr Lykert has consulted with NAVA regarding proper payment.

6. Work Forthcoming: Mr Russell relates that the web-team may have secured their first paid assignment, with Ms Liang Luscombe. Pricing is discussed, all present agree that a price fair to both parties should be requested.

7. Administration Floated: Mr Ruhle proposes the purchase of colour ink for the studio printer. Mr Melick raises the matter of Internet access for the studio. Mr Russell proposes the hacking of locked WIFI signals.

8. References Gathered Together in the One Place: Mr Ruhle proposes a visual reference folder into which various members can deposit images pertinent to the research and development of anticipated projects. To this end Mr Ruhle has procured a folders and labels from a heavily discounted source.

9. Procurement Comprehended: Discussion of Mr Russell's new computer. Mr Thackway expresses confusion on the matter. Mr Russell clarifies with Mr Thackway.

10. Probability Debated: Popular betting game two-up is mentioned by Mr Melick. Mr Russell asks about the mechanics of the game. Mr Melick explains that one person bets a sum on the outcome of a coin toss involving two-coins. For example, a $2 bet on two coins landing heads up. Mr Melick then goes on to explain that a second person can enter the wager, betting against the outcome posited by the first better. So, in the case of the example, if two-heads are not obtained then the second better wins the lot.

Mr Russell questions the fairness of the rules, arguing that there is only a 33% chance that the first gambler could win. Mr Russell consults his i-phone and confirms that the second gambler can only win if two tails are tossed. Thus rendering the odds even and therefore fair. Mr Russell publicly doubts the validity of the previously cited 33% figure, but cannot extrapolate. Mr Thackway expresses confidence with the 33%

* Mr Russell has written in with an addendum to item 10: Having consulted a former mathematics teacher on the 33% probability figure, Mr Russell was informed of binomial probability. Mr Russell learns that the actual chance of the first gambler winning is 25%. Less than the original 33%. Mr Russell has yet to express how this new information effects his opinion on the fairness of the game.

11. Problems Elevated: Discussion of Problem World with two ideas identified for further pressure and pursuit.

11. 1 Problems Gathered: Research into problem solving techniques and methodologies i.e. Venn diagrams. Discussion of possible inclusion of various problem solving techniques into the Problem World game-play, possibly as a reward for achievement within certain parameters related to a players performance.

11.2 Problems Placed: Discussion of a locative version of Problem World, with potential for play to be integrated with mobile mapping technologies thus giving players the ability to mark locations with specific and relevant problems. Subsequent visitors to the site would be able to interact with these problem-spots; pondering, solving, amending and frustrating the problem-proposals left by fellow Problem World inhabitants.

12. Purchase Viewed: All in attendance examine a copy of Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking ordered by Mr Melick on behalf of the catering-team.

13. Bike Racks Conceived: Call for formulation and presentation of concepts for The Bike Rack as Art competition. All in attendance agree that proposals should be ready for the next scheduled meeting on the 8/10/10.

14. Robert Milne Remembered: Mr Ruhle proposes contacting Mr Robert Milne, arguing that it has been a while. All in attendance agree. Discussion turns the merits of Mr Robert Milne.

15. Objects Turned Over: Discussion of objects to be dispensed by The Soothsayer. Mr Russell proposes the pairing of instructions with the objects as a way of imbuing these items with contextual potency and potential. Expresses an interest in exploring ways in which the objects may act as catalysts for future-outcomes, causal provocations which activate on-going processes within the local area. Gives an example involving a can of sugar and a bee-hive.

15.1 The Future Is Our Only Goal (Constructivist Slogan): Discussion of the project's essential concept - that the shape of things to come is contained within the details of the present. Questions are raised regarding the fact that these details do not necessarily lend themselves to a clear picture and that the shape of future may be amorphous, dispersed, scattered, secreted or under the nose. Elaboration on the distinction between the ability to know the future through the examination and analysis of contemporary conditions (prediction and probability) and the possibility that the future is unknowable, or rather too complex and too unruly to know fully. Note: we should factor in desirability also. What is type of future is desired? What models have been built of desired futures, who has built them, on what promises and out of what material? Mr Melick proposes the idea of a derailed future, the outcome that arrives to upset a given trajectory, re-setting the coordinates for what is, what will be and what has been. Discussion turns to how this epistemological distinction might be integrated into the workings of the project.

Recent Correspondence

2010-09-19T18:33:00.005+10:00

Proof of Existence

2010-08-30T18:32:00.003+10:00

Imbroglio City (Unit 1)

2010-08-16T17:13:00.002+10:00

After finally passing through the ostensibly endless, agitable tract of the quality assurance department into the bowels of the public relations sector, Bababa International, emerging mega-corporation, have been able to publish a new web page.

Take a look.

Failed Art: Amplified Fly

2010-04-12T15:38:00.009+10:00

Today it is true that all life on Planet Earth is engaged in the creation of art works. From protozoa to urban professional, all that is capable of signalling and sustaining it's existence seeks to render this existence meaningful through the organization and presentation of it's experiences. Sadly, not all organisms have properly adapted to this task; with some making a better effort - and better art - than others.

Here is an idea for an artwork in which the members of Bababa International sought out a collaboration with Musca Domestica, the common house fly. Fortunately, prudence won out and this foolish idea was never realised.

Amplified Fly

We propose to introduce a small house fly into a jar, using the jar's natural capacity for storage in order to safely seal our collaborator for the duration of the work. This jar will be placed in the most understated corner of a cavernous room destined for large volumes of social activity. A microphone will be connected to the jar and the buzzing/music that this microphone picks up will be sent through an amplification device. Thus rendering our collaborators activity audible across the expanse of the room.

Passed Over: Suck & Blow

2010-04-07T00:50:00.006+10:00

Thankfully the future cannot accommodate everything. How could it? It's simply not that hungry, for if it could absorb all our plans, prospects, directions, visions and proposals it would surely be an obscene dimension? An obese carnival of ends where every half-measured, half-considered idea wriggled its way into existence. And yet, quite generously - like the cow - the future does seem to have multiple stomachs. It does permit us to return to that which has been passed over, forgotten or rejected: we can re-submit what was once denied by the future's embrace, yet it must necessarily face a different kind of digestion. And the process begins again.

This package of proposals was sent to (the now deceased) Black&Blue Gallery. The strategy should be explained. We thought that by starting from the most ostentatious point - working our way down through the unreasonable - we might find a happy balance between that which is absolutely impossible and that which is just mildly so.

As everywhere-man Kant reminds us: "Whether the field of possibility be larger than the field which contains everything which is actual, and whether this again be larger than the field of what is necessary - these are curious questions the solution of which is synthetic, and yet they are to be brought before the tribunal of reason alone."

Suck

We will cut a hole in the gallery windows through which we will feed a large vacuum tube. This tube will lead outside and across Cleveland Street to the roof of one of the buildings that sits parallel to the gallery.

The world crashes in

On the roof we will construct a massive apparatus that will work on the same principle as the Dyson vacuum cleaner. Anybody, and we mean any body that steps into the gallery – contemporary art fans, tradesmen, cats, dogs and skateboarders – will be torn from their feet as the snaking vacuum tube consumes everything it encounters. From the street pedestrians will be startled as an erratic procession of blurry faces and artificially inexpensive denim screams above their heads.

All that is solid melts into air

Once they have been wrenched through the tube these hapless men and women will be tossed around like leaves in an updraft. Teaching them the lesson that we all come to learn eventually - solid ground is a luxury, and a privilege. Our giant vacuum cleaner will proclaim that this entitlement can no longer be squandered on the timid and indifferent.

Simply put, if you can't stand for something then you don't deserve to stand. But of course, being fully conscious of health and safety standards, will take every care to ensure the safety of these hoovered subjects. At the end of their journey through the tube they will be stored safely in a large plastic repository; where they will remain whirling around helplessly until one of their loved ones shows up to pluck them from the device like the candied fingers of a lottery hostess picking the forever losing numbers.

Not to worry

A small first aid kit and packet of ice will be available to treat any injuries.

Making literal the strife of being together – the turbulent and vertiginous experience to any collectivity – 'Suck' will test the limits of those all too-often cosy occurrences of 'coming together for the sake of art'. This vacuum will not be vacuous. Rather, the transportation from an expected-interior to an unexpected-exterior might suggest that within the spins and flatulence of individual pursuits and solipsistic tendencies, the world is necessarily complicated and necessarily shared. You cannot fall out of this world, but you can certainly be sucked from one context to another in the unpredictability of any predictable context.

Blow

“What is happening to my skin?
Where is the protection that I needed?
Air can hurt you too.”
- Air, Talking Heads

We aim to fill a gap in your amenities by installing high-powered ceiling fans into your gallery. Instead of operating to cool crimson cheeks and dry sweaty brows, we will intensify its burst 10,000 fold, programming them to turn on and off at random intervals. As if summoning Fujin – the Japanese god of wind – enthusiastic gallery-goers will be quite literally grounded as their body is crumpled by the immense force of your new facility.

Pressed to the ground by the rush of air, the experience is both an imposition and an event (dramatizing that same delight that is felt when one places ones hand out of a moving car to feel that surprising resistance). The same surprise will function here in excess: suddenly stuck in the downdraft, the visitors are placed in a peculiar togetherness engendered by fan-forced exertion. Reduced to subjects under the sovereign fans, the work will offer an assortment of portraits as each visitor reacts differently to the perplexing force being asserted on them.

Air-bound to their context, agency and identity are put into question: the question being do you settle into ‘the blow’ and attempt to find illusionary comfort? Do you enjoy submitting to the dominating pressure? Or, do you try to worm your way out of the situation once you have had enough? ‘Blow’ will offer a physical realization to the weight of invisible power, and the possible actions and reactions produced under such weight.

Suck & Blow

Our proposal involves attaching an inflatable 'lung' to the windows of the gallery. From inside the gallery visitors will be able to blow air into a multitude of long ‘throats’ that will extend through the space and out the open windows; accumulating in this elastic and expandable air-bag. Collectively maintained through the banal event of living and breathing, this burgeoning air-filled annex utilizes human airflow (the interior-to-exterior fact of breathing) in order to construct a social design project that is not fascism.

Drawing the night air into pink lungs the crowds will huff and puff, their frantic activity expelling everything they've attempted to keep bottled up – frustration, boredom, conviction and vigor will pour out of them with confused gusto – a hundred blustered faces will then look on as the cancerous metalized-polyester growth swells out over the street – intimidating the cars that pass underneath with it's looming and convulsing form.

And so the architectural balloon will function as both an object-psychiatrist and an annex – accommodating the ills, discontent, and desires of the visitors, while simultaneously growing from their collective contribution.

In addition to the luminous inflatable, the space will also be (noisily) occupied by a suck and blow orchestra – a collection of invented instruments that are designed to be played by inhaling and exhaling instrumentalists. These instruments will be made from a range of ordinary materials, and will be used to produce an album thematically aligned with the exhibition. Both the album and the instruments will be available for purchase.

Halfway between teenagers siphoning petrol and a child nuzzling affectionately at their mothers tit, drinks will be offered in rubber tubes protruding from a wall, which visitors can enjoy at their own leisure. Everything is to be interpreted, even your breath, even your libation.

We feel this collection of both objects and actions – or the activation of objects through the means of audience participation – will create an intriguing and rousing narrative in your space. For us the concept hinges on utilizing a shared reality (no matter how fragile that may be) to literally offer an outlet for collective desires and complexities to accumulate. Visible for all to see (both inside and outside the gallery) this temporal installation inflates the imagination though the very reality and necessity of existence.

What are we to do with our imaginations? How long can we hold onto them before they give way, demand to be heard, or deflate? It is under these questions that we are proposing Suck & Blow – an event that recruits ideas of collection, thematic expression and unknown ends, into a visually and orally stimulating occasion.

We want our ideas to be events so that those who experience them can have their own ideas and their own events.

Failed Art: Critical Mass Smooth Jazz Band

2010-04-06T14:51:00.013+10:00

Today it is true that anything and everything can be an artwork. However just because this absolute license in naming and creating art is a distinct possibility, it does not mean that it is necessarily a good or desirable thing. Indeed, the vision of a world populated entirely by artworks and only artworks is a terrible thing to contemplate.

Here is an idea for an artwork conceived by the members of Bababa International that was, thankfully, never realised.

Critical Mass Smooth Jazz Band

Most public spaces embody two dimensions of human activity. The first is symbolic and relates to the way public space divides, unites and defines communities. An enduring example of this dimension of the public sphere can be seen in Beijing's Tiananmen square which has, over the course of its long history, been an electric site for various forms of symbolic contestation.

The second dimension is physical. That is the obvious, empirical fact that a public space is in fact just that, a space.

For Critical Mass Smooth Jazz Band we propose to fill a public space with as many smooth jazz bands as that space can physically tolerate. The bands will be employed to do what it is that they do best - play smooth jazz. However they will be asked to do so simultaneously, thus creating a groove laden torrent of keys, high-hat, and saxaphone that will mercilessly wash over the ears and into the minds of all who happen to stumble into the presence of this musical flood.

Water wears down the stubborn rock

2009-04-25T14:44:00.005+10:00

Slightly into the future

2009-04-25T14:26:00.005+10:00

2008-12-02T20:46:00.014+11:00

As a wise man once said: "A door is an entrance".

2008-12-01T15:59:00.005+11:00

Make money.

2008-12-01T15:20:00.015+11:00

Beekeeping

Hands

2008-11-25T17:23:00.008+11:00

2008-11-17T23:41:00.020+11:00

With a snort of his nostrils and a wave of his knife,
the best and sweetest welcome.

Doors of India

2008-11-15T01:43:00.022+11:00

Being-never-bored

2008-09-14T13:30:00.014+10:00

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Passed Over: Suck & Blow

Failed Art: Critical Mass Smooth Jazz Band

Water wears down the stubborn rock

Slightly into the future

As a wise man once said: "A door is an entrance".

Make money.

Beekeeping

Hands

With a snort of his nostrils and a wave of his knife,the best and sweetest welcome.

Doors of India

Being-never-bored

With a snort of his nostrils and a wave of his knife,
the best and sweetest welcome.