fusing plastic

spent the morning making more plumpy piñon baggies.

I also sealed some that I filled earlier. It worked pretty well.

So far the only problem is that some of the bags "sweat" nut oil. yuck! but, I'm not sure these will be something visitors take away, unless they choose to. I mean, I won't invite them to. So they can be greasy and not bother anyone, I suppose.

I'm going to stop wasting time on grocery store quality bags. Really, only the slightly nicer, smoother bags from stores like target and department stores work well. I've also had mixed results with "matte finish" bags, like from barnes and noble.

I shot some video of the bag process, just for fun, so look for that soon. I'll probably make a separate little plastic fusing video, because the footage doesn't really fit in with my installation video plans.

tamalefication

Made another batch of liquid tamales today. I made these for grandpa last year at Christmas. I'm betting the baggies will still be in the fridge when I next visit. Apparently Grandpa is in hospital right now with broken or bruised ribs, unsure which.

Anyway, I got some great/creepy video of the liquid pink stuff oozing around and bubbling inside the bags. Very much as I would imagine the inside of the stomach might look. The tamale + soy milk + blender combination yields a very fleshy, smooth substance.

As always, lucy's real food is the best. I just wish grandma would let grandpa try this stuff.

Also, cheesecloth makes a great strainer, I discovered.

mud cookies: second attempt

I tried the mud cookies again! Documentation here.

I'm munching on one now, though I don't want to eat too much and risk gastrointestinal distress.

postcards for show

The postcards are in for our MFA show. I have to remember to go measure doors and windows on Friday.

Postcard Front
Postcard Back

Also, momentously, I'm done with my dissertation! Printed it! Done! Filing it Friday morning.

lists

at this point, i'm afraid this blog will deteriorate into a bookmarks file for future shopping! but, given my limited readership, i'm sure this won't pose a problem.

I found a glass door refrigerator that would work well for displaying my liquid food. A freezer would have been ideal, but a fridge will have to do. A glass door freezer wouldn't really work.

Stanford FRI

I just discovered the Stanford Food Research Institute, and it's been closed for years. What a shame, it looks like it was a really interesting place.

Thinking about doing a weekend trip to Fresno to visit some food testing places.

website redesign, influences, video

Redesigned the website today: http://starvationseeds.performative.com/. Much improved, though still in progress.

I also recorded the last two video segments, one about liquid food, one about mud cookies. Someday I'll redo the footage with someone behind the camera. For now, it's all strange, static shots of my workspace and my disembodied hands. There is something really compelling about how the shots are composed though--maybe I'll keep going like this.

Yesterday N. asked me about my influences for this project. Coming up with a list was a good exercise and one I should elaborate on. For now, quickly, I'll say: Alison Knowles, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Corin Hewitt, Ted Purves and Susanne Cockrell, Celia Herrera Rodriguez, many more. Links & more discussion of influences to come.

updates

i've been slacking on posting the rest of the road trip diary. but to offset this, my dissertation is almost done! THAT will be a relief. I gave a lecture in B's class last night about the art I look at in all three chapters. I thought I was going too slow so I sped up, then ended up finishing too soon. good practice for lecturing twice a week next quarter, which I still can't fathom. It helped to watch the two video excerpts. Gave my voice a break. I also really liked using the microphone; i didn't leave the room feeling like i'd been yelling for two hours.

A. alerted me to this practice in Haiti, eating mud cookies: a video linked from huffington post

I'm shifting my project to focus on plumpy nut (working on prototyping some spiffy fused plastic bags), feeding tube food, and mud cookies. experimenting with mud cookies today. filmed plumpy nut yesterday. I should have filmed the friday forum, but I thought FF folk maybe wouldn't be into it. Plus that room sucks and I did not want to capture it in any way...