Two Lectures

Two weeks ago Doug Bucci from the jewelry department gave our lecture. I was really impressed with his presentation. I thought it was really interesting how he got into jewelry. I also like that he showed us his process, especiallly how he used CAD. He also put a large emphasis that in the beginning he had to do a lot of commission work and maybe some things that he wasn't able to exercise a lot of creative freedom, but ultimately it opened the door for what he is able to do today. I thought his concept for the diabetes jewelry was really neat, but I still am struggling with how removed he is from the physical making of the art. Sure, his body is dictating the shapes that he is generating, but he is somewhat removed physically from actually making something. But the shapes that he was able to generate were absolutely beautiful, I loved the necklaces. I was also blown away that he was collaborating with Jeff Koons and Stella McCartney. That's amazing. But I thought the diabetes necklaces were awesome, and I can't wait to use the 3D printer! I had never heard of such a thing.


"Intellectual property is the oil of the twentieth century." -Mark Getty

This week a member of Superflex (I totally forgot to write his name down) came to Philly all the way from Denmark to talk. The group he is part of, Superflex, will be a part of the upcoming event Phillagrafika. I thought the bio-gas systems that they created were a great way to help improve the quality of living in impoverished areas, the concept itself was really awesome. All the work they do involving copyrighting was interesting, I couldn't believe they built an entire store just off of "copied" goods. The Guarana Power company they created with Guarana farmers was also a really neat way they were able to reach out and help the farmers who are taken advantage of by large corporations. I loved the stories that the old men shared that all started out "I'd like to tell you a very interesting story.." They were so funny! I was also struck by the concept of "open source beer." They must be getting a decent amount of publicity, if a news station took enough interest to try the beer-making for themselves. The entire lecture gave me a lot to think about, especially as we have been talking in computer about appropriation, when it is acceptable and when it isn't.