My next exhibition will apparently be titled "Relational (Im)Possibilities: 15 Years of Dilettantism." Ouch. Nailed me. How about yours?
Mike
(Thanks to Hugh Crawford and Rebecca Uchill)
Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
Dennis: "'Arbitrary Charm: Queers and Complacency.'
"I think I'd better get shooting; I don't have much for that. (Then again, who would know?)
"I like yours better, Mike. A few clicks, though, and you start to see a lot of redundancy.
"I had a similar idea—that of a Chinese restaurant name generator. Adjective Noun. Oriental Pearl. Emerald Panda. Green Dragon. Golden Wok.
On a semi-related note, have you ever seen advice that says to give your new company a two syllable name? Google it and you get plenty of hits, along with loads of examples like...Google. eBay. PayPal. Apple.
"Nikon. Canon. Pentax. Leica. Sony. Dig a little deeper. EOS. Bionz. Alpha. Expeed. Digic.
"Olympus struggles a little here. It doesn't roll off the tongue the same way. Panasonic has a worse time. Then you have 'micro four thirds.' Gosh, ask someone what camera they shoot and by the time they rattle off 'Panasonic Micro Four Thirds' you've lost interest! Konica-Minolta really never stood a chance.
"So that's why Nikon, Canon and Sony will continue to be the 'big three' and Oh Lim Pus and Pa Nuh Sah Nic will wonder why nobody is buying their 'micro four thirds mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras.' Panasonic made TVs back when they were big glass tubes in consoles and produced fuzzy black and white pictures, back when people had lots of free time and were willing to compare Panasonic to Sylvania to RCA to Magnavox. Heck, if you had time to get up and walk to the TV set to change the channel, what's an extra syllable or two? Panasonic made vacuum cleaners that competed with Electrolux. Not now. Vacuums are made by Dyson and Meile. TVs by Sharp (Aquos), Sony (Bravia—no wonder they're losing market share), Samsung and LG.
"Maybe Olympus and Panasonic should hire these guys at MIT to come up with a two-syllable company name generator for them. (He said, trying to get back on topic)."
Franz Gertsch is worth a look in the respect. He seems to me to really take the photographic original as the starting point, and not the photographic subject. Rendering depth of field effects for example. Too literal? I don't know, but his works are very interesting to see in the flesh
http://www.museum-franzgertsch.ch/en/franz-gertsch/die-werke/
Posted by: Fred | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 12:03 PM
"The Politics of History: A Retrospective of the System" which reminds me of some reading assignments I had in college.
Posted by: Craig A. Lee | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 12:23 PM
"Queering Sustainability: Deconstructing Interactivity"
Posted by: James Eaton | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 12:23 PM
Some great project ideas in there...
This reminds me of Brian Eno's "Oblique Strategies".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies
Posted by: Dave in NM | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 12:50 PM
"Fantastic Rubbish: The Photography of Change"
Scary part is that I want to remember that in case I ever do get a show; it would be a good theme to work with :)
Posted by: William Barnett-Lewis | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 02:00 PM
I have a (real) exhibition on at the moment. The title is "Out of Time (Memories of the Neolithic)" which was as pretentious as I could reasonably manage.
But "After the Ground: Defying Dysfunction" - which is what I got from the title generator - is frighteningly appropriate.
Posted by: David Paterson | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 02:50 PM
I'd identify as G rather than Q in the standard initialism of sexuality, but nevertheless I am both disturbed at the serendipitous meeting of randomness and psychological insight in, and yet incongruously approving of, "Queering Gaming: Figuring Social Practice". Story of my life, mate.
Posted by: Marc | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 05:12 PM
For the street photographer with a new camera ...
The Real in (Re)Presenting Nonspatial Representations: What does this Button do?
International Art English is a bit of a bad joke but you know you have it right when it "sounds like inexpertly translated French".
http://canopycanopycanopy.com/issues/16/contents/international_art_english
Posted by: Kevin Purcell | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 05:27 PM
"The Bureaucracies of Imagination: Deconstructing Too Many Dinner Parties."
How the hell did they know?
Posted by: Manuel | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 05:31 PM
"The Politics of Banality: A Juried Show of Too Many Dinner Parties"
Seems about right...
Posted by: adamct | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 05:46 PM
If you're into conceptual mashups, it's hard to beat Nietzsche Family Circus.
Posted by: MM | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 05:54 PM
Remixing Extravaganza: Queers and the System
[.....plenty of scope me thinks! ;-) ]
[By the way Mike - any news on the TOP Book project?]
Posted by: Geoff Smith | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 06:39 PM
"Decadent Extravaganza: A Juried Show of Dilettantism" (How appropriate!!)
Posted by: Animesh Ray | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 07:21 PM
My next show in real life is titled "Stochastic Spirals", at the Ocean City Center For The Arts in Ocean City Maryland, opening June 2.
This group of paintings is part of a larger project I am working on titled "Flowcharts For Soft Computing".
Posted by: Richard Alan Fox | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 08:07 PM
Mine was "To Find the Properties of Rubbish: Media Art and Urban Experience," which kinda/sorta fits, actually.
Posted by: JG | Thursday, 08 May 2014 at 08:20 PM
"Arbitrary Dilettantes: Locality and Social Practice"
Guess I need to find some local arbitrary dilettantes to hang with. (Pun semi-intentional)
Posted by: Gato | Friday, 09 May 2014 at 08:27 AM
"Fantastic Charm: Cheating Damage"
Ah, if only.
Posted by: Eamon Hickey | Friday, 09 May 2014 at 10:49 AM
Romancing Sustainability: John Waters and Too Many Dinner Parties
I'd better start hanging with some of those dilettantes at their parties.
Posted by: Kent Wiley | Friday, 09 May 2014 at 11:52 AM
Dennis's comments about the possible importance of two-syllable brand names makes me think he might be on to something.
However, Panasonic might not be that hopeless or clueless. In North America, Panasonic branded its audio equipment as "Technics" and its CRT-based TV sets as "Quasar". (But its flat screen sets are called Viera. Not good.)
And really, the Panasonic brand for cameras is Loo Micks, not Pa Nuh Sah Nik.
Posted by: John Holland | Friday, 09 May 2014 at 03:36 PM
Dear folks,
A bit of etiquette, here, following up on Marc's remark.
Speaking as one who is "Q", you don't say "queers" not unless you're trying to be hostile and offensive . It's an epithet. Not as bad as calling people "faggots" or "n#gg#rs," but bad. It's OK as an adjective, not as a noun.
Kind of like the difference between talking about trans men or women and "trannies." Capiche?
Language is funny that way. Small changes make big differences.
Thanks.
pax / Ctein
P.S. Oh, and just so it's clear, I **know** no one here's throwing that word around, and i'm not taking offense -- it's the result of the random title generator. Just a heads-up that what it generates might not fly in polite discourse. (Much humor doesn't.)
Posted by: Ctein | Saturday, 10 May 2014 at 11:22 AM