Zero Gravity

Ground Control Was Great

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:07:42 +0000

On November 20th the Carnegie museum of art had a free teen event called Ground Control. Despite the less then statisfactory turn out, it was a quality group of art inspired young adults. They were very impressed, as were the interns, of attack theater. Their astetically pleasing interprative dance was a wonderful performance. Another highlight of the night was the band The Cuckatoos. Their folk band inculeded a banjo player, an up-right bass player, and an accordian player. Although miss may sound a little unnerving, their music was very enjoyable. Project Runway on Mars was a big hit. The guests got the opportunity to invoke their creative side by making outfits inspired by Life on Mars. The four winners recieved Starbucks gift cards. In all, this event was commendable and we give speacial thanks to the wonderful caterers. They were the real heros in this story, cause who doesn't enjoy a good cupcake.

Ground Control!

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:52:01 +0000

On Thursday, November 20, the Zero Gravity Interns opened an event to the public, Ground Control, that was mainly targeted to the highschool crowd. From the hours of 6-10, guests were open to the many activities that took place such as the fashion show, bands, short films, interpretive dance, intern created work, and many other things, but most importantly the Life On Mars international exhibit. Those who were interested were asked to go through the galleries, find inspiriation from a showcased piece, and design apparel to model in the fashion show, which closely mirrored the popular show Project Runway, that took place later that evening. It was very interesting to see how the participants' creations varied when each person was given the same challenge. We saw pieces varying from two people taped together in a box based off of the piece, Cavemanman, to the fabulous dress made out of garbage bags. Winners were awarded gift certificates to local stores and coffee shops. Guests enjoyed art, great music, food, and a new experience which hopefully gave them a new interest in the art world. Despite the lack of a huge crowd, the event was a great success!

the greatest i ever had in US!!

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:10:20 +0000

it was awesome the life on mars event party on last thursday night !!

yummy foods , snacks,

having fun with making clothes by myself ,

great runway shows.

Ground Control launches examination of Life on Mars

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:22:31 +0000

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: What has legs draped in yarn, arms wrapped in tin foil, duct tape hanging like hair tendrils from its temples, and hobbles around in a tattered cardboard box?

Yes, you guessed it: A couple of art students, inspired by Life on Mars.

Teenagers from the Pittsburgh region gathered at the Carnegie Museum of Art on November 20 for “Ground Control” – a night of art- and music-making, food and fun, hosted by the museum’s Zero Gravity interns, a group of high school students who spend their Thursday evenings debating the significance of contemporary art, life, Barack Obama, and also the really important stuff, like M.I.A. versus Brittney Spears versus … why does everyone feel the need to dress alike to feel accepted? (Seriously, why do they?)

The evening’s centerpiece activity was “Project Runway on Mars.” Based on the hit reality TV show, the museum’s version offered teens a chance to make wearable designs as interpretations of works of art in Life on Mars, and then showcase their new fashions in the museum’s main foyer. They perused the galleries, writing down their observations and opinions, sketched out possible designs and spent an hour in the Children’s Studios creating their own outfits with both traditional and non-traditional materials. (Think: Tempera paints and googly eyes -- charcoal pencils and feathers.) Teens spray-painted T-shirts a la Barry McGee; they bound themselves with ornate fabrics in response to Matthew Monahan; stitched together their own renderings of Mike Kelly’s darkly lit “Kandor” series; and, of course, built their wearable cardboard homes with Thomas Hirshhorn’s hugely popular “cavemanman” in mind.

These outfits might not conform to PPS dress code, but then again, many of the works in Life on Mars equally challenge our notions of what art “should” look like, and, ultimately, what life in our contemporary world “is supposed to” mean. And who better than teenagers to question our assumptions and conventions? After all, high school is a rite of passage that can sometimes feel like an extra-terrestrial, maybe even out-of-body, experience -- kind of like life on Mars.

So, now, stop me if you’ve heard this one: What has brilliant insights, mad talents, and could probably rebuild Rome with a roll of plastic wrap and a bottle super glue?

Yes, you guessed it: Zero Gravity museum interns, who examine the world through the lens of contemporary art.

GROUND CONTROL: Teen Event at Carnegie Museum, Nov 20!!

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:29:54 +0000

Connect and create with high school students!

Zero Gravity Teen Interns invite you to participate in an evening of art, music, food, and lots of fun! Connect with contemporary art in Life on Mars: the 55^th Carnegie International, and create your own work in response.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

6-10 p.m.

Carnegie Museum of Art

FREE EVENT!!

We invite teens to participate in the following activities:

VIDEO SCREENING featuring works by local teen artists
PROJECT RUNWAY on MARS: Make wearable art inspired by works in Life on Mars;
Play MUSIC at the museum: Are you in a local teen band? Play at our event!

For more information about Zero Gravity, to showcase your videos, play music, or sign up for Project Runway on Mars, please contact us at 412-246-4894

The Heart Man

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:41:56 +0000

He was known as the heart man, because of the love everyone had for him. When he walked the streets everyone talked to him trying to find out what he was up to, how he was, or simply to say hi. Some stopped and conversed with him. Even though he kept the conversation going, when ever someone would stop to talk he secretly wished that they were rushing and did not have a long time to talk. Although he was popular and love by everyone, he was lonely.

The Man On The Bridge

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:29:17 +0000

I saw this movie by Ryan Gander. of a man walking on a bridge. he doesn't really have a destination. no motivation, he is just walking. he walks to the middle and looks off the bridge, like he is looking for something. the clip shows over and over. it makes me feel worried for him, i worry of what his intentions are when he goes to the side of that bridge. It makes me feel so empty inside. When I see art I try to find/feel how they feel and what they see. it makes me want to get in their head and know whats going on. this is a short story or poem of what might be going on in his head.

I am a man. A normal bland boring man. There is nothing special about me. I live no fancy life, I have no fancy clothes, I have nothing. I do not feel I only see. There is nothing special about me. Everyday I see a bridge. It is so far from the ground. Cars fly by, not making a single sound. There is nothing special about me. Should I jump? Or should I live? There is nothing special about me. I have forgotten how to reason. But everyday I walk past the bridge. I wish that I could listen. Maybe there is something special about me.

For Shame, a story inspired by the work Tristessa by Daniel Guzman

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:24:21 +0000

I found myself dong the same shit over and over. Work, the bar, sleep, repeat. I was a nice guy. People liked me. Girls found me attractive. I had a decent job. Sounds pleasent, right? Nah, it's not. It's boring as fuck. My life needed a little spice. I'd always loved reading Batman when I was little. I used to slide it on top of the text in my schoolbooks, instead of reading the mindless, drowning babble bullshit my school district gave us. I still aced every test though. I'd cheat off of this ridicously smart kid, George McGreevy. He was this child prodigy or some shit like that, all that mattered is that I passed all my classes with flying fucking colors all due to his smart ass. That's how I got into Yale.

So yeah, I've always idolized Bruce Wayne and the super cool double life he lead. So I decided that's what I'll do. Put on a mask and go out and night and save people. Not ugly people though, they don't need to be procreating anyway.

My first night out was uneventful. There were just a bunch of drunk chicks stumbling around with their boyfriends. My services were not needed or not wanted. I wasn't about to get suckerpunched. But the second night...shit, the second night made me wonder why I hadn't thought of this whole idea before. This chick, who was obviously a hooker, came up to me out of nowhere.

"Nice mask." Her eye makeup was all down her face like she'd been crying for hours. She looked young, but like she'd seen a lot of crazy shit.

"Thanks. I'm out to save people."

"Save people, huh? Like Batman or something like that?"

"Yeah, exactly like that, actually."

"I see...you want to have some fun?"

Usually I don't go for paying for my pleasure, I get it for free, but on this particular night, I found myself in a thrill-seeking mood, so I thought "What the hell."

"Sure."

"Mmm come with me."

She took me by the hand. Her hands were ice cold. Like just taken out of the freezer cold. I was surprised her damn fingers didn't snap off when accepted her gesture. She took me though alleyway after alleyway, with the lights that are tinged yellow from being so fucking old. It was nasty

d. johnson

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:05:32 +0000

This piece by Wilhelm Sasnel shows a lot of emotion. Despite its seemingly simple painting technique, it depicts an older man playing the piano. He has a drink on the top of the piano, as if to imply he has been there for a while. The man is concentrated, learning his desired song one hand at a time. His slouching body and stern face are a rough exterior. But deep down, this is the talent he had always wanted. He has worked hard, asking for nothing extravigant in his life. His big, rough arms show the heavy lifting he has done, the constant working for not much pay. He was invited to a small party at a friends house, possibly a summer cookout in the local neighborhood with the sunsetting behind the pillar of smoke made by the grill. The man talks to his wife's friends, with a slightly distracted and uninterested look in his eye. The man took moments like this to ponder his seemingly monotonous lifestyle. He proceeded to shrug it off as he always did when his the women stopped trying to make conversation with him. He walks through the living room, where the lights are off as to imply that the room is not for party goers. He finds the baby Grand sitting in the corner. He looks at it. It shows off its attractive black and white keys to him. The temptation is too great. Just him and a life long dream. He sits down on the glossy black bench and sets his drink on the top of the piano, feeling bad about potentially making a water mark on the table, but just for a moment. His middle finger lands on middle G. His fingers start to dance. G, then A, then C. His left hand touches B flat; not a good sound. He ajusts. Before too long, he is engulfed by the harmonies of his master piece. He hears nothing except for the cheering and laughter of his inner child as he is finally fed. A smile of true happiness crawls onto his face. The kind of smile that finds you at truly happy moments. He had not felt the warmth and comfort of the smile in a while. He looked out of the venitian-blinded window for a quick gulp of inspiration. He looked back at the keys; they glimored. Time became a blur as his drink sweat and a song was born.

What If You Want To Forget Where You Were?

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:01:00 +0000

This is a creative writing piece based of of Wilhelm Sasnal's piece "Untitled." In the piece, there are two shoes tied together by the laces hanging for a tree.

For a year I walked the country. Just my shoes and me. From ocean to ocean I saw many things, mountains and valleys, rivers and deserts, cities and forests. I met people that cahnged my life, but still, I only wanted my shoes for company. Shoes go everywhere with you, whether you realize it or not. They see everything you do, touch everything you touch. Shoes are part of who you are. Shoes are a much better travel companion than anyone else can dream to keep. They never complain when its too cold, or too hott. And they are always there to protect you. Some people think I'm crazy, for only loving my shoes. But really, they are all the crazy ones. Why would anyone depending on another person? Human beings are the most unrealible creatues in the universe. Many people don't realize it, and for a long time I didn't either. But in time the truth came out. This is what the only thing I believed in before my journey. But as I wandered, I realized something else entirely. True attachments can not be made with inanimate objects. The very essences of living is to have relationships. My last travel was to a quiant little town. Each and every person there was so honest, none of the BS that comes out of everyone else came from these people's mouths. As I was walking away from the town, like I did every other time I had spent a usffeciant amount of time there, I began to think that maybe it was time to give this life of solitude. For once, I felt a need to build relationships, to bond with people. As I started to turn around, I saw a single tree on the side of the road. I looked down at the things I once thought of as my friends. I began untieing the laces, remember everywhere we had traveled together. From the cities to the forests, from the rivers to the deserts. I began to see how truely lonely I had been this entire time. Although my travels had changed my life, now I just wanted to forget the hard times and start over. I tied the laces together and through them on the branch of that tree. For a moment I looked at them, wondering if I would miss them, or if perhaps they would miss me. Then I walked towards the town, and I never looked back again.

ZEE

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:14:08 +0000

Today my painting class took a little trip to the Wood Street Galleries to see the new exhibition by Kurt Hentschlager. Hentschlager's installation Zee is an immersive environment that creates an indescribable sensation.

The gallery attendant is required to issue a safety warning saying it's suggested that people who have a history of epilepsy, photosensivtivity, who are claustrophic, agoraphoic or experience anxiety attacks should not view the piece. And the list of other potential health hazzards went on. Ironically hearing all of this made my heart beat much faster giving me more of an apprehensive feeling.

So nine at a time can view the installation. We walked through a door entering a small hallway lit by a single blue light. Then walking through another door we were inside the piece. Billowing clouds of artficial fog and stroboscopic lights fully obscure the space. It was like walking into a dream like blizzard. People would float in and out of view disappearing like ghosts. I went from feeling disoriented and tense to a calm surreal. "The physical world mutates into a primordial soup of pulsing sound, mist and colored light. It is both terrifying and transportive" says artist Claudia Hart. I would highly recommend going to see the exhibtion.

Veins

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:46:31 +0000

http://free.napster.com/player/?play_id=16007209&type=track

Recently I came across a song called Veins by an artist named Charlotte Martin and I was pleasantly surprised. I think the song is so infectious. I hear the sound resonating inside my head and find myself humming the tune. Similar to Tori Amos's poetic songwriting and Bjork's expressive singing style Charlotte Martin sings Veins with electrifying passion atop percussive piano and heavy pulsating drumbeats making your heart beat faster.

Three Kinds in Transition

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:23:25 +0000

Isolated in a stairwell adjacent to the Hall of Sculpture, a simple light box displays Haegue Yang's sequence of images depicting globes and orgami forms transforming from one to the next. The day I saw the piece it was alternating images of brightly colored orgami structures. The forms changed skins like a chameleon, black and white metaphored into eye popping candy colors and back again.

I remember when the Zero Gravity interns met withLowry Burgess, an art professor at CMU, and he talked about various ways to simulate the sensations of zero gravity, one of those ways is to look at something crossed eyed. So I decided to test this idea. I stared at Yang's orgami structures for a few minutes with my eyes crossed and I began to see the colors slowly shifting, bleeding from one color to the next. One color would linger for a few seconds acting as a kind of shadow overlapping the next color only for a brief moment until the next set of colors would appear. I felt a strange lightness feeling possibly from being dizzy, but either way it was a cool experience.

The piece made me think of how we all are in a constant state of transition moving through space where it seems like moments in time go by so quickly unnoticed. No matter what we do inevitabily time will go on whether we are ready or not.

Posted by Tyler

Friedrich Kunath, Untitled

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:44:29 +0000

There are many works by Friedrich Kunath within the gallery. The one we focused in on is on the far right corner of the wall. It's on a muave canvas and Kunath used watercolor paints. There are two rings converging in the middle, one of which is giving off rainbow hues, the other, black and gray. A silhouette of a man with a hat is walking between the two. There are also formations, almost like those of buildings or castles, in the back of each section, the one on the dark side being black and the ones of the colorful side being magenta and purple. In our opinion, one side is the good in life, the joy and happiness we're able to feel as humans. The other is the pain and the agony we're bound to feel at some point in our lives. Humans are constantly crossing between the two worlds, sometimes lingering in one for a long period of time before finding themselves back in the other. In this day and age, happiness and sadness are flighty feelings that can often be changed or manipulated by something quickly. Pleasure is at our fingertips with technology like computers and cell phones that we're constantly crossing that defined line of content and dispair. These days, happiness can indeed by bought, but it usually turns out to only be temporary fix.

Mark Manders' "Continuous Livingroom Scene"

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:39:59 +0000

Mark Manders has many fantastic pieces in Life on Mars. One of his most interesting is "Continuous Livingroom Scene," consisting of two sculpted men that are split in half with a piece of wood. The sculpted men seem to be of an ancient styling, possibly Sumarian. When first observing this piece, it seems to be no more then just a sculpture. But on closer examination, there is a deeper meaning behind the piece.

Symposium is discussions Plato had with other philsophers on the existence of love. One interesting theory was Aristophanes' idea on the origin of love. He believes that humans were once two-on-one. There were men against men, women against women, and men against women. Long ago, the two-on-one humans were beginning to become to powerful for the Gods to handle. So instead of just elminating them, Zeus decided to just split them apart, so they were one human being. So Aristophanes' theory was that "falling in love" is finding the person that Zeus split you apart from. The end of his theory is that if humans ever became too powerful again, he would split us so we were a half of a person.

I believe Mark Manders is showing us how he believes that humans in the world today have become too powerful for their own good. Zeus has split us apart again, and we need to find a way to put ourselves back together, hence the wood in the middle of the sculptures. The person I was discussing this piece with thought my idea was very interesting, but that I was overlooking the complete piece. Underneath the two men is a tin sculpture. She believed that it was an ever flowing river, giving a reflection of the two men. It reflected how the men were standing the exact same way, showing the conformity of people today in the world.