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This project (now in progress) is another STORY LAB project down at
Southside at Lamar. I am working with a Saudi Arabian student 
(Ayman ??last-name??). The project is pretty much directed by him, you
know me: I rarely will take the lead in any group situation, despite
my rather strong oppinnionns, etc.  It consists of his "world view"
as an artist. As you are no doubt aware, in the Islamic countries
you are rather limited to the types of art that you can do. (I don't
think they'd quite be ready for things like:

  a) Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ" Link:  

      http://www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/comm544/library/images/502.html

  b) Or even something by the Guerilla Girls. Link:

    http://www.guerrillagirls.com/posters/advantages.shtml


Clearly his exposure to Modern Art (esp here in the U.S. as well as the 
various international inflluences here) create a primary conflict within
him (both as artist, and as a Muslim). His idea for the theme of the work
is the idea of begin "shreaded". (Again we can place Riccio at the centre
stage for the blame [note: "blame" taken here to mean if this thing doesn't
work out, we can let him take the heat on it, if it's a success it's very
likely we won't even mention that it was his idea in the first place for
us to work together. Anyway, as he put it: Here we have Ayman, a person 
from a fairly restrictive and traditional background and Frank, a person 
from the other end of the spectrum. (NOT an exact quote)

The work consists of two areas: One will be a tunnel at the end of which is
a very spiritual expression, and the other is a room expressing the best/worst
of American Guadiness. Sound (specifically music, but if i could get a hold
of some street noises, i would probably be tempted to use them) will be integral.

One idea would be to have in the tunnel the Arabic "Call to Prayer" that a 
person chants before the Muslims go to pray at the Mosque. As contrasting
to that some sort of modern music (probably Rap -- i'm thinking "Black
Star" at this point).  In addition the imagery would be contrasted as 
well. One the one hand some sort of shrine featuring a Koran vs a shine
celebrating the American Automobile. And so forth. 

I've been already searching for music for the NY scene, as well as gathering
the various art things that i want to use. (Part of the theme of Americana
will def revolve around Jazz (thus, drawing upon my b/g in that area).
And (fortunately enough) i was able to rescue my "The Wheel of SurReal"
from the painting room at Brookhaven College -- thank the maker that they
hadn't thrown my stuff out yet! This part will consist of a carnival
event where you spin the wheel and win a prize -- the prize (i'm hope-ing
will consist of shreaded paper, and some sort of art object -- prob
found items packaged attractively in a TV dinner box. (This is an idea
that i have had in mind for almost a full year now, and *finally* it looks
like it will be coming to fruition now!


===================================

One thing to think about would be in the matter of *contrasts*.

For example, the most conservative form of religion precludes the
display form of the nude, and yet the most prevalent form of
liberalism (admitedly: hedonism) has pictures of nude women 
outside of porno-film "studios".

Taking a step back from this, i would plan to display the 
"16 Marylon Monroes" -- reminiscent of Andy Warhol's art
factory days. This would be contrasted with something about
Mohamede (possibly) or else a TILE-DESIGN of a woman (possibly).
Ie, something along the lines of:

     GEOMETRY + Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase"

This could possibly even be done using fractals (probably not
enough time to write the computer program in the time avail, but
we can dream can't we?).

Another contrast would be music. I am searching all of my music
for look and feel works. (At this point, i'm thinking of a set
of b/g music that would play in a loop, and then *feature* 
music that would play "on demand" -- prob to match some activity.)

The music needs to reflect Americana. As such possible candidates
are:

    Jazz & Rap
    Big Band
    Turn-of-the-century music
    Pop Music; eg, Paula Abdul, Willy Nelson, Beach Boys, etc.
    Imported Music; eg, European Classical Music (esp, BaCHHH,
               Beethoven, Strauss, etc)
    Music from commercials.

Which brings up the idea of consummerism/commercialism/the-American-dream.
For this we would have as a primary icon: The American Automobile.
In addition, the shopping mall (eg, Barbar Kruger's statement
"I shop; therefore, i am") needs to be featured. Also, a bit
about the "playboy lifestyle", as well as the "jet-setter lifestyle",
and the "trend-setter lifestyle", and the "american-idol lifestyle",
and the "sports-fan lifestyle", etc.

One other possibility would be that of "American Patriotism". A 
lot could be done here, and it *might* cause a PC uproar; ie,
"political correctness". As such, this might (in view of the
current war, etc), *detract* from the other messages that we
wish to transmit with the thing. So, at this point, i'm thinking
of either the "graffitti wall" (with both pro and con war
slogans), or else nothing at all on politics.

(oh, well: brain tired; more later)

-- Frank.