Tristan Tzara Video
by ArtotemArt

The Continuum
​Created by ArtotemArt

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Life, mine and yours has a place in the vast continuum of existence if only for the time span of each of our lifetimes. This continuum contains the “I Have Been”, the “I Am, and the “I Will Be” of self. This special timeline reaches backward and forward from the moment of right now. Right now is influenced by the chosen and random narrative of what came before, mixed with the choices of this very moment and the randomness of now. The “I Will Be” of my future and yours is understandable (if only partially) by exploring the “I have Been” and the “I Am” of the narrative and artifacts of self.
   
Personal Narratives and Artifacts
 
Our personal narrative of self contains the stories we piece together of our life. Some are accurate representations of life and self and some are not. These stories, colored by our beliefs and inclinations, can be more powerful than the circumstances and events were it possible to consult an impartial observer. In essence, they are really our personalized alternative narratives and are explanatory artifacts for understanding life. My narrative is no different and is represented by the blog entries on the first page of this web site.
 
We travelers along this continuum of life create and use artifacts. These artifacts can be physical objects or they can be less visible as pointed out above. Like archeologists we can excavate and expose our “personal artifacts” to a light of the present. We can examine them and define the real and metaphorical connection to their place in our lives.  Doing so can give us some chance of understanding our possible futures in a world that is filled with wonders and yet at times can be difficult.
 
My personal narrative and artifacts are partially represented on this web site. It contains small glimpses of how I examine the “I Have Been” and the “I Am” of my self. Some of the artifacts I present are complete and have their place further back on the continuum; others exist and are being created in the now. All can and probably will lead to the place of  “I Will Be” on my personal continuum and “process of being”.

Collage
ArtotemArt

SHE
 
The upside down pendulum,

slowing time’s twisted travel.

She seeks something.

Certainty’s clarity, a message, a sign.

Something, anything that says, “Yes”.

"Kurt's Flight from Fascism"
​Collage by ArtotemArt

Video Collage impressions of a trip to Berlin - Art & History

These photos are part of an ongoing series entitled "Falling Houses".

The Photos were taken at an abandoned house in Illinois with a curious story. 
​In the 1980’s the couple who lived there, two women, disappeared. They were the owners of the house and the adjacent land which they farmed. A few locals claimed they had moved to somewhere in Ohio. Attempts to find them were never successful. They took nothing with them, even the clothes in their closets were all still there. Unopened mail was sitting on a desk in the living room. The piano had handwritten sheet music sitting ready for a performance. 
As time went by the house began to deteriorate and was eventually broken into by local teenagers. 
At some point a local farmer told me about the house and its mystery.  With his story in mind and real anticipation I went there. It was almost exactly as he described it albeit with some obvious vandalism. As I walked around to the back of the house I saw the back door was open. I stepped in to find the kitchen left in a state that appeared the owner would return at any moment. The kitchen table was set for four. Pots and pans were on the stove. An apron was draped over the back of a chair. Who were those forgotten expected guests in this silent abandoned house? 
A sudden rustling sound in the next room startled me and I cautiously peered around the doorway into the living room. A crow was sitting on the sill of a small broken window and quickly flew off as I approached. While everything was dust covered the house was for the most part fully intact. 
Over the course of a few years I went back each season to photograph the decline of the home and the destructive results of ongoing teenage angst. Each time I went the deterioration was obvious and I was struck by a sense of real sadness at what I saw, a life stopped and crumbling. To this date no one has ever discovered what happened to the owners. Eventually the vandals burned the house down. Nothing remains. 

 
As time went by I returned to the house many times before it was destroyed and began to gather objects and place them in what was basically  assemplabges. The Dada TV is one of those.
​Click to enlarge.

In an article in Huffington Post entitled "The Resurrection Of Boris Lurie And The NO!art Movement" Lisa Paul Streitfeld makes a clear case for the importance Lurie's No!Art movement.
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"Lurie’s art, misunderstood and condemned (when it wasn’t utterly neglected), carries a single-minded integrity of purpose missing from art today — negation screaming out against the inauthenticity of the marketplace and the art world system that supports it."

"Lurie was a concentration camp survivor whose art is a response to the the loss of his mother, his sister, and childhood sweetheart in the face of human cruelty and indifference."

We came back this week from a great trip to Chicago. Of course we had to visit the Art Institute and the National Museum of Mexican Art to get our art fix. Our third always inspirational visit was to the Museum of Science and Industry. 

The Art Institute needs no real introduction if you have visited it. It contains a wealth of art that is astounding. It's current special exhibit is the works of Auguste Rodin. 

The National Museum of Mexican Art is an incredible example of combining art, history, and political dissent from Mexican artists. Our first visit was last year and we were stunned by the quality of work that is presented. If you find yourself in Chicago don't miss this great museum.

The Museum of Science and Industry with its changing exhibitions is a wonder of technology from the past to the present and for me artistically inspiring. 

Fluxing My Fluxus- Video Collage
Video Clips I took at the Museum
​Music - ArtotemArt

I created this animation and video a few years ago when I was working with Mark Watts, Alan's son on a project involving petroglyphs. Mark very graciously gave me an incredible library of books, recordings, and other media regarding his father. I then started putting together presentations reflecting the material. Below is one of them. In it Alan gives us a pertinent warning about technology.
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Alan Watts on Technology
Narration - Alan Watts
Animation and Music by ArtotemArt & Artotems Co.
​Note: The background of the video is based on the city of Hermosillo, Mexico. A favorite hangout for me.

If the wrong man uses the right means the right means work in the wrong way.
​Chinese Proverb