I’ve taken a keen interest in Joshua Davis the past little bit. Especially since his presentation at FITC. If you check out his Flickr you’ll find a piece of artwork he did with his daughter. Basically he wanted to teach her how to use watercolours, and in teaching her she taught him.
From May 5-10 he began doing something similar in Italy. He set up some of his un-coloured generated art and had the public fill it in. The description of this photo really really inspired me.
Visit this photo on Joshua Davis’ Flickr
“so in the end… did I like the final visual outcome… I can’t say. Does it even matter? What I did love was the process. I loved the children’s natural willingness to participate. I loved trying to get the older people to remember how fun it was to be a kid again. I loved learning about people’s personalities by watching how they interacted with the project. I loved the stories people told me about themselves.
Most of all… I loved letting go… I tend to spend so much time controlling every aspect of the work I create… that the ability to see things “different” becomes harder and harder. Engaging in collaboration on a large scale means that every person who participates… whether they be 3 or 81 years old has something to teach you.”
That right there is basically why I do anything online. I love getting feedback from people, I love seeing how people interact, I love being involved.
I think that’s why I’m so unhappy right now. I basically come into work to sit behind my computer screens. There’s no one around me all day. I’m alone. It’s depressing. I need interaction, I need to watch, I need to participate.
Anyway, that’s my little blurb for today. Hopefully it inspired you too.