Spot Portal Maintenance

As part of our efforts to understand the future of Mostlandian mapping, Junior Ambassador and I decided to visit the actual location of the first map of Mostlandia, the one located on Matthew Yake's apartment floor. On Thursday, February 19th, we donned our safety helmets and clip boards and met with Matthew to discuss the current status of the spot. My classmate, Motoya Nakamura, joined us to take the photos appearing in this posting.





Junior and I met outside of Matthew's apartment to discuss our questions, which were:
-Have you noticed any physical changes to the spot in terms of its dimensions, wear and tear, or surroundings?
-Has the spot changed due to any changes in relationships you may have had with other people related to it, such as the woman who painted it, Paige, The M.O.S.T., or any other friends related to your experiences with the spot?
-Have you thought about making any modifications or changes to the spot?
-How can we address the spot in a way that leads to it having a more positive or more desirable relationship to your apartment?





According to Matthew, the spot itself hasn't changed much at all, aside from a little bit of wear and tear, and his storage of record on top of it. During one of our visits to the spot in 2004, Matthew mentioned that most of the objects in his apartment occur in pairs, such as his lamps, paintings, mannequin head decorations, etc. As seen in the picture above, many of these items still do occur in pairs. Rudy and I both noted how the actual spot has more detail than either of us remembers, and commented on how memory has a way of blurring the sharp edges, scratches, and tears of reality.





In terms of the more relational/emotional aspects of the spot, Matthew explained that the spot on the floor and the map of the spot hanging on his wall continue to occupy a larger portion of psyche, in the same way a cat or houseplant might, than other items in the apartment. He explained that to him, the spot has a one to one relationship with The M.O.S.T., comparing it to a portrait, or with the death of The M.O.S.T., an urn. At the same time he noted that they don't get discussed much, a phenomenon he attributes to their "seamless integration into his apartment as purposeful objects" that evolved from dialogue and that represent continuing relationships with everyone involved.





In terms of maintenance, Matthew assured us that the spot is not in need of relocation, dusting, or alteration. His relationship with it is benign enough that he is happy to coexist with it until the day he moves from the apartment. Rudy speculated that the removal of the spot map might cause the entire apartment to crumble around us, and agreed to leave it hanging in its current location. We attached and initialed an inspection sticker to the spot map as a conclusion to our visit, and invited Matthew to contact us in the future should he need any assistance.

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Oregon Council for the Humanities: Relating Through Art:

This article in Oregon Humanities Magazine profiles several social practice artists working in Portland, and includes some words I had to say about my work with the The M.O.S.T.

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Passage 1: A Wake

On August 11, Rudy Speerschneider (the former T of the MOST) and I hosted the first of four passages we intend to make as we move from being portals to Mostlandia to being bonafied citizens of Mostlandia.

This Passage, titled "A Wake", was an effort on our behalf to recognize Mostlandian Citizens for making the past 5 years such an interesting adventure and to celebrate and bring closure to all of the work and achievements of The MOST.


We flew Jen (the S) up from San Francisco, and spent an entire day preparing a panwich bar (much like a salad bar but with pancake for bread) as well as a special 4-layer ice cream with each layer representing one of The MOST. (vodka berry, vanilla lime, glowing orb, and peanut butter chocolate)


After dinner, The MOST toasted the Citizens, and received toasts in return.

Citizen Winter presented us all with a surprise batch of rumballs, and true to form, many people made the pained surprised look of having their first Winter Rumball.


Chris Hudson and her friend David Kyle prepared a beautiful sonic eulogy wherein everyone present were invited to take one turn breathing in for 4 counts and out for 4 counts (one count for each member of the m.o.s.t.) before passing the microphone to the next participant. the breathing was recorded and looped, combined and played back amplified. This piece can be both seen and watched at Chris's website here.



We ended the evening by performing a set of instructions put forth to us by DAMP, our artist friends from Melbourne. The instructions read:

The M.O.S.T Eulogy

1. Press play on portable CD player (please note: no previewing of audio track allowed)
2. Turn up volume (max if possible)
3. Find a rooftop (or go outside)
4. Each wake participant should each take a sheet of reinforced loosefleaf

5. Fold into an aerodynamic flying module *
6. Simultaneously (on the count of three) ignite flying module with naked flame
7. Launch phoenix into the outer stratosphere
8. In synchronicity, vocalise the following:

M.O.S.T is Dead Viva la M.O.S.T

9. Consume champagne ice-cream
* Flying module refers to a paper aeroplane
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The MOST finished by becoming ghosts, something we've been familiar with since we died for the first time in 2003.

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Awwww...

http://classifieds.portlandmercury.com/portland/ViewAd?oid=oid%3A288693
(I hear that Lost and MIA (missing in action) is an anagram of Mostlandia)

Type the rest of your post here.

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The MOST est Mort. Long Live Mostlandia!

The MOST est Mort. Long live The MOST!
Topophilia Trivialist. 14 May, 2008.

Surprising news today in the Trivialist, as it appears that Mostlandia's beloved arts group, The MOST, has passed. Our most up to date information indicates that The M reached a state of fatigue at the thought of another endless meeting, and The S found herself questioning the purpose of the group's presence in artistic settings and art in general. As such, The MOST has declared itself dead and as such will no longer act as a portal from Mostlandia to surrounding terrains.

All members of The MOST are reporting that although this change is momentous to them, the dissolution was amicable. From her home in Oakland, California, The S explained, "Death and change really is a natural part of life. But, you know, it can take time, sometimes a long time, to learn what it means for someone or something to die. And, on the other hand, some things don't die, even when some form they were in died." The O added, "It was a shock to our systems at first, but we all thought that if someone needed a temporary or permanent sabbatical, they should take it. We've been working hard for five years now. That's a long time to dedicate to an effort like this."

News of this event comes as a surprise to many concerned citizenry, who are asking what will happen next. It would be a joke to think that Mostlandia might cease to exist without the presence of the group, but some others wonder whether the stations, such as Ambassadorships and Consulates, as well as the letters themselves, will be refilled. "I mean, isn't that what happens in all of the other organizations across Mostlandia?" asked Citizen Winter. "When an opening comes up, you have to find a replacement. I'd think that the Bureau of Bureaucracy would want new ambassadors." Others, such as Citizen Baxter Nelson, have suggested a monument, such as a miniature golf course be installed at either The S's residence or the Junior Ambassadors food cart.

As part of this change, The M, O, S and T have publicly declared intentions of shedding their letters like metaphorical snake skins and applying to become bonafied Mostlandian citizens. "It's true," explained M. W. Marlow from his station on the Fact Check Floor. "By virtue of being the first known human embodiments of portals to Mostlandia, The MOST were exempt from the citizen paperwork forms 42 NPRS and 13-A5.1. This means that it is now up to the citizens to carry on the public's awareness of Mostlandia. From here on out, the citizens are Mostlandia's torchbearers." For two new citizens, The O and T, their first act will be not lifting the torch but changing their names. The T expects from now on to be known as Junior Ambassador, while The O plans to go by Lady Asher.

Mostlandian Citizen Stephanie Snyder, who is also the curator of the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery at Reed College, has invited the MOST to mark the passage of The MOST and engage in public rituals of their devising into the unknown territories of the future as part of the artistic and literary venture suddenly. www.suddenly.org

From his sun filled window at Junior Ambassadors food cart, The T reflected that Mostlandia, by definition, is a place in constant motion, flux, and change, and that above all, it is a group effort. "We would like to invite all Mostlandian Citizens and Citizens of Other Places inspired by Mostlandia to come together in an act of celebration and to witness this passage of hope and intention. We're planning four events to witness our passage from this last place to the next, and we hope that the friends and supporters we've met over the past five years will be able to join us." And join we will.

Long live Mostlandia! Long live The M.O.S.T.!
---
A wake for The MOST will be held in Portland, OR on Monday, August 11. Contact us at this email address for more information. Flowers and/or balloons will be accepted at 4716 NE Rodney Ave., Portland, OR 97211. Additionally, please join us on September 2, 2008, 7 p.m. at the Cooley Gallery, Reed College, to celebrate the MOST’s passage from one realm to another.

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Unmag Article

Here's a link to a PDF of unMagazine, with an article including The M.O.S.T. titled, "Conflict, Hierarchy, and Hard Work." (pg. 22)

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Original Selections from the Archives for the Recollections of Collections (ARC)

Pictured: our friends, DAMP

If you happen to be visiting the southern hemisphere, come see The M.O.S.T.'s contribution to the Group Group Show at the Victorian College of the Arts! I'll be in Melbourne visiting from March 26-April 6, and would love to visit with some of our Australandian citizens.

For more information about the Group Group Show, click here.

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This Day in History

Some of you may remember 1992 as the year you entered middle school, or the year that William Jefferson Clinton was elected President of the United States of American.

Today, February 29th, also marks the 4th leap year anniversary of The M.O.S.T. being the first arts group to land on the moon.

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The Group Group Show

The MOST is preparing to participate in a show with our friends DAMP in Melbourne, Austraila centered around artists who work in groups.
We have decided to display a variety of cardboard reproductions of various 'tools' we use in our work together, such as safety cones, stamps, briefcases, staplers etc.



I spent most of the day Friday trying to get consensus with the rest of the group about what text we should use to represent ourselves in a catalogue related to the show, and what 3 images we should use to explain our process and compliment the items that will go in the show.
We picked the phrase, "It's not a matter of where it is, but how to get there" to represent how we work as a group, both in terms of how we think of Mostlandia, and how we come to decisions collectively. We began talking about this at 7 AM Friday morning and chose the following images for the catalogue at 12AM Saturday morning:

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February 4 Critique

For my group critique this quarter, I invited 3 Mostlandian citizens, Violet "Winter" Lakeland, Michael Reinsch, and Mike Merrill, to come speak to my classmates about how they perceive Mostlandia. I gave a short presentation about who the MOST is, how we discovered the map of Mostlandia on our friend Matthew's floor, and about the various instances, such as the Mostlandian Embassies and the Yake Spot Portal where we have offered citizenship to Citizens of Other Places.


I thought that instead of people looking at my website or some pictures and talking about them for an hour, I would instead invite the citizens. This is not because I see them as my art project necessarily, but because I am really interested to learn more about why the have continued to participate in our projects past the time when they became citizens. It seems important to me to include their first hand experiences of Mostlandia in my description of what I do because it seems like their participation completes/expands my activity as an artist. It also seemed to me that like hearing from citizens first hand would be more interesting than me telling the class about it.

I asked the following questions:
- Please give your name, and what you do in your daily life.
- What do you want to tell us about Mostlandia?
- How do you describe Mostlandia to other people?
- Describe what happened when you first encountered Mostlandia.
- How do you participate in Mostlandia?
- What causes you to continue participating?

The feedback I received was interesting to me, however, I'm not sure whether the class knew how to interact with our visitors. I think that this was an interesting experiment, and would like to get more feedback from citizens, but perhaps without an audience.

Another element of this discussion was that at some point Harrell told us that Mostlandia contains, for him, three of the things he hates most in the world: patriotism, paperwork and bureaucracy.

Harrell's other critique revolved around an example Khris gave where someone visited one of our embassies and asked him if he could help them get official paperwork to get their daughter a visa. Khris told the person that he could give them paperwork, but that the Australian government might not recognize it. Harrell's main point was that at that time, Khris should have left his post at our Embassy and helped the visitor go navigate the Australian bureaucracy. Khris's main response was that he couldn't really contingency plan for such an event. My response was that Khris was honest and that it wouldn't have really made sense to leave our show and take on this other project - we needed him at our office. Harrell maintained that we should have contingency plans for everything, anything, but I don't know that I agree with that.

I wrote an email to The MOST describing the feedback we got as such:
Cyrus wanted it to be more fun, and said he didn't like how the audience didn't talk more. He said he wanted to say a lot of things but wasn't sure how to interject or talk about stuff.

Eric thought it shouldn't be fun because it was in the school setting. he also thought that we should all watch the extended version of lord of the rings all three movies together in one sitting. because, "you have the whole light vs dark, and in the end even the golum is involved in destroying the ring, and someone who you didn't expect - samwise gange (sp) - was the hero to the end. and this struggle is really about the end of the world, and you have the fellowship who comes together to save it"

Avalon presented me with a mathematical equation showing how Mostlandia is real based on variables such as imaginary(I), real(R), mostlandia(M)... if he posts it on his blog like he said he was going to, I'll send you all the link.

Amy steel said that she really enjoyed just watching Violet talk.

Eric and Michael both appreciated how Mike Merrill was able to articulate his thoughts in an interesting way.

Varinthorn said she really wanted Rudy to talk more because she enjoyed listening to him.

The visiting artist, Kate Procrass, thanked us for presenting, and said she thought that our work was really interesting. She said she enjoyed the way we talked about history and place as subjective things.

Violet said she had never thought about art in the way we talked about it in the critique. She wasn't sure how to think or talk about it.

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The MOST @ Pecha Kucha, Feb 11

Khris and Rudy spoke at the Feb. 11 Portland Pecha Kucha night.
The theme for the evening was "Layers: Hidden and Apparent Contstructs".
We went last, and got a rousing reception from the audience. Think Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update meets Mostlandia in all the best ways.

Below are our first 2 slides with text. Try to imagine them read out loud...
"Timeless. In Person. Local depending on where you are located at. It's the KKJR Power News Desk Team reporting in 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.."
Place, intimacy, fun, and documentation: these are the guiding principles of KKJR. Mostlandia is nowhere and nooooooowwww here.

In tonight's headline story, the Misplaced Items Authority has successfully located many pairs of lost shoes. The Authority is unable to return the shoes to the claimants, as they have since been incorporated in Mr. Ashton Rhodesia's Telephone Wire Museum of Unusual Footwear. Mr. Rhodesia tells the KKJR Power News Desk that he plans on returning them to the rightful owners as soon as he can figure a way to get them down.

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Poll Results

The Results are in from my blog-reading audience.

The MOST is trying to think of a list of people who might be good at teaching other artists about humor, or who might give us solid insights into what is funny. If you have ideas for other people, use the comments section of this blog to let me know.
Results after the jump!

Lone Twin - 7 votes
Amsterdam City Employee - 5 votes
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4 Votes:
David Sidaris
Werner Herzog
John Cleese
Rudy's Jr. High friend
---
3 Votes:
Dr. Hoffenmittlerhymendorfenmutter
Nature Theater of Oklahoma
San Keller
Bob Obenkirk
Facilitator
Norbert
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2 Votes:
Andy Dickson
Geostationary Banana Over Texas
Kassys
Fluxfactory
Royal Art Lodge
Michel Gondry
David Cross
Motivational Speaker
Carnival Barker
Steve Martin
--
1 Vote:
The Biggest Fags Ever
Wim Delvoye

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Concretising Humor

The MOST has worked out a very loose framework for how participants in the Das Arts program will spend their time.

The information below is meant to give suggestions for the overall arc, daily and weekly content that the MOST would provide during the block with the intent that participants will take, amplify and modify the content to fit their needs and interests.

One of the M.O.S.T.'s strongest beliefs in the idea of mentoring the Humor in the Arts block is that humor – specifically, comedy – does not have to play a role in the day-to-day of the Block itself. By the nature of the name of the Block, the participants will know what they are expected to explore. We believe that the experiences presented within the course of the Block can encourage Humor in Art without necessarily being funny in their own right. We believe in the abilities of the participants to explore humor in their own art without being presented with ten weeks of stand-up routines, and that sometimes exploring completely humorless topics can open up new insights to really funny stuff.


Additionally, we believe that the visiting artists that we invite will play a large role in the creation how to explore the thematic presented, but also expect that we, as moderators, and the participants will be intimately involved in developing and modifying content for the block. We will consider the visiting artists as experts who bring with them their particular expertise and help shape the overall weekly themes/processes. A good example of the type of structure and spirit of working together is the format embraced by the American sketch program Saturday Night Live, where the host (i.e. visiting artist) is introduced to the participants at the beginning of the week. Over the course of 5 days, the visiting artist will be invited to help us explore themes such as humor, current events, personal histories, fears, etc. and to create some sort of project within the week. We will be suggesting this as a possible format to our visiting artists, although we intend to be flexible.

We envision that the beginning weeks of the block would be focused on activities that encourage everyone involved – the participants, the mentors, and the staff – to become very comfortable around each other, and to really learn the personalities of one another. In exploring the theme of humor, it is integral to be able to do it in an emotionally safe environment, and we would enable this by practicing group activities. Examples of such activities are:
• Making a seven-layer cake as a group
• Playing the card game Apples to Apples (where players have to guess each other's aesthetic tastes)
• Experimenting with something The MOST calls "Getting to Know You," which is a form of interpersonal show-and-tell. During this, participants would be invited to show and tell about current work, inspirations, fears, life stories, a photo, a story, a style, or a clip from a favorite movie etc.

These actions taken on their own may appear inconsequential but as a whole will form a common bond of camaraderie. We want to start by giving participants opportunities to try new things within the group that are less about struggling and more about opening up and sharing successes.

Starting with the first or second week, we will introduce the idea of "practices" where we would be setting up a context for working on these same activities throughout the duration of the term, even if they end up drastically morphing over time. Some possible examples of these are:
• Hosting a twice a week Mostlandian fancy dancing class, or other particularly difficult choreographed exercise
• Once a week band practice
• Walks along a specific path throughout downtown Amsterdam
• Afternoon writing hour (or half hour)
• Compilation of a reader of sorts with historical humor, images, projects, recipies, any research or writing we find or do
• Experimentation with improvisational acting
• Morning movement sections lead by us and participants
• Guided meditations
Having a regular weekly schedule of activities will reinforce the idea of togetherness as well as providing a repetitive structure that allows for surprising, absurd and possibly humorous deviations.

As humor is not created in a vacuum, we would foster an environment where the participants work in groups to create finished products. The middle portion of the ten weeks would focus on participants working in pairs or small groups over longer periods of time to create pieces with the intent of going deeper and wider with our initial explorations. Examples of ideas for this portion of the block include:
• Working to make costumes or uniforms
• Inviting a trained facilitator to guide us in developing consensus on a subject or action plan
• Interventions at or further exploration of places discovered during our walks.
During this time projects would be guided by us, the moderators, but not developed by us.

Additionally, we would like to propose that on two weekends (possibly the 3rd and 7th weekends) we try to accomplish some sort of activity that is grand in scale and completely out of the ordinary. We haven't yet established what this might be, but have talked about the creation of a large puppet, a weekend "retreat" for reflection, writing or work-shopping actions and explorations or other event.

The very end of the program would culminate in final displays of our weekly explorations and attempts, such as:
• A final attempt at the difficult choreographed work
• A "best of," or reenactments of events developed in conjunction with the visiting artists
During the final 2 weeks, we would like to develop a very specific, "psychic" closing of the program, in order to acknowledge the finality of the experience. We feel that this would be lead primarily by participants, but would involve developing events towards a conscious ending of the program. We would be working towards acknowledging what we accomplished, discussing the meaning of our time together, displaying our work, and reflecting on how to take it forward into our future work.

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Benchmark MOST-alogue

Here is a little rundown of some thoughts we are tossing around regarding the prospect of a Mostlandian benchmark:

Katy wrote:
I am interested in making the equivalent of a mostlandian geological benchmark: would it attach to hot air balloons? Would spectrometer surveyors use them to cast lots, or vote on whether a place is Mostlandic? Would they float, be carried in the pocket? Do they create portals or mark portal occurrences?

This is really interesting to me from my previous craft days - primarily, my interest in how a sculptural object can serve a purpose in an active and meaningful way. For examples, my favorite coffee mug is an object that has meaning to me, but it also carries liquids.

the benchmark or _____mark could mark something temporary, or something weighty, or something permanent that's not permanent.

Is anyone following me here? I'm trying to say I'm not totally invested in putting it in the ground forever, but I am interested in making the marker, because it carries a sort of significance about place being important. And Geologists use them also to track moments in time - moments in rock where something fossilized, or moments in elevation, or movement of glaciers.

This could lead to discussions about how long a place stays mostlandian after a person isn't there. or how some mostlandics and/or surveyors might place these in different places throughout their days to see where they move to, or disappear to.

Here are some links to images about benchmarks:
http://www.geocaching.com/mark/#kinds (707 different benchmarks were located and posted in this database in the last 7 days)
http://ak.water.usgs.gov/glaciology/

Khris Wrote:

I should first disclaim that I have not investigated your links.

I don't believe that a Mostlandian Geologic Marker should be designed to be placed in any permanent location, except for maybe ones that denote (the exceedingly rare) fixed, permanent portal. The only fixed, permanent portal that I can think of is Paperville, Ohio.

Regular benchmarks are points of reference for measurement, which is something that is physically impossible in Mostlandia due to the fluid nature of space and time. Therefore, what things in Mostlandia can be used as permanent reference? I would say that personal experience is a permanent reference, but then that neglects collective experience. Collective experience can reference events, I suppose. Events can be utilised as benchmarks for the passage of time: three moons ago, a month of Sundays, etc.

What are other permanent things in Mostlandia that can be measured against?
Could the marker be like a roll of the dice?
Could the marker be shaped like the eight or twelve sided die inside of a magic eight ball, with different responses on each of the different sides? "Results hazy, please try again"? Or "Mostlandia: somewhere to your left?"

Rudy wrote:

I read the link to the benchmark article/info that katy sent, i'd recommend reading it if you haven't. it makes the idea of using/making benchmarks, and benchmark "hunting", in mostlandia a very fun and applicable practice.
The first thing i noticed is how it can maintain the fluidity of Mostlandia's nature.
The appeal of making/placing benchmarks, or stamps, or portalmarks, is its documentation potential. The benchmarks can be invisible or missing or moving in the physical world but real in the record or database, where the story is told of how or where or what. And we, or participants in this knowledge/information, can add to it or subtract from it based on observations either with "hunting" or simply noticing something somewhere which may not have been noticed and would be helpful in the constant surveying Mostlandia. That's what i like about the article is that benchmarks are "official" business, but it invites anyone with a tape measure to participate. So I can see the permanent markers, in fact, be very temporary, shifting, fleeting, etc. Like a water tower that was once documented as a benchmark is now a maple tree.
And has moved four paces to the left.

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Volcanoes, Portal Predictions & Benchmarks

The MFA students have the opportunity to do a bronze pour in the next couple of weeks, and I have been thinking a lot about what kind of object I might be interested in bringing into the world. Below are some thoughts about why the prospect of a pour interest me.

My grandfather, Dwight "Rocky" Crandell, worked as a USGS vulcanologist for most of his life. He predicted the eruption of Mt. St. Helens 5 years before it blew in 1980 (see publication, left), and was responsible for helping to identify where the Osceola mudflows flowed the last time Mt. Rainier erupted. (btw - they flowed into some areas of Washington state that are now being heavily developed, and his research suggests that people living in these areas should be aware of the danger of future devastating mudflows.) Something I learned at a young age was that my grandfather was able to predict the future due to his research into layers of rock, sediment and debris below the surface of the earth. These layers build up over time as they are deposited by wind and water. By looking at the layers, he would note changes in soil, such as a layer of ash or a certain kind of rock, and would measure when these layers were laid upon the earth surface using carbon dating techniques. I always imagined this technique to be something like counting rings on a tree, except counting vertically through layers of soil that were millions of years older than any tree. When he was working on Mt. St. Helens, he noticed layers of ash showing up in hillsides over cyclical periods of time and in this way came to predict that another eruption was due soon.

My connection to my grandfather and an interest in his work lead me to be interested in ceramics during my undergraduate studies, and more currently to ideas of how I might go about predicting the likelihood of Mostlandian portal occurrences.

In undergraduate school, I was drawn to ceramic materials' links to volcanoes and the rock cycle, especially to sedimentary rocks (clay) and metamorphic rocks (fired clay and glazes). I haven't worked with clay in several years, but the molten lava elements of a bronze pour are appealing to me in the same way as looking into the red glow of a fully heated kiln.

As for what this has to do with Mostlandia, one thing that I have been interested in for a while is trying to predict where portals to Mostlandia will occur in the future. For the uninformed, the way that people travel to and from Mostlandia is via portal.. Prior to my work as an ambassador at the Mostlandian Embassy, I headed a research and development team for the Spot-it Brand Portal Spectrometer Company attempting to more accurately predict portal occurrences. I am currently working with the MOST on locating a portal in the South Waterfront neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. Essentially our work right now is to discover the equivalent of a layer of ash in space and time that shows the likelihood of Mostlandia being accessible from this place.


What I have been wondering about is whether or not a cast bronze benchmark (or modification thereof), such as those used for marking the elevation or latitude of a geological landmark might be helpful in predicting or documenting my surveys for Mostlandian portals. I am not at all interested in claiming the land within the proximity of this benchmark, but rather in documenting that the site was surveyed for the purpose of locating a Mostlandian portal. My questions are whether or not placing a mark of such permanence in land limits the way people perceive Mostlandia. After all, Mostlandia is in no way a fixed place, nor is it specifically associated with any "land." Mostlandia is and always shall be a place that happens via experience, and oftentimes the experience of Mostlandia ceases to exist in a particular place after its initial occurrence. Should I include language on the benchmark negating its permanency? Should a Mostlandian benchmark even be placed in soil? I'll include some emails to and from The MOST while discussing this in the next post.

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New Efforts

Mostlandia is headed in a direction I never expected.
Certain factions have actually begun to embrace the possibility of using technology (such as computers and the world wide web) to communicate. I might be jumping the gun, but this trend does seem to be gathering some speed.

Does this have something to do with the ceremonial Computer Hacking we held earlier this summer as part of the Mostlandian Championships?





Hard to tell.



I present the following links as evidence:
Portal Spectrometry: South Waterfront
wiki.mostlandia.com
Land and Sky
Khris Soden
Junior Ambassadors

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Professors MOST

From the T.

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Humor Round 5

After our meeting, The M mustered his courage to write the final draft. This is what was sent to the people at Das Arts this morning regarding our thoughts on humor in the arts, and how we, The MOST, might approach a curriculum in this vein:

The Group for Aesthetics and Silliness in Everyday Situation (GASES) Committee

"Where humor is the methane released from the cow of artistic process as it digests its food"

Committee Resolutions

The Spirit of Humor
The aim of humor is discovery, and the province of humor is human nature. Humor is a vessel that slyly conveys themes and ideas, even when those themes and ideas are difficult, serious, or frightening. Laughing out loud can lead to serious trouble, wile being too serious can be funny business.

Humor and Process
Humor is largely a side effect of process. Humor requires the setting of a context and the surprising or insightful alteration of that context. Context evolves from the development of processes: patterns, narratives, or reliances on expectations.

Vulnerability in Humor
Humor is learned through practice, but often the failure of the intention is what meets the goal: trying to be funny is sometimes harder than being accidentally funny. For the practitioner, setting out to discover humor makes a person vulnerable and requires courage. In order to explore it, parameters of emotional safety have to be set and gentleness implemented. Working collaboratively in a safe situation allows for failure without losing faith. The ability to tell the same joke again and again until someone laughs at it is valuable.

There Are Mentors, and There Are Experts
The M.O.S.T. recognizes that although humor is an integral part of their artistic output, they are not experts on the subject. The members of the M.O.S.T. see themselves as facilitators for artistic and humorous discovery, rather than experts on the subjects. Visiting guests are the source of expertise.

Committee Suggested Themes for a Framework

Individuality

• The M.O.S.T. believes in recognizing and respecting the existing processes and practices of program participants.
• The M.O.S.T. honors the importance of individual needs and desires of participants, and as such will be partners in the facilitation of projects, rather than dictators of what should be done.
• Individual initiative in the investigation of Humor in Art is integral to each participant, and will not be forced by the M.O.S.T.
• It is recognized that senses of humor differ greatly from indivdual to individual, and this will be explored.
• It is recognized that guests have their own perspectives, and this will be honored.

Collectivity and Collaboration

• The M.O.S.T. believes that humor does not happen in vacuum, and values the dynamics of working as a group.
• The M.O.S.T. believes that collaborative practice allow for greater insight into the minds of others, and open up new avenues of experience.
• The M.O.S.T. believes in the idea of emotional safety, and are dedicated to facilitating collaborative practice in an environment that is helpful rather than hurtful.

Mystical/Poetic Research and Action

• The M.O.S.T. believes that humor in life is integral to humor in art, and that not all practices are directly related to humor.
• The M.O.S.T. believes that seemingly mundane actions, such as daily physical exercise, can easily lead to humorous results. Similarly, the M.O.S.T. believes that fantastic exercises, such as Silly Walks, can lead to serious results.
• It is expected that the mundane will lead to the fantastic, and that the fantastic will lead to the mundane.
• It is also expected that the mundane will lead to the mundane, and that the fantastic will lead to the fantastic.

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Humor Round 4 - meeting

At our weekly meeting last night, The MOST talked about our writing efforts of the last week. We had discussions about how the writing as it stands feels like food with too much salt, or like something you'd eat that needs an ingredient you can't quite put your finger on.

We also talked a lot about how we are being asked to write about humor and create a curriculum about humor, but that we don't necessarily see ourselves or Mostlandia as something that strives to be humorous.

We talked about how people in Mostlandia might approach being told that they must have some deep insights into humor. We think that Mostlandics might not be able to see what is so funny about their lives. As such, they would likely form a committee to explore whether or not that assumption is true, and to what extent. It may be that Mostlandia, at its most mundane, might actually be humorous to Citizens of Other Places, and the committee would be responsible for discovering what that is about.

We spent a lot of time discussing acronyms for this committee. Humorous Extension on Living Protocols/Projects. Huge Exploration of Laughter/Lost/Projects. Discovery of Everyday Situations Klub. Thoughtful Entertainment and Everyday Situations....
We eventually settled on: The Group for Aesthetics and Silliness in Everyday Situations (GASES)

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Humor Side-Round 3

Jen, the S of the MOST, and I also sat down to further suss out the curriculum structure at Khris's bequest. He was confused about how it tied into the humor part of the writing. We had a long discussion about how detailed or general this needed to be. I also had a lot of questions about what Jen meant from the previous version. After our conversation, I tried my hand at making the curriculum structure writing more fluid. It might be that I just have a different writing style than Jen.

We're still working out this idea, and so the writing reflects two people trying to wordsmith four people's ideas. I think it comes out as a little confusing, or dense, but later posts will hopefully clarify. Think of this as a work in progress.

Here's what came of that:

In approaching the structure of this block, we have identified 3 working principles that we see feeding into how we want to relate to the students and to the activities we will provide. These principles are: individuality, collectivism and mystical/poetic research and action.

As a group, the MOST wrestles with the dynamic of being strongly independent individuals and artists yet having a commitment to a true collaborative working practice. This dynamic requires focused listening, respect for the creative process and believing in the value of working together, and would be reflected clearly in our approach to being facilitators for the Humor block. Our relationship to the participants is really about us desiring to be partners in the manifestation of projects or practices that are initiated by the group or the students. We intend to honor the existing practices and processes of the individual and engage with students in a way that honors their needs and desires.

Additionally, we are interested in initiating dynamics of collective camaraderie between block participants. In light of our desire to allow students to retain individuality, we hope to engage students through directed group activities that reflect some of our working processes. The types of activities we would offer are based in things we have explored together as a group, such as walks and adventures to explore the city, and workshops ranging from consensus building to planning large scale frameworks for working towards desired outcomes. We feel that one of our strengths as a group is that we are able to navigate the territory between the needs of the individual and the individual’s desires to connect with others and participate in collective activities similar to those listed above.

Finally, we are interested in designing a structure that will allow for what we describe as mystical or poetic research and activity. This is the place that would allow for unexpected or surreal events to become fun and playful activities. We are interested in exploring and enthusiastically acting upon absurd actions, fantastical suggestions, unexplained insights, and non-linear readings of the linear or concrete world. We see this aspect of our block manifesting in yet-to-be named events that have the possibility for becoming micro-themes or adventures within the block. For the sake of example (but not as an exact plan), we would suggest that participants might want to research “blue” for the whole 10 weeks, or to write a play for 10 minutes every day of the block and act out 10 weeks of plays in one day at the end.

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