pushing the limits of technology

ERIC

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Dec 31, 2001
Posts
1,851
Loc
New York's Hudson River Valley
Business
Newburgh Mercantile
I subscribe to an email service of an artist. He sends out articles that cover all types of topics. Some are good, but this one got my attention.

I am not sure how I feel about the implications of what he is describing. Sometimes the new idea is good, but after the technology is put into place . . . there are unintended consequences.

-----------------------------------------

Remote thinking

March 31, 2006

Dear Eric,

Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood has invented the LongPen.
With custom software and high-speed broadband, her device
permits people like herself to do book signings without having
to be there. At 66 she's getting tired of travelling. I have no
problem with this. But apparently the book buyers do. They
would rather look her in the eye, see her sly smile and hear
her chuckle. In this day of marvelous machines, it's hardly
worthwhile lining up to get to a marvelous machine.

Which brings me to the LongBrush. Invented by me, it permits a
painter to hang out in Yellowknife and paint in Paris. Using
some of Margaret's technology, stuff can be painted virtually
anywhere without the hassle of shipping. Not only that, the
customer gets the thrill of watching it happen. Last week I had
my imperfect but workable machine installed at my Paris
gallery. Today--a transatlantic first--I "remoted" a fairly
reasonable abstract. Confined to a single brush and currently
able to access only eight colours, the work I produced, with
interruptions, took three hours. I charged my regular fee (by
PayPal) for a 24" x 30", which made it a fairly lucrative
day--considering there was no airfare involved.

As I sat in the warm and smoky comfort of my remote log cabin,
happily working my remote brush, the idea of franchising
crossed my mind. Terminals in significant galleries from Rio to
Rome. Simultaneous generation. Limited editions in, say, a
hundred galleries. (I don't do large editions.) International
connoisseurs gathered 'round the terminals, drinking a select
Burgundy, celebrating the shy Canadian recluse who hasn't
spoken to anyone since 1998. "A one-way trip to the bank," I
thought to myself as I took a few minutes to replace some of
the mouse-eaten caulking that hangs from the walls of my cabin.
Over there in Paris, at the receiving end of creativity, the
collector must have been wondering what 'The Great One' was
doing. Then, typically inconsiderate, I took a few more minutes
to get started on this twice-weekly letter. And yes, a letter
like this one--or even a novel--might be conceived in one place
and written in another. As a matter of fact, this letter just
got written onto your screen the moment you opened it up.
You're over there and I'm over here. What's the world coming
to? Happy April 1st!

Best regards,

Robert

------------------------------------

Get what I'm trying to say now?
party.gif
 
Sounds like a Buckley Moss or a Kinkade sorta thing. With ol' Pat, all her pencil sigs are artificailly produced but at least the tiny type on the bottom of the print sez that.
 
( Jim - that's why I never make it TOO obvious that it is an April fool's joke. There's a bigger 'oh man!' moment when people read it too quickly. But don't tell Mike about it just yet ;) )
 
personally I like the idea..joke or not..think of the technology involved with such an idea.
However it does miss the one on one personal touch.
 
Back
Top