Intervals: Julieta Aranda
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
April 10 – July 19, 2009
Peepholes, phosphorescent ink, camera obscura, translucent screens, time… Wish I could be there!

In Aranda’s presentation, four conceptually related works propose an alternative notion of temporal experience as a shifting and unquantifiable state, liberated from rigid conventions of measurement. In an interstitial space near the museum’s staircase, a peephole reveals the image of an hourglass, a traditional symbol of mortality. Viewed through the refracting optical device of a camera obscura, the grains of sand appear to flow upward in a startling reversal of time’s passage. Nearby, patches of paint on the walls recall the look of covered-up street graffiti, rendered indecipherable yet retaining a ghostly presence in the urban landscape. Here Aranda has transcribed quotations about time drawn from sources that span more than 2,000 years. Using phosphorescent paint, the words become visible only when the space is darkened, momentarily recovering the erased language.

…Intervals is an experimental new series … which invites a diverse range of emerging artists to create new work for a succession of solo presentations…

Sweet!

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The Arts Research Center at UC Berkeley presents
Panel Discussion: Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire: Perspectives from the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences
Lipman Room, Barrows Hall, 8th floor, UC Berkeley
Monday, April 13th, 2009, 4pm
Free admission

This discussion of the interdisciplinary influence of The Botany of Desire will feature the author Michael Pollan, artist-in-residence Alex Harvey, and UC Berkeley professors Ignacio Chapela (Environmental Science, Policy, and Management), Anne-Lise François (English), and Garrison Sposito, (Soil Science, Ecosystem Science. and Environmental Engineering).

Michael Pollan makes me proud to be from the East Bay. If you haven’t read The Botany of Desire, put it on your list — or go to this talk. I think Pollan’s a great figurehead for the movement to take a holistic social look at food, health, and agriculture.

“Farmer in Chief,” his letter to the next president on NYTimes.com was fantastic. I hope to think that the President and First Lady are listening, and that the White House garden is just the first step in revising our agricultural policies towards more economically and environmentally sensible solutions.

Or, listen to his interview on Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR, in which he outlines his suggestions to the federal government, points out why food is a national security issue, and advocates a common sense re-definition of “food.” Good stuff.