musings for Salon Cafe Emporium Seed Accelerator

• 2012-07-06

  The character of a third place is determined most of all by its regular clientele and is marked by a playful mood, which contrasts with people’s more serious involvement in other spheres. Though a radically different kind of setting for a home, the third place is remarkably similar to a good home in the psychological comfort and support that it extends…They are the heart of a community’s social vitality, the grassroots of democracy, but sadly, they constitute a diminishing aspect of the American social landscape.

  — Ray Oldenburg, creator and champion of the “third place.” (via butlertill)

  Source: butlertill

• 2012-07-03

  Though I do not believe
  that a plant will spring up
  where no seed has been,
  I have great faith in a seed.
  Convince me that you have a seed there,
  and I am prepared to expect wonders.

  — Henry David Thoreau

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  Excerpt from The Cluetrain Manifesto that evokes the ethos at least Evelyn would like to strive for. Maybe it’s up your alley too.

  The first markets were markets. Not bulls, bears, or invisible hands. Not battlefields, targets, or arenas. Not demographics, eyeballs, or seats. Most of all, not consumers.

  The first markets were filled with people, not abstractions or statistical aggregates; they were the places where supply met demand with a firm handshake. Buyers and sellers looked each other in the eye, met, and connected. The first markets were places for exchange, where people came to buy what others had to sell — and to talk.

  The first markets were filled with talk. Some of it was about goods and products. Some of it was news, opinion, and gossip. Little of it mattered to everyone; all of it engaged someone. There were often conversations about the work of hands: “Feel this knife. See how it fits your palm.” “The cotton in this shirt, where did it come from?” “Taste this apple. We won’t have them next week. If you like it you should take some today.” Some of these conversations ended in a sale, but don’t let that fool you. The sale was merely the exclamation mark at the end of the sentence.

  Market leaders were men and women whose hands were worn by the work they did. Their work was their life, and their brands were the names they were known by: Miller, Weaver, Hunter, Skinner, Farmer, Brewer, Fisher, Shoemaker, Smith.

  For thousands of years, we knew exactly what markets were: conversations between people who sought out others who shared the same interests. Buyers had as much to say as sellers. They spoke directly to each other without the filter of media, the artifice of positioning statements, the arrogance of advertising, or the shading of public relations.

  These were the kinds of conversations people have been having since they started to talk. Social. Based on intersecting interests. Open to many resolutions. Essentially unpredictable. Spoken from the center of the self. “Markets were conversations” doesn’t mean “markets were noisy.” It means markets were places where people met to see and talk about each other’s work.

  Conversation is a profound act of humanity. So once were markets.

  Source: cluetrain.com

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  The important question is not “where are the strange thinkers?” but “why are my processes not bringing the entrepreneurs I want to work with into my social circle?

  — Isa (reply to “Rise Strange Thinkers, We NEED You!” by Jordan Cooper)

  Source: jordancooper.wordpress.com

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  Imagine a crossroads of time and space where merchants and sellers from all multiplicities come together to trade. Their voices hark back to when and where people made their living by living their making.

  1938: Dave Packard and Bill Hewitt bake their hand-painted oscillators on the kitchen oven (while working out of a garage).

  2012: San Jose youth tinker, experiment, and unify entrepreneurship and arts through an “accelerator” which blossoms over the course of the installation. 

  - excerpted from 2012 proposal for a site-specific ZERO1 installation called “QUIXOTIC ACCELERATOR” that wasn’t ultimately approved. Aspects of the proposal hold water for a creative innovation space + coffeehouse + virtual market +& more. However, my honest assessment re-reading my own proposal is that it’s too watered down, I’d take it in an edgier direction when external grant approval isn’t an issue.

  I’m in agreement with this interview I just read with Max Levchin, I’d too like to see “more startups trying for bigger things.” I’m into culture-making impact, and Levchin made an interesting statement: “Games and entertainment can aim pretty high. The world can occasionally be changed by an amazing piece of art or music or writing.”

  Ideally, the final space is all-ages (13-1099 years old) for a multiplicity of creative and innovative dreams coming into fruition.

  PHOTO CREDIT: Popup storefront hand-decorated by designer Poketo.

  Source: evelynrodriguez.typepad.com

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  yet another way to Demo, to Launch, to Lunch, to Flock, to Frolic

  Some of these ideas are obviously obsolete since ‘07, or have evolved but parts still hold appeal… 

  Jan 31, 2007

  yet another way to Demo, to Launch, to Lunch, to Flock, to Frolic

  I want to jump in the fray around Demothis week with a pre-announcement. Since everyone’s asking what I’m baking these days, here’s a peek inside the oven:

  Imagine walking right into a set, a living theater of sorts, a pop-up teahouse and brasserie evoking the artistic foment and intimacy of the Parisian salon.

  A laidback running showcase for eclectic installations of provocative and live social art, aesthetic and green designs, Web 2.0 demos (including a boutique digital screening room, etc.)

  A convivial spa of conversation catalyzing fertile verges.

  A community space for people to commune with people of every stripe. (Devoted but not pushy about transforming “the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”)

  Each production comes once around for less than a season, never to be repeated again, to instanteously pop up in another incarnation somewhere else in the Bay Area (initially).

  This time, the swirling philosophers and literati of a Vienna coffehouse with Art Nouveau vibe

  (exit stage left)

  Now, the Silk Road beckons saffron and cinnabar colored plush pillows spice-laden opium den  (sans opium)

  (exit stage right)

  Now, what does your fantasy fancy?…

  “All the world’s a stage,

  And all the men and women merely players” - Shakespeare, As You Like It

  I haven’t seen anything quite like it I can point you to. But something about Colette’s in Paris reminds. Something about New Frontier on Main at this year’s Sundance Film Festival reminds: 

  “New Frontier on Main is Sundance’s newest venue,showcasing moving-image [video] installations, live performances, microcinema screenings, new media technology,and the Rabbit Hole, a DJ lounge cafe.” (more in this great article, “Sundance’s New Frontier preserves artistic integrity”, Variety, January 17, 2007)

  “I’ve always lovedDEMO-style conferences (like the one going on in Palm Desert today) where entrepreneurs show off their creations for the first time to an audience of their peers, the press, and investors.” - Jason Calacanis, “Taking the payola out of DEMO-ing: The TechCrunch 20 Conference (or, I’m back in the conference business baby!)

  This doesn’t replace any expos or conferences, but I’m yearning for gatherings more sassy than a conference, and I’m willing to bet others are too.

  I applaud the launchpad that Mike and Jason are giving visionaries to demo their dreams based on merit, not who’s able pony up fees:

  “It is a well known secret that if you are willing to pay the $15,000+ fee, your startup will really need to suck to be turned down.” - Mike Arrington, “The TechCrunch20 Conference”

  I don’t have my model entirely cranked out, yet. But, claro que si, it’s about the artists, innovators, entrepreneurs pushing the edges.

  p.s. Comment, blog, email, text, or call 408 513 7324 [no longer my number] if you are interested in participating in anyway.

  dancers? investors? musicians? VJs/DJs? sponsors? videographers? filmmakers? accountants?  real estate gurus? conceptual artists? chefs? burners? producers? set designers? experimental theater folks? etc. etc?

  Source: evelynrodriguez.typepad.com

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  But what is the book about? It’s about the connection economy and the value created when we give up doing what we’re told (and avoiding what we fear) and start making art instead.

  — Seth Godin

  Source: avc.com

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  (via arquitecturb)

  Source: promieniowanie

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  Worth looking at my Accelerator link bookmarks too

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  As Sundance becomes progressively more established as a global film market, fest programmers have to work diligently to preserve its artistic integrity. Hence the unveiling of an expanded New Frontier section this year, featuring moving image installations from 11 visual artists.

  …. [Shari] Frilot promises the New Frontier on Main will be “as much a social space as an art space,” with an adjunct lounge boasting DJs and a chance for face time with the artists themselves.

  Much of the installation art has a social aspect as well. Lincoln Schatz’s “Cluster” is a sort of mutating mirror that records its observers, then blends that footage into an evolving collage with other images recorded previously. Shu Lea Cheang’s “MobiOpera” invites the hoi polloi to contribute cell phone-helmed segments to form a composite soap-opera. And the aptly titled “Lunch Film,” commissioned by Mike Plante, treats 14 filmmakers to lunch in return for a short film made with an equivalent amount of money.

  “It was a goal to include new media,” Frilot explains. “The whole scene is changing now, where distribution is becoming part of the narrative — of the filmmaking — where you’re there looking at something and you actually become part of the story.”

  While all of the installations utilize film or video, some are particularly inspired by cinematic history. “Copenhagen Cycles,” from Eric Dryer, uses a series of zoetropes to create a mobile portrait of the Danish capital. R. Luke Dubois exploits Sundance’s industry connection even further in his piece “Academy,” which compresses each best picture Oscar winning film into a single minute and runs them consecutively.

  According to director of programming John Cooper, compatibility with the festival was a concern when soliciting artists.

  “I like the fact that we’re providing a platform in the film world, instead of the museum art world,” he says. “So we did look for artists that seemed right for that context.”

  But will the amassed acquisitions execs, busy scouring screenings for the next “Little Miss Sunshine,” take time out to nurture their artistic side?

  “Ah, we don’t care,” laughs Cooper, adding: “We have a launch party for it on the opening night of the festival, even before the opening-night film. So we’re certainly committed to making sure people know it’s there.”

  But beyond aggressively promoting it, the 17-year festival veteran is content to give the show room to grow.

  “We’re letting it sort of build on its own, which is how we did everything early on at Sundance,” Cooper notes. “We don’t decide where to take things, or what will be the next movement. You just follow what the artists are doing, and they’ll take you there. So it’s so much more organic, and kind of no-fail.”

  Excerpted from Variety Magazine, “Sundance’s New Frontier preserves artistic integrity,” January 17, 2007

  Photo Credit: http://littleveganplanet.tumblr.com/post/17758423135/sundance2012

  Source: variety.com