On Thursday the 14th, Marcella and I attended an alumni gathering at California College of the Arts for MFA Media Studies. Due to email troubles, it was very poorly attended. As well, Lynn, one of CCA’s finest faculty, wanted to try something new and so instead of the traditional party, she set it up as a salon, with everyone who desired showing work. I asked Marcella to present Disembody.

That worked out really well. It’s always surprising to see what elements of the project others are focussed on. M, for her part began at the blog, and focussed a great deal on the collaborative nature of the project, and the disappointment therein. She also talked about how hopeful she was about the project, because of what she feels it represents. I videotaped the whole thing, and can’t wait to get the footage up. Maybe later this week I’ll have a chance. I know Skye and elise will love it, because it shows such a different side of the project from what I always talk about.

The next day I met Lynn at her studio and we talked about some of her upcoming projects. She’s a working on some really nice new works. She’s also in discussion with Susan about showing at Fringe, which is nice. Lynn supplied me with a slew of alumni names to look up in LA. I’m hoping ot get contact info from her in the coming days. A number of the folks she suggested I speak with might be able to advise on PR. In the original plan for Disembody, I was going to be completely focussed on PR at this stage. HAH! That didn’t work out, did it?

Later that day I met with Hanif and we discussed art. He’s considering applying to MIT for a PhD, eventually.

Which brings me back to the beginning of last week, when Jonny and Erin and I had our first teleconference. It was over an hour. And quite fun, despite initial technical problems. We covered a lot of ground. I need to follow up tomorrow. Erin is about to start a new slew of pieces for us. She’s slated to create ads, postcards, posters, the ephemera page, two print catalogues and a newsprint one sheet schedule for the theater. LOL. Yeah, like she’ll have the time for all of that…

Jonny also has his hands full. I may try and get him out here in June. We need to work on the confessional; streaming multiple webcams; timelapsing multiple webcams; uploading to the internet archive; getting the ephemera page functioning; building a wiki of references and influences to sell as an encyclopedia on a usb stick; and getting a hard drive catalogue up and running.

Heavens.

Bill Viola, Sweet Light, 1977


Jason Rhoades

Amy, Carol-Anne, Alex, Keturah, Lee, Skye. Photo by elise

Aah, these are the days I love most, a non-stop rushing about between elements of the project. Disembodied from 7am to midnight. That’s the most fulfilling thing in life. Here’s a blog entry I scrawled in a notebook first thing that morning:

“The big news this morning was a call from David, our primary builder, who did a cursory schedule for the build, that unfortunately lead him to the conclusion that on top of one week building in the gallery, we need two weeks planning and building in advance. David is one of the handful of people whose salaries are not deferred, so this presents a large problem.

This evening he and I will meet with Ted, Carson, Alex, Carol-Anne and Keturah for a build meeting to see where we are and what needs to be done and such.

Afterwards, he and I will meet separately to figure out how to move forward. Essentially I think David won’t be able to pre-fab the concession stand and bleachers, but instead will simply manage the seven day build in the gallery.

I suspect Carson and I, or Terry and I will build those. David will be entirely focused on the walls and ceiling.”

So, yeah, basically, that’s what happened. We met. David and I had a 9pm dinner and caught up, he’s wicked busy, and he told me he can’t do the pre-fab work. Fortunately I had been kind of expecting this, so I had someone else in mind to make those pieces. My sister’s partner, Terry is a fabulous fabricator, and had been wondering how he would be nepotized into this thing. He found out, he’s now pre-fabbing the bleachers, concession stand and light-up concession menus for the lobby.

Before David and I had our late dinner, we met with Carson, Alex, Carol-Anne and Keturah-Anne (Ted couldn’t make it). This was a great meeting. We concluded that we just could not create a movie screen that people could walk through. My original vision was an actual screen, slit up the center. But that was always going to be too expensive. So, we toyed with doors that might be hidden enough, but I was never satisfied with any of them. I don’t want a door-rectangle on the painted screen of a wall. A tear in the screen I could live with. So, we dropped the idea of the audience emerging from the screen. Sad. But it simplified the build immensely.

If there is no screen emergence, then there is no need for a stage or a stairway or a hallway. So, we re-imagined the space. First off, now we are building just one wall. It will have the concession stand dead center on it in the lobby. To either side will be a door which leads into the theater. The theater will just be the screen and the bleachers. Though, still playing with the idea of a theater, when you enter the theater you initially see not the screen, but the bleachers and other audience members.

This is a big change. But a good one. It takes a lot of weight off.

Also at the meeting, Carl-Anne and Keturah really explained the interior design to David and Carson and we all got on the same page about what the ceiling and other design elements will entail. David had drawn up plan for installing the ceiling and chandeliers. We are going to install a metal frame on the ceiling to support the weight of our design. The lathe and plaster ceiling just didn’t inspire confidence for hanging so much beauty over people’s heads.

Before the build meeting I met with Yosh Han , the amazing perfumer who worked with me on the Henry Wing. We created the new scent, Disembody, for this project. It is very different from Archival, our first scent. Disembody is a very sweet, flowery scent. A true perfume, as opposed to the smell of memory that Archival embodied. I think we’ll easily sell out of the 23 bottles of Disembody that will be available.

After my first call from David, I met with Skye and elise. We looked at some rough footage and talked about ideas for how to edit the film in such a short time. We talked about how we’ll need to keep all of the files hyper-organized, and develop with Amy and Marcella a very concise and direct method of logging.

Just tossed 30+ investor pamphlets because they had a typo. I need to go get a new batch made now.

As  well, I need to deposit a couple investor checks. Which is nice. Though I also have to mail a form to the IRS letting them know that I want to go on an installment plan to pay them the $2,600 in taxes they reckon I owe from last year, for being self-employed. That’s definitely the downside to being an artist/contractor. I owed $2,600 on ~$16,000. Though, the upside is well worth the inconvenience.

Today I’m trying to schedule my LA appointments for this week. And my SF appointments for next week.

Also, my friend Kristin, who Marcella put me in touch with, has put me in touch with another architectural modemaker. LOL, I really never expected the model and screen printing to be the two aspects of this project killing me and running right up to the final moment. But, there it is, you simply can not predict how things will play out.

Spent the evening and morning with Amy working on the Forever What? show (a side project involving me, Skye, Amy and Elise) that opens at Tricycle Gallery in SF in two weeks. She is also pursuing some more investor leads today. Well, if I get her the materials she needs in time.