Bing Bang Boom

This is possibly the weirdest, coolest group I’ve ever had the fortune of running across. In the process of creating a group presentation for New Media And Performance, we had to read an article about hacktivism. For those not in the know (I was one of them), apparently, “hacktivism” is the “the nonviolent use of illegal or legally ambiguous digital tools in pursuit of political ends” (thanks Wikipedia), which this artist collective etoy.CORPORATION uses to great effect.

Wanna build a Spiral Staircase? etoy does that!

The open source movement is truly unbelievable, and you can really see the seeds of P2P networking and others in works from early internet hacker communities like etoy.

I began designing when I was in Grade Eleven. I designed sets.

This was one of the first images that I ever used to inspire a set; one for Peter Pan. I loved the positioning of the ballerinas backstage, and used the colour scheme and general shape of the girls to sketch an artistic mountain range that dominated the upstage area of the stage. It was far from simple but it was far from static, something that I couldn’t seem to convince my Stage Design teacher of. But one thing that needed no proving was that Edgar Degas is the creator of some of the most interesting, inspirational and beautiful pieces of art that I’ve ever experienced.

Have you ever seen the Ballerina? It is an incredibly detailed sculpture, one that is humbling to see in person. Unlike the Mona Lisa (called La Jaconde in France, in case you’re ever in the Louvre and get lost), the Ballerina doesn’t decrease your respect for it when you see it in person. In fact, my admiration increased ten-fold: the loving details astounded me, from the perfect positioning of the feet to the serene expression on the young girl’s face. It is a level of perfection that inspires me, gives me a level to strive for.

The fact that Degas was more than slightly blind makes all of the effort that much more precious.