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Sometimes I think a new year resembles the idea of reincarnation. In reincarnation we are given yet another chance to come to earth and test our capabilities of learning and becoming better people. We make the resolution for a lifetime, but nothing seems to make it possible for us to remember what that was once we scream our way out of the womb.

So we divide our time in small amounts to make life more bearable, in the hope that somewhere in that timeline we will remember and wake up from the state of numbness we are in. We count hours, days, years, and the feeling is that we have been counting forever. So we break our lifetime resolutions down in year-to-come resolutions. We do this every year. Well, at least most people do.

I am trying to remember what was my new year’s resolution for 2009 and it is blank. Well I did set goals back in 2007 for 2009, hoping that 2008 would make 2009 possible. I know it sounds crazy, but I met my goals. I honestly try not to project things in life, but what would life be if we didn’t do it? No goals, no expectations? No excitement, no frustration…sounds extremely boring to me.

Well maybe this will be my new year’s resolution. Not having one. I won’t project anything, won’t have any goals, won’t wish for anything or dream about anything….

Yea, right. Maybe in another lifetime. So I hope in 2010 we stop hoping so much and actually get things done more. That we truly respect each other more, for respect is the word that sums up a person’s capability of loving others in the true sense of the word.

Happy 2010 for all of us.

First of all it is important to say this was not my first review on anything I have done, but it was by far the worst academic review I took part in, especially because it came from those who are there to supposedly teach you. I am so open to criticism that I value even the most non related, nonsense review, for it may only reinforce my idea. Now, what I don’t accept is having a teacher, my teacher specifically, at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia come up to me and say what I did was not art and that “we ought to call things what they really are”. Well that is so intriguing to me, because they call the course an Art Laboratory and yet, there is no laboratory. We come to school often to sit and listen to teachers that are more interested in listening to their own voices than to actually teach. They say it is an important exchange of ideas, and I agree, but it would be better if it really was an exchange and not a way for them to impose ideas through their speeches. A laboratory implies you use of a scientific method to get to a conclusion, and that includes hypothesis. Although when a student presents something, they expect it to be a work of art and not a step you are partaking in a long process of learning. The word experimentation is out of their vocabulary. Well I think we ought to call things what they really are. They name Marcel Duchamp, they name Cezanne, they name Sol Lewitt and others, but they only think of them for what they last presented. They don’t realize a transgression comes after years of knowing what is called to be conservative. There is no way a student will become a transgressor or a vanguard artist unless he keeps riding the bumpy road, changing the flat tires every once in a while.

Now as a response to the “this is not art, but a representation of a theme” comment, I ask: Isn’t art also a representation of a theme? Isn’t it your representation of what you perceive as world and your own ideas of a certain theme? Isn’t it an emotional experience both for the artist and the viewer? According to William Rubin, director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, “there is no single definition of art.” The art historian Robert Rosenblum believes that “the idea of defining art is so remote [today]” that he doesn’t think “anyone would dare to do it.” Philippe de Montebello, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York until 2008, states that there is “no consensus about anything today,” and the art historian Thomas McEvilley agrees that today “more or less anything can be designated as art”. Arthur Danto, professor of philosophy at Columbia University and art critic of The Nation, believes that today “you can’t say something’s art or not art anymore. That’s all finished.” In his book, After the End of Art, Danto argues that after Andy Warhol exhibited simulacra of shipping cartons for Brillo boxes in 1964, anything could be art. Warhol made it no longer possible to distinguish something that is art from something that is not.1

Thus, based on what you say my art is not art? I agree there could be things to be corrected, things to be discussed at the verification point of a work, so you can, then, conclude with something more self-sustainable, but don’t you dare call it anything else but art, for your laboratory is nothing but “words in the wind” as stated by another student in the past.

I may have not made the best choices putting my work together but don’t tell me it will only be art when you say it is and I quote Oscar Wilde: “ A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament. Its beauty comes from the fact that the author is what he is. It has nothing to do with the fact that other people want what they want. Indeed, the moment that an artist takes notice of what other people want, and tries to supply the demand, he ceases to be an artist, and becomes a dull or an amusing craftsman, an honest or dishonest tradesman. He has no further claim to be considered as an artist.”

Maybe art school is overated. So you tell me: What is art for you?

1  Prof. Witcombe, Christopher L.C.E. http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/artartists/artartiststoday.html

You know you are in Italy when the month of August comes. You try to carry on with your everyday life, but the whole country went on vacation and you didn’t! You try to eat out during lunch hours and everything is closed for their nap time. You try to drive with some sort of caution, but you become a liability. And as you sit and wonder how do these people make money, you also wonder why do they do these things?

In all reality Italians value their families more than anything. Most businesses are family run and most italians understand the value of their time. They will shut down their business in the middle of the week so they can attend their niece’s birthday party. They will go home so they can eat lunch with their loved ones. Call me crazy, but I like it.

It may be hard to adjust at first, but as time goes by you find yourself changing your pace, and appreciating more the people and things around you. The customs and traditions are still so strong that you get sucked into their bubble and there is no point in fighting your way out. Just enjoy the ride. It may be the one opportunity you will have to put your life in check and find yourself some perspective for the future.

First of all, it is not my fault this girl couldn’t get a slot to go study abroad. She was evaluated just like me, and on top of everything one of the board’s teachers (I’ll will get back to that) had been my teacher in the past and we hated each other. Is it my fault you couldn’t past the first time ECE ( structural calculus ) and had to do it a second maybe a third time? Is it my fault you decided to change your career later on? Yea, right.

It is quite interesting how these things work. People don’t want to admit they failed for some reason and just have to blame it on somebody else. Hey, I am not even saying it was the perfect scenario to be evaluated on anything, but we all went through the same BS and we all had our reasons to be upset.  

As you probably imagine one of my reasons was the teacher sitting on the other side of the table. She really couldn’t pick on anything, so she had to say I folded the plans the wrong way! The fact that some other teacher gave me a much better grade than she did made her doubt the teacher’s capacity of evaluating a student!!!! For someone that thinks contemporary architecture is what Le Corbusier did 60 years ago, I would suggest her to pay a visit to closest library she can find. I understand it must be hard for her to accept she is outdated. Accepting she is mediocre must be even harder.

Fact is when I saw Maria Lígia at the board I thought to myself: “I wont get this scholarship”. Well I think the other two teachers had something good to say about me after all.

In all reality I had two options: say everything I have always wanted to say to this teacher and forget about my future years in college, or just shut up, nod, and say: “Yes, Ma’am”.

I kind of regret not saying what I really wanted to say. It is people like her that prevents FAU-UFRJ from moving forward. It is because of her that a lot of students will have to unlearn how to make good architecture for six months so they can move on to a better reality in the future.

Later on that day I could not believe he really had passed away. A man that was abused ever since he was a child should have had the chance to die in some sort of peace. Abused by parents, by media, by lawyers and people with no talent that only cared about making a few bucks out of a star’s pocket, this man was a genius as far as music and dancing can go. I am sure he was a sad and lonely man, even though he had all the fame one can get. It may sound clichè but it is true just as it was true when Hugh Grant’s character was lectured in the movie ”About a Boy” about being an island. He thought he was Ibiza. Michael Jackson thought he was Neverland. A place where he could finally buy the youth it was stolen from him when he was 5 years old.

It makes me sad that he never really had the chance of making the mistakes we make while growing up in order to become more adjusted and more aware of things. Aware of right and wrong sometimes.

I understand when people say he was a perfectionist. I would like to think I am a little bit like that as well. The more I try to understand why I want everything to be perfect, I realize that it may come with a little bit of a lack of self-esteem. Today I undesrtand that about myself because I was fortunate enough to meet some great people that helped me understand what we came here for. Perfectionists don’t like to let people down. They want to be liked and loved like anybody else does. It is not a vanity thing as I once thought it was. It is the way some people find it easier to let that feeling show, through their work.

I think it sends a message about a lot of the great artists that have passed through this earth over and over again. Michael Jackson inspired everyone no matter age, sex, race or nationality. I think that is the trait of a great leader.

As I find myself at the doorstep of moving to Italy and starting my Masters Degree in Urban Reconstruction I feel the necessity of studying things more deeply. Talking about ethics, urban planning and the dreams of living in a perfect city can be rather exhausting, and the more I study the cities the more I feel I should be studying phsycology first.

We try to acchive perfection in a society filled with flaws. We keeping on trying to fix the exterior when the internal part is rotting. Should we change the cities or should we change ourselves first? How big is the role of the citizens in shaping the city? How big is the role of the government in shaping the cities? How big is our illusion of living in a perfect place? What is a perfect city anyways?

Do people search for a perfect place to live because they are unhappy with their own lives and try to fullfil the emptyness with the tangible benefits of a new house, or because the exterior actually causes damages to their personal happiness?

The more I think about how many times I will be moving and living in a different place the more confused I get. It will be great to experience different cultures but it would also be great to just create roots in the middle of the woods, living with my family. I guess I have to think of it as field research, personal growth and proof that everything perishes, but the love you have for your family stays within your soul. So what is more important: where you live and what you have or who you live with?

When you walk into an empty space, interior or exterior, you are captured by a first impression. In the reality of home buying or renting that first impression could be a deal maker, a deal breaker or just something to be kept in mind because it didn’t trigger a more intense feeling. Usually, I like to stick to the ones that are not the ones I love or hate, because it probably meant I saw potential in it to become something that says more about me or something that could end up being a good investment. Truth is, no matter what house you walk into you will see spaces that you like and dislike, because those spaces were planned by somebody else based on a N number of factors, such as culture, market, theories, costs, time and so forth. The good thing is that after learning how to analyze those spaces you will be capable to anticipate the transformation and make better judgements before renting, buying furniture or even buying the house.

If I had to pick a top 3 aspects to have in mind when analyzing spaces I would say: shape (also known as form), light, and accessibility. If you change any of those aspects you have a completely different feel for the space and it could change its use, functionability, and comfort.

How do we change the shape, the light, and the accesibility in order to maximize the space? Those are simple questions and could be easily answered by saying knocking down a wall, adding a wall or a window, moving the door to a different place, and etc. Well I ask, do you really have to do all of those structural changes to maximize a space? No you don’t, specially if you are renting a house. If you bring it to the military realm you will see that you don’t really have those choices. Houses are homes for 2 years, sometimes less. You have to stick with what you find and work your way around it.

That is why is so important to be an expert in reading a space. There are ways to divide spaces without building a wall and ways to control light without taking a window down. The key is to give a little bit more thought to the furniture you buy. That is your portable home. Furniture and personal belongings. You may not be able to paint the walls, so your color scheme might be doomed to the “Army White”. You may not always have a lot of space to work with so you will have to storage a few items.

Keep it simple: small and versatile furniture, with neutral colors. Let your art work be your color scheme; let your accessories and more than anything your personality be the guideline to your projects. It will always be a winning situation.

If you are currently living at your first house, don’t buy everything at once. Take your time to purchase things that mean something to you and that fit your general project idea. When you travel to different areas, look for art work that you like, a different lamp, or just books that you love! Don’t go overboard because it could be very hard in the future to fit weight allowances when you are doing your move to the next post.

You can find unity in your projects if your furniture relates to each other. They don’t have to have the same shape or size or even be from the same store, but it is important that you think about how you will achive unity in your project. Will it be through color or through shape? Sectional sofas are great but if they are one big piece it could work agaisnt you. The best thing is to try to purchase modular furniture, that way you can always adequate it to a different space. It is needless to say that custom made furniture could also work against you. If you design something that fits that space and only that space, what will you do with it when you move? Custom made furniture works wonders if you use it in your favor and make them versatile. When you go to the store bring with you a plan of what you want and need and a measuring tape, that way you can measure the furniture and you won’t get tricked by the huge size of the store and think that sofa will be perfect in your room.

If you decide to paint the walls, give it another thought if you should be painting all of them or just an accent one. Maybe painting the walls could be the solution to change the squared living room into a more rectangle one.

An area rug could be the source of color that you didn’t have and could help you define a space when the room has an awkward shape. So can curtains. Let your creativity take place and help your budget as well.

The good thing about the military life is that even if you are not living in a great place it won’t be forever and you can give it another shot when you make your next move.

A few days ago though, I came to the realization that I was taking care of a lot of things and wasn’t really paying any attention to myself. You know, moving to a different country, speaking another language, eating different food, not being able to work, not having any friends or family around, makes you sort of lose the sense of time as you fall into the trap that “you can always do it later” since you dont have any set schedule to get things done. Well, I guess I just needed time to adjust and to see all the opportunities I had ahead of me.

On that note, I sit here today to welcome you to my blog! Made in Suburbia is one of the many projects I have of professional and personal growth. It is the place I chose to talk about art, architecture, green projects and pretty much anything that I like or dislike. Here, you will be able to contact me more effectively on job propousals, events and classes. The website is my virtual HQ and there you can find a little bit more about me and Suburbia AMD itself. No matter where the military life takes me you are welcome to my journey!