I like to think that human behavior has very little in common with insects. However, after Colin Ives’ lecture last night, I just might have to reconsider.

Ives’ lecture examined human interaction with the environment and the responses made to external stimulants. Reexamining his past, Ives is confident that much of the major artistic decisions he has made were influenced largely by his interpretation of interactions and of the environment.

One of his presented pieces was a video featuring a colony of ants swarming on a fallen lollipop. It looked like a sugar high feeding frenzy at first, but I couldn’t help but notice that there was a chaotic order to the teeming mass. My first impression was that the ants were doing what ants do. However, when I look outside the office window, certain similarities can’t be ignored. Hundreds of people are winding their way on Macadam Avenue every hour, not unlike ants on a scent trail to a high fructose feast.

Another presented theme centered on adaptation to a changing environment. Rather than relocating, or going extinct like most wild species do when humans move in, pigeons and kit foxes are doing quite well. They have adapted remarkably well to human influence and are enjoying city life and suburbia just as much as we are.

These are just a few of the many ideas Colin Ives brought up from his observations of the environment, which is refreshing. Art isn’t always about the abstract, the foreign, or the unknown. It can simply be the observation of life around us.

Next time I see an ant, rather than squishing the life out of the pest maybe I’ll follow it.

And see where it takes me.

Note: Colin Ives’ work can be viewed on his online portfolio at www.colinives.com.

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DAVID NG
QUANGO INC // WRITER

Yesterday Cara Tomlinson launched her new Web site with her blog, collected writings, and a gallery of paintings (with accompanying artist statements). If you haven’t checked out Cara’s work, don’t read any further. Visit her site now. 

Portland’s Willamette Week has a well-written feature on Cara Tomlinson and Sean Regan’s upcoming film exploring the goings-on at Portland’s Goodwill Outlet.  

If you attended Cara and Sean’s lecture on Creative Collaboration, you were treated to a special preview of this film. See the WW article here: http://wweek.com/editorial/3423/10808.

Be the seeing. Be the thinking. Open your eyes to the world around you and let it wash over you.

 Those are just a few of the many things I took away from Kate Pabst’s lecture. She walked through the timeline of her career, which also closely mirrors the timeline of computer development and design. She described life as a Web designer when no one even knew what the Web was or what graphic design even meant, about being her own boss because she was figuring it out as she went. This really struck a chord with me. She took on jobs and tasks simply because she was curious where it would lead her, and in this she often felt like she had no idea what she was doing. 

I think a lot of people in the technology industry, myself especially included, often feel like they don’t know what they’re doing. Many of us are self-taught, whose jobs by definition are all about finding a new idea, a new challenge, a new way of thinking, so we dive in head first—and hope to God we come out of it with something worthwhile. Kate said life is all about saying “yes” to everything and then figuring out a way to make it happen. It’s a leap of faith. 

One of her eight tenets in life is to be humble, which is interesting, because to really take chances you have to trust yourself enough to let go. To allow yourself to fail. To be curious and walk a path that may dead end. But that’s what creativity is all about: shutting down all the things you hold as True and Fact and really opening your eyes and letting the possibilities flood your vision.

To be the Seeing.

Kristin Wille // Designer

Preparations are in full swing for tonight’s Creative Disruption lecture. Chairs are going up, the kitchen’s stocked with appetizers and the beers and wine are on ice. Kate flew in Tuesday from Minnesota and since then has been checking out the sights of Portland (courtesy of tour guide, QUANGO Creative Director, and onetime collaborator Dave Anolik). 

Earlier in the week, I got an early sneak-preview of Kate’s presentation. Photographically heavy, verbally sparse, frequently irreverent and sweeping in scope (138 slides–preview below), I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t more than a little intrigued.

While the Creative Bridges lectures thus far have been both inspiring and thought-provoking, it’s Kate’s lecture that has really intrigued me since she shared her vision at a much earlier stage of development.

P.S. The RSVP list is telling me we’ll have a quite full (and diverse-talented) house, so be sure arrive early and share some time with excellent Portland creatives, students, artists, and the typical QUANGO weirdos.   

Also, here’s some sample visuals from the presentation:

A little teaser…

A little more of a teaser…

And finally, this. Hope to see you tonight.

 Tom Briggs // Content Manager

a human.

Why the need to talk about ants?  It was one of the many interesting topics breached during our last lecture series. It also happens to be my favorite part of the lecture; watching Cara and Sean’s collaboration come together through a video-study on our six-legged friends scurrying around sweetened-liquids, fortifying their ability to tap into the supply of food. 

What I found to be the most provocative point during the lecture [I'm not sure who to attribute credit to on this q/a conversation] was the juxtaposition of the colony of ants trying to secure resources and streamline their ability to ‘find treasure’ within another community’s deemed waste, immediately followed by a similar improvised colony trying to ‘find treasure’ within another community’s deemed waste. A structure that takes place at our own Portland Goodwill Bins.

We know from talking with Cara that any humorous tie-in was unintended, but I can’t help but find it somewhat humorous; and back to the subject heading, collectively these ants are a representation of another collaborative group. 

Marc Anteparra-Naujock // Art Director

Next up in the Creative Bridges lecture series, Cara Tomlinson and Sean Regan share their thoughts on Creative Collaboration from an artistic perspective. This lecture is sure to be of particular interest to visual artists, video artists, students, creative professionals, or anyone working in a collaborative, creative atmosphere. Please make plans to attend what is sure to be an enlightening lecture.

BTW…Mark Woolley’s gallery provides a nice sampling of Cara’s work.

A little over ten years ago, I met Jon while we were both working at Larsen design office in Minneapolis in their newly-founded interactive department. (Yes, it was but a mere ten or so years ago that the big design firms were creating interactive departments, trying to catch up with the young hacker-culture/boutique firms that were eating their lunch in the newly-minted “discipline” of Web development). We both had nice titles and stuff at Larsen, but let’s just say the interactive department was very small, very busy, and, um, very deep within the bowels of an old design firm. (I think it was even literally kinda dark, and I remember Jon had a weird dark little monitor-encrusted workspace with a lone light-bulb hovering six inches over his desk illuminating whatever “tome” (his word) he happened to be ingesting at the time.

We had some fun clients—for example Jon programmed a site that Kate Pabst (an upcoming lecturer in the creative bridges series ) had designed for Hormel foods….www.SPAM.com. Yep, Spam. The quasi-meat product. Jon and Kate built their Web site (I was called “producer” on that one, but I think I was more like an “enabler”). Anyway, I digress—Jon and I met at Larsen, worked together for a while, and then professionally went our separate ways (Jon to B-Swing and then IDEO, me to Intel then QUANGO). Last night was a reunion—Jon reminded me (and my staff and the general public) that I used to call everyone in my midst “bonehead”. My staff then reminded me that this is still the case. It’s a nice feeling to know that there is continuity to my management style over time.

Jon spoke on his creative process—a collusion of music, math and programming as it relates to his current professional charter (he is a member of the design community at IDEO)—though broken into digestible disciplines and demonstrated by example: at one point Jon performed a Paganini suite (I think… I’m sure I got that wrong) on his violin and then presented the same piece performed by his computer in order to illuminate concepts such as the relationships between logic and voice, etc. Jon clearly articulated his opinion on creative logic and thought—and I encourage you to watch the video of his lecture , read the transcript of his talk , and participate in this discussion on creativity. Personally, whenever I talk with Jon (or hear him speak in this case), I reevaluate my own personal discipline of creative thought, logic and process and always walk away reinvigorated and inspired. Give it a go—and let us know.

~ Dave Anolik
V.P. // Creative Director
QUANGO

This will serve as a real-time discussion tool for our lecture series as well as a post-lecture arena for discussion on topics pertaining to the lecture series. Thanks for attending and stay tuned!