2/11/09

Arlington Arts Center

I enjoyed our surprise field trip last Friday. After a whole week of classes, it was nice to get out of the classroom and look at actual work. The Public/Private exhibit was thought provoking.  I had mixed feelings about some of the pieces and I found describing and discussing them with friends and family over the weekend helpful. Not to mention Febreez makes great dinner party conversation. People have much stronger thoughts and feelings about air freshener than I anticipated.
I found the piece with the two newscasters intriguing. It reminded me of what the world is like with Facebook. I am relatively new to the whole Facebook thing and not a particularly tech-savvy person. I tend to use it in a really basic way-looking at/sharing pictures and sending messages much like email. However, I have friends that use it as much more of a personal "journal-like" thing. I am still coming to terms with how I feel about people describing what they are eating, thinking and doing at various times of the day. This piece seemed to me to be a really clever commentary on this phenomenon. For me it asked the question what really is news and what do I need to know to participate and function in the world? Do I need to know what my cousin made for dinner last night? Also what is the consequence of having all of this information out there? Do we get overwhelmed by the minutia and unable to distinguish things that are important from things that are not? Of course I don't have any answers but I appreciate that this piece made me revisit these questions. So I guess I will just finish my cookie, get in the car and head home to make tacos tonight:)

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