Andrew Schroeder

1. Bean. I love a good word processor. Fortunately, there seems to be an upsurge in new, ultra-functional and lightweight software for getting words out of my head via keyboard. My favorite right now is Bean. It is definitely worth a trial run for anyone that is looking for a reliable, free, fast and pretty place to record their thoughts. Although Apple’s Pages software (part of iWork) continues to be my heavy-duty, Microsoft Word replacement of choice, Bean offers that perfect “one step above textedit (or simple text for that matter)” feeling.

2. The Daily Archive. I’m inspired by Andy Warhol’s practice of collecting items in large, brown, nondescript cardboard boxes. After filling the box to the desired level, Warhol would archive them away in a warehouse. I have been trying to do the same thing with the random files, images, and videos I encounter on a daily basis. My workflow has changed so dramatically over the last year – when I log onto my computer at work in the morning, I automatically make a new folder on the desktop, titled simply with today’s date. As the day passes, clippings of various sorts drift into the folder… which is then archived to DropBox. No fancy Evernote software or massive sketchbook full of notes. Just a simple folder with a day’s worth of accumulation tucked neatly inside it.

3. Tretorn Strala Boots. Winter in Minnesota is a bitch from hell. I’ll just be honest about that. In order to survive in this climate one must indulge both the materialist and hoarder instincts that surface from December to early March. My winter splurge: exceptionally comical looking Swedish boots. Today was their first real test run… and I’ve got to say… trudging through the snow with my coffee, I felt just a bit better knowing my feet were not going to turn blue and fall off.

January 31, 2009 Walker Entrance

I’ve been running around like crazy lately. The process of moving to a new apartment is… more stressful than I remember. Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to update this blog as much as I would have liked.

Something good…

I’m beginning to shake off the frigid weight of winter and photograph again, with hopes of eventually building a portfolio of architectural photography.

While that is starting to simmer on the back burner, I am also beginning to expand on the dialog that was initiated with a post on Dec. 05. A post on Elysium, the blog of Colleen Mullins, caught the attention of another blogger… creating a trifecta of discussion about the role of the market in art production.

Check out the first question in the discussion here…

Stay tuned for updates…

After a long weekend of phlegm, I’m back in action. I was riding in my buddy Mike’s car on an errand at work and the topic of cool new ads and the Walker’s hosting of the British Advertising Awards came up.

What does it mean when the most interesting parts of a society’s visual culture are advertisements? I’m asking this in lieu of both the Brit’s advertising foray’s and also the Adicolor series from Adidas. For the most part, there seems to be a distinct lack of products (aside from the following VW commercial) -but- these ads seem to go beyond the touchy-feely, emotional adverts of the 90s.

Lets take for example the Cabury advert of a Gorilla playing the drum sequence in the Phil Collins’ song “In the Air Tonight”.  The advertisment has nothing to do with the crappy chocolate from Cadbury… but… I can’t stop watching the ad.  Taken a step further… apparently the studio that owns the rights to the song has prevented it from being included in versions of the ad posted to You Tube.  So, the gorilla ad runs… without Phil Collins.

The result is something akin to a piece of video art you could find in any white cube gallery.  (Embedding has been disabled… you’ll have to… click)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1hfNNcOrfY

*****

A different side of the coin: What happens when a social fabric (in this case a city) decides to openly reject advertisements? The city of Sao Paulo, Brazil decided last year to ban outdoor advertisements.  Photographer Tony de Marco has been documenting the city’s empty billboard structures…

From Tony de Marco's FLICKR

My next question: If visual advertisements are banned – how have the advertisers retaliated? Is all advertising product placement? Word of mouth? Do people “randomly” break into the Coke jingle in order to sell soda?