This is a video self portrait. It is intended to display as a loop on a small flat-screen with a large frame around it.The sound is a re-mix of analog tape loops I've collected through the years.

(Note to Blogger staff: I am currently working on an experimental poetry piece using voice-to-text. Parts of the project are being posted on this blog. If your spam-detectors pick this up as spam they are wrong. This is a poetry project. Please don't delete my blog. Thanks.)





Poetry generated by Google Voice during the first two weeks of "Catullus" is displayed below. At least one Catullus piece and one collaborative input were un-transcribable by Google Voice. I have the audio files for all calls and will include them in the final project. I will transcribe pieces not transcribed by Google and print them as "untranslated".


Barrow micro darling, she plays with. She, kugel's she likes to temp fingertips teases. Tune-up order. The my own break right. Desire fancy some and they respond to this mall, Saul. S. For her pain, I suppose. So I have a passion and but I could play with you. If he doesn't sound like mister. It's gonna be scared.

Please. I don't know we've got in drama middle. Cool about.

Hey Brian, A motor online exploiting corn Delhi. Hi, The maintain to stole that we ask he's leaving. He liquid. If you car remove yeah.


And I am too calm. Hey sauce it is. Hey, nice but how are you. Call me. Hey you, or home. Try it. Bye export Carrie chart is doctor is you there. Bath look Oreos, the.

Query, Pam. T. Please quit Quinn. The Hawks lot. You'd be laundry. Well you come. Katie cool. Lou Pat Ron they Virgo. Plus you know many eat here and fact little.

Thomas, That aside, Hear hear. You, me, tony. 10. P car home. May squall, headache, waited. Lou that I L car. Bye that soul C O L Swayze, Dolores create o clock. Tom Grey s a quick call our door.

Mac yo i us. Matt and is and at home. Travis Mac is C, prayed, and higher site you he tell me a list, Opus for it or ill day, see you. He plenty. Ohh.

Here's what happens if we get it wrong, this is what is already happening. It's 12 countries or over the wells because we decided that global warming was a problem, we decided to take once, a, of the agricultural and I'll be here with i was on craigslist for people who need it. My name is dead, we divided to graying biofuels, so I'm cos, Hello yeah. 42. Bye bye.

Hi, I'm Deborah, Joshua and I'm reading this point I don't know. We'll up with is from us on the bit see where so I'm free for me but now I'm free. I'm phoning the past left for me. I think you're saying when you heard out when I heard, I'm call. I'll turn my head back and that's at all. I could not stay another day and that's about the wall local plan packed up and my status, right. I found the piece at the closing of the day. Yes, my party has that the 4th and so that with remember when. Joanna my friendship share. I left a kiss. Ohh yes, these things that we all miss enough Burton with the time with. Well, I was just send out tomorrow. My life in full. It's Everett much good. Francis hon, and one I have my time things all 23. Don't let that now what I'm doing great. That's up. Johanna and share with me. I wanted me you set me free. Thank you.

Yes if I have a leave dessert, please. Rejoice for God will bless you. This is Holy Spirit. For God will give you strength. Thanks. He gave me for God will kosher and. We'll stand in front of you to protect you from evil, for God will take care of you, S you would like to be taken care of for God is our father cool if you'd like to find you to your Courtney for. I only have days left and I will come to him as soon as I will love you had all my heart mommy. Thanks.

Well, this economy time around I helpful. The future is Graham the let the owner of the tunnel looks them. We have to arrive from within at the right from the that.

Thank god bless. I'm just taking and for my daughter to say on my husband, hopefully, and my family and I'm just praying for everyone. Thank you. Bye bye.

Tawil Poetry System Presents

Osel Of My Eye 7: Catullus
Homage to Louis Zukofsky

A collaborative long poem generated by Google Voice.

I will be composing a book over the next month by calling a phone number and leaving voicemail messages. My voice messages will be transcribed to text by Google Voice. Each message will be me reading a poem by Catullus in Latin. Google Voice will "translate" my Latin into English. The e-mail messages will be assembled (unedited) into a book.

I am inviting others to contribute to the book by calling the same phone number I am using and leaving their own poems. All the e-mail messages I receive will be included in the book. I will be posting each message to the Journal of Unversion as I receive it, in between the Catullus poems that Google Voice and I will be translating together.

You may call me from your phone by calling 601-759-1723. Or you can use the "Call Me" icon at the right side of this page.

Give me your grunts, your howls, your words, your phonemes of animal and human spirit!

A CD with sound files of all messages recieved by contributers will be distributed with the book.

The number to call is: 601-759-1723

Thanks! Gregory Fitzsimmons

Project List


Thanks to the Illinois State Legislature and The School of the Art Institute, I now have a lot of time to work on my projects, so I decided to write my “Summer To-Do List”. I’ve written this up so that I have a clear idea of what it is I want to work on over the next couple of months. I’m posting it on here so that I can stay motivated and appreciative of the amount of time I have to devote to these things. I am trying to make my projects “portable” concepts, in the sense that they are repeatable and I can do them anywhere.

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List of my current Interacting Projects


I use language games and social interactions to create visual representations of how people interact with each other and the world. I am no longer calling what I and my collaborators do and make "art". I am not giving what we do or make any special name at all because I don’t want to distinguish these objects or activities from the rest of what people do within the world of social interactions. In addition, I have begun to make things by working with non-human and non-living creatures (flowers, the weather, etc.), so I can’t call what I do “culture”. How could I ever demean our Interacting with a name as limiting as “art”.


************

The List:

1. Reverse Rorschach Inkblot Portraits: Large abstract paintings are made from the designs left behind after I Interact with a collaborator who is the subject of the Interaction. Includes an installation for each painting that is used to stage another set of Interactions. A book accompanies each painting. Two portraits are complete so far. The next participant in a Inkblot Portrait is Hector Villagrana, who is currently the "filling-in" alderman for Chicago's 26th Ward until Mayor Daley appoints an official alderman.


Reverse Rorschach Inkblot Portraits Installation


2. Return to Place (Re-Placements) Projects: Photographs are taken of objects in urban landscapes. Stickers are made from the photo and stuck on the object that is the subject of the photo. The placement of the sticker is photographed over time. The resulting photographs are an Interaction with the weather, passersby, vandals, and anything else that “comes in contact” with the sticker. A report of the Interaction, in the form of a book, is generated. One Re-Placement Project is complete; one is currently taking place.


Photograph from 2nd Re-Placement


3. E Pluribus Unum: A large abstract painting is being created as the result of democratic Interactions between a large group of people. The painting is an idealized social space where all the participants have equal space and equal voice. In addition, two books will accompany the final painting. The project has been ongoing for the last year. I am seeking new collaborators to become members of the the E Pluribus Unum Community. Our utopian community exists within and we interact only within the space of the painting and the books. This is not a mural porject. The majority of the participants have never met each other face-to-face. They are Interacting with each other only within the pages of a book and, through me, on the canvas.


Image from E Pluribus Unum


4. Merzwalks: 40 people have participated in Merzwalks, a form of Buddhist mindfulness practice rooted in the Western tradition of Dada and anti-art. A book of stereogram photographs is being created from the objects generated during the Merzwalks.



Merzwalk Stereocard


5. Stereogram Collaborative Paintings: I am using a stereocard I’ve designed that allows two people to collaborate on a drawing that is combined when the viewer looks at the card through a pair of lens. My collaborators are strangers to each other and to me, as I am finding them via advertisements on Craigslist. They draw on the cards at separate times and never actually “meet” each other. Each combined drawing will be used to make a large-scale painting. I am planning ten of these.


Stereogram Drawing Card


6. Profile Pic Portraits: I am using social networking sites to ask people I chat with (some of who I have never actually "met" and some who are friends of mine) to send me a pic of themselves that they would like me to paint as a portrait. The paintings are representations of the pics; I try to paint the photograph as it is on the screen without too much interpretation. The resulting object is more of a portrait of the pic than of the person in the pic. These are Interactions that question the nature of social relationship, social presentation of self, and self-image. The project also tries to question the difference between a portrait and a self-portrait.




My intention is to make twenty to thirty (or more) Profile Pic Portraits. Enough to cover an entire wall as an installation. A sort of social networking site in acrylic and oil.















7. Iris Paintings: Dying irises drip marks onto watercolor paper. I make an encaustic painting from the drawing the iris made for me. One done. I am going to do a lot of these.


An Iris Drawing


An Iris Drawing


Encaustic painting made from iris drip drawing.


Detail.

neo-resistance: Fly a Green Balloon

neo-resistance: Fly a Green Balloon

Is e ve rey body in?

Is everybody in?

Reverse-Rorsch...

Volume One: Chrissi...

By Gregory Fitzsimmons

Book Preview

Art Show Announcement ::: Art Show Announcement :::

Art Show Announcement   

Merzwalk08: The Sublime Beauty of the World’s Litter

The Merzwalk08 Exhibition will be held in Humbodt Park in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The show starts March 3, 2009. Found objects and art made from the litter of four continents will be installed in the park as part of a guerilla-style positive littering campaign to be conducted on March 3. Over thirty artists will have work in the show. This astounding and delightful exhibition of the Trash of the World will be on display in one of the most beautiful urban public parks in North America.

This show is not to be missed!

The individual works will be free to take home by all persons who desire to own a piece of the world’s garbage.

The installation and start of the show will be photographed and a handsome catalog will be published. The catalog will be free to all participating artists and limited editions available to all others.

Watch your mail for the announcement.

Merznetwork09-h23 : Art Networking Project

Instructions: Go for a walk in your neighborhood. During your walk, find a location or an object that makes you feel connected to the rest of the world. Affix the Merznetwork09-h23 photosicker to the location or object. Take a photo, make a drawing, use text or otherwise document the merz-placement. You can even use a found object near where the sticker was placed as a document. In any case, put your merz-object in an envelope, or, if you'd like, affix it to a postcard. Note the location by the nearest street address, or the latitude and longitude, or by using a description based on your own personal geography. Send your documentation to:

Merznetwork09-h23
1620 North Richmond Street
Chicago, IL 60647
USA
All items received will be scanned and displayed on the Merznetwork09 Google map. A catalogue will be produced, with a copy of the map, images of the merz-objects, and an essay about the project. The catalogue will be distributed free to all participants.

Deadline: January 3, 2o10

Merznetwork09-H23 Stickers and instructions will be sent to everyone who participated in Merzwalk08. If you would like a sticker sent to you, and are not already on the Mailing List, write to the meatspace address for the Merznetwork or contact me through the Journal of Unversion website.

SIDEWALK
l i g h t p o e m p a i n t i n g

monday richmond street



Video made from strips of 35mm photographic film exposed in a medium format toy camera and with no Photoshop manipulation of the developed negatives.

Groot Groot Groot is a black and white silver gelatin print made from a multiple- exposed medium format negative in a Holga camera. I scanned the print and made stickers from it on a laser printer. Two stickers were affixed to one of the Groot trash bins that were the subject of the original photograph. I have been documenting what happens to the stickers over time.

The Poet (Homage to Kurt Schwitters)

The Poet is discarded electronics, wooden soup spoon, wire, plaster, a found and dismembered carved wooden animal figure, candle wax, encaustic medium, oil pigment, glue, screws, and alligator-clip leads.



The Poet sometimes holds a beetle-carved walking-stick during his readings.

The Poet can be melted down, unscrewed and reassembled at any time.

These videos should be played simultaneously. Persons with fast connections can play The Poet themselves by moving the playback sliders around.

Merzwalk08

Instructions: Walk completely around the place you live. The path you follow can be any shape or size. You may walk counterclockwise or clockwise, fast or slow, alone or within a group, or holding the hand of someone you love. You can do it during the night or day, barefoot or shod. But you must go out and come back in through the same door (or window, if that's your pleasure). During your walk, be mindful of the ground under your feet, watch the sidewalk, pay attention to the street, be conscious of the dirt and the pavement. Also, during your walk, pick up a piece of litter* or trash, preferably made from paper or any other flat material that can fit into an envelope. Use the found item in a work of art. Or designate the item a ready-made. In either case, put your art in an envelope, or, if you'd like, affix it to a postcard. Alternatively: describe your merzwalk using words or pictures. After it has dried, send it to Merzwalk08.

Only three submissions to Merzwalk08 per artist. But you may make as many merzwalks for yourself as you want and do it as frequently as you like.

Documentation will include a catalogue that will be sent to all Merzwalk08 participants.

Deadline: January 3, 2009

Merzwalk08
1620 North Richmond Street
Chicago, IL 60647
USA

*Note: "Litter is a waste type consisting of any tangible personal property which has been unlawfully scattered and or abandoned in a public place (usually outdoors)." Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litter

This a Osel 6.

The Osel poems started out as three (Osel 1, 2 and 3) 'zine style chapbooks that were circulated via postal art networks. Osel 4, a collage of serial poems of an elegiac nature, was written before, during, and after Osel 5 and Osel 6.

Osel 5 was an early (1998) piece of hypertext poetry, illustrated with Tantric line drawings made by a doctor in India. A few months later, the files were deleted from my site because the drawings were considered pornographic by AOL. I canceled my AOL account shortly after this. A bad hard drive and my move from my old apartment to my house resulted in the loss of the hyperlinked Osel 5, including all the pictures. I am planning on reissuing Osel 5 in a new, non-internet form. Meanwhile, Osel 6 is now a film.

Osel 7 is a short personal poem that will be skipped for now.

Osel 8 (Retro-Osel, a light shined back) is planned as a limited art-book with individual hand-drawn collages and illustrations. I think I will make 8 copies.

At one time I was posting a working version of the pomes, Osel of My Eye, but I now think that the internet is the worse place to work on art- it's like taking a shower in public.

Enjoy Osel 6.

(Osel 1 was distributed far and wide thru mail-art networks and was inspired by my military service in the mideast)

http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/public/read/poetry/30

Peacock (Found Poem)

A peacock roamed
into a Burger King parking lot
in New York City
and was beaten
by a man
who insisted it was a vampire.

Staten Island animal control officials
are saying
the bird
was beaten
with such fierceness
that most of its tail feathers
fell out
and it had to be euthanized.

The seven-year-old male peacock
wandered into the restaurant's parking lot
then perched on a car's hood last week.

Charmed

employees had been feeding it bread
when the fierce man appeared,
grabbed the bird by the neck,
hurled it to the ground
and started stomping it.

"I'm killing a vampire!“'