players

wasn't really sure, when thinking about chess, if people would want to participate, if there would be interest. something have wanted to do for many years.

anyway, today first two pieces complete (of sixty-four). t used to be my neighbor, maya is his neighbor now, both paint.






















a few things seemed significant:

- i didn't paint today. in a way, this project, and many of my ideas, are really excuses so i can paint in a post-painting age. but i defined my role as facilitator/referee/recorder.

- there is interest. it was fun for them, fun for me, fun for innocent bystanders. can see more people wanting to get involved in this project, which is very encouraging.

- which is more important, the art or the rules? this is a project about art and rules, basically. well, the answer, today anyway, is beauty wins, aesthetic sensation wins. the first painting had an agreed-upon twenty-minute time limit which was then abolished as neither "player" felt it was finished, didn't feel done to me either, and the timeclock was relegated to neat-idea status.

- improvisation happened, that was a big hope, but you can't tell anyone what to do or how to think. rather, if you do those things, what are you doing? anyway i don't want to tell anyone what to do. certainly not when it comes to creation. none of us had ever painted on a chess board before (i still haven't) or seen it done (although i'm sure it has been done in spades). and there were ample chances before matches to set guidelines. well, they changed, and it was pretty amicable, and obvious to all of us, if something would be more interesting another way - ok an example. during the first piece, color swap - black for white, white for black. very unusual in a chess match for one player to say "ok i want to play white now, let's switch sides or flip the board around." yeah, chess teachers do that, but honest-to-goodness players, not so much i don't think. certainly not in a serious high-stakes game right? but we have two people painting, very sincere, still playful, and they decide to just swap colors. that's what a lot of art is right? making up the rules as you go along? not even the rules, just figuring out whatever you're doing? one of the things i love most about any creative practice is the improvisational element. if i already know what's going to happen or what it will look like, i don't want to do it. both the creator and the viewer can enjoy some kind of surprise, i think, something unexpected - that is very important to me, each day, to try to find something new, or to feel something new, anyway to long for that, and the fluid nature of the way each piece developed, was deeply satisfying.

so thank you t and thank you maya and josh, christine, michael, harley, very much looking forward to doing some of the things we've talked/emailed about, and also people who aren't yet in or interested or aware, i'm so much looking forward to seeing how all this plays out. even if i'm just a bystander, can't think of a better way to make art, today, this month. when all this gets combined into a piece, it's going to be a pretty complex moving painting, with a lot of visible and invisible thoughts underpining it. no idea what it will look like, i hope. i hope whatever i'm imagining is wrong. i don't want to know how this thing will go. i'm pretty excited about seeing it.

he's in

matthew is now open to collaboration (eager, even). which means... everything will change. this is a good thing. best news all day.

totally unrelated to any project, got to meet theo jansen this afternoon, inspiring as all get out.
http://www.strandbeest.com/index.html# (suggest clicking on "film" and seeing some of those clips if you haven't ever)

makes all the stuff i think about seem like a piece of cake. from the bakery. a croissant maybe, but definitely from a bakery...

spring planting

that's the working title, not growth or buds, to autumn leaves and winter branches sequel. process still in process (like that?). first bit is coating some of those wooden stretcher frames with pva, attempting to prevent the wood from rotting when it gets wet. other bits, various seeds...

so chess, tomorrow first brushstrokes on that, excited. got timeclock today, brushes, boards, paint. more in mail.

haven't done a walk longer than a few miles since sunday, but about to skype matthew, we'll talk kisokaido.

some very nice traffic cones out there today.

still thinking

if i'm not working on something maybe it needs to change. the kisokaido concept, would be a lot stronger with video, the problem is, if i'm walking, the camera needs to keep moving with me, have been practicing not-stopping as taking pictures on training walks, won't have over three months to sit there for an hour or more at each spot with a tripod and get lots of footage i want, maybe recruit high school students in advance to meet along the way and they send me tapes? or pick from available webcams (people still shoot out of their backyards?) and get in touch with those people and ask for permission, do frequent grabs from web for timelapse effect? or start searching archival copyright-free footage?

totally different direction also occurred, ok maybe not totally different - anyway tactileness feels missing, something involving "paint" or "collage" and yes that could be taken from virtual piece or raw-created in our physical environment, then added or digicaptured to change what virtual piece consists of? but it's about five days with no progress on that mockup, and lots of little "what about changing" thoughts occurring, nagging sense of dissatisfaction with current trajectory, must change

ok, after some further thought, more options = thirty seconds enough video? will carry tripod next practice walk and see how the experience is (wanted to avoid having a tripod in my hand the entire journey but if that's the best solution, fine) as well as the result; another option would be some sort of disposable camera, hope that kind souls would mail? want to avoid asking for help but anyway we'll see. best to start with the tripod, and look forward to the days when i can plant a little camera which will fly to me an hour later. maybe that technology exists and is reasonably priced and i need to get in touch with someone from the spy world, or university labs, or do some research...

invitation

tim when are you coming to nyc next? if no plan, how about this spring? remember when i said "want to do something"? that project is starting, still interested? steph months ago said she was into exploring, maybe you and me do something, you two do something else, she and i do something else, the three of us do something, that sounds like a four-thing interest-packed day think?

how much do i let hang out?

too many details = too much to sort through? well, this is how the project is going, and i figured this blog would focus on the projects - so, assuming you're reading this, you can skim or skip, right? let's say, then, that for now, i'm going to not worry so much about the posting of anything chess-related because the correspondence may be mundane but it's probably also where little decisions that end up really forming the end-game of the project get made. another email:

bonjour! have heard from jim and will call or email him soon. but you, you. first time (maybe only time? but who knows?) have three enticing options for your chesserific paintyness:
- your place, indoors
- your place, outdoors
- the park near my place (my first choice)
- my place

what would you like to do the most? i mean, where would you like to paint on a chessboard while a video camera looks down at the chessboard and records our every sure and false move?

hello and good night

"playing" "chess"

got a few (extremely high-quality) responses from the initial "any interest?" query. it's me, scattered with one thing one day and another thing the next day, who have been a little slow moving forward.

but made a phone call (to t's "agent") and sent an email (to montclair, new jersey) and just reached out to michael (and believe we're going to do something so cool together), here's that email, for, umm, reading:

hey michael, how are you? so this is what i'm thinking, for us, to start - and want to stress anything i say is totally malleable by both of us ok?

what i'm envisioning as of 2007 april 09 is that you come over, with your "painter" program (you have a laptop?) and your wacom (if you're comfortable toting it, but i have one, we can of course share) tablet

i hang a big canvas with a chessboard on it, or maybe chessboard-patterned something (saw contact paper at hardware store near here) on the wall, projector faces that. we start with a black or white or grey background on your painter program. we paint, taking turns, with wacom. if can use two wacoms at once, wow, that would be cool - not sure if the machine can be set up that way. i only have one projector, if you have another one and could bring, would be amazing, but that's usually a rare situation.

anyway here's the kicker i want to do this a couple times because i'm also now thinking the one who isn't using the wacom computer paint could be using real paint, then we switch off, just need to be a wee-bit careful not to splatter paint on any new-tech equipment, sure that won't be a problem, just affirming we both feel the same way about keeping working stuff functioning (really trying just to assure you: michael i am not going to dump a can of paint on your laptop if you bring one over ok? do don't worry about this) (you can see i sometimes think in worst-case scenarios and build up from there)

anyway one more question can i have your permission to post pretty much any bit of our e-correspondence to my blog? and of course will remove anytime you want? but this goes up for starters? talk to you soon?

oh scheduling - this saturday is all-day bio-life-art discussion thing http://www.nyas.org/events/eventDetail.asp?eventID=8884&date=4/14/2007%208:00:00%20AM
and sunday i'm "playing" some "chess" in montclair i think (=hope) (although now it seems, would be fun for mr. montclair and team to come to nyc i bet) so maybe this sunday if you're free? otherwise, some evening would be ok? like, this friday (13th) or following wednesday (18th)? sun 22nd anytime?

this is a start right?

talk to you soon, call anytime tomorrow if you feel like it, hope you're well, spring is pretty much almost here

-erik

post-sending just realized duh, of course we should start (assuming "painter" program gives you background option) with either chess-pattern or even picture of whatever we're going to "paint" and paint on, whatever that chess-board option ends up being

in training

18.4 miles today. reasonably hefty pack as well - two bottles of wine, three pairs of socks, three pairs of underwear, two pairs of long pants, bottle of water, thermos of tea, scone (last three items consumed en route) - also delivered a painting, carried it for a couple miles at least, was flapping in the wind quite a bit, in one of those large flat portfolio bags - carried a bag of dirt for a couple pre-backpack miles, first stretch (potting soil for spring project, courtesy of steph) (merci)

one thing i had been worried about was the cold (don't like it - matthew was suggesting november, initially, and i was thinking "most people wouldn't worry about the cold but i really don't like being cold") - anyway, no longer care about the cold. pretty much constant snow flurries haunted me throughout the day but i was sweating away undistracted






















matthew pointed me to this distance-calculating site http://www.mapmyrun.com/, will try to keep better track of time now that i know it's easy to retrace the route






















we're both conscious of wanting to get our speed up, so we've got a bit of time at stations, rather than in-between-points and just always trying to get to shelter - i figure eight hours a day, if we can get from one sleepspot to the next, would be confidence-giving, can always slow down and look at things super-intently, especially if you know you can speed up and get there no problem

after dinner my sister-in-law says "there are going to be mountains where you're going, right?" and i'm like "no way, we're strolling from hotel to hotel on sidewalks" but there will be a little bit of up-down it looks like, another matthew link http://www.amy.hi-ho.ne.jp/d08343/nsd/f32600.html (altitude shown in meters just below the map)

probably makes for a better view. didn't think i'd like being up on the bridge, not thrilled about heights in general, but no rain, fantastic (pictures not allowed, really strange feeling that the most beautiful part of the day not captured by a collaborating device)

work in progress

if you click on #56, you'll see the beginning of the beginning
http://www.eriksanner.com/kisokaido_070407

invitation

last night sent out a link to this image










to a few people - and that was the next step in making "chess" happen - that picture has been in my head for a long time, years i guess, recently thinking things like "what if you sit with your backs to the table and throw paint over your shoulder behind you?" and "what if both 'players' have both black and white paint?" but that seems like later stuff, what you see is sort of the foundation thought

part of the reason i finally started blogging is that i'm receiving grant money for this project. so i figured it would be nice for new york city taxpayers to see what sort of work they're funding. yesterday created that illustration (which yes, took some time), wrote and sent this email:

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http://www.eriksanner.com/chess

does this like something you''d be interested in doing? or learning more about anyway, but gut reaction to that image, should be enough maybe? new project, will be blogging about it, want to invite you, it will evolve, you can have a role in that or not, would very much like for you to be involved at some point. if interested, please let me know. thank you.

-erik

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there are other people i want to invite to do this, more details on what "this" will or could entail to come

if you were at the cue how-to-present-your-art workshop with nina katchadourian, john zinsser, and mister fear-is-good.com, and i mentioned "doing a big collaboration thing with a bunch of people in a few months" then this is it and i haven't been able to find my little list of "must invite" names based on what i experienced during your presentation, please send me an email, especially whatsyername, you, the lady who was already doing something "chess" (but quite different, a maze)

and if you weren't at cue but that image makes you want to lurch up out of your chair, well, this isn't at the "open call" stage i don't think, but let me know and i'll say "let's talk! and let's do something" so i guess it is