Artistic Endeavors, Excursions, References & Writings...

Can Serrat Residency, ACHC Grant, & More Art

2012-01-21T23:20:00.000-08:00

[Still from GG in Punta Gorda, FL in front of bout sheets]

It seems my boxing-as-art and art in athleticism explorations are still a hot topic. I was recently accepted to the 30-day Can Serrat Artist Residency Program in the Montserrat Natural Park, Spain (Just outside Barcelona). In addition to my acceptance, I was awarded a Support Stipend and have within 1 year to book my stay. I'm extremely excited for this upcoming opportunity! To assist with the remainder of the expenses, I recently applied for an Individual Artist Grant from the Arts Council of Hillsborough County worth up to $1,000. Below are some of my brief responses:

1. Describe the PROJECT for which you are seeking funds.

I am seeking funds to support my recent acceptance to the Can Serrat Artist Residency Program. Can Serrat is a communal artist workshop and residency located within the confines of Montserrat Natural Park, just 25 miles outside Barcelona, Spain. With the assistance of a Hillsborough County Individual Artist Grant and the Support Stipend Can Serrat has awarded me, I look forward to what the future could hold if given the opportunity to attend in order to further develop and advance my creative practice. As a Tampa-based emerging contemporary artist with a Master of Fine Arts degree in New Genres/Performance, my current creative focus and research involves the integration of my artistic practice with athleticism–specifically amateur boxing. I regard boxing as a potent topic in terms of contemporary sports and gender studies, as female boxing is debuting in this year's London Olympics. Coupling gender and athlete demographics while dissolving traditional fields and boundaries, I implement a rigorous artist-turned-athlete training regimen with the aims of exploring the intersection between visual art and the noble art of boxing as an alternative form of performance. To ground my recent contributions to these fields, I am pleased to have been recognized as a prominent local artist at the National Performance Network's recent annual meeting in Tampa, and also recently recognized as the 2012 Golden Gloves Female Middleweight Champion of Florida. With this background and focus considered, my proposed project that Can Serrat has accepted and awarded a Support Stipend involves this interest in athleticism abroad. The project involves documenting a rigorous 21-day stamina and endurance performance that initiates at dawn and concludes when I hike to the summit of Sant Jeroni. This simultaneous conditioning routine and meditative ritual resonates with the history of the surrounding Can Serrat site. Similar to the contributions of walking artists Richard Long and Hamish Fulton, I plan to document the effect of my presence on the environment and also the environment's effect on me via photographs, binaural audio recordings, and other expanded media. After these treks, my time will be spent in the studios reconciling the data from these hiking excursions into tangible and experiential artworks for exhibit in both countries–Spain and the United States.

2. Describe how the PROJECT for which you are seeking funds will directly impact the Hillsborough County arts community or artists.

The works that I will generate during my participation in the Can Serrat Artist Residency Program will receive public reception not only in the Can Serrat exhibition center, but locally as well upon my return to Tampa. I look forward to contributing to the diversity of the arts culture of Hillsborough County by sharing my creative experience abroad via local public exhibitions, artist organizations, and advocacy. I plan to submit my Can Serrat works to forthcoming group exhibitions, including those hosted by Tempus Projects, an artist-run project space and alternative venue. I have a high regard for group exhibitions and value the opportunity to connect with multiple artists and discuss the relationships between works on display. I am less interested in a solo exhibition of the works, and more interested in relational community correspondence and conversation. This interest will lead me to also submit the works to multiple organizations of the Hillsborough County Visual Artists’ Alliance, including the North Tampa Arts League and the Tampa Realistic Artists. Notably, this alliance and these organizations also lay emphasis on community, and I believe will be receptive to considering the works I generate in Can Serrat for exhibition. In addition to public exhibitions and opening lines of communication across varied local artist organizations, I believe my work advocates a harmonious and balanced perspective by combining art in athleticism. My work on exhibition and promoted online will emphasize a creative mind that is congruent with a physical body. It examines the result the artist produces while also considering the artist him/herself as a tool worth refining, and the process as a journey of discovery. As an artist and recently recognized Golden Gloves Female Middleweight Champion of Florida, my work pushes boundaries regarding artistic medium, takes risks, and empowers the artist as a catalyst for change in the pursuit of one's passions and ambitions. I believe this is an admirable model for all of the Hillsborough County arts community.

3. How does this project advance your development of work/career goals?

The opportunity to engage the Can Serrat Residency Program's site of the Montserrat Natural Park is the ideal environment where my creative practice can benefit and flourish. The investigations I plan to carry out will foster creative and conceptual development while combining my interests in athleticism as an invigorated return to my previous artistic practice. Before my current artistic explorations involving boxing, my work heavily integrated the physicality of my body in other ways, namely through walking as a medium that responded to various environments as a catalyst for reflection and examination. Sites for my walking projects included the desolate Mojave Desert in California and the threatening sites of tension within the urban cityscape of Tampa, Florida. As a long-time resident of Tampa, I generated artworks addressing the pedestrian terrain of borders, barriers, and hindrances that are materialized and dematerialized in the geography and psycho-geography of the city. Through the use of installation, site-specificity, and performative elements, I frequently incorporated my own body in order to generate these works.The mountainous topography that Can Serrat provides access to is a landscape I have yet to explore, where I can continue to broaden and expand my research and practice while collaborating with new artists in a working community. This will advance my explorations of harnessing my body and will directly contribute to my comprehension of walking as a spacial practice–as a form of navigation and transformation. Furthermore, the potential to amplify the walking experience from gentle hikes to challenging treks and climbs offers an outlet to incorporate an element of athleticism as a mode of conditioning and stamina training. I would also delight in the opportunity to ground my creative work not only physically, but spiritually as well, via introspection and access to the historical Montserrat Monastery. It is this unique and natural beauty of Can Serrat's Catalan hills and influence of the Catalan culture that will enrich me creatively, physically, and spiritually as I embark on creating new works during my 30-day residency.

Lastly, my abstract "Artistic Performance, Amateur Boxing, and "A People to Come"" was accepted for the Digital (De-)(Re-)Territorializations Conference, hosted by Bowling Green State University in association with BGSU’s Association for Textual and Literary Analysis Students. I look forward to start shooting this weekend to generate my upcoming mini-doc / academic presentation on boxing and Deleuze for my submission.

It's been a lot to handle lately with continued boxing training, a full-time job, grant proposals and slowly making headway on pending art projects--namely the boxing catalog and a new series of fight-themed, large-scale graphite portraits, amongst other works. Details to come.

Golden Gloves Female Middleweight Champion of Florida

2012-01-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

Digital (De-)(Re-)Territorializations: New Theory for New Media

2012-01-11T05:49:00.000-08:00

ABSTRACT

Artistic Performance, Amateur Boxing, and "A People to Come"
by Desiree D'Alessandro

My artistic performance practice is integrated with ambitious pursuits in athleticism–specifically amateur boxing. Boxing is a potent topic in terms of contemporary sports and gender studies, as women's boxing is debuting in the 2012 London Olympics. Coupling gender and athlete demographics, while dissolving traditional fields and boundaries, I implement a rigorous artist-turned-athlete training regimen with the aims of exploring the intersection between visual art and the noble art of boxing.

I utilize the internet to document and broadcast my progress and related boxing artworks through my website, blog, and YouTube videos. The process of sculpting my body into that of a competitive athlete and uploading to YouTube engages the broader social register. I document my sweat and sacrifice to transform the physical work into an intellectual encounter. This is the creation of what Deleuze calls a "people to come" – in effect a multiplicity in the state of being born. Also in accordance with Deleuzean philosophy, my practice aims to strip the seemingly implicit separation between art and athleticism to engage new, hybrid praxes that reconstruct, reterritorialize, and recontextualize these fields. In front of a collective physical and virtual audience, my work unravels on-target and immediate contemporary issues regarding Performance Studies, Sports Politics, Race/Gender/Identity Formation, and Spaces/Sites of Resistance.

As an artist and athlete, I seek to enhance the experience of spectator involvement in a practice that eliminates the ropes that restrict the ring, so that the scale of the encounter shifts from the individual to the social. In this sense, my work supplies a conduit for broader collective engagement. As Deleuze points out, “the author is in a situation of producing utterances which are already collective, which are like the seeds of the people to come, and whose political impact is immediate and inescapable. The author [is] in a position to express potential forces and to be a true collective agent, a collective leaven, a catalyst.”

Photag: Robert Richards

2012-01-08T06:08:00.000-08:00

Quotes from Muhammad Ali

2012-01-07T20:52:00.000-08:00

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks
will accomplish nothing in life.”
- Muhammad Ali

"Champions aren't made in gyms.
Champions are made from something they have deep inside them:
A desire, a dream, a vision.
They have to have the skill and the will.
But the will must be stronger than the skill."
- Muhammad Ali

FL GG Countdown: 19 days

2011-12-25T06:28:00.001-08:00

The following is a brief boxing update:

As many of you already know, since graduation at the University of California, Santa Barbara (which I am proud to say was recently ranked one of the top 10 universities in the world), I have relocated back to my hometown of Tampa, Florida. I was sad to leave Duke's Boxing & Fitness in Isla Vista, Calif. There, I discovered my passion for boxing and bonded with my friends and mentors Former Southern California Golden Gloves champion Henry Calles and Hall of Fame Boxing Historian David Martinez during my first year of consistent and routine boxing training. When I moved back to Tampa, I recultivated a training relationship with boxing trainer and marathoner Walt Conrad, whom I had previously worked with during brief holiday vacations away from UCSB. I picked up private sessions with him for approximately 2 months, where we rigorously trained approximately 15 hours a week. While I am grateful and appreciative for the time we trained together, I decided it was in my best financial interest to start training independently. This decision was difficult, because as soon as I committed to the decision, I landed a full time job at a public relations and advertising firm. The 40-hour a week position was stifling at first, but I regained my momentum and picked up independent training in terms of cardio, weight lifting, and boxing at Calta's 24/7 Fitness on Florida and Bearss.

I also began to play the part of self promoter and researcher and established communication with boxing contacts Mark Streisand and Bob Nicholson in regards to my USA Boxing registration and the upcoming Florida Golden Gloves tournament held Jan 12-15th in Punta Gorda, Fla. I discovered that I qualify for the tournament, can register as unaffiliated or unattached, and that a corner team and coach is not a requirement. I was fully prepared to enter this tournament without a corner team, ready to stand to face my opponent without water or sit-down rests during the interval breaks. However, I thought I'd take one more shot at finding the best local boxing representation around. This is how I discovered Legends Boxing Club.

I felt like Rocky Balboa in Rocky III where Apollo Creed introduces Rocky to Tough Gym in Los Angeles. When I entered the building, the intense atmosphere and serious work the boxers were putting in was inspiring. The sparring was hard but considerate, the training was as much about proficiency as it was rigor, and for the first time yet, I actually see the "Eye of the Tiger" in the faces of those who are working out. The difference between this atmosphere and the atmosphere of previous recreational boxing gyms I've seen is astounding. Equally as astounding are the owners and trainers that run the place, two-time World Champion Fransisco Arreola and Sherman Henson who's trained 2 WBC World Champions a NABF World Champions and numerous professional and amateur boxers. Even Antonio Tarver former WBC, WBA, IBF, & The Ring light heavyweight champion and his prodigy son train here, and many other distinguished names in boxing, which I am sure to soon discover and meet. I am proud and excited to call Legends Boxing Club my new home for boxing and sparring training while still attending Calta's for routine cardio and weight lifting. Additionally, I am proud to have Frisco and Sherman in my corner in the upcoming FL GG tournament, taking place in less than 3 weeks. My checklist is complete as I continue to train up until the deadline:

☑ Official USA boxing passbook
☑ Fitted mouthguard
☑ USA Boxing approved headgear
☑ Female groin guard and chest protector
☑ Boxing shoes
☑ Trunks with contrasting waistband
☑ World Champ Fransisco Arreola in my corner

It's been a long road to get to this tournament. I hope to call upon the advice and the technique of everyone who has worked with me. I will demonstrate diligence, determination and discipline. I will execute ring generalship, aggressor formation, and unleash a fury of combinations of speed and power. No matter what, I will do the best I can with this opportunity.

I will take my shot!

Win or lose, this will be an excellent opportunity and learning experience to better prepare me for National Women’s Golden Gloves to be conducted this summer in Charlotte County, Fla.

Local Art Scene: NPN Annual Meeting & Tempus Projects

2011-12-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

I am an invited speaker at the Visual Artists Network (VAN) Late Night Chit-Chat, National Performance Network (NPN) Annual Meeting. The presentations will be held at the Hyatt Regency Media Lounge, Room 302 in Tampa, Fla.

Additionally, be sure to check out the reception for MIXTAPES & TEES at Tempus Projects in Seminole Heights. D'Alessandro Fight Jamz: A Father-Daughter Mixtape will be featured!

Come check it out!

Closing the Distance

2011-11-25T22:18:00.000-08:00

Article cross-posted from dmboxing.com:

I have met so many wonderful people in boxing over the years. Working with the younger generation at the gym is always a delight for me. As the kids grow up, come and go, and maneuver their way in life, I try to stay in touch. Though with some I seem to lose track, there is one young lady I will always keep in contact with: Desiree D'Alessandro. I have previously posted her on my website and would like to update on her current whereabouts. Desiree graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara this past June 2011 and has relocated to her home town of Tampa, Florida. She accomplished her schooling with a Master of Arts degree and has continued her boxing training with her busy work schedule. Below is a chapter I wrote for her (forthcoming) collective publication regarding her graduate studies and boxing while attending UCSB. I would like to share with you my chapter on UCSB boxing history and my involvement. Desiree and I have stayed in touch on a regular basis even though we live 3,000 miles part. Our maintained true friendship and communication closes the distance.

Boxing from David Martinez / Boxing Historian

My love for boxing started back in the early sixties and has been an integral part of my life for the last fifty years. I have written many boxing articles for various publications and reported for radio and television. I was the former director of the World Boxing Hall of Fame board, have refereed USA Boxing amateur bouts, and was the recipient of the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award in boxing. I was inducted in to the California Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007, and I currently devote my time to working with local boxing gyms and maintaining my informative boxing website: dmboxing.com.

My involvement regarding UCSB boxing occurred with two major highlights in the eighties. On September 16, 1981, I wrote the front sports page feature story for the Santa Barbara News-Press preceding the World Welterweight unification title fight between WBC champion Sugar Ray Leonard (30-1) and WBA champion Thomas Hearns (32-0). The bout was shown live on a closed-circuit telecast at Robertson Gym. I was in attendance for this event in front of a sold out standing-room-only crowd. It was an event for the ages at that time because it was a first in boxing for UCSB in the arena of a professional fight. The fight was voted “1981 Fight of the Year” in every boxing circle worldwide.

The following year in 1982, at the same Robertson Gym, I was a referee and judge for the inaugural Fight Night, a 12-bout boxing exhibition. The show was promoted by Art Carbajal, the founder of La Casa De La Rasa Boxing Club before it became known as Primo Boxing Club, an organization in which the proceeding Fight Night fundraisers have benefited. I remember well that evening was again a sold out standing-room-only crowd. It was an event that rocked the entire UCSB campus and boxing community of Santa Barbara––a live boxing show! George Calderon highlighted the show and fought a three-round exhibition bout that night. Interestingly, Calderon is the uncle and trainer of Henry Calles, current owner of Dukes Boxing in Isla Vista, CA. George went on later to win various coveted amateur titles and Henry won the Southern California Golden Gloves champion of the Open Division in 2001. Migrating from the Robertson Gym to the Thunderdome, there have since been 17 Fight Night boxing events staged on UCSB campus up until the event's controversial cancellation in 2009. To me, however, there will be nothing like reminiscing the moment of the very first show.

These last two and a half years, I have been directly involved with Henry Calles at Duke's Boxing Gym. I have had the pleasure to coach and offer my expertise to many UCSB students that come to the gym on a daily basis. My greatest pleasure is interacting with the youth on a personal level that attend daily workout and boxing classes. In August of 2010, I met artist Desiree D'Alessandro, a particularly determined and lively young woman looking to box for the first time. I remember the eagerness in her introduction, saying she wanted to learn, lose weight, and ultimately compete. Her confidence and conviction made our first meeting memorable.

This past year, I was delighted to assist Desiree on two occasions that brought me back to the UCSB campus since the aforementioned events of thirty years ago. The first being her display of boxing at Open Studios at Harder Stadium on Feb 5, 2011. She displayed her boxing skills at every level and entertained many that attended her studio-turned-training-facility that night. I acted as her promoter, narrating her 4-hour relentless endurance performance. The other occasion was a tribute to her thesis work, staging a boxing event that exceeded expectations beyond the comprehension of many. Art in Athleticism: The Form and Physicality of Boxing took place in the UCSB campus Old Gym Gallery 479 on April 22, 2011. Many were delighted to participate and witness this conjoined art exhibition/exhibition bout which was new and unique to the campus and community.

In closing, I feel honored to have worked with such a devoted and hard working person as Desiree, my friend. Her willingness to improve in boxing and to help others in the sport, that she has vastly learned (and is still learning), is truly a reflection of her courage and character.

Job well done, Desiree D'Alessandro!

Open Online Two Exhibition

2011-11-16T22:00:00.000-08:00

My work is currently on exhibit with U.K.'s Fermynwoods Contemporary Art (FCA) as part of an international call juried by George Barber and Matt Davenport. Open Online Two features works by 9 artists who have created sound-based work through a range of multi-disciplinary methods, exploring diverse themes. I am one of two artists representing the U.S. with other participants from the U.K., Canada, and Germany.

The work selected was an audio-only modification of the remix World Water Shortage vs Golf Course Consumption which I made back in 2010. The work recontextualises a wide array of appropriated audio samples from pop culture to create an environmental message regarding worldwide water shortage in the face of the rampant golf course industry (especially in Calif., U.S.). It juxtaposes the difference in the way water is discussed in the news vs mainstream media commercials, and treats each cut as a continual conceptual stream across a variety of media dissemination platforms. The resulting critical yet humorous narrative ultimately promotes the utilization of water in a more judicious sense and stands against maneuvers to convert this critical world resource into a profitable commodity.

D'ALESSANDRO FIGHT JAMZ

2011-11-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

D'ALESSANDRO FIGHT JAMZ is a cassette recently created in response to Tempus Project's recent call for entries. This father-daughter mixtape features a retrospective compilation of their favorite fight and/or training songs between 1982 and 2010, spanning 14 tracks from different artists. The custom cassette booklet also includes a recent transcribed conversation between the two exploring Victor's fight history and Desiree's current boxing pursuits.

D'ALESSANDRO FIGHT JAMZ: A Father-Daughter Mixtape
2011
Cassette; 0:55:58

PLAYLIST: STREAM

SIDE A (1982-2004)
1. Eye of the Tiger - Survivor (3:53)
2. Keep It Up - Snap (4:03)
3. Go For It! - Joey B. Ellis (4:14)
4. Good Vibrations - Marky Mark (4:28)
5. Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J (4:58)
6. 'Till I Collapse - Eminem (5:27)
7. Can't Be Touched - Roy Jones (3:40)

SIDE B (2006-2010)
8. Round One / Boxing - Kray Twinz ft D&G (3:21)
9. It's a Fight - Three 6 Mafia (3:11)
10. Born To Win - Papoose (4:01)
11. Knock 'em Down - L.T.D.A (4:09)
12. To Be King - Outlaw (3:21)
13. Champion - Flipsyde ft Akon (4:05)
14. Ready For The Fight - The Young Punx ft Count Bass D (3:37)

DOWNLOAD THE HIGH-RES PDF (5MB)

Website Updates!!!

2011-10-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

desiree-dalessandro.com

My website is now sporting (pardon the pun) updates in the ABOUT, CV, and GALLERY section, particularly my latest BOXING AS ART and the RISING & FALLING: HOW WE WALK sections. Feel free to contact me via a variety of the new social networking plugs also!

Rising and Falling: How We Walk Publication

2011-10-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

I was pleased to recently discover that a publication I designed back in 2008 found its way online in a distributable free digital format. The following excerpt is from where it was hosted, at commonplacesproject.org:

Rising and Falling: How We Walk is a publication that resulted from our 8 month effort to work with walking, in a city that renders disposable bodies not confined to vehicles. This small book is our way of reflecting on our work, but it is also meant as a teaching and learning tool for young people in Tampa who may form their own walking communities.

Contributors: Laura Bergeron, Rozalinda Borcila, Martin Bosman, Robert Brinkman, Desiree D’Alessandro, Sarah Hendricks, Sarah Lewison, Lou Marcus, Alan Moore, Raul Romero, Victoria Skelly

The book contains 5 durational walking projects and 6 walk/talks, folded in a handmade box. The book layout puts the walking conversations in relation with the durational walks; it includes images and descriptions of the walks and documents their translation in a number of different public exhibition situations.

We Are Here – an Introduction
by Rozalinda Borcila

Take [I 275 or I 75] to the [Fowler or Fletcher] exit. Go [East or West] until you reach Bruce B Downs Highway, turn [North or South] to Pine Drive, follow Alumni Drive, pay and park. Along the way you may see one or two people standing on the side of the on/off ramps – what the locals predictably refer to as “the crazies”. If the Shriner’s Hospital is fundraising, you may spot men in funny hats standing at one of two major intersections. During shift changes at the Mall Food Court, the occasional uniformed worker may dash across Fowler Ave from South to North. Or maybe you will see an orange-vested highway worker on foot. You drive on highways and 8-lane roads and 5 lane-roads, to smaller streets not equipped with sidewalk or shoulder. And you arrive here, where we invite you to our ongoing conversation about walking: about who walks in our city and who doesn’t, and whether walking is even possible in such a place. We want to ask about walking as a signifying practice, as a form of self-experimentation and self-knowing, as research, as trespass, as a marker or pointer… We want to ask about how power is encoded in the built environment, and about practices of daily life which can, as Henri Lefebvre has suggested, “make the edifice totter”: about walking as an attempt to break down and repurpose the city, to vacate its spaces of their current function and put them to different use.

This small publication emerges out of these ongoing discussions. It centers around a selection of 5 durational walking experiments in Tampa, and a number of contributions from scholars and researchers. But first we must situate ourselves in relation to a certain history and institutional structure.

All of the projects and all but one of the contributors are affiliated with, and financially supported by, the University of South Florida. This publication is partially funded by the School of Art and Art History, which has a long tradition of experimental pedagogy and social art practice. The art projects began their lives as part of a Performance course I taught in Fall 2007; given the highly experimental nature of the Sculpture/Ceramics program, our students frequently develop performative projects which investigate, and intervene within, the space of the city. After several months of work in locations throughout Tampa, the art projects were formalized in a number of exhibition settings: the Oliver Gallery on campus, the University’s Contemporary Art Museum, the Tampa Art Museum and Going Green, a city-wide fair on sustainability and ecology also organized through the University. The students/artists included in this publication are continuing their collaboration, seeking ways to work beyond the structure of the course which brought us together. Initially, this departure seemed simple: beyond the temporal limitation of the semester, the power relations and physical location of the classroom. However, sustaining such practice has implied not merely an exit from the advantages and limitations of the current institutional structure, but also the necessity to build something else: other structures, other functions, other spaces, other forms of cooperation and conflict. This publication comes at a crucial moment in this ongoing process, a moment of great indeterminacy and potential – which it can merely point to and not, as of yet, reflect upon.

This project is also supported by the Center for Getting Ugly – a sort of counter-institution which has been operating in various ways in the last 4 years or so, a self-organized open infrastructure intended to facilitate cooperative practices. The Center itself is a function of the desire to experiment with collective dissent and conflict as proper artistic and political work. Even though none of the current projects are formally affiliated with it, we include here an excerpted transcript from Sarah Lewison’s oral introduction to a workshop organized by the Center for Getting Ugly at Versionfest Chicago, which eloquently outlines some of the most important aspects of our own ongoing discussions about walking and not walking, and their institutionalization.

The publication includes a number of folded “maps” – outlining four durational walking projects, as well as a collaborative intervention which is deployed in a number of different contexts. It also includes contributions from a number of scholars and researchers whose work I found immensely provocative, and who in various ways address the complex relationships between space and power that seem to be at the heart of the matter. Instead of essays or interviews, these contributions were solicited as walks/talks in different locations and under different circumstances (including a sleep walk/talk recorded by artist Desiree D’Alessandro). These wandering conversations are documented in extensive excerpted transcripts. My sincere gratitude to all the contributors for their inspiring work, their honesty and candor.

DOWNLOAD THE LOW-RES PDF (25MB)
DOWNLOAD THE HIGH-RES PDF (35MB)

2011 Re/Mixed Media Festival, NYC

2011-10-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

A Boxer's Soundscape is being featured in the 2011 Re/Mixed Media Festival put together by the director Tom Tenney. It will feature performances, panel discussions, hip-hop, sampling, beat-box, film & video, fashion, food, DJs, technology, interactive installations, painting, sculpture, software, hacking, and much more!

The RE/Mixed Media Festival is a 2-day celebration of collaborative art-making and creative appropriation. It's the artists' contribution to the ongoing conversation about remixing, mashups, copyright law, fair use, and the freedom of artists to access their culture in order to add to and build upon it.

Having participated in the 2010 Re/Mixed Media Festival, I have since embraced remixing via the genres of art and athleticism as I explore boxing as my latest artistic medium. A Boxer's Soundscape was recently created through an orchestrated mashup of appropriated sourced audio samples found online and original ones captured with binaural recording equipment mounted to my headgear. The resulting audio work remixes genres, audio samples, and even media as it has existed as an immersive installation at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum in CA, and now as a stereophonic audio piece for the 2011 Re/Mixed Media Festival in NY.

Honors to Hooters

2011-09-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

Honors to Hooters
Desiree D'Alessandro and Diran Lyons
2011
Work Statement (below), Curriculum Vitae, Resume, Hooters Application
Dimensions Variable

Work Statement by Diran Lyons:

In response to the Museum of Science and Industry's ARC Gallery Book as Art event, contemporary artist Desiree D'Alessandro and I have collaborated on a submission that brings an artifact to the forefront that is frequently overlooked––that of the artist's curriculum vitae. All too often artist CVs, resumes, and statements are bundled and neglected on a lonely table off to the corner of an exhibition. Honors to Hooters encourages the viewer to critically reexamine these artifacts in a way that resonates with the sad state of affairs that is the United States economic crisis.

I have known Desiree D'Alessandro since 2005, when she first enrolled in my painting and sculpture classes at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, FL. Since that time, Desiree went on to earn degrees in visual art at University of South Florida and University of California, Santa Barbara, where she was a Regents Fellow in their MFA program. Due to the depressed economy, opportunities to teach at the collegiate level are scarce. Desiree spends her time hoping for teaching positions to open, but is seeking immediate employment in other fields. Recently, she even applied to Hooters, reflecting her desperation for employment.

Unfortunately, I find myself in a similar predicament, having graduated from the UC system in visual art 7 years prior to Desiree. I, too, was a UC Regents Fellow. I would like to be able to assure Desiree that with hard work after graduate studies, she will find full-time employment in her desired field of academia, but I cannot truthfully do so. While Desiree is armed with words of encouragement and letters of recommendation from former faculty and employers, the reality of her situation calls for trepidation.

Recent Work and Reviews

2011-09-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

Desiree D'Alessandro
Brief Artist's Statement:
Art is the arena in which I fight to better understand the world. Through sweat and sacrifice, I am conditioned to transform work into a physical and intellectual encounter. My interactive works revolve around kinaesthetic examinations via a variety of platforms. I train in site-specific, installation, digital, and performative modes of production. During these investigative bouts, my aim is to provoke discourse on subjects that are on-target and immediate. I seek to encourage and enhance the experience of spectator involvement. Therefore my practice eliminates the ropes that restrict the ring, so that the scale of the encounter can shift from the individual to the social. By intersecting Art and Athleticism, I openly challenge spectators from different arenas to converge and converse. My involvement with Amateur Boxing and its rigorous training parallels my artistic practice. Through both, I attempt to harness my bodily intent within the work. Whether as a physical work out, a contest, a spectacle, or the opportunity for visual and cognitive mapping, my work is ideological and intellectual. The outcome is also affectively visceral––showcasing image, scale, movement, color, time, and space. Throughout struggles to understand ourselves in relation to the world, there is no ringside. We are all in this fight.

Brawling Runs in the Blood
1991, 2010
Digital Photograph
9" x 12"

"Shoulders Like Boulders"
2010
Full-Color Vinyl Banner
3' x 6'

Public Endurance Training
Feb. 2011
4-hour training session for UCSB MFA Open Studios
in collaboration with Hall of Fame boxing historian David Martinez supervising
Harder Stadium, Santa Barbara, Ca

Art in Athleticism: The Form and Physicality of Boxing
MFA Thesis Exhibition and Bout
April. 2011
University of California - Santa Barbara
Old Gym Gallery 479,
Santa Barbara, Ca

"Float Like a Butterfly"
2011
Boxing Artifacts
Dimensions Vary

A Boxer's Soundscape:
The Battle During and Between Rounds
2011
Immersive Audio Installation, Synchronized Boxing Interval Timer
Three 2-Minute rounds, 1-Minute Intervals; Infinite Loop

Jennifer Vanderpool, Ph.D.
May 2011
Los Angeles, California
Desiree D'Alessandro is an artist and a boxer. She employs her body as the framing device for her creative practice and in this way, her work slips between performative art and working out at the gym. D’Alessandro documents her workouts and getting in shape to compete in upcoming amateur boxing fights and then uploads the videos on YouTube. She records the process of sculpting her body into that of a competitive athlete. D’Alessandro’s cataloging her progress is in the tradition of Eleanor Antin’s 1972 work “Carving: A Traditional Sculpture.” Antin photographed herself everyday from four angles over a period of 37 days to record her ten pound weight loss. She displayed her photographic documentation in a grid that mimicked a scientific table, thereby removing an emotional response to the work. Antin’s piece is an icon of the Seventies Feminist Art Movement in which women artists created works that in general questioned the male gaze, social definitions of beauty, and their role in the art world. Isn’t D’Alessandro’s work asking similar sorts of queries…. What is the role of feminism in contemporary art practices? What is the role of women athletes in today’s society? What opportunities are available for these women to compete at elite levels and as professionals?

D’Alessandro’s YouTube videos have garnered a following of family, friends, and random people turned fans that check-in regularly to see her progress and cheer her on with their comments. The reception to D’Alessandro’s videos on YouTube contributes to the contemporary public discourse of “you go girl!” encouragement which then becomes self-affirmation for her rigorous workouts. D’Alessandro employs YouTube as a social networking site to share her videos and engage in mediated conversations, but also as an artistic tool much like Antin chose photographs and not video as a creative medium for her work. In a recent student exhibition, D’Alessandro complemented her YouTube videos with portraits of herself and her boxing friends. She collaborated with photographer Raymond Douglas to take these photographs. The resulting images are idealized pictures of amateur boxers wearing workout clothes, arms up with gloves on, and intense expressions on their faces. Their ambition is palpable.

In addition to the photographs, D’Alessandro built a scale model of a boxing ring on an elevated platform in the gallery. The ring included nylon covered ropes and corner guards. The comparatively diminutive scale of the ring objectified it and consequently it functioned as a stage and another narrative element in D’Alessandro’s project. It is easy to image the photographed boxers fighting in the ring. Yet, it is not necessary to image them fighting as viewers could attend the exhibition bout that D’Alessandro scheduled at the closing reception. The bout was real: D’Alessandro believes spectators metaphorically felt each boxer’s punch land on his opponent. Boxing is D’Alessandro’s passion and it is the underlying personal narrative that informs her studio practice. Her body as an art object is the continuity between herself as self and herself as performer. As a performer, D’Alessandro’s work questions the mediated construction of achieving an ideal athletic body, the dreams of an aspiring athlete, and perhaps most importantly the role of contemporary women artists who in-turn are also athletes.

Maggie Knapp, BA Historian
May 2011
Santa Barbara, California
With her work originating from an artistic investment in relational aesthetics, Desiree D’Alessandro began as a MFA student a parallel personal odyssey to improve her health and in so doing stumbled upon a community in the rival direction of art: athletics. Her boxing bouts draw a crowd of exemplary diversity—from frat boys to academics—that becomes engrossed not only in the spectacle but just as emphatically in the relations that interlace them. Sports offer an investment that is immediate, unbridled, and not only reflective but constitutive of our characters. In the ring, D’Alessandro fights a personal battle with universal resonance. Though each bout is a performative piece, it is unscripted and the outcome unpredictable, and it is through this process of risk and ritual that this guerrilla girl sows her art. Her audience can identify from a feminist stance, an artistic perspective, and an athletic enthusiasm with a transformational quest that inspires and unites us. D’Alessandro is both artist and advocate at once, shedding her own blood and tears for her art, sacrificing herself not as a martyr but as something much more active and empowered. The crowd that she draws is not self-selecting, as is lamentably so often the case with collaborative works. Instead, D’Alessandro’s audience represents the more collective republic of the public, whose interaction becomes instinctual rather than intellectual.

What began organically as an act of recreation and self-enrichment became an obsession for formal mastery that echoes all the familiar tropes of hero narrative. D’Alessandro’s boxing truly pushes the boundaries of art as open-ended medium; it is conceptual to the point of eliminating the medium of its transmission, leaving raw libidinal response in its wake. D’Alessandro’s practice has been challenged conceptually, but her unapologetic and relentless progress has proven her work to be that of the intractable avant-garde. What drives her is not external pressure but internal resolve, a tempestuous cotillion of rationality and sensuality both in the ring and in the studio. D’Alessandro’s performance foregrounds a pregnant moment that fills the air with baited breath—all the energy and expectation suppressed by the space of the museum-temple. D’Alessandro has reactivated artistic spectatorship in a way that integrates the audience into the performance and as not crowd but community, relating on innumerable levels to the sacred ceremony of blood sport. There is fracturing, there is nostalgia, there is myth and narrative, personal trial and triumph all wrestling for attention. While D’Alessandro faces down her ‘perfect other’ in an opponent comparable in weight class and experience, her performance brings together a community of others. In this ring, combative sport serves to integrate diverse demographics; perhaps the medium is negligible, but there is something sweetly ironic in the use of a brawl to fuse solidarity. Aesthetic cues delineate the ancient space of ritual: red and blue gloves mirror the red and blue perimeter ropes of the ring. Sacrament prepares D’Alessandro for the bout: ceremonial hand wrapping, headgear fastening, and the insertion of a mouth guard. A brutal beauty unfolds in this dance. D’Alessandro’s inspired practice of sport-turned-art breathes new life into boxing as both sweet science and noble art.

A Boxer's Soundscape: The Battle During and Between Rounds

2011-09-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

A Boxer's Soundscape:
The Battle During and Between Rounds
Desiree D'Alessandro
2011
Immersive Audio Installation, Synchronized Boxing Interval Timer
Three 2-Minute rounds, 1-Minute Intervals; Infinite Loop

Installation Description:

This minimal installation invites viewers to be immersed in a directional audio environment, providing the unique opportunity to hear first-hand what it sounds like to get inside the ring for a competition duration of three two-minute rounds with one-minute intervals. To create this work, D'Alessandro integrated binaural microphones and a digital recorder into her headgear in order to capture the visceral data of what happens inside the ring, from an intimate perspective other than that acquired via ringside or televised broadcasting. The competition rounds attempt to highlight and quantify the physical sounds of the blows, the breathing, and the grunts. During the interval breaks, D'Alessandro takes a creative approach to depict the mental battle that ensues between rounds, resulting in a disorienting channel-shifting overlay of advice derived from transcriptions of her video-documented training sessions with boxing coaches across the nation.

Why Boxing?

Since 2010, Desiree D'Alessandro has engaged the sport of boxing as her medium in efforts to explore the correlations between Art and Athleticism. Her works have ranged from athletic vinyl banners, found object displays in the gear and equipment associated with the sport, endurance performances in collaboration with influential boxing figures, and waged bouts on a self-constructed, fully dressed ring as a type or artistic performance and vice versa. The sport of boxing resonates with D'Alessandro for several reasons: (1) It has had a profound impact on her relationship with her father, who was a fighter and watched televised fights with her since she was a child, (2) It is a potent topic in terms of contemporary sports and gender studies as Women's Boxing is debuting in the 2012 London Olympics and (3) The personal, intimate, and individual nature of the sport is captivating as a metaphor for battles we all must face.

Kim Beil's Writeup (Excerpted from The Santa Barbara Contemporary Art Forum's 2011 Call For Entries Catalog):

Desiree D’Alessandro, who just received her MFA from UCSB’s Art Department, has been the object of her own art practice for the past year. Though her training as an amateur boxer began as a quest for personal improvement, she soon discovered a strong correlation between the art of her work in the ring and other, more conventional artistic practices.

“I think sometimes the product of artistic work doesn’t have to be something so physically evident as a drawing or a sculpture,” says D’Alessandro. “What excites me about boxing—and about art-making—is the feat itself and not necessarily the marks that were made. For instance, boxing as a sport is very concerned with the visible gesture: judges count punches or watch for a boxer to go down, in the same way that often what is important about an artwork is the evidence of the artist’s presence or the marks that he or she made. But emotionally and mentally there’s a lot there that can’t be visibly documented and these are the aspects that I’m trying to convey here.”

For this installation, A Boxer’s Soundscape, D’Alessandro wore stereo microphones strapped to her headgear during the three, two-minute rounds of a sparring session. The first-person perspective of these sounds allow a close identification with the boxer that is often absent from more conventional representations of boxing found either in televised matches or in Hollywood recreations.

Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum: Call For Entries 2011

2011-08-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

CALL FOR ENTRIES 2011
August 7 – October 9, 2011
Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum

Opening Reception:
August 6, 6:30 - 8 pm

Featuring:
Desiree D'Alessandro
Elizabeth Kunath
Luke Matjas
Michael Powell
Leighton Collier Roux

CAF showcases five stand-outs from the tri-counties in our annual Call For Entries (CFE) group exhibition, an opportunity that invited the artists to present newly commissioned work in the galleries. Guest curated by Kim Beil, the exhibition ranges in media, gender, and point of view, reflecting the sophistication and diversity of our region. Artist Leighton Collier Roux will present a performance artwork during the Opening Reception.

Applicants were selected in Fall 2010 by a panel of distinguished jurors made up of artists and art professionals currently working in the visual arts field including: Kim Beil, Independent Art Writer, Santa Barbara, CA; Stephanie Dotson, Artist and Assistant Printmaking Professor at Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA; Rachel Gugelberger, Independent Curator, New York, NY; and Annie Wharton, Gallery Director at Annie Wharton Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.

Special thanks to: The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York, NY; Casa Magazine, Santa Barbara, CA; Joe LaCorte Design, Santa Barbara, CA; Santa Barbara Independent; Santa Barbara News-Press; and Wayne McCall & Associates, Santa Barbara, CA.

UCSB MFA Graduation

2011-06-14T13:03:00.001-07:00

Desiree D'Alessandro
Master of Fine Art
Summa Cum Laude / 3.99 GPA

Alas, it is over. I have earned my MFA in the course of the 2-year program at UC Santa Barbara. I am thankful to be in a much happier and healthier place in my life than when I arrived in September of 2009. I have lost 40 pounds, discovered boxing, and proved myself via my success in grants, awards, national and international exhibitions, teaching capabilities, and more.

Overall, I have had a fabulous time and I am thankful for the many opportunities I've had to work distinguished faculty, particularly those who served on my thesis committee: Colin Gardner, Richard Ross, Kip Fulbeck, and Dick Hebdige. I am appreciative of my MFA peers for their highly valuable input, advice, encouragement, and support. I am sad to see it ending, but I am simultaneously excited for what future lies before me post-graduate school.

While I am most uncertain regarding the long run up upcoming events, I know in my immediate future will participating in the SB Contemporary Art Forum's CALL FOR ENTRIES exhibit curated by Kim Beil, working with an immersive audio-only installation in relation to my boxing investigations. Also, soon I will release the digital and print copy of the boxing catalog, which will contain writings from the following contributors:

Henry Calles - The Humbling and Empowering Metamorphosis of Boxing
Maureen Cox - We Can Be Sheroes
Victor D'Alessandro - The Brawler and Boxer: A Father and Daughter Conversation
Kip Fulbeck - Art in Athleticism
Colin Gardner - 'Enery's 'Ammer as Collective Leaven: The Noble Art and the Forging of a Community Yet to Come
Dick Hebdige - Art As a Matter Out of Place
Maggie Knapp - Art Review of Work by Desiree D'Alessandro
Diran Lyons - The World is Worth Fighting For Whom The Bell Tolls
David Martinez - A Glimpse into UCSB Boxing History
Richard Ross - From Madison Square Garden to Old Gym Gallery and Back Again
Michael Schmitt - Fight History: A Conversation with Michael Schmitt

Documented in the catalog will be exhibition photographs and video stills, local community boxer photographs from collaborator Raymond Douglas, historical UCSB boxing artifacts, and as you can see from the selection above, a broad scope of interdisciplinary input and writing contributions from academics, distinguished boxing figures, friends, family, and more. It will make a nice corresponding document to my thesis on file in the Department and Arts Library.

Below is a transcription of what was said about me at the graduation ceremony:

UCSB Department of Art
Graduation and Awards Ceremony
June 11, 2011

Colin Gardner: It gives me great pleasure to speak for Desiree D'Alessandro. I teach theory in the department so most of the names I bandy about with my students--names which fill them with dread because the readings are so difficult--are people like Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Michel Foucault--[student from the background interrupts, shouting "No more!"] See? Enough already [crowd laughter]!

But with Desiree, it was a completely different roster of names. It was names like Floyd Patterson, Ingemar Johansson, Sonny Liston, Muhammad Ali, Henry Cooper [crowd laughter]. Those are just the heavyweights! We never even got into the middle and light weights! I grew up watching Terry Spinks fight who was one of my heroes. But what was remarkable about this is that the combination of boxing, particularly the world of women's boxing, and art is not an incompatible thing at all. In fact one of the great contributions that Desiree made to our department was that she fused not only the activities so that boxing became a kind of artistic performance and vice versa, but she mixed the two worlds, the two audiences. When she staged her famous bout against the reigning champion of the College of Creative Studies, and I think actually won on a fairly large margin of points, it was great to see everyone rooting for their heroine in the gallery and also in the ring... those with ringside seats braying for blood... just amazing [crowd laughter]! We've never seen its like before and probably will never see it again. So for that alone, and for a wonderful two years, I want to thank Desiree from the bottom of my heart.

Desiree D'Alessandro: Wow, thank you Colin. It was an honor to be here and this experience has been the best two years of my life... [starts to choke up]. Gah! I'm such a sucker! [crowd laughter]! I'd like to thank my many families including my father, Victor D'Alessandro, and my boyfriend, Daniel Zimmie. I'd also like to thank my MFA peers, my boxing community, particularly David Martinez and Henry Calles who were always in my corner, and the faculty and staff here at UCSB. Thank you all very much.

2011 UCSB MFA Thesis Exhibition

2011-06-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

WHAT: PENTIMENTO, 2011 UCSB MFA THESIS EXHIBITION

WHERE: MCCORMICK HOUSE - SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART (Street Parking Only)

WHEN: JUNE. 7TH-10TH, 11AM-5PM

RECEPTION: JUNE 10TH. 6-8PM

FEATURING: DANIELA CAMPINS, DESIREE D'ALESSANDRO, ELCIN JOYNER, NIKKI LEONE, PATRICK MELROY

PENTIMENTO will feature work by five artists in UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Art graduate program: Daniela Campins, Desiree D'Alessandro, Elcin Joyner, Nikki Leone, and Patrick Melroy. The artists in this graduating class use a variety of media and focus on an array of issues. The MFA exhibition demonstrates the energy and commitment of the artists, who engaged in numerous critiques by faculty, visiting artists, and their peers to develop their work over a 2-year program.

There will be good art, company, and food/drink at our Reception Friday June 10th @ 6pm.

We look forward to seeing you there!! :D

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118003414949971

[Edit]

"Float Like a Butterfly"
Desiree D'Alessandro
2011
Boxing Artifacts
Dimensions Vary

PENTIMENTO, the 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition, was hosted in Lauria Hall of the McCormick House - Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Responding to the space and using the fireplace mantle as the site for my minimal installation, I chose to exhibit an array artifacts from my previous Art in Athleticism exhibition: competition gloves, headgear, wraps, and mouthguard. The fireplace as a conceptual location evokes metonymic associations to story telling, and the personal artifacts exhibit a narrative direction toward the past and present, as well as the future with the addition of a pristine gold trophy. The engraved placard reads 'DESIREE D'ALESSANDRO 20--' and signifies that this is the relic of a future potentiality, one which has yet to be earned or come into being.

For the sake of photo fun, I had to include a picture of me dressed up for the closing reception. It was a blast to wear this black dress again (which hasn't fit since 2005!) and feel proud of the physical transformation I have endured since starting this MFA program.

w00t for being girly and being boxer! :D

Current Weight: 158 lbs. - Light Middleweight

2011-06-01T14:39:00.001-07:00

Photag: James Colon, UCSB Graduate Division

2011 MFA Thesis by Desiree D'Alessandro

2011-05-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank:

The University of California, Santa Barbara and faculty/staff affiliated with the Department of Art. Earning my MFA in such an environment has been a memorable experience that I will forever cherish. I am eternally appreciative and grateful to have been able to experience graduate school in an academic and coastal paradise.

My father, Victor D'Alessandro. The man who has been my defender my entire life and has shown unwavering love and support, even when our Italian tempers get the best of us. Thanks for all that you do. Denise and Domonick would be proud of us both and what we have accomplished. Fight to stay strong and healthy for years to come. I will do the same. I love you, Daddy.

Daniel Zimmie, for your love, patience, and encouragement from the other side of the country. For believing in me when I had my doubts, giving me strength when I needed it, and flying out to offer support as often as you could manage.

Diran Lyons, my mentor, my colleague, my friend. It is thanks to your influence that I applied to UCSB. I admire your determination and discipline in conceptualizing and fabricating artworks. I could not ask for a better role model or positive influence for my practice.

My Thesis Committee: Colin Gardner, Richard Ross, Kip Fulbeck, and Dick Hebdige. You have all played a critical role in shaping how I developed as an artist through this program. You were ringside (metaphorically and literally) for it all and I appreciate having your support through my struggles and triumphs.

Additional faculty/staff: Marko Peljhan, Graham Budgett, Andres Burbano, Lisa Jevbratt, Terrence Handscomb, Yumi Kinoshita, Trela Cowan, Carol Talley, Michael Schmitt, Troy Small, Diego Auchstetter, and Ken Yokota. It was a pleasure working with you and learning from all that you contributed over the years.

My 2011 graduate colleagues, particularly Daniela Campins, Nikki Leone, and Patrick Melroy. I am honored to have been able to experience this journey alongside you. I wish you the very best in your future endeavors.

My boxing community: Coach and 2001 Southern California Golden Gloves Champion Henry Calles of Duke's Boxing & Fitness in Isla Vista, Hall of Fame Historian David Martinez, trainer Mark Lee, trainer Walt Conrad, and my boxing peers in California and Florida. I am proud to have you all in my corner.

I would also like to thank the generous financial support of the UCSB Department of Art, Graduate Division, Academic Senate, Graduate Student Association, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, University of California Humanities Research Institute, University of California Institute for Research in the Arts, UCR Sweeney Art Gallery, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum.

[right-click, save as or click on the image above to view/save the complete thesis]

Abstract

Kinaesthetic is a term I use to describe a majority of my practice, which points to the sensation of physical movement pertaining to the body and corresponding awareness of its position in space. As a point for departure, I begin by relating the work I was producing in Florida during 2008 and how it integrates with the chronological development of my praxes during graduate studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, from September 2009 to June 2011. I develop a context for three environments, each attributed as a site of influence and transformation, in which I distinguish and confer great importance pertaining to the development of my practice, critical thinking, and research.

1. Deserted Space: This chapter highlights my walking studies in the Wonder Valley desert and my accumulation of detritus artifacts that I later transformed into a digital archive.
2. Digital Space: This chapter highlights YouTube explorations as an international platform at my fingertips, the expansion of one's singular presence to an accessible world-wide virtual environment.
3. Physical Space: This chapter highlights the focus of my thesis work, exploring boxing as a medium of metamorphosis and the related implications of art and athleticism.

I conclude by applying and abbreviating the most influential writing encountered in my theoretical research, a chapter on space titled “The Smooth and the Striated” by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus.

These sites of transformation and spatial influences are all accredited with furthering my understanding of a multitude of environments worthy of further investigation through the utilization of my own body as a conduit.

Words of Encouragement from Lucia Rijker

2011-05-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

I was extremely stoked to befried Lucia Rijker on facebook and even get a correspondence from her directly. Awesome.

[click to enlarge]

Video in reference:

Lucia in action:

Art in Athleticism: Boxing YouTube Playlist

2011-05-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

I created a YouTube playlist that features the pre-fight mitt work, Desiree vs. Cholle 3-round bout, more pre-fight mitt work, Alan vs. Ed 4-round bout, and then some detail cinematography. Viewing quality goes up to 1080 HD.

* Watch on YouTube where the next video auto-plays: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1qra1mDWyQ&playnext=1&list=PL62E8FCF994BFAFA5

* Watch embedded below and click on the "Up Next" video at the conclusion of each segment:

[mitt work begins at 8:45 in on the first video]

CALL FOR DOCUMENTATION!!!

2011-04-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

There were numerous people taking pictures, video, and audio recordings during the Art in Athleticism: The Form & Physicality of Boxing exhibition. I would be honored to get copies of any files you would be willing to share. They will be included in an upcoming catalog that documents the event. Please contact me at d.a.dalssandro@gmail.com.

Some documentation I have accumulated thus far:

Alan, Me, Nicholle & Ed

Gallery 479 Boxing ring room after the exhibition bout finale

Gallery 479 Exhibition View

Gallery 479 Exhibition View

Album of Exhibition Construction/Installation Progress

Album by Photographer Troy David

Teaser * filmed and edited by Amanda Pine

Desiree - Training Facility Hours * filmed by Michael Johnson

EXCERPTED CLIPS

Desiree - Pre-fight Mitt Work

Round 1 Head Movement

Round 1 Footwork

Round ?? Body Shots

Round 3 Intro

Round 3 Momentum Rope Toss

Conclusion

Ed vs. Alan final bout, final round

EXTENDED CLIPS

Desiree - Pre-fight Mitt work starts at 8:45

More pre-fight Mitt work

Round 1 and part of 2

Rest of round 2 and 3

The Art of Boxing

2011-04-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Article cross-posted [with minor revisions] from The Bottom Line

By Tessa Tapscott, Staff Writer

Guttural, breathless sounds of an athlete working out echo through the air and two heavy bags sway ominously. A full-scale boxing ring waits in the next room, and one is surrounded by the faces and up-turned fists of ten boxers. One might not think that something as traditionally dainty as art could be paired with a sport as physically violent as boxing, but UC Santa Barbara graduate art student Desiree D’Alessandro does just that in the exhibition, Art in Athleticism: The Form and Physicality of Boxing.

D’Alessandro, in collaboration with undergraduate art major Raymond Douglas, put together a show that utilizes both artistic and physical means to conjoin the artist’s passions in a fluid and provocative manner. The exhibition took place in the two-room gallery space in Building 479 (a.k.a. The Red Barn).

The first room featured photographs of the student boxers involved in the exhibition, while the second room was notably sparse except for the full-scale boxing ring that filled the majority of the space. The exhibition lasted April 18 through April 22. Visitors even got a chance to watch the athletes train in the gallery space on Tuesday and Thursday from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

“When you walked in all you see are the photos of the different boxers ready to fight you then you see the boxing ring and it made me feel like I was surrounded by them and they were pushing me towards the ring to fight!” said Julia Calderon, a second-year Art major at UCSB.

As a grand finale, there was an exhibition bout held during the closing reception on Friday, April 22 in which several student boxers, including D’Alessandro, fought it out in the ring in what could be described as a beautiful dance of jabs and uppercuts that left the fighters sweaty and the viewers entranced.

When I entered the gallery space, I immediately felt the excitement and passion D’Alessandro must feel for the sport. I could not help but admire the power and poise exhibited by the training boxers. When speaking to D’Alessandro, her enthusiasm for both her art and her sport show through.

“The workout, the contest, the spectacle, and the drive all fascinate me,” she said.

In an effort to improve her overall fitness, D’Alessandro discovered Duke’s Boxing and soon fell in love with the sport.

“The psychological changes that accompanied the physiological ones were remarkable and I soon discovered my perspective on my artistic practice transforming as well,” she said. “Moving forward, I began to immerse myself even deeper in the local boxing community and began contemplating the integration of boxing in to my art and that’s how the show was conceived.”

Over the years, the UCSB Art department has hosted some pretty unusual shows, but the concept of this exhibition is something that it has never seen before. Having actual boxers training in the gallery space along side the more traditional aspects of the show is highly unconventional, however, it acts a perfect gateway to connect the artistic physicality of both mediums. The exhibition expertly utilizes local resources to feed the overall concept.

The majority of the supplies D’Alessandro used to construct her boxing ring, including lumber and rope sides, were found locally and there were contributions from UCSB’s Drama department as well. All the student-boxers were locals, and many live in Isla Vista where most of Douglas’ photographs were taken. Even the aged gym the exhibition takes place in offers the perfect setting for athleticism and art to cohabitate.

While most people may be inclined to see the formal artistry in something like painting and even ballet, boxing does not usually come to mind as an art form. But D’Alessandro and Douglas’ collaboration works to showcase boxing as a noble art as well as subject for contemporary fine art.

Public Thank You

2011-04-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank the following individuals for their direct contributions and/or assistance that helped make the Art in Athleticism: The Form & Physicality of Boxing exhibit possible:

Boxing Community:
Thanks goes out to coach Henry “Duke” Calles of Duke's Boxing & Fitness, Hall of Fame boxing historian David Martinez of dmboxing.com, and trainer Mark Lee. Thanks also to Nicholle Morales from the College of Creative Studies, Alan Swanson and Ed Janisch who fought in the exhibition bout finale. Thanks is also extended Sarah Cammann for keeping time and working the ringside bell and to the photographed student boxers including Cameron Arthur, Sarah Cammann, Christian Gebbe, Annika Harper, Wally Ludel, Johnny Nguyen, Christine Olson, Jennifer Shin and Alan Swanson. Lastly, I'd like to also thank additional Duke's Boxing members who turned out for the event during training facility hours and/or showed their support at the closing reception exhibition bout.

Funders and Supporters:
Funding and support for this event was generously provided by the UC Santa Barbara Graduate Division, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, Department of Art, Duke's Boxing/Fitness of Isla Vista and David Martinez of dmboxing.com.

Thesis Committee Members and Faculty:
Thanks to Colin Gardner, Richard Ross, Kip Fulbeck, Dick Hebdige, Harry Reese, Terrence Handscomb, and additional faculty/staff who came out to see and/or support the exhibition.

Construction and Fabrication:
An enormous thank you goes out to Michael Schmitt and Ken Yokota, for without their technical assistance, the ring could have never been erected and the heavy bags would have ripped through the ceiling. Thanks also goes out to Daniel Zimmie who helped in the preliminary construction and design stages, and Diego Auchstetter who was always available for additional assistance. I'd like to also thank the Theater Department for their generous rope donation.

Additional:
My collaborator, Raymond Douglas, merits an enormous thank you for taking and preparing the large premium lustre photographs that were on exhibit in Gallery 479 and helping put this exhibit together. I'd like to thank the following people as well who contributed to this show's success: Alejandro Casazi and Laura Devendorf for IHC publicity and promotion, Camille Bartz for handling reimbursement finances, Vicky for painting Gallery 479, Joel Sherman and Steven Ruiz for their mstudio assistance, Trela Cowan for event circulation, Bessie Kunath for event promotion details and the training facility fan, Patrick Melroy for his awesome cooler, my father Victor D'Alessando for keeping me sane over the phone, FL trainer Walt Conrad who pushed me to my boxing limits over winter and spring breaks, my fellow grads and art peers for their unwavering support and everyone who attended the show!

Publicity:
Thanks goes out to the Department of Art, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, Graduate Division, The Daily Nexus, The Bottom Line, The Santa Barbara Independent, KCSB 91.9, Santa Barbara Art Blog, dmboxing.com, California Humanities Scholars website, HASTAC website, and more.

Documentation Team:
Thanks goes out to photographer James Colon from the Graduate Division and videographer Kam, Troy David from the disco estudio, Andres Burbano, Michael Johnson, and Amanda Pine.

*** There were numerous other people taking video, pictures and audio recordings during the event and I would be honored to get copies of any files you would be willing to share. They will be included in an upcoming catalog that documents the event. Please contact me at d.a.dalssandro@gmail.com. ***

I am very pleased and excited with the overall event, reception, and acclaim it has received from the University and community.

It would not have have been possible without everyone's encouragement and support.

Thank you all again.

Sincerely,
Desiree Ann D'Alessandro
desiree-dalessandro.com

TONIGHT | CLOSING RECEPTION & BOUT

2011-04-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

Tonight at 5PM in Gallery 479, Desiree D'Alessandro from the UCSB Department of Art will take on challenger Nicholle Morales from the UCSB College of Creative Studies. The final bout will feature competition amateur boxers Alan Swanson and Edward Janisch.

Come early to secure a seat and place your bets for a finale that can't be missed!

UPCOMING EXHIBIT: ART IN ATHLETICISM

2011-04-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

WHAT: ART IN ATHLETICISM: THE FORM AND PHYSICALITY OF BOXING

WHERE: OLD GYM GALLERY 479

WHEN: APRIL 18TH - 22ND 2011

HOURS: GALLERY M-F @ 11-5PM // TRAINING FACILITY T/R @ 5-6PM

EXHIBITION BOUT / CLOSING RECEPTION: FRIDAY, APRIL 22ND, 5PM

FEATURING: DESIREE D'ALESSANDRO IN COLLABORATION WITH RAYMOND DOUGLAS

Old Gym Gallery 479's sports and recreation imbued history is embraced in this exhibition that focuses on hybridizing the fields of Art and Athleticism. 10 student boxers from the local community will be on display alongside heavy bags and a full scale boxing ring. During Gallery hours, the space is pregnant with potential amongst the spotlit artifacts. After Gallery hours, the doors remain open and the house lights flicker on. Tuesday and Thursday evenings the space will be utilized as a boxing training facility where the featured student boxers make an appearance in honor of camaraderie and endearment for the Noble Art of Boxing. The show will close Friday at 5PM with an exhibition bout -- a finale that can't be missed!

Be sure to come to our Closing Reception and Exhibition Bout Friday, April 22nd @ 5pm. It'll be a night to remember.

We look forward to seeing you there!! :D

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=207001692658853

Gallery Information: http://www.arts.ucsb.edu/facilities/gallery479

* Funding for this event has been generously provided by the University of California, Santa Barbara Graduate Division and Interdisciplinary Humanities Center. Thanks is also extended to the Art Department, Duke's Boxing/Fitness of Isla Vista and David Martinez Boxing.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PRESS RELEASE

Spring Break Training & Documentation

2011-04-03T00:18:00.000-07:00

Last time I made a post regarding my Tampa, Florida training was over winter break last December. I got to go home briefly for Spring Break and work with Walt Conrad again, which is always super fun and productive. Even though I only got to see him for 4 days, I feel like he helped correct a lot of bad habits I had slipped back into over the past 3 months. Below are videos from some of our sessions. Enjoy the extended durations as YouTube upgraded my account and I can now make posts over 15 minutes. Yay!

- Highlights: @5:39, @15:45 and @18:27.
- Notes: Boxing right after flying from CA to FL. Literally from airport to the ring. First day seeing Walt in 3 months. Bad habit correcting, like the swaying jab hand, kick back cross, uppercut wind up/telegraphing.

- Highlights: @5:03, @8:39, @10:00, @11:40, @20:19 and @24:33.
- Notes: This was a bold upload for me. While I'm pleased to have lost 40 lbs to date, I'm well aware that this documents that there could easily be another 15-20 lbs lost to trim the excess weight.

- Highlights: @0:13, @2:39, @5:25, @8:11, @11:30 and @17:25 (southpaw slip LOL),.

- Notes: I get a little angry and lose proper form and composure but my speed hikes dramatically, but it was still an overall aggressive and successful 30 seconds before I ran out of steam. (This is after sparing like 10+ rounds prior)

Sweating. Breathing. Punching. Training.

2011-03-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

Article cross-posted from dmboxing.com:

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian

On Feb 5th 2011, I was on hand to sponsor Desiree D'Alessandro, an artist who turned her studio into a modest boxing training facility as part of the UCSB Art Department's MFA Open Studios at Harder Stadium. There, she engaged in a public endurance session that lasted 4 hours, training incessantly for 2-minute rounds with 1-minute intervals. Patrons were surprised and intimidated by the noise that invariably contaminated the entire building: the rapid pound of a speed bag being worked and the grunts and slams of power combinations against the heavy bag. Many wondered just what exactly D'Alessandro was doing and how it related to an art context. In order to investigate this concern, we must review her artistic record, similar to how one would investigate a fighter.

D'Alessandro is a 25-year-old artist from Tampa, FL. She received her BFA degree in 2008 from the University of South Florida with a major in Electronic Media and minor in Art History/Critical Theory. D'Alessandro is currently pursuing a MFA degree from UCSB with an emphasis in New Genres. Simply stated, New Genres is a contemporary realm, arguably more complex and convoluted than the discernible or traditional art practices of the past. It is this realm where D'Alessandro hopes to develop her voice and actively contribute to discourses that are generative, relevant, and even unexpected.

With her latest work, Art in Athleticism: The Form and Physicality of Boxing, one could say that this subject matter aptly fits the description.

I met D'Alessandro in August 2010 while co-coaching boxing with Henry Calles, owner of Duke's Boxing and Fitness Gym, Isla Vista, California. On that first day at the gym, she signed up and has since been training and exploring boxing as art. She has lost forty pounds and incorporates rigorous training to coincide with her graduate studies. D'Alessandro explains, "I want to explore the boundary where art meets athleticism and invite spectators from different arenas to converge and converse. I am interested in interaction, reception, and the questions and challenges the pursuit of boxing in an art context raises."

D'Alessandro expressed that her work leading up to her current boxing exploration was also unconventional. "My interactive efforts have revolved around political and topical issues via a variety of platforms and sites, including the online forum of YouTube." In regards to D'Alessandro's YouTube work, her critical remix videos, or mashups. are a form of transformative production that subvert dominant media messages as instances of Fair Use. "In a way, it was an exercise in fighting back digitally and speaking against the powers that be," explains D'Alessandro. Her remix works have had numerous screenings in New York and have also been reviewed online by formidable remix practitioners including Diran Lyons and PoliticalRemixVideo.com's Jonathan McIntosh and Elisa Kreisinger.

"There came a point where I grew tired of the digital battle lines and desired a shift in my practice. I think that's what drew me to boxing. I needed to get away from the computer and into a physical arena, where I could be more concerned with the physical act of hitting and getting hit, as opposed to worrying about how many 'hits' my YouTube Channel was getting." D'Alessandro continued, "Since Rocky Balboa, It's interesting how boxing is creeping back into people's immediate vocabulary through FOX's new series Lights Out and the recently released film The Fighter (2010), or Million Dollar Baby (2004). I was rewatching Fight Club (1999), and I think Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt, said it best: 'How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?' Rather than remix the answer, I'm trying to discover it first hand."

Some could argue that D'Alessandro's practice is fundamentally a reaction against the polished expectations of the art world and corresponding capital and rhetoric. With every jab-cross-hook combination, D'Alessandro conveys that talking is not enough. In response to a world that thinks it's connected yet remains so disconnected, this is the farthest thing from Twitter you can get. With every punch, with every blow, with every violent contact, there is real contact. There's nothing ethereal about it. D'Alessandro's work also resonates politically in correspondence to current events in Egypt, Libya, and Iran where civilization is teetering on savagery. The arena is global, and we are all under threat. Get ready. Only the strong will survive. To this end, D'Alessandro's practice is unapologetic and relentless.

D'Alessandro will host an exhibition in mid-April at UCSB's Old Gym Gallery 479 that further explores boxing as art. Her collaborator, Raymond Douglas, will assist her efforts by photographing student boxers on campus that will then make a physical appearance during Gallery hours and use the exhibition space as a training facility to host an exhibition bout. Follow her work by going to her website desiree-dalessandro.com or via her blog at dalessandroart.blogspot.com.

In closing, I am very impressed with Desiree D'Alessandro's continued improvement in the boxing ring, where I see her just about every day. I also treasure her sincerity and the honest bond we have developed outside the ring in just seven months. I wish her the best in her artistic endeavors and athletic ambitions. She has made me and others feel blessed just knowing that she is a friend.

Art studio turned into a boxing training facility

Punishing the heavy bag with power combinations

Training ensues as onlookers observe

Posing with David Martinez post workout

Posing with banner at Thunderdome exhibition

Featuring student boxers in upcoming April exhibition

Photo Credits: Troy David and Raymond Douglas

Upcoming Conference and Exhibition

2011-03-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

I will be presenting at the upcoming Media Fields 3: Contested Territories Conference. The paper, TRADITION AND TERRAIN UNDER THREAT: DELEUZE ON OUSMANE SEMBÈNE’S CEDDO, will start off the second panel on the theme of “Places.”
March 31-April 1, 2011
10:30AM-NOON
McCune Conference Room (HSSB 6020) and Multicultural Center
http://mediafields.wordpress.com

ZAP! features 30 artists from UCSB host an evening of live projections at the intersection of Anacapa and Cota in downtown Santa Barbara. Video, overhead, and live manipulation projections on the theme of electricity.
Friday April 8th, 2011
8-10pm
Downtown Santa Barbara

International Festival Acceptance

2011-03-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

The EUROPEAN MEDIA ART FESTIVAL (EMAF) in Osnabrueck is one of the most important forums of international Media Art, and is an open laboratory for creative and artistic experiments that help shape media and the aesthetics of their content. As a lively meeting place for artists, curators, lenders, gallery owners and a specialist audience, it has been instrumental in forming the themes and aesthetics of Media Art. This year, [EMAF received] 2200 submissions from all over the world...

Excerpt:

Dear Desiree D'Alessandro,

The EUROPEAN MEDIA ART FESTIVAL has selected your work for the presentation in the this year's programme (27.April – 1.May 2011).

We would be pleased to welcome you during the festival in Osnabrück, where we can offer you a private accommodation for three nights. Additionally, you will receive your festival-pass and one catalogue at the info-counter in the main venue Lagerhalle, Rolandsmauer 26, 49074 Osnabrück, at the earliest on Wednesday 27. April 2011 at 4pm.

We are looking forward to seeing you in April in Osnabrück!

Sincerely yours,
Media Campus-Team

Training Continues.

2011-03-06T19:14:00.000-08:00

As UCSB's winter quarter comes to a close and we approach spring break, I am excited that only one quarter remains before I obtain my MFA degree in July. This means a lot of work still lies ahead, including drafting my thesis paper over spring break, installing the boxing exhibition in Gallery 479 mid-April, MFA Thesis exhibition through the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in June, and Call for Entries exhibition at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum slightly later.

Walt, my Fl trainer, called me this morning which was a real pleasure. I can't wait to begin training with him again. Winter Break was a lot of fun and really inspiring. With all my academics overloading me right now, I miss the change in pace. I need one.

[UPDATE] I ended up booking tickets to Florida for the final week of Spring Break. I will arrive Tuesday 10PM 3/22/2011 and leave Monday 5PM 3/28/2011. I've been feeling overwhelmed with my academic and artistic obligations and have had a total melt down recently.
I need this escape.

Looking Toward the Future & Revisiting the Past

2011-02-14T21:29:00.000-08:00

I AM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE...
I GOT A VISUAL PERFORMING AND MEDIA ARTS AWARD!!!

This is tremendous news as it came just in time to inform UCIRA that I have IHC's support, as well as the UCSB Graduate Division.

I spent the entire weekend slaving over additional funding applications, including the aforementioned Major Grant in Visual Arts Practice/Research through UCIRA. I requested a modest $2,000, though amounts of up to $10,000 are awarded. After over 1,000 words written defending my practice/research and 16 attachments, I am thankful the extensive and laborious application is behind me. I also applied to the Feitelson Arts Fellowship through the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, which Awards $5,000 and a solo exhibition. It was a far less intensive application, but one that I am glad I filed, as it helped me reflect on past works and my creative development as an artist.

Below is an excerpt from the application along with work samples and information:

ARTIST'S STATEMENT
My interest in the dynamic relationship between the individual and the social reflects how I approach art as a subject of study—as a comprehensive sphere of activity that is integral to questioning, exploring, and understanding the world.

Sites for my eclectic works vary, including the Mojave Desert, YouTube, and Boxing Gyms across the United States. My interactive efforts revolve around kinaesthetic examinations of political and topical issues via a variety of platforms: site-specific, installation, digital, and performance. This data-driven, multidisciplinary approach often involves digital and physical assemblage to realize the work with the aim to provoke discourse on subjects that are pertinent and present. I seek to encourage and enhance the experience of public involvement and allow each project to expand into new intersections.

------

PUBLIC ENDURANCE TRAINING
2011, Public Performance, 4 Hour Duration

4-hour training session for UCSB MFA Open Artists' Studios in collaboration with Hall of Fame boxing historian and promoter David Martinez supervising.
TRAINING: Artist Studio Training Facility | UC Santa Barbara | Isla Vista Duke's Boxing/Fitness | Tampa, Florida Calta's Boxing/Fitness

"SHOULDERS LIKE BOULDERS"
2011, Interactive Installation, Dimensions Variable

This work is an artifact of progress of significant weight loss, rigorous training, and recent involvement with Amateur Boxing. This work explores the boundary where art meets athleticism and invites spectators from different arenas to converge and converse. I am interested in interaction, reception, and the questions and challenges the pursuit of boxing as art raises. The banner continues to be featured at a variety of additional venues and rogue installed in public spaces across Santa Barbara.
FEATURED: UC Santa Barbara | Harder Stadium | Gallery 479 | Duke's Boxing/Fitness | Pittsburg, PA

SCRAP MATTERS: READING THE DESERT
2010, Digital Archive & Premium Lustre Prints, 20" x 24" each

This series is a digitally reproduced inventory/archive of deteriorated texts discovered in the Mojave Desert. The found residue have been transformed by the desert ecology and rendered unfamiliar, anomalous and strange: the ghosts in the machine of the desert. These materials collected by D'Alessandro and J.R. Valenzuela (UCLA) exist as an inventory of offerings issued by the desert, as if the desert had consciousness and had ‘spoken’ in sentences corresponding to the syntax of one's trajectory through a largely trackless terrain—a geo(ethno)graphic testimony: a ‘statement’ from the dry mouth of Wonder Valley.
FEATURED: UC Riverside Palm Desert Graduate Center | UC Santa Barbara Project Space | Donated to UCR Sweeney Art Gallery Permanent Collection

SCRAP MATTERS: READING THE DESERT, INSTALLATION DETAIL
2010, Digital Archive & Premium Lustre Prints, 20" x 24" each

SCRAP MATTERS: READING THE DESERT on display at UC Riverside Palm Desert Graduate Center.

DYS[TOPIC]
2010, Interactive Installation, Dimensions Variable

D’Alessandro, Rebecca Levine, and Se Young have synthesized their expertise in a curious, collaborative work that provokes discourse on issues of sustainability, simulacra, and sense of self. Their generated lab is constructed strictly from recycled materials: collected glass jars, UCSB potable irrigation water waste, and cloned succulent clippings. Through induced vegetative propagation of botanical organisms, the work investigates ethical and social anxieties regarding the human relationship with empowered institutions, including UCSB as site for stem cell research and biotechnological advances. The interactive lab was ultimately deconstructed and the cloned succulents were distributed to the public as take-away artifacts that construct further reflection and inquiry.
FEATURED: UC Santa Barbara | Student-Based Creative Exchange | Isla Vista Residence Exhibition

DYS[TOPIC], DETAIL
2010, Interactive Installation, Dimensions Variable

DYS[TOPIC] Cloned succulent detail watered with UCSB potable irrigation water waste

VI(R)AL
2010, Interactive Installation, 4' x 6' x 3'

This work explores CA as one of the leading golf course-congested states in the US and the related issues of water commoditization in the proliferation of this spectacle. Vi(r)al uses sculptural and digital elements to plot the 1,137 golf course points using water-filled vials in a fashion that exhibits the infestation/tumoresque geospatial positioning.
FEATURED: University of California, Santa Barbara | Student-Based Creative Exchange

RISING & FALLING: HOW WE WALK
2009, Collaborative Public Performances, Dimensions Variable

For this performance, multiple collaborators assume the role of experimental researchers interested in walking as the subject of study. The researchers share with viewers their peculiar walking kit and an extensive “walking typology,” an extensive list of walking forms. Viewers who agree to assist in the continuation of these studies are tagged with their walk selection and perform a demonstration for the researchers as well as other viewers. This performance invariably contaminates the entire space of its deployment, pointing to everyone present as a walking performer-both at the event, and in life.
FEATURED: Tampa Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa Museum of Art & Going Green Expo at the SunDome

PROJECT SLEEP WALK/TALK (PSWT)
2009, Interactive Installation, 8' x 10' x 8'

This series documents willing participants on late night walks through their neighborhood. Project documentation produces materials such as night-vision videos, satellite location maps, stream-of-consciousness tape recordings, and transcripts that are utilized in a physical installation and a corresponding web-component. PSWT explores the thoughts, fears, and prompted memories of each participant’s psychoscape as they engage their physical environment in unaccustomed circumstances. The project further explores their willingness and/or reluctance to subject themselves to behaviors in which familiar environments and experiences become estranged
FEATURED: William & Nancy Oliver Gallery, West Tampa Center for the Arts & Neighborhood Watch: Projection Walk

PROJECT SLEEP WALK/TALK (PSWT), EXTERIOR INSTALLATION DETAIL
2009, Interactive Installation, 8' x 10' x 8'

PROJECT SLEEP WALK/TALK (PSWT) on display at the William & Nancy Oliver Gallery.

AFFLICTION
2008, Interactive Installation, Dimensions Variable

This work consists of a series of flipbooks, thaumatropes and over ten-thousand toy soldiers that embody a child-like playfulness upon encounter. After interaction, the work’s demeanor shifts from whimsical to serious as the animations contain unsettling political references. Because the works are based on interaction, the viewers cannot address the works without addressing themselves. The work investigates a rich, political terrain by creating an environment where viewers become physical activators of mediated footage, rather than passive bystanders. Where the objects yield footage from the past, the installation’s engagement with the public encourages a progressive examination of the present and the future.
FEATURED: Atlantic Center for the Arts, Tampa Contemporary Art Museum & Centre Galler

AFFLICTION, INSTALLATION DETAIL
2008, Interactive Installation, Dimensions Variable

AFFLICTION on display at the Tampa Contemporary Art Museum

------

Lastly I am pleased my Critical Remix Videos are still getting some attention. My latest screening acceptance will be through the annual Experiments in Cinema Albuquerque-based festival "that celebrates recent trends in international, cinematic experimentation and offers a variety of ways in which attendees might think about the history of media representation and participate in shaping future trends in cultural representation." The screening and event should be promising.

Tradition & Terrain Under Threat Publishing

2011-02-14T21:01:00.000-08:00

I recently attended an IHC lecture/panel titled The Fight to Stay Put featuring many prominent geography and media scholars including Colin Gardner, my close adviser and Chair to the Art Department. There, I was inspired by many of their theoretical discussions in regards to critical landscapes as seen in cinema and was immediately reminded of my Deleuze on Ceddo paper that I submitted last quarter. After the conference, I met the panelists and discovered they are also upcoming editors/authors of a book corresponding their lecture which is soon going to print. I pitched my paper as a potential chapter contribution and was delighted with their positive response. After I submitted my paper with formatting revisions, ultimately the urban-specific theme was not quite developed enough for inclusion in their book. However, I am pleased to report that they want to feature it in an upcoming issue of Aether: The Journal of Media Geography. I am grateful appreciative of their thoughtful alternative to help the work gain more exposure.

HERE is a link to the recently revised paper: TRADITION AND TERRAIN UNDER THREAT: DELEUZE ON OUSMANE SEMBÈNE'S CEDDO

I have also submitted this paper to an upcoming Media Fields Research Collective and the Film and Media Studies Graduate Program conference: Contested Territories.

Outlined below was my pitch to them:

I propose to present a paper that converges the intersections of critical theory, literary research, and cinematic media application in an approach that is well-suited for the Media Fields Research Collective conference theme "Contested Territories."

Tersely stated, the paper explores contesting fronts on multiple levels: (1) theoretically with examinations on Deleuze and Guittari's writings on Smooth and Striated Space; (2) relationally through germane examinations of Minor and Major Literary Forms; and (3) contextually through a relevant cinematic application that explores the cultural conflict depicted in Ousmane Sembène's film titled Ceddo, where the protagonists aim to preserve their traditional African culture against the onslaught of Islam, Christianity, and the slave trade.

This cross-disciplinary critical exploration and overview results in the deterritorialization of contesting dichotomies that span multiple media and discourses. The result is generative beyond the limiting effects of coercive binaries and instigates deeper ontological research-related endeavors pertaining to space(Smooth and Striated) and media(Literary and Cinema).

At the very least, these efforts have been an excellent effort in productivity with minimal product: A+ in Colin's class last quarter, publishing, and potential conference opportunity. Fingers crossed.

Also, I am participating in an IHC Conference later this month titled Mapping Place: GIS and the Spatial Humanities. I will give a brief presentation on a series of artworks generated in the 2010 Dry Immersion Roving Symposium: "Mapping the Desert, Deserting the Map," a collaborative event organized through UCSB, UCR Sweeny Art Gallery and UCIRA's Social Ecologies: California-centric Embedded Arts Research Program. The series SCRAP MATTERS: READING THE DESERT converges the intersections between archeological archiving and database art in an approach that is well-suited for IHC's exploration of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the spatial turn in the humanities. The series is now part of the UCR Sweeney Art Gallery permanent collection and has been featured in SCALE: a publication about aesthetics and computation charting low to high latency and cultural lags.

UCSB MFA Open Studios Documentation

2011-02-13T00:12:00.000-08:00

"Public Endurance Training," a 4-hour training session for UCSB MFA Open Studios in collaboration with Hall of Fame boxing historian and promoter David Martinez supervising

[click on images below to view larger]

Harder Stadium, Santa Barbara, Ca.

** Many thanks: Troy David (Photographer)

Facebook Pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=271701&id=517622534&l=d59b25530d

More Pics: http://www.arts.ucsb.edu/gallery/mfa-open-studios-2511

Riven Rock Refracted

2011-02-12T22:56:00.000-08:00

The UCSB MFAs were commission by the smART Families to participate in the Riven Rock Refracted exhibition/fundraiser on Friday (2/11/2011) at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art's McCormick House.The exhibition and soir was inspired by T. C. Boyle's book Riven Rock and the historical and geographical relevance to the histories of Stanley and Catherine McCormick. The event was a huge success with well over 500 guests (paying at minimum $250 per ticket to attend..!!) with a full transformation of the property and incorporated interpreting art works, full drink/food catering, live music, dancing, etc.

The particular piece I contributed to Riven Rock Refracted, in collaboration with Nikki Leone, is documented below:

Riven Rock: Panopticon
Desiree D'Alessandro and Nikkie Leone
2011
HD Video Projection, Vinyl, On-Site Window
Reception Room and Exterior at the McCormick House
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, McCormick House
Dimensions Variable

The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the incarcerated being able to tell whether they are being watched. The content of this concept is applied to Riven Rock, as this estate was Stanley's permanent residence of confinement due to his severe state of mental health. His devoted wife Katherine frequently monitored his progress with binoculars from afar. Simultaneously, Stanley's encounters with the outside world were closely monitored and restricted. Unfortunately, he could not escape his tormented condition or his surveillance.

** Many thanks: Raymond Douglas

[click on images below to view larger]

"Thanks so much. This was one of the most enjoyable--and touching--events I've ever had the pleasure of attending. Please thank all your colleagues and especially the artists. It was truly an honor to have inspired them." - T.C.

T. C. Boye, Desiree D'Alessandro, Rimas Simaitis. Feb 2011.

Extended Thesis Committee Pursuits

2011-02-07T22:00:00.000-08:00

I have recently been perhaps hyper-ambitious in seeking relevant celebrities to act as adjunct advisers to my already established MFA Thesis Committee, which includes Colin Gardner chairing alongside members Richard Ross, Kip Fulbeck, and Dick Hebdige.

I recently wrote a letter to Laila Ali's manager through her website lailaali.com and also tried contacting her via her Facebook page. Additionally, I wrote Sylvester Stallone. Both are believed to currently be located in or near Los Angeles so correspondence is completely feasible.

I will be swift to update if my communication efforts are returned.

Fingers crossed.

UCSB MFA Open Studios

2011-02-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

WHAT: UCSB MFA OPEN STUDIOS

WHERE: HARDER STADIUM STUDIOS (UNDER THE BLEACHERS)

WHEN: SAT. 2/5 @ 4-8PM

FEATURING: Tim Brown, Daniela Campins, Desiree D'Alessandro, Jared Flores, Emily Halbardier, Elcin Joyner, Elizabeth Kunath, Jae Hee Lee, Nikki Leone, Nick Loewen, Patrick Melroy, Ruby Osorio, Rimas K. Simaitis, Van Tran

UCSB MFA Open Studios is an opportunity for the MFAs to introduce themselves and their current work to the UCSB campus and the community at large. Located off-campus underneath the seating risers of Harder Stadium, the MFA studios is an unusual but unique setting and has been a home for the graduate art students in light of the university's campus building retrofitting. The event will be held on Saturday, February 5th, 2011 from 4pm - 8pm.

"Come and join us for art, refreshments, food, live band, and fun...
our studios will be open."

We look forward to seeing you there!! :D

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=119161564823590

More Info: http://www.arts.ucsb.edu/event/mfa-open-studios

Back in the Saddle Again

2011-01-28T21:52:00.000-08:00

[click on the above image to view the Facebook album!]

Training: 23 weeks
Where: Duke's Boxing & Fitness, Isla Vista, CA (http://dukesboxing.com)
Stance: Orthodox / Right-handed
Filmed: Canon HD Vixia HF21 - 1080 HD 30fps.
Weaknesses: Conditioning, more footwork, moving my head, agility, keeping my hands tighter, hook form, plant feet for solid body punches, & more...

Also, above is some additional winter training footage I uploaded that I found amusing. Training with mitt work and 16 oz. gloves is brutal!

Weight Loss. Muscle Gain.

2011-01-22T16:16:00.000-08:00

I wanted to update briefly in regards to my weight management and where my physique, workout regimen, and diet stand since the start of 2011.

Last I posted regarding Dec., I reached my weight goal of 155 lbs (from 200 lbs in '09) and then through an increased workout regimen & adding protein/workout supplements, I put on more muscle mass and got back up to 161 lbs.

I am back to 161 lbs after a dietary/work out relapse while vacationing in Hawaii and admittedly eating poorly, over consuming beach cocktails, and barely working out--at all!--for the entire week. I'm proud to say I'm now back on track, back to 161 lbs, and have a new goal set in mind of 150 lbs while maintaining a high muscle mass percentage. My current body fat percentage is approx 26%, 6% away from the "Athletic ideal" according to this calculating website. I'm still pleased with progress as my body fat was 32% in August 2010, and significantly worse in 2009.

My diet is high in protein and carbs, I drink a lot of crystal lite, Gatorade mixes, OJ, water, and milk. I rarely eat out and frequently cook for myself, focusing on smaller portions and food group balancing. I like to snack on low fat yogurts, nutri-grain bars, trail mix, and Welsh's fruit snacks. I've started to eat egg burritos for breakfast for extra protein and my father finally shipped my powders from FL so I can get back to drinking my pre/post workout shakes.

In terms of working out, I still hit Duke's Boxing for at least 5 classes a week, and UCSB's Recreation Center for:
- Weight Lifting (resistance machines, free weights, etc)
- Elliptical (set on difficult resistance / sports interval)
- Strider/Stairmaster (interval to oscillate between glute, quad, and hamstring targeting)

I'm trying to work more on incorporating 2 miles of track running with 3 lb dumbbells. Once I feel more comfortable with this, I will add 4 lb ankle weights. I'd also like to start taking advantage of the Rec Center's indoor rock climbing facility. I also plan incorporating more jump rope and 6 minutes of the Shake Weight before bed. Suggestive perversion aside, I swear the weight BURNS my arms! I bought the one for men as I wanted the heavier model.

Overall, I think the physical results between 2009 and now are remarkable. My physician has also informed me that the biological results are astounding as well and she's thrilled with the turnaround my blood tests show. Going from below average, poor, and borderline diabetes to an excellent full work up and hormonal balance was truly a blessing.

I hope to forever live my life this way. :)

Visit my weight loss albums on Facebook!

2009-2010

2011

UCSB MFA Thesis Exhibition Plans: Solo & Group

2011-01-22T09:44:00.000-08:00

While my previous IHC grant proposal post outlines details pertaining to my solo thesis exhibition and primary endeavors, I will also make a modest contribution to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art - McCormick House group thesis exhibition. I plan to utilize the basement as a site for another disorienting boxing performance. I plan to fill the space with as many of my boxing peers as possible in full gear to train in the space where it is only lit from an overhead single bulb on a chord, a la LL Cool Jay's 1995 music video Mama Said Knock You Out. It is my intention that the space will create an extremely disorienting, transporting, and visceral effect on the viewer as they smell the sweat, hear the grunts and pounds, and witness the athletic forms.

I'm Gonna Knock You Out
2011
Basement Training Performance
Dimensions Variable
**Many thanks:
D. Lyons: http://lyonspotter.blogspot.com

[EDIT/UPDATE] Recently reconsidered the title/premise. Possibly retitle it to "There's Still Some Stuff in the Basement" (a la Rocky Balboa) and only featuring my father and I inhabiting the basement as a training facility...

Application Submitted. Fingers Crossed.

2011-01-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

A few nights ago, I was up until 3AM ironing out application materials due for the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center and their Visual, Performing, and Media Art Award.

Spectatorship in Art and Athleticism:
The Form and Physicality of Boxing

Spectators throughout history have united in appreciation for the exhilarating spectacle of sports and the invigorating representational and conceptual power of fine art. Yet athleticism and art are rarely combined or explored in visual, performing, or media-related modes of creative production. The extremely limited repertoire of visual artists who have aimed to facilitate dialogue across these boundaries––such as George Bellows, Paul Pfeiffer, and Collier Schorr––do so in a disengaged methodology that is limited by the medium and method of depiction. Rather than continuing this practice of using art to represent or depict forms of athleticism, I instead will focus on the sport of boxing and aim to let the physical bodies engaged in athleticism first-hand be the medium on exhibit in an art context. This way of approaching and promoting an invariable change in viewership for both realms––for art and athleticism––will integrate the disciplines in an approach that is rarely pursued and has never before been explored or promoted at UCSB.

This ambitious endeavor has 3 objectives: (1) A campus art exhibition featuring this community of student boxers, (2) a coinciding USA boxing sanctioned exhibition bout on campus, and (3) a limited-edition catalog that documents these hybridized efforts converging art and athleticism, interdisciplinary discourse between multiple departments, and the historical relevance boxing plays in UCSB history. This aspect of our project is well suited to the Geographies of Place annual IHC theme, as are critical examinations of the boxing ring itself as a sphere with its own distinct psychological and historical milieu.

Here is a LINK to the full grant submission, less the attached abbreviated version of my resume. Fellow collaborators Raymond Douglas and Ryne Arnold and I have already launched our call on Craigslist and Facebook to begin photographing student boxers.

[Flyer designed by Ryne Arnold]

Mahalo, O'ahu

2011-01-16T14:16:00.000-08:00

My stay in Hawaii was splendid!! The Cross-disciplinary Areas of Arts and Humanities session I chaired as part of the The Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities went superbly! I presented my paper "Sequins, Heels, and Tiaras: Examining Deleuze and Guittari, Bakhtin, and Nietzsche Through an Alternative Lens." All of our papers corresponded and provided interdisciplinary insights into similar themes regarding the dissolution of binaries/dichotomies across a variety cultures and media. Here is our excerpted detailed information from the complete 2011 Program:

Time: 9:45 - 11:15 AM 1/12/2011 Room: Iolani 6
Session Topic: Cross-disciplinary Areas of Arts and Humanities

Session Chair: D'Alessandro, Desiree

Sequins, Heels, and Tiaras: Examining Deleuze and Guattari, Bakhtin, and Nietzsche Through an Alternative Lens
D'Alessandro, Desiree –— University of California, Santa Barbara

The Power of Pictures in the Head: Lessons from the Ancient Near Eastern Cultures
Kruger, Paul –— Univ of Stellenbosch, South Africa

"Most Curious and Sublime": Changing Metalanguages in Eighteenth Century British Aesthetics
Ralph, Barnaby –— Tokyo Woman's Christian University

After our brief talk back with the audience, several people commented afterward that they felt it was one of the best sessions of the conference! w00t!!

In addition to the business aspect of my stay, vacationing with Dan while enjoying our 6-year anniversary and his birthday also made it amongst the best vacations of our relationship yet! We enjoyed the following activities:

Royal Dinner through the Atlantis Navatek Cruise
Makani Kai Helicopter Ride
Bamboo Rainforest & Waterfall Hike / 5-mile O'ahu Bike Ride / Diamond Head Coastline Snorkeling & Sailing
Sarento's Top of the "I" Fine Dining
...and more!

Visit my Hawaii album on Facebook!

Now back to the daily grind. It's hard to believe there are only 18 weeks left between Winter and Spring quarter before I graduate with my Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Thesis and exhibition outline coming soon, as well as grant overview for the upcoming Interdisciplinary Humanities Society RFP.

Boxing Update: Amateur Steps & Olympic Dreams

2011-01-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

This Winter Break was rejuvenating as I got to vacation in my hometown of Tampa, Fl. There, I trained rigorously through December, weight lifting at Lifestyle Fitness Club and undergoing boxing conditioning with coach Walt Jr. Conrad at Calta's Fitness/Boxing Club, home of the former light heavyweight champion of the world, Antonio Tarver.

My East Coast fighting regimen consumed approximately 3-4 hours a day, 5 days a week. My dietary efforts were reduced and supplement powders were added to my daily intake, including N.O.-XPLODE (Pre-Training Energy/Performance Igniter) and Probolic-SR (Time-Released Performance Protein). I have also renewed my stock of Recreate (Multi-Pathway Fat Burning Themrogenic) to ensure that the calories burned are targeted toward fat and not muscle deterioration. I'd like to clarify that taking these supplements is an experiment and I have no intention of developing a dependency to grain/maintain results.

My winter training starting weight was 155 and I am currently 161, with visible muscle gain, yet increased appetite/intake due to increased workout efforts. My ultimate goal is 147-154 lbs., Junior Middleweight Amateur boxing class. This will appropriately keep me on target for the epitome of my dreams---that of contending in the 2012 London Olympics or 2016 Brazil Olympics. Women's Boxing is debuting in 2012 and my appropriate Olympic weight class would be Middleweight 152 to 165 lbs. I am certain I can maintain a natural weight of low 150s and be comfortable/confident as I prepare my Amateur/Olympic endeavors.

Below outlines a few of the training videos uploaded to YouTube to document excerpts of my winter training. I have approximately 80 gigs of 1080 HD footage I will be reviewing and aiming to master on my own and with the assistance of my CA Trainer Henry Calles of Duke's Boxing & Fitness.

- Highlights: @0:22, @1:07, @2:14, **@3:21 & ***@4:29
- Notes: First time Walt wore body armor for me. FUN!!

- Highlights: @0:06 & @1:54
- Notes: Making progress and learning to counter.

- Highlights: @6:11, @9:39 & @10:13
- Notes: Learning to move better, keep my hands up, block, and move according to opponents orientation.

- Highlights: @2:21, @2:45, @4:24, **@7:23 & @9:17
- Notes: Bad habits still linger but good habits are forming.

- Highlights: @1:04 & @1:43
- Notes: Reviewing the basics & noticing speed bag form errors.
I had a wonderful time boxing with Walt and weightlifting with my father. It was a superb bonding and ass-kicking break! We did a little photoshoot before I flew back to CA and the resemblance to an old photo I found on Facebook astounds me. I swear, this boxing pursuit was fated. FATED, I tell you:

[click on above image to enlarge]

CENTER IMAGE:
Brawling Runs in the Blood
2010
Digital Photograph
9" x 12"

To top off this excellent break, I received notification from the Graduate Division my Student Scholarly Collaborative Proposal was awarded funding in the requested amount of $900. I am thrilled to begin preparations for this exhibition, which will coincide with my upcoming thesis and continued artistic development.

Excerpt / Overview:

UCSB draws students from all over the world, resulting in an extremely diverse student population. We seek the financial support to celebrate this diversity in a collaborative project that features over 15 Graduate and Undergraduate students majoring in a variety of fields. Regardless of our diversity, there are two threads that tie us all together: Scholarship and Boxing.

Our collaborative project entails 3 core components: (1) Hosting an Art Exhibition in UCSB's Gallery 479, a space imbued with Athletic history that today still features rustic basketball court floors dating from when the space was an ex-Marine Base recreation center prior to 1949. On exhibit will be enlarged Premium Lustre color photographic portraits of the Student Boxers with corresponding brief and insightful narratives from each regarding their major, why they became interested in the sport, and relevant future aspirations. (2) To coincide with this exhibition, we will also host an Exhibition Bout at the reception where the pictured Student Boxers make an appearance in the honor of camaraderie and endearment for the Noble Art of Boxing. (3) A limited-edition scholarly catalog will be printed featuring the photographs and accompanying statements from UCSB Scholars and Boxers, along with special writing contributions from David Martinez (a local famous boxing historian), Henry "Duke" Calles (A local former Southern California Blue and Gold Tournament winner and Southern California Golden Glove champion), and Affiliated Faculty.

I am thankful for the continued generous support of the Graduate Division, who has also awarded me a full travel grant for my participation as a Session Chair in the upcoming 2011 Hawaii International Conference on the Arts and Humanities.

I couldn't have asked for a better conclusion to 2010 than the break and training residency/regimen I experienced; or how profoundly my health has improved since 2009 when I was 200 lbs.

Looking forward to continued hard work and expected success in 2011... and starting off the year with a week in Honolulu. ;)

Deleuze on Ceddo: Exploring Smooth and Striated Space, Minor and Major Machines, Lines of Flight, Transversals, and a People to Come

2011-01-01T12:14:00.000-08:00

Here is a LINK to the full paper I submitted for Colin Gardner's Graduate Theory Seminar, Deleuze & Literature. Fall 2010.

Excerpt / Thesis:

Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari published A Thousand Plateaus as a sequel to their former collaborative work in the Capitalism and Schizophrenia volume, Anti-Oedipus. The work contains a compilation of philosophical chapters on a wide variety of subjects that presents "itself as a network of 'plateaus' that . . . [can] be read in any order." This open-invitation to deviate from tackling a text in the traditional linear standard instead encourages readers to choose selections based on preference rather than sequential order. This alternative literary construction is already in compliance with modes of Minor Literature that Deleuze heralded in writings by Marcel Proust, Franz Kafka and Samuel Beckett. Minor Literature functions as an immanent critique within the dominant prose of the Literary Machine by incorporating elements of prose reconfiguration and experimentation. In the same way that the concept of the Rhizome functions, machinic assemblages and connectors interlock with other machines to generate a multiplicity of interconnections with additional machines. These circuits of flows, or plateaus with no hierarchical significance, are characterized in terms of deterritorializing assemblages that instigate lines of flight. This paper will first examine a passage from Deleuze & Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus–a chapter on space titled "The Smooth and the Striated." With relative emphasis on Minor and Major trajectories, this will segue into an examination of lines of flight presented in Ronald Bogue's book Deleuze on Literature. Lastly, after these concepts are explicated, they will be extrapolated in application to a potent example of Third Cinema by Ousmane Sembène titled Ceddo. This application is pertinent and relevant as Third Cinema is by definition a form of Minor Literature, as it functions from within the hegemony of mainstream Hollywood cinema.

RETHINKING PHOTOGRAPHY

2010-11-20T19:46:00.000-08:00

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WHAT: RETHINKING PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION

WHERE: GALLERY 479

WHEN: NOV. 30TH - DEC. 3RD, 12-4PM

RECEPTION: NOV. 30TH, 7-8:30PM

FEATURING: BURHAN ALI, RYNE ARNOLD, SANDY BANOS, OLIVER BETUEL, JESSICA CHAN, NIKKI DAY, DORA GASPAR, ASHLEY GOODMAN, JOSHUA GORFINE, CHLOE HAMILTON, ALEX HOFFMAN, EMMA KANTER, VALERIE LIU, BENJAMIN MAHON, MARY MCINTYRE, ROSS MELCZER, MOLLY NUGENT, CHRISTINA OH, DAVID PARKER, PATT PUMHIRAN, GEELA SAATHOFF, JENNIFER SCOTT, MIA SHARRIGAN, KAROLA SIEGER, BRIANA TABLER, ANDREA VARGAS, REGINA WELLER, ROBBIE ZANT

ART 19: PHOTOGRAPHY will be hosting an exhibition that features work from nearly 30 artists! The exhibition archives current photographic endeavors from the talented and diverse students enrolled in the Fall 2010 quarter under the instruction of Richard Ross and Teaching Assistants Desiree D'Alessandro and Emily Halbardier.

There will be good art, company, and food/drink at our Opening Reception TUESDAY NOV 30TH, 7-8:30PM!

We look forward to seeing you there!! :D

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112344765497225

Gallery Information: http://www.arts.ucsb.edu/facilities/gallery479

Upcoming Screenings, Exhibitions & Boxing Research

2010-11-12T17:58:00.000-08:00

Woman Warrior Exposed (Sigourney Weaver Remix) will be screening tomorrow (11/13/2010) at the Chashama Film Festival.

Screening: 2010 Chashama Film Festival
Venue Location:415 West 43rd Street, NYC 10036

Be sure to go to the above URL and check out other participating artists' work and stop by the venue if you're in the area. Rick Kariolic, the Founder/Director of the Chashama Film Festival, has put a valiant effort into curating, organizing, promoting this annual event since 2008.

I was also pleased to receive notification that I have been amongst the 5 artists selected to present at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum for the Call for Entries 2011 Exhibition:

Call For Entries (CFE) is an annual juried exhibition that encourages artists to produce newly commissioned work. CFE is open to visual artists of all mediums currently living and/or working in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo Counties.

I am especially thankful for this exhibition opportunity that takes place after the MFA Thesis Venue at the Santa Barbara Art Museum - McCormick House. The prestige of the space as an alternative venue will be well suited for the work that I am currently exploring.

Lastly, as I am preparing to research for an upcoming paper, I have been scavenging online and adding some gems to my checkout cart. I excited to receive the following texts from Amazon:

George Bellows: An Artist in Action - Mary Sayre Haverstock
Muhammad Ali Handbook - Dave Zirin
What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States - Dave Zirin
Knockout: The Art of Boxing - Ken Regan
Boxing: A Cultural History - Kasia Boddy
Boxer: An Anthology of Writings on Boxing and the Visual Arts - David Chandler
Shadow Boxers: Sweat, Sacrifice & the Will to Survive in American Boxing Gyms - John Gattuso, Jim Lommasson, Jim Lommasson, Bert Sugar, Joe Frazier

ART22 EXHIBITION

2010-10-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

[click to view larger]
WHAT: ART22 EXHIBITION

WHERE: GALLERY 479

WHEN: NOV. 1 - 5TH, 12-4PM

RECEPTION: NOV. 2ND, 7-9PM

FEATURING: KEVIN ALCANTAR, CORIE ANDERSON, SANDY BANOS, MARINA CASTRO, KENDALLE CRAWLEY, CORY CULLINGTON, ANGIE FU, LILIANA GALLEGOS, AUDREY GLOECKNER-KALOUSEK, ASHLEY GOODMAN, JESSICA GUZMAN, ANNIE HALL, CHLOE HAMILTON, SEAN ISON, MIGUEL JIMENEZ, VALERIE LIU, OLENKA MALARECKA, FIONA MOTSINGER, KAORI NAKAMA, KIKI NIEBUHR, AVA RANT, KAYKHOSRO REGHABI, JERRY TORNG, LUIS VELAZQUEZ, AMANDA ZIEGLER

ART 22: DIGITAL MEDIA STRATEGIES will be hosting an exhibition that features nearly 100 digital prints! The exhibition archives current Photoshop endeavors from the talented and diverse students enrolled in the Fall 2010 quarter under the instruction of Graham Budgett and Desiree D'Alessandro as his Teaching Assistant.

There will be good art, company, and food/drink at our Opening Reception TUESDAY NOV 2nd, 7pm-9pm!

We look forward to seeing you there!! :D

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=165117426846013

Gallery Information: http://www.arts.ucsb.edu/facilities/gallery479

Sparring Video & Physical Transformation Updates

2010-10-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

Training: 11 weeks
Where: Duke's Boxing & Fitness, Isla Vista, CA (http://dukesboxing.com)
Stance: Right-handed
Filmed: Canon HD Vixia HF21 - 1080 HD 30fps.
Weaknesses: Moving my head, keeping my hands tighter, stamina, favoring my right side for slips/dips, keeping my hand up when jabbing to counter his long reach, & more...

Sparring Alan is extremely challenging, but training with him and attempting to not be annihilated (when I know he's even carrying me) is extremely difficult. I admire his skill and respect his years of dedication to Boxing. I hope I am equally as talented years from now.

My weight loss progression and muscle defining has continued, as I'm currently 159.5 lbs---40 pounds lost since Sept 2009! I've recently seen my physician and have annual workup and will get results next week, though I am confident I am in a much better state of physical health now.

Art Review for Graduate Seminar Critique

2010-10-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

JAE HEE LEE
Snow-white Princess
2010
Review by Desiree D'Alessandro

[click to view larger]

Snow-white Princess.
White Picket Fence.
Great White Hope.
With a critical emphasis on the clarifier "white," these phrases conjure references to the American Dream, which coincide with blissful projections such as "happily ever after." However, what does it mean when the artist who utilizes such phrases is not American? What does it mean when she cannot ethnically be classified as "white," and when English is not her primary language?

Jae Hee Lee is a painter from Korea that predominantly incorporates English-language text into her work. In Snow-white Princess (2010), the way in which Lee constructed the work and the ways in which we can continually construct meaning from it, are analogous to understanding and interpreting language, signification, and identity.

The work is fabricated on a semi-opaque canvas that reveals the structure upon which it is stretched, as two vertical beams can faintly be recognized. The black, italicized Serif font, reading "Snow-white Princess," is fragmentary in nature and seemingly non-declarative as it lacks the punctuation to guide the viewer/reader toward a specific tone or stance that may resonate with the artist. However, the capitalization of the compound adjective ("Snow-white") and noun ("Princess") demark that this phrase, and the connotations it carries, are of particular importance to the artist.

The red pastel strokes above the type make her palette remarkably similar to that of Barbara Kruger, an American Conceptual artist who uses black and white photographs and incorporates text with splashes of red. Intentions are different though, as Lee is working more traditionally as opposed to commercially, and incorporates an element of haptic involvement as opposed to stoic detachedness.

The red gesture specifically also resembles the red headband that Lee was wearing when the mark was generated. At the reception for the Welcome to the Thunderdome exhibition, Lee incorporated a casual performative element where she told viewers (in English and in Korean as her self-appointed translator) that she was "now going to finish [the piece]." With silent elegance, Lee revealed her instrument for mark-making and embraced its gestural and informal application above the stark standard type font.

The difference in which Lee precisely replicated the accurate font properties, and the freedom of her gestural mark-making, demonstrate a duality. Formally, duality is also reinforced through white background/black font, and through the two semi-apparent vertical canvas braces, in which the curved red stroke inhabits the interstice between these two boundaries. Conceptually, this transversal connection between dualities can by extension also imply connections between social binaries in regards to nationality (American/Korean), social perspective (Same/Other), and semiotics (Sign/Referent).

I take a particular interest in the Sign/Referent implications, as it would seem our interpretation of the significance of this work is dependent upon examining Lee as the originating reference that constructed it. While apt and concise, this deconstruction cannot end here–we must take also into consideration the previous social conditions of geo/ethnic diversity that no doubt currently inform Lee's work. By extension we must also examine how her work contributes and/or progresses these discussions, and which outcome the work seems to solicit: convolution or clarity.

I perceive "Snow-white Princess" to be a self-reflexive manifestation of Lee pondering her cross-cultural experiences and cultural pluralism in America. Elusory in nature are all of elements in which Lee is incorporating or suggesting: the lexicon of human language, populace demographics, and identity affirmation.

Ultimately, I find it admirable that Lee's practice so closely corresponds and correlates with her artistic demeanor–that beneath the quiet disposition, there is honorable character and thought-provoking depth.

Open Video Conference 2010 - University of California & DMCA

2010-10-24T00:54:00.000-07:00

Cross-referenced from AppropriationAlliance.org:

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw5e4yw26hc
Critical Writing by Desiree D'Alessandro

VENUE: Open Video Conference
Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC, NY
Oct 1 – 2, 2010
Auditorium
http://www.openvideoconference.org

Hello everyone!

My name is Desiree D'Alessandro. I am a Fine Art Masters student and Special Regents Fellow at University of California, Santa Barbara. I am thrilled to be here in New York and invited to present at this year's Open Video Conference among individuals like yourselves! Today I offer perspective as an academic, artist, and emergent activist and will give you further insight into what happened to me when I was charged with a first-time Digital Millennium Copyright Act violation at UCSB. Keeping in mind that the University offered me no institutional support or aid in defense, I am going to discuss the situation from a personal and activist perspective in regards to how many universities are stifling creativity and obstructing potential through network policing. So let us begin.

I come from a background of Digital Media practices and for the last year, I have taken a particular interest in Remix and YouTube. My online Remix portfolio (desiree-dalessandro.com) demonstrates the critical and humorous nature of my practice and my history of exercising Fair-Use prior to the DMCA allegation. I am here to discuss how acquiring and utilizing copyrighted source materials for creating Remix Videos is deemed an “offense” by UCSB and partner campuses, that violates their Internet Terms of Services.

Remix Videos utilize a wide array of appropriated source material to reconstruct and recontextualize new messages. Obviously, in order to gather the sources to make this product, I did what any digitally savvy artist in the 21st century would do. I turned to the Internet and torrent applications. However, I awoke one morning to discover that my Internet had been disconnected and my new default homepage read in giant-block letters: "THIS DEVICE HAS BEEN BLOCKED DUE TO A DMCA VIOLATION."

I immediately contacted my campus DMCA agent to articulate my creative practice in order to appeal the accusation, clear the air, and lift the ban that I felt was wrongfully placed on my computer. However, to my surprise, the conversations that developed turned into a hostile bureaucratic nightmare.

I explained my history of generating Remix Videos and my reasons for downloading content as source materials in exercising Fair Use. I was informed this did not matter. When I told them I had numerous faculty members ready to write letters of support and attest for the legitimacy of my work, I was still informed it did not matter. In the eyes of the UC System, I was stock-guilty and there was no opportunity for justification.

UC does not individually examine DMCA complaints on a case-by-case basis. No! Instead, the University adopts a policy of collective punishment without exception. Understandably, a majority of allegations lead to legitimate illegal infringing instances, but the fact stands that there IS a chance that the utilization of such sources could lead to Fair Use for educational purposes and commentary on culture, which is protected by copyright law. Through this collective University ban, the opportunity for appropriation for critical and creative expression is being withheld from me and other practitioners hoping to engage in the contemporary discourse of Remix.

Needless to say I disapprove of this form of collective punishment, this one-size-fits-all penalty, and that Universities are so quick to turn on their students for fear of liability pursuits. As I continued to contend the situation, I was informed that no exceptions will be made, and any further resistance would potentially lead to serious repercussions, hefty lawyer fees, and even charges. Ultimately, as I lack the funds to continue this refutal, I had to accept the first-time offense penalty, which entails residential Internet ban for 30 days and my forced signature on a Notice of Copyright Infringement. Second and Third offense consequences include an Internet ban for 1 year or indefinitely, and jeopardized housing status and academic enrollment status at UC.

These varying threatening and intimidation tactics used by the University staff in order to silence my protest, in effect worked...... but only initially. Because in response, I created a counter-attack Remix with screenings on campus, and now I am here in New York, on this stage, and sharing my story with you today. YES! It is my hope where the University silenced and threatened me, this platform and public venue provides the megaphone for my protest to be heard louder than ever---and most importantly, in the company of those who seek change and reform.

We should be enabled to engage in Remix culture and exercise these practices without permission, and more respect to the creators should be acknowledged to neutralize the imbalance of power in the current unjust system. We are a culture deeply enrooted with pop culture references and audio-visual literacy, and critical responses today re-examine these references in ways that exceed words, in perhaps more pointed and pertinent modes of conveyance. This is our new method for speaking---for speaking OUT!

And I am sure this element of Activism is why many of you are present here today. Open Video and access to digital sources is vital for opportunities of expression and the proliferation of today's user-generated culture. We must continue our protest of the current legal hindrances, oppressive bans, and creative obstructions. We must be advocates for legal reform to reflect the current social standard and promote Open Video and digital access, for this will in turn apply a counterweight against these pressures that Universities are receiving because their endowment is under threat if they do not concede.

While I have shared with you today the story of what happened to me and the UC system response for DMCA allegations, it is my hope that this process and what it is now will not be the same in the future. We need an active avocation for what our future views toward digital culture SHOULD be and what access to that culture means in order to bring about change.

For what are the implications of a future without this revolt and reform? What are the implications of a society which continues to treat creators as criminals? That does not respect the works or discourses generated through forms of creative expression?

We are in a critical moment in society and in history, and we are united by our ambitions for reform in the name of progress. Free media equals free speech and Open Video is essential for us to articulate our voices in the 21st century.

These are the themes that Byron Russell and I promote through our organization Appropriation Alliance. Please feel free to talk with us, get more information, and pick up our call for Critical Remixes and Critical Writings on this subject of Open Video.

To conclude my presentation, I would like to screen a remix I made just recently for this conference. It depicts an agent from RIAA & MPAA that crashes a meeting & gets kicked out by Open Video & Fair Use representatives. I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you everyone and I look forward to speaking with you more personally!

Installation Documentation

2010-10-19T00:05:00.000-07:00

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This work is an artifact of progress and promotion for the future focus of my MFA Thesis Exhibition at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in June 2011.

My significant weight loss, rigorous training, and recent involvement with Amateur Boxing has made me question my artistic practice. I seek to explore the boundary where art meets athleticism and invite spectators from different arenas to converge and converse. I am interested in interaction, reception, and the questions and challenges the pursuit of boxing raises: What is the relationship between the Nobel Art of Boxing and Fine Art? What are the gender-related implications of a woman participating in this field? How does an athletic artifact/performance interact with more traditional media? By actively subscribing to my father's passion for boxing, will I make him proud?

The banner will be featured at a variety of additional venues and rogue installed in public spaces across Santa Barbara.

"Shoulders Like Boulders" | 2010 | Banner | 3' x 6'

2010-10-09T15:03:00.001-07:00

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MFA Fall Exhibition

2010-10-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

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http://www.arts.ucsb.edu/facilities/gallery479

UCHRI CA Humanities Scholars Program & HASTAC Program

2010-09-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

I am delighted to have received notification that I have been appointed a UCSB Representative for UCHRI California Humanities Scholars Program and the HASTAC (Humanties, Arts, Science, Technologies Advanced Collaboratory) Program!

Here is a brief excerpt of what this entails:

The IHC welcomes appointed UCSB humanities graduate students for the UC Humanities Research Institute’s new California Humanities Scholars Program. The purpose of the California Humanities Scholars Program is to recognize graduate students working across the broad range of humanities at the University of California and to use their collective expertise, interests and collaborative energy to create a dynamic and interactive virtual network. California Humanities Scholars will be “Citizen Journalists,” reporting on the work happening on their campuses and in their various communities by blogging, tweeting, vlogging, podcasting and other forms of online networking. The California Humanities Scholars will orchestrate a regular discussion forum on the UC Humanities Network website (currently under development). Open to all, these forums will offer insights and exchanges on a broad range of issues related to the humanities.

Three scholars will be selected from each UC campus. Each scholar will receive a monetary fellowship for her or his contribution, funded by the UC Humanities Research Institute. The most important quality in a Scholar will be the willingness and enthusiasm to use digital media to share ideas and foster discussion and to participate in virtual engagements throughout the year.

The HASTAC Scholars are a community of graduate and undergraduate students who are engaged with innovative projects and research at the intersection of digital media and learning, 21st century education, the digital humanities, and technology in the arts, humanities and social science. The program blogs, hosts forums, organizes events and discusses new ideas, projects, experiments, and technologies that reconceive teaching, learning, research, writing and structuring knowledge.

APPROPRIATION ALLIANCE UPDATES & CALL

2010-09-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

APPROPRIATION ALLIANCE | CRITICAL REMIX FESTIVAL
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

[Click on the images above to view larger, or download the full-resolution here:
APPROPRIATION ALLIANCE is pleased to announce the first Critical Remix Festival call for submissions. The Critical Remix Festival is a juried film festival that will serve as the kick-off event for the 2011 year at Gallery 25 in Fresno, CA. The opening screening will take place on Thursday, January 6, 2011 from 5 PM to 10 PM. The gallery will host screenings on each of the following weekends until January 30, 2011.

ENTRY DETAILS and ELIGIBILITY
The theme for this inaugural festival is "War and Oil." The call for submissions is open to all artists working with the medium of Critical Remix (commonly found on YouTube and also known as Political Remix Video or media stylos). The remix must use found footage: for example, corporate advertising, Hollywood films, TV shows, archive footage of war, etc. The remix you submit must have been created after January 2009, and we especially encourage new work. Our sponsors and the Appropriation Alliance will serve as jurors for the festival, and are interested in seeing each artist's perspective on the themes of War and Oil. An award of $1000 USD will be given to the remix artist the jury finds to be most deserving.

SUBMISSION FORMAT
Submissions should be viewable on YouTube. The video should be 8 minutes or less. Please send the link to your video (one video per artist), along with your name, contact information, the official title of the work, and a brief statement (100 words) about the video to: appropriationalliance@gmail.com.

The deadline for submissions is: Monday, December 20, 2010 5:00PM PST. There is no entry fee; however we encourage a small donation to help us cover costs. You can donate through paypal at: http://centerfornonviolence.org/wp/contribute/ and note ‘remix festival’ under the special notes section when you confirm your donation, or by sending a check written to ‘FCNV’ with ‘remix festival’ in the memo section to Fresno Center For Nonviolence, 1584 Van Ness, Fresno, CA 93728. All donations are tax-deductible and appreciated.

NOTIFICATION
Artists will be notified of acceptance or decline no later than Tuesday, December 28, 2010. Individuals accepted will have their work shown at the event and posted on our site along with video from the opening. Additionally, remixers will be given permission to remix our festival and present it in a forum of their choice, needing only to notify us and let viewers know your event is a selection from the Appropriation Alliance Critical Remix Festival. Please note that your submission indicates your agreement to allow this to take place and for Appropriation Alliance to use images or excerpts from your remix for promotional purposes.

For more information on this open call for submissions, contact the Appropriation Alliance at appropriationalliance@gmail.com.

http://appropriationalliance.org
http://appropriationalliance.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/AppropriationAllianc

Sparring Video

2010-09-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

Training: 6 weeks
Where: Duke's Boxing & Fitness, Isla Vista, CA (http://dukesboxing.com)
Stance: Predominantly Right-handed
Filmed: Canon HD Vixia HF21 - 1080 HD 30fps.
Weaknesses: Moving my head, agility, turning my head away, keeping my hands tighter, stamina, crossing my feet & poor form during exhaustion, & more...

Boxing HBO Mockup Poster & Sparring Video

2010-09-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

[click on the image to view larger]

BRIEF UPDATE: I now have 5 weeks of training behind me and this is a 2-round sparring video of me with my coach Henry "Duke" Calles. Since this video, we have come to the conclusion that my awkwardness is attributed to perhaps fighting/training in the wrong stance. While I write with my left hand and instinctively lead with my right foot, in sports I realized recently I lead with my left foot. Weight is on track in the mid 160s. Hopefully by October I will be in the high to mid 150s.

Open Video Conference (Step Brothers Remix)

2010-09-16T11:02:00.000-07:00

Recent Video remix that utilizes film footage from Step Brothers (2008). An agent from RIAA & MPAA crashes a meeting and gets punched out by Open Video & Fair Use representatives.

This work exists as an avocation and trailer for the Open Video Conference in New York on 10.1-2.10. For more information, see:

http://www.openvideoconference.org

THE VIEW UPSKIRT UPDATE - Woman Warrior Exposed (Sigourney Weaver Remix)

2010-09-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

HD upskirt clip from "The View" added @ 1:06. RARE. NO PANTIES!

"Woman Warrior Exposed (Sigourney Weaver Remix)" constitutes a fair-use of any copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US copyright law. The video is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-3.0 License, permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Information regarding fair-use at the Center for Social Media: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org.

A Political Remix Video by Desiree D'Alessandro

Sigourney Weaver is represented as a female power icon in pop culture, though several roles from her filmography epitomize Mulvey's notion of the Male Gaze, whereby Weaver is objectified and sexualized in the character personas she portrays. The iconic horror narrator John Newland draws public attention to the discord between Weaver's selective recollection and her actual cinematic record.

Sources (Listed Chronologically):
One Step Beyond (1959 - 1961)
Alien (1979)
Ghost Busters (1984)
Half Moon Street (1986)
Working Girl (1988)
Ghost Busters II (1989)
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Heartbreakers (2001)
FOX News - Avatar and Acid Test Interview (2009)
Hollywood Dailies - Avatar Interview (2009)
London Avatar World Premier Interview (2009)
Comic-Con International - Coverage of Panel Discussions on "Wonder Women: Female Power Icons in Pop Culture" (2009)

My Students' Upcoming Show in Gallery 479!

2010-08-29T15:07:00.000-07:00

[click to view the enlarged flyer]

WHAT: 7D STUDENT ART EXHIBITION
WHERE: GALLERY 479
WHEN: SEPT. 7TH 3-5PM

7D: ART SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY will be hosting a 1-day exhibition that features a sampling of the best student projects produced during the Summer B 2010 quarter. Back will be the rambunctious drawing robots, interactive installations, & scientific investigations. There will be good art, company, and food/drink.

We look forward to seeing you there!! :D

We encourage and appreciate you to share this information with others to assist us in our circulation efforts.

SECTION WEBSITE:
http://home.umail.ucsb.edu/~dalessandro/7dsb10

[click to view larger]

Hawaii Conference, Travel Grants, & Physical Transformation...

2010-08-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

A paper I submitted for Colin Gardner in Fall quarter of 2009 was recently accepted into the Hawaii International Arts Conference on Arts & Humanities. The venue looks like it will be a promising one and will document the premier presentation and publication of this work in a public arena beyond the University. Additionally, I was awarded a Travel Grant through the University of California Graduate Division to cover airfare expenses. I look forward to this opportunity to exhibit to present my work in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Also, the upcoming Open Video Conference is still confirmed and I am continuing to work on my presentation (which I hope to complete this weekend). I am extremely appreciative of the 20-minute presentation slot they have designated me and the generosity of the Open Video Alliance for covering my airfare expenses. My excitement abounds as I have been scheduled for the auditorium that seats 775 and is the designated space that hosts the "highest profile speakers: the newsmakers, the world changers, the visionaries, and the innovators."

It is my hope that these varied upcoming public speaking opportunities (including my tentative plans to submit to the College Art Association Conference in 2012) will help me discover which platform (theoretical, media activism, visual culture, etc) is my niche in terms of my future professional practice.

Lastly, I am currently exploring my body as a physical canvas for transformation as I explore this process in my artistic practice. I am intent on achieving my goal weight and training to be an amateur boxer. I have always loved the sport and my father has an amateur history, so this interest is autobiographical and personal in narrative. This journey has been (and will continue to be) difficult, but I am on the path. In Sept of 2009 I was nearly 200 pounds. I am on schedule this Sept to be in the mid-160s. I have registered at the local Isla Vista gym Duke's Boxing & Fitness. I am still contemplating how to incorporate digital aspects as this process progresses. It may even develop into my graduating Thesis work???

I am completely open to ideas, your thoughts/comments/questions/concerns/suggestions/etc.

I will keep you updated periodically on my progress.

Basement Media Festival -- Boston, MA

2010-08-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

I was recently accepted into the Basement Media Festival organized by LJ Frezza and Nicholas Tamburo. There, my remix WHAT?! DMCA Violation (Step Brothers Remix) will be exhibited, alongside video works by the following artists:

Marcy Saude
Alberto Cabrera Bernal
Neil Needleman
Paul Turano
Evan Meaney
Gull Silberstein
ChrkChrkChrk
D.A. Johnston
Grace Miceli
Nate Phillips

Dan Anderson
Yaron Lapid
Pierre Aubert
Daniel Hopkins
Ted Sonnenschien
Justin Lincoln
Owen Eric Wood
Clint Enns
Ching yi Tseng
Caryn Cline

Richard O'Sullivan
Georg Koszulinski
Aaron Thomas
Joe Lachajczyk
Drone Dungeon
Will Erokan
Jason Martin
Vodka of the Gods
Daniel Temkim
Nina Dineen

I am particularly excited for this remix to gain additional attention, as I am preparing a presentation based on my previously submitted my proposal, for the Open Video Conference on the subject this coming October. The event will be held in New York City, at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

TRANSCRIPT: Oil + Water: The Case of Santa Barbara and Southern California Conference

2010-06-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

CONFERENCE: Oil + Water: The Case of Santa Barbara and Southern California
Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, University of California, Santa Barbara.
April 8 – 10, 2010
McCune Conference Room, 6020 HSSB
http://www.ihc.ucsb.edu/oil-water-socal/

Desireé D'Alessandro: Hi everyone! How are you? (Audience responds). Good! My name is Desiree D'Alessandro. I am a Fine Art Masters student here at UCSB, and this is my colleague, Diran Lyons. He is also a former UCSB Art Department graduate, as you can see... (D'Alessandro gestures toward Lyons, who is sporting UCSB apparel). Apparently proud of it! (Audience laughs). We're very excited to be here today and gathered with professionals of such a prestigious stature; all of which are well-informed and very skilled. We're excited to engage in this discussion about oil and water through a historical and a contemporary lens that spans local, national, and global networks. Working within the realm of digital media, Lyons and I have curated a small selection of works that we have generated and wish to share with you today. We are also going to be screening a work by Jonathan McIntosh, who is also a major proponent in the realm of Political Remix Video. A certain aspect that we really wish to emphasize today is PRV's accessibility. Anyone with Internet access can view these works and hopefully engage in the commentary and public discourse that is generated through the viral and public platform of YouTube. Without further adieu, I invite Lyons to present us with the context that surrounds these works and how they relate to activism. He will also share with us how his works have recently received acclaim on IMDb.com. Thank you.

Diran Lyons: Thank you, Desiree. To put things tersely, Political Remix Video does have an activist tendency---to follow the keynote address that we just heard---in that it is primarily interested in directing the viewer's imagination toward topical politics and current critical issues like oil. For example, I'm going to very briefly screen a video by Jonathan McIntosh---it's about a minute long. By tweaking a handful of subtle moments within a Chevron commercial that aired a few years ago, McIntosh is able to cast a critical shadow upon the oil company and reframe the entire message of said commercial. He does this by replacing certain clips with other existing footage from different contexts, thereby allowing the viewer to see some of the irresponsible behavior Chevron has committed as a result of its global meandering and reckless pursuit of capital. By swapping in the new clips, McIntosh creates a visual narrative that corrects the claims of the commercial's narrator. After this remix, I will move on to some of the atrocities Chevron has committed specifically in Ecuador over the past thirty years, as they should assume responsibility for these when their purchase of Texaco took place in 2001. So, I would like to now screen the following works that focus on Chevron: The Power of Chevron's Human Energy from 2008, by Jonathan McIntosh, and Chevron's 8 Steps (Ricardo Reis Veiga Remix), a remix that I made this year.

Lyons: Again, the first video was by Jonathan McIntosh, and as you can see, it was obviously very critical of Chevron. In this case, Political Remix is valuable not in its capability to embody a rigor as comprehensive as some of the presentations we've seen today, but in terms of its ability to rapidly disseminate information into the public discourse. It can direct our attention toward some of the more comprehensive literature and those types of arguments, all in a quick, audiovisual format. Before handing things back to Desiree, I'll screen my work Jake Gyllenhaal Challenges the Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and after the screening I'll briefly offer some reflection on it. Here, I think PRV is extremely valuable because it is able to grab, for example, household names like Jake Gyllenhaal and reinsert these into the political discussion. Both of the films that are remixed in the following video--Donnie Darko and Jarhead--have absolutely nothing to do with the new point of view that the remixed video espouses. But recontextualizing these films by integrating them with other video materials allows me to say something completely different than the original sources, and the final result is a video critical of both the source material and the President's foreign policies. That is the critique. That is the interest.

Lyons: That was Jake Gyllenhaal Challenges the Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and like most Political Remix Video, it is very reliant on what Friedrich Nietzsche might call the Creative Lie. It's an artistic strategy which uses illusion and deception intentionally, but in such a way that the viewer is not really duped by it. Through this artistic gesture, we're able to suggest deeper deductions on specific issues. In this case, the video imagines--as Nietzsche might say--a "people of the future" who would readily assert fortified postures against ideological positions that they find disagreeable, confidently challenging power structures with passion and without fear. Remix forcefully fosters this sort of attitude and environment. And finally, I think it is really good for exposure to place such works not only on places like YouTube, but also to screen them in competitive public festivals, that way they have a broader reach and can get on places like Internet Movie Database. And, for example, can go up thirteen thousand percent in popularity (using a laser pointer, Lyons circles a screen shot of the popularity gauge that reveals the remix work up by over 13,000%). I don't understand this number, but I was very happy when I saw it! (Audience laughs). The film reached #1 on IMDb.com for five weeks, and as a result it generated further interest in this type of work.

D'Alessandro: To continue with the final screening of our presentation, notice there is a shift in tone between the remix that you just saw, and the remix in which we are about to present. Additionally, there's also a shift in political topic and subject, where the former remix addresses issues on oil, this one is going to address issues on water conservation and sustainability. The remix also continues to develop this conversation of reconfiguring source material to present an alternative truth, or as Nietzsche would assert, a Creative Lie. The juxtaposition of humor and criticality in the following work potentially amplifies its accessibility to viewers who can engage in the agenda behind the message and also enjoy the mash-up for what it is. This remix is one that I have made recently, and is titled World Water Shortage vs. Golf Course Consumption.

D'Alessandro: So I decided to address issues on water and hyrdopolitics when I encountered a national fact that California is one of the leading golf course-congested states in the US. I began to speculate on what this means in terms of water commoditization in the face of the proliferation of such a spectacle. Through remix, I felt that this investigation merited the utilization of a wider array of source footage to recontextualize and create an environmental message to boost the accessibility of the work---to juxtapose the difference in the way the topic is handled in the news vs. mainstream media commercials, and treat each cut as a continuous conceptual stream across a variety of media dissemination platforms. The resulting critical yet humorous narrative ultimately promotes the utilization of water in a more judicious sense and advocates my disapproval of maneuvers to convert this critical world resource into a profitable commodity. All the works we have screened today are grounded in progressive postures that challenge power structures through innovative audiovisual material, addressing political institutions, corporations, and environment crises that directly correspond with this year's IHC theme: Oil and Water.

Lyons: This concludes our presentation, and we thank you for viewing our selection of works.

Desiree: Yes, we look forward to your questions in the panel discussion. Thank you!

Re/Mixed Media Festival 2010 & Open Video Conference 2010 -- NY

2010-06-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

Brief update regarding my experience with Re/Mixed Media Festival 2010 (which will feature streams soon):

I had a blast and enjoyed meeting many advocates, enthusiasts, and practitioners! Through this event, I discovered a call for applications for the Open Video Conference 2010 in NY and submitted my proposal:

University of California: Legacy vs Legality

Desiree D'Alessandro (desiree-dalessandro.com) is an active artist and scholar currently earning her MFA degree as a Regents Special Fellow from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Recently, D'Alessandro was charged with a first-time DMCA offense through UCSB, which offered her no institutional support or aid in defense. Her proposal for the Open Video Conference 2010 in New York includes a brief 20-minute lecture/presentation, that will discuss the situation from a personal, intellectual, historical, and activist perspective in regards to how many universities are stifling creativity and obstructing potential through network policing.

-Personal-
With being charged for a first-time DMCA offense for acquiring and utilizing source material to create the Political Remix Video "World Water Shortage vs. Golf Course Consumption" (featured at PoliticalRemixVideo.org, Re/Mixed Media Festival 2010, and elsewhere), D'Alessandro experienced having her internet banned for a thirty-day period as well as was the recipient of warnings as to future potential academic and legal threats. All attempts to articulate the situation from a Fair Use vantage point were disregarded by the institution. The fears that ensued were soon overcome with the launch of a reaction remix, "WHAT?! DMCA Violation (Step Brothers Remix)."

-Intellectual-
Being a scholar from the University setting, D'Alessandro will articulate the theoretical relevance of Political Remix Video in regards to the philosophical notions established by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari ---
1. Rhizome - as a notion of continuous variation, a variation that is itself in a state of perpetual becoming.
2. Transversality - a transverse way, a diagonal path connecting incommunicable ways, allowing us to make heterogeneous connections that affirm difference while constructing new worlds and new mnemic traces.
These devices allude to what Deleuze would argue: "A people to come."

-Historical-
The University of California system played an integral part in the eve of electronic communication. Ironically, the UC system (through UCLA) was involved from the very beginning in Internet development for purposes of information sharing. However, since 2002, every campus in the system has now been assigned a DMCA Agent and bans information sharing via P2P applications in accordance with the Responsible Use Policy. What was once a progressive academic force is now one of restrictions and restraints in order to "protect itself and its students" (quote taken from UCSB's ResNet website).

-Activist-
Lastly, D'Alessandro plans to reveal the launch a very simple website where .doc files can be DLed with template letters of complaint against universities that participate in student litigation in regards to copyright infringement reports. People will be invited to download the form, fill in the blank for university name, sign, and submit. Submissions will not only be forwarded to appropriate campus officers, but they will also be archived in a collective of rebellion.

Hopefully, D'Alessandro's endeavors will launch a wave of protest across the nation against narrow-sighted university policy on copyright infringement and lack of student support. Additionally, D'Alessandro will encourage that in the interim, as remix/mashup/appropriation artists, our endeavors must extend beyond the university and enter into our own community and culture, one nurtured by current and future generations, as Deleuze would advocate: "A people to come."

Visual Literacy Conclusion

2010-05-27T17:00:00.000-07:00

I closed my Visual Literacy sections. I will miss them.

Agenda = Evals, engaging Baudrillard Simulation & Simulacrum discussion, and concluded with a screening that paralleled Terrence Handscomb's "character exit" resolution to Monday's lecture.

Me: "I've had an excellent quarter and I hope you all have as well! This course has shed light on a variety of theoretical and philosophical discussions presented by Berger, Benjamin, Baudrillard, Matheson, Mulvey, Gardner, Nead, etc. To conclude, I am going to screen the climax from Legend (1985)---notice the relevant dialog, mentioning of the void, evidence of inextricable binaries....... oh and fairies, unicorns, Tim Curry as the best Lord of Darkness ever and Tom Cruise who forgot to put on pants."

[NOTE - I screened the full-length scene from
the DVD. Youtube only had an excerpt.]

laughs. claps. conclusion.

UPDATES: New York, Permanent Collection, & Submissions

2010-05-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

Since my last update, many exciting opportunities have arisen. I will briefly outline among those that I find most important:

RE/MIXED MEDIA FESTIVAL 2010
Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
Sunday, May 30th 2PM - 1AM

I submitted a number of remixes to this festival and was grateful to be accepted and featured amongst many inspirational practitioners. Elizabeth Stark and Moby will be presenting along with festival director, Tom Tenney. I look forward to flying out and attending the venue with my friend and colleague, Diran Lyons.

Below is information abbreviated from the main webpage at http://www.lofilounge.org:

The RE/Mixed Media Festival is our way of contributing to the ongoing conversation about remixing, mashups, copyright law, fair use, and the freedom of artists to access their culture in order to add to and build upon it. While there are numerous events addressing these issues, they are usually discussion-based, featuring lectures and panel discussions about policy. We believe that one of the best ways to make the general public aware of these types of issues is by demonstrating all the types of art and culture that remix touches. To that end, on May 30th we will transform the Galapagos Art Space into a multimedia art space for a full day/evening of the following: film & video, music & sound, artist panel discussions, visual art, fashion, sponsor tables, and more.

Permanent Collection - UCR Sweeney Art Gallery
Culver Center of the Arts

Gallery director, Tyler Stallings, has recently requested permission to add the Scrap Matters: Reading the Desert series (which is currently on display at the UCR Palm Desert Graduate Center) to the Sweeney's permanent collection. I am excited by this opportunity and thankful for the generous support that the UCR Sweeney Art Gallery has provided in affiliation with the Dry-Immersion Roving Symposium.

Here's an excerpt form http://sweeney.ucr.edu:

The Sweeney Art Gallery's Permanent Collection holds approximately 650 unique objects. The Collection has a particularly strong number of works on paper, specifically prints including abstract and figurative works from the modern to contemporary periods. Some notable works in the Collection include Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, Millard Sheets, and Kara Walker.

FILM FESTIVAL & OTHER SUBMISSIONS
International locations

In addition to RE/MIXED MEDIA 2010 in New York, I have also been internationally promoting my works. Details to come on acceptance notifications from my submissions to the following open calls:

Athens Video Art Festival
http://www.athensvideoartfestival.gr
Athens, Greece

Video Art Festival Miden
http://www.festivalmiden.gr/deltiatypou_eng.html
Kalamata, Greece

Festival of (In)appropriation
http://www.lafilmforum.org
Los Angeles, CA

Centralism II
http://gallery25.org/index.html
Fresno, CA

Freedom Sparks Video/Film Festival
http://www.VisualVoiceGallery.com
http://www.LightCubeVideo.com
http://www.ArtandCulture.com
Montreal, Quebec

London Film Festival
http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff
London, England

Lastly, I will also be presenting my work to the Visual Literacy student body in Isla Vista Theatre II at the end of the quarter.

UCSB MFA OPEN STUDIOS

2010-04-29T17:41:00.000-07:00

UCSB MFA OPEN STUDIOS
FRIDAY, April 30th, 2010 / 5-8PM
Harder Stadium

We will honor the late great Spud Harder in the stadium which bares his name. The famed football coach and painter will be the subject of several toasts and songs at the Spring Open Studios.

The first-year and second-year graduate students from the Art Department here at the UC Santa Barbara will be on hand to discuss their latest work.

The event can only accommodate 17,000 participants and there are 12 current grad students so room will be tight. Come early, stay late, be in good spirits. Beverages and Art provided.

D'Alessandro will screen her most recent remixes!

RSVP at our facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112908425395156&index=1

Interdisciplinary Humanities Center's Oil + Water Conference

2010-04-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, my colleague Diran Lyons and I presented at the University of California, Santa Barbara's Interdisciplinary Humanities Center conference: Oil + Water: The Case of Santa Barbara and Southern California.

The event was a success, attracting prestigious, skilled, and highly informed professionals to gather and discuss the historical and contemporary implications of oil and water across local, national, and global networks. I even had the privilege of meeting David Maisel, one my admired influential artists that I previously referenced in my First-Year Review Presentation.

For our contribution to the lecture series, Diran and I engaged the topic of Political Remix Video as an activist outlet which generates transformative media artworks that challenge power structures through the reconfiguration of found mainstream media audiovisual material. We curated a small selection of video works that we authored for screening. In addition, we screened a work by Jonathan McIntosh, who is also major proponent in the political remix video community. The contexts of the following works address political institutions, government policy, and environment crises that directly corresponded with IHC's Oil + Water theme:

SCREENINGS:
Video 1 by Jonathan McIntosh: The Power of Chevron's Human Energy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_dF9EjIvsA

Video 2 by Diran Lyons: (2008) Chevron's 8 Steps (Ricardo Reis Veiga Remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRR3jmrWa7Y

Video 3 by Diran Lyons: Jake Gyllenhaal Challenges the Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVuh4AiZ-VY

Video 4 by Desire D'Alessandro: World Water Shortage vs. Golf Course Consumption
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXWSWatszBQ

The works were well-received and plans are already in the works to organize a contemporary remix culture conference addressing visual literacy in this new decade. Reservations on the McCune Conference Room and IHC co-sponsorship are being explored.

Details coming soon.

Deleuze Transversal Material

2010-04-06T23:41:00.001-07:00

Inspired by the writings of Deleuze and Guattari, Colin Gardner has launched a course this quarter titled The Transverse Way: Immanent Ethics & the Construction of "A People to Come." The structure of this course fosters individual rhyzomatic investigations between people, disciplines, eras and geographies. I was the first student to present the findings from my research in a one-hour presentation. The following images and notes illustrate the fluid relationships that I highlighted through Deleuze's zigzagging transversal trajectory. The corresponding diagram appropriately illustrates my presentation in relationship to Deleuze and Guattari's quote:

"The rhizome itself assumes very diverse forms [much like] when rats swarm over each other."
--- A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia

The context for sharing my information via this blog platform is interesting, as it is important to note that content reverberates throughout this entry, regardless of the linear blog format.

Also, the live presentation for the evening was equally interesting as my colleague Diran Lyons was a guest visitor. Given his presence for the evening, I incorporated into my presentation a historical examination that conflated the histories of Colin Gardner, Lyons, and myself through instances in the past and at that very exact moment in the present.

ANDY WARHOL: 1928 - 1987:
American Artist: Painter, Printermaker, Filmmaker

Empire - motion to static

Chelsea Girls - Juxtaposition with unrelated intent

Eadweard Muybridge: 1830 - 1904:
English photographer- static to motion

André Breton: 1896 - 1966:
French writer, poet, and principal founder of Surrealism

René Magritte: 1898 - 1967:
Belgian artist / Breton friend - Creative Lie

Salvador Dalí: 1904 - 1989:
Spanish surrealist artist / Unconscious - Breton enemy

Dali & Hitchcock collaboration: Dream sequece in Spellbound (1945) - Time Suspension

Sigmund Freud: 1856 - 1939:
Austrian neurologist, father of psychonalysis / Unconscious

Friedrich Nietzsche: 1844 - 1900:
European philosopher and classical philologist / Inner device - Will to Power

The Ancient Greeks: 470 - 322 BC:
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle / Truth

Martin Heidegger: 1889 - 1976:
German philosopher / Being and time

Alain Badiou: 1937 - Present:
French philosopher / Being - Truth - Event (multiplicity)

GILLES DELEUZE: 1925 - 1995:
French philosopher / Transversal - multiplicity - Time Crystal

Fragmentation: Post-WW2 Cinema

Resnais - Last Year at Marientbad (1961)

Godard - Weekend (1968)

Nolan - Memento (2001)

Robert Frost: 1874 - 1963:
American poet - poetry as fragments / Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening & The Road Not Taken

Akira Kurosawa: Throne of Blood (1961):
Japanese Adaptation of Macbeth where woods move

Yinka Shonibare: 1962 - present:
Nigerian contemporary artist living in Britain

Diran Lyons -
Contemporary remix / juxtaposition - Rise to remix as a legitimate medium

First-Year Review Presentation at UCSB on 3.2.2010

2010-03-31T23:09:00.000-07:00

Part I

Part II

Desiree D'Alessandro discusses her past and present artworks at the First-Year Review Presentation at UCSB on 3.2.2010. This presentation has been abbreviated to a 20-minute duration with sections dedicated to past work, current work, and a question/commentary session from the department faculty. Further information on the UCSB Department of Art and Graduate MFA Program at http://www.arts.ucsb.edu

More Information:
- Artist Website: http://www.desiree-dalessandro.com
- First-Year Review Documentation (Mr. & Ms. Placed Exhibition): http://dalessandroart.blogspot.com/20...

Remix works referenced in presentation:
- World Water Shortage vs. Golf Course Consumption: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXWSWa...

- WHAT?! DMCA Violation (Step Brothers Remix): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFx4yT...

Woman Warrior [Exposed] (Sigourney Weaver Remix)

2010-03-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

Today at California State University, Northridge, Jonathan McIntosh (RebelliousPixels.com) and Anita Sarkeesian (FeministFrequency.com) hosted a CSUN event titled Remixing Pop Culture: Subverting Gender and Sexuality with Remix Videos. I thought I would contribute to the discourse of this theme as an emerging remix artist, and was inspired to critically re-examine one of my all-time favorite actresses: Sigourney Weaver.

"Woman Warrior Exposed (Sigourney Weaver Remix)" constitutes a fair-use of any copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US copyright law. The video is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-3.0 License, permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Information regarding fair-use at the Center for Social Media: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org.

A Political Remix Video by Desiree D'Alessandro

Sigourney Weaver has been heralded as a female power icon in pop culture and spokesperson, though several roles from her filmography have been subjected to the Male Gaze, where femininity and sexuality are foregrounded. The iconic horror narrator John Newland is utilized to help draw public attention to the unexplainable phenomena that is the direct difference between Weaver's selective recollection and conflicting cinematic record. The illusion that is presented through her testimony is dissolved in a juxtaposing cinematic montage that highlights her career of conflicting character personas. This remix offers an insightful reality check that encourages public criticality, awareness, and contemplation of the Hollywood female portrayal dichotomy. The initial feminist critique is further dissolved by the progressive, post-feminist resolution: women as well as men find sexuality in cinema alluring and celebratory.

Sources (Listed Chronologically):
One Step Beyond (1959 - 1961)
Alien (1979)
Ghost Busters (1984)
Half Moon Street (1986)
Working Girl (1988)
Ghost Busters II (1989)
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Heartbreakers (2001)
FOX News - Avatar and Acid Test Interview (2009)
Hollywood Dailies - Avatar Interview (2009)
London Avatar World Premier Interview (2009)
Comic-Con International - Coverage of Panel Discussions on "Wonder Women: Female Power Icons in Pop Culture" (2009)

[NOTE] Special thanks to Diran Lyons (LYONSPOTTER) for his assistance!

Tags: Sigourney Weaver Ellen Ripley Dana Barrett One Step Beyond John Newland Alien Aliens Resurrection Ghost Busters II Ghostbusters Working Girl Galaxy Quest Heart Breakers Heartbreakers Half Moon Street Avatar Acid Test Interview Behind the Scenes Comic Con Comicon San Diego California Wonder Women Female Power Icons in Pop Culture sexy seductive seductress lingerie panties temptress funny critical hypocrite hypocrisy reality check political remix video montage clip ad commercial hd

SBCE Project & Exhibition Promotion

2010-03-13T20:11:00.000-08:00

dysTOPIC: Welcome to our BioArt laboratory!

Rebecca Levine, Desiree D’Alessandro, and Se Young have synthesized their expertise in a curious collaborative work that provokes discourse on issues of sustainability, simulacra, and sense of self. Their generated lab is constructed strictly from recycled materials: collected glass jars, UCSB potable irrigation water waste, and cloned succulent clippings. By duplicating these living organisms, the work investigates ethical, social, and aesthetic concerns regarding the human relationship with empowered institutions. Through audience interaction the lab will be deconstructed and the cloned succulents will be distributed to the public as take-away artifacts that construct reflection and inquiry.

Come see this work at the Student-Based Creative Exchange exhibit March 18th! SBCE is an experimental class run by students with the purpose of facilitating regular conversation and collaboration between interdisciplinary students working on creative projects. Click on the above image to add our Facebook event to your venue and check out http://ucsbce.wordpress.com for more information.

7D Winter Section comes to a close

2010-03-11T22:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a blast and I've really enjoyed my first quarter TAing.
Check out all my students' work at my section URL:
http://uweb.ucsb.edu/~dalessandro/7dw10

Scrap Matters: Reading the Desert on Exhibit at the UC Riverside Palm Desert Graduate Center

2010-03-08T23:23:00.001-08:00

Additionally, a brief update: Scrap Matters: Reading the Desert series is on exhibit at the UC Riverside - Palm Desert Graduate Center in Palm Springs through May/April. The works are featured amongst a select number of other artists accepted to exhibit their proposals for the Dry Immersion III series, co-organized by UCR Sweeney Art Gallery and University of California Institute for Research in the Arts (UCIRA).

The works received much publicity, including the encompassing Palm Springs Life article written by Steven Biller.

Documentation of my works for the UCSB First-Year Review MFA Exhibition: Mr. & Ms. Placed

2010-03-08T22:33:00.000-08:00

The following blog documents my most recent works and provides a brief abstract of the presentation I plan to give for the first-year review at 5PM on Tuesday, March 9th 2010.

CLICK ON THUMBNAILS TO VIEW LARGER!

Progress:

When I arrived at the UCSB Graduate Art Program, my work explored elusive properties that are inherent to art, memory, and experience. I investigated the constructive qualities of psychological and physiological filtration systems, and explored our gaps in perception, interpretation, and understanding. I believe my work is shifting from this position of esotericism toward conviction as I struggle to find clarity on topical subjects in my recent series of works. My interest in the dynamic relationship between the individual and the social reflects how I approach art as a subject of study—as a comprehensive sphere of activity that is integral to questioning, exploring, and understanding the world.

Work:

My recent works revolve around conceptions of mapping and communication on topical, political, and/or ecological issues via a variety of platforms—sculptural, archival, digital, etc. Briefly outlined below are statements that accompany my works featured for the First-Year Review Exhibition:

“Mixer”: This multi-media installation will feature my first remix video completed before UCSB charged me with a first-time DMCA violation and my direct response video that continues to use copyrighted material as an instance of Fair-Use. Surrounding the monitor, print-outs of all revolving e-mail, chat, and web correspondences will be presented. This work shares with the viewer the active research involved in identifying organizations that assist artists in my exploration to better understand my artistic rights and defenses.

Scrap Matters: Reading the Desert: A digitally reproduced inventory/archive of deteriorated texts discovered in the Mojave Desert. The found residue have been transformed by the desert ecology and rendered unfamiliar, anomalous and strange: the ghosts in the machine of the desert. These materials collected exist as an inventory of offerings issued by the desert, as if the desert had consciousness and had ‘spoken’ in sentences corresponding to the syntax of one's trajectory through a largely trackless terrain—a geo(ethno)graphic testimony: a ‘statement’ from the dry mouth of Wonder Valley.

Stay the Course & Vi(r)al: These two related works explore California as one of the leading golf course-congested states in the US and the related issues of water commoditization in the proliferation of this spectacle. Stay the Course presents the data on these courses in a stark and austere display encased in glass and flanked by stanchions. The state protection and preservation of the golf/tourism industry is signified in this presentation. Vi(r)al is an accompanying work that uses sculptural and digital elements to plot the 1,137 golf course points using water-filled vials in a fashion that exhibits the infestation/tumoresque geospatial positioning.

Practice/Process:
My multi-faceted, interdisciplinary practice often involves digital and physical assemblage to realize a work. Works begin by research and developing/exploring further the inspiration or problematics I discover/experience in the aims to provoke discourse on a subject that is pertinent and present. The concept drives the form in an organic development that allows room for adaptation once a work is initiated. My goal is to never label my practice or "box" myself into a specific framework, but to instead use the model to expand the project into new intersections. It is my hope that the works I produce are generative and relevant to everyone to consider, speculate, and ultimately act—never be left placated! My aim is to be an active contributor to works that engage everyday life and experience and to continue to develop my voice in this movement that is critical of the power structures that determine the current state of the world. I am dedicated to making work as a critique and intellectual procedure with an absolute rigor.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
- Excerpt from Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Influential Contexts:

Eco art, socio-political, eco-political, topical-political, ecological, environmental, sustainable, conceptual, situationism, activism, remix culture, action research

Influential Figures (Alphabetically):

Bruce Tiffany, Colin Gardner, Damien Hirst, Dan Graham, David Maisel, Dick Hebdige, Diran Lyons, Edward Tufte, Eduardo Kac, Frances Stark, Frederic Jameson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gilles Deleuze, Hans Haacke, Ignasi Aballi, Joseph Beuys, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Marcel Duchamp, Mark Dion, Marko Peljhan, Netwon & Helen Mayer Harrison, Richard Long, Robert Frost, Trevor Paglen

Presence/Exhibitions Since Arrived:
- [Upcoming] Rogue Performance Festival 2010 – Fresno, Ca
- [Upcoming] Oil + Water: The Case of Southern California Lecture Series, IHC, UCSB, Ca
- [Upcoming] Student-Based Creative Exchange – UCSB, To Be Determined, Goleta, Ca
- Dry Immersion III – University of California - Riverside, Palm Desert Graduate Center, Palm Desert, Ca
- Mr. & Ms. Placed – UCSB, Old Gym Project Gallery, Santa Barbara, Ca
- Political Remix Video Screenings – Gallery 25, Fresno, Ca * Presentation by Jonathan McIntosh
- ONE – Museum of Science & Industry, ARC Gallery & IMAX Dome Theatre, Tampa, Fl
- 5X: An Open Installation/Collaboration – UCSB, Old Gym Gallery, Santa Barbara, Ca
- Over the River and Through the Woods – University of California, Santa Barbara, Art Museum Exterior, Santa Barbara, Ca
- Another Year, Another Fire – UCSB, Old Gym Gallery, Santa Barbara, Ca
- Political Remix Video: Transforming Mass Media, remix coverage by Elisa Kreisinger
- "Dry-Immersion Symposium I & II,” Mapping the Desert, Deserting the Map, a collaborative event organized through UCSB, UCR Sweeny Art Gallery, and UCIRA's Social Ecologies: California-centric Embedded Arts Research Program, various locations within the Mojave Desert, Ca

Special Thanks (Alphabetically):

I would like to thank the following individuals for their direct contributions and/or assistance to helping my work be realized that is on exhibit for the First-Year Review: Alejandro Casazi, Colin Gardner, Daniel Walsh, Daniel Zimmie, Daniela Campins, Dick Hebdige, Diego Auchstetter and his assistant, Diran Lyons, Elisa Kreisinger, Iona Braga, Irene Yen, J. R. Valenzuela, Jennifer Laun, Joel Sherman and the mStudio assistants, Jonathan McIntosh, Karen Spector, Ken Yokota, Kim Yasuda, Laurel Beckman, Lauren Norby, Lisa Jevbratt. Lori Hedges, Marko Peljhan, Masha Lifshin, Michael Schmitt, Nikki Leone, Patrick Melroy, Rollin Fortier, Shane Shukis, Trela Cowan, Troy Small, Tyler Stallings, Victor D'Alessando, and Yumi Kinoshita

RECEPTION IMAGES

Political Remix Video featured my work and shared the UCSB hardships I've experienced

2010-02-15T20:56:00.000-08:00

Political Remix Video has featured a review and discussion regarding two of my remixes, World Water Shortage vs. Golf Course Consumption & UCSB Internet Ban Due to Alleged DMCA Violation.The website is hosted by Jonathan McIntosh and Elisa Kreisinger. I recently met Jonathan at Gallery 25 in Fresno, CA and hope to meet Elisa soon at a venue in L.A. CA nearing the end of March (details on the venue to come at a later date). I encourage anyone interested in video remix to check out their sites, either directly through this post or through the archive of my favorite links to the left.

COMING SOON!!!

2010-02-14T15:55:00.000-08:00

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FACEBOOK EVENT: CLICK HERE

My Students have a show tonight!

2010-02-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

[click to enlarge]

http://home.umail.ucsb.edu/~dalessandro/7dw10/

My involvements this weekend: Gallery 25 (Fresno, CA) & Arc Gallery/IMAX (Tampa, FL)

2010-01-29T18:06:00.000-08:00

This event, through the Museum of Science & Industry, will contain a multimedia exhibition that explores the concept of "one" by artists and researchers in visual studies. The exhibition will be held in the Arc Gallery, as well as a video extension portion will be exhibited through the IMAX Dome Theater. Reception is TONIGHT, January 29th, 2010 starting at 7PM. Works will be on display through February 26th, 2010. For more information, see the Facebook events page HERE.

[Excerpted from Diran Lyon's Blog] The above radio interviews with Diran Lyons cover two exhibition items that will be on view at Gallery 25 this weekend: the Fresno premiere of Goodbye Victoria and an installation of photographs and videos on health care reform, headed by PICO National Network's Seth and Hannah Gravette. Goodbye Victoria will screen on Friday, January 29th, in the evening from 6-8. (Locals are advised that seating is limited, so bring chairs). The PICO National Network installation of photographs and videos will be open to the public on Saturday, January 30th, from noon until 4.

The second part of the interview is a discussion regarding Political Remix Video and Nietzsche's view of art as an instrument which employs lying (aesthetic deception) in order to evoke deductions on larger issues. The interview also provides a sneak peak at some of the artists' work that will be included in the PRV program, the third event to be hosted at the gallery this weekend. The PRV program will start at 4:30 on January 30th, after a brief break at the conclusion of the PICO National Network segment.

Jonathan McIntosh will on hand to present his work and be present at the Q & A panel directly following the PRV screening. I will also participate in this Q & A panel alongside Diran Lyons (the Gallery 25 President who organized these events).

The entire weekend program will re-run on Sunday, January 31st, from noon until 4.

UCSB: ECO-ART PROJECT

2010-01-25T08:19:00.001-08:00

(ABBREVIATED) The UCSB: ECO-ART PROJECT entails inviting UCSB students and faculty to submit artistic works generated from eco-conscious materials and methodologies–documentaries, music, photos, sculptures, installations, writings, inventions, performances/services, etc–to a collective archive that will illustrate how UCSB is an environmentally-conscious and sensitive campus. Showcasing these submissions will aim to inspire and educate the campus and community through an exhibition, online publication, and limited-edition multimedia catalog fabricated from eco-conscious materials. This proposal specifically requests funding to make such a catalog a reality.

Under the departmental guidance of the UCSB Art Department and the College of Creative Studies, this project aims to unite the support of the The Green Initiative Fund(TGIF), multiple organizations from the Ecological Coalition, and the Student-Based Creative Exchange(SBCE) group, to facilitate diverse interdisciplinary collaboration on creative projects and sustainable endeavors. In addition to the financial support from TGIF, this project will recruit resources from the collaborative grant submitted to the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (pending) which unites the UCSB Department of Art and the History of Art and Architecture Department. Specifically involving the theme of morality and the ethical role of visual arts, it seems fitting to coalesce in an effort to spread awareness and reduce the campus' impact on the environment: in essence, generate art and awareness rather than waste and negligence regarding the responsibility we owe our planet. UCSB: ECO-ART PROJECT will foster active cross-pollination with these multiple organizations and departments (that currently exist as nebulous forces) in an advantageous hybridization that will magnify productivity and amplify resources.

This project will be realized through the volunteer labor of the students, faculty, organizations, and departments involved. Very few materials generated from this project will be wasteful, as our intention with UCSB: ECO-ART PROJECT is just the opposite! We request funding primarily for the limited-edition catalog which will call for 100 slim DVD cases (fabricated using less plastic than traditional cases), 100 lightscribed DVDs (paperless-label making), and 100 DVD catalog inserts (printed in vegetable oil-based ink on recycled paper). To manufacture the eco-friendly catalogs, we have already been in contact with Ecoprint: A printing company that is 100%wind-powered and carbon neutral. Lastly, because these are limited-edition products, the intention of a collector would be to archive and respect the work, not discard or dispose of it.

Amount Requested: $1,500.

SCRAP MATTERS: READING THE DESERT

2010-01-23T17:51:00.000-08:00

[click to enlarge]

SCRAP MATTER: READING THE DESERT

Many conflicting definitions exist for the word ‘desert.’ All of them are potentially accessible through SCRAP MATTER: READING THE DESERT, in which the lexicon of human language has been thrown–literally–to the four (desert) winds. D'Alessandro's project consists of an inventory/archive of deteriorated texts discovered during exploratory rambles in the immediate vicinity of the Woilmer Road rental property in Wonder Valley. The found familiar residue have been transformed by the desert ecology and turned skeletal through excessive exposure to heat and light that has rendered them unfamiliar, anomalous and strange: the ghosts in the machine of the desert. These materials collected exist as an inventory of offerings issued by the desert, as if the desert had consciousness and had ‘spoken’ in sentences corresponding to the syntax of one's trajectory through a largely trackless terrain. The papers collected were caught in desert brush, suspended much-like a filter or screen that snags the elements that spin off the edges of the particular lives and outposts contained within it. The arbitrary pages torn from random books, half-filled out forms, newspaper ads, and other paper samplings are transformed through the archeology of this archive into a geo(ethno)graphic testimony: a ‘statement’ from the dry mouth of Wonder Valley.

Enlargements will be exhibited in a gallery setting as well as disseminated via a variety of web-based platforms. This encapsulating digitization of the found artifacts suspends their continued deterioration and solitude and re-presents them essentially rejuvenated, immortalized, and publically accessible. The displacement and mutual exchange that is happening within this work, between D'Alessandro being immersed in the desert and then re-immersing desert artifacts into the community and public realm, creates a cross-pollination effect that is poetic, generative, and fosters new explorations in experimental action research as a form of navigation and transformation.

This will be a collaborate effort lead by Desiree D'Alessandro (UCSB MFA major) with the assistance of J. R. Valenzuela (UCLA MFA major) and Brett Stalbaum (UCSD Research theorist & WalkingTools.net developer).

Amount Requested: $600.00

5X: Open Installation/Collaboration | Old Gym Gallery | 1.19.2010

2010-01-18T13:33:00.000-08:00

Come and join in on the fun with my and my SBCE comrades!

Conceptual Distraction Submission

2010-01-18T12:13:00.000-08:00

I heard word of the Conceptual Distraction call for proposals and thought I would show my support as a University of South Florida alumna.

[1] --- First is a remix which can be viewed here:

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

Title: World Water Shortage vs. Golf Course Consumption HD
Dimensions: 1280 x 720; 3:12
Description: As part of the Political Remix Video genre that postures itself as Fair-Use in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this remix investigates California as one of the leading golf course-congested states in the US and utilizes clips appropriated from scientists, politicians, news broadcastings, and popular media to explore and expose how corporations are maneuvering to convert this critical world resource into a profitable commodity. California's 1,137 public and private golf courses consume massive amounts of water and contribute to the continued depletion of water reserves. Additionally, there are over 32,000 golf courses worldwide and over 17,000 in the US. Reports from UN estimate that golf courses consume a staggering 2.5 billion gallons of water daily.

[2] --- Next, is a set of magazine excerpts presented as found objects.

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Dimensions: Each is 15" x 21"
Title: Excerpts from Golf Digest: Jan 2010
Description: This small collection of excerpts from the January 2010 issue of Golf Digest documents Tiger Woods on the magazine cover, a full page ad, and a brief featured interview. The magazine was printed in mid-November, well before the Tiger Woods' sex scandals involving multiple affairs were exposed. These retrospective excerpts are being presented as found objects given the awkward contemporary recontextualization.

IHC Oil + Water Application

2010-01-18T11:48:00.000-08:00

Alas, I have been productive. While committing to some applications/submissions and abandoning others, below I have outlined some of the materials I have submitted thus far:

OIL + WATER: The Case of Southern California
Call for Papers & Conference

[click to view larger]

The abstract was generated in response to IHC's call for papers & conferencing. Interpreting the prospective from a creative vantage point, my abstract proposes a collaborative presentation with seasoned remix artist and UCSB alumnus Diran Lyons. For further details, see the image above.

CV Excerpts:

DESIREE D'ALESSANDRO:

Desiree D'Alessandro's interdisciplinary works often encourage interactivity and collaboration while exploring the elusive properties that are inherent to art, memory, and experience. Viewers are invited to explore and contemplate elusion in their engagement with her artworks, and by extension, their engagement with life. She expresses communication as essential to her process and product, as she invites the public to participate in provoked dialogue and critical inquiry with other viewers, participants, contributors and/or collaborators. This dynamic relationship between the individual and the social reflects how D'Alessandro approaches art as a subject of study—as a comprehensive sphere of activity that is integral to questioning, exploring, and understanding the world.

D'Alessandro is an emerging artist from Tampa, Florida who currently resides in Santa Barbara, California. She has recently been admitted to the Department of Art as a graduate student with the academic support of an honorary Graduate Division Regents Special Fellowship. She has recently exhibited works at the Brevard Art Museum in Melbourne, Fl; Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Fl; and the Contemporary Art Museum and the Tampa Museum of Art in Tampa, Fl. Beyond having her works exhibited in museums, her works have also been exhibited at various universities across the nation such as the University of California, Santa Barbara; University of South Florida, Tampa; and Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Il. Additionally, her works have been screened at venues such as the Victoria Independent Film & Video Festival, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Version 8 Festival 08, Chicago, IL; and the Festival of the Moving Image, Tampa, Fl.

DIRAN LYONS

Heavily conceptual with exacting craft and edgy content, Diran Lyons’ art practice employs disparate strategies and media according to the dynamics of a particular project, including painting, drawing, video and photography, stationary and kinetic sculpture, indoor and outdoor installation, and performance. Lyons was a Regents Fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara, securing a Master of Fine Art in Painting and New Genres.

Lyons currently lives and works in Clovis, California, exhibiting different bodies of artwork nationally and internationally. His Political Remix Video artworks toured with The Audacity of Desperation exhibition, helped launch RemixAmerica.Org, screened at Open Video Conference at New York University, and were discussed by artist/curator Jonathan McIntosh at Ars Electronica 2008 in Linz, Austria as part of the New Cultural Economy Symposium. His participation in notable film festivals and video exhibitions includes WPA\C’s After Effects at Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Antimatter Underground Film Festival in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Xperimental 5 Film Festival at Pantheon Gallery in Nicosia, Cyprus; The Streaming Festival {The Hague} sponsored by Mediamatic Cultural Institution of Amsterdam; New York International Independent Film and Video Festival, Village East Cinema, New York, NY; International Film Festival no. 10/2007 at the Museum of New Art in Detroit, MI; Pacific Edge Film Festival at UC Davis, CA; Ace Film Festival, Broad Street Ballroom, New York, NY; Synthetic Zero in The Bronx, NY; the Ybor Festival of the Moving Image in Tampa, FL; amongst others. Lyons’ 2009 feature length narrative film, Goodbye Victoria, won the “Best Feature Film” award at the Chashama Film Festival in Manhattan and was honored as one of ten films included in the Streaming Festival highlight features program.

Lyons’ 2006 solo museum exhibition, ENGULFED, at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art in Largo, FL advanced Friedrich Nietzsche’s notion of the aesthetic object as a ‘Creative Lie’ which in turn reveals greater truths. The exhibit consisted of six works tailored to appear and announced as a group show that homogenized internationally recognized artists who engage contemporary theories of the sublime. The artworks therein, produced by Lyons himself, were original and hitherto unseen by the public but attributed to and labeled with the names of the artists fictitiously included in the exhibit to create an aesthetic environment imbued with illusion.

MLK 1929 - 1968

2010-01-18T11:44:00.000-08:00

This makes me want to recontexualize this quote in application to DMCA & Copyright law.

Caleb Larson - Monument

2010-01-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

Monument (2006, 3MB, 1:53 min)

Monument, a computer program continuously scans the headlines
of 4,500 English-language news sources around the world, looking
for people who have been reported killed. Each time it finds an article,
an algorithm determines the number of deaths, and instructs a ceiling-
mounted mechanism built from Legos to drop one yellow BB per person.

David Bowie concurs with Nietzsche's Übermensch philosophy

2010-01-10T16:36:00.000-08:00

"I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human.
I felt very puny as a human. I thought,
"Fuck that. I want to be a superhuman."
-David Bowie

Recent Cathartic Remix

2010-01-03T19:30:00.000-08:00

My reaction to UCSB banning my internet for 30 days, as is their policy for a first time DMCA violation offense.

Art 7D website is up!

2010-01-02T19:28:00.000-08:00

I finished constructing a site for the UCSB course I am TAing this winter quarter under the instruction of Lisa Jevbratt:

Art 7D: Introduction to Contemporary Practices III: Art, Science, & Technology

Click HERE to view the site, which is still under construction and will updated periodically throughout the quarter. Check back frequently as i will feature student projects and writing responses.

Sequins, Heels, and Tiaras: Examining Deleuze and Guattari, Bakhtin, and Nietzsche Through an Alternative Lens

2010-01-01T16:48:00.000-08:00

Here is a LINK to the full paper I submitted for Colin Gardner's Graduate Theory Seminar, Formalism: From Shklovsky to Postmodernism. Fall 2009.
Final Grade: A

Poems by Robert Frost

2009-12-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

*****

The Road Not Taken [Less Traveled]

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

First Annual World Fair Use Day

2009-12-26T17:17:00.000-08:00

Recent Video remix that utilizes film footage from The Ten Commandments (1956), offering an alternative perspective on Moses as the Messiah of Fair Use. This work also exists as an avocation and trailer for Public Knowledge's First Annual World's Fair Use Day held in Washington, DC on 1.12.10. For more information, see: http://worldsfairuseday.org

Project in Progress

2009-12-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

Recent Video remix utilizes film footage from The Ten Commandments (1956), offering an alternative perspective on Moses as the Messiah of Fair Use.

Moses: Who am I, Lord, that you should send me? How can I lead this people? What words can I speak that they will heed?
Lord: I will teach thee what thou wilt say . . . I will put my laws into their hearts.
***FAIR USE!!!!***

Details to come.