PERSONALDEBRIS  

“The Unstoppable Hum” by Sabrina Raaf

so rumor has it that this year’s Artbots exhibition was the best ever. well, i can certainly testify to the high caliber of work present. it was an impressive show!

but lately i’ve been thinking about this project presented by Sabrina Raaf during her talk at D.A.T.A. 22.0 (check under events for more info) - “The Unstoppable Hum.”

being a person captivated by the multitude, and the incessant cycling of human-generated patterns and processes, i just loved this piece. sabrina’s grower, at Artbots was pretty rad too, but for some reason “the Unstoppable Hum” keeps wandering into my thoughts. i love how the work is suggestive the indefatigable march of “Progress” (with a capital P) through sourcing various channels of electronic activity, yet at the same time creates an experience which (i imagine) suspends and distills the incessant chattering of background noise into a singular moment, pregnant with possibility.

jonah and i are heading back to new york today. we’re in dublin airport waiting to board our flight. going through U.S. customs and immigration i saw something i haven’t seen in an Irish airport before - one of the U.S. customs offcials is Asian-American!

yeah, it’s really not such a big deal, but after all the ignorant B.S. i experienced while living in dublin it makes me proud that the the first face some Irish people see as they officially enter into the United States will be an Asian one - with an American accent!

reminds me of when i had a conversation with this one guy out in Dubs who told me (in regards to being Asian-American) “I knew your kind existed,” he said “But I’ve never actually met one of you before.” Heh… but seriously, it makes me happy when the multi-racial reality of my country is represented, even in ways as small as this.

back in dublin. arrived yesterday and had an intense day adjusting to the time change as well as gathering materials for the midi scrapyard challenge. the artbots exhibition is so cool! so many great projects and the artists are even more interesting.

never thought i’d write this here, but i’m loving dublin right now. it is different when you return to a place for a short visit… and there are so many familiar faces, friends very dear to us that we haven’t seen in a long time. tomorrow we start the exhibition and workshop bright and early at 10:30am for a gaggle of kids (normal hours are from 12 - 6.) it’s going to be a long day…

by the way, dublin has been invaded by robots! if you’re in town you’ve already heard about the call to save the robots!

jonah and i will be in dublin next week for artbots. we’re going to do a midi scrapyard challenge. check out the artbots press release.

I’ve been listening to the Thrills, the most recent Irish pop sensation to take on the U.S. I guess it’s only fitting though, that their sound is pure California, influenced by a summer spent in, of all places, San Diego. I suppose they’re the perfect answer to these curious waves of sentimentality I’ve been feeling since leaving Dublin. I kind of knew it would happen eventually, even if I can say that coming back to the United States has been a relief at the day-to-day level.

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went to dinner with some friends visiting dublin from the UK and the USA. on our way out of the restaurant the diners downstairs (we were seated on the top level) stared as we all passed by, heads craned unmistakably around, all good manners forgotten. what could be the source of such interest? the fact that five of the eight diners (in our party) were asian?

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got back into dublin late night. cab drivers in dublin crack me up. there were four of us sharing a cab, with three stops. at the second stop our italian friend got out and as we were pulling away from her apartment building the driver said “she’s foreign, isn’t she?” in the back seat we exchanged glances and rolled our eyes.

“i belive she’s italian,” i responded “but hey, we’re foreign too!” my tone was lighthearted, but also gently probing, curious to see how far the limits of his ignorance stretched.

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gotta love ireland… today biking home i hand signal and slow down for a right turn. the guy behind me on his bicycle passes by and says just loundly enough for me to hear: “dumb chinese”… what the [*($#@] is wrong with these people? somebody needs to start a shame campaign…

and too bad too, since recent travels to galway and the aran islands were so great. but that’s the ireland that’s sold to tourists. the reality… lots of ignorance.

racism is a hot topic of discussion in irish news. maybe because there is so much of it…

Irish President Praises Chinese and Condemns Racism

At ten thousand strong, the Chinese population is the largest and longest established ethnic minority in Northern Ireland.

In recent years it has been increasingly vulnerable to racist attacks particularly in Loyalist areas of Belfast.

Earlier this year it was claimed that 40 Chinese families had to flee from south Belfast because of harassment from paramilitaries.

yeah, remember this guardian article, which detailed some of the vicious harassement people of color have recieved in the north. makes dublin look like a picnic!

(start sarcasm) i’m only verbally abused, at least. (end sarcasm)

so as june 11th approaches more news about the proposed citizenship referendum appears… and again, though i’m pretty neutral on the subject i detest the language of hysteria and xenophobia that i percieve regarding the horde of “economic migrants” and “citizenship tourists” that are abusing the irish citizenship laws. puh-leeze… pretty ironic in light of this article i found recently, urging president bush to do more for undocumented irish immigrants in the united states! can you believe it? oh the hypocrisy!! - do you think those undocumented irish might be “economic migrants” of the same type that are so reviled here? (more…)