Kali Tal

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September 27, 2006

Dropping Knowledge -- Dropping The Ball

There was a tremendous amount of press about a recent event in Berlin called "The Table of Free Voices," hosted by Dropping Knowledge last month. This table featured over a hundred notables answering "the most important questions" facing the world today. It was certainly an interesting group of people, spanning the spectrum from shamans, to musicians, to scientists, to theologians, to NGO workers, and I'd have to say that representation was truly global — a rarity even in organizations that claim to be widely diverse.

I wound up at the dinner the day after the event in a sideways sort of fashion: my boyfriend's mother was one of the "Voices," we live in Berlin, and so Yaro and I went as guests. Because it's a small world, I ran into a couple of people I know there (other "Voices") and it was quite pleasant. The participants seemed to enjoy themselves and to feel that the "Table of Free Voices" had been quite a successful event. Coincidentally, another friend and colleague wrote to me a couple of weeks later asking if I'd attended, and saying he was going to be participating in the Dropping Knowledge web site discussion. I hadn't known about the web site, and so I went to check it out. It was a serious disappointment.

The site is pretty techno-spiffy if you have a fast connection and up-to-date hardware and software. There is a nifty graphics function that allows you to surf through the "topics" and sift down to the particular questions that were asked over the past months, and out of which the "100 most important questions" were chosen. For a visitor, however, the information is both overwhelming (in the sense that there are thousands and thousands of questions and answers) and disappointingly sparse (very few questions are well thought out, and almost none of them are answered in anything more than a superficial fashion).

The project is swaddled in the kind of rhetoric about the "unprecedented democratizing power of the internet" that seemed so exciting in the mid-1990s, but the process by which "knowledge" is "dropped" is of questionable utility and it is hard to see its potential for human improvement or liberation, or its practical application to social justice causes.

The categorization system is arbitrary and sometimes downright foolish: "Animal Rights" is a top level category, as is "Gender," but "Racism" isn't a category header at all and seems to be scattered and buried under various sub-headings in "Ethniticy & Culture," and "Justice and Civil Rights." Likewise, there is no entry-level category header for "Education," while "Democracy and Freedom" floats right at the top. While ideological bias may be unintended (and is certainly unacknowledged), it nonetheless is embedded in the structure of knowledge presented to the public.

Practically speaking, the forum is also disappointing. To follow a discussion, you have to keep coming back and checking in to each Q&A, without any system of notification when a new answer has been posted — a courtesy we've come to expect even from old-fashioned web-based bulletin boards. Furthermore, variations on the same question are asked again and again in different sub-sections, and so the answers ("knowledge") are scattered to the winds, and can be harvested only if you are a diligent, informed, a patient user of keywords, and willing to scroll through the often incoherent questions and comments that surround the very limited collection of useful answers.

The biggest problem, though, is the pedagogical model on which "Dropping Knowledge" is based. It's elitist education at its worst: the money comes from corporate and individual sponsors (i.e., the rich — however well-meaning they may be). The participants are picked on the basis of either name-recognition (how famous or "interesting" they are), or on cronyism ("I know a person who would be great for this...") at a first or second remove. The presumption is that the public can ask (carefully filtered) questions, which the "important" people can answer for them; hardly a liberatory paradigm of education and one that Freire, for example, would despise.

I felt, walking around the enormous dinner "round-table", and talking to participants, that they had all really enjoyed themselves, and enjoyed each other's company. This isn't a bad thing if we're talking about a dinner party, and multi-million dollar parties aren't that uncommon among the super-rich. The celebrities were enjoying themselves because they had the opportunity to meet "interesting" people without being inundated by press or autograph hounds, while the "interesting" people got to meet and talk to celebrities they'd always admired. Both groups got to feel like they were doing this for "a good cause." This is how the rich and famous mingle, but it bothers me when such socializing is couched in the language of leftist politics and progressive causes, and when the public is told that they will benefit from such mingling.

Given the quality of the answers (transcribed from the videotaped event) to the "100 questions," I have to wonder what might have resulted if a requirement for participating in the Table of Free Voices had been to think rigorously and answer even a fraction of the questions in a prepared, concrete, and truly useful fashion. I believe that at least some of Voices would have agreed to that request (and some may well have been glad of it). The fault lies not with the participants in these situations, but with the event organizers. Perhaps they were afraid to scare their celebrities away with requests that went beyond simple appearance and lending their names to the project. In any case, the Q&A format was seriously flawed and resulted in the production of nothing more than sound-bytes and feel-goodism, the simplification of inherently complex questions, and the impression that progressives are very, very sloppy thinkers.

Educating the public is a lot of work. The biggest challenge is not producing content (there is more good content out there than we could ever utilize). There are two central challenges: 1) People must be convinced that the pursuit of education is in their interest, and that it is an essential part of building free and humane societies. 2) People must feel an investment in, and a responsibility for their own educational process; a goal that cannot be achieved without building educational systems that truly serve the whole population, rather than serving the middle- and upper-classes.

Top-down education is often oppressive (and can replicate and reinforce repressive social structures). In the West, the top-down model has met the consumer model. When kids don't see a connection between their education and their "real life," they cut classes, drop out, and avoid school work as much as possible. That's why we have truancy and compulsory schooling laws. Adults often don't have to continue their education and often Western cultures encourage them by making education "fun." But too often, "fun" means that education isn't rigorous, doesn't encourage people to think deeply, and avoids anything smacking of critical thinking because critique can be uncomfortable and even painful. Consumers will avoid products that make them feel uncomfortable or inadequate.

Dropping Knowledge seems to buy, without question, into a consumer model of top-down education and is careful to make both its questions and its answers vacuous enough to be inoffensive (and also, uncoincidentally, ineffective). Although the group of participants was diverse in terms of race, nation of origin, gender, ethnicity and sexuality, it did not appear to be diverse in terms of class. It was a distinctly upper- and middle-class group, and — by the answers they gave — very out-of-touch with the concerns of working people and the poor, with some notable individual exceptions. The classes that were represented are specifically those to whom top-down educational models most appeal, and who have a vested interest in believing that they are the possessors and potential bestowers of knowledge.

The problem is a lot more obvious if we turn the Dropping Knowledge model on its head. What if a group of powerful and influential celebrities were invited to ask questions of a large and diverse group of grass-roots and indigenous community workers, and to listen respectfully as they answered at length in their own idiom? What if they were charged with turning their wealth and power to serving those communities without being in charge, without being "authorities," and without being asked for their opinions on the topic? It's a bit hard to imagine, isn't it? The idea that those with the money and the fame should dictate answers to the "nobodies" has been thoroughly naturalized in Western cultures (and Dropping Knowledge certainly springs from Western roots — European and U.S.).

I am struck by the difference between the methods and the results of Dropping Knowledge and an organization like Tostan, described recently by gUaVa jAm in her blog. Through community-based education, TOSTAN managed, in a period of about three years, to allow women in Senegal to take charge of their education, and to educate themselves and each other about their bodies and health. The women responded by building an indigenous movement to eradicate female genital mutiiation in Senegal — an organization effort so successful that it's believed that in a year or two the practice will have almost entirely ceased throughout the country.

Like Dropping Knowledge, Tostan relies on donations. Unlike them, they don't throw fancy dinner parties where famous men and women can come and praise each other. Nor do they have a fancy web site or, as far as I can find, a web site at all. What they do have is people on the ground, working to empower communities by providing free education and information to those who need it and want it.

Some might say that there's room for both organizations like Dropping Knowledge and like Tostan, but I don't think so. It seems pretty clear to me that there's a limited amount of progressive money out there, and events like The Table of Free Voices suck money out of the pool for the gratification of people who really don't need another fancy dinner or the wonderful free Robbie Conal posters and shirts that were available to all participants. (And yes, I have both the shirts and the posters. I think Conal is a great political artist and you wouldn't believe how expensive t-shirts are in Germany, where they tax the hell out of imports from countries they think don't have fair labor practices.)

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September 23, 2006

Sometimes You Have To Go Backwards To Go Forwards

I finished the piano today. I just need to give it a couple more coats of polyurethane to protect the surface. Finishing wasn't easy. I thought I was going to complete the piece yesterday, but I wound up having to go backwards in order to go forwards. Maybe this has happened to you...

As you saw last, the piano looked pretty finished, with the black spiral paper in the upper "frame" with the collage, and in the lower inset panel, near where the pianist's legs would be. The keyboard cover and sides had those square silver rippled paper tiles, with the photos of jazz musicians, on its surface. Since a picture is worth 1000 words, it looked like this:

So... I took a lovely coffee-table book of color and black-and-white photos of American popular musicians (1930s-1960s) and cut out these absolutely fabulous figures; everyone ranging from Ella to Judy Garland. Then I interspersed the figures with the square tiles on the keyboard cover. It did break up the squareness, but I didn't like the mix of color and black and white. And, in the meantime, I also collaged the bottom dark panel with large figures to make a design I did like. But what to do about the keyboard cover? I thought about it for a while and decided I'd hand paint over all the photos, turning them into black, white and grey. So I did. And individually, each figure looked great. But when I stepped back from the piano (and, no, I don't have a photo, I'm sorry... I was too busy freaking out) it was... a nightmare. Busy, busy, busy. And nothing hung together. I didn't like it, not one bit. And if that wasn't enough, I could feel the gallery owner walking around and being very kind and not saying much, but hating it as much as I did. That was at about seven o'clock last night.

I did what I had to do: I tore all those square tiles off of the keyboard cover, just like I should have done when they first bothered me. And then I tore off all the newly collaged and painted paper from the keyboard cover and from the bottom panel. This destroyed not only the collage but the dark spiraled paper on the whole bottom panel. The process also didn't do pretty things to the keyboard cover, which, in addition to being over-collaged, had also been painted in many spots with silver and pearlescent paint (part of my doomed attempt to "tie things together"). Shreds of paper were flying through the air and I wound up scrubbing at glue (and tearing more of the sheet music) for a couple of hours.

When things like this happen I just tell myself: it's part of the artistic process. Go forward, fall back, go forward again, and keep at it until you get it right. I was there until almost midnight last night, and back again today for another six hours of work. Now it's right:

I think that the piano looks best when viewed from an angle so that one can see all its features combined, including the three-dimensional effect that the hands create when they extend from the center collage panel.

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September 21, 2006

Piano Update No. 3

I finally remembered to bring my camera to the gallery yesterday. What you'll see today are the before and after photos of a day's work (a very long day). I did forget to take a photo that bridges the unpainted but papered piano of Update No. 2, and the first picture in this entry, which has both steel paint and the Thelonius Monk and Josephine Baker cut-outs. You'll also notice the spiral-designed paper in the "frame" on the bottom of the piano: it's really beautiful and soft, almost like cloth rather than traditional paper.

And here are close-ups of the Monk and Baker cut-outs:

When I came to work yesterday I had an image of what I was going to do. I woke up with it, as so often happens. I don't remember if I had a dream about it or not, but my fingers knew where they were going and I spent about seven hours completely zoned out while working, listening to music and covering myself in paint and glue. This is the result:

This is a detail of the collage in the center. It came together beautifully out of a seemingly random collection of postcards, costume jewelry and a pair of Balinese carved hands I found at a shop around the corner from Gallery 24. (The figures on the top of the piano, in silver and copper, are from the same shop.)

As you can see, the project is nearing completion, but it still needs a couple of elements to tie it together. I'll be doing some drawing on it with metallic paint markers, and I'll be gluing some costume jewelry and more collaged images. I'm thinking of working with more glitter as well, but we'll see. Right now the whole piano sparkles wonderfully from the glitter lined edging, and gives the feeling of sparkling lights when one moves around it.

It's by far the biggest project I've undertaken as an artist, but I think it's going really well and I'd like to do more large-scale work in the future, including custom work on furniture. We'll see what happens at the Assemblage Exhibition in terms of making contact with possible future clients.

Probably there'll only be one more set of photos, when it is completely done. I hope you've enjoyed the "tour", though.

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September 16, 2006

A day at the lake

For the first time this summer we managed to get out of the city and into the water. It was Yaro's birthday, so we went out to a lake with a couple of friends and spent the afternoon being rowed around, swimming, and eating homemade bento boxes and turkey sandwiches. It was a little taste of heaven and a break from being covered in glue and paint while working on the piano. (I took photos of the piano yesterday, but they didn't come out, so no more of those until Sunday.) Not much of consequence to photograph on this trip, but there was this hilarious pig at a restaurant near the lake:

The swans on the lake were quite bold, and this showy fellow let me snap a good picture.

It was a luxury to take a day off and just relax in the sun and, since this is Berlin, it was a good idea because the long, dark, cold days are coming soon. I only wish we'd done it more often and, of course, we swore we would do it regularly next summer — but, we probably won't. I don't know about you folks, but Yaro and I are both workaholics and usually need to be pried away from our latest projects.

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September 15, 2006

Piano Update

I promised an update on the piano collage project along with some photos. The piano belongs to the owner of Gallery 24 in Berlin, Pablo. I'd had some pieces accepted for the International Exhibition of Assemblage Artists, to be held there from the end of September through October, and I dropped by just to see what the space looked like. It's huge — six large gallery spaces — and in the spacious front room there was an elderly, water damaged piano hiding in the corner. During my conversation with Pablo, the piano came up; we had similar visions about how it could be turned into a playable art piece and I offered to do the job. Along with the small pieces I managed to bring from the States, it'll be a large-scale entry into the Exhibition, which does give out prizes and awards. You can see the piano in its (almost) original state:

I completely forgot to take a real "before" picture, but this is close. All that I'd done when I took the photo was to rough up the surface so that the glue would hold and to spackle some of the more obvious holes. The water damage was particularly difficult to patch and required some serious application of sander, tiny nails and lots of wood putty, but now it's nice and square.

We'd agreed on a sheet music theme as a base for the rest of the piece, and through coincidence I found a massive stack of piano music on sale at the local remainder bookstore for 1.99 Euro a book. I chose a combination of Italian traditional songs and African American spirituals and ragtime for the sheet music layer and cut the sheet music into "tiles" approximately 1.5" x 6". Then I layered the paper tiles on the piano in a way that would emphasize the piano's curves and lines. I wanted it to look inviting and playable, and to have a sort of overstuffed-parlor-furniture feel. So far, I think it's working:

This morning I'm cutting the rest of the tiles for the sides of the piano. After I glue those, I'll start the base work on the still-dark inset panels. I am currently leaning towards making the panels look like steel, in order to contrast the softness of the areas with the sheet musing tiling. We will see, however. I tend to react to the piece as I create it, and often things don't end up the way I first think they will.

More on the piano as it progresses....

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September 13, 2006

Posters, posters, posters

I just finished putting a dozen new posters onto the CafePress site. There are beautiful flowers:

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September 9, 2006

Kali's Most Recent Incarnation

I've been keeping my head down on the Internet for the last six or seven years, and for some of my friends and colleagues, it may seem like I completely dropped off the map. The chief reason for my submersion has been ongoing health difficulties caused by fibromyalgia, exacerbated by career burn-out.

I am now, however, much happier and healthier. In October of 2005 I made the decision to leave the U.S. permanently, and relocate to Berlin. I also made a huge career change: after being an academic for almost a quarter of a century, I am now a full-time artist. These may have been the best decisions I've ever made in my life, since for the first time I can remember I feel content, and I am also on the road to better health. Those who knew me when I was living and working at a frenetic pace will understand the import of this change. Making it as an artist is a challenge, but I am doing work that I love at a pace that I can handle.

Unfortunately, my long illness and general exhaustion caused me to fall out of touch with people I value deeply, or, if I stayed in touch, to do so only occasionally. Now that I am able, I would very much like to re-establish contact with friends, students, and colleagues, and hope you will accept the explanation and an apology.

I would very much enjoy hearing from you and learning about your life since we were last in touch. Please feel free to comment in the blog, or to email me directly at kali@kalital.com. I promise to write back. You can also find me or my writing/photography/artwork at the following URLs:

• http://www.kalital.com (scholarly writing)


• http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalital/ (my photos from the last year)


• http://kalital.etsy.com (original artwork for sale)


• http://www.reconnaissanceart.com (original artwork portfolio, pre-2006)


• http://www.cafepress.com/reconart (CafePress shop featuring my photography)


• http://www.myspace.com/kalital (my personal blog spot and internet hang-out)

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September 8, 2006

Branching Out In New Directions

Those who have followed my career trajectory will have noticed that I haven't done any scholarly publishing recently. The reason for this is that two years ago I decided to become a full-time artist and to support myself through my artistic vision rather than through my teaching or writing. As you may guess, that isn't easy to do, but it's what I feel is right for me. I have two shops open on the web. The first specializes in my original artwork and is located at Etsy.com, a venue for folk artists. The second is dedicated to showcasing my photography (often digitally enhanced or hand-painted and rescanned images) and can be found at CafePress.com.

Since moving to Berlin (did I mention I've moved to Berlin?) last October, I've been increasingly productive as an artist and I'm looking forward to my first solo show towards the beginning of the New Year. There will be more news on that as it develops.

Friends and colleagues who like my work and wish to support my artistic efforts can help by linking to my CafePress and Etsy sites on their own web pages or blogs. The more links, the more traffic comes my way, and of course I'd like as many people as possible to see my art.

I know I have sorely neglected this site. For quite a while a combination of retreating into my studio and a certain amount of ill health contributed to the problem. But now that I am on the computer more often (promoting and marketing require hours of work each day), I promise to be better about updating.

I welcome comments and constructive critique both on my work and its presentation to the public.

Peace.

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