Author: Kbaumlier

Kristen Baumlier’s work spans the full spectrum of interdisciplinary media, including performance, interactive installation, video and audio works.
Little Raleigh Radio –  Low Power FM with Big Plans

Little Raleigh Radio – Low Power FM with Big Plans

I recently attended a talk by the Kelly Reid and Jacob Downey, the team behind Little Raleigh Radio, a low power FM community radio station that has recently gotten up and running in Raleigh, NC. The station recently began broadcasting online from 4-8 pm each day.  Eventually, the plan is to broadcast on the FM dial, once the station hears back from the FCC about when the construction permit for an LPFM transmitter on frequency 106.5 will be granted.

I found the talk to be inspirational, in that Reid and Downey started out by talking about the hidden challenges of starting a project like making a community local radio station.  When they talked about the infinite to do list, and trying to balance the project, life, and work I could identify with these challenges in my current work in developing my project Food Font (which is about 70% there now.)

After the challenges, they talked about hidden resources, and about all the volunteers and community members who have showed up at just the right time.  They showed images of an installation they did of the radio name written in a microphone cord in the window of Design Box, an image of the free used radio sound board they got from someone from the micropower radio station in Carrboro, NC, and about doing a Kickstarter. (“If anyone ever tells you to do a Kickstarter, make sure you really think about it.  It is SO much work and was our focus for almost a year,”  Reid said about their experience.

The final topic was hidden rewards, where they talked about volunteers, and their mission to make a station that “sounds like Raleigh.”  Due to the changes from the Low Power Act of 2010,  it  became accessibile for small micropower stations to exist legally, and the paperwork they said was the easiest step of the project so far.

Eventually they plan to broadcast live 12 hours each day by the time they’re able to put up their antennae and transmitter.  They are currently working to increase airtime as they put systems and support in place.

Their mission gives a great perspective of what the station sounds like:

“We think the time is right to begin the barn raising of a hyper local community radio station. We want growth you can hear. We want to satisfy listeners’ hunger for fresh audio content by building a place that is an outlet for celebrating, debating, sharing and experiencing where we are. Local is about what is 2 blocks over and 6 blocks down. Little Raleigh Radio is about hearing the community you belong to.”

They ended the talk by talking about the variety of DJs, shows, and styles on the station so far, and showed some pictures of current DJs and the station.

Links:

http://www.littleraleighradio.org/

Human Connection Creating Warmth –  The Duracell Bus Shelter

Human Connection Creating Warmth – The Duracell Bus Shelter

Guerrilla marketing and a  social experiment?  Today we are connected increasingly with social media, but how connected are we to people who are literally next to us?

I know that I am guilty of staring at my phone when out in public rather than starting a conversation with someone next to me.  A project in Canada created by Duracell explores personal and social connection, and the idea of “what if you had to connect with other people, and to physically touch each other, in order to work together for a common goal?”

In Montreal heaters were installed in a bus shelter, and the commuters waiting there had to use their bodies to connect a circuit and get warm.  In order to get warm, they had to create a human circuit by holding hands and creating a human connection.

Duracell created the project and produced a video of the bus shelter being used.  The video of the shelter is on the Duracell Facebook page, and for each share they will donate $1 to Habitat to Humanity Canada. (Up to $25,000)  Go ahead and hold the hand of the person next to you and check out the video.

Image Sources and Links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mQZqKLiMIg

@Duracell

MAD Symposium at the Drawing Center

MAD Symposium at the Drawing Center

Last year I got into reading more sites and blogs about food and culture.  Last summer many sites were reporting on the MAD Symposium, an annual gathering of few hundred writers, chefs, scientists, historians and fermentation activists.  This year MAD was held in Copenhagen in August, and was dedicated to the topic of “guts.” At MAD, chefs from around the world gather and discuss the challenges and responsibilities that go beyond cooking.  Talks and discussions center on new questions to ask, and how to become more imaginative and inquisitive.

A new lecture series at the Drawing Center in New York brings chefs together on Mondays to talk about food, culture and other issues. I wasn’t able to attend (I am in Durham, NC) but I read a great review of the event on which listed the “top 10 quotes” of the event which focused on what it means to be a chef.

The event was moderated by Lucky Peach editor Peter Meehan and had 4 chefs and 1 author engaged in a conversation about chefs and cooking..  Some of the topics that emerged included the growing star power of chefs, whether cooks today are any better or worse than they were 10 or 20 years ago, and the impact of new cooking technologies.

You can read more about the top 10 quotes from the night from the review of the event  on eater.com.

Here is a sneak peak of the topics of the top 10 quotes:

1) Batali, on the impact of food television:
2) Hanson, on how the cooking career path has changed
3) Batali, on his changing place in the restaurant community
4) Nasr, on why the food at Balthazar worked
5) Batali, on balancing customer-driven service with chef-driven vision
6) Hamilton, on shifting power dynamics:
7) Hamilton, on expansion:
8) Nasr, on his changing role as a chef:
9) Hamilton, on new cooking techniques and technologies:
10) Nasr, on the plus side of HR

 

Links and Image Sources:

 http://eater.com/archives/2014/03/11/mad-mondays-nyc-batali-meehan-hamilton.php

http://www.finedininglovers.com/blog/news-trends/mad-mondays-coming-to-nyc/

 

 

Ride Your Bike And Make a Lamp (!?)

Ride Your Bike And Make a Lamp (!?)

An unusual lamp  created by Mark Colliass uses a unique method to create the actual lampshade.  You can’t tell by looking at it, but the lampshade was created while riding on a bike.

The process involves pouring resin, called Jesminite, into side areas of the mold which is located on the side of the bike. As you ride the bike, the force of riding will push the resin out of the storage area and into the mold, forming a unique bowl shape.  It takes about 40 minutes to make the lamp, and for the mold to set. Who knew you could do a recreation activity and create a design at once?  You can read updates about the project on @tincanboy.

 

Photos by: Terri NG

Image Source and Links:

https://twitter.com/tincanboy

Processed Views –  Landscape of Processed Foods

Processed Views – Landscape of Processed Foods

Fruit Loop mountains and canyons made of chips might be someone’s dream and another person’s nightmare.  Artists Barbara Ciurej and Lindsay Lochman created a series of landscape images in 2012-2013 made of processed food.  On their website, the artists write “As we move further away from the natural sources of our food, we head into uncharted territory replete with unintended consequences for the environment and for our health.”

The work references the work of photographer, Carleton Watkins who created landscape views that framed the American West.  The images influenced the public’s views of the national parks.  Ironically, they were commissioned by the corporate interests of the day that included the Central Pacific Railroad and the lumber, milling and mining industries.

With processed views, the detailed images examine consumption and the changing landscape of our food. The images can be viewed on the project website.

 

Links and Image Sources:

www.ciurejlochmanphoto.com