Warding Off Spirits

Tapwanu Masks at the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum

Enjoy!!!

Sharp Teeth, Bite!!!

Crocodile head from an Iatmul spirit canoe (Papua New Guinea, 20th c.)

It's been a while since I've visited the Bowers Museum, down in Santa Ana. I decided to remedy the situation with a few hours of strolling through the "Spirits and Headhunters: Art of the Pacific Islands" exhibition. I had seen this show previously, but it's an excellent exhibit, well worth revisiting.

I didn't have enough time to check out the various gold-related shows. So, I imagine that I'll be heading back there sometime soon.

Human tooth necklace (Vuasagale) from Fiji, 18-19th c.

But, really, with Fire Dance masks, spirit objects, diverse weaponry, and numerous gruesome works, I could spend the whole day looking at the Pacific Island exhibition.

Beauty and the Bones

Scrimshaw of a Whaling Scene (detail) by J. Cocke

I recently visited the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. The art venues deep into Orange County are not in my normal orbit of activity, but I will make the occasional art foray into the South. I wanted to check out their scrimshaw exhibit. That's not something that gets put on display very frequently. It was a nice modest collection.

Then I checked out the "Spirits and Headhunters: Art of the Pacific Islands" show. Obviously, any show that covers such a wildly diverse area is going to be broad and thin in overall presentation, but this show packed in the quality. It succeeded both in giving an overarching survey and in displaying objects of notable cultural potency.



Spirit Mask, Papua New Guinea


Likewise the "Ancient Arts of China: A 5000 Year Legacy" was broad and thin. It had some gorgeous works, but, given the topic, I'd have like to see more. Of course, while my aesthetic desires are limited only by my imagination, the Bowers has expense and display space to consider. Given those limitations, it's a good collection. ;-)

What's New Pussycat?

Yuki Nagato as a nekomimi

The traditional media does a terrible job of covering stories about science and technology. Fortunately, the internet picks up the slack. Sites like PopSci, Discovery News, or the New Scientist provide better coverage than the trad med ever did. Likewise, hardcore tech and gadgeteer stories can be found at Wired or Gizmodo. So, being a bit of a "sci-geek", I regularly make the rounds of this Internet "neighborhood".

For the last week or so, I've been seeing a story about mind-controlled "cat-ear" head accessories popping up at a variety of these sites. They're produced by Neurowear, a Japanese company, and are called "necomimi". At first, I paid no attention. I'm not really big on manga or anime, and I'm definitely not into "furry" cosplay. But, as more and more articles came to my attention, I started to think about it.

Alright, I get the whole cosplay angle. Everyone has things that give them thrills. I'm not one to determine what constitutes "having bad fun". If "cat ears" do it for you, then enjoy.

Apparently Catwoman's ears "do it" for Batman

However, under the whole cosplay angle, there was something that caught my attention. The cat-ears reveal mental activity. They are a form of nonverbal expression. That's kind of cool. In the current tech, it's a crude binary tell; ears up indicates mental stimulation, while ears down signifies mental rest. But this is a stepping-stone tech. Future forms of "expression accessories" may have greater nuances. I can get behind that.

But you won't find me wearing cat ears. ;-)

Here's an article from MTV Style that discusses the product in a humorous manner.

Here's an article from PopSci.

Here's Neurowear's website. There isn't much to see there, but it seemed rude to not include a link in an article that was discussing their product.

And here's a Wikipedia article on Moe Anthropomorphism, a subset of which is the aforementioned "cat girls" or nekomimi.

Enjoy!!!

Mascherari

Entry Procession

I had the good luck to be able to attend the performance of a new work by Luigi Ontani, AmenHammerAmeno, at the Hammer Museum. It's a site-specific tableau vivant featuring a procession of performers in Balinese masks accompanied by gamelan music. The performance is part of an exhibition entitled "When in Rome."

The performance was held primarily in the courtyard of the Hammer. When the event began, the performers marched alongside the courtyard and left the building. It was an amusing twist on our expectation. However, they soon returned to the courtyard and situated themselves upon a floor space delineated by rose petals, seemingly arranged in the shape of a painter's palette.

Standing Upon the Palette

The performers were initially carrying their masks, but, with a change in the music, they put on the masks. Again, the music changed and the masks were removed. Eventually, the performers marched of the "palette" and left the courtyard.

The masks were definitely interesting viewing. Here are a few:

Bugiardocchio

Animazione Anni

Mascherarya

The music was engaging. I'm a long-time enthusiast of gamelan music. Here's a cool vid:

Although the performance was enjoyable, I must confess. I didn't really understand it. Certainly, any allusions to Balinese culture went right over my head. I'll have to give it some thought, let my mind process the imagery and presentation.

Luigi Ontani

Anyways, here's a link to the Hammer Museum.

Here's a link to Luigi Ontani's Wikipedia page.

Enjoy!!!