collaborations in customization from the Oakland Museum of CaliforniaTumblr (3.0; @wecustomize)http://wecustomize.org/<p><img src="http://media.tumblr.com/2d9e9882a9e6ad5663e75078d9ee6fd8/tumblr_inline_mnbmctHytx1qz4rgp.jpg"/></p> <p>Tonight Justin, who has been documenting we/customize since before the project was we/customize, will be collecting people&#8217;s handshakes. E<span>xploring customization in the realm of social interactions, Justin will be learning handshakes from visitors and recording themon video with the ultimate goal of translating the moments into drawings.</span></p> <p><span>-Sean Olson<br/></span></p>http://wecustomize.org/post/51249618842http://wecustomize.org/post/51249618842Fri, 24 May 2013 17:13:12 -0400self definedsocial sphere<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/d4e4ae8edf5d7e5b2606fc09cc3cec43/tumblr_mn9eiy5swK1rapj6ao1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/6ea115cf3c807262553562528552e29e/tumblr_mn9eiy5swK1rapj6ao2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p class="MsoNormal">I Will Be Your Surrogate Grandparents and We Will Shake On It!</p> <p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Your Beebaw or Drampaw never taught you how to crochet? Your GanGan or MeeMaw forgot to show you how Shrinky Dinks work? Did you share a secret or unusual handshake? <br/></span></p> <p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><a href="http://www.lisasolomon.com/shop.html" target="_blank">Lisa Solomon</a>, this weekend’s <a href="http://www.wecustomize.org" target="_blank">we/customize</a> Customizer-in-Residence will fill in for them and Justin Limoges will present his community building project, “The Handshake!” Join us in the studio with Lisa sharing her appreciation for fixing, altering, and repairing items that her grandparents taught her. Lisa’s desire to take things apart and see how they work will be evident in the studio this weekend as she offers the chance for visitors to choose from a menu of her skills and receive customized lessons. From lamp wiring to sushi making, Lisa will be around to offer the supportive and loving hand that only a grandparent can provide.Then recreate a handshake from your past or be introduced to a new one!<br/></span></p> <p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Join us for Lisa’s lessons and Justin’s shakes in the gallery and look for me docked on Level One by the koi pond for additional lessons. <span> </span>We’re around this weekend, Friday, May 24^th from 5 pm to 8 pm then again Saturday and Sunday, May 25^th and 26^th from 1 pm to 4 pm. </span></p> <p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Oakland Rover</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p>http://wecustomize.org/post/51154270425http://wecustomize.org/post/51154270425Thu, 23 May 2013 12:16:10 -0400lisa solomongrandparentslessonsoakland roverwe/customizeweekendmenuskills<p><a href="http://www.clubhotrod.com/hot-rod-build-logs/51643-grandkids-coaster-car-build-7.html" target="_blank"><img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/4130c19ab4d7fe66dfdc0799323847d0/tumblr_inline_mn7wncirx51qz4rgp.jpg"/></a></p> <p>Throughout the we/customize project we&#8217;ve gotten caught up in the exchanging ideas and skills within and between social networks. There isn&#8217;t a focus on how we learn informally from the people who are close to us when we&#8217;re young. This has made it easy to overlook that many of our skills were planted by those willing to take time to teach us even when we didn&#8217;t realize that was what was happening because we were having fun.</p> <p><a href="http://www.clubhotrod.com/hot-rod-build-logs/51643-grandkids-coaster-car-build.html" target="_blank">This image</a> is from a grandparent doing just that. He developed a project with his grandson that is fun at its root, but in the process of sharing his passion the grandfather is also teaching his abilities and aesthetic eye.</p> <p>-Sean Olson</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/51094690005http://wecustomize.org/post/51094690005Wed, 22 May 2013 17:10:00 -0400grandparentscustomcar<iframe src="//www.tumblr.com/video/wecustomize/50943571601/400" id="tumblr_video_iframe_50943571601" class="tumblr_video_iframe" width="400" height="225" style="display:block;background-color:transparent;overflow:hidden;" allowTransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe><br/><br/><p>Varied programs this last weekend in the gallery. Here is a time lapse of the gallery.</p> <p>- Sean Olson</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/50943571601http://wecustomize.org/post/50943571601Mon, 20 May 2013 19:20:19 -0400Daniela Rosner<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/cf47e3001ec0610dce75132e798192e6/tumblr_mn2bi2ANjW1rapj6ao1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Ever made jewelry out of a hard drive? Deb Berl’s custom jewelry making project represents the Hacker Moms design for re-use community at the we/customize gallery studio space this weekend.</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/50847629915http://wecustomize.org/post/50847629915Sun, 19 May 2013 16:22:31 -0400<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/49e5694643bab32991ea1fd7aa701547/tumblr_mmvphw5ivj1rapj6ao1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="MsoNormal">These Are The Breaks…</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And the theme for this weekend’s <a href="http://www.wecustomize.org" target="_blank">we/customize</a> Customizer-in-Residence series, “Design for Re-Use; Making Breakage Beautiful” with <a href="http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~daniela/2012/" target="_blank">Daniela Rosner. </a></p> <p>What does it mean to make refuse poetic or remnants elegant? Join Daniela as she examines the interplay between technology, handcraft, and the creative communities around them. With guest artists <strong>Wendy Renz, Debra Berl, </strong><strong>Miwa Ikemiya and Miriam Dym in rotation </strong>from the maker community she’ll lead us in a hands-on exploration of what can be done with redundant, discarded or “obsolete” materials. From disentegrating chairs spun into succulent garden beds and e-waste turned into elegant jewelry, Daniela will show how objects can have second and third lives.</p> <p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Make this weekend your big break by bringing in broken things to transform into something alluring and new. We’re in and around the studio Friday, May 17th from 5 pm to 8 pm and again Saturday and Sunday, May 18th and 19th from 1 pm to 4 pm.<span>  </span></p> <p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">—Oakland Rover</p> <p></p>http://wecustomize.org/post/50576558279http://wecustomize.org/post/50576558279Thu, 16 May 2013 10:01:00 -0400breakageoakland roverOMCAwe/customizecustomizationDaniela RosnerWendy RenzDebra BerlMiwa IkemiyaMiriam Dym<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/acb20ed3e192bc91100e99736c2f1110/tumblr_mmvms4xOQL1rapj6ao1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/d3a402d67b3cf6a61f45f5e6e68886e2/tumblr_mmvms4xOQL1rapj6ao2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p>Here are two shameless embellishment projects. They just add a little something to transform the original into something totally new.</p> <p>-Scott Moulton</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/50560367129http://wecustomize.org/post/50560367129Thu, 16 May 2013 01:48:00 -0400embellishment<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/1f06f62bca1919c10d39a17372b14bd5/tumblr_mms13caU3y1rapj6ao1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><a href="http://news.jaynelsonart.com/" target="_blank">Jay Nelson</a> makes amazing vehicles, submarine interiors and treehouses. You may have seen his structures at Mollusk Surf Shop, or Voyager in the Mission.</p> <p>Scott Moulton</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/50406859493http://wecustomize.org/post/50406859493Tue, 14 May 2013 03:06:48 -0400custom cartree housemollusk surf shopjay nelson<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/garden/16makedo.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0" target="_blank">In Make-Do Objects, Collectors Find Beauty Beyond Repair<img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/aaf706c4d864af84aca18cd311edbee1/tumblr_inline_mmrbhsDMU51qz4rgp.jpg"/></a></p> <p>Great article in The New York Times about collectors focusing on reuse. Plus a nod to the ebbs and flows of our culture implicitly showing some of the history of the need to make do and maker culture.</p> <p>-Sean Olson</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/50370425479http://wecustomize.org/post/50370425479Mon, 13 May 2013 18:03:00 -0400Reusemake domendrepaircollecting<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/6e30b1d4f264b5e0ec72a3abe3b881d6/tumblr_mmnjq3EbbC1rapj6ao1_r2_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Miriam Dym’s Logo Removal Service is in full swing at the we/customize Low Bay gallery. Come check out the art of simultaneous logo removal and creative replacement. </p> <p>—Jorge</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/50194458109http://wecustomize.org/post/50194458109Sun, 12 May 2013 15:57:14 -0400<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/3f39adf79bd24e8f250508998c0ec579/tumblr_mmlfdwGPzW1rapj6ao1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/086bf86102d63391a69544db91d4f2f1/tumblr_mmlfdwGPzW1rapj6ao2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p><a href="http://deanjeffries.com/" target="_blank">Dean Jeffries</a> passed away last weekend. <a href="http://www.motortrend.com/classic/features/c12_0511_dean_jeffries_interview/viewall.html" target="_blank">This is a great interview</a> with him where he talks about going from pinstriping to creating full custom cars. </p> <p>Scott Moulton</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/50098918666http://wecustomize.org/post/50098918666Fri, 10 May 2013 13:32:20 -0400customizationcustom cardean jeffries<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/d0f3eb0f2fff4b55d2fc1ac9301a0fcf/tumblr_mmjk63BHsd1rapj6ao1_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/d8d641ab3a8e908100a5b2a19eb4efae/tumblr_mmjk63BHsd1rapj6ao2_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/d9e6f26ae6716352623bdbee8bc4d85f/tumblr_mmjk63BHsd1rapj6ao3_500.jpg"/><br/> <br/><p>
Get Ripped Off!

</p> <p>Conspicuous consumption got you down? Spending wayyyyy too much on designer labels to show not only can you keep up with the Jones’ but out shop them too? The <a href="http://www.wecustomize.org" target="_blank">www.wecustomize.org</a> team has the remedy: Logo Removal Service! LRS is the Customizer-in-Residence series experiment that continues in the gallery with featured artist Miriam Dym.</p> <p>By demonstrating the extracting and replacing of logos and branding from items like t-shirts, bags, or other objects, Miriam and LRS will be showing us how to claim ownership of the object back from the fabricator. 

What will your clothes say about you after Logo Removal Service? Find out by joining us for this unique opportunity to see a contemporary artist doing really interesting work about our luxe lives. Start being ripped off! Friday, May 10th, from 5 pm to 8 pm then again Saturday and Sunday, May 11th and 12th from 1 pm to 4 pm.</p> <p><br/>
—Oakland Rover

(Photos Courtesy of DYM Productions)<br/><br/></p>http://wecustomize.org/post/50021760630http://wecustomize.org/post/50021760630Thu, 09 May 2013 13:20:00 -0400miriam dymwe/customizeoakland roverrovertee shirtscustomizelabelsartmuseumlabel removal servicelrs<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/76e07b02ac49dd2608432c5aa9828235/tumblr_mmirsxD79Z1rapj6ao1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><span>This photographer took a boy with muscular dystrophy on an imaginary adventure with the portraits he took. These images had to alter the way the boy sees himself. Even if only for a moment.</span></p> <p><span>How can I alter or tweak what I think I am capable of.</span></p> <p><span>Scott Moulton</span></p>http://wecustomize.org/post/49998664051http://wecustomize.org/post/49998664051Thu, 09 May 2013 03:07:45 -0400<p><img src="http://media.tumblr.com/2f75cafd41de9a0266934f599068985d/tumblr_inline_mmi2bhkZDb1qz4rgp.jpg"/></p> <p></p> <p>The <em>we/customize</em> project team set out to create an exhibition through public programs and in conversation with our audience. As a first step, we began interviewing people about what they customize. This early outreach effort required some quick thinking on the part of our Graphic Designer, Amanda Boesen, who created a logo for the project before the project could be fully defined. Here she explains the concept of non-repeating patterns:<br/> <br/><strong>Can a pattern be non-repeating?</strong><br/> <br/>Most tiles used in the world are periodic, meaning the same tile and pattern repeats itself infinitely at any size. Aperiodic tiles like the ones above are far more rare. The two prototiles—kite and dart—fit together using specific matching rules. If a person wants, they can arrange the shapes using self-similar tiling, where the same pattern occurs at larger and larger sizes, like a ripple on a pond. There are at least two other sets of aperiodic tiles based on pentagons’ five sides. Mathematician and physicist Roger Penrose introduced these sets in the 1970s, so they are called Penrose tiles. There is also evidence that some medieval Islamic art follows the same geometric rules, and mathematicians like Albrecht Dürer explored aperiodic tiling. Dürer is more often known as a painter whose work represents some of the best of the Northern Renaissance.<br/> <br/>Can you see patterns repeated? Can you find a small version and a large version of the same compound shape, made from multiple tiles?</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/49946585258http://wecustomize.org/post/49946585258Wed, 08 May 2013 14:28:00 -0400<p><img src="http://media.tumblr.com/854ffd6c42a2cf7656918102d0daaacf/tumblr_inline_mmecvlv9CZ1qz4rgp.jpg"/></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Before we jump into the way people re-purpose logos, altering them to create social commentary, I think it is interesting to see how companies change their identity. They then attempt to represent themselves outwardly through branding. Taken as a broad perspective across companies the changes in design correlate to one another and represent what seem to be unrelated trends within our culture. Enough so that economic trends are matched or perhaps slightly ahead of some design developments.</p> <p></p> <p>-Sean Olson</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/49803943853http://wecustomize.org/post/49803943853Mon, 06 May 2013 18:13:02 -0400logotransformationalteration<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/25c01b2b95093596e5d769bdf9c3d2e5/tumblr_mmcldlxsqd1rapj6ao1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Kevin’s Blanquie’s video distortion board in action. The boy thinks it’s peek-a-boo with disrtortion mode on!</p> <p>—Jorge</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/49726556170http://wecustomize.org/post/49726556170Sun, 05 May 2013 19:02:49 -0400<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/5bf08cd8f1bfa433b60d3e97ea6c2956/tumblr_mmcka10ePs1rapj6ao1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>Kevin Blanquie, this week’s Cutomizer In Residence tweeks his video distortion board. Gotta love that analog, handmade technology! </p> <p>—Jorge</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/49724730892http://wecustomize.org/post/49724730892Sun, 05 May 2013 18:36:19 -0400<p><a href="http://markbattypublisher.com/books/glitch/" target="_blank"><img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/49336cde47318b1bf8dda2f6832ae5f5/tumblr_inline_mm8o9t3vKX1qz4rgp.jpg"/></a></p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://markbattypublisher.com/books/glitch/" target="_blank">A “glitch” usually fixes itself in the amount of time it takes for it to be noticed in the first place, whether as a scrambled cable television delay, a page-loading error on an internet browser or a jumble of pixels on an ATM interface.</a></p> <p><a href="http://markbattypublisher.com/books/glitch/" target="_blank"><em>Glitch: Designing Imperfection</em> consists of over 200 glitch images grabbed, composed and provoked by artists who present these complex fragments of color and lines as a thought-provoking aesthetic. Interviews with Angela Lorenz, Johnny Rogers, Kim Cascone, Ant Scott and O.K. Parking, as well as the introductory essays by Per Platou and Iman Moradi, create a fascinating context for approaching these jarringly compelling visuals.</a></p> <p><a href="http://markbattypublisher.com/books/glitch/" target="_blank"><em>Glitch</em> captures the fact that no one can deliberately make a mistake, although mistakes are often the greatest sources of inspiration.</a></p> </blockquote> <p>The separation between accidental and purposeful changes can be thin if non existent, but the aesthetic of altering materials can be as much in the happening as the visual finale.</p> <p>-Sean Olson</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/49533494996http://wecustomize.org/post/49533494996Fri, 03 May 2013 16:27:00 -0400Glitchvideo distortion<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/28fcf8f8ff018570de5627d277fa45b4/tumblr_mm6kmnxupe1rapj6ao1_500.png"/><br/> <br/><img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/beb2de89cb1c151344f2ddd954095614/tumblr_mm6kmnxupe1rapj6ao2_r1_500.gif"/><br/> <br/><p>“Distortion, That Warm And Fuzzy Video Feeling.” <br/>                                                <br/> Step 1: Offer a we/customize “How do you destroy that video?” hacking program this week in the studio.        <br/>                                               <br/> Step 2: Enlist Customizer-In-Residence <strong>Kevin Blanquies</strong> to build two video mixers.</p> <p>Step 3: Hook each unit up to two<br/> sources of video (live camera, old VHS tapes, other digital media devices)                   <br/>      <br/> Step 4: Allow people to control the amount of each video passing through the device as well as control the level of distortion.</p> <p>Step 5: Share the public’s new video that was created by joining the two together.</p> <p>Step 6: Invite visitors to OMCA Friday, <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT1991_com_zimbra_date">May 3rd</span> from 5 pm to 8 pm then again Saturday through Sunday, <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT1992_com_zimbra_date">May 4th</span> and 5th from  1 pm to 4 pm</p> <p>Step 7: Customize!</p> <p>—Oakland Rover</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/49445085574http://wecustomize.org/post/49445085574Thu, 02 May 2013 13:01:00 -0400<iframe width="400" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9XC46k16Pl0?wmode=transparent&autohide=1&egm=0&hd=1&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&showsearch=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br/><br/><p>Video distortion is a bit of the abstract expressionist end to the social commentary of a lot of video remixes. </p> <p>-Sean Olson</p>http://wecustomize.org/post/49390752753http://wecustomize.org/post/49390752753Wed, 01 May 2013 18:35:43 -0400video distortion