|| 6/25/2010 || 3:04 pm || 1 Comment Rendered || ||
51 cents in change
Using the old line “save your coins, I want change,” I came up with this overtly simple visual response. It contains two quarters and one penny, which represents 51 cents. By using the State quarter of the District of Columbia, I am implying that #change will happen when the District of Columbia becomes America’s 51st state. You gotta be optimistic :-)
|| 3/23/2010 || 5:39 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
Map Mashup: Healthcare Heartburn
Above is Amy Martin’s “Keep America Healthy – Public Option Please” with a map of the average federal revenue per capita by state in 2007 superimposed. At over $34,000 per citizen, the District of Columbia pays the more any jurisdiction in America, yet the 600,000 citizens have no representation in Congress….
Ironically related is my entry on Hartburn, DC.
|| 3/17/2010 || 10:36 am || + Render A Comment || ||
Give Me Some %20 (space) – An HTML Code T-Shirt Design
Following in the same vein as my previous code-based t-shirts, this iteration uses the HTML character code for the spacebar, %20, as a figure of speech. Oftentimes when someone gives you a URL that includes a space between the characters, there is an automatic %20 that gets inserted. For example, http://nikolasschiller.com/example/this is awesome.jpg would automatically be converted to http://nikolasschiller.com/example/this%20is%20awesome.jpg because spaces in URLs are actually the HTML character code %20. Therefore the shirt above can be read two different ways: give me some space or give me some %20. For those without the basic understand of HTML, they’ll probably want to know what %20 is– a tax, a new band, 1/5 of something, etc. and for those who understand HTML, maybe they might take a step back.
Related Fashion Entries:
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|| 3/4/2010 || 2:48 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
“Representation, Reforestation” Was Selected For The DC Urban Forest Project
I’m looking forward to finding out where my “tree” will be “planted” in downtown DC. I should know sometime next month!
Please look for additional information regarding the exhibition date, online gallery and reception in a couple of months. In the meantime visit ufp-dc.com to see where the banners will be exhibited.
AIGA DC MENTORING TEAMS
William Jones + Erin Green
Dezae Precia + Nicole Hamam
Demetria Williams + Jane deBruijn
*Not listed are the selected Corcoran Art + Design students
THE JURORS
Sam Shelton, Kinetik
Jim Darling, Useful Studios
Rachel Dickerson, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
Monica Lear, Urban Forestry Administration, DDOT
Linda Harper, Director of Cultural Tourism DC
This project, conceived by Worldstudio, is being presented in Washington, DC by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), in collaboration with the Corcoran College of Art and Design, AIGA DC and Downtown DC Business Improvement District. Seed funding for the project was provided through a grant from the USDA Forest Service with corporate sponsorship being sought to support implementation.
+Visit the DC Urban Forest Project Website
|| 1/20/2010 || 12:10 pm || 2 Comments Rendered || ||
Second Class Citizen: A Shirt of Shame
About a week ago I designed, ordered, and printed this t-shirt from www.SpreadShirt.com. The shirt features the text “SECOND CLASS CITIZEN” printed upside-down in metallic gold. The idea behind this design is that the wearer must bow their head down in shame in order to properly read the upside-down text. Residents of the District of Columbia, like myself, the intended wearer, are denied representation in Congress and are thus second-class citizens. That is pretty screwed up.
|| 1/15/2010 || 11:15 am || 1 Comment Rendered || ||
My Urban Forest Project Submission: “Representation, Reforestation”
From the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts & Humanities website:
A model of sustainability: The banners will be hung on city light poles in downtown Washington, DC during the spring of 2010 in celebration of Arbor and Earth Days. They will then be recycled into unique one-of-a-kind totebags designed exclusively for the project. Proceeds from the sales of the totebags will go to non-profit environmental efforts that help make Washington, DC a clean, green and sustainable city.
The brief is simple: Begin with the form, idea or a characteristic of a tree and use it to interpret and explore an issue around the environment that you feel is pressing, or an idea you find entertaining or intriguing. The only constraint is that the banner should not advertise a brand or product, nor endorse a particular political party. That’s it.
A short history: The Urban Forest Project was first executed in New York City’s Times Square in the fall of 2006. To learn more visit The Urban Forest Project website: http://www.ufp-global.com
Brought to you by: This project, conceived by Worldstudio, is being presented in Washington, DC in collaboration with: the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, AIGA DC and Corcoran College of Art and Design.
Programs Used: Bryce 5.5 to render the tree and Photoshop 7.0 for the layout
Font Used: Monaco
|| 12/26/2009 || 1:21 pm || 1 Comment Rendered || ||
51 Random Banners Now Greet Visitors
New banner graphic featuring my name written in Hebrew over
“The Vicissitude of the Seasons Explained” from Bowles 1780 Map of the World
On Christmas night I got a random Facebook message from a Peruvian friend of mine who recently moved to Israel. After we were done chatting, I asked the same request I’ve asked a few other times to friends in distant lands, “Can you translate my name into ____Hebrew____?” A few moments later I was sent the basis for these six new banners. Now my name is now randomly displayed in English, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Chinese, and Russian.
Below are the rest of the new banner graphics hyperlinked to their original blog entries:
Related Entries:
|| 12/7/2009 || 8:15 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
Preview Video of the 2010 Cartographic Calendar [Color Edition]
Today I received the two calendars I ordered last week. I decided to make this short video to show prospective buyers what the calendar looks like when printed out. In the video above I simply hang the calendar on the wall and flipped through each month of the Color Edition of my 2010 Cartographic Calendar. Its a somewhat simple method of showing the maps in the calendar, but I think it helps to visualize what a 17″ x 11″ calendar would look like on your wall.
|| 11/30/2009 || 11:48 am || 3 Comments Rendered || ||
2010 Cartographic Calendar [Color Edition]
This unique wall calendar contains 12 maps of the Washington originally published in the newspapers of the District of Columbia between 1887 and 1909. There are two editions of the calendar available: one with the original black & white scans and the other with colorized maps (below). Each calendar is on sale for $25 + shipping until January 31st, 2009.
Below are the pages from each month of the Color Edition of the 2010 Cartographic Calendar:
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|| 11/29/2009 || 9:47 am || 2 Comments Rendered || ||
2010 Cartographic Calendar [Black & White Edition]
This unique wall calendar contains 12 maps of the Washington originally published in the newspapers of the District of Columbia between 1887 and 1909. There are two editions of the calendar available: one with the original black & white scans (below) and the other with colorized maps. Each calendar is on sale for $25 + shipping until January 31st, 2009.
Below are the pages from each month of the Black & White Edition of the 2010 Cartographic Calendar:
+ MORE
|| 11/8/2009 || 1:46 pm || 1 Comment Rendered || ||
whereyouare / whereiam@ – A Satircal Election Map of Maine’s Vote on Same-Sex Marriage
The evening after Maine’s election results came in I was asked to help coordinate the sound system for an impromptu rally at Dupont Circle. During one of the speeches, I remember hearing someone mention that the ballot should never be used to let the majority of population impose it’s will on a minority population. Being that there are far fewer gay couples in Maine (or most states for that matter) than heterosexual couples; the point stood out in my mind.
Its an example of the “tyranny of the majority,” at the ballot box. The fundamental inalienable principles of equality, all men being created equal, and the pursuit of happiness are the foundation of American democracy and when those words were written the largest city in America was Philadelphia, with 28,000 citizens and the rest of the American population was mostly rural. Yet in the 200+ years since, the rural / urban divide has only grown more stark as some states contain few large centers of population. Paradoxically, its in these cities where the most social interaction & social education takes place. It’s in cities where people are more likely to see same-sex couples in their daily lives and possibly have same sex-couples as their friends, and thereby be more apt to see same-sex couples from a different perspective that is not based on prejudice towards The Other.
The modified map [pdf] above was originally found on the Bangor Daily News website. It shows how the state of Maine voted on the question of same-sex marriage. Voters were given the opportunity to Vote Yes and repeal the recently-passed same-sex marriage law or Vote No to keep it in place.
To remix this map, I first inverted the color scheme, which surprisingly yielded a pink color for the counties which voted 65% or greater to repeal the law. Ironically, its a color I personally associate with those who voted No. I then added my own typographical critique to the map. I created a pink square and placed in an unpopulated rural location and added the words “whereyouare,” in large font and in the southern portion of the map, in smaller font size, I added the words “whereiam@” above Maine’s largest city, Portland.
The justification for this subtle addition was to highlight the nature of the urban / rural divide. Portland, for example, voted 73.5% to not repeal the same-sex marriage law, so I placed “whereiam@” nearby to show where my vote would have been. Most rural areas overwhelmingly supported the removal of equal rights for their fellow citizens, so I placed the pink square in an area that doesn’t even an election precinct.
|| 9/19/2009 || 3:47 pm || 1 Comment Rendered || ||
5 More Random Banners Now ‘Greek’ Visitors
New banner graphic featuring my name written in Greek over I-35W Bridge Quilt #2
About a month ago I had a random friend request on Facebook from a woman named Athina who lives in Greece. Opting to inflate my friend count over potential security fears, I added her without question. A couple weeks later I visited her Facebook page and noticed that she has a blog that was written completely in the Greek language. I had just posted my latest batch of banners using the Cyrillic alphabet, so I sent her an e-mail asking if she’d be interested in translating my name into Greek. She obliged and today I made 5 more banners to be randomly displayed.
Greek is one of the languages I’ve always wanted to learn. I spent some time in high school taking Latin, which I have since found to be an invaluable contribution to my continued exploration of history. But Koine Greek, the lingua franca of the Eastern Mediterranean around the time of the birth of Christ, has always fascinated me. The Septuagint, a 3rd century B.C. Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, used this dialect of the language. And while modern Greek is considerably different in many aspects from it’s thousand+ year-old counterpart, I would still like to learn both or at least start getting my mind around the alphabet.
Now I would be remiss if I didn’t return the cultural exchange for my friend Athina who did the translation for me. She owns a yacht charter company called Stamatis Yachting, which offers a wide variety of yachts that can take you & your friends around the various Greek islands. They also have skippers that can be contracted so you don’t have to know how to sail in order to experience the joys of sailing on the Mediterranean. If you are planning on a trip to Greece in the near future, please do not hesitate to contact her about chartering one of their yachts.
Below are the rest of the new banner graphics hyperlinked to their original blog entries:
+ MORE
|| 9/1/2009 || 6:52 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
Bright Felon: Autobiography And Cities By Kazim Ali Is Now Available
—From the chapter “Beacon”
“Bright Felon will steal your heart and outrage your poetics. Part memoir, part trip book, part literary discourse, there is in it an urgent sense of a life lived in words. The tale is one of both innocence and experience. Rigorous, romantic, experimental, true, and yet mysterious, it is a book for the ages.” —Laura Moriarty, author of A Semblance: Selected and New Poems, 1975–2007
“Kazim Ali writes in Bright Felon a prose shaped by the various cities he has lived and loved in. This is a book that is so much more than memoir or autobiography. It is embodied and questioning and it carries through its politics a grace and generosity. —Juliana Spahr, author of Fuck You, Aloha, I Love You
Related New York City Entries:
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|| || 5:00 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
The Pentagon Timelapse Animated GIF (2001-2005)
Still frame from The Pentagon Timelapse Animated GIF featuring USGS aerial photography from 2005Last night I was going through one of my external hard drives and rediscovered a cache of “old” satellite imagery. I rarely publish any entries that use satellite imagery due to copyright issues because, generally speaking, the company that owns the satellite also owns all the pixels and this prevents me from legally creating derivative works. Today, however, I decided to test the boundaries with this legacy satellite imagery of the Pentagon and feel that this creation is protected under the fair use doctrine of US copyright law. You can always contact GeoEye if you are interested in purchasing satellite imagery from the IKONOS satellite.
The Animated GIF below features 9 frames consisting of 7 satellite images from the IKONOS Satellite (2001-2002) and two public domain aerial photographs from the USGS (2002 & 2005). It begins with satellite imagery taken four days before 9/11/01 and ends with a USGS aerial photograph taken in September 2005. The frames in between show the aftermath and the subsequent rebuilding of the Pentagon. I did my best to line up the building in my image editing program, but it’s not 100% perfect due to the angle in which some of the imagery was taken.
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|| 6/26/2010 || 3:03 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
52 cents in change // 52 centavos en cambio
Following up on yesterday’s design, this iteration includes Puerto Rico’s State quarter alongside the District of Columbia’s quarter with two pennies to represent 52 cents in change. As the most populous American territory, I believe the United States would benefit from allowing Puerto Rico to join the union, if, of course, Puerto Rico chooses to join. Historically speaking, most states have joined the union in tandem with one other state to ensure a balance of power.
Click on either image to download the larger PDF version