Do It Yourself

At the UBS sponsored Long Weekend at the Tate Modern the theme was "Do it Yourself".  It is a reoccurring theme as of late, with implications beyond the Economic Crisis.  We joined in with thousands to transform an enormous mound of clay into a sculpture.  We played on Robert Morris' incredibly interactive sculptures to make an experience.  It was all a bit literally off-the-wall and the innovative spirit worked with even the most-resistant personalities (yes I am talking about you child number 1).

The "Do it Yourself" idea has lately mutated into the overarching idea of "Make".  There is a Make festival upcoming in California - see here for details.  Old-time spirit meets innovation. A great marketing umbrella that hides its capitalism under a egalitarian guise.  There must be a long German word for that.

The Make trend is on the web by instructables.com where one can learn to do just about anything.  I learned how to make a booster for my wifi router dull girl that I am.  I will issue a caution on viewing the site - one can get terribly lost looking at ridiculous things.

But, back to the Tate Modern.  Philosophically, the legacy of 1960's performance and action-based artworks was a lean toward a utopian vision of experience that was self-created and free.  It was anti-consumerist consumerism.  And we are back there again.

Realities Helmet?