CTRI Innovations Residency
list of topics
project homepage
I take notes during each residency and write up a brief report listing topics we touched upon. My main reason for doing this is to produce some manner of document, and to provide potential applicants with a rough idea of what it's like (sitting around talking), the level of engagement (casual but potentially deep) and a general field of interest (wide enough to encompass basically anything). After doing over a hundred of these residencies I thought it would be fun to sort through my notes and make an alphabetized list of topics. That's what this is.
This list is by no means complete - I didn't write down everything we talked about in every conversation, I just wrote down a few sign posts. Also please note that this is not a menu! When applying for the residency DO NOT select a set of topics you want to discuss from this (or any) list, that's not how a conversation works! This list is provided for general interest only.
For more info on CTRI Innovations see here: [link]. To read the write-ups in full see here: [link].
This list was last updated 2020/07/01.
Repeated topics were discussed in more than one conversation.
topics discussed include
- 1,001 Nights (the book)
- 1,001 Nights (the book)
- 2001 (film)
- 2015's "The Dress"
- 5 (!!!!!) upcoming albums
- 90s hardcore
- abysses
- a card game I'm working on
- Ad Reinhart
- Ad Reinhart
- agents and how to get them (neither of us know)
- AI (artificial intelligence)
- air conditioning
- Albert Ayler
- Ali's color pallette
- a love of landscape features
- also some straight-up gossip
- ambition
- ambition (general)
- a mural project
- an artist and friend who we both admire as both an artist and a friend
- Animal Crossing
- animation
- an impending move to the mountains of California
- an installation in the window of the Dirt Palace
- Ansel Fieffer
- Anthony Braxton
- ants
- an upcoming art show
- approaches to collaboration
- a project about Wendy Carlos and her connection to Providence
- a project I want David to help me with
- a race of giants in ancient North America
- archaeology
- Archigram and other utopic 70s architecture
- architecture
- architecture manifestos
- a recent appearance on a children's show
- a recent endoscopy
- a revolutionary desk design of my own invention
- art
- art
- art and business and everything in between and tangential to
- art gigs
- artistic production
- artists who change the channel all the time
- artists who have recurring details that you can tell they're obsessed with
- arts grants vs science grants
- art that's Dionysian vs art that's Apollonian
- artwork outside of capitalism
- a shared love of changing the floorplan
- a shared love of loose drawings
- a shared love of synth demo videos on YouTube
- ASMR
- Astronomy and amateur scientists
- as well as taking yourself for a walk
- attitudes around going to the gym
- Austria
- a Zapatista Cumbia concert
- Bach
- Bach To The Future
- bags and backpacks
- Baile Funk
- Baltimore
- band names
- baseball
- Bashō
- basketball in general
- beaches both non-magical and magical
- being a character in someone else's story
- being "a good drawer"
- being a kid and starting to develop class awareness
- being a metal head that gets into disco
- being an accountant for Justin Timberlake
- being an artist that changes their frame constantly
- being an artist who "changes channels" a lot
- being an arts teacher in a middle school
- being an extra on TV
- being an opening band
- being a parent
- being a reference librarian
- being a resource
- being a teacher
- being a theatre tech
- being cozy at home and drafty at work
- being easy to shop for
- being good at yo yos when you're a kid
- being in a band
- being in gathering mode
- being in the habit of writing
- being nice
- beloved sensual YouTuber Wet Wallabee
- bikes
- Bikini Kill
- biographies
- birds
- "bleeding madras"
- blogs
- board games
- boats
- boats
- boats
- body builders
- books
- bookstores
- books you read in the fifth grade
- Bowie
- Brancusi
- bread
- breakfast
- breakfast
- Breton
- bricolage
- bricolage problems
- bricolage problems
- brush pens
- Buckminster Fuller and "Trim Tab"
- building an incorruptable chariot for your immortal soul to ride
- bullshit
- Burrough's idea of "the Johnson family"
- café fame
- café fame
- calling things "compositions"
- Calvin & Hobbes
- cards
- career decisions
- Carl's Oxford Diner in Oxford MA
- carving spoons
- cascading style sheets
- Casio watches
- Cathy from the 02909 post office
- caustic cleverness
- CB radio
- celebrity bands (bands that include celebrities from non-musical fields)
- changing your output
- chapbooks
- chat rooms
- Chernobyl
- chess
- chess
- child responses to nudity in art
- Cibo Matto
- circuit bending
- cleaning up the studio
- Climate Anxiety Counselling
- CNC machines
- Coast To Coast (specifically the "Mel's Hole" episode)
- codename BOP GUN
- coffee
- coffee
- coffee mugs
- co-housing
- collaboration
- comedy
- comics
- computer programming
- consciousness
- contact mic workshops
- contemporary craft
- context
- cooking
- cooking glass
- Cool Breeze
- cracking the egg
- cruising internet forums that are adjacent to your interests
- current projects
- David Bowie
- dayjobs
- D&D
- designing escape rooms
- desiring recognition
- Destroy All Monsters (arts collective)
- developing phone apps
- diary writing
- dice
- Dick Miller (RIP)
- different approaches to museums
- digital publishing vs paper
- dioramas
- discipline in the arts
- disco
- "distress effervescence awakening delinquent"
- Distress Effervescence Awakening Delinquent)
- Ditko-era Spiderman
- DIY
- DIY
- DIY
- dogs
- doing the dishes
- doing your art vs selling someone on your art
- domain names
- donuts
- double A batteries
- drawing
- drawing
- drawing
- drawing
- drawing as a form of high-stakes meditation
- dreams
- dreams
- drinking coffee
- dub music
- Duchamp
- Duchamp
- Duchamp
- Dwarf Fortress
- Dwarf Fortress
- Dwarf Fortress
- electronic musical circuits
- electronics
- Elvis
- email newsletters that we like and those that we don't
- emperor Maximilian I
- encasing things in resin
- ergodic literature
- Erik Satie
- establishing good habits
- excess
- expressing joy
- family
- fan art
- fancy ketchup
- Fantômas (the book series not the band)
- Fat Day (band)
- fests
- fictitious entries
- film fests
- fine art
- finishing things
- fixing material items
- Florence Foster Jenkins
- Florida metal
- foam
- focus
- fonts
- food photography
- foods that grossed us out when we were kids
- Forrest J Ackerman
- framing everything in terms of the surface area to volume ratio
- France
- free boxes
- freelance writing in general
- free shit
- frogs
- furniture
- gabber
- gambling
- games
- games
- games
- Gary Panter
- Gary Panter
- Gary Panter (Panter sketchbook advice link)
- gentrification
- George & Dan of Breaking World Records
- Georgia O'Keefe
- getting an agent
- getting back to it
- "getting inside"
- getting out of bed
- getting rid of stuff
- getting rid of stuff
- getting to know a museum
- Ghostface
- gifts
- GISM
- GISM
- giving stuff up
- goals (specific)
- Gödel's incompleteness theorem
- Gödel's incompleteness theorem
- going on walks
- going to the bathroom at a gig
- goo
- goth ASMR
- goth ASMR
- goth ASMR
- grant bullshit
- grants
- grants
- grants
- grants
- grants
- grants
- graphic design
- Great British Bake Off
- Great Stuff (aka expanding foam)
- group living
- growing up and moving through different styles of music
- growing up in (and being truly "from") Providence
- growing up in a small town
- growing up in the South
- haggling
- haggling
- hair and hair cutting
- Halloween music
- handwriting
- hanging out by the river
- hanging out with kids
- Happiness Pony
- harmony
- having a 365 day project
- having a daily practice
- having a daily practice
- having a dog
- having a morning routine
- having a studio space
- having meetings
- having not gone to art school
- HBML Junk Shoppe
- hearing loss
- Heathcliff
- Henny Youngman
- Henri Rousseau (we love him)
- high school theatre
- hoarding
- hoarding
- hoaring
- hockey
- homemade synthesizers
- homework
- horror movies about architecture
- how architecture shapes your life
- how being a rock star is actually a lousy job
- how great it is to not be in school
- how he got into machine work
- how scenes can default to shitty and/or mean when there isn't a nice option
- how to get back in the habit when you're out of the habit
- how to get lore of an area
- how to meet people
- how to stay loose in a sketchbook
- HP Lovecraft
- immersive theatre experiences
- impending moves
- improvisation
- increasing access to cultural tools
- Industrial Sonic Echo (band)
- installation art
- international street ettiquette
- internet dollmakers
- intestinal flora
- intra-band personal dynamics
- Iris Murdoch
- Ivan Brunetti
- Jack Kirby's Forever People
- James Turrell
- Jandek
- Japan
- Japan
- Japan
- Jaws
- jazz piano
- J Dilla
- jealousy
- Jeff Hartford (we love him)
- Jervyn's Clasp
- Jervyn's Clasp
- Jervyn's Clasp
- Jervyn's Clasp
- Jervyn's Clasp
- Jervyn's Clasp
- Jervyn's Clasp
- Jervyn's Clasp
- Jervyn's Clasp
- Jervyn's Clasp
- Jim Drain
- Jimmy Olsen
- JJB Buckmaster
- job interviews
- job interviews
- job interview tips & tricks
- jobs
- jobs and job interviews
- jobs and money
- jobs where you have to cover up your tattoos vs jobs where you don't
- John Cage
- John Cage
- Johnson banana plugs
- jokes
- Joris-Karl Huysmans
- Jo's grandma's dish "spaghetti on the platter"
- journaling strategies
- Julian Jaynes
- Julian Jaynes and the bicameral mind
- Jung
- junk stores
- Kamandi
- Kansas
- karaoke
- Kathy
- Keith Fullerton Whitman (we love him)
- Kelley Square in Worcester
- kids
- kids
- kids books (especially "Sweet Pickles")
- Kirby (video game character)
- kittens
- knitting machines
- knives
- knolling
- Knolling
- Krazy Kat
- Kryon (new age book series)
- lap steel guitar
- large bands (7 or more members)
- LARPing
- Lauren Pakradooni
- Lazy Magnet
- learning an instrument
- learning things
- learning your instrument
- legacy software
- Lent
- Les Rallizes Dénudés
- L'iat (arts collective)
- light
- lists
- Little Andrew
- Little Richard
- living in a small town
- living in Marfa before and after Instagram
- living in New York City
- loop-based media
- loop pedals
- loving a place that sort of sucks
- low-income housing developement in Providence
- Lynda Barry
- Lynda Barry
- Lynda Barry
- magic
- Maiden (Iron)
- maintaining the mystery
- making 10,000 drawings
- making a bad first issue
- making big prints
- making books
- making decisions
- making movies
- Mallard Fillmore (right-wing cartoon duck)
- Mamma Mia (film)
- many topics related to the idea of "a mansion full of trash"
- marble runs
- Marcel Duchamp
- Marc Fischer
- Mass MOCA
- mastery as breaking free of the closed path of skill
- materials
- "materials research"
- Matt Z
- Matt Z
- Max/MSP problems
- memory
- memory
- mental health
- merch ideas
- metal
- metal
- MFA pros and cons
- micata and other forms of DIY agate
- Mick Barr projects
- mid-century gothic furniture
- mill living
- mills in Providence
- mold making
- money and grants
- monster trucks
- Morbid Angel
- Mothers News
- movies
- moving
- moving
- much more
- mueseum wall text (aka "the tombstone")
- mugs
- mugs
- M.U.S.C.L.E. (toys)
- museum curation
- museums
- museums that focus on conteporary art vs museums that try to energize their existing collection
- music
- music
- music
- music
- music in general
- music recording
- my Bill Griffith hiring story
- my desk idea
- my fake blog
- my favorite podcast "Re:Joyce"
- my favorite vine (mathm-mathematics)
- my John Williams story
- mysteries
- Nancy
- Nancy
- needing coffee
- NeoPets
- nerds
- New Mexico
- New Mexico
- newspaper comics
- new year's
- New York City living
- Nic Collins (we love his book)
- noisefests
- noise music
- Noise Nomads
- Noise Nomads
- noise shows
- not being a snob
- notebooks
- numerology
- objects
- Ocarina Of Time
- OCD
- one-person bands (or "oners")
- open studios
- oral histories as a format
- origami (specifically the "bug wars" of the 1990s)
- other artists residencies of note
- other residencies
- our families
- our favorite astronomer Johannes Kepler
- our mutual admiration for Bosch & Bruegel
- overgrown dumps
- painting
- painting
- painting
- PaperRad
- parents
- parties vs shows
- patterns
- paying what you can
- Pearl Pony
- Pearl Pony
- Penguin Classics and other publishers who do reprints
- pen pals
- people moving away
- perception
- performance
- peristalsis not catharsis
- peristalsis not catharsis
- Peter Blasser (he's great)
- pets (dogs specifically)
- Phillip Glass
- photography
- Pittsburgh
- planting the seeds for a new generation of wingnuts
- plants
- playfulness in density of a creative work
- playing drums
- playing music
- playing music as a useful spiritual exercise
- playing music in a band
- playing music in libraries
- playing shows
- plays and comedy
- poetry
- poetry
- ponds and lakes
- POOL (band)
- pottery
- precision
- printmaking
- print making
- projects
- promoters
- Providence drivers
- Providence underground venue history
- pseudonyms
- publishing
- Pumpkin Belly
- Pythagorus
- quicksand fetishists
- quilting
- quilting
- quilting
- radioactive worms
- real estate
- real estate
- Reba
- recent experiences at a residency in Germany
- recording
- regional hardware store styles
- reindeer tattoo
- REM
- renovating "the Wedding Cake House"
- residencies
- Rhode Island developement / gentrification
- Rhode Island drivers
- rice cookers
- Richard Scarry (we love him)
- riding bikes
- RI drivers
- roads
- roadside attractions
- Robert Bringhurst's "The Elements Of Typographic Style" (a book we both love)
- robotfindskitten
- Rochester Teen Set Outsider
- rock climbing
- rugs and rug-making
- running a business that hinges on your art
- running a freaky deaky newspaper
- running a successful (or not-abyssmal) post-presentation question and answer session
- running live video at music shows
- Russian Tsarlag (he's great)
- sailing for a long period of time without seeing land
- saints
- Salieri
- Sammo Hung
- Sanbutsu-ji temple in Tottori Japan
- Saturnalia and other similar pressure release holidays
- scaling up a project
- scary movies
- science fiction
- science in general
- scoring a movie
- Scriabin
- seasonal artworks
- seeking perfection in art
- self-discipline
- selling ads
- sewing
- shacks
- Shakers and the Shaker museum
- sharing food
- shoehorning an arts pracitce into the format of a band
- shoplifting
- short stories vs novels
- shoveling
- show caves
- show caves
- show caves of America
- show venue
- singing
- Sir Richard Burton
- Sister Corita Kent
- Sister Corita Kent
- Sister Corita Kent
- skateboarding (neither of us skate)
- sketchbook methods
- sketchbooks
- sketchbooks
- sketchbooks
- sketchbooks and sketchbook strategies
- sketchbook strategies
- sketchbook styles
- Slayer
- slime
- small birds
- small museums
- small museums and varying approaches to curation
- small town hardcore scenes
- snakes in movies
- songwriting
- sound collage
- soup and rice (the meal)
- Space Academy 123
- space dogs (dogs that have been to space)
- Spencer's Gifts
- spooky narratives involving a cello
- stage tricks
- stairs
- stamps
- stamps and stamp collecting
- starting with the chorus
- staying nervous
- Steven King
- Steven King
- stickers
- stockpiling materials
- strategies for overcoming these difficulties
- strategies of lyric writing
- strategies of running a junk store
- strategies of waking up
- strawberries
- structures of collaborative groups or two or more
- studio setup
- studio spaces
- studio strategies
- studio visits
- stuffed animals
- sugar (we love it)
- Sun Ra
- Sun Ra
- surf movies
- swimming
- synthesizers
- synthesizers in general
- synth pop
- synth pop
- systems
- Table Talk Pies
- taking the bus
- taking time off
- taking time off from shows
- talking to cops
- tattooing
- tattooing
- Tattoos
- teachers of influence
- teaching
- teaching
- teaching adults to regain the childmind
- teaching people how to figure things out vs teaching them how to do something
- Temporary Services
- terrible zines
- Texas
- that old chestnut "upcoming projects"
- that sour taste I hate that's sometimes in Good coffee
- the 48 Hour Film Fest
- the 76ers
- the Anthony Brazton interview where he says "Garfield Goose"
- the Bach marathon
- the Backwards Business Model of the band Bone Zone
- the band Bone Zone and their BBM or Backwards Business Model
- the Battlechess Duck
- the beach
- the Beach Boys
- the beauty of hand-painted signs
- the beginning of my newspaper project Mothers News
- the benefit of growing up in a small town (knowing you have to leave as soon as possible)
- the benefits and drawbacks of working pseudonymously and anonymously
- the benefits of a shitty events space
- the benefits of operating under a strict ruleset for a period of time
- the benefits of the humble daiquari
- the Ben Jones riff about "logical, sustainable, self-perpetuating, scalable"
- the Body
- the book publishing world
- "the Caravaggio effect" of an artist's stardom reflected in their subject's eyes
- the caves at Lascaux in France
- the children's book industry
- the coterie of recent Providence ex-pats living in New York City
- the dangers of having a barn you can fill up with crap that you might need for a project (aka "yankee clutter")
- the delight of buying new tools for a new project
- the desire for a mentor
- the desire to have a uniform
- the difference between Fred Astaire and Gene Kelley
- the difference between Pokemon and Digimon
- the difficulties in starting a band
- the difficulties of collaborating
- the difficulties of getting started
- the difficulties of naming a band
- the Dirt Palace
- the Dungeoneers
- the economics of the one-person band
- the endless frustration of applying for grants
- the Etsy dilemma of porting all your creative output to sellable knickknacks
- the Exorcist (movie)
- the films of Peter Greenaway
- the Foxfire series of books
- the frustration of being on a grants panel
- the function of obscurity-security in underground spaces
- the gallery/studio space The Wurks
- The Garbage Pail Kids Movie
- the ghoulish rich (all)
- the global utility of poison ivy and mosquitos
- the goal of "staying loose" in drawing and other creative pursuits
- the Grateful Dead
- the great benefit of being exposed to underground art while you're young
- the Hanshin Tigers
- the head-heart-hand relationship in artistic production
- the health benefits of cold water
- the human body
- the idea of artistic purity
- the idea of confident ineptitude in performance as an aspect of gendered priveledge
- the idea of developing a vocabulary as an improvisor
- the idea of living on an island
- the idea of the masterpiece
- the idea of "the other side of the gift"
- the idea of the time cone
- the idea of "the Worm"
- the idea that Jazz continued the advancement of harmony after Western classical moved to Serialism
- the importance of a good handshake
- the intricacies of having a band where everyone plays tapes
- the Italian concept of "sprezzatura"
- the Jazz idiom
- The Joan Zone
- the joy of living in a busy household
- the joy of taking something apart to see how it works
- the joys of jamming with a small group
- the Karpman drama triangle
- the kind of famous you are when you work at a coffee shop or restaurant
- the kind of movie you watch on the plane
- the king of flatland
- the kitchen store
- the Lakota concept of the Heyoka
- the LA scene for music shows
- "the law of the briny deep"
- the left-hand path
- the "Life After People" TV show
- the long New England winter
- the majestic blue whale
- the Minutemen concept of "shows and flyers"
- the Missoula Oblongata
- the mistake of checking the stats on your account
- the movie "Rocky" (first one only)
- the Mr Rogers movie
- the mummy at the RISD Museum
- the new upcoming printing studio in Providence
- the New Wave Of Dinky Synthesizers
- the nice feeling of coding your own website from scratch
- the Noguchi museum in Queens
- the nuts-and-bolts industry side of making music in the genres of noise and (for lack of a better term I'll just say) industrial
- The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind
- the Pareto Principle (also known as the 80/20 rule)
- the poetry-writing idea of "the speaker"
- the practical mystery of music
- the problem of naming a band
- the problem of the lettter writing debt spiral
- the problems and benefits of pricing artwork low
- The Process
- the process of building up an artwork and then excavating
- the pros and cons of touring a lot
- the pros and cons of trying to make something happen in an area where not much is happening
- the QTZ Zine fest
- "The Queer Art Of Failure" (book)
- the quilts of Gee's Bend
- the radio
- the Ramones
- the Ramones
- the recent New Yorker piece about a pathological liar
- the residency program
- the residency program itself
- the Robert Bringhurst book "Elements of Typographic Style"
- the role of art in society
- the romantic idea of living in a hotel for a period of time while you work on a novel
- the Sagan "Pale Blue Dot" riff
- the satisfaction of making something for someone else
- the satisfaction of training your hand to do something in absence of your conscious mind
- the Saturn return
- the Sci Fi Marathon
- the Shirelles
- thesis writing
- the spiritual utility of music
- the spiritual utility of playing music
- the story about Annapurna's dad and Jan from Jansport
- the story about emperor who wants a drawing of a frog
- the strong benefits of Shitting Or Getting Off The Pot (regarding artistic production with a strong emphasis on Just Shit It Out)
- the Surrealists
- the Surrealists and their love of group photos
- the Tarot
- the team dynamics of Wu Tang
- the Tenor Saw song "Pumpkin Belly"
- the Toynbee Tiles
- the trend towards killing time in contemporary craft
- the upcoming "Bach To The Future" 12 hour Bach event
- the value of a lackluster cultural product that demonstrates a possibility and nothing more
- the varying needs of different types of record labels
- the way deadlines force you to shit out an imperfect thing that's sometimes better than the belabored thing
- the way of the kitten
- the way of writing where you excavate an area
- the ways people listen to music
- the YMCA
- thinking of global capitalism as an artificial intelligence let loose on the planet
- this residency
- this residency
- this residency program
- throwing rocks at water
- tom Sachs
- touring
- touring and merching with bands
- touring in Europe
- townies
- traveling
- tricks and their uses
- Trivial Pursuit
- trying to let yourself do things the easy way
- turtles
- upcoming gigs
- upcoming painting projects
- upcoming plans and projects
- upcoming projects
- upcoming projects
- upcoming projects
- use and avoidance of cliche
- use of color in Japanese kimonos
- using the tools at hand rather than pining for the perfect toolset
- video games
- video games
- wabi-sabi
- Wandelweiser group
- watching movies over and over again
- web design as folk art
- websites
- weird dudes
- weird rooms in the hospital
- Wendy Carlos
- Wendy Carlos
- Wendy Carlos
- what happened to the Ms Pacman at White Electric
- what I call "the basement and the tower"- the feelings of inadequacy on both sides of the underground / academia divide
- what is special about a conversation
- what is success in the arts
- what "social studies" really means as a school subject
- what's the good kind of thermos
- what time authors wake up
- what time do shows start
- what we want from a scene
- when a band's name is an acronym (Satan Laughs As You Eternally Rot)
- when a big project ends and you get to have no plans
- when a forest reclaims a road
- when a journal feels too nice to write in
- when a kid is a dinosaur savant and knows everything about dinosaurs
- when an activity has a "dollhouse vibe"
- when an artist has a non-main pursuit or sidequest
- when a religious ceremony has a physical challenge aspect
- when art gets used for a nefarious purpose
- when artists are funny (a lot of the time)
- when a storyline moves location (like the Leprechaun movies)
- when a student catches you being a normal weirdo
- when a work of art or interest has dollhouse qualities
- when people have a lousy job and that makes them take it way too seriously
- when rock climbers have a fear of ladders
- when the art is in the bathroom
- when you decide to have a bad time and then you do (which I call "tanking it")
- when you go too long without learning someone's name and you miss your window for introduction
- when you're used to doing things underground and then you deal with an organization that actually has money
- when your work has a creative aspect and then after work you don't want to be creative you just want to play video games
- when you work a job that has one or more weird regular customers
- where to eat lunch in downtown Providence (nowhere)
- whether the defining thing about nerds is that they love rules or if it's more that they love stats
- which city is Metropolis and which city is Gotham
- why New England has a stronger ghost vibe than other places in the US
- Wikipedia
- "wood guys"
- Worcester
- Worcester MA
- work
- working a job where your empathy is leveraged against you
- working as an artists assistant
- working at the museum
- working groups
- working in a museum setting
- working in a record store
- working in Hollywood
- working in restaurants
- working in the fast-paced world of window displays
- working with fabric
- writing
- writing
- writing
- writing
- writing fiction
- writing newsletters
- writing songs
- yarn
- Yello (band)
- yoga
- your friend's basement
- youtube
- youtubes
- Youtubes and sharing vids
- Yukio Mishima
- Zen
- zine libraries
return to CTRI Innovations residency homepage