Creativity

Awareness / Blog / Creativity / Leadership

Srikumar Rao’s talk follow-up: deep discounts on January’s class

To follow up the talk I organized for Srikumar Rao, Srikumar's business manager offered deep discounts (almost half price) for members of the Columbia Business School alumni club (anyone can join, whether they went there or not) to take the New York session of his course, Creativity and Personal Mastery (CPM). Having taken it about four years ago, I recommend the course without reservation. Click here for a pdf with more information on dates, logistics, costs, and an overview. Quoting from the brochure: Dates are as follows for the New York Spring 2012 CPM Class Session #1: January 27th, 28th and 29th, 2012 Session #2: March 2nd 3rd and 4th, 2012 Session #3: March 30th, 31st and April 1st, 2012 Reserve Dates: April 13th, 14th…

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December 21, 2011
“Elements” — Special viewing of my art December 10, 8-10pm
Art / Creativity

“Elements” — Special viewing of my art December 10, 8-10pm

Please join us for a special viewing of Elements Artwork by Joshua Spodek at District 36 If you missed my show at Crossing Art Gallery in June, this will be your first chance to see my new series. If you've only seen my public pieces Union Square and Bryant Park, this series is on a whole other level. Plus we can have wine here. If you haven't seen it since Crobar, you've never seen anything like these pieces. RSVP to me or District 36 (at 212-244-3636). District 36 is at 29 West 36th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Stay to hear Sharam, of the Grammy-award winning duo, Deep Dish, play after. See you Saturday, December 10 at 8!

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December 6, 2011
Art / Blog / Creativity

Director of MTA Arts for Transit on Union Square in Motion

The Architectural League of New York's online magazine Urban Omnibus interviewed Sandra Bloodworth, the Director of the MTA Arts for Transit. In the article, "Arts for Transit: A Conversation with Sandra Bloodworth," she mentions Union Square in Motion, which is also shown in photograph. Considering others mentioned and pictured include Roy Lichtenstein, Sol LeWitt, and Elizabeth Murray, that's an honor. The quality and quantity of art within the MTA is probably larger than you thought. The article covers a lot about a world you pass through every day.

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November 26, 2011
Creativity / Education / Events / Leadership

See Professor Srikumar Rao at the New School December 13, 6:30pm

Anybody who knows my material knows the debt I own Srikumar Rao for how much of it derives from his work, his class Creativity and Personal Mastery, and his books Are You Ready To Succeed? and Happiness At Work. I can't recommend his material enough. Here is your chance to see him in person. I am privileged to help organize his next talk with the Columbia Business School Alumni Club (all are welcome), which will be at the New School's Kellen Auditorium, December 13 at 6:30pm. Click here to register and for more information. From the alumni club web page: Srikumar Rao: Achieve a quantum improvement in managerial and leadership ability Dr. Rao became famous for his ground breaking course in personal transformation - Creativity…

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November 15, 2011
Central Park: Sunday’s stunning explosion of autumn colors
Art / Blog / Creativity / Nature

Central Park: Sunday’s stunning explosion of autumn colors

A friend asked what site to see in New York City if she could only see one. Without hesitation I said Central Park. Thinking about it later, I thought if an alien asked what site to see on Earth if he, she, or it could only see one. I might still say Central Park. I've seen beautiful days, but none more so than Sunday, when Central Park exploded with autumn colors. Unfortunately I had only my crappy cell phone camera, but I like the pictures anyway. A nice bookend to when the explosion of spring in the park across the street from me prompted me to post pictures of it. Here's a tree quote, not that relevant to Central Park, but useful in life anyway.…

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November 15, 2011
Union Square in Motion on NY1
NY1 Interview for Union Square in Motion
Art / Blog / Creativity / My Favorite Posts

Union Square in Motion on NY1

Usually I keep the stories about art on the art page, but a two-minute news story on NY1 on Union Square in Motion gets special mention. The reporters did their research and spent time understanding the piece. Plus with the designers Coco && Breezy passing by and being interviewed, the exchange was amazing. Below is the news story and here is the link to the NY1 story online. The video features artists Jeanne Kelly and Josefina Santos, designers Coco && Breezy, and yours truly. Tina Redwine did the story for NY1. https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/NY1_USiM.mp4 New Yorkers walking through the Union Square subway station can see a temporary art exhibit that moves as the viewer moves. NY1's Transit reporter Tina Redwine filed the following report. Curiosity is the…

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November 6, 2011
Union Square in Motion NY1 Interview with designers
NY1 Interview for Union Square in Motion
Art / Creativity

Union Square in Motion NY1 Interview with designers

The scene: Friday 10am at Union Square in Motion. NY1 is interviewing Jeanne Kelly, Josefina Santos, and me. After the interviews, the NY1 crew record us watching the display. The action: While recording us, as often happens, a group of maybe ten or so riders stops to watch the display too. Among the people who stop are there particularly stylish people who show more enthusiasm and interest in the art than others. They take out their cameras to record what they see in the display. Jeanne, Josefina, and I love that the group formed. The NY1 people dug it too and started recording them. Turns out the stylish people included Coco && Breezy, among other accomplishments, featured in a recent Beyonce video and, according to…

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November 4, 2011
Flying through Shanghai
Shanghai's Bund at night viewed from an awesome restaurant after a gallery opening
Art / Creativity

Flying through Shanghai

Last summer at a Brooklyn art gallery a friend curated featuring a cityscape-like artwork, I took a camera and moved it around through the cityscape to make short movies that looked like you were flying through a city. They looked great. Unfortunately I did it with the camera of another friend, who deleted the movies. Now when I see a cityscape I like to make fly-through movies of it. Shanghai's Urban Planning Museum has a bunch of scale models of Shanghai. I couldn't help make the movies below. This time my camera battery was dying so I made them too quickly. This model is on the ground floor, near the entrance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKLtADMSunQ This model was on a wall, on an upper floor. It's smaller so…

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October 12, 2011
Union Square in Motion summary
Art / Creativity / Education

Union Square in Motion summary

Click here for all my posts on Union Square in Motion. A summary of my Union Square in Motion posts: Opening event pictures Fantastic behind-the-scenes making-of video Press and media about it Video of child viewing it Invitation to opening and map More videos Video of installation Map to find it Announcement of initial installation, pre-fine-tuning, with making-of images

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October 4, 2011
Union Square in Motion: opening event pictures
Art / Creativity / Education

Union Square in Motion: opening event pictures

Pictures from the September 26, 2011 opening of Union Square in Motion, presented by MTA Arts for Transit, Parsons the New School for Design, and us, the producers and artists. My friend with the camera left when the crowd was still building and before the reception at Parsons. I'll try to find more pictures of the festivities. EDIT: found a couple pictures of the signs posted at Parsons where they hosted the reception, but not during the reception.   In the meantime, click here for all my posts on Union Square in Motion.

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October 4, 2011
Art / Creativity / Education

Press and reviews of Union Square in Motion

Monday's opening saw some press for Union Square in Motion. Here are some links, starting with those who visited the installation or contacted us directly NY1 did a two-minute story on it, "New Artwork Best Seen In Transit Through Union Square Station" Arts for Transit's Director, Sandra Bloodworth, mentioned Union Square in Motion in an in-depth interview in Urban Omnibus, "Arts for Transit: A Conversation with Sandra Bloodworth" The Village Voice announced it ahead of time, "Union Square Subway Station Now Boasts the World's Largest Linear Digital Zoetrope" WNYC covered it, "Look | MTA Installs New Digital Underground Art Project at Union Square", including a slide show DNAinfo.com, "Students Unveil Digital Art Project in Union Square Subway Station" The New York Observer, "Union Square Subway…

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September 27, 2011
Union Square in Motion public art opening today
Art / Blog / Creativity / Education

Union Square in Motion public art opening today

Writing on my North Korea trip has been waiting while I finished my series on my Model. Now it will have to wait a few days more. Today's opening of Union Square in Motion got big, particularly after the MTA's press release and Parsons the New School for Design's post. Here is an initial video of a few children and parents seeing the display during installation. You have to come to Union Square to see what intrigued and fascinated them so much. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jxbwP6MV2I For more background, please see my art section and the sites of the other creators of the installation: Jeanne Kelly Hilal Koyuncu Rose Maison Umut Ozover Josefina Santos Anezka Sebek Jaqi Vigil As well as the MTA Arts for Transit main page…

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September 26, 2011
Video of Union Square Public Art Piece during installation
Art / Creativity

Video of Union Square Public Art Piece during installation

Here is a video of the Union Square in Motion public art piece most of the way through installation. I haven't gotten a couple of the monitors working yet, but you can see the basic display. Umut Ozover created the video, as well as helping create the art. As always, video and still images don't convey the medium like seeing it in person. So if you're in New York City, come see the display. If you're not, come to New York. Then see the display. https://youtu.be/R3xAdhrc-i8 (Directions to see Union Square in Motion)

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September 20, 2011
Finding Union Square in Motion
Union Square in Motion map
Art / Creativity / Education

Finding Union Square in Motion

Here are a map and picture showing how to find Union Square in Motion, New York City's most amazing new public art work. If you need better directions, contact me and I'll help. It's convenient to the 4,5,6,N,R,Q, and L trains, not far from the B,D,F, and M trains. Look for the subway entrance in front of Walgreens or Food Emporium, take the escalator or stairs down, and you can't miss the display. The piece is outside the subway turnstiles so you don't have to pay to see it.  

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September 19, 2011
Union Square display just up and beautiful!
Art / Creativity

Union Square display just up and beautiful!

The display looks amazing. It only took most of a year and fifteen hours today to put it up -- part of the joy of making art. That and it's much bigger, brighter, and in a higher traffic area than the Bryant Park display. People seem to love it already. (Directions to see Union Square in Motion, video of the display during installation) I have too many people to thank, but tops include my stepfather Bill, who built a major part of it, and the students whose names are on it for making beautiful images. Many people at MTA Arts for Transit (they're team players and ask not to be named individually but they should be), Parsons the New School, Submedia, and, of course our…

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September 17, 2011
Art / Blog / Creativity / Humor

The essence of creativity, as expressed by Man Ray

Why do we create and invent? Many people enjoy creating, but can't express why -- what they get out of it or what motivates them. The masters often express these things best -- mastery often requires understanding your motivations. A quote by Man Ray has stuck with me for years after first hearing it on an American Masters documentary on him. I believe it expresses a, or perhaps the, fundamental reason we create. He talks about fine art, but his answer is general. I'll let him say it best below. I'll say a bit on the matter in my words so you can see how much better he puts it. I believe we create art to express emotions words don't or can't. Any emotion is…

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August 5, 2011
Art / Blog / Creativity / Freedom

Animated Freedombox logo!

In the midst of my series on Communication Skills Exercises, yesterday I worked with the brilliant, talented, and accomplished Nina Paley -- free culture advocate, creator of Sita Sings the Blues, cartoonist of the insightful, funny, and subversive Mimi and Eunice, and friendly neighbor. We animated the Freedombox logos John Emerson and I worked on. She also does things like post blog entries titled "I am awesome," suggesting an obvious affinity for someone as awesome as I. I enjoyed the links in the reference section of Nina's Wikipedia page. Search on her and you'll find more creativity, humor, and support for spreading and sharing culture and ideas. She knew about the Freedombox project and was open to contributing. We shared ideas of how to animate…

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July 28, 2011
Blog / Creativity / Education / Nature

Fun to imagine

Has anyone ever told you you were thinking about things too much? Was it an annoying thing for them to say, perhaps dismissive? When someone says that to me I usually point out how I like to play with ideas. Ideas to me are like blocks for a kid -- I like to put them together in different ways to see what they look like together, I build structures with them, I look at them from different angles to see what they look like, I share what I've come up with with others to get their perspective, and I'm curious what other people have come up with to expand my repertoire. To me playing with ideas is fun. Someone saying I'm thinking too much is…

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July 12, 2011
Art / Creativity

New videos of my art

Here are two new videos of my art by Bill Magargal from the opening of my solo exhibit at the Crossing Art gallery. First the north wall. I think it's better than the earlier video I took and posted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMam1KRcdJw Next, one piece on the south wall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbY7jddR1D4

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July 8, 2011
Closing event for my solo show at Crossing Art gallery with Leaders in Software and Art
Joshua Spodek Closing Event Description and Details
Art / Creativity

Closing event for my solo show at Crossing Art gallery with Leaders in Software and Art

The closing event for my solo exhibition at Crossing Art gallery will be held in conjunction with Leaders in Software and Art (LISA) Thursday, July 14, beginning at 6:15pm. Details and directions are below. Both organizations are outstanding and I owe gratitude to each. I spoke at Crossing Art for my opening event last month and at LISA in February. Unlike most LISA events, which are members only, this one is open to the public. So at this event you will have not one, but four artists represented, and not only wine, but hors d'oeuvres. LISA events are incredible. They mix art, software, related media and technology, and -- most importantly -- the people behind them. The people who speak at and attend these events…

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July 7, 2011
Rock Star Dream
Continued Fraction
Awareness / Blog / Creativity / Education / Nature

Rock Star Dream

With my ability to announce my posts blocked by the Chinese government, now's my chance to indulge in a selfish post without destroying my modesty, since fewer people will find out about it. A few months ago I had the most amazing dream. It even impressed me. Somehow I dreamt about this: It's called a continued fraction. I know I'd seen the fraction before. I don't remember if anyone showed me how to solve it. I know I hadn't seen anything about it in years, maybe over a decade. The mildly rock star thing in my dream was that I realized how to solve it. I'm impressed I remembered it at all. I have no idea how my mind came to be thinking about it.…

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July 2, 2011
Art / Creativity

A review of my solo gallery show

Lillian Chan is an independent film producer and friend who has attended and recorded a couple of my seminars and now my gallery opening. After writing a few paragraphs reviewing the seminars, she reviewed my solo gallery show too.

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June 20, 2011

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