Linda Weintraub

At first, the packet from Linda Weintraub’s book was a little daunting to pick up and start reading because it was so big! However, once I started reading it, it was quite interesting. I really liked that way she organized her thoughts into smaller sections instead of one huge body of writing. I’m not a huge reader and this made reading the packet a lot more enjoyable and easy to follow.

Brandon Ballengee is one of the artists that Weintraub talks about and I thought his ideas of “love motels” for bugs were so cute! I’m not in the insect group for the community garden project, but I think they should look into Ballengee’s work for some inspiration.

At Linda’s lecture, she talked about many more interesting artists. She started with Spencer Tunick who photographed 600 naked humans on top of glaciers in Switzerland. These glaciers are being radically affected by global warming – hence the humans being naked without freezing to death. I thought this was a very interesting and unique way to convey the message of global warming awareness.

Linda talked about the Austrian Art Collective who created the giant pick bunny rabbit that is made up entirely of biodegradable materials. The group is focusing in decay and how the environment naturally recycles itself. They question the idea of  “appealing” with the cute pink bunny, and “repulsive” with the process of letting it decompose and be eaten by the creatures around it.

My two favorite projects Linda talked about were the “Disembodied Cusine” project and the “Repainted Painted Trees” project. It’s funny to me that these were my favorites because the first was the most in-depth and complicated one she discussed and the second is the simplest project she discussed. The “Disembodied Cusine” project is exploring the idea of creating edible meat without the environmental effects of animal waste. The team of scientists collect muscle cells from animals and literally grow their own steaks! The part that really blew my mind was when she said they are trying to figure out a way to exercise the meat cells so that they become muscular instead of just floppy meat. If this research ever goes into effect, the meat industry is going to drastically change! So many farmers would be out of work and the population of livestock would decrease immensely. Pretty crazy to think about.

The “Repainted Painted Trees” project was done by a woman names Shai Zakai. She lives in an area inhabited heavily by trees. One day, she noticed men from the city walking around her house painting bright orange “X’s” on the trees they wanted to be chopped down. After the men left, Zakai went out and painted over the “X’s” to make it look like regular bark again. Sure enough, the workers didn’t cut down the trees! I loved this project because its so simble and beautiful and anyone could do something like this. It’s a breath of fresh air when people stand up to the government about things like this. Its also a reminder that everyone can leave their mark and help the environment in little ways as well as big ways.