To read the transcript, please go here.
Again I asked, what's possible when a person commits to being creative? On 22 December 2010, I launched my second 350-week performance. Why 350 weeks? Because it's a challenge. I already did it once before, and a lot happens in 6.5 years. You can read about and see the results of the first 350 Rans performance by scrolling down.
This time, for 350 Rans II, instead of photos and text, the series stacks video clips in reverse-chronological order. When I’m done, sometime in June 2016, I’ll have one long video made from 350 clips. Together, they will make my Canto.
By Canto, I'm referencing Ezra Pound’s Cantos and the fact that I’m deconstructing Pound (whatever that means.) Obviously, I'm no Pound when it comes to talent, but talent's overrated and why not set the bar in the heavens? Like the first 350 Rans, I'll probably cover a lot of ground, some of which will include how our brave new world is a liberation and a curse, a cage without bars but tasty cocktails.
My Canto may also lack a defined narrative, but so it is when you noodle around and simmer the soup just for the heck of it.
Onward.
What's possible when a person commits to being creative? That's what I asked myself when I couldn’t sleep, a few months after my wife, 2 cats and I moved to Hong Kong from Montreal.
Ever been to Montreal? You may have caught a whiff of what makes that city so special. More often than not, someone's doing something that may not seem to have any real purpose. But that’s the thing about being playful… It doesn’t make sense but it matters.
On the flip side, if you’ve been to Hong Kong, maybe you experienced the buzz of purpose and ambition that makes things out here really move. People everywhere going somewhere, electricity and skyscrapers, double-decker buses and power-lunches.
Late at night on 20 February 2004 and for no reason other than to play, I walked into the bathroom with my camera, made a self-portrait and put the photo up for auction on eBay. For the title of the auction, I wrote 350 Rans.
1 Ran (me) + 350 weeks = 350 self portraits = 350 Rans.
On 28 October 2010, the game came to a close. I committed to putting myself in the creative moment at least once a week for 350 weeks, asking what would happen if I committed to being creative for a long time?
Well, sometimes I got a pretty picture. Sometimes not. Sometimes I survived something like the Boxing Day Tsunami, and sometimes, the world champion in Muay Thai kickboxing was punching me in the face. Sometimes, students in Ethiopia robbed me blind, and sometimes I was just kissing m'lady on the couch while the dogs and cats looked on. And sometimes I was dressed up like a finned shark at ground zero of the shark trade, and always, there was a shadow of where I've been.
There's a lot to see, so welcome and thank you for visiting.
+ The blog: Ran has a dot com
+ All the photos: Gallery
+ Sony commercial: Commercial
The photos on this site are available for purchase as mounted 8"x10" prints, archivally framed and mounted to last, delivered straight to your door.
Size: 8"x10"
Paper: Satin (semigloss) finish
Mounting: Acid-free board, in a protective frame, under UV-protective glass.
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