This is Not Art
I went to a bit of This Is Just Not Art yesterday.
In particular I went for the Zine Fair, which was supposed to be in Civic Park. It wasn't - instead it was in one of the buildings in the Honey Suckle area. I bought all of $9 worth of zines there. Didn't stay too long, mostly because I really don't like the enclosed space and humdrum of the crowd. I find it hard to stave off a panic attack if I stay there too long. Also though, pretty much same ol' stuff, and there seemed less to interest me there.
I also happen to meet Mitch there who's doing some photo/video work for the festival. I mentioned my Masters and in particular my research project (The Art of the Transformed Self: real and virtual art reflecting gender transition) and she immediately suggested Second Life. Apart from my boarder Kevin (who got interested only after I showed it to him) this is the first person that I've already known (and met) in real life that's in SL (as Misha Seetan)! It was also good to see her anyway. I met Kim on Thursday when I went in with Kevin and Michelle for the opening ceremony.
Otherwise, I haven't bothered much with this year's TINA. I tried going to one talk before the fair, but the speaker (who was talking about her installations in Watt Space) had just cut one set of slides, spoke in a quiet (and hard to hear) voice, and there was no air-conditioning on. Other than that, I also went to Save Our Souls - a panel about focussing and organising one's time. That was good, and I did get something out of it (see next post). I also helped (I hope) someone there called Greg, who's been having panic attacks of late.
Next year's might be different. Part of my masters project will be testing the techniques I intend to use in the graphic novels by sampling them at TINA. I think also, I might convert some of my web comics to print format as well. Might make a big difference as far as the interest I have in the festival.