By Sydney

Hi everyone!

Fantasy IRL has finally come off the gallery walls.  Thanks to all of you that helped us out through the process of this long, long project.  We couldn’t have done it without you guys!

Shannon Ebner
Julia Paull
Sharon Lockhart
Charlie White
Erika Vogt
Britt Salveson
A.L. Steiner
Morgan Cuppet
Nikhil Murthy
Matthew Horne
Alex Paxton
Alice Li
Amanda Egle
Mary Jane Strand
Stephanie Petit-Dizon
Kristy Mercurio
Caitlin Disney
Meredith Bayse
Justene Vargas
Nikole Zivalich
Joey Dizon
AJ Smith

And to anyone who came out and participated in shoots!!

We also thank our families for their constant support over the past year.

By Sydney

Our show is close to opening!  We’ll be at the Helen Lindhurst Fine Arts Gallery at the University of Southern California campus from April 26 to May 14, 2010.  The official opening reception will be held on May 3rd from 5-8pm in the gallery.  Please stop by for a night of food, drinks, music and art!

By Sydney

Production still from my latest video shoot. I’ll post the final cut once I’m done editing.

By Sydney

We’ve been planning for a while to do some sort of a photo shoot with the Mutato Muzika building on Sunset.  Senna’s idea was to paint ourselves like alien girls and hang out outside the building since it already kind of looks like a space ship.  So a couple weeks ago we spent 5 hours (badly) painting our bodies blue and had our friend Caitlin drive us over the Mutato to snap some shots.  I was concerned that the people inside the building weren’t going to allow us to shoot outside of it if they happened to notice us but Senna was convinced that it was an empty building.  I knew that it was most definitely NOT empty and that it was actually a recording studio used by certain members of a certain one of my favorite bands EVER, Devo.

We had just started shooting outside some of their windows when I noticed blinds moving.  I thought, “Shit, shit, shit.  They’re going to come out and tell us that we can’t shoot in front of their building.”  But several minutes passed by and no one came out.  We nervously continued to take our photos.  Finally a guy came out from behind the building WITH  ENERGY DOMES and asked us if we would take pictures wearing them.  So I pretty much lept toward him and said “YES.”

Johnny Brewton, thanks for being so nice to us.  We’ll stop by with photos for you guys real soon.

By Sydney

Shortly after  Apocalypse WOW! opened at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, we had another group show open at Monte Vista Projects in Highland Park called Hey Man, You’re Saved.  I don’t have any shots of Senna’s work on me but here are some installation shots of my piece for the show.  You can listen to the sound piece here or read my artist statement.

Tron (Standard Upright Cabinet), Developed and Distributed by Bally Midway, 1982, 2009.

Some Southern California Arcades, post card, 4 x 6 inches, 2009.

Front of Card

Back of Card

Shot of Tron from outside of the gallery

By Sydney

Last month, Senna and I were in an exhibition called Apocalypse WOW! at the Pacific Design Center. It’s not up anymore but here are some installation photos…

Works by Senna Chen

Works by Sydney Mills

By Sydney

Here’s what I’ve been doing lately instead of going to conventions.

Still trying to locate arcades and cyber cafes in the Southern California/Los Angeles area.  Found a few with the help of a couple people on Twitter (you know who you are, thanks guys!).  I’ll be visiting them throughout the week, recording sound and taking photographs.  I’ve got a big critique and meetings all next week about what I (and Senna) have done so far and it’s kind of scary.

I’ve also been gathering a ridiculous amount of potential research in the various notebooks I carry around with me.  In a lot of cases I read/seen a little bit of it before but need to go back and revisit it.  In other cases it’s completely new.  Whatever the case may be, I’m basically way behind in my research and I really need to catch up.  There’s just so much to do.  It’s killing me.  Here’s a list of what I can think of right now (though I’m constantly finding other stuff).

Critical Theory/Novels/Short Stories:
Terminal Identity: The Virtual Subject of Postmodern Science Fiction/ Scott Bukatman
Archeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions/ Fredric Jameson
Digital Shock: Confronting the New Reality/ Herve Fischer
Science Fiction Fandom/ Joe Sanders
Alien Zone/ Annette Kuhn
Storm Warnings: Science Fiction Confronts the Future/Slusser, Greenland & Rabkin
Histories of the Future: Studies in Fact, Fantasy and Science Fiction/ Alan Sandison & Robert Dingley
Full Metal Apache: Transactions Between Cyberpunk Japan and Avant-Pop America/ Takayuki Tatsumi
Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature/ Donna Haraway
Technophobia: Science Fiction Visions of Postmodern Technology/ Daniel Dinello
Media, Modernity and Technology/ David Morley
Mechademia 2: Networks of Desire/ Frenchy Lunning
Screening Space: The American Science Fiction Film/ Vivian Sobchack
Virtual Ethnography/ Christine Hine
Anti Oedipus/ Deleuze & Guattari
A Little Piece of Real/ Slovaj Zizek
Digital Culture/Charlie Gere
Empire of Signs/ Roland Barthes
Noise, Water, Meat: A History of Sound in the Arts/ Douglas Kahn
The Futurist Moment: Avant-Garde, Avant Guerre, and the Language of Rupture/ Marjorie Perloff
The Uncanny/ Sigmund Freud
“The Metropolis and Mental Life”/ Georg Simmel
“Overdrawn at the Memory Bank”/ John Varley
“Caves of Steel” and “Foundation” by Isaac Asimov
We/ Yevgeny Zamyatin

Artists/Artist Books:
Futurism and Photography
Chris Foss
Douglas Gordon
Trisha Donally
Duane Michals
Hakim Bey- T.A.Z.
Liz Deschenes
Cory Arcangel
Paul Chan
Bjorn Melhus
Stephen Vitiello
Jen Boyd
Stelarc

Other:
Métal Hurlant/Heavy Metal Magazine
How to build a theremin
How to make a contact microphone
Watch Just Imagine
Watch Looking Backward
Watch Brainstorm

By Sydney

We’ve taken a break from the convention circuit and are trying to focus on making work for the exhibitions we’re set to be in over the next year. (There are three of them so far!)

Right now, for research purposes, I’m looking for internet/cyber cafes and arcades in Los Angeles. I’m having a hard time finding ones that I don’t already know about and I actually haven’t been able to find out about many news ones through the internet. Does anyone have any suggestions? As far as the aesthetic, think dark, grungy, punky looking cafes and bright, sensory-overloading arcades.  If you know of any, let me know at sydney@fantasyirl.net. Thanks!

By Sydney

Got back from the Official Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas last night and we’re hoping to get pictures up soon. Keep checking back for updates! It usually takes about a week for us to put them up.

If we asked you to contact one of us about a possible interview, feel free to send me an email at sydney [@] fantsyirl [.] net. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

(Photos via Digital Journal)

By Sydney

This weekend, Friday thru Sunday, we’ll be in Vegas for Creation Entertainment’s Official Star Trek Convention. We’re trying to land some interviews with some of the talent that will be there. In the future, there will be a section of this website for the interviews we conduct as research for this project. Cross your fingers for us!