Artbot's Taste in Film

Artbot loves the Far North. If anyone hears of human children in the Arctic in need of an Artbot, please let the Artbot know ASAP.
Artbot likes films in the Inuktituk language. Human Chicagoans can see The Necessities of Life at the Gene Siskel Film center on Friday, April 3. One night only!! Artbot will be there.
Humans may also rent The Fast Runner at their convenience. http://www.atanarjuat.com/
Both films star Natar Ungalaaq

Artbot Becomes a Star

Finally, Artbot stars in a film.
Supporting cast: P. Freire and Miss Gordon.

Absolutely Definitely

Place the human children in large elephantine costumes.
Do that, Pros Arts! Artbot approves of your methods!

What a mess!

First off, Artbot loves people who "create the space to remix categories." Hell, yes.
Those who "embrace creativity as an action without thought of profit!"
This makes Artbot's circuits feel warm.
Artbot doesn't like the fact that ascertaining exactly what Mess Hall is is a thoroughly postmodern adventure. All robots hate postmodernism. Regardless, the site seems to reflect the people in organization and design. You have to get your hands (claw) dirty searching through the site for meaning and answers. You have to dig. Web sites don't always have to be so clean and streamlined. Mess Hall's web site has not been updated recently, but it is trying to remix the categories on the web.
Continue on, Mess Hall! Artbot gives your site a grade of A.
Artbot Mood: Circuits warm like apple pie.

Chicago Art Dept. Web Site

Artbot loves arts organizations that have astrological signs. Chicago Art Department is a proud Capricorn, as stated on the myspace page. Golly gee, Artbot likes the sound of this band of human adults who seem to exhibit art,band together for classes, and organize artsy trips. Artbot may travel to NYC with these humans to take Polaroids of the city. I hope they have a robot-claw-friendly Polaroid camera.
The web site: www.chicagoartdepartment.org
It is quite a dandy. Artbot found it aesthetically pleasing. Nice, hip backgrounds. Straightforward and organized, too. Artbot never became frustrated while investigating this site, including links to youtube and myspace.
Artbot is starting to wonder... does Artbot's mood impact Artbot's web site reviews? Artbot has been programmed with moods and the need for sleep. This helps Artbot to empathize with human children.
CAD Site Grade: B+
Artbot Mood: Sleepy/Content

Artbot Visited the MCA, too!

Buckminster Fuller is on display.

Artbot Visited the Children's Museum

Artbot worked with a human child to depict the experience of the Chicago Children's Museum.

threewalls Content Apology

Artbot apologizes for being so hard on threewalls. Artbot is not Artbot's self on Mondays.
The content of the site is, indeed, quite juicy. Artbot likes what Artbot has seen about Holle Cambodia. Also, Artbot is sad to have missed the exhbition including Scott August's work (see above.)
threewalls web site content grade: 2 Claws UP

Artbot Event at School of the Art Institute

Come one! Come all! Artbot will be presenting the MAT thesis proposal of Mary Serbe on Friday, March 20 at 10:30 AM. The secret location is still TBA.
Artbot is responsible for the PowerPoint Presentation! Artbot will also answer all questions from a human panel of professors. There will be beer, hot pretzels, deep-fried pork chops, cornbread stuffing, nopalitas, and a cake made of flan, chocolate cake, and caramel topping. Be there or be square (like the Artbot!)

threewalls

Hello threewalls web site! First off, Artbot will click on the prominently featured photos... Artbot can't click on those. What the monkey??? Mondays are hard on Artbot, and this has just made Artbot's day a tiny bit harder.
Artbot checked out the website a bit more. Not always what it seems. For example, SOLO/exhibitions tells you how to apply to the SOLO program and exhibit your work. Anyone new to the site, like Artbot, is looking for info on past and current exhibitions. Confusing?
Threewalls projects only lists one project. Why not just make that the title of the link?
Artbot does like that long plank of wood down the left side of the page. Nice menu idea.
Artbot must rest soon. Must enter sleep mode soon.
Grade: C- (but Artbot feels they have the potential to improve and supports their work with humans)

The MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) Chicago!

Artbot will soon be rolling into the MCA museum. To prepare, Artbot has been perusing the web site. Well... gee... It's a lot like many museum sites, except that it's kinda ugly.
That big black horizontal line across the top. Who made that design decision?
Also, why does the Buckminster Fuller section look totally disengaged from the rest of the site? Disjointed. I mean, the Noguchi Museum in Queens was able to pull off adding Buckminster Fuller to their web site when they featured his work.
The MCA is trying to mix simple, sleek elegance with a lot of hip things happening at once. Artbot thinks that they have to choose just one of those approaches. Perhaps they can base their site on Artbot's design. Warning: Artbot has copyrighted Artbot's design.

Storycorps Makes Artbot Cry

Storycorps..sniff.

The ink is black, the page is white...

Who remembers that song? It reminds Artbot of the Area Chicago website.

I Artbot, Therefore I Am

Is it because Artbot is a robot that Artbot likes these sparse homepages? The solid yellow. The simple text. Yes, Artbot likes this. Although Artbot questions why humans would create a link that says "Click here to visit the Creative Audio Archive site." Needless and repetitive human web designers. Very 2002.

Hmmm. Artbot can peruse the sound archives. Artbot thought there would be links. No links, but sometimes the humans need an online listing as a first step. Artbot assumes that there will be links to short sound clips in the future.

Artbot has worked with the Rockefeller Archive Center in the past. Based on that experience, Artbot sees how this site is totally in line with the mindset of a human archiver. Human archivers are mindful of things that Artbots and tech-obsessed humans forget. Here's the big thing: If everything is available primarily in an electronic format, it is possible for all this information to be lost, even if it is backed up. Human archivers keep the hard copies or microfiche. (Artbot is not kidding.) They also make it possible for an Artbot to research in the classic sense - in a room full of precious documents, turning pages with a white glove on Artbot's claw. Artbot respects this. There are no Archivebots. It is a job for the most human of the humans.

Wanna Learn Some PowerPoint y'all?

David Byrne (of Talking Heads fame) will tell you how. He uses it as ART.
Artbot saw David Byrne give a live PowerPoint presentation at NYU back in the day. It totally rewired Artbot's circuits.

Artbot Learns to Teach with PowerPoint

Dear Mr Ray Yang,
Artbot suggests that next semester, you require that human students create a PowerPoint presentation on this Digital Literacy link. (Artbot loves the irony of this since Artbot's funny bone is made of iron. Ha ha! Artbot Pun!) (Just kidding, Mr. Ray Yang!)
Artbot thinks the presentation of the treatment of PowerPoint as a vehicle for teacher and student presentations is straightforward and nicely tongue in cheek. The quizzes are trippy, too. Check out this quiz.
Nice treatment of the subject matter. This site is a different in the fact that it seems not to be promoting an organization, business, etc. It's a site with something to say, and Artbot likes how they say it.
Ah, what the hell, Artbot also gives this site an A for Artbot.

What is the Stockyard Institute?

Artbot hearts the way that the Stockyard Institute puts it front and center. This is who we are, now you go deal with it. Artbot has never seen an organization convey its purpose so succinctly on the home page.
They're friends with AREA Chicago!!!
The projects portion of the Stockyard Institute web site gives concise overviews of the many many intensely community-based art projects that they do with Chicago youth. The organization is new to Artbot and seems outstanding. A great resource for Artbots.
The web site does so much more with less (in the vein of Google). Succinct, visually straightforward. Excellente. Control Machete.
Stockyard Institute Web Site gets an A (for Artbot).

Extra Credit Points for nice delicious link.