All times and seasons at once, a screengrab from Google Satellite of a piece of the Rockies in Colorado.

Every Time At Once
Since I’m all about Google Maps these days: I found the above image while doing a bit of research for a book project I’m working on. It’s a screengrab of an area in the San Juan National Forest, north of Durango, Colo. The area was clearly photographed over different periods, creating this wild juxtaposition of seasons and times. The whole thing reminded me of Joanne McNeil’s essay, Overfutured, in which she discusses the way in which the internet can appear to scramble our sense of chronology.

Art and Social Media
Paddy Johnson and Hrag Vartanian have a debate going on about the merits — or lack thereof — of recent art incorporating social media. I’m with Hrag on the fact that Paddy’s initial critique in L Magazine could have been a bit more nuanced, that there’s a difference between art that is made for a social media platform and art that merely utilizes social media as part of a larger concept. That said, I’m with Paddy on the fact that a lot of projects that have been presented have been less than compelling.

To be fair, I have not participated in many of these (because, well, they’re just not very compelling), so it’s difficult to judge. But I did become involved with was Man Bartlett’s #24hEcho at PPOW last year — in which he read aloud Tweets sent to him over a 24-hour period. Certainly, if you just look at the Twitter piece of it, it is pretty banal. But there was something gripping about hearing my words echoed back at me over the internet in real time. It was like being in the car with my little sister, when she would repeat every last thing I said — an intriguing/annoying one-sided non-dialogue that was slightly unnerving. (For the record: I sent him Journey lyrics.)

Paddy has a more thought-out follow-up at Art Fag City. Particularly insightful are the comments about our “like”-happy culture. Definitely worth reading…

Update: Hyperallergic responds to the response. In terms of our “like”-happy culture, I agree, this is not just the province of social media (as Jim Poniewozik writes, in reference to TV). But when social media applications are built around nothing but “like” and “plus” and “favorite” — these types of somewhat fawning judgments are encouraged.

Random Linkage

• The BBC on the expense and effort required to graffiti-proof public works of art. Which makes me think that maybe public works of art should be built with ephemerality in mind, because does any community need to be saddled with one sculptor’s “genius” forever? Would be more environmental, too… (@KnightLAT.)
• Spiral Jetty Hijinks: Greg Allen, of greg.org, has formed a non-profit and submitted an application to win the lease for Robert Smithson’s work of land art. The Dia is probably feeling seriously flat-footed right about now. More here.
• Not sure how I missed this: A piece from Studio 360 on visualizing the Civil War — discussing works by Winslow Homer and Mathew Brady.
• An interesting talk by MIT’s  Sherry Turkle on the impact of technology on our lives.
• Christopher Knight theorizes on why Warhol painted soup. Interesting read.
• Really, really digging all the great L.A.-centric stuff I’ve been finding on East of Borneo.
• A lovely photo essay by Matt Black on a rural Mixtec village in Mexico.
• Brazil’s adaptive football fields.
• ZOMG: Klimt Barbie. Hyperallergic imagines five others. My suggestions: Ana Mendieta Barbie (I mean, seriously), Senga Nengudi Barbie, and Patssi Valdez/Asco Barbie. ‘Cuz those bitches would be fierce.
• Dial-Up modem sound, 700% slower. To which I add 12 hours of white noise. Duuuuuuuude.
• Because I’m so Society: I made Manhattan Mag’s Twitter list (p. 46), along with @MuseumNerd and @NYArtBeat — and, most importantly, @patkiernan of NY1. In the papers!!!!!