In honor of President’s Day, the History Channel tonight (February 16) is debuting Stealing Lincoln’s Body, a 2-hour documentary edited by alum Nelson Ryland [’92, Photography]. Tune in at 9pm to learn more about the 1876 plot, hatched by a band of Chicago counterfeiters, to steal Lincoln’s body and hold it for ransom.

Thanks to Steve Whitten, Director of Career Services, for sending in this news.

Sami Nerenberg ‘07 ID, adjunct faculty in Industrial Design is conducting a survey as part of her research for an upcoming risd views article on the evolving role of design and the designer and is inviting all RISD students, faculty and alumni to participate. She may use some of the survey results as quotes for her article and will keep names anonymous unless otherwise indicated on the survey. There are only nine questions, so please help Sami by sharing your perspectives on design!

» take the “Design?” survey

Being president means that you get to see many things, and you also miss seeing many things as well. Last nite there was Prof. Randy Willier’s “SHIRT SHOW” which I was sad to have not been able to attend. Luckily undergrad Aaron Perry-Zucker sent me some photos of the raucous ambience, and by doing so we can all share in experiencing what you may have missed seeing too. -JM PS Prof. Willier was one of the faculty members that participated in the special RISD Threadless series organized by artist Dustin Hostetler of Threadless.

A friend notified me that some work I designed in the past appeared on the popular series Numb3rs in the episode entitled “Sneakerhead.” The premise of this TV show is that there is a young mathematician that helps solve crimes that his detective brother cannot solve with conventional methods. In this particular episode, which I haven’t had the chance to watch but have heard this, at the very end one of the pair of shoes I designed for Reebok makes a cameo as being designed by a professor from MIT. Of course I sort of wish they said “President of RISD” but I guess there was a delay in the screenwriters knowing that I had changed employment.

When the series first came out many years ago – I recall being fascinated by the idea that mathematics could become a mainstream topic of interest. I figure implicitly the interest was reinforced by the popularity of author Michael Lewis’ bestselling book Moneyball where he showed how baseball teams were using purely statistical analysis to improve their performance on the field with great success. Nobody likes to think that numbers can determine one’s fate, and indeed they don’t. However numbers when wielded properly can help take an extremely complex picture and simplify it to make better sense.

Everyone has a crystal ball out there today. And the picture we all see individually is respectively different. What further complicates things are that the crystal balls are no different than ornamental snow globes – with the snow particles shaken vigorously and making it difficult to see. So in this landmark, devastatingly complex context of the world economy I take a degree of strength from my mathematical training from MIT and my financial skills acquired through an MBA
to help see clearer through the haze, and at the same time take even greater strength from my life experiences as an artist and designer to simplify, contextualize, and humanize our shared experience going forward.

I thank you all for continuing to come and listen to what’s happening here at our RISD, and I hope that what we are thinking and doing and dreaming and imagining can be useful to you wherever you may be at your RISD.

-JM

I watched Provost Jessie Shefrin speak with students leaders today about her concept as an artist of causing interventions as a means to get closer to the truth of a matter.

The normal way to get to a truth is to dig. And dig. And dig. This concept is known in the computer scientist’s world as “depth first search” — the problem being what happens when you dig really hard? … and don’t find anything. It’s great to be lucky sometimes, but you want to have a more reliable approach so that time is not wasted.

Provost Shefrin’s approach seems to be to find a means to turn the entire world of thought upside down. The image that comes to mind is to flip a turtle over so that the problem’s tough and impenetrable shell is exposed and becomes vulnerable. A similar approach can be found in Prof. Ken Horii pursuit of locating always what is opposite — as a means to understand the extrema for any given situation. Not only do opposites attract, but opposites also reveal the entire set of possibilities that lie inbetween.

Artists have extremely peculiar means of looking at the world that help find new relationships that most ordinary people cannot see. Certainly for that reason, the very special kind of “art thinking” learned here at RISD will increase in importance amidst the ongoing complexities we confront as a world. -JM

Providence is the biggest little city and is a natural destination for the many creative, entrepreneurial talents that sprout from our RISD. Rents are low, culture is high, and the people are extremely hard-working. Check out some of the activities we have here in our fine city. -JM

Alum Patrick Hamilton [RISD ‘86, Graphic Design] last week handily won Bloomingdale’s “Big Window Challenge,” the online contest hosted on apartmenttherapy.com in which contestants took over the flagship store’s windows and transformed them into sets with furniture from Bloomingdale’s new “Furniture on 5″ collection. Inspired by the New York nightscape, Patrick designed “The Bachelor Party,” a “chic and dramatic space that’s always party-ready [for an] uptown boy and man-about-town.” (In 2005 he also won the site’s first “Smallest Coolest Apartment Contest”.) Patrick thanks everyone for the support, encouragement, notes and votes - and we congratulate him!

Ryan Trecartin ‘04 FAV, known in art circles and on YouTube for writing, directing and acting in absurdly unhinged films like I-Be Area, is feverishly working on a new trilogy (two parts video, one part performance) for the Younger Than Jesus triennial opening at New York’s New Museum on April 8. An article in last Sunday’s New York Times indicates why it’s tough to peg Ryan’s work, which a curator at the New Museum loosely dubs “hysterical realism” (in a nod to literary critic James Wood).

[Image above, of Ryan’s upcoming project, is from The New York Times, courtesy of the artist and Elizabeth Dee Gallery]

Although the enemies of Superman always seemed to find a way to use kryptonite against Superman, as a student I recall the “good” kryptonite which kept my bicycle safely locked as an undergrad at MIT. General Manager of Portable Security at Ingersoll Rand Karen Rizzo writes about the arrival of one very special kryptonite lock that has now been linked to our students developing a rideshare system for Providence that came out of a class by Prof. Sami Nerenberg. I hear the elegant sound of a mechanical and personal, “Click.” -JM

Our very own Tino Chow is currently attending the renowned TED conference as one of 40 fellows that are making a difference in the world. Perhaps the greatest difference Tino is making as a student right now is by personally highlighting all the incredible work being done by the incredible community of students here at RISD and at nearby Brown. Thanks to Tino, and to all the faculty and staff that inspire our students to take on the world’s challenges with both hands, clear minds, and big hearts!