Culdesac #20: Asana and Arkansas w/ Carisa Bledsoe

Brittany Greeson is a documentary photographer currently based in Detroit Michigan whose work examines economic divestment, gender disparity and the daily life of the American working-class primarily through long-form visual narratives and portraiture.

Jon Dean and Nicolas Glynos each, hold a Ph.D. in Molecular and Integrative Physiology from the University of Michigan. They have also each worked with Dr. Jimo Borigin at Borigin Lab. While at Borigin Lab, Jon published findings which showed that the psychedelic substance DMT occurred in rat brains in  levels roughly equivalent to serotonin, dopamine, and other compounds which regulate our mood and experience of consciousness.

Eric Hardin, is owner and operator of TODAY clothing in Ann Arbor. Eric is a master of the art of retail. TODAY is an institution of aesthetic, specializing in the landscape of menswear, carrying storied brands such as Kapital, Our Legacy, Story MFG, Endless Joy and featuring local treasures like designer and shirt master Yoshi Sugiura. Eric takes retail beyond simply selling clothing. Like an old world merchant he has cultivated a friendly, welcoming environment for folks to drop in, shoot the shit, check in about local politics, and as you will hear in this episode tune in to a fascinating ramble.

Nick Hinton is a philosopher-poet who disseminates his musings on synchronicities, the paranormal, occult magick, portals to other worlds, higher dimensional beings, and his personal experience with high strangeness through his twitter threads and in his books. His books are available in digital and print formats at nickhintonn.com, or directly through his social media accounts on twitter and instagram. Nick also has a podcast! What IFF?

Matt Kenyon is a new media artist and designer. He is the co-founder of S.W.A.M.P. (Studies of Work Atmospheres and Mass Production). SWAMP focuses on critical themes addressing the effects of global corporate operations, mass media and communication, military-industrial complexes, and general meditations on the liminal area between life and artificial life. SWAMP has been making work in this vein since 1999 using a wide range of media, including custom software, electronics, mechanical devices, and often times working with living organisms. Matt lives and works in Buffalo, New York, where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art at the University at Buffalo, and part of PLATFORM, UB's socially engaged design studio.

Cecilia Gorgon is, among many things, my wife. She is uses instagram to visually opine on fashion, animal rights, and flowers (she is a budding florist and brand manager @universityflowershop). She is also an incredible illustrator, and has a deep knowledge of fashion history and all things “cool”. We recorded this conversation on our 6th year anniversary and I am presenting it as the 22nd episode of The Culdesac, because I read once that 22 is a powerful number for manifesting one’s ambitions. And, if there is one thing I aspire too, it is manifesting the ultimate expression of love, eros, and understanding, things that Cecilia helps me with everyday.

KATAI is a Detroit-based artist focused on designing, constructing, and evolving digital media experiences, predominantly through video, photography and sound design. His work has been released in myriad ways, from music video collaborations with a long list of artists, to gallery presentations, and through a plethora of online releases.

Carisa Bledsoe an artist, originally from Texas by way of Memphis, TN, and also some Arkansas thrown in, they are now based in Marseille, France working in the intersection of corporeal expression, time, drawing and writing. Their current research is centered in the connections between meditation and creativity. They are focused on the emergence of thingness, identity and the ongoing internal drama of self discovery. Through focusing on deeply personal subject matter, they transform the personal into the universal. Their work is currently a part of an exhibition called Story, Word, Sound, Sway at the Stamps Gallery in Ann Arbor, MI. The episode intro states Carisa is from Arkansas, they were actually born in Texas, don't rush your intro!

Julia Firestone Callis, a painter and poet born and raised and based in Detroit, Michigan. She constructs paintings by intertwining personal events and interactions through a nonlinear thought process. Objects float, disintegrate and re-appear, transformed through abstraction and given new context through Julia’s own poems and personal idioms. Each composition is treated as sacred. Julia as held solo exhibitions, which always have such enigmatic titles, for example, “Dinner at the Fauvist Slum,” at Popps Emporium, in Hamtramck, 2017, Bread and Clutter at public pool in Hamtramck, 2018, and the Blue Solider, at Klemm Gallery, 2019, in which Julia imagines herself as a tongue-less blue whale. Her work is currently on display at MOCAD as a part of a 40 person group show called Dual Vision.

Joseph Keckler is known for his expressive and powerful voice, stirring songs, and absurdist bizarrely heroic operatic monologues which dance between comedy, commentary and communion. He has headlined at little places like Lincoln Center and big places like Joes Pub, Centre Pompidou, Third Man Records, and London’s Soho Theatre. He has evolved past the need for category, stunning audiences in theaters, comedy clubs, art museums, rock venues, and the hallowed halls of the classical music world. He is also super humble, beautifully indecisive, and a great friend and mentor.