Me and Despi at Club Havana in Paris

I’ve had the honor of working with Despi at two places – the Indiana State Museum and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. At the State Museum she was a tour de force. At the IMA she helped push the museum into the digital world with work that resulted in many awards and the plaudits from other museums. Along the way I was there as a colleague and friend. We argued, collaborated, pushed one another, laughed a lot, traveled all over the world, and became a dynamic duo.  My career would not be where it is today without her. My life would not be as rich. Despi has become family – not just my friend, but also Lea’s. Oliver even tries to say her name.

That’s one layer. There are many more.

Despi over achieves in all areas of her life – as a wife, a sister, friend, colleague, activist, gardener, cigar aficionado, writer, toy collector, educator, toy maker, gift giver, foodie and so much more. She evens spreads cream cheese on a bagel with perfection.

For the past 8 years, I’ve been lucky to be involved in Despi’s life. Her professional achievements have been outstanding and wide-ranging – the Chicano exhibition was the best show I witnessed during my time at the ISM (even beating a dinosaur exhibition – and I love dinos).

I witnessed some of her best work at the Indianapolis Museum of Art where I came to expect nothing less of brilliance in the areas of education, communication, organization and the ability to combine all of these into a creative experience. Not an easy feat. Her role in the Education department with Visual Thinking Strategies and support of exhibitions was superb. Within New Media she spearheaded countless important and award winning projects, including but not limited to, the IMA Blog, Roman Art from the Louvre interpretation, a Maya Lin documentary, the genesis of ArtBabble, and as curator of Nature Holds My Camera: The Video Art of Sam Easterson. All of these were groundbreaking projects for the museum and reconsidered the traditional visitor experience both in gallery and online.  And we had a lot of fun.

Bro and Sis - On location at the Piazza Navona

Despi has since gone onto bigger and better things with Williams Randall Marketing, and soon, a new adventure with The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. I can’t wait to see what she does next. It will exceed all expectations.

She’s a brilliant thinker in general, but within the digital space she’s passionate, running 2 blogs – Figuring out Food and Toys for Change, a personal site, RobotoWear, as well as the expected Twitter chit chat.

I could go on and on about her, but it’s kind of getting sappy. Instead, hear directly from her yourself. She’s remarkable. Read all about it…
What drives you? I am most driven by the need to make a difference. In every aspect of my life, I want to continually get better and make the world better.

What has the internet done for you? The Internet is so complicated. It certainly has given me a platform to investigate things that I deem important, indulge in hobbies and teach myself things I never realized I wanted to know. But not without some sacrifices, particularly in personal privacy and time.

Window or aisle seat? Aisle seat. I prefer the window seat, but I rarely travel alone, and am almost always with someone I care about, so I give up the good seat.

Your 3 favorite toys. My three favorite toys are:

UglyDoll: Wage John bought this guy when we were first dating and I convinced him to change the doll’s name to Carl and lose the apron. Carl became the inspiration for many of my own toy-making endeavors and he still hangs out in our house and is a sweet reminder of that time in our lives.

Clyde: He is a monster I made, inspired by Carl. I love him. However, my dog, Shifty, hates him. He finds Clyde’s giant eye very upsetting.

Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Pencil Sharpener. It was a childhood favorite that my sister recently found and gave to me. Owning him is like holding a piece of childhood in my hand. I have almost no childhood toys, so he’s really special.

Tell me about Figuring out Food. What was behind that? Figuring Out Food started out as a way to manifest a New Year’s resolution. I committed to doing more to further healthy food in my own life and to help others, so the blog became a vehicle to tell my story, share what I’ve learned about local, organic food and connect with people. So far, it’s been good. But I could do so much more. I wish I had 100% more time to devote to it.

Despi's organic garden

Favorite artist, favorite designer, favorite rapper – and why? My favorite artist changes all the time. People always ask me this question when they learn I have an art history degree, and I can never give them the one word answer they are looking for. “The” answer.

I also live with an artist that rocks my world, so it is hard to get over that and pick some guy (or girl) I don’t get to watch think, evolve and create on a daily basis. Having said all of that, my short list always includes Albrecht Dürer, Jan Van Eyck, Caravaggio, Yoshitomo Nara, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol,…and depending on the day, a hundred others.

My favorite designer is a tough one. Are we talking fashion? Graphic design? Sneakers? Furniture? Recently, I have really come to view “design” much differently. I think the availability of information and products online has had a profound impact on design industries, particularly in the last 5 years or so, and as a result, there are so many more designers, across an amazing array of fields, to consider. Right this moment I am obsessed with everything Alessi.  I am also in dire need of an Eames lounge.  I guess I am obsessed with home furnishings because my house is still so new to me. I’m sure I’ll be back to sneakers and couture any minute.

My favorite rapper, hands down, is Jay Z. So what if it is an expected answer?! He has produced the most consistently good music in the last decade of any artist out there, in any genre. Yeah, I said it. Brooklyn stand up!

If you could ask yourself any question, what would it be? And what’s the answer? Do I get a pass on any of these questions? Because if so, I would use it here.

Seriously, this is so hard for me to answer because it is counter to my way of thinking. I question myself constantly, it is part of my problem-solving process, so I don’t really leave things, especially big ones, floating around, un-thought about. And, anything I’m not thinking about is in the “blocking it out” category and you can’t have any of those.

What does RobotoWear mean to you? RobotoWear is an amazing opportunity that is most significant to me for two reasons. First, it is the realization of a crazy pipe dream. One of those things that gets thrown out in conversation as a “wouldn’t it be cool if…” sort of thing. It is rare to see one of those come to fruition. Also, it is a physical manifestation of relationships, talent and collaboration that mean a lot to me.

Biggest misconception about you? I used to know the answer to this, but I’m not sure I do anymore. I have changed so much in the last couple of years that I’m not sure what people are saying these days. I’m kind of glad, actually, that I don’t know.

If you could go anywhere tomorrow – where and why? If I could go anywhere, I would get into my car and go on the regional Mark Rothko tour I planned a couple summers ago. I had it all figured out. I contacted museums to see what they had, what was in storage and what was on view and then plotted a journey. (St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago, etc. ) Then I just never made time to do it.

Rothko’s paintings are mesmerizing, but seeing a photograph of one is like looking at a blurry photo. It is a snapshot, a hint of a memory, but nothing like the experience of being there. I love standing in front of his big color fields. I feel like I could just step into one. Or that I could close my eyes and just feel the red. I can’t wait to try.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? In 5 years I see myself still unwilling to answer the question: “Where do you see yourself in 5 years.”

You can learn more about Despi HERE.

One of Casey's pics - we both like reflections

I’m part of an incredibly thoughtful celebration of Casey and her family and soon to be bigger family – Mozzi, due just in time for the month of May. How fitting (vroom vroom). Casey’s friend Emily Elling (DesignHer Momma) organized a 15-week celebration of the Mullins family. I’m honored to fill in a day of that with this post. It’s straight from the heart, yo.

Several years ago, I started hearing about this Moosh person. I researched, read her blog and was instantly intrigued. She was everything I was not – open, expressive and unabashed when it came to an online persona. I remember meeting her at a conference briefly and being bedazzled by her personality. She left an indelible impression.

Last year, in a new job at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I looked her up again. I was thinking of local, creative people that could offer a different perspective on the Indianapolis 500. She obliged. I remember talking with her at the track and in the media center. I was pretty busy so I didn’t give her as much time as I had wished. She was confident, asked the right questions and obviously not shy. I felt bad I couldn’t give her more insight into the month of May madness. But of course she didn’t need it.

Noticing what you don't see

I read a lot of racing stuff now. To this day, Casey’s written experience of the Indianapolis 500 remains one of my most favorite pieces. I once wrote that her writing had given me goose bumps. It was this piece. Here’s the deal. This is why writing is tied to photography, or vice versa, can be so transformative. Casey took something historically sacred to Indiana, and with ease, captured what it’s like to live the Indy 500. Her images from the day could stand alone and tell the story. But combine them with her words, and you have something truly meaningful. That’s rare. That’s a gift. And she did this by exploring and absorbing. She humanized the experience so anyone (race fan or not) could connect to this event. I was so proud of her work.

Casey absorbing the Indy 500

Right after the big race, we met for lunch. I wanted a creative project to pursue outside of work and I really wanted to collaborate with Casey. I already had tremendous respect for her. And I knew she would push me. She would challenge my many issues – some of which involve expressing thoughts, opinions, feelings. Our project was born in June. She said something about us having an internet baby. Funny. It’s given me a closer connection to her and offered me an unexpected outlet for creativity, thoughts, memories and more.

Casey probably has this figured out, but through our project, I’ve written about things I would never have expressed otherwise. She’s been a constant source of inspiration. She’s an open book. We know her struggles. We know her ups. Her downs. In many cases, I relate to a lot of what she chooses to confide. I internalize. She doesn’t, and as a result, I look up to her. She knows some of this. I’ve told her things that I’ll probably never write about. Sometimes when she writes, it hits pretty close to home. So somewhere in this process, she also became a friend. Friend, collaborator, inspiration. Check. So thank you for that Casey.

So I rank Casey right up there with airports and robots. Can there be any bigger compliment?

Today I celebrate Casey, her family, her friends, her work, her photography, her writing and her Mozzi. It’s an honor and pleasure.

This wouldn’t be a May I present to you series without some Q&A. So I end with questions and Casey picks up with answers.

What drives you? My brand new 2011 Chevy Traverse from Hare Chevy in Noblesville, tell Brian Eybel Casey sent you. Swell guy.

What’s with this internet thing? I’m not sure. But I’m pretty happy it exists. If you could see my query of recent google searches you’d understand why. Yesterday while I was downtown at the Farmer’s Market I ran into four people that I knew, then later at the Children’s Museum I ran into four more people that I knew. One of them being my very best friend. If it weren’t for the Internet I would have never had any these people in my life. The Internet makes a big scary world seem a lot more cozy, I mean, if you use it right. Use it wrong and you’re a Dateline special.

Why are you so likeable? *ehem* Well, to be honest…I was never a very good friend growing up, especially through high school. Which also meant I didn’t have very many friends, let alone good ones. As I grew older and wiser that old adage “you have to be a friend to have a friend” finally made sense. The nicer I was to other people and myself, the nicer my group of friends became. I’m absolutely blown away by the brilliant, kind and talented people I am privileged to be surrounded by. However I’m not completely jaded, I know there are people who don’t like me, and people I have been rude to whether intentionally or unintentionally, I’m really trying to rectify those mistakes because that’s not who I want to be.

You remind me of an open book. ‘sup with that? Is it a good book? Like when your sister leaves her journal open on her bed and you’re simply forced to read it because there’s no way you could go on if you don’t? I mean, she MUST have left it there for SOMEONE to read. If not that, I sure to hope it’s a book full of lovely pictures. Think of it this way, would you live your life differently if you knew you couldn’t lie or fabricate the truth about any of it to anyone? There’s no sense in hiding the parts of my life that have made me who I am, however it makes perfect sense to tell my story honestly so others aren’t left feeling alone. I love Mary Schmich’s view on advice…”Dispensing it [advice] is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.”

Coolest thing that’s happened as a result of this internet thing? My friends. I could go anywhere in America and have a friend there. It’s a very comforting feeling. Plus they know where all the good BBQ joints are. (I’m looking at you Jack’s BBQ on Broadway in Nashville.)

If you had to give up writing or photography, what would it be? Air.

Aisle or window seat? Am I pregnant? Is Addie with me? How tired am I? How long is the flight? Does it help that whenever I’m selecting a seat I can’t pass over the ‘window seat’ option without thinking of you?

3 pieces of advice to someone visiting Utah? 1. Get thee hence into a canyon. I don’t care which one. Little Cottonwood, Big Cottonwood, Parley’s, Provo, Millcreek. Once you’re in one. Pull off the side of the road, get out look up and smell the air. I just got weepy writing that. 2. Dig your bare toes into the sand while hiking the fiery furnace in Arches National Park. Bonus points if you can get your toes in the three different kinds of sand…shady sand…hot dry sand and wet sand. 3. Eat at one of those 24 hour Mexican places that are all over Salt Lake. My favorites are Beto’s (get extra tortillas) and Molcasalsa (Taquitos with guacamole.) Then get a white cake donut with rainbow sprinkles from Banbury cross (Cody would argue a chocolate dipped chocolate and I would have a hard time disagreeing with him.) Then have a Crown Burger with an orange bang, large fry and Orange Bang.

If you could ask yourself any question, what would it be? And what’s the answer? What could you do RIGHT NOW that would make someone happy? The answer? I’m going to call my mom, she’s been visiting my elderly grandparents for the last week, and well. I mean, they’re on Skype now so I’ll just end the answer here because if my 91 year old grandpa can figure Skype out? I’m pretty sure he’s close to overtaking the Internet. Watch out Pete Cashmore.

Say hi to Casey Mullins. Need to know more about her? Visit HERE.

Museum of Robots on Twitter

I love robots. I love robots in movies (especially R2D2). I love collecting robots. I love robot art. And I strongly believe in Isaac Asimov Three Laws of Robotics -

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

I love peaceful robots. The violent one’s really freak me out. I especially enjoy cheeky robots.

A small collection of my peaceful robots

So I started following them on Twitter and instantly enjoyed their banter. And for some reason they followed me back. Score! I continued to research and discovered more and more about them. The Museum is actually located in Second Life. A virtual museum that features curated digital robot art (why didn’t I think of that?). If you are a Second Life user, you can find their location, here. I learned about their design firm, their housewares line, their love of Formula One, their niceness, and of course, they adore robots.

Vicki and Richard Küng are Museum of Robots, Küngdesign and all of the other things I mentioned. They are smart, creative and web savvy. That goes without saying. But they’re also the type of people contributing essential online content to an environment thirsty for quality experiences. My goal in this series, “May I present to you -” is to highlight the people contributing meaningful digital content and shaping the web in a transformative way. Museum of Robots does that for me not just through robots, but incredible design, superb content, humor, insight and an un-robotic humanness. I often harp on about story telling, content over technology, or the personality of technology. For me, Museum of Robots are experts in this arena. Why wouldn’t I adore them?

At this point, I will stop and let you hear directly from them. Enjoy their answers and insight. Leave comments, suggestions or questions. Thank you for reading. And a big thank you to Museum of Robots for letting me stalk them…

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Who is Museum of Robots and Küngdesign? The people behind them are Vicki Küng and Richard Küng. Küngdesign is our design and branding agency. We started in the ’90s doing retail store design and permanent exhibits, then the internet came along and we discovered we were geeks, so we moved it all online and work primarily on online branding projects. It’s all still based on our perspective of relating people to their environment, communication and storytelling, just translated to an online or virtual environment.

Museum of Robots is a housewares line we started 2 years ago – after working in pixels for so long we wanted to design things you can touch. The inspiration is robots, which to us are the essence of modern and nostalgic- futuristic and retro, technical and playful, functional and entertaining.

Some of the Museum of Robots housewares line

Museum of Robots is also a museum in the online 3D virtual world of Second Life.

What drives you? Design, communication, technology, fun. All wrapped up in the context of business, as these are commercial, if creative, entities.

What determines good online content? Great storytelling. I think the success has to be evaluated ultimately by the user, but it’s up to content creators to have a vision and be true to it, whatever kind of content they’re making. For commercial content creators it’s about the audience, so making content that resonates with them, rather than a making a commercial disguised as content, is important. BMW did it wonderfully with The Hire in 2001 and Absolut is doing it now with I’m Here. Those are both reflective of what the brands stand for, but are still great stories and content.

Self-expression is different – that comes from passion. You laugh at Chocolate Rain, but you never doubt the commitment of the guy who made that. It’s genuine and that makes it compelling.

Robots are _______. Our friends. Twee and true in equal measure.

What’s with this Second Life thing? Yeah – we get that a lot. It’s an online 3D virtual world and that’s where Museum of Robots exists as a museum. We have exhibits, a permanent collection, visiting artists, art shows, events, lectures, competitions – everything a real life museum does.

We find artists, design exhibits, run a gift shop, experiment with technology within the SL environment, do marketing outreach to attract visitors, and join up with other museum and gallery owners to compare notes, cross-promote and give each other support.

Current exhibits are “‘Bots, Bugs & Beasts: The Art of Joshua Ellingson”, “From Teapot to Robot: The Sculpture of Clayton Bailey”, “‘Robots and Donuts: The Art of Eric Joyner”, and ‘Celebrity Robots Hall of Fame’, featuring famous robots of film and television.

Best robot movie? This question was the source of much discussion – determined by movie era? What’s a robot? Based on script or action? Robot as star or sidekick? Good robots or bad robots?

We were on the verge of over-thinking the entire topic, so we decided to stop with these, and narrowing it down to two is the best we could do – but it’s a consensus answer:

The Terminator (the original)
Wall-e

Best popular culture robot reference? We see robots everywhere – it’s all one big pop culture reference to us – so it’s kinda hard to be objective. Having said that, the most-quoted robot line in this household is by Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet, “That is correct, Sir”. It covers a lot of territory, depending on delivery.

Your favorite robot?
Vicki: Acrobot. He’s a toy robot from the 1960′s, about a foot tall and stands on his head or feet. He makes me laugh every time and I cannot explain the attraction.

Richard: It’s like trying to pick your favorite child but if pressed, Robby for a movie robot and Answer Game Machine for a toy robot. Don’t tell the other robots I said that.

You live in America and like Formula One? Do tell…. It’s what happens when a Los Angeles-born surfer girl who’s always loved cars (cruising in lowriders on Whittier Blvd, weekends at the drag races) marries a Canadian F1 fan. Married, in fact, in a classic car museum on a Memorial Day weekend, celebrating our anniversary at the Indy 500 a number of times.

Needed an excuse to use one of my pics

F1? Nothing beats the drama, sounds and emotion of F1 – and that’s before a wheel ever turns on a track. The locations, the politics, the scandal, the speed, the glamour, and sometimes even the racing, are an incredible blend of entertainment, sports, design, technology, human drama and skill. Although sometimes it is a little lonely being an F1 fan in the States!

Can you tell me about your houseware line? Any new projects on the horizon? The housewares line…the defining principal is that the products are functional and should also have a sense of humor. When you’re called Museum of Robots it’s important not to take yourself too seriously.

The signature piece is our Flying Saucer Bowl, and we sell a lot of Rocket Salt & Pepper sets. Yes – it’s thematic. We also like to experiment with translating industrial materials so we have a line of PET Felt bags made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles; felt fabric and the products are made in the USA, and the fabric’s original use is the automotive industry.

We’re adding recycled aluminum pieces, working hard on making more products in the US, and the felt fabric is always a source of new ideas. We introduce a range of new pieces every six months so we’re always in development.

Aisle or window seat?
Richard: aisle.
Vicki: aisle. Which means when we travel together he takes the aisle and I take the window. Pick your battles.

If you could ask yourself any question, what would it be? And what’s the answer?
Q: Are we there yet?
A: I hope not.

What’s next for you? “Walter’s Kitchen Nook”. It’s a scripted series filmed entirely in Second Life, and is the story of Walter Sparks and his show “Walter’s Kitchen Nook”: he’s half-human, half-robot, intergalactically famous and ready to share his household style secrets.

The series will consist of 5-minute webisodes, with an overall storyline about Walter – he shares his household secrets, and has a few secrets of his own. Yes – it’s a hybrid-robot soap opera. We hope to have sponsors for each of the episodes and the sponsor’s product will be interwoven into the narrative, so the series is not an infomercial but an integration of sponsor messages into the action: Walter will interview a product each week, for example. It’s a return to the ‘commercial sponsor’ approach that was popular in the early days of TV and is popular again – we’ve taken product placement and worked it into the story. For the pilot we’re using the Museum of Robots Flying Saucer Bowl as a product Walter uses to solve a household dilemma.

Here’s the trailer -

It all circles back to our belief that the best online content hews to the same criteria that offline content does – good storytelling. In this particular case it’s literal, but there is a lot of creative leeway in how to tell a story and we hope we live to be 200 so we can see what people come up with.

So, the first of this series focuses on the blog Stuck at the Airport by Harriet Baskas.  I’m a travel junkie and absolutely adore airports. I wasn’t lucky enough to travel through JFK and see the Eero Saarinen TWA terminal during its heyday, but I would have truly appreciated it. To provide a little background, I’ve been fortunate to travel frequently. My favorite airport is Singapore’s Changi and as an Indianapolis resident, I started the the IND Flickr group. Through my work at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, I convinced Patrick Smith, author of Ask the Pilot, to write a beautiful, compelling blog post, The Jetliner as Art. I love airports, traveling and planes.

The beautiful sterile Changi

But enough about me.

I stumbled upon Harriet’s work in the first half of 2009 through some general research about airports and travel. I immediately became a fan of her blog and the many travel, airport and airline related articles she crafts. As it often happens in the online world, we exchanged e-mails, blog comments, and tweets. I remember thinking how cool it was that I could easily connect with someone that I respected. Harriet is a wonderful commentator on the state of modern travel, specifically the culture of airports, airline industry, quirky happenings and the latest in TSA occurrences. Beyond that, Harriet is a pretty big fan of museums, a talented and award winning radio producer, contributor to USA Today & MSNBC, author and much more.  It’s not often I meet someone who shares my passions – travel, airports, airlines, museums and so on. And she’s an expert!

Stuck at the Airport

After some communication, Harriet featured me in one her blog posts – Airport fans: yes, there are some – which made me feel pretty chuffed. Harriet and Stuck at the Airport made this series, because she’s an example of intelligent internet publishing. Harriet is not only active on her blog, online publications and other sites, but synthesizes her content through Twitter (@hbaskas) in a way that is engaging and interesting. Her multiple online methods of communication are fully integrated and connected to reveal her content, her stories. So many people fail at this.

Travel is one of the most rewarding things we can do in life. It’s inspiring, challenging, sometimes life-changing and hard work. Travel helps us understand this world and the beauty of cultural diversity. Harriet has created the perfect job.  So the next time you are planning a trip, in the midst of traveling or stuck at the airport, check out Harriet’s work. She’s totally worth it.

Stuck at the Airport

Her column on USA Today

Her column on MSNBC

And, as part of this “May I present to you…” series, I plan on always asking a series of questions. So here goes -

What drives you? Personally, generally?  General curiosity, mostly.  Oh.. and coffee. That’s what led me to traveling around to visit unusual and offbeat museums for a long running series of radio stories and for books. And that’s what got me stuck at the airport that one day when I decided there needed to be a guide to all the other things (besides waiting) to do at airports.

….Thank you to Harriet for participating in the very first, May I present to you…., series. Stay tuned for the next installment, and if you have someone you think I need to feature, please let me know.