Welcome to Big Table, a newsletter from Ním.
Issue 1: Times
Welcome to Big Table, a newsletter from Ním.
Why "Big Table?" Well, one of my favorite things is having a bunch of friends around a big table, talking about the stuff that interests and excites us. I'm hoping this can be a little version of that in your inbox, a place to share things we're working on, art we've seen, music we've heard, remarkable places or moments we encountered, and of course curious internet content.
Expect various and sundry links, art and projects by friends, art and projects by me and Martha, and occasional life updates.
If you end up enjoying this, consider sending me some stuff you are interested in, or tell me about the projects you are working on! I will include it in future issues. Or just share this with a friend you think might be into it!
If you ever did either of those things, even once, I would be truly delighted.
I've signed you up for this because I think you're cool, and even if we haven't been in touch lately, I guarantee you I have recently thought about you and wondered what you're up to and what you're interested in.
That said, email can be like barnacles on the brain, so feel very free to click this unsubscribe button here if you just don't have space in your inbox for this.
Ok, enough intro, on to the newsletter. This issue's theme is: Times: All Kinds of Time
What is a Time
Time is hard to understand. Breakfast is a time. Dishes are a time. Is Christmas?1 CTCs are only timelike however. Read more about them in the Grapefruits Sometimes Art Email. If that's not challenging enough for you, perhaps the theory of Bread Times will be more in-depth.
Dept. of Remembering and Past Times
Introducing the Memex
"Memex" is a portmanteau of "memory" and "index," coined by Vannevar Bush in his essay As We May Think.
It's an early vision of how information technology could expand the human memory and serve its curiosity and inquiry.
Instead of getting that, we live in a world of Zunes (the GoBots of iPods), Vine (the Hydrox of TikToks), Threads (the Zunes of Twitters), and X (The Chris Gaines of actual Twitter).
So, at various points, people, myself included, keep trying to build memexes or things like memexes or just some way to feel like there's a space for your brain on the internet.
After a year or so of testing out the idea of a digital garden, I've picked the parts that felt like a good fit, added some of my own stuff, and settled on making my own version of a Memex at mmmx.cloud.
I'm sure it will keep evolving, but right now what I'm choosing to put in there is very much along the lines of what I'm putting in this newsletter. Stuff I'm working on, things that caught my eye that I want to share, stuff that I want to have a record of, and persistent mind things. In a way, Big Table is like the neighborhood circular of the Memex. (You may have already noticed that most of the parts of this newsletter have permalinks in the memex.)
If that sounds like fun to any of you, I'd be happy to set you up with one of your own sometime.
Pika's Place
Pika's Place is one of the things that most often made me wish I had a memex.
Someone has been leaving touching memorials for their son, who went by Pika, on the same pillar of the Morrison Bridge since at least 2019. This was right outside the door to my studio for years, so I did my best to document it whenever I could before the Portland graffiti removal team would paint over it. Pika, I didn't know you, but you are remembered.🖤🖤🖤 See the whole gallery.
A Very Old Seal
Painting Time
Painting Time is the English name of a French novel by Maylis de Kerangal that I bought at Nationale about the journey of a young painting student to become a painter. The student is, however, a classically trained decorative painter, who studies at this place that I did not know is a real place. It is the only fictional account I have ever encountered that describes learning to paint and the materials of painting in rich and accurate enough detail as to feel real.
Gallery Times
If I recall correctly, I bought that book at the opening of my friend Amy Bay's show at Nationale. I must thank Amy for putting on such a good show I felt moved to write a little bit about it.
Shortly after that, Nationale had another great show by someone we know, Ty Ennis.
Around the same time as Amy's show we also saw a really good painting show at Helen's Costume -- Shelly Turley's Touch 'em With Love.
Dept. of Time Confetti ⏰ 🎉
Accounts we follow like our grandparents followed news of The War
If you follow these, if you don't already, you'll have the smug pleasure of having already seen 85% of the future links I throw here like so much confetti.
@boyhowdy420 -- this is the primary way Martha and I engage with TikTok, and I'm happy to leave it there.
Garbage Day -- the only way to make sense of the internet. Bonus -- they have the ultimate time confetti generator
Today in Tabs -- Like if you powdered Garbage Day and cooked it down in a spoon with a lighter
@dusttodigital -- the only non-cat account our cat follows on instagram (ps follow our cat)
Public Domain Review -- turns out the past was full of cool stuff, and it's very cool to look at.
This time's song: Pretty Stuff by Tomu DJ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmISc2OToZg
That's it! Thanks for reading the first issue of ░▒▓█ 𝓫Ⓘg 𝐭Ã𝔟ℓ𝐞 █▓▒░
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These are all links to our cat's Instagram. Following our cat on Instagram is the only reason to be on Instagram. ↩