David Kuykendall www.d-r-k.net

Alright, considering the interesting responses I got from my last blog, I thought I would try to expand on my current situation, and see if I can’t spew out some semblance to others in the same boat. I’ve just had a conversation with my landlord on the subject (only slightly more optimistic), so I should be able to frame my mind.

It’s official. I have 2 weeks to find an income, or this bouncing, bubbly, queer intellectual gets packed up and shipped back to Arkansas (judgments reserved, it is home). What the hell have I done here?!? My time for creative job hunting is at its end. I have molded and reshaped my image to try and be the ideal candidate for whatever random position I was applying for so many times, I really can’t remember what I enjoy doing or what I excel at. Not lied, mind you, but there were times where I was standing on my head saying the alphabet backwards, while painting the ceiling with my toes. I have auditioned to be a television host for a renovation show (which I totally bombed, by the way). I have tramped around angry strangers’ apartments with a tape measure, and I have designed some pretty cool T-shirts for an ambitious documentary trying to shed light on studio culture and how these people, through this process, can begin to shape our built environment (the buttons are coming, guys :). Oh, and I blog on occasion. However, the time has come where I cast out my pride and get my hands dirty. It isn’t that I’m against waiting tables or bartending. It’s that I’m terrified that actors or other artists have WAY more experience in that arena, and I am simply not qualified. On top of a pile of complaints I could throw at the academic field of architecture, there simply isn’t time to slave away 80+ hours a week in studio and hold down a job, thusly gain the experience necessary to thwart an economic attack. I have to admit, I do know a few people that managed this, but they are mutants and shall not fall into the normal realm of social reality.

My head shot for the audition (don’t laugh)

Today I sent a very elaborate cover letter to a film production company looking for a receptionist. I actually got pretty excited about it while writing it. I probably scared the shit out of them actually, but, none the less, it was passionate. As I was writing my prescribed bullshit, I found myself actually believing it. I started out by admitting that I had gone into architecture school with the intention of going into film production for grad school (true, by the way). I began rambling about how I wanted to be Tim Burton and, to quote myself, “design and construct interesting, complex, and fantastical environments.” I went on to say “As I continued, however, I began to develop a passionate understanding of our built environment. Recently, times have been tough in the architectural field and I have opted to try applying my skills outside of the profession. Naturally, I came right back to my passion for film.” LIE! I’m broke. It did remind me, however, that that is actually what I wanted to do.

During my entire stretch in architecture school (8 years, don’t judge) my mind was twisted and warped to form a perception of the world in a different more analytical (already went into cynical) manner. I had forgotten, actually, what I really wanted to do. I really don’t think it came back to me until last summer at the Radiohead concert. Honestly! I forgot that I wanted to go into film at all!

Last summer, actually almost exactly a year ago, I had the opportunity to see Radiohead’s In Rainbows concert in Dallas, TX. I loved it so much, I went to see them again when they played here at Liberty Park. Yes, I love Radiohead, they are awesome, blah blah blah, the real reason I went to see them again was for their stage design. It was absolutely amazing! I felt like Jodi Foster staring at the cosmos, “no….words….should have sent…a…poet.”

If you were not one of the sublime many that had the opportunity to witness this, allow me to attempt to explain. The stage is your typical huge-ass concert festival stage. From the ceiling, hung an array of very long narrow bars, in a grid about 12 across and 6 or so deep. Imagine pins stuck into foam in a grid only the pins are about 35′ long and 8″ wide and are actually SUPER-wide aspect LCD screens hanging over the band. The band didn’t take up the entire area under the bars; in the middle the bars were shortened to provide a space for the performers.

The screens, however, were not used initially. The band went through a couple of songs before teasing you with their awesome new toy. After a good work up, and the band was really going, they really started exploring the potential of this array. Imagine a 3 dimensional object floating over the heads of the band, but you can only perceive the object through its movement when it would come into contact with the location of the bars. It created a fragmented demarcation of an object through movement, while coordinating with the composition of the band. It of course wasn’t this simple of an exhibition, forms winding and contorting and falling completely out of shape at the same time. Instances of form and depth through layering colors and movement were collapsing in on themselves just as new configurations were being perceived. I almost cried (there was a beer tent at the concert). Anyways, it got me so excited about this concept of space and spectacle and sensory exploration. Why isn’t Times Square like this?!?! Beautiful, elegant, flashy, and SPATIAL! My mind was reeling, and is now as I reflect back on it. I know that a job as a receptionist is a far cry from being a set designer for an international band of awesomness, but what the hell! If it pays…