Notes on Google Sky and Joe Winter

I find the google sky design a little ugly, but maybe they will fix this in time. 

Eyebeam resident artist and photocopy astrologist Joe Winter will undoubtedly enjoy the newly released Google Sky, as will any one who has found themselves constallationally challenged.  Type in the words “Little Dipper” or “Pluto” or any other outer space item and this new service will find it for on their map of stars.  I’m not sure what practical application Google Sky has, other than making an astronomy class easier, but as an inevitable time suck, I fully support it.

One further note on Joe Winter:  When the artist presented his work last November at Eyebeam, as part of their granting process I wasn’t sure what to think of his work, but two points were made that I liked quite a bit.  One, executive director Amanda McDonald Crowley, observed that the project would keep the artist in their administrative offices a little more which she liked.  While the potential for photocopy machine wars still seems great to me, I of course responded to the idea of administrators and artists getting to know each other a little better.  Second, when asked how long the artist could sustain his interest in a project with a very simply process, he replied something to the effect of, “well, the residency is 6 months, so about that amount of time.”