about the art of living 365

Brooklyn-based artist Jamie Kruse (smudge studio) launched a blog project called design of 365 on June 21, 2008. She created an alternative time vector by authoring a post a day for one year. Her reporting inaugurated a rupture in how we think of time, space, the environment, family, and friendship. An act of relational aesthetics, her project enabled me to think about contentious issues and take the initiative to learn about the world I inhabit 365 days a year. It also acted as a warehouse for my nostalgia: on days 160 and 37 I could return to her posts and remember her beloved grandfather, who was very influential in my life. On day 102 I recall viewing the post about Liberace on the day I had a particularly banal piece of writing due. Looking back on that post I now laugh about the contrast: living vicariously through Liberace’s excess. He had enough fabulousness to pull me through the doldrums.

The project in its original form has reached completion. I’ve taken it on for year two and hope to connect with myself and others by keeping track of the everyday art of living 365. This iteration, however, will likely be more confessional, geared toward critique and commentary, and focused on aspects of queer living I find most interesting. These viewpoints are decidedly feminist, unapologetically academic, often kinky, and of course, my own.