About
The work on this site and the work on the other websites connected to it are from the archives and current projects of Derek Rankins. The central theme of Dereks work derives from his project titled The Part and the Whole. The work also connects through the website Middlepiece and through the Content page on each of the websites.
Attention Getting Devices
The term Attention Getting Device has its roots in speech writing. Also known as Attention Getters they are used in the first sentence of speeches with the intent to grab the attention of the audience. Attention Getters can be many things though. Advertisements, Pop Ups, a Volume Spike during an advertisement, and many other types of Clickbait. I first heard of the term from a colleague who photographed large inflatable advertisements at car lots and big box stores. These bigger than life representations of miscellaneous goofy things such as Gorillas with ropes tying them down to prevent them from flying away in the wind. The advertisement pasted on its chest saying, Sale, Super Sale, Giant Sale, Huge Sale, Monster Sale, and Red Tag Sale. The perfect representation of America and the American Consumer Culture.
Pop-up
A Pop-up is an advertisement that will appear on a website as you scroll through the page. It is usually intended to have you sign up or subscribe to a site or purchase something. The window itself will appear or pop up and position itself over the window you are trying to view.
Clickbait
Clickbait is a thumbnail link that is meant to attract your attention so that you click the link. The link is designed to redirect you to or mislead you to a location or website other than the one you are currently viewing.
The Part and the Whole
Difference Clouds and our first Mint to Print project launches on March 15th, 2023 at Noon (CST).
With our first project we wanted to start in the NFT art space, but we also want to see our work printed and bringing color into real spaces. With our “Mint to Print” approach we are selling our first 100 minted NFTs with downloadable full resolution Tiff files included. The purchaser will also receive full ownership of the copyright and contact info for our preferred printer and framer in Austin, TX.
Middlepiece
We say Art and Aesthetics because sometimes we want you to simply just have a beautiful aesthetic experience minus the context of Art and the label that comes with it sometimes. We love Art and there is a lot of philosophical and theoretical underpinnings in all of our work but sometimes we can get too caught up in theory or ideas to see the simplicity and beauty of something by itself. Think Rothko Chapel and the duality of the work and the space or James Turrell. You don’t need to know much about Art to enjoy the work.
We are witnessing collisions and failures of certain legacy systems but its allowing for a lot of creation and invention.
Content
The content page of each individual website connects all of the websites together. Not all of the content is connected but it is a thread that connects them with specifically created material that creates a cohesiveness through ideation and research.
