Behind Every Weenie Stands a Mr. Weenie

My husband and business partner, the extremely talented Bill Haddad (aka: Mr. Weenie), is a true Renaissance man. In one week he might edit some video, drywall the kitchen, design a stage, build a ramp for our decrepit poodle, mix sound for a show, create a 3D rendering of downtown Austin and install a new toilet.

His latest endeavor was to create a video piece as part of a photography and video art exhibit shown at the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas at Austin. His piece, “Who’s Watching the Kids?,” consists of 164 channels of video playing simultaneously. The video streams were simulated surveillance camera angles he shot on the UT campus. (Yes, he was the strange man carrying around a camera attached to a very large pole. I was on standby in case bail needed to be posted.)

Here’s Mr. Weenie’s piece on the main cluster. There were 3 additional screens with similar video streams. One side of the room had video of Bill’s eyeball looking through a peephole. (That’s my man—rather cute and kinda creepy.)

"Who's Watching the Children?"

(Photo courtesy of David Ingram)

Friend, UT professor and recently named Guggenheim Fellow, Lawrence McFarland, also showed several great images. (He was my photography professor when I was a design student at UT in the 80s.) When I told Mr. Weenie I wasn’t a very good photographer, Lawrence—ever the diplomat—noted that I was a good student. Ha-ha—thanks.

We had a lovely evening observing the marriage of art and technology at last night’s exhibit. My guy never ceases to amaze me with his knowledge, skill and creativity. I, on the other hand, don’t know how to boil an egg. In conclusion, Mr. Weenie is awesome.
The End.

One of McFarland's photos displayed in 307 million pixels---that's a lot!

TACC’s Visualization Laboratory boasts the world’s highest resolution tiled display wall, as well as high-definition video and multiple large-scale graphics displays.