Theoretically, you can now write to Bradley Manning at:

Prisoner # 89289, 830 Sabalu Road, Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027, USA.

Gene Youngblood Re- the New Art of Video

Long but worth it; via Phil Morton; shot at SAIC; sorry I have no further background; but I found Youngblood's discussion brilliant and prescient of later developments in contemporary art in general, as well as in video.



(UPDATED to add:) Partial transcription below by Shane Mecklenburger (the segments are not necessarily in the order spoken in the video; emphasis supplied):

‎" ... expanding the domain of your possible descriptions. The more your domain of possible descriptions is expanded, the less one description can control your behavior; the less you will believe any particular description about reality."

"Alienation is about not being able to see your meanings and values reflected in the world in which you live. So there's always this distance between you and everybody else and the world and you're kind of disjointed. And ok, you can live with that, but ... once in a while you have a non-alienated experience where you're just high and you just become one with something else, like you see a work of art or you meet a person and there's no distance, and that's 'you.' I see myself in you, I see myself in this: No more alienation. I maintain, which is not very profound because every other anthropologist and sociologist does, that alienation is an intrinsic product of modern industrial society, necessarily so, because it's all about centralized mass production and mass distribution, which necessarily must ignore individual values and preferences. How to solve that? It seems to me that you've got to have some filtering device between you as the 'receiver' and the source as the sender ... the complex things it allows you to do is realize your own personal identity through a medium that is basically intended to wipe out your identity."



‎"process me."

"There are no grounds for a common ethics except for a desire to have one. A desire which springs up in all of us as a result of living in a world of strife, controversy, hatred, so forth ... if we do have [a common ethics] it must now simply constitute an arbitrary decision of how to live, then the question becomes 'how are we to make that decision?' My answer is, first of all through a decentralized, user-controlled communication network, through which people could dialogue and exchange their values ... and over a period of time, and only through a system in which the users control the dialogue ... there is also emerging a common ethic, because what happens is common ethics emerge out of a domain of common experience. To the extent that you and I have a similar history of interactions, we may have a similar history of desires ... Desire is an industrial product. You can only desire what you are given. You can only choose from the set of possible choices that's held before you. So as a result of habituation, of enforced habit, we have all come to have a desire for whatever's on TV... so we learn one thing: common desires come from common histories, so the question then becomes, how to generate a domain of common histories without it becoming imperialistic; without it subordinating everyone like we do now with the mass media, and saying 'there is only one set of experiences that you can have and this is it'? This will determine that we all have a common history and therefore common desires, but there's got to be another way. To me the way is a decentralized user-controlled feedback communication system ... and then organically what would emerge out of this process, organically and naturally from the long-term behavior of the people, an organic ethic which would not be imposed upon them by the structure of some imperial system, but which would be educed out of us by this very adaptive system, a system which adapts to each individual user's needs."

‎"am i positioned correctly in the video domain?"

[This is spoken by someone else, not Youngblood, and is not transcribed as precisely] "yes, i tune in on it as exemplified by CB Radio, which at any time is user-controlled and it is a constant, ongoing dialogue situation. Which politically can only be described as anarchy, because no one ... if someone tries to dominate ... everybody can flip and go to another channel and say 'fuck off' ... and so the whole thing has this kind of constantly moving, uncontrolled except by the moment of use of what is happening in the system right now ... I realized ... there were rules that were supposed to be followed, the FCC will get you, blah blah blah, and all of a sudden i found out that nobody was going by the rules that were advertised. Everyone is going by the rules as they are constantly changing all the time right now. And that the best organizational description that I could lay on it is that this is anarchy. And it's working. And I had always heard that anarchy is this terrible thing and it can't work."

Youngblood responds by saying, you can govern by either attenuation and absorption, attenuation meaning that government prohibits activities it can't handle, and absorption meaning that government adapts to allow activities as far as possible, regulating them so far as necessarily to be able to handle them. But this kind of adaptation is only possible through "these tools" – such as the processor being used to manipulate the video of this conversation.

Autoprivacy

(Thanks, Ben!)

New Pogomix (H.R. Pufnstuf)

You can download the MP3 here (name your own price).

So Rong

My heart totally goes out to these people . . . but hey, trash is part of my mandate:

Political Art Month 2011!

No theme's been announced yet (not that anyone need feel bound to stick to one). For more on PAM, see my previous post.

My own suggestion for a theme is, Infowar as Class War. In particular, art has been and is being used to promote the interests and agendas of both rich and poor; and lately, the rich seem to be winning. Forget post-post-modernism; we seem to have entered post-reality. What to do? (More on the current infowar here.)

To get in the mood for PAM, see other artists' and art professionals' written responses to last year's PAM announcement here; they're funny as well as inspiring.

And let PAM's founder, Gene Elder, know what you're planning for PAM, at elder4tomato at yahoo dot com.

Next Shatner Album

Song line-up below – can't wait! And pls let "Mrs. Major Tom" be Gaga!

Space Trucking originally by Deep Purple - Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice has performed the drum part. Johnny Winter is on guest guitar.

She Blinded Me With Science originally by Thomas Dolby - Bootsy Collins is on as the guest bassist. Patrick Moraz (ex Yes and Moody Blues) is guesting on keyboards/synth.

In a Little While originally by U2 - Manuel Gottsching from Ash Ra Tempel has added guitar.

Empty Glass originally by The Tea Party - Michael Schenker (UFO/Scorpions) has added guest guitar.

Lost in the Stars as done by Frank Sinatra - Jazz legend Ernie Watts is on guest saxophone.

Twilight Zone originally by Golden Earring - Warren Haynes (Gov't Mule/Allman Brothers) is on guest guitar.

Space Cowboy originally by Steve Miller - Country artist Brad Paisley has added guitar and vocals.

Rocket Man originally by Elton John - Guitarist Steve Hillage (ex Gong member and current member of techno rock duo System 7) has added guest guitar

Space Oddity originally by David Bowie - Ritchie Blackmore (ex-Deep Purple) has added guest guitar. Alan Parsons is adding guest keyboards.

Spirit in the Sky originally by Norman Greenbaum - Peter Frampton has played guitar on this track.

Bohemian Rhapsody originally by Queen - John Wetton from Asia has played bass and done a vocal.

Silver Machine originally by Hawkwind - Wayne Kramer from the MC5 is adding guitar and Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge/Rod Stewart) is adding a guest drum part.

Major Tom originally by Peter Shilling - Nick Valensi, the guitarist from the Strokes has added guest guitar to this this track. Also Zakk Wylde (ozzy osbourn, black label society) and Mike Inez (Alice In Chains)have contributed to this track.

Learning to Fly originally by Pink Floyd - Edgar Froese from Tangerine Dream has played guitar and keyboards on this track.

Mr. Spaceman originally by The Byrds - Dave Davies from the Kinks has added guest guitar on this track.

Iron Man originally by Black Sabbath - Zakk Wylde (ex Ozzy guitarist) played guitar and did a vocal on this track.

Planet Earth originally by Duran Duran - Steve Howe, guitarist with Yes, played guitar on this track.

Walking on the Moon originally by The Police - Toots of Toots & the Maytals has added a guest vocal.

Mrs. Major Tom - female singer to add a track -To be announced

More at WilliamShatner.com. Image above right from Spaced Out:The Best of William Shatner and Leonord Nimoy.

Cool Kid

(Thanks, Ben!)

Artsmarter at the Modern

. . . on April 29 and at William Campbell on April 30 (both in Fort Worth, TX):

Re- the Budget Battle

What Really Motivates Us, and Micro-Art

There's this animation based on a talk by Dan Pink about what really motivates us, and once you see it, you go, oh yeah, obviously; why have we still not designed our entire economy around that??? – which I probably should have embedded long ago except the animation's a bit cute for my taste. But if you're not familiar with Dan Pink's ideas, you really should watch it.

It explains, among other things, stuff like this "gallery" of micro-art hidden on computer chips. (Image right from Chipworks Inc., via Gadget Lab.)

Suite Art Fair

Includes some out-of-town galleries, as well as cool locals. These pics were taken at night; the light will be better during the day.

Check it out.

Dallas Art Fair 2011

Significantly bigger than last year. Photos here (apologies for lighting, glare, etc.).

Jim Lambie at Goss-Michael Foundation

Don't miss this show, at 1405 Turtle Creek Blvd.; open Tues.-Fri. 10 AM-6 PM, Sat. 11 AM-4 PM. The work is terrific, with a new floor installation, and it's beautifully installed.

More pics here.

When the show comes down, most of the floor installation will be removed, except for the area in the gift shop.

Dallas Art Fair, Suite Art Fair, Etc.

. . . in Dallas this weekend. (Left: Chris Sauter, Microscope (detail; 2011), sheetrock; photo courtesy Cueto Project.) A few highlights in brief:

Thur., 4/7:

10 AM-6 PM Jim Lambie exhibition at Goss Michael Foundation opens, with a beautiful, newly-acquired floor installation. At 1405 Turtle Creek Blvd.; open Tues.-Fri. 10 AM-6 PM, Sat. 11 AM-4 PM (see the next post for photos from the preview).

7-10 PM Dallas Art Fair Preview Gala
Fashion Industry Gallery (f.i.g.), 1807 Ross Ave.
Benefits Booker T. Washington High School for Performing and Visual Arts and Dallas Contemporary. Tix are $200 per person and can be purchased by calling Ellen Fryer at (214) 219-9191 or emailing daf@buzzellco.com.

8-11 PM Suite Art Fair Preview Party
Belmont Hotel, 901 Fort Worth Ave.
Tix are $60 and are good for the entire weekend; tix can be purchased here (free t-shirt to the first 100 purchasers).

Fri., 4/8 - Sun., 4/10:

Dallas Art Fair
Fri. & Sat., 11 AM-7 PM; Sun. 11 AM-5 PM
Fashion Industry Gallery (f.i.g.), 1807 Ross Ave.
$20 per day or $40 weekend pass; tix can be purchased here or by calling (214) 220-1278.
Full schedule of events mentioned in this post and others relating to the Dallas Art Fair here. One highlight: at 5 PM on both Fri. & Sat. in the Becks Imaginarium (in the same building with the Art Fair), there will be a screening of Full Circle: Before They Were Famous, a new film inspired by stunning, recently-discovered photos taken by William John Kennedy of Andy Warhol and his milieu, with the photographer and Ultra Violet in attendance. Many of the photos can be seen in Colton & Farb Gallery's booth.

Suite Art Fair
11 AM-7 PM Fri., Sat., & Sun.
Belmont Hotel, 901 Fort Worth Ave. Organized by Brian Gibb of The Public Trust. $10 per day or $20 weekend pass; tix can be purchased here. (Right: Celia Eberle, Transbunny (2011), marble, jet, toys {photo courtesy Plush Gallery, an exhibitor at Suite Art}).

Sat., 4/9:

10 AM-4 PM, Symposium, THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY: Models of Urban Engagement & Creativity in the 21st Century
Bob Hope Theater, Owen Arts Center, SMU, 6101 Bishop. The symposium is a direct response to the research residency of New York-based public arts organization Creative Time, one of the 2009-10 Meadows Prize recipients. Through individual presentations and panel discussions, the conference will explore the relationship between artists, architects, activists and social justice struggles.

5-9 PM, Texas Biennial Party
CentralTrak, 800 Exposition. Works by Gabriel Dawe, Cassandra Emswiler, and Hillary Holsonback currently exhibited.

Assange, Houseguest

Projected, Potential Distribution of Radiation from Japan

(Gif below right from EURAD.)

Low Lives

First, I've been laying low, blog-wise – dealing with some family issues – thanks for your patience. That aside . . . .

The following vidi is one of a number of performance videos on Low Lives.



Low Lives describes itself as "an international exhibition of live performance-based works transmitted via the internet and projected in real time at multiple venues throughout the U.S. and around the world. Low Lives examines works that critically investigate, challenge, and extend the potential of performance practice presented live through online broadcasting networks. . . . Low Lives is not simply about the presentation of performative gestures at a particular place and time but also about the transmission of these moments and what gets lost, conveyed, blurred, and reconfigured when utilizing this medium." Looks like the next exhibition/broadcast dates are: April 29, 2011: Low Lives 3 Exhibition-Day 1 - 8:00pm – 11:00pm (U.S. EST) April 30, 2011: Low Lives 3 Exhibition-Day 2 - 3:00pm – 6:00pm (U.S. EST).

UPDATE: You can find Low Lives 3 here.