New DB12

The new volume, curated by Stephen Lapthisophon, is up here.

Political Art Month

From San Antonio artist, Gene Elder:

Due to the high survellance of Texas artists, Political Art Month has been cancelled. The revolution will not be televised.

It has come to our attention that "political art will not be tolerated in a free society."

All artists have been notified that their art making activities will be monitored. And any art that is upsetting to City Hall or the government of the United States will be shut down and the gallery will be told to close.

"Most artists are fine with this" says Beth Ann Forlet, "We have better things to do as artists than worry about what is going on in the world. San Antonio artists don't get involved in this nonsense. Crafts fairs are what we want, along with more fund raisers at Blue Star. I adore RED DOT. You get to meet people and the food is wonderful. Everyone has a good time. That is what an art community should be focused on. I like going to the McNay because it takes me away from thinking about war and Wall Street. Gene Elder and David Freeman are just wasting their time trying to get artists involved. I hope they have stopped with this silly idea that July should be concerned with political art. I hate when artists think they are important."

OccuLibrary Project Debut Tonight

At the The Fallus Dart Air, 5 - 9PM, Shamrock Hotel
4312 Elm St., Dallas between Peak and Carroll (more details at the link): GlamROccuLibrarymentary Trailer Shoot 1 (2012), by me and Lizzy Wetzel, with performances by Sally Glass and George Quartz.

The Fallas Dart Air also includes works by Kristen Cochran, Lanie Delay, Vince Jones, Kirsten Macy, Margaret Meehan, Ludwig Schwarz, Marjorie Schwarz, Edward Setina, Lizzy Wetzel, Lily Hanson, Peter Ligon, Marianne Newsom, Brian Ryden, Noah Simblist, Sunny Sliger, and Saul Waranch.

The Art Guys Strike Back

Received today:

“No Show”

a non-exhibition featuring nothing at all by Seth Mittag

at

icetsuoH Contemporary Museum of Modern (iCMM)

This non-exhibition will not open on Tuesday, November 15, 2001, 7-11 p.m.

Said The Art Guys, icetsuoH Curators of Modern and Contemporary Activities, “Well, Seth was going to do a show but then he got too busy and had to cancel so we thought that rather than canceling the show, which sounds so, like negative, you know, we decided that we should press forward and go ahead and do this non-show.”

Said Seth Mittag, “I have nothing to do with this.”

For less information, contact icetsuoH Contemporary Museum of Modern

713-409-4750

http://www.theartguys.com/icetsuoH.html

"The Lieder of the Pact"

. . . by Rebecca Carter and Andrea Goldman (3:08 min., 2011).



Goldman writes that the video was "inspired by both the 60s 'bad girl' band The Shangri-Las and radical philosopher Alain Badiou’s 1982 book The Theory of the Subject."

Re- Re-Reading a Really Interesting Essay by Seth Price,

Dispersion (and thanks to Alison Hearst at the Modern of Fort Worth for bringing it to my attention); recommended . . . one thought it inspired: that for each art work shown via GoogleArtProject, the page for that work should include a chat facility where you can "meet" others who happen to be in the same "room" and discuss the work with them, as you might if you were in a bricks-and-mortar museum. (Image: screen grab of Chow time on the Madrid front, artist unkown, from the Museo Reina Sofia via GoogleArtProject.)

The Art Guys: "The Statue of Four Lies"

"'Texas' most surprising statue!'" – the first of the four?

“Bronze! Concrete! Landscaping! A plaque!”

“’The Statue of Four Lies’ is beautifully rendered in bronze, wonderfully situated, and shows the ability of post late 20th century period artists to create masterpieces,” said Dr. Paul Kittleson, Secretary General of the COA. “We are excited to see this statuary,” Kittleson said and he indicated that the statue depicts a bearded man who seems to be reaching forward in what he describes as a theatrical gesture. “It’s as if he is doing something in front of an unseen audience,” said Dr. Kittleson. The second statue represents another man, this one clean shaven, who is situated adjacent to the first statue and in an almost identical but opposite pose. “This figure,” commented Kittleson, “is similar in form to the first statue but it’s definitely different.” He said that it portrays the dramatic moment when the figure was liberated from the “double dungeon of darkness and silence.” A number of other bronze artifacts will be installed, including a plaque. “This statue adds to our information about this very interesting period in history, and about the statues made within this precinct,” said Kittleson. “You could almost write the history of art just from these statues.”

“Educational! Safe! Clean!”

Installation work on the plaza for “The Statue of Four Lies” started last October with small sounding in disturbed areas of the courtyard pavement as part of a comprehensive research program carried out since 2002 in the central zone. It is hoped that it will shed more light on the different stages of this area as well as analyzing the vestiges found in the foundations that testify to its original former arrangement. Also, additionally, a life-size statue of a suitcase will be installed too. Karen Farber, General Supervisor of the University of Houston Aesthetics Department of the COA, added "It’s beautiful, quaint statuary, that I'm sure anyone would like," says Farber, "What really surprised and delighted us was the first rate quality of the statues."

“No statue is better!”

Dr. Mike Guidry summarized the statue as such, “Our team all were in agreement that this experience has been unparalleled by any that we previously had, which means a lot considering we have other ‘art’ all around the campus." He adds, “We believe ‘The Statue of Four Lies’ will bring a bevy of activity from curiosity seekers to visit the venue in the center of the University. The ‘Statue of Four Lies’ is designed to be approachable and inspiring, especially to children. It is fully accessible from all sides so that all visitors, regardless of their personal limitations, may experience it. It is hoped that tourists will come to delight in this chance to see the ‘The Statue of Four Lies’ up close and personal as they continue to be enjoyed”.

If you ask me, the four lies are true.

See the "dramatic unveiling" Wed., 9/22, University of Houston, south side of Lynn Eusan Park, 4385 Wheeler Street, Entrance 5, Houston, TX; more at The Statue of Four Lies.

Mark Your Calenders: "ART WORK" in Dallas

. . . a conversation about art, labor, and economics.

A series of events will be presented relating to the newspaper issue, ART WORK, published by the Chicago-based collective, Temporary Services, on the subject of how hard economic times affect artistic process and compensation and how artists respond in their own and others' behalf. The series is produced through a collaboration among S.M.U.'s Michael Corris and Noah Simblist, U.T.D./CentralTrak's Kate Sheerin, and Carolyn Sortor.

Exhibition at U.T.D.'s CentralTrak: "The Non-Profit Margin"
Where: 800 Exposition Ave. at Ash, Dallas, TX
When: Opening Sat., May 22, 6:00 - 10:00 pm; exhibition through July 24

Works that confront the global economic crisis by challenging the avenues for exhibition and consumption of art and the art experience, by Richie Budd, Gary Farrelly, Thomas Riccio and Frank Dufour, Ludwig Schwarz, Marjorie Schwarz, give up, and Temporary Services. The ART WORK corridor will also include materials on works and/or writings by Gregory Sholette, Harrell Fletcher, Liam Gillick, Not an Alternative, Mel Chin, Lize Mogel, Maria Lind, Research and Destroy, Robert Projansky and Seth Siegelaub, W.A.G.E., Michael Corris, Hollis Frampton, Don Celender, and Julius Getman. The opening reception will also include "Son of Trunk Show," presented by Shelby Cunningham and featuring eight other artists. Organized by CentralTrak Director Kate Sheerin and Carolyn Sortor. Gallery hours Wed. - Sat., noon - 5:00 pm.

Symposum at S.M.U.: "ART WORK: A Local Conversation About Art, Labor, and Economics"
Where: O’Donnell Hall in Owen Arts Center, on Hillcrest at Grenada, Dallas, TX (FREE PARKING in the "U-Lot" just south of Owen Arts Center)
When: Sat., June 12, 1:00 - 5:00 pm

A symposium on how cultural workers have responded to depressed economies past and present and the aesthetic contexts for Temporary Services' ART WORK project. The symposium is co-sponsored by S.M.U. and U.T.D.'s CentralTrak. Speakers will include Michael Corris, Chair of the Div. of Art at SMU's Meadows School of the Arts; New York-based artist Maureen Connor; artist Bryce Dwyer of the Chicago collective inCUBATE; Marc Herbst, co-Editor of The Journal of Aesthetics & Protest; and Brent Brown of bcWORKSHOP. A panel discussion with the speakers, moderated by Noah Simblist, associate prof. of art at SMU's Meadows School, will follow. Free parking in the "U Lot" just south of the building.

Program at CentralTrak: "ART WORK: Readings"
Where: 800 Exposition Ave. at Ash, Dallas, TX
When: Sat., June 19, 7:30 - 10:00 pm

Readings of excerpts from ART WORK, including history, fiction, autobio, and other writings by Temporary Services, Artforum writer Gregory Sholette, artist Nicolas Lampert, author Cooley Windsor, writer Brian Holmes, "Anonymous," and others. Support for actors' fees is provided by Undermain Theatre; organized by Carolyn Sortor. Doors open at 7:30; program starts at 8:00 pm.

For more info, see the facebook page for "Temporary Services "Art Work" in Dallas." You can also download a complete copy of the newsprint issue here. There's also more info and links re- Temporary Services and the ART WORK issue/project here.

UPDATE: For a review of the exhibition at CentralTrak, see Art Lies. For visuals of the exhibition, see here; for visuals of the symposium, see here; and for visuals of the readings program, see here (thanks to everyone for turning out!) To "like" the ART WORK in dallas series on Facebook, go here. For some of my reasons for instigating this project, see here.

Temporary Services, Art and Language, Etc.

I've been working on organizing some programs/events in Dallas relating to Temporary Services' Art Work issue. I'm excited about developments and hope to be able to let you know more soon.

Meanwhile, been trying to educate myself a bit about the aesthetic and other contexts for Temporary Services' project, and am amazed at how many trails I've been following for a long time, some through non-"art" contexts, seem to be coming together.

I won't inflict it all on you here, but I can't resist sharing, I've been looking for info online re- what the "Art and Language" movement (or whatever you call it) – at first not finding much; e.g. Wikipedia's entry contains little more than a string of names – and just found this great resource published by that splendid repository of aesthetic booty, Germany's ZKM. It's a text the Art and Language group produced called Blurting in A&L. Was ist das? Quoting ZKM's intro,

Blurting in A & L is a printed booklet whose content is a dictionary with blurts or »annotations«. The annotations were written by american members of Art & Language Ian Burn, Michael Corris, Preston Heller, Joseph Kosuth, Andrew Menard, Mel Ramsden and Terry Smith between january and july 1973. Michael Corris and Mel Ramsden chose terms as headlines for the annotations. The first letters of the headlines were used for an alphabetical ordering. In this order the annotations were numbered.

Anyway, what appears to be the complete, online version, is here, in a great, interactive format (the original was apparently similar in format to the image at right {which you can enlarge by clicking on it}, except I added the stripes in honor of Michael Corris's recent contro to Modern Ruin).

As John Hodgeman says, you're welcome.

Caleb Larsen's "A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter"

Acrylic, custom electronics, programming, internet connection, online auction (2009). The object continually pings to check whether it's being auctioned on ebay. If not, the object creates an auction. All sales are subject to the condition that the purchaser must "send [the object] to the new owner. The new owner must then plug it into ethernet," so the process can begin again. You can see/join in the current auction here.

Per Larsen, the work is discussed in the catalogue for his 2009 exhibition, The Value of Nothing, which can be purchased or downloaded here. From Larsen via Make.

(So that's what the monolith in 2001 was.)

Artist Jill Magid's "Authority to Remove" Is Removed by Dutch Authorities

Magid specializes in exploring issues of surveillance, privacy, secrecy, and what's inside vs. outside.

E.g., for Evidence Locker (multimedia installation with video, "Reading Room," and other components, ca. 2007), she staged performances in front of London surveillance cameras. She then "submit[ed] 31 Subject Access Request Forms – the legal document necessary to outline to the police details of how and when an 'incident' occurred" – and used the resulting footage to create the video component of the installation.

When a recent exhibition of Magid's latest project, called "Authority to Remove," closed at Tate Modern, Dutch authorities removed and sealed much of the work included in the show – work the Dutch Secret Service had originally commissioned – thus consummating the work.

Dutch law requires that a small portion of the construction budgets for public buildings be devoted to commissioning new art. The Dutch Secret Service had commissioned Magid to make some, and had cooperated with her proposal to interview agents about their personal lives.

In the course of her commission, she produced her "first novel," a book based on her interviews of 18 agents. Although she masked their identities by calling all the men "Vincent" and all the women "Miranda," "[t]he agency found her work quite challenging and dangerous . . . ." The agency ultimately agreed to allow the text to be exhibited just once, and only with some 40% of the text whited out; it also required Magid to agree that upon the show's closing, the book and her notes would be sealed and archived in the same manner as the notes of a retiring agent.

Magid is publishing the prologue and epilogue of her original text under the title, Becoming Tarden (click on the pic below for a more legible image), the entirety of which can be found online here.

In her epilogue, she quotes her agency "advisor":

How far can they go to erase your experience? . . . Besides conducting surgery on your brain, how can they succeed? You cannot be the same person after this assignment; it has profoundly affected you and altered your perception of the world. How can they remove that?

How far, indeed – here's hoping Magid has, unlike Lombardi, placed copies with a reliable friend.

From artdaily and The WSJ here and here; and see a nice slide show at The WSJ here.

Magid's site is here.; she's represented by Yvon Lambert.

Temporary Services: "ART WORK"

The Chicago-based artists' collective, Temporary Services, has published a one-off newspaper issue on how depressed economies affect artistic process, compensation, and property, including artists' initiatives to organize in their own and others' behalf.

You can download a complete copy of the issue here or here (please share these links!) A limited number of hard copies are also being distributed at select locations across the U.S.

Contributors to the newspaper include artists, critics, writers, and educators "seeking to articulate the ways in which artists and culture-makers both respond to and deal with the economic depressions of the world," including Holland Cotter, New York Times art critic and 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for criticism; writer/artist Gregory Shollette, contributor to Artforum and co-editor of The Interventionists: Users' Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life; Julia Bryan-Wilson, author of Art Workers: Radical Practice in the Vietnam Era (2009) and Work Ethic (2003); Christina Ulke, Marc Herbst, and Robby Herbst, editors for The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest; Harrell Fletcher, visual artist; Futurefarmers, a collective design studio that supports art projects, artists in residencies and research interests; Nicolas Lampert, interdisciplinary artist; Lize Mogel, interdisciplinary artist; Linda Frye Burnham, writer and founder of High Performance magazine; Scott Berzofsky and John Duda, organizers of City from Below; Cooley Windsor, author of Visit Me in California; and many more.

TS has been described as "working out of a Situationist tradition"; their projects or publications have been featured at Mass MoCA, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, the Smart Museum of Art, the Creative Time Summit, and elsewhere.

UPDATE: Additional hard copies of the issue are available for the cost of shipping, through Half Letter Press; but due to the limited supply, orders of additional copies are being limited to 10 each; so get yours soon. Also, Temporary Services' Art Work website has the issue in the now-traditional interactive format, plus additional materials that could not be included in the hard copy because of monetary or time constraints.

Political Art Month

You can now see artists' and art professionals' responses to Political Art Month so far here. They're interesting, inspiring, and funny.

Founder Gene Elder writes, "Our goal [among others] is to alert galleries across America to devote some thought and time to either political, social or religious subject matter for July." For more on P.A.M., see my previous post.

What are you planning for P.A.M.? Let Elder and the world know; send him the details at elder4tomato at yahoo dot com.

Not an Alternative

Not an Alternative Product from Not an Alternative on Vimeo.

More great stuff at The Change You Want to See.

The Yes Men

. . . publish their own New York Times:

Update on CentralTrak Schedule

The Wim Wenders screenings and the two Art+Tech talks have been deleted (I wondered how they were going to do everything). There's still lots to do; see the official calendar here, and my updated post here.

Understanding Islam Through Virtual Worlds

I had to post this 'cuz it combines two things I'm really interested in. "[A]n event-based program . . . tak[ing] place in Second Life to create dialogue around the issue of Islam and to study any benefits or limitations of virtual worlds in the creation of new channels of communication between cultures." (Not exactly sure what they mean by "the issue of Islam," but.) By Dancing Ink Productions; via BoingBoing.

UPDATE Re- Checkpoint Dreamyourtopia:

Download your immigration form here for the main event, 1/10/09, 5-9pm, at CentralTrak, 800 Exposition Ave., Dallas. You'll need to print, fill out, and bring this form with you; please also bring a 2x2" photo and $4.00 for your application.

Original post w/ more details about this project here; see also the CentralTrak calendar.

Upcoming at CentralTrak

Charissa T. and Mary B. have been working hard. Here are a few (tho' by no means all of the) upcoming events (selected purely based on my own interests):

Now thru Jan. 20: Vicious Pink, curated by Mary Benedicto. Image left: Kirsten Macy's A Girl Named Ham & the Sportsman Royal (2008; courtesy Barry Whistler Gallery).

1-8-09: Artist's Talk on Dreamyourtopia, by Daniel Rozenberg, at the DMA. See below.

1-10-09, 5-9PM: Checkpoint Dreamyourtopia. As I understand, you'll have to pass through border control to get to the bar and band.

I'm fascinated with immigration.

First, I believe freedom of travel is a fundamental human right, and suspect nationalism and national borders to be feudal figments perpetuated by oligarchs who would prefer that power over the migration of jobs and us serfs be retained by themselves rather than us. Second, it should be obvious to any sane observer that, because of the demographically gigantic population of boomer oldsters and the relatively tiny cohorts coming up behind them, we desperately need immigrant worker/taxpayer/consumers to help keep the U.S. economy afloat during the next several decades. Third, in what must be one of our times' supreme ironies, border control has nonetheless become the subject of intense focus by right-minded xenophobes and security/control freaks in general. Fourth, I think most students of cultural history will confirm that the intermingling of cultures has often resulted in humanity's most notable flourishings in arts, sciences, etc. Fifth, surveillance, border and boundary control, balances of knowledge about who's up to what -- whether among citizens, furriners, or those who purport to serve us in gummint or their private contractors -- the need for moderation between openness and closedness, in order for any organism, species, or other system to survive -- I think these are all incredibly interesting and important issues (I've made work on and written about these here and elsewhere). Sixth, I'm curious about the seeming conflation of brains and guts. If I recall correctly, there's a biological basis: our brains/nervous systems are closely related to our skins, as are our guts: these are the membranes through which we process what's outside us.

I've suggested a related contest, but not sure whether it will/shd happen, but let me know if you want it to: who can get through checkpoint Dreamyourtopia quickest while carrying (or constituting) the most subversive contraband that's not actually illegal. I'd personally offer the winner a prize having no discernible worth, plus equally negligible fanfare, probably on this very blog.

1-24-09, 6-8PM: Midnight Special, a cooperative event with and/or gallery and House of Dang.

1-29-09, 6PM: Artist's Talk by Kevin Bewersdorf. Kevin had a show at and/or and was in the movie LOL shown at the Dallas Video Festival 2007, etc.



1-31-09, 6-8PM: Openings of exhibitions, Highest Fidelity: I am a Sound Technician, by Frank Dufour, and Commute Portraits by Florencia Levy.

2-7-09: Open-Forum Discussion: New Music-Electronica Scene, DFW/Denton, with Paul Slocum, CJ Davis, and Robert Howell.

2-14-09: Plush Crush, a collaborative event with Plush Gallery.

2-25-09: Lecture: "What Time Is It? Episodic Time in the Road Movie" by Charissa Terranova.

3-7-09: Symposium: Woman Body Image: Half Lives of the Cyborg Manifesto 25 Years After, with Kristin Lucas, Juliet MacCannell, Orit Halpern, and Irina Aristarkhova. Lucas had a great show at and/or earlier this year.

3-21-09: Carnivale.

See CentralTrak's Calendar for more details.

Deathrow Convict's Body to Be Used to Feed Fish (Art Project)

"Gene Hathorn, a convict on death row in Texas, has agreed to give his body to the Danish-based artist Marco Evaristti, should [Hathorn's] final appeal against execution fail. Evaristti plans to turn Hathorn’s body into a work of art. 'My aim is to . . . make fish food out of [Hathorn's body]. Visitors to my exhibition will be able to feed goldfish with it . . . .'

"Hathorn, 47, has been on death row since 1985, after being found guilty for the murder of his father, step-mother and step-brother. At an earlier trial Hathorn’s friend, James Lee Beathard, was also convicted for the murders after Hathorn testified against him. . . . Hathorn later recanted his testimony but Beathard, who protested his innocence to the end, was executed by lethal injection in 1999 because of a Texas law which prevents the presentation of new evidence after 30 days have passed from the original trial."

"Evaristti came to international attention in 2000 when he placed goldfish in electric blenders filled with water. Visitors to the exhibition at Denmark’s Trapholt Art Museum could choose to press a button, turn on the blenders and kill the fish."