2009 Pulse; Plus New Beecroft at Deitch, and Eyebeam

More pics and vidis starting here.

I began the day at Art in General, where Sandra Skurvida gave a helpful and thought-provoking talk about the show she curated there, Custom Car Commandos (unfortunately now closed, and yes, tipping the hat to Kenneth Anger's Kustom Kar Kommandos showing at P.S. 1 through September 14, 2009). Angie Waller's piece was pretty hilarious, and I esp. liked Lars Mathison's.

I enjoyed the first piece I encountered at Pulse, by Eyebeam alum R. Luke DuBois; he'd made something like "tag clouds" for each of the U.S. Prez's based on their State of the Union speeches, laid out like eye exam charts. (Reminded me of a John Cheever Wapshot tale, in which a the protagonist plugs the complete works of Shakespeare into a program that spits out a list of words in order of most frequent use, which list itself turns out in the Bard's case to constitute a sonnet.) DuBois's results are evocative and sometimes ironic: Washington appealed to our higher selves as "Gentlemen"; Nixon's most-used word was "truly."

I really liked Airan Kang's "illuminated" books -- his and the Bliumis' works evince a trend I'll maybe call nostalgia for old media, including words; Gino Rupert's work; Michael Joaquin Grey's work (starting here); Li Wenqiang's work. And, fellow M.B. fans, don't miss Laurina Paperina's Joseph Kosuth versus Matthew Barney (Barney wins)!

One thing that sounded like a good idea but didn't really work in the setting was Pulse Play: curator Marina Fokidis invited various artists to select their own fave YouTube videos. While the list is appreciated and I hope to explore it, who's going to sit there and watch a faded projection during fair hours when they can see the same quality or better at 4 a.m. in the comfort of my own home.

Also at Pulse, ran into artist Fahamu Pecou (his work was being shown there by Lyons Wirr Ortt, NYC; I originally met him at his Dallas, TX gallery, Conduit) -- thanks for encouraging me to go to everything, Fahamu! Not that I need much pushing.

I left Pulse to catch the new Vanessa Beecroft performance/sculpture at Deitch Projects (see here).

Next, the MIXER performance(s) and party at Eyebeam; and as I go thru the pics and vidis (starting here), I'm pretty knocked out at the talent and effort that went into creating this event. Eyebeam has always been among the most worthwhile destinations for me, and a lot of people deserve a lot of credit.

Re- Mark Shepard: I had to include that vidi, which isn't much, but: he created the umbrellas as part of his project, called Hertzian Rain, and as I understand, the deal was, they were covered with a (radio?-) wave-resistant fabric, and waves were being transmitted from different points in the building, and as you walked around under an umbrella, depending the angle you held it and your location, different sources would come through or be cut out. For more on the performers and attractions, see here.

Eyebeam will welcome new residents 3-26 at 6PM; I will be there.

2009 Armory Show

This is the first in a series of posts re- the art fairs in NYC. Please see disclaimers in the side bar at left.

More pics and vidis starting here. Because of time constraints, I only went to Pier 94.

A few of my faves at Armory were the Parkett editions (starting here), the Ryan McGinley pieces, the William Pope.L [sic] piece (starting here), and the Jon Kessler piece (starting here). I was also glad to get to see some John Bock sculptures (here and elsewhere; also see my previous post and search the page for "Bock").

I shot Pregnant Again! and some other crafty pieces partly for you, snarky! Although I also liked them. And Pan Am for you, Cris! Although I liked it, too.

I hope to discuss various trends or themes in a separate post (after I finish compressing and uploading all the pics and vidis from Pulse, Eyebeam, Scope, and Volta).

Vanessa Beecroft at Deitch Projects

As mentioned, I'm in NYC for a month. Below is a Vanessa Beecroft performance/sculpture that opened at Deitch Projects last nite (click on the image for a larger version) -- I understand it's her first in 8 years.

The super-white figures are cast sculptures; the not-so-white ones are people. There were about 20 of each in this room. They just lay there with their eyes closed, then gradually a few opened their eyes. As you can see, the figures are in various poses suggesting greater or lesser comfort with their nudity. One oddity was that most of the cast figures seemed to have been created with something under their heads, so that, unlike the life figures, the cast heads were a few inches off the floor. In the other room, there were about 8 similar, black figures -- no live people -- lined up on a simple table.

The big art fairs are in town -- Armory, Pulse, Scope, and a new one called Volt NY -- so there's lots going on and I'm having a great time and shooting lots of pics and movies, which I'll blog as soon as I have the chance. I just picked this piece out to post 'cuz I figured my sig. other would like it. (Click on the pic to enlarge.)

Sabbatical . . .

or 40 days in the wilderness? Whatever; I got offered a deal on a month-long sublet near NYC. Wi-fi supplied, but I'm not sure how fast, or how much time I'll feel like sitting around the apt. blogging. So posts may be a bit sparse for a few weeks.

Don't give up on me. For one thing, I've been invited to write about work at the Fusebox Festival in Austin – and not only will I get to see stuff for free, but they're paying my expenses!

Fusebox runs Thur., April 23 - Sat., May 2. The Austin Chronical has a good article about last year's fest. See Fusebox for details about the works shown at right.

We Need A Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Although mostly, we need truth. Senator Patrick Leahy explains:

I have proposed the idea of a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate abuses during the Bush-Cheney Administration -- so they never happen again. These abuses may include the use of torture, warrantless wiretapping, extraordinary rendition, and executive override of laws.

Please consider signing Leahy's petition here.

Baby Slippers

Too great.

(From Gizmodo via Ben -- thanks!)

Let's Be Clear; There Are Two Kinds of Bailouts:

(1) Those that actually buy something for the money; and

(2) Those that throw good money after bad.

As an e.g. of (2), see this from a CitiBank employee:

I'm involved with a $300 million condo-hotel development in the Caribbean. Citi has the whole loan (i.e., they didn't securitize or otherwise sell participations in the loan). Even now, we expect the hotel needs at least another $100 million to finish construction and open . . . . Hence, one might plausibly value this $275M loan at zero (i.e., a complete write off). I cannot imagine any stress test would uncover what a huge loss is on the way in the next 12 months. In fact, this loan has not even been pawned off to the nonperforming/distressed debt/workout section of Citi because the interest reserves make it "seem" like the loan is still performing, not to mention that completely out of date pro formas make it "seem" like (i) equity will come in to finish the project and (ii) condo sales will pay down a huge part of the principal once construction is complete. This scenario must be present in a large number of Citi loans, especially in their somewhat active foreign development divisions. Citi must be so far from solvent that it's not even funny. Only hyperinflation in the dollar could ever make it possible for the borrowers to pay back some of these loans. I'd bet that the sooner we face reality on some of these loans and just halt future fundings, the less money the taxpayers are going to lose. As it is, it's almost too late. Too bad for the US taxpayer.

(Emphasis supplied.) Full text here.

The (1) kind would be the kind that actually helps us plebes.

We Can't Fix the Economy Without Knowing What Broke

Really great article at HuffPo. Among other highlights:

Fact Checking Time's List of 25 People to Blame

* * * * *

2. Phil Gramm Bottom Line: He deserves to be at the top of the list. It's hard to overestimate the damage he caused.

Unmentioned by Time: Gramm slashed the SEC's budget, stacked the CFTC with his cronies, helped emasculated investor protections under the SEC acts. [E.g., Gramm led the charge to repeal Glass-Steagall, among other things, which, during the decades since the '29 Crash until repealed, had worked to protect against losses by prohibiting banks from engaging in the kinds of excessively risky investments that caused the 1929 crash.]

3. Alan Greenspan Bottom Line: Time sanitizes Greenspan's record.

Greenspan recklessly ignored parts of his job description, which included correcting the regulatory loopholes that allowed predatory lenders like Ameriquest to flourish. And he recklessly ignored evidence of the risks. After the S&L crisis of the early 1990s, everyone knew the hazards of unregulated mortgage lending. (Greenspan had championed S&L deregulation and was a big booster of Charles Keating.) Everyone knew that subprime mortgage lending was fraught with peril and could lead to financial disaster by June 2000, when First Union wrote down its entire $2.8 billion investment in The Money Store, a subprime lender acquired two years earlier. But Time gives it all a "mistakes-were-made" spin, merely noting that "his long-standing disdain for regulation underpinned the mortgage crisis."

Time's Conspicuous Omission: The Republican Congress.

"Federal lawmakers didn't pose much of a threat to the subprime industry in recent years. Members of Congress received at least $645,000 in donations from Ameriquest and large sums from other big subprime lenders, Federal Election Commission records indicate. They debated new oversight of the industry, but took no action." The Wall Street Journal, December 31, 2007

* * * * *

5. American Consumers Bottom Line: Part of the phony "plenty-of-blame-to-go-around" narrative.

"We really enjoyed living beyond our means... Household debt in the U.S.--the money we owe as individuals--zoomed to more than 130% of income in 2007, up from about 60% in 1982... Now we're out of bubbles." Time neglects to mention how those bubbles were inflated with artificially low interest rates and a new tax exemption on dividends during the run up to the 2004 election.

Time's Conspicuous Omission: Republican Tax Cuts. In terms of living beyond our means, consider this. In 2000 Federal revenues (excluding social security) were $1.54 trillion versus $1.46 trillion in outlays. In 2003, long past a recession that ended in November 2001, Federal revenues were $1.26 trillion (an 18% decline) versus outlays that were $1.8 trillion. Revenues had declined three years for three years in a row, something unprecedented since the Great Depression. And this was before we started tallying the cost of the Iraq war.

6. Hank Paulson Bottom Line: Time gets it right, though Paulson should be in the top 3.