Documentary on Graffiti Research Lab (New)

You may remember GRL from the Tech-Art Activism compilation in the 2007 Dallas Video Festival -- see my post here.

Here are clips from a new documentary about GRL premiering at MoMA on May 4, 2008 (via Boing Boing -- worth the click; as usual, they've blogged it well.)

UPDATE: GRL is included in a nice collection of pics of technology-influenced graffiti on WebUrbanist, here.

Penis Theft Panic

Ok, I'm a girl; it's easy for me to laugh . . .

"Purported victims [in Congo], 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure. [And like, how did that touching come about?] . . . .

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

More here.

UPDATE: Once again, TDS covered this story several days AFTER I did -- more evidence someone there reads me (i'm kidding, but).

3-D Bjork

. . . here. It was a bit glitchy for me, but I prolly just need to restart my browser; and anyway, they're offering free 3-D glasses! If the page doesn't work for you, here's the 2-D YouTube version; pls remember to rate it up:

Dr. Lakra's "Untitled (Vea)"

(2007), ink (and paint?) on vintage mag. From the "Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art," previously blogged here. More Lakra here, here, and here.

THE PROGRAM

Me, Bart Weiss, and Dee Mitchell, co-curators of the DVF ' 08's new, new media and video art series, THE PROGRAM. Ok, yeah; in reality, I'm cuter. (Image scavenged by the superb Danette.)

As you may know, the DVF was the first in TX to show video art by Michel Auder, Matthew Barney, Paul Chan, Harun Farocki, Graffiti Research Lab, William Kentridge, Paul McCarthy, Tony Oursler, Pipilotti Rist, Martha Rosler, and Bill Viola, among many others.

This year, the new media and video art portion of the DVF will be presented separately from the rest of the Fest, in an expanded series of programs over a five-week period, with each week's work remaining on exhibit until the next week's is installed.

Nothing's set in stone yet, but it looks like there's a decent chance we'll get to show -- no, I'm afraid of jinxing it. But I will say, I'm really excited about the way the schedule's shaping up.

5 shows over 5 weeks, with openings on 5 consecutive Sat. nites, after-parties, etc. etc. Starting July 26 at Conduit Gallery.

Ink it into your calendar; and tell your friends!

Art Project: Purported Multiple, Deliberately-Induced Pregnancies & Abortions

"A Yale University art student duped the student newspaper with a story about inducing repeated abortions on herself and using the blood for her senior art project, the school said Thursday.

" . . . . The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman's body," said [a] Yale spokeswoman . . . .

"Shvarts' 'performance art' included visual representations, a news release and other narrative materials, Klasky said. When confronted by three senior Yale officials, including two deans, Shvarts acknowledged that she did not seek any abortions. . . .

"The newspaper's account detailed 'a nine-month process during which [Shvarts] artificially inseminated herself 'as often as possible' while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages.'"

Personally, I don't consider an embryo with the I.Q. of a carrot to be a "person" entitled to Constitutional protection. On the other hand, chimps and gorillas can learn and even teach their kids language, but we don't protect them.

More here.

Paul Chan's "Alternumeric" Fonts

I've been looking at some of Paul Chan's stuff for possible inclusion in THE PROGRAM; he's so dam' cool. Something we prolly won't include but that's too fun not to mention is alternumeric fonts that you can download at Chan's site. The pic at left shows how the phrase, "See it here" looks written in "The Future Must Be Sweet" font, which refers to the work of Charles Fourier.

Note that Chan chose "desire" as the central glyph corresponding to the most common letter in the English alphabet, "e."

Unauthorized Group Exhibit in MoMA's Restrooms

On April 4, Jonathan Hartshorn, Brendan Carney, Thury Sigurthorsdottir and Scott Lawrence installed photos, sculptures and other works in an unauthorized exhibit in a the restrooms at MoMA. The photo (by Scott Lawrence) shows Hartshorn's performance piece, in which he crouched under a shower curtain.

As the NYT reports, "The exhibition lasted only from 6 to 6:26 p.m., . . . because a security guard, alerted by concerned bathroomgoers, showed up and tapped on Mr. Hartshorn’s shower curtain . . . and said, ‘I heard there was a mental patient in here.’"

The more enduring part of the exhibit is on the internet. Mr. Carney purchased the domain, "momaexhibitions.org," and replicated MoMA's site exactly, except for adding his own group's restroom show to the list of official exhibitions. The show's listed as, "Group Exhibition Down to Nature."