BIO
Curt Cloninger is an artist, writer, and Associate Professor of New Media at the University of North Carolina Asheville. His art undermines language as a system of meaning in order to reveal it as an embodied force in the world. His art work has been featured in the New York Times and at festivals and galleries from Korea to Brazil. Exhibition venues include Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), Granoff Center for The Creative Arts (Brown University), Digital Art Museum [DAM] (Berlin), Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (Chicago), Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, and the internet. He is the recipient of several grants and awards, including commissions for the creation of new artwork from the National Endowment for the Arts (via Turbulence.org) and Austin Peay State University's Terminal Award.
Cloninger has written on a wide range of topics, including new media and internet art, installation and performance art, experimental graphic design, popular music, network culture, and continental philosophy. His articles have appeared in Intelligent Agent, Mute, Paste, Tekka, Rhizome Digest, A List Apart, and on ABC World News. He is also the author of eight books, most recently One Per Year (Link Editions). He maintains lab404.com, playdamage.org , and deepyoung.org in hopes of facilitating a more lively remote dialogue with the Sundry Contagions of Wonder.
Cloninger has written on a wide range of topics, including new media and internet art, installation and performance art, experimental graphic design, popular music, network culture, and continental philosophy. His articles have appeared in Intelligent Agent, Mute, Paste, Tekka, Rhizome Digest, A List Apart, and on ABC World News. He is also the author of eight books, most recently One Per Year (Link Editions). He maintains lab404.com, playdamage.org , and deepyoung.org in hopes of facilitating a more lively remote dialogue with the Sundry Contagions of Wonder.
Host This Concept: I Rock America and America Rocks Me
Host This Concept: I Rock America and America Rocks Me
After Beuys "I Love America and America Loves Me" and Oleg Kulik's "I
Bite America and America Bites Me" -- I won't stay in a room with a
coyote for 5 d ays or in a cage as a dog for 2 weeks, but I will
assume the persona of a rock & roll ANIMAL (grrr) for 5 days straight.
In lieu of my semi-annual 5-day solo camping trip, I'll travel to New
York City with my guitar and amplifier, set up in the middle of a
designated space (warehouse, loft, gallery, wherever), and perform
rock/pop songs for 5 days straight. I'll print up rock hymnals and
leave them lying around the space so that whoever drops by can sing
along. "Turn in your hymnals to hymn 256 and join me in a rousing
rendition of 'Suzy is a Headbanger.'" I'll have to sleep some and
eat some, but people can watch me do those things too if they like.
I'm not from Germany or Russia, but I am from the American South, so
it's almost the same thing. And I've only been to New York City once
(for 5 days on a family vacation when I was 11).
Here's my ARTIST STATEMENT:
http://playdamage.org/55.html
And some PROMOTIONAL MEDIA:
http://playdamage.org/at/
And some actual proof o' concept "rockin'":
http://lab404.com/plotfracture/scott/what_goes_on.mp3
http://lab404.com/plotfracture/scott/cinnamon_girl.mp3
http://lab404.com/plotfracture/scott/mona_bone_jakon.mp3
http://lab404.com/plotfracture/scott/hungry_wolf.mp3 (get it?
COYOTE... hungry WOLF?)
Those hoping to hear Casio versions of Kraftwerk songs need not
attend. Come to think of it, no one need attend. That's what
Christian worship, punk rock, and performance art all have in common.
The monks at Iona preached to the seals, St. Francis preached to the
birds, The Brian Jonestown Massacre played a 9-hour set to a roomful
of 11 people, and Beuys showed a dead rabbit around an unpopulated
gallery. Plus I've been known to play a 45-minute version of Sister
Ray, which is by THE Velvet Underground of ANDY WARHOL fame! Plus
Beck's grandfather is fluxus artist Al Hansen, so what more
provenance do you need? OK, you forced me to take off the glove:
http://www.twhid.com/video/beuys/singing.mov
In order for the concept to be accurately derivative, the space
should be in New York City. Other allusively legitimate locales
would be Berlin or Moscow, but then I'll have to change the ti tle of
the piece (and I'll have to forego the guilty pleasure of performing
J.C. Mellencamp's perennial anthem, "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A."). After
those three cities, I'm open to a world tour (pending the wife's
permission), but first things first.
If you or someone you know is interested in hosting this concept,
contact me and we can work out the details. I'm free between now and
mid-August.
in all conceptual earnestness,
curt
After Beuys "I Love America and America Loves Me" and Oleg Kulik's "I
Bite America and America Bites Me" -- I won't stay in a room with a
coyote for 5 d ays or in a cage as a dog for 2 weeks, but I will
assume the persona of a rock & roll ANIMAL (grrr) for 5 days straight.
In lieu of my semi-annual 5-day solo camping trip, I'll travel to New
York City with my guitar and amplifier, set up in the middle of a
designated space (warehouse, loft, gallery, wherever), and perform
rock/pop songs for 5 days straight. I'll print up rock hymnals and
leave them lying around the space so that whoever drops by can sing
along. "Turn in your hymnals to hymn 256 and join me in a rousing
rendition of 'Suzy is a Headbanger.'" I'll have to sleep some and
eat some, but people can watch me do those things too if they like.
I'm not from Germany or Russia, but I am from the American South, so
it's almost the same thing. And I've only been to New York City once
(for 5 days on a family vacation when I was 11).
Here's my ARTIST STATEMENT:
http://playdamage.org/55.html
And some PROMOTIONAL MEDIA:
http://playdamage.org/at/
And some actual proof o' concept "rockin'":
http://lab404.com/plotfracture/scott/what_goes_on.mp3
http://lab404.com/plotfracture/scott/cinnamon_girl.mp3
http://lab404.com/plotfracture/scott/mona_bone_jakon.mp3
http://lab404.com/plotfracture/scott/hungry_wolf.mp3 (get it?
COYOTE... hungry WOLF?)
Those hoping to hear Casio versions of Kraftwerk songs need not
attend. Come to think of it, no one need attend. That's what
Christian worship, punk rock, and performance art all have in common.
The monks at Iona preached to the seals, St. Francis preached to the
birds, The Brian Jonestown Massacre played a 9-hour set to a roomful
of 11 people, and Beuys showed a dead rabbit around an unpopulated
gallery. Plus I've been known to play a 45-minute version of Sister
Ray, which is by THE Velvet Underground of ANDY WARHOL fame! Plus
Beck's grandfather is fluxus artist Al Hansen, so what more
provenance do you need? OK, you forced me to take off the glove:
http://www.twhid.com/video/beuys/singing.mov
In order for the concept to be accurately derivative, the space
should be in New York City. Other allusively legitimate locales
would be Berlin or Moscow, but then I'll have to change the ti tle of
the piece (and I'll have to forego the guilty pleasure of performing
J.C. Mellencamp's perennial anthem, "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A."). After
those three cities, I'm open to a world tour (pending the wife's
permission), but first things first.
If you or someone you know is interested in hosting this concept,
contact me and we can work out the details. I'm free between now and
mid-August.
in all conceptual earnestness,
curt
Re: Steal This Concept: The Breakaway Mobius Strip Palindrome
Hi Jon,
Your meaningful critique of my hollow critique dominates. You win.
No wait. If it's all good, then my critique must be good too. It's
a tie. Man, that was a close one. There was almost a winner and a
loser.
The post is satire. Satire by definition assumes superiority (or
"dominance," to allow your postcolonially nuanced term) to the
position it satirizes.
There are lots of rhetorical approaches one can adopt to dismantle my
bombastic position; but the least relevant/potent seems to be the
"you made a value judgment / you have an agenda" relativistic
whistle-blowing approach. Of course I'm making a value judgment.
I'm a critic. I'm criticizing.
medievally yours,
curt
At 3:24 PM -0500 6/8/05, //jonCates wrote:
>On Jun 6, 2005, at 9:39 AM, Curt Cloninger wrote:
>>It critiques any work that it is better than.
>
>most toys (wins)?
>
>supposed dominance is a hollow standard for meaningful critique.
>
>// jonCates
># http://www.criticalartware.net
># http://www.systemsapproach.net
># http://newmedianowandthen.blogspot.com
># http://www.filmvideoandnewmedia.info
Your meaningful critique of my hollow critique dominates. You win.
No wait. If it's all good, then my critique must be good too. It's
a tie. Man, that was a close one. There was almost a winner and a
loser.
The post is satire. Satire by definition assumes superiority (or
"dominance," to allow your postcolonially nuanced term) to the
position it satirizes.
There are lots of rhetorical approaches one can adopt to dismantle my
bombastic position; but the least relevant/potent seems to be the
"you made a value judgment / you have an agenda" relativistic
whistle-blowing approach. Of course I'm making a value judgment.
I'm a critic. I'm criticizing.
medievally yours,
curt
At 3:24 PM -0500 6/8/05, //jonCates wrote:
>On Jun 6, 2005, at 9:39 AM, Curt Cloninger wrote:
>>It critiques any work that it is better than.
>
>most toys (wins)?
>
>supposed dominance is a hollow standard for meaningful critique.
>
>// jonCates
># http://www.criticalartware.net
># http://www.systemsapproach.net
># http://newmedianowandthen.blogspot.com
># http://www.filmvideoandnewmedia.info
Re: Steal This Concept: The Breakaway Mobius Strip Palindrome
At 2:40 AM -0700 6/6/05, Michael Szpakowski wrote:
>Hi Curt
>I'm not clear about this - are you critiquing an
>*actual* piece?- I'm assuming not.
>There just seems to be a whiff of the straw man about
>this. It's as incisive, well written and amusing as
>I'd expect from you, but it feels kind of over the top
>if it doesn't refer to something that's actually out
>there (and I don't mean as a *tendency* but a
>concrete work).
Hi Michael,
It's way over the top and reeks of the straw man. maybe it
critiques thin/easy work l ike "the lights going on and off." But
not any one piece specifically. It critiques any work that it is
better than. There's a fine line between minimal conceptualism and
blowhard wankery, and I'm giving away a piece of that action!
>As a tiny point in passing I suppose I also have a
>personal interest to declare, in that I *love* the
>'loop back and forth' feature in Quick Time - and it
>seems to me part of knowing ones craft in any context
>like this is knowing the idiomatic features of one's
>tools and knowing when and when not to emphasise these
>-when for example it would be a cliche and when on the
>other hand it could still create a little sigh of
>appreciation and connection in the viewer...
right, but if that's the only card you're piece is playing, go fish.
>I'd be very interested to hear you explore at some
>length the areas where you think the conceptual can be
>interesting and fertile - the grey areas; maybe an
>extended critique of an actual piece (and if you've
>done this, forgive me -just point me there!)
I like it when the concept is somehow tied to something other than
itself, the art world, the art canon, or political polemics. Andy
Goldsworthy lays on his back in a field of pebbles just prior to a
light rain. He lays there until the pebbled ground around him is
covered in rain enough to darken the pebbles. Then he gets up,
leaving the shape of his absence -- light, unrained upon pebbles
outlined by dark ones. Goldsworthy has rain on his face and body.
The exact same amount of rain that has fallen on the surrounding
pebbles. For that brief instant after he stands up, he experiences a
connection with the field of pebbles. He has left himself on the
filed (although he's really left nothing). He has partaken of the
experience of the field (although a field can't really experience
something). He stands in the rain and watches as the shape of his
body on the ground is gradually darkened by rain until it is
indistinguishable from the rest of the field. Then he turns and
walks home.
Simple, easy, ephemeral, performative, immaterial, "conceptual." And
yet so much more than just those things. It's not "real" per se, but
it's about something that is real and true and deep. It's less like
a stunt and more like a sacrament. No artist statement required.
peace,
curt
>Hi Curt
>I'm not clear about this - are you critiquing an
>*actual* piece?- I'm assuming not.
>There just seems to be a whiff of the straw man about
>this. It's as incisive, well written and amusing as
>I'd expect from you, but it feels kind of over the top
>if it doesn't refer to something that's actually out
>there (and I don't mean as a *tendency* but a
>concrete work).
Hi Michael,
It's way over the top and reeks of the straw man. maybe it
critiques thin/easy work l ike "the lights going on and off." But
not any one piece specifically. It critiques any work that it is
better than. There's a fine line between minimal conceptualism and
blowhard wankery, and I'm giving away a piece of that action!
>As a tiny point in passing I suppose I also have a
>personal interest to declare, in that I *love* the
>'loop back and forth' feature in Quick Time - and it
>seems to me part of knowing ones craft in any context
>like this is knowing the idiomatic features of one's
>tools and knowing when and when not to emphasise these
>-when for example it would be a cliche and when on the
>other hand it could still create a little sigh of
>appreciation and connection in the viewer...
right, but if that's the only card you're piece is playing, go fish.
>I'd be very interested to hear you explore at some
>length the areas where you think the conceptual can be
>interesting and fertile - the grey areas; maybe an
>extended critique of an actual piece (and if you've
>done this, forgive me -just point me there!)
I like it when the concept is somehow tied to something other than
itself, the art world, the art canon, or political polemics. Andy
Goldsworthy lays on his back in a field of pebbles just prior to a
light rain. He lays there until the pebbled ground around him is
covered in rain enough to darken the pebbles. Then he gets up,
leaving the shape of his absence -- light, unrained upon pebbles
outlined by dark ones. Goldsworthy has rain on his face and body.
The exact same amount of rain that has fallen on the surrounding
pebbles. For that brief instant after he stands up, he experiences a
connection with the field of pebbles. He has left himself on the
filed (although he's really left nothing). He has partaken of the
experience of the field (although a field can't really experience
something). He stands in the rain and watches as the shape of his
body on the ground is gradually darkened by rain until it is
indistinguishable from the rest of the field. Then he turns and
walks home.
Simple, easy, ephemeral, performative, immaterial, "conceptual." And
yet so much more than just those things. It's not "real" per se, but
it's about something that is real and true and deep. It's less like
a stunt and more like a sacrament. No artist statement required.
peace,
curt
Re: Re: Steal This Concept: The Breakaway Mobius Strip Palindrome
ryan griffis wrote:
> maybe everyone is a willing and consenting party. maybe
> they're into "that kind of thing." maybe it's not about deception.
> maybe that's all part of the act. you know, role play.
conceptual artists who hate art patrons and the art patrons who love them.
> it could be troubling just knowing that "it's" going on somewhere,
> even
> if you can't actually see "it."
"Underground gas vein, genius. You guys need to exercise more caution before discharging your firearms."
- agent k
> you have to watch out for those "agendas."
the committee to eradicate all agendas is now in session. the first item on our agenda...
> maybe everyone is a willing and consenting party. maybe
> they're into "that kind of thing." maybe it's not about deception.
> maybe that's all part of the act. you know, role play.
conceptual artists who hate art patrons and the art patrons who love them.
> it could be troubling just knowing that "it's" going on somewhere,
> even
> if you can't actually see "it."
"Underground gas vein, genius. You guys need to exercise more caution before discharging your firearms."
- agent k
> you have to watch out for those "agendas."
the committee to eradicate all agendas is now in session. the first item on our agenda...
Steal This Concept: The Breakaway Mobius Strip Palindrome
Steal This Concept: The Breakaway Mobius Strip Palindrome
Take Bruce Conner's original "Breakaway" film with Toni Basil dancing
in an increasingly naked fashion (for the first half of the film; in
the second half she dances backwards in a decreasingly naked
fashion), and loop it so that it plays forwards and backwards and
forwards and backwards for the entire exhibit. Better yet, just save
it as a quicktime file and set the player on palindrome, so it
doesn't just loop, but it actually plays the backwards part forwards
and the forwards part backwards on its way back to the start.
It won't make a darned bit of difference practically whether you loop
it or do the palindrome thing, but you can include the fact that you
used the palindrome setting in your ARTIST STATEMENT. It will make
it seem all new media and technological. Like, "Techno." From the
Greek -- "Technae." From the French -- "Technique." And then you
can be all like -- "Techtonic plate structures..."
Or set one player on one projector to loop it, and another player on
a second projector to palindrome play it, and then talk about that in
your ARTIST STATEMENT.
The title of the piece is your real "ace in the hole." Mobius strip
like "a continuous one-sided surface that can be formed from a
rectangular strip by rotating one end 180
Take Bruce Conner's original "Breakaway" film with Toni Basil dancing
in an increasingly naked fashion (for the first half of the film; in
the second half she dances backwards in a decreasingly naked
fashion), and loop it so that it plays forwards and backwards and
forwards and backwards for the entire exhibit. Better yet, just save
it as a quicktime file and set the player on palindrome, so it
doesn't just loop, but it actually plays the backwards part forwards
and the forwards part backwards on its way back to the start.
It won't make a darned bit of difference practically whether you loop
it or do the palindrome thing, but you can include the fact that you
used the palindrome setting in your ARTIST STATEMENT. It will make
it seem all new media and technological. Like, "Techno." From the
Greek -- "Technae." From the French -- "Technique." And then you
can be all like -- "Techtonic plate structures..."
Or set one player on one projector to loop it, and another player on
a second projector to palindrome play it, and then talk about that in
your ARTIST STATEMENT.
The title of the piece is your real "ace in the hole." Mobius strip
like "a continuous one-sided surface that can be formed from a
rectangular strip by rotating one end 180