joy garnett
Since the beginning
Works in United States of America

ARTBASE (1)
BIO
Joy Garnett is a painter based in New York. She appropriates news images from the Internet and re-invents them as paintings. Her subject is the apocalyptic-sublime landscape, as well as the digital image itself as cultural artifact in an increasingly technologized world. Her image research has resulted in online documentation projects, most notably The Bomb Project.

Notable past exhibitions include her recent solo shows at Winkleman Gallery, New York and at the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC; group exhibitions organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, P.S.1/MoMA Contemporary Art Center, Artists Space, White Columns (New York), Kettle's Yard, Cambridge (UK), and De Witte Zaal, Ghent (Belgium). She shows with aeroplastics contemporary, Brussels, Belgium.

extended network >

homepage:
http://joygarnett.com

The Bomb Project
http://www.thebombproject.org

First Pulse Projects
http://firstpulseprojects.net

NEWSgrist - where spin is art
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/

Discussions (685) Opportunities (5) Events (8) Jobs (0)
DISCUSSION

Newsgrist - Pre-Fall Issue: 911 Inbox; Memorial Fever


Newsgrist - Pre-Fall Issue: 911 Inbox; Memorial Fever
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Newsgrist
where spin is art
{bi-weekly news digest}
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Pre-Fall Issue (Sept. 8, 2002)
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[Note: watch for the first Fall Issue later this week]
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CONTENTS:

- *911 Inbox* Selected messages received by NEWSgrist, Sept. 11, 2001
- *Memorial Fever* Editorial

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*911 Inbox*
NEWSgrist's Inbox, September 11, 2001:

http://newsgrist.net/911_Inbox.html

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*Memorial Fever*

Editorial
The memorialization of 911 actually began on September 11 2001.
There was no appreciable elapse of time between the event itself,
its disclosure and its memorialization. The logical sequence of
events and emotions has been lost without our even knowing; the
phenomenon we call '911' is continually happening, everywhere
and all at once. We have yet to acknowledge or manage the speed
with which these and other events unfold before our eyes. Until
we do, we are potential victims of real time.

For those who live in New York, the media's endless repetition of
images and commentary butts up against 'actual experience.' It is
not simply mindlessness or the exploitative nature of the commentary
that rubs; the proximity in time to the events being commented upon
helps keep us tethered to that initial moment of 'unreality.' New
Yorkers, compelled to compare their own memories with the official
broadcast versions, are condemned to continuously re-experience that
moment. Ubiquitous, government-sanctioned public ritual, along with
prime time televised mourning, seal off any opportunity for real
release, as organized catharsis becomes a constant one can't seem
to shake.

The rest of the nation, obsessed, gripped by "memorial fever," is
unable to let go of the unreal moment it was never able to fully
absorb. How can one memorialize something that has not even begun
to slip into the past?

It seems necessary to keep pointing out that 911 has never stopped
happening: consider the complicated, drawn-out compensation of
victims, the continued physical, emotional and financial
devastation at ground zero, the temporarily reinstated no-fly zone
and scrambling fighter jets. We seem, incredibly, to be
memorializing the present--and maybe even the future.

Are we on the verge of organizing memorials for events that might
happen? Events that in our current state of national paranoia and
fatalism, we feel are bound to happen? Following the same logic for
pre-emptive strikes, one may well consider pre-emptive memorials.

New Yorkers have no choice it seems, but to swallow memorial excess.
Having survived the daily salvo of reminders for one full year, they
must now brave a new crop: the pile of dirt and rubble festooned with
flags passing itself off as 'public art'; the magazine covers
sporting new 'WTC' fonts, and special issues with (yet again) 'newly
disclosed' but ever-familiar photo essays; the re-airing of 'never-
seen-before' video clips taken from inside the burning towers; the
sudden proliferation of 911 exhibitions at every art institution in
the country and locally, and reconstituted makeshift shows of
heartfelt drawings by public school children, or snap shots taken by
the man on the street. The sprouting of prayer vigils, ceremonial boat
rides, candlelight walks, talk radio, sing-alongs, concerts,
commemorative t-shirts, and more... they once had their place. But
it's all happened before, and it keeps happening, like a recurring
bad dream.

All the while in the background, there is a constant drumbeat, the call
and compulsion to war... Is that what underlies this memorial fever, or
do we imagine it exists separately, in a parallel universe? Perhaps we
are duping ourselves. Perhaps this isn't the same bad dream but a
prelude to the next one. "War fever" is the next big thing, something
that would finally provide a release from this mass mourning. It would
induce just enough fear, a dizzying sense of unreality and the promise
of spectacle, driving us from one moment of collective excess and into
the next.

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Newsgrist - where spin is art
PO Box 1269
Canal Street Station
New York, NY 10013
http://newsgrist.net

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DISCUSSION

The Bomb Project News Feed - September 1-6, 2002


The Bomb Project News Feed - September 1-6, 2002

please visit the site for links to articles:
http://thebombproject.org
http://www.firstpulseprojects.net/bombproject/News_8-02.html

HEADLINES
September Issue of The Sunflower (Waging Peace/Nuclear Peace Foundation)is delayed...

September 6, 2002
UN Spy Photos Show New Building at Iraqi Nuclear Sites (NYTimes)
September 6, 2002
Bush Pursues Boost in Yucca Funding (Las Vegas Rev-Journ)
September 5, 2002
UN Worried About Nuclear 'Dirty Bomb' Material (NYTimes)
September 5, 2002
Strike on Iraq Would 'Open Gates of Hell' (NYTimes)
September 5, 2002
Carter Says Iraq Poses 'No Current Danger' to US (NYTimes)
September 5, 2002
Russia Plans 4 New Nuclear Reactors (AP)
September 5, 2002
Russia to Spend $136m on Nuclear Security (RosBus)
September 5, 2002
Sinking South Korea Nuclear Plant is Safe (Reuters)
September 5, 2002
Businesses Draw Line On Security (WashPost)
September 5, 2002
Agency Seeks to Keep Energy Plant Info Secret (NYTimes)
September 4, 2002
Groups File Brief in Case Against Yucca Mountain (Public Citizen)
September 4, 2002
Taking Apart Iraq's Nuclear Threat (NYTimes)
September 4, 2002
Let Us Catch the Power of the Wind (NYTimes Op-Ed)
September 4, 2002
Senators Wary ABout Actions Against Iraq (WashPost)
September 4, 2002
Powell Says Next US Step Involving Iraq to Come Soon (NYTimes)
September 3, 2002
Pakistan to Install Two More Nuclear Power Plants (Xinhua News Agency)
September 2, 2002
Anti-nuclear Groups Make Filing in Yankee Sale (AP)
September 2, 2002
Nuclear Power Set For a Comeback (London Times)
September 2, 2002
The Terrible Logic of Nukes (Time Magazine)
September 1, 2002
Some Facts About Skull Valley (Salt Lake Trib)

DISCUSSION

Re: Not for the Squeamish


Hi all,

oops, I didn't mean to 'hide out' (where? in my titanium-alloy-slick, rad-proof and computer-free bunker??)

;)

I was really happy with the NAN review -- the author (authors!) clearly understands and has no problem conveying the point/intent of the project; however, it also appears that the author (that would be Ms. Varley Jamieson) was disturbed and moved specifically by the aesthetic impact of this material, as in many ways I was initially, as a painter; a fact I find gratifying. (There is a seeming innappropriateness to being wowed by images of mass destruction. But there again is another point -- as a culture, we tend to do just that.)

The project is indeed organized in a 'casual' manner as Rachel observes -- the best journalistic efforts are; therein lies the challenge. There is no need to make a special emphasis when the extreme nature of the information speaks for itself. By removing the figure of 'author' as much as possible and laying out the "facts" in a fair and balanced way, one may leave questions of ethics and morality to the intelligent reader / artist / researcher. That would include the intelligent reviewer, to whom I do not begrudge their opinion. A variety of interpretations and opinions, conflicting or not, are inevitable -- and welcome.

Which leads us to that last sentence, re-edited by Rachel:

"The data, debris and aesthetics of the nuclear arms race considered in an art context points at issues of information decentralization,..."

-- that's a really important point, simple as it sounds. There are many activist anti-nuke sites, and neutral-seeming NGO sites, but none of them put the issue in an art context; why the art context is so important may be / should be expanded upon. It is under-valued. Its function and importance is not well-understood, (least of all among activists -- another topic for another time perhaps...). And information decentralization is the name of the day. But hey, really: finding 'data, debris and aesthetics' all together in one sentence was a real turn-on -- yes!

-- and the last bit which may have seemed to be moralizing (not to me):

"...and certainly serves as a reality check to any overly idyllic or politically disengaged artists."

Certainly there are politically disengaged artists among us -- and those with agendas, and those who are in between. This serves as a provocation at best, a prod, but I wouldn't call it moralizing in view of the nature of the material at hand; it's really rather restrained.

Of course, we all know that everyone will bring a different set of values, agendas and emotions to bare on these issues. The point is really to provide access to as many approaches and viewpoints as one can, and to encourage people to think -- and argue -- for themselves.

Thanks for the discussion -- and the great review.

Best,
Joy

"t.whid" <twhid@mteww.com> wrote:

> i was replying to seth thompson's pointing out perceived
> inconstancy on joy's part. my apologies, i didn't read
> the NAN item as aggressive towards joy.

> in the meantime, seth's made clearer the point of this
> original post.

> and where is the mysterious joy today? hiding out
> somewhere? let's
> hear from her ;-)

EVENT

'Automotive' release @ Remote Lounge


Dates:
Wed Sep 18, 2002 00:00 - Sat Aug 31, 2002

Playvision & Six Degrees Records
celebrate Ben Neill's new CD:

'Automotive'

with a live performance by
Ben Neill (Six Degrees Records) - mutantrumpet/laptops &
Bill Jones (Sandra Gering Gallery) - laptop/live midi controlled video

Wednesday, September 18
Remote Lounge

also performing:
DJ Ben Butler (Mole, Plastic City, UCMGNY)
&
DJ Eric Calvi

327 Bowery above 2nd Street, New York City
9:00 PM / no cover / ages 21+ / 212 228 0228
http://www.remotelounge.com http://www.benneill.com http://www.sixdegreesrecords.com

Ben Neill melds the worlds of electronic dance culture, jazz, art music and visual media. His new CD 'Automotive' features expanded arrangements of music he has created for a series of groundbreaking Volkswagen television ads.


DISCUSSION

Victims of Realtime


...on the current ongoing memorialization of 911:

{ A response to "Penn Station Memorial"; for images and original post, go here: http://www.holyfuckingshitday.com/archives/000033.html#000033 }

The memorialization of 911 is a ritual artifact from another time when the Public Memorial served as a reasonable coda to a full horror of events that was by necessity disclosed gradually, in a logical timeline, and hence took time to absorb. By contrast, the memorialization of 911 actually began on September 11th, broadcast side-by-side with the almost pre-packaged saga of the main event. There is no longer a logical sequence for these emotions and rituals because there is no elapse of time between the event, its disclosure and its memorial. Everything is happening in a flash, everywhere and all at once.

We have yet to develop a way to deal with the <i>speed</i> with which everything unfolds before our eyes. We are victims of realtime. (okay, I'm paraphrasing Virilio -- but I can't help it).

For those of us who live in New York, there is another problem: the endless media repetition of images and commentary coincides with our 'actual experience.' It is not so much the mindlessness of the commentary as its proximity in time to the events being commented upon. We are condemned to re-experience everything at least once, but more often <i>constantly</i>, and we are compelled to compare our individual experiences with the official version, over and over again, whether we want to or not.

In other words, we are never allowed to 'leave'; and hence the bogusness of memorials: we actually don't need any reminding, since we never really stopped thinking about it. (Do we ever stop thinking about the dead?) And of course, as has been pointed out, 911 never stopped happening: the compensation of victims, the brawl over rebuilding the site at ground zero, the no-fly zone fiasco; it is all still happening. We continue to memorialize the present, and maybe even the future. Perhaps we should organize memorials for events that <i>might</i> happen, or that in our current fatalism we feel are bound to happen.

So for the time being we will have to put up with memorializing piles of rubble labeled 'art' in Penn Station and other public places, magazine covers and special issues with yet more endless and newly disclosed pictures, never-seen-before video clips of the falling towers taken by survivors hiding under cars, 'high-minded' special exhibitions at every art institution in the country and locally, shows of sanctimonious and poetic crayon drawings done by public school children and artists alike.

--Joy Garnett
http://firstpulseprojects.net