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/
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/
FW: 2nd Nuclear Age Conference @ CUNY Graduate Ctr. (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 10:50:01 -0400
From: "Weppner, Pamela" <PWeppner@gc.cuny.edu>
To: Continuing Education <continuinged@gc.cuny.edu>
Subject: FW: 2nd Nuclear Age Conference @ CUNY Graduate Ctr.
PLEASE JOIN US AND PASS ALONG THIS INFORMATION TO FRIENDS & COLLEAGUES...
*
The focus of this conference is the intersection of nuclear threat and
the new terrorism in the 21st century.
*It is widely believed that if Osama bin Laden had had access to
nuclear
weapons, he would have ordered one or more to be placed on the planes
flying into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11.
*Post-9/11 the world has shifted from more general agreement
on reducing nuclear arms to a new enthusiasm that sees them as
key to national security in the defense of terrorism.
........................
http://firstpulseprojects.com/BombProjTrinity1.html
DON'T MISS THIS CRITICAL DISCUSSION...
Register today at: 212-817-8215
........................
The Second Nuclear Age
Nuclear Weapons The New Terrorism The Culture of Fear
Friday, December 3rd,2004 9am-6pm
CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave.@34th St.
SPEAKERS
Jonathan Schell; Richard Falk; Robert Jay Lifton
Kai Erikson; Arjun Makhijani; Ervand (Jed)Abrahamian
Valerie Kuletz; Lawrence Wittner; Susanna Hecht
John MacArthur; Peter Kuznick; Joseph Masco
John Burroughs; Jacqueline Cabasso; Jennifer Simons
Robert Nelson; Andrew Lichterman; David Krieger
David Cortright; Sohail Hashmi; Leon Sigal; Zia Mian
Sharon K. Weiner; Randal Hanson; James Borgardt
Saul Memendlovitz; James Skelly; Laura Reed,
Alice Slater
TOPICS:
The New Nuclear Weapons
Forms of Resistance and the Anti-Nuclear Movement
Islam, the Middle East and Nuclear Weapons
The Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
The Culture of Fear and Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear Weapons and the Destruction of the Environment
Resistance and Survival in the Second Nuclear Age
Nuclear Weapons and The War System
To Register Call (212)817-8215
Cost: $25 ($15 for students)
Co-sponsored by the Center on Terrorism, John Jay College,
Continuing Education & Public Programs; The Graduate Center, CUNY
York College; and the Samuel Rubin Foundation
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 10:50:01 -0400
From: "Weppner, Pamela" <PWeppner@gc.cuny.edu>
To: Continuing Education <continuinged@gc.cuny.edu>
Subject: FW: 2nd Nuclear Age Conference @ CUNY Graduate Ctr.
PLEASE JOIN US AND PASS ALONG THIS INFORMATION TO FRIENDS & COLLEAGUES...
*
The focus of this conference is the intersection of nuclear threat and
the new terrorism in the 21st century.
*It is widely believed that if Osama bin Laden had had access to
nuclear
weapons, he would have ordered one or more to be placed on the planes
flying into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11.
*Post-9/11 the world has shifted from more general agreement
on reducing nuclear arms to a new enthusiasm that sees them as
key to national security in the defense of terrorism.
........................
http://firstpulseprojects.com/BombProjTrinity1.html
DON'T MISS THIS CRITICAL DISCUSSION...
Register today at: 212-817-8215
........................
The Second Nuclear Age
Nuclear Weapons The New Terrorism The Culture of Fear
Friday, December 3rd,2004 9am-6pm
CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave.@34th St.
SPEAKERS
Jonathan Schell; Richard Falk; Robert Jay Lifton
Kai Erikson; Arjun Makhijani; Ervand (Jed)Abrahamian
Valerie Kuletz; Lawrence Wittner; Susanna Hecht
John MacArthur; Peter Kuznick; Joseph Masco
John Burroughs; Jacqueline Cabasso; Jennifer Simons
Robert Nelson; Andrew Lichterman; David Krieger
David Cortright; Sohail Hashmi; Leon Sigal; Zia Mian
Sharon K. Weiner; Randal Hanson; James Borgardt
Saul Memendlovitz; James Skelly; Laura Reed,
Alice Slater
TOPICS:
The New Nuclear Weapons
Forms of Resistance and the Anti-Nuclear Movement
Islam, the Middle East and Nuclear Weapons
The Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
The Culture of Fear and Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear Weapons and the Destruction of the Environment
Resistance and Survival in the Second Nuclear Age
Nuclear Weapons and The War System
To Register Call (212)817-8215
Cost: $25 ($15 for students)
Co-sponsored by the Center on Terrorism, John Jay College,
Continuing Education & Public Programs; The Graduate Center, CUNY
York College; and the Samuel Rubin Foundation
NEWSgrist: Exhibitions of Protest
NEWSgrist - where spin is art
An e-zine covering the arts since 2000
======================
Vol.5, no.23
======================
read it on the blog:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com
Archives:
http://newsgrist.net
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Friday, October 22, 2004
Exhibitions of Protest
[image: David Robbins, Ice Cream Social #2 (Chicago), 1998, Flag cake;
source]
Here's an incomplete list of pre-election exhibitions (please send me pr
of upcoming and current shows I may have omitted):
....................................................................................................................................................
NEW YORK CITY:
Jenny Holzer: AIRPLANE BANNER TRUISMS
Creative Time
Saturday October 30, Sunday October 31, Monday November 1
1:00 - 3:30 PM
A squadron of five airplanes will fly in succession along the Hudson River
pulling banners emblazoned with text including Holzer's Truisms and quotes
from Abraham Lincoln and visionary thinkers. Filling the sky with
universal declarations, the artwork will enthrall onlookers to reflect
upon the manifestations of power, public life, and the role of the
individual in collective society.
Planes fly from Verrazano Bridge up the Hudson River to the George
Washington Bridge, looping twice again from Battery Park City. Best
viewing along the Hudson waterfront from New York and New Jersey.
Press preview Tuesday October 26 11:30AM - 1.30PM.
Dates and times are approximate and subject to change.
Call 212.206.6674 x2 for up to the minute information.
....................................................................................................................................................
Location One
26 Greene Street between Canal and Grand
Screening:
CALL IT DEMOCRACY
Wednesday, October 27th, 7pm
Producer Dan Efram will be present to introduce the film and answer
questions.
Directed by Matt Kohn and produced by Dan Efram, "Call it Democracy" is a
non-partisan look at the history and future of elections in the United
States. Nearly four years in the making, the film seeks to demystify the
electoral process, forty years of presidential elections and emerging
voting technology. This thought-provoking documentary encourages
discussion about our current electoral system while promoting the
nonpartisan issue of voter participation, education, and election
protection.
"Call It Democracy" is a film that offers a fresh perspective on voting
rights, election reform and the unresolved electronic voting controversies
that could undermine our democratic system. It is a must see for educators
and everyday citizens alike."
- Jehmu Greene, President, Rock The Vote
View the trailer.
and:
Tuesday 2 November, 2004 ELECTION NIGHT
The Waiting Room
starting at 7pm
Spend election night at Location One with NY video bloggers, artists and
network interventionists. P2P networks and exchange, blogs and collective
filtering of network TV will create our own "citizens' coverage" of the
election.
....................................................................................................................................................
The Presidency
Through Nov. 21
Exit Art
475 Tenth Avenue (corner 36th Street)
212.966.7745
list of participating artists
The office of the President of the United States is one of the most
visible positions in the world. The President symbolizes not only the
characteristics and abilities of the nation, but also the substantial
power that influences world and domestic affairs. The President governs
our country, oversees our government, impacts our lives, and shapes our
future.
For this exhibition, we asked artists to put into a visual feeling their
concept of the presidency. The president is the body of the nation. Who is
this individual who every 4 or 8 years changes? How does that change the
image the country has of itself? How does it affect how other countries
see us? Who is your ideal president? Who runs the country? What is the
structure of the government? What is the role of the cabinet? How and by
whom is the president elected? What can we do to control that power? Is
the presidency a symbol more than the person, a portrait of the power of
the country?
....................................................................................................................................................
URGENT!
an exhibition of contemporary art and cultural paraphernalia
An OED of the here and now
Pfaffman Gallery
35 East 1st Street, NYC
Tel: 212 353 8415
Directions: 35 First Street is between 1st and 2nd Avenues.
Subway: F to 2nd Ave or 6 to Bleecker.
Oct 23 Nov 2, 2004
Reception Friday, Oct. 29th, 6-8pm.
An election-night party will feature performances and other actions on
Nov. 2nd, starting at 6pm. If you don't vote, don't think about coming.
Michael Baers, Terry Berkowitz, John Borba, John Bowman, Thom Corn,
Richard Dennis, Joy Garnett, Guerilla Girls, Jennifer Gonzlez, Rob
Grunder, John Heartfield, Katie Holten, Jerry Kearns, John Maas, Richard
Mock, Helen OLeary, Scott Pfaffman, Jenny Polak, Sarah Schwartz, Richard
Serra, Ann Shostrum, Buzz Spector, Martha Wilson, Robert Yarber, The Yes
Men and others...
URGENT includes images of both toxicities and curatives. The work
demonstrates a commitment to the creative energy that is lacking in our
government and media and institutions, which have fallen into a Darwinian
ideology, tailored to the corporate "realities" and based on an elaborate
pyramid of lies.
Directions: take the F to 2nd Ave or the 6 to Bleecker.
For more information, call 212 353 8415.
....................................................................................................................................................
DEMOCRACY IS FUN?
Concept: Larry Litt
Organized by Michele Thursz and Defne Ayas
White Box
525 WEST 26th STREET
TEL: 212.714.2347
October 21-November 6, 2004
Participating Artists:
Anne-Marie Schleiner / Bjrn Melhus / Hug & Magnan / Jonah Bruckner-Cohen /
Kendell Geers/ Larry Litt / Michael Anderson / Pursue the Pulse / Randall
Packer / Ricardo Miranda Zuiga / Serkan Ozkaya / Assume Vivid Astro Focus
/ Sislej Xhafa
Actions:
Bikes Against Bush / Blame Show/ Bush League / CoDECK / Contagious Media /
Experimental Party / Freedom Salon / K48 / Majority Whip / Screensavers
Group/ Six Feet Under: Make Nice / Imagine Festival
Installation shots courtesy jameswagner.com
....................................................................................................................................................
FACE OFF
Ronald Feldman Gallery
Group Exhibition
October 23 November 27
Reception: October 23, 6 8
The Feldman Gallery will present FACE OFF, a contemporary group exhibition
that takes an unexpected approach to the current political moment. Timed
to coincide with the national elections, FACE OFF responds to the growing
atmosphere of anger and anxiety which has begun to define our lives,
times, and political discourse.
Organized by the same curatorial team that mounted Amerian Dre@m, last
years extensive group exhibition that addressed a broad spectrum of
political issues, FACE OFF offers a more focused presentation of
individual concerns. Despite the combative stance suggested by the title,
the critiques presented in FACE OFF are more oblique, the artists more
removed. Safely out of sight, they act as witnesses to their surroundings,
quietly recording their observations. What emerges is a meditation on our
times in a wide variety of media, including textiles, watercolor,
sculpture, audio, and video. The exhibition examines conditions, imagined,
psychological, and real. The works are studied responses that express
everything from frustration to protest to concern for the future. The
viewer in turn participates as a witness in their presence, forced to face
off with the realities they document.
....................................................................................................................................................
MIAMI BEACH:
[image: Joy Garnett, NSA HQ (2003), oil/canvas; source]
The Art of Politics
Curated by Nicole Dupont and Lee Wells
October 29 through November 20, 2004
Private Reception : Friday October 29, 2004
RSVP Required
Ashmore Gallery
2213 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Tel: 305 531 0654
Participating artists:
Michael Ricardo Andreev, M.V. Clark, Joy Garnett, Nancy Gifford, Miguel
Guzman, Tina La Porta, Brian Miller, Elin O'Hara Slavick, and Lee Wells
Socially conscious artists have constituted a strong force in our culture
throughout history, from Goya and Picasso to established and emerging
figures in the contemporary art scene. At times controversial, such
artists engage us personally while drawing us into a heightened awareness
of worldly issues. Complex problems are examined with a poetic or
subversive eye, and difficult questions are posed; hopefully a dialogue
with the viewer is opened. Clearly there is an 'art' to this. It is in
this spirit that Ashmore Gallery presents The Art of Politics on the eve
of this most important of presidential elections.
Miami has long held a place of importance in the political realm. While
Florida has played host to official presidential debates, numerous
unofficial events and fundraisers, as one of three key 'swing' states it
has also suffered its share of political advertising campaigns. The Art of
Politics offers the art loving community a moment to reflect upon
political questions without being brutalized by mass media strategies,
partisan sales pitches and television sound bytes--a rare and
thought-provoking opportunity.
[image: Hug + Magnan, God Bless America flashe on found object,
installation view; source]
....................................................................................................................................................
Friday, October 22, 2004 at 03:26 PM in Art Exhibitions | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/exhibitions_of_.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Peter Hort, Stealth Republican
Truck_washingtonsq
I've been following some troubling blog posts regarding the campaign of
Peter Hort, a native New Yorker and Republican, who is running against
incumbent liberal Dem Jerrold Nadler, for Congress.
Please read/refer to the following ruminations (via bloggy):
The Arts Community and Peter Hort;
Jerry Nadler and the Arts;
The House and Peter Hort (jameswagner.com);
Peter Hort: A "progressive" running on the Conservative Party line?;
Peter Hort, stealth Republican candidate for Congress;
and On Peter Hort, a clarification.
Integral to Hort's campaign is a promise to support arts funding in New
York. He is the son of uber-collectors Susan and Michael Hort, has a
strong record in support for the arts, and is the founder of the Rema Hort
Mann Foundation. He apparently enjoys the support (PDF) of local community
arts groups as well as a growing list of artists, gallerists, curators,
etc. According to bloggy, his campagn implies that the incumbent, Jerry
Nadler, doesn't care about the Arts, which is not accurate.
The fact is Hort is running for Congress as Republican but if you go to
his website, nowhere is there mention of his party affiliation. Among
other important points I agree that there is "a problem with Mr. Hort's
campaign literature not stating that he is a Republican. I also believe
that anyone running as a Republican these days in a place like New York
City needs to explain why a vote for them is not a vote to keep Dennis
Hastert and Tom Delay in power. I think it is the hurdle any Republican
running for the House has to get over before they can be considered a
candidate that any proponent of gay rights, abortion rights, or the health
of urban centers like New York can support."
Here's a typical newsbyte regarding this peculiar omission:
Peter Hort Looks Strategically to Oust Nadler, 09/27/04
Hort, the Republican Party candidate up against Democrat Jerrold Nadler in
U.S. Congressional District 8 is running a generic campaign in which his
literature omits his party affiliation and bills himself as "socially
progressive, fiscally conservative." (Newsday)
and:
CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN, Bid in Democratic stronghold, GOP candidate eyes
seat of incumbent with strategy that blurs his affiliation and stresses
'ideas not ideology'; [CITY Edition]
WILLIAM MURPHY. STAFF WRITER. Newsday (Combined editions). Long Island,
N.Y.: Sep 27, 2004. pg. A.16
Another point via bloggy: "When I wrote about his campaign for Congress
[...] I hadn't realized that he was also running on the New York
Conservative Party line. The Conservative Party is anti-choice and
anti-gay. Not only are they opposed to gay marriage, they are opposed to
civil unions. Their Senate candidate, Marilyn O'Grady, is running a
television advertisement portraying Senator Schumer and his Republican
opponent as gay grooms atop a wedding cake."
and finally, via bloggy:
"I can think of two explanations of why people in the art world would
support Peter Hort.
"The first one is that they are being naive. They buy into the idea that
politics can be about individual politicians, and not their parties. I
wish that were the case, but to support someone running on the Republican
and Conservative Party lines for Congress against a Democratic incumbent
is a vote to empower Tom DeLay and his ilk. I wish there were moderates in
positions of power in the GOP, but there are none.
"It doesn't matter if Mr. Hort professes decent positions in person. I am
told by several people that I should talk to him personally, and that he
is pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. It doesn't matter. A vote for him is a
vote for the GOP agenda.
"The second explanation is the cynical one. Mr. Hort's parents, Susan and
Michael Hort, are among the most important collectors in New York right
now. Peter Hort runs a foundation named after his late sister, the Rema
Hort Mann Foundation, which gives grants to artists.
"When important collectors ask people in the art world to support their
son's candidacy, many of them feel they have no choice but to do so. To do
otherwise would be bad for business or bad for one's artistic career.
Maybe most of them realize that he is unlikely to win, so "no harm done"
is their rationale. Besides, in general they are privileged enough to feel
that the GOP agenda won't directly cause them any harm, while opposing
Peter Hort's campaign may do quite visible harm to a career or business.
"I find it inconceivable that any person who cares about culture or the
state of our nation and planet would vote for a member of the party of
George W. Bush."
Articles + Releases:
Republicans in New York City, by Beth Fertig(WNYC Newsroom)
New York Art Community Rallies Around Peter Hort (PDF) (Peter Hort For
Congress Press Release)
Local Dems take on Bush, rally their own, BY CURTIS L. TAYLOR (Newsday)
Tribeca Republican Takes On Nadler, By Elizabeth OBrien (Downtown Express
- Gay City News)
Snapshots from the convention, By Josh Rogers (Downtown Express - Gay City
News)
Friday, October 22, 2004 at 12:20 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink (+ 5
Comments):
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/peter_hort_stea.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Art and Intellectual Freedom in Times of War
I recently stumbled across the College Art Association's Resolution on Art
and Intellectual Freedom in Times of War:
The College Art Association Board of Directors amended and approved the
following resolution on May 2, 2004 at its spring meeting in New York
City, which was submitted by the Radical Art Caucus:
Whereas in war time, governments commonly shape language, visual culture
and media through censorship and limiting access to timely information to
legitimate aggression, misrepresent policies, conceal aims, stigmatize
dissent, and block critical thought;
and
Whereas we are professionals committed to scrupulous inquiry into culture;
and
Whereas the U.S.A. Patriot Act grants the U.S. government unwarranted
power over investigations of terrorism, including the right to mount
surveillance without court order on reading habits, Web browsing, e-mail
activity, and library borrowing;
and
Whereas the rights and academic freedom of those who engage in critical
inquiry and political activism may be violated by this surveillance
including members of the College Art Association;
and [...]
[...] Be it resolved that CAA supports the right of its members to conduct
critical analysis of war imagery and talk, in public forums and, as
appropriate, in classrooms. CAA also urges a restoration of freedom of
travel to the United States to all international artists and scholars. In
addition, be it resolved that CAA urges the repeal of the U.S.A. Patriot
Act because it infringes on the rights of members of the academic
community and those whom we serve.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004 at 04:12 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/art_and_intelle.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Vanguard or Figurehead?
[image courtesy S.T.U.N.]
Vanguard or Figurehead? How the Arts Have Helped Shape Election Politics
Fri., Oct. 22, 6:30 p.m. $10, $8 for ArtTable members, Free for students.
Location:
The Vera List Center for Art and Politics
The New School, Wollman Hall, 66 West 12th Street
There has been much discussion lately regarding the leadership role that
the arts have taken at this time of political instability. Many advocacy
groups and grassroot efforts are being organized to address voter
registration and political awareness--and the arts and cultural
institutions seem to be the venue of choice for getting the word out.
Artists and arts organizations are being tapped for new initiatives that
mobilize and engage the public. Many nonpartisan (and partisan) campaigns
from recently founded groups have used the arts (whether it be Hip Hop,
the literary or the visual arts) as a link to their communities, to help
galvanize these constituencies and, in turn, to make them more politically
aware. Now that we have engaged these constituencies through the arts and
arts venues, how can we make this same community aware of the political
issues surrounding the arts and culture?
Panelists:
Frayda Feldman, co-director, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, and co-founder
ArtsPac;
Nina Felshin, curator, critic, member of steering committee of Artists
Network of Refuse and Resist!, and initiator of the Not in Our Name
Statement of Conscience;
Brownyn Keenan, member of steering committee, Downtown for Democracy;
Chris Wangro, Co-Executive Producer, Imagine Festival.
Moderator: Nina Ozlu, Vice President, Government and Public Affairs,
Americans for the Arts.
This panel is co-organized by Americans for the Arts, ArtTable and the
Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School.
Tickets are available at The New School Box Office, Monday-Thursday
1-8p.m., Friday 1-7 p.m.
Tickets by phone with a credit card (212) 229-5488;
in person at Box Office, 66 West 12th Street, main floor;
or by email: Boxoffice@newschool.edu
Wednesday, October 20, 2004 at 01:31 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/vanguard_or_fig.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Announcing "Media trips" (where I'm guest blogging)
David Goldschmidt has just launched a new blog about remixing and mashing
media. It's called Media trips:
Media trips is a blog that promotes artists and producers who exercise
their FAIR USE rights. It is a guide to artists and producers who (sample)
(remix) (mash) popculture content to create something new and original.
"Popculture content" means any audio, video, image or text produced by the
world's major media and entertainment corporations.
I'll be guest blogging there occasionally, along with fellow guest
bloggers Ryan Griffis and Mark Cooley.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004 at 12:42 PM in Weblogs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/announcing_medi.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
McKenzie Wark: A Hacker Manifesto
Harvard University Press & McKenzie Wark
invite you to a party to celebrate
McKenzie's new book, A Hacker Manifesto
6-8PM Thursday 21st October
The Orozco Room
New School University
66 w 12th st, 7th floor
with DJ Javier Feliu
DRINKS, EATS, BOOKS, BEATS
rsvp
via Harvard University Press:
A double is haunting the world--the double of abstraction, the virtual
reality of information, programming or poetry, math or music, curves or
colorings upon which the fortunes of states and armies, companies and
communities now depend. The bold aim of this book is to make manifest the
origins, purpose, and interests of the emerging class responsible for
making this new world--for producing the new concepts, new perceptions,
and new sensations out of the stuff of raw data.
A Hacker Manifesto deftly defines the fraught territory between the ever
more strident demands by drug and media companies for protection of their
patents and copyrights and the pervasive popular culture of file sharing
and pirating. This vexed ground, the realm of so-called "intellectual
property," gives rise to a whole new kind of class conflict, one that pits
the creators of information--the hacker class of researchers and authors,
artists and biologists, chemists and musicians, philosophers and
programmers--against a possessing class who would monopolize what the
hacker produces.
Drawing in equal measure on Guy Debord and Gilles Deleuze, A Hacker
Manifesto offers a systematic restatement of Marxist thought for the age
of cyberspace and globalization. In the widespread revolt against
commodified information, McKenzie Wark sees a utopian promise, beyond the
property form, and a new progressive class, the hacker class, who voice a
shared interest in a new information commons.
Warhac_au
order it from your favorite online bookstore:
http://www.amazon.com
http://www.barnesandnoble.com
http://www.powells.com
http://gleebooks.com.au
Tuesday, October 19, 2004 at 01:13 PM in Books | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/mckenzie_wark_a.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Zoe Lister-Jones: Codependence is a Four-Letter Word
"Class, todays lesson is not just about sex and the toys that make it
mildly pleasurable. Todays class is also about love, relationships, and
how they can ruin your not yet adult lives."
Codependence is a Four-Letter Word, a one-woman show by Zoe Lister-Jones,
will premiere at P.S. 122 November 4th to 6th at 8pm and November 7th at 5
pm. Directed by Chris Bauer.
From a Bed-Stuy classroom, "Professor" Lister-Jones guides her class of
underprivileged sixth graders through a whirlwind of outrageous characters
navigating the complex territories of sex, love, and loss.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ZOE LISTER-JONES
Codependence is a Four-Letter Word
P.S. 122
150 First Avenue
(at the corner of East 9th St.)
NOV. 4TH - 7TH @ 8pm, and 5pm on Sunday
New York, NY--Codependence is a Four-Letter Word will premiere at P.S. 122
(150 First Avenue) November 4th to 6th at 8pm and November 7th at 5 pm.
Lister-Jones' premiere is a one-woman show relaying the stories of ten
characters. From an African-American schoolgirl investigating her ancestry
in the wake of heartbreak to a Polish Holocaust survivor teaching his
grandson the ways of sex, each tale focuses on love, relationships, and
the harsh realities of intimacy.
The show features Zoe Lister-Jones' debut album Skip the Kiss, in which
she covers unconventional love songs such as Jay Z's 99 Problems and
Britney Spears' Toxic.
Zoe Lister-Jones is a recent graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts
and The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has appeared onstage in New
York and London. She toured the city with the glam rock performance group
Maxi Geil & Playcolt at venues such as the Axis Theatre, Luxx, and Joe's
Pub. She will be appearing in Guy Richards Smit's rock opera Nausea 2
premiering at the Museum of Modern Art this December and the
musical-performance video Palladio premiering at Symphony Space Thalia
March 2005.
P.S. 122, 150 First Avenue (at the corner of East 9th St.)
Nearest Subways- F to Second Ave. N,R,Q,L,4,5,6 to Union Square
Running Time: November 4th to 6th @ 8pm, and November 7th at 5pm. 1 hr.
and fifteen minutes.
No intermission.
Ticket Price- $15, $10 with a student ID
Tickets- Available at the PS 122 Box Office:
For reservations call 212-477-5288 (Complimentary tickets for
press/industry)
or contact Zoe Lister-Jones via email .
Sunday, October 17, 2004 at 04:24 PM in Performances | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/zoe_listerjones.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Jon Stewart on Crossfire: "You are partisan, what do you call it, hacks"
Wow: here's a snippet from the now-infamous Jon Stewart appearance on
Crossfire where he does more damage than just to call Tucker Carlson a
dick:
STEWART: It's not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is
partisan hackery. And I will tell you why I know it.
CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and
you're accusing us of partisan hackery?
STEWART: Absolutely.
CARLSON: You've got to be kidding me. He comes on and you...
[CROSSTALK]
STEWART: You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making
crank phone calls.
[read it ALL]
[via MTAA-RR + Wonkette]
Sunday, October 17, 2004 at 11:17 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/jon_stewart_on_.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
NEWSgrist - where spin is art
http://newsgrist.typepad.com
Archives
http://newsgrist.net
An e-zine covering the arts since 2000
======================
Vol.5, no.23
======================
read it on the blog:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com
Archives:
http://newsgrist.net
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Friday, October 22, 2004
Exhibitions of Protest
[image: David Robbins, Ice Cream Social #2 (Chicago), 1998, Flag cake;
source]
Here's an incomplete list of pre-election exhibitions (please send me pr
of upcoming and current shows I may have omitted):
....................................................................................................................................................
NEW YORK CITY:
Jenny Holzer: AIRPLANE BANNER TRUISMS
Creative Time
Saturday October 30, Sunday October 31, Monday November 1
1:00 - 3:30 PM
A squadron of five airplanes will fly in succession along the Hudson River
pulling banners emblazoned with text including Holzer's Truisms and quotes
from Abraham Lincoln and visionary thinkers. Filling the sky with
universal declarations, the artwork will enthrall onlookers to reflect
upon the manifestations of power, public life, and the role of the
individual in collective society.
Planes fly from Verrazano Bridge up the Hudson River to the George
Washington Bridge, looping twice again from Battery Park City. Best
viewing along the Hudson waterfront from New York and New Jersey.
Press preview Tuesday October 26 11:30AM - 1.30PM.
Dates and times are approximate and subject to change.
Call 212.206.6674 x2 for up to the minute information.
....................................................................................................................................................
Location One
26 Greene Street between Canal and Grand
Screening:
CALL IT DEMOCRACY
Wednesday, October 27th, 7pm
Producer Dan Efram will be present to introduce the film and answer
questions.
Directed by Matt Kohn and produced by Dan Efram, "Call it Democracy" is a
non-partisan look at the history and future of elections in the United
States. Nearly four years in the making, the film seeks to demystify the
electoral process, forty years of presidential elections and emerging
voting technology. This thought-provoking documentary encourages
discussion about our current electoral system while promoting the
nonpartisan issue of voter participation, education, and election
protection.
"Call It Democracy" is a film that offers a fresh perspective on voting
rights, election reform and the unresolved electronic voting controversies
that could undermine our democratic system. It is a must see for educators
and everyday citizens alike."
- Jehmu Greene, President, Rock The Vote
View the trailer.
and:
Tuesday 2 November, 2004 ELECTION NIGHT
The Waiting Room
starting at 7pm
Spend election night at Location One with NY video bloggers, artists and
network interventionists. P2P networks and exchange, blogs and collective
filtering of network TV will create our own "citizens' coverage" of the
election.
....................................................................................................................................................
The Presidency
Through Nov. 21
Exit Art
475 Tenth Avenue (corner 36th Street)
212.966.7745
list of participating artists
The office of the President of the United States is one of the most
visible positions in the world. The President symbolizes not only the
characteristics and abilities of the nation, but also the substantial
power that influences world and domestic affairs. The President governs
our country, oversees our government, impacts our lives, and shapes our
future.
For this exhibition, we asked artists to put into a visual feeling their
concept of the presidency. The president is the body of the nation. Who is
this individual who every 4 or 8 years changes? How does that change the
image the country has of itself? How does it affect how other countries
see us? Who is your ideal president? Who runs the country? What is the
structure of the government? What is the role of the cabinet? How and by
whom is the president elected? What can we do to control that power? Is
the presidency a symbol more than the person, a portrait of the power of
the country?
....................................................................................................................................................
URGENT!
an exhibition of contemporary art and cultural paraphernalia
An OED of the here and now
Pfaffman Gallery
35 East 1st Street, NYC
Tel: 212 353 8415
Directions: 35 First Street is between 1st and 2nd Avenues.
Subway: F to 2nd Ave or 6 to Bleecker.
Oct 23 Nov 2, 2004
Reception Friday, Oct. 29th, 6-8pm.
An election-night party will feature performances and other actions on
Nov. 2nd, starting at 6pm. If you don't vote, don't think about coming.
Michael Baers, Terry Berkowitz, John Borba, John Bowman, Thom Corn,
Richard Dennis, Joy Garnett, Guerilla Girls, Jennifer Gonzlez, Rob
Grunder, John Heartfield, Katie Holten, Jerry Kearns, John Maas, Richard
Mock, Helen OLeary, Scott Pfaffman, Jenny Polak, Sarah Schwartz, Richard
Serra, Ann Shostrum, Buzz Spector, Martha Wilson, Robert Yarber, The Yes
Men and others...
URGENT includes images of both toxicities and curatives. The work
demonstrates a commitment to the creative energy that is lacking in our
government and media and institutions, which have fallen into a Darwinian
ideology, tailored to the corporate "realities" and based on an elaborate
pyramid of lies.
Directions: take the F to 2nd Ave or the 6 to Bleecker.
For more information, call 212 353 8415.
....................................................................................................................................................
DEMOCRACY IS FUN?
Concept: Larry Litt
Organized by Michele Thursz and Defne Ayas
White Box
525 WEST 26th STREET
TEL: 212.714.2347
October 21-November 6, 2004
Participating Artists:
Anne-Marie Schleiner / Bjrn Melhus / Hug & Magnan / Jonah Bruckner-Cohen /
Kendell Geers/ Larry Litt / Michael Anderson / Pursue the Pulse / Randall
Packer / Ricardo Miranda Zuiga / Serkan Ozkaya / Assume Vivid Astro Focus
/ Sislej Xhafa
Actions:
Bikes Against Bush / Blame Show/ Bush League / CoDECK / Contagious Media /
Experimental Party / Freedom Salon / K48 / Majority Whip / Screensavers
Group/ Six Feet Under: Make Nice / Imagine Festival
Installation shots courtesy jameswagner.com
....................................................................................................................................................
FACE OFF
Ronald Feldman Gallery
Group Exhibition
October 23 November 27
Reception: October 23, 6 8
The Feldman Gallery will present FACE OFF, a contemporary group exhibition
that takes an unexpected approach to the current political moment. Timed
to coincide with the national elections, FACE OFF responds to the growing
atmosphere of anger and anxiety which has begun to define our lives,
times, and political discourse.
Organized by the same curatorial team that mounted Amerian Dre@m, last
years extensive group exhibition that addressed a broad spectrum of
political issues, FACE OFF offers a more focused presentation of
individual concerns. Despite the combative stance suggested by the title,
the critiques presented in FACE OFF are more oblique, the artists more
removed. Safely out of sight, they act as witnesses to their surroundings,
quietly recording their observations. What emerges is a meditation on our
times in a wide variety of media, including textiles, watercolor,
sculpture, audio, and video. The exhibition examines conditions, imagined,
psychological, and real. The works are studied responses that express
everything from frustration to protest to concern for the future. The
viewer in turn participates as a witness in their presence, forced to face
off with the realities they document.
....................................................................................................................................................
MIAMI BEACH:
[image: Joy Garnett, NSA HQ (2003), oil/canvas; source]
The Art of Politics
Curated by Nicole Dupont and Lee Wells
October 29 through November 20, 2004
Private Reception : Friday October 29, 2004
RSVP Required
Ashmore Gallery
2213 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Tel: 305 531 0654
Participating artists:
Michael Ricardo Andreev, M.V. Clark, Joy Garnett, Nancy Gifford, Miguel
Guzman, Tina La Porta, Brian Miller, Elin O'Hara Slavick, and Lee Wells
Socially conscious artists have constituted a strong force in our culture
throughout history, from Goya and Picasso to established and emerging
figures in the contemporary art scene. At times controversial, such
artists engage us personally while drawing us into a heightened awareness
of worldly issues. Complex problems are examined with a poetic or
subversive eye, and difficult questions are posed; hopefully a dialogue
with the viewer is opened. Clearly there is an 'art' to this. It is in
this spirit that Ashmore Gallery presents The Art of Politics on the eve
of this most important of presidential elections.
Miami has long held a place of importance in the political realm. While
Florida has played host to official presidential debates, numerous
unofficial events and fundraisers, as one of three key 'swing' states it
has also suffered its share of political advertising campaigns. The Art of
Politics offers the art loving community a moment to reflect upon
political questions without being brutalized by mass media strategies,
partisan sales pitches and television sound bytes--a rare and
thought-provoking opportunity.
[image: Hug + Magnan, God Bless America flashe on found object,
installation view; source]
....................................................................................................................................................
Friday, October 22, 2004 at 03:26 PM in Art Exhibitions | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/exhibitions_of_.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Peter Hort, Stealth Republican
Truck_washingtonsq
I've been following some troubling blog posts regarding the campaign of
Peter Hort, a native New Yorker and Republican, who is running against
incumbent liberal Dem Jerrold Nadler, for Congress.
Please read/refer to the following ruminations (via bloggy):
The Arts Community and Peter Hort;
Jerry Nadler and the Arts;
The House and Peter Hort (jameswagner.com);
Peter Hort: A "progressive" running on the Conservative Party line?;
Peter Hort, stealth Republican candidate for Congress;
and On Peter Hort, a clarification.
Integral to Hort's campaign is a promise to support arts funding in New
York. He is the son of uber-collectors Susan and Michael Hort, has a
strong record in support for the arts, and is the founder of the Rema Hort
Mann Foundation. He apparently enjoys the support (PDF) of local community
arts groups as well as a growing list of artists, gallerists, curators,
etc. According to bloggy, his campagn implies that the incumbent, Jerry
Nadler, doesn't care about the Arts, which is not accurate.
The fact is Hort is running for Congress as Republican but if you go to
his website, nowhere is there mention of his party affiliation. Among
other important points I agree that there is "a problem with Mr. Hort's
campaign literature not stating that he is a Republican. I also believe
that anyone running as a Republican these days in a place like New York
City needs to explain why a vote for them is not a vote to keep Dennis
Hastert and Tom Delay in power. I think it is the hurdle any Republican
running for the House has to get over before they can be considered a
candidate that any proponent of gay rights, abortion rights, or the health
of urban centers like New York can support."
Here's a typical newsbyte regarding this peculiar omission:
Peter Hort Looks Strategically to Oust Nadler, 09/27/04
Hort, the Republican Party candidate up against Democrat Jerrold Nadler in
U.S. Congressional District 8 is running a generic campaign in which his
literature omits his party affiliation and bills himself as "socially
progressive, fiscally conservative." (Newsday)
and:
CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN, Bid in Democratic stronghold, GOP candidate eyes
seat of incumbent with strategy that blurs his affiliation and stresses
'ideas not ideology'; [CITY Edition]
WILLIAM MURPHY. STAFF WRITER. Newsday (Combined editions). Long Island,
N.Y.: Sep 27, 2004. pg. A.16
Another point via bloggy: "When I wrote about his campaign for Congress
[...] I hadn't realized that he was also running on the New York
Conservative Party line. The Conservative Party is anti-choice and
anti-gay. Not only are they opposed to gay marriage, they are opposed to
civil unions. Their Senate candidate, Marilyn O'Grady, is running a
television advertisement portraying Senator Schumer and his Republican
opponent as gay grooms atop a wedding cake."
and finally, via bloggy:
"I can think of two explanations of why people in the art world would
support Peter Hort.
"The first one is that they are being naive. They buy into the idea that
politics can be about individual politicians, and not their parties. I
wish that were the case, but to support someone running on the Republican
and Conservative Party lines for Congress against a Democratic incumbent
is a vote to empower Tom DeLay and his ilk. I wish there were moderates in
positions of power in the GOP, but there are none.
"It doesn't matter if Mr. Hort professes decent positions in person. I am
told by several people that I should talk to him personally, and that he
is pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. It doesn't matter. A vote for him is a
vote for the GOP agenda.
"The second explanation is the cynical one. Mr. Hort's parents, Susan and
Michael Hort, are among the most important collectors in New York right
now. Peter Hort runs a foundation named after his late sister, the Rema
Hort Mann Foundation, which gives grants to artists.
"When important collectors ask people in the art world to support their
son's candidacy, many of them feel they have no choice but to do so. To do
otherwise would be bad for business or bad for one's artistic career.
Maybe most of them realize that he is unlikely to win, so "no harm done"
is their rationale. Besides, in general they are privileged enough to feel
that the GOP agenda won't directly cause them any harm, while opposing
Peter Hort's campaign may do quite visible harm to a career or business.
"I find it inconceivable that any person who cares about culture or the
state of our nation and planet would vote for a member of the party of
George W. Bush."
Articles + Releases:
Republicans in New York City, by Beth Fertig(WNYC Newsroom)
New York Art Community Rallies Around Peter Hort (PDF) (Peter Hort For
Congress Press Release)
Local Dems take on Bush, rally their own, BY CURTIS L. TAYLOR (Newsday)
Tribeca Republican Takes On Nadler, By Elizabeth OBrien (Downtown Express
- Gay City News)
Snapshots from the convention, By Josh Rogers (Downtown Express - Gay City
News)
Friday, October 22, 2004 at 12:20 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink (+ 5
Comments):
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/peter_hort_stea.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Art and Intellectual Freedom in Times of War
I recently stumbled across the College Art Association's Resolution on Art
and Intellectual Freedom in Times of War:
The College Art Association Board of Directors amended and approved the
following resolution on May 2, 2004 at its spring meeting in New York
City, which was submitted by the Radical Art Caucus:
Whereas in war time, governments commonly shape language, visual culture
and media through censorship and limiting access to timely information to
legitimate aggression, misrepresent policies, conceal aims, stigmatize
dissent, and block critical thought;
and
Whereas we are professionals committed to scrupulous inquiry into culture;
and
Whereas the U.S.A. Patriot Act grants the U.S. government unwarranted
power over investigations of terrorism, including the right to mount
surveillance without court order on reading habits, Web browsing, e-mail
activity, and library borrowing;
and
Whereas the rights and academic freedom of those who engage in critical
inquiry and political activism may be violated by this surveillance
including members of the College Art Association;
and [...]
[...] Be it resolved that CAA supports the right of its members to conduct
critical analysis of war imagery and talk, in public forums and, as
appropriate, in classrooms. CAA also urges a restoration of freedom of
travel to the United States to all international artists and scholars. In
addition, be it resolved that CAA urges the repeal of the U.S.A. Patriot
Act because it infringes on the rights of members of the academic
community and those whom we serve.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004 at 04:12 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/art_and_intelle.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Vanguard or Figurehead?
[image courtesy S.T.U.N.]
Vanguard or Figurehead? How the Arts Have Helped Shape Election Politics
Fri., Oct. 22, 6:30 p.m. $10, $8 for ArtTable members, Free for students.
Location:
The Vera List Center for Art and Politics
The New School, Wollman Hall, 66 West 12th Street
There has been much discussion lately regarding the leadership role that
the arts have taken at this time of political instability. Many advocacy
groups and grassroot efforts are being organized to address voter
registration and political awareness--and the arts and cultural
institutions seem to be the venue of choice for getting the word out.
Artists and arts organizations are being tapped for new initiatives that
mobilize and engage the public. Many nonpartisan (and partisan) campaigns
from recently founded groups have used the arts (whether it be Hip Hop,
the literary or the visual arts) as a link to their communities, to help
galvanize these constituencies and, in turn, to make them more politically
aware. Now that we have engaged these constituencies through the arts and
arts venues, how can we make this same community aware of the political
issues surrounding the arts and culture?
Panelists:
Frayda Feldman, co-director, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, and co-founder
ArtsPac;
Nina Felshin, curator, critic, member of steering committee of Artists
Network of Refuse and Resist!, and initiator of the Not in Our Name
Statement of Conscience;
Brownyn Keenan, member of steering committee, Downtown for Democracy;
Chris Wangro, Co-Executive Producer, Imagine Festival.
Moderator: Nina Ozlu, Vice President, Government and Public Affairs,
Americans for the Arts.
This panel is co-organized by Americans for the Arts, ArtTable and the
Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School.
Tickets are available at The New School Box Office, Monday-Thursday
1-8p.m., Friday 1-7 p.m.
Tickets by phone with a credit card (212) 229-5488;
in person at Box Office, 66 West 12th Street, main floor;
or by email: Boxoffice@newschool.edu
Wednesday, October 20, 2004 at 01:31 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/vanguard_or_fig.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Announcing "Media trips" (where I'm guest blogging)
David Goldschmidt has just launched a new blog about remixing and mashing
media. It's called Media trips:
Media trips is a blog that promotes artists and producers who exercise
their FAIR USE rights. It is a guide to artists and producers who (sample)
(remix) (mash) popculture content to create something new and original.
"Popculture content" means any audio, video, image or text produced by the
world's major media and entertainment corporations.
I'll be guest blogging there occasionally, along with fellow guest
bloggers Ryan Griffis and Mark Cooley.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004 at 12:42 PM in Weblogs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/announcing_medi.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
McKenzie Wark: A Hacker Manifesto
Harvard University Press & McKenzie Wark
invite you to a party to celebrate
McKenzie's new book, A Hacker Manifesto
6-8PM Thursday 21st October
The Orozco Room
New School University
66 w 12th st, 7th floor
with DJ Javier Feliu
DRINKS, EATS, BOOKS, BEATS
rsvp
via Harvard University Press:
A double is haunting the world--the double of abstraction, the virtual
reality of information, programming or poetry, math or music, curves or
colorings upon which the fortunes of states and armies, companies and
communities now depend. The bold aim of this book is to make manifest the
origins, purpose, and interests of the emerging class responsible for
making this new world--for producing the new concepts, new perceptions,
and new sensations out of the stuff of raw data.
A Hacker Manifesto deftly defines the fraught territory between the ever
more strident demands by drug and media companies for protection of their
patents and copyrights and the pervasive popular culture of file sharing
and pirating. This vexed ground, the realm of so-called "intellectual
property," gives rise to a whole new kind of class conflict, one that pits
the creators of information--the hacker class of researchers and authors,
artists and biologists, chemists and musicians, philosophers and
programmers--against a possessing class who would monopolize what the
hacker produces.
Drawing in equal measure on Guy Debord and Gilles Deleuze, A Hacker
Manifesto offers a systematic restatement of Marxist thought for the age
of cyberspace and globalization. In the widespread revolt against
commodified information, McKenzie Wark sees a utopian promise, beyond the
property form, and a new progressive class, the hacker class, who voice a
shared interest in a new information commons.
Warhac_au
order it from your favorite online bookstore:
http://www.amazon.com
http://www.barnesandnoble.com
http://www.powells.com
http://gleebooks.com.au
Tuesday, October 19, 2004 at 01:13 PM in Books | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/mckenzie_wark_a.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Zoe Lister-Jones: Codependence is a Four-Letter Word
"Class, todays lesson is not just about sex and the toys that make it
mildly pleasurable. Todays class is also about love, relationships, and
how they can ruin your not yet adult lives."
Codependence is a Four-Letter Word, a one-woman show by Zoe Lister-Jones,
will premiere at P.S. 122 November 4th to 6th at 8pm and November 7th at 5
pm. Directed by Chris Bauer.
From a Bed-Stuy classroom, "Professor" Lister-Jones guides her class of
underprivileged sixth graders through a whirlwind of outrageous characters
navigating the complex territories of sex, love, and loss.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ZOE LISTER-JONES
Codependence is a Four-Letter Word
P.S. 122
150 First Avenue
(at the corner of East 9th St.)
NOV. 4TH - 7TH @ 8pm, and 5pm on Sunday
New York, NY--Codependence is a Four-Letter Word will premiere at P.S. 122
(150 First Avenue) November 4th to 6th at 8pm and November 7th at 5 pm.
Lister-Jones' premiere is a one-woman show relaying the stories of ten
characters. From an African-American schoolgirl investigating her ancestry
in the wake of heartbreak to a Polish Holocaust survivor teaching his
grandson the ways of sex, each tale focuses on love, relationships, and
the harsh realities of intimacy.
The show features Zoe Lister-Jones' debut album Skip the Kiss, in which
she covers unconventional love songs such as Jay Z's 99 Problems and
Britney Spears' Toxic.
Zoe Lister-Jones is a recent graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts
and The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has appeared onstage in New
York and London. She toured the city with the glam rock performance group
Maxi Geil & Playcolt at venues such as the Axis Theatre, Luxx, and Joe's
Pub. She will be appearing in Guy Richards Smit's rock opera Nausea 2
premiering at the Museum of Modern Art this December and the
musical-performance video Palladio premiering at Symphony Space Thalia
March 2005.
P.S. 122, 150 First Avenue (at the corner of East 9th St.)
Nearest Subways- F to Second Ave. N,R,Q,L,4,5,6 to Union Square
Running Time: November 4th to 6th @ 8pm, and November 7th at 5pm. 1 hr.
and fifteen minutes.
No intermission.
Ticket Price- $15, $10 with a student ID
Tickets- Available at the PS 122 Box Office:
For reservations call 212-477-5288 (Complimentary tickets for
press/industry)
or contact Zoe Lister-Jones via email .
Sunday, October 17, 2004 at 04:24 PM in Performances | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/zoe_listerjones.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Jon Stewart on Crossfire: "You are partisan, what do you call it, hacks"
Wow: here's a snippet from the now-infamous Jon Stewart appearance on
Crossfire where he does more damage than just to call Tucker Carlson a
dick:
STEWART: It's not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is
partisan hackery. And I will tell you why I know it.
CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and
you're accusing us of partisan hackery?
STEWART: Absolutely.
CARLSON: You've got to be kidding me. He comes on and you...
[CROSSTALK]
STEWART: You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making
crank phone calls.
[read it ALL]
[via MTAA-RR + Wonkette]
Sunday, October 17, 2004 at 11:17 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/jon_stewart_on_.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
NEWSgrist - where spin is art
http://newsgrist.typepad.com
Archives
http://newsgrist.net
404 FESTIVAL - SELECTED AUTHORS (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 22:39:00 -0300
From: 404 FESTIVAL <404@astasromas.com>
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Subject: 404 FESTIVAL - SELECTED AUTHORS
[IMAGE]
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ELECTRONIC ART 404
143 authors selected over a total of 350 artists from 25 different
countries
206 selected works over a total of 680 submitted works
The first annual "International Festival of Electronic Art 404" will be
held on 7th -12th December 2004 at the city museum Museo Municipal de
Bellas Artes Juan B. Castagnino, cultural center Centro Cultural Parque
de Espana, CEC (Center of Contemporary Art) and MACRO (Museum of
Contemporary Art) at Rosario city, Argentina.
The international call for works was held 15th March - 30th September
2004. The call now closed, over 680 works were submitted by 350 authors
from 28 different countries all over the world and 28 cities in
Argentina, in the following categories: net-art, website, static image,
animation, video, music, theory, installation and performance.
Works were submitted from: the Netherlands, Greece, Argentina, Spain,
Brazil, Serbia, Montenegro, Germany, USA, Canada, Denmark, United
Kingdom, Turkey, Sweden, Japan, Peru, Lithuania, France, Israel, Uruguay,
Mexico, Puerto Rico, Chile, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Colombia, New
Zealand and Switzerland.
The list of selected authors is available at the official site of the
festival www.404festival.com.ar
We would like to thank all the authors that submitted their work and
supported this initiative, which will be undoubtedly repeated next year.
Thanks to all of you.
This event is institutionally endorsed by Rosario city hall, city museum
Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes J. B. Castagnino, cultural center Centro
Cultural Parque de Espagna, CEC (Center of Contemporary Expressions),
Centro Audiovisual Rosario, the Italian Consulate of Rosario city, the
Spanish Consulate of Rosario city, and the MACRO museum of Rosario.
Festival 404 >>>> created by "Astas Romas", Gina Valenti and Mariano
Guzman / www.astasromas.com
___________________________________________________________________________=
_____
Staff 404: Created and directed by: Gina Valenti
ginavalenti@astasromas.com and Mariano Guzman
marianoguzman@astasromas.com /// Overall Producer: Mariano Guzman ///
Business Manager: Pablo Crembil | pcrembil@astasromas.com ///
Contribution: Agustina di Pratula | agustina@astasromas.com ///
Translation and Interpretation- English: Claudia Tebay |
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 22:39:00 -0300
From: 404 FESTIVAL <404@astasromas.com>
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Subject: 404 FESTIVAL - SELECTED AUTHORS
[IMAGE]
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ELECTRONIC ART 404
143 authors selected over a total of 350 artists from 25 different
countries
206 selected works over a total of 680 submitted works
The first annual "International Festival of Electronic Art 404" will be
held on 7th -12th December 2004 at the city museum Museo Municipal de
Bellas Artes Juan B. Castagnino, cultural center Centro Cultural Parque
de Espana, CEC (Center of Contemporary Art) and MACRO (Museum of
Contemporary Art) at Rosario city, Argentina.
The international call for works was held 15th March - 30th September
2004. The call now closed, over 680 works were submitted by 350 authors
from 28 different countries all over the world and 28 cities in
Argentina, in the following categories: net-art, website, static image,
animation, video, music, theory, installation and performance.
Works were submitted from: the Netherlands, Greece, Argentina, Spain,
Brazil, Serbia, Montenegro, Germany, USA, Canada, Denmark, United
Kingdom, Turkey, Sweden, Japan, Peru, Lithuania, France, Israel, Uruguay,
Mexico, Puerto Rico, Chile, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Colombia, New
Zealand and Switzerland.
The list of selected authors is available at the official site of the
festival www.404festival.com.ar
We would like to thank all the authors that submitted their work and
supported this initiative, which will be undoubtedly repeated next year.
Thanks to all of you.
This event is institutionally endorsed by Rosario city hall, city museum
Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes J. B. Castagnino, cultural center Centro
Cultural Parque de Espagna, CEC (Center of Contemporary Expressions),
Centro Audiovisual Rosario, the Italian Consulate of Rosario city, the
Spanish Consulate of Rosario city, and the MACRO museum of Rosario.
Festival 404 >>>> created by "Astas Romas", Gina Valenti and Mariano
Guzman / www.astasromas.com
___________________________________________________________________________=
_____
Staff 404: Created and directed by: Gina Valenti
ginavalenti@astasromas.com and Mariano Guzman
marianoguzman@astasromas.com /// Overall Producer: Mariano Guzman ///
Business Manager: Pablo Crembil | pcrembil@astasromas.com ///
Contribution: Agustina di Pratula | agustina@astasromas.com ///
Translation and Interpretation- English: Claudia Tebay |
Re: personal + political [was: web-site update]
So thorough and well-put, Francis. WHich reminds me, today while hunting
for something else I came across this resolution on the CAA site (College
Art Assoc.) expressing their official stance on the current situation re:
politics, scholarship and art--I felt heartened to see it there, and
perhaps that's it's purpose....which is really really important. Small
gestures. I would say that the discussion and general sensibility on
Rhizome functions for me in the same way, be it explicit or not.
CAA Advocacy
Resolution on Art and Intellectual Freedom in Times of War
http://www.collegeart.org/caa/advocacy/04Resolutionintimesofwar.html
best,
-J
On Mon, 18 Oct 2004, Francis Hwang wrote:
> FYI: This is from an ur-thread that many people were spammed with over the
> last few days, and I'm a little reluctant to dignify the spam with a
> response, but then Rob just posted a response to the list itself so I suppose
> maybe it's more topical now.
>
> On Oct 16, 2004, at 4:16 AM, Rob Myers wrote:
>
>> On 16 Oct 2004, at 05:44, eric dymond wrote:
>>
>>> Do you declare your hatred for war on the splash page?
>>
>> Rhizome is a non-profit organisation. It cannot do politics under American
>> law.
>
> I think it's more complex than that: I believe that we're allowed to have
> political stances but that advocating for specific candidates would change
> our tax-exempt status, or something like that. Regardless, I think it's
> mostly moot. We're not a political non-profit. We're an arts non-profit. Our
> mission doesn't have much to do with politics, and although us Rhizome
> employees have fairly strong feelings about how fucked up the current
> administration is, I think it's safe to say that we don't feel that as an
> organization we're exceptionally well-positioned to do something about that.
>
> I mean, what the hell would an anti-war statement on the splash page of
> Rhizome accomplish? Who's going to have their opinion swayed by that? We're
> not cnn.com. Unless the art world has been overrun by neoconservatives and
> nobody's bothered to tell me, an antiwar statement on the front page of an
> online arts organization is redundant and more than a little onanistic.
>
> ( As a side note, we have been trying to find ways to assist the defense of
> Steve Kurtz, since that's more directly relevant to our community. We don't
> have much money, production resources, or physical space, so it's tough, but
> we have been publicizing this week's benefit [
> http://www.caedefensefund.org/biofeedback.html ], and gave them a mailing
> list, and I've been piping in with little tips as to how to make the
> publicity more web-friendly. Which helps just a tiny bit, maybe. )
>
> I do think people should be politically active, and I think the Rhizome list
> can be a good place to talk about that. But I also think that people have to
> find the sort of participation that works for them, and that when leftists
> try to guilt other leftists into doing more for their great righteous cause,
> it makes me wonder how we can ever hope to reach the undecided middle if we
> can't even talk to each other without being assholes.
>
> Also, whatever you end up doing, you're going to miss some stuff, so
> sanctimoniousness is sort of a dumb trap to fall into. I mean, I've marched
> and written letters and donated and will probably be doing volunteer
> tech-support for MoveOn.org this week. But I haven't done a damn thing in the
> last few years to advance abortion rights, or legalize gay marriage, or help
> repair the political damage done over the Cold War to the continent of
> Africa, or even help all those homeless people who are begging for change on
> the subway. So I'm certainly not going to criticize anybody else for not
> being involved: The world is complicated and full of problems, and it's hard
> to know where to start.
>
> But, yeah, everybody should get involved, and the election would be a good
> thing to be involved with. If you live in the U.S. you could just go to
> MoveOn.org or Google for "letter writing campaign" or "phone bank" or
> whatever else, depends on what sounds less intimidating to you. If you don't
> live in the U.S. you might want to check out this article at the Guardian
> which talks about how non-Americans can try to influence the election:
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1326033,00.html
>
> Call me a fuzzy one-worlder, but I'd appreciate help from outside our
> borders.
>
> And if you like a little anxiety first thing in the morning, you can check
> out http://electoral-vote.com/, where state-by-state polls are summarized
> daily to see who's ahead in the Electoral College. Ever since the debate
> started, Kerry and Bush have been neck-and-neck, so it's not for the faint of
> heart.
>
> Still, I'm cautiously optimistic that Kerry will win, but only if the people
> on the left learn to fight with the same vigor and discipline that the right
> fights with. I'm even cautiously optimistic that once Kerry _does_ win, we
> won't repeat the mistake of the Clinton-era years where we were too busy
> getting facial piercings and founding dot-coms to keep pushing to the left,
> and maybe the left will form a coherent policy of what to do next in Iraq
> instead of just saying "Dude, Bush fucked up," and maybe Iraq will not turn
> out to the next Vietnam. And maybe I won't have to worry about my cousin
> Alberto, who I love more than almost anything on this Earth, being eligible
> for the draft in 8 years. Like MLK said: "The arc of history is long, but it
> bends toward justice."
>
> Yours in victory,
>
> Francis Hwang
> Director of Technology
> Rhizome.org
> phone: 212-219-1288x202
> AIM: francisrhizome
> + + +
>
> +
> -> post: list@rhizome.org
> -> questions: info@rhizome.org
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> -> visit: on Fridays the Rhizome.org web site is open to non-members
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>
>
for something else I came across this resolution on the CAA site (College
Art Assoc.) expressing their official stance on the current situation re:
politics, scholarship and art--I felt heartened to see it there, and
perhaps that's it's purpose....which is really really important. Small
gestures. I would say that the discussion and general sensibility on
Rhizome functions for me in the same way, be it explicit or not.
CAA Advocacy
Resolution on Art and Intellectual Freedom in Times of War
http://www.collegeart.org/caa/advocacy/04Resolutionintimesofwar.html
best,
-J
On Mon, 18 Oct 2004, Francis Hwang wrote:
> FYI: This is from an ur-thread that many people were spammed with over the
> last few days, and I'm a little reluctant to dignify the spam with a
> response, but then Rob just posted a response to the list itself so I suppose
> maybe it's more topical now.
>
> On Oct 16, 2004, at 4:16 AM, Rob Myers wrote:
>
>> On 16 Oct 2004, at 05:44, eric dymond wrote:
>>
>>> Do you declare your hatred for war on the splash page?
>>
>> Rhizome is a non-profit organisation. It cannot do politics under American
>> law.
>
> I think it's more complex than that: I believe that we're allowed to have
> political stances but that advocating for specific candidates would change
> our tax-exempt status, or something like that. Regardless, I think it's
> mostly moot. We're not a political non-profit. We're an arts non-profit. Our
> mission doesn't have much to do with politics, and although us Rhizome
> employees have fairly strong feelings about how fucked up the current
> administration is, I think it's safe to say that we don't feel that as an
> organization we're exceptionally well-positioned to do something about that.
>
> I mean, what the hell would an anti-war statement on the splash page of
> Rhizome accomplish? Who's going to have their opinion swayed by that? We're
> not cnn.com. Unless the art world has been overrun by neoconservatives and
> nobody's bothered to tell me, an antiwar statement on the front page of an
> online arts organization is redundant and more than a little onanistic.
>
> ( As a side note, we have been trying to find ways to assist the defense of
> Steve Kurtz, since that's more directly relevant to our community. We don't
> have much money, production resources, or physical space, so it's tough, but
> we have been publicizing this week's benefit [
> http://www.caedefensefund.org/biofeedback.html ], and gave them a mailing
> list, and I've been piping in with little tips as to how to make the
> publicity more web-friendly. Which helps just a tiny bit, maybe. )
>
> I do think people should be politically active, and I think the Rhizome list
> can be a good place to talk about that. But I also think that people have to
> find the sort of participation that works for them, and that when leftists
> try to guilt other leftists into doing more for their great righteous cause,
> it makes me wonder how we can ever hope to reach the undecided middle if we
> can't even talk to each other without being assholes.
>
> Also, whatever you end up doing, you're going to miss some stuff, so
> sanctimoniousness is sort of a dumb trap to fall into. I mean, I've marched
> and written letters and donated and will probably be doing volunteer
> tech-support for MoveOn.org this week. But I haven't done a damn thing in the
> last few years to advance abortion rights, or legalize gay marriage, or help
> repair the political damage done over the Cold War to the continent of
> Africa, or even help all those homeless people who are begging for change on
> the subway. So I'm certainly not going to criticize anybody else for not
> being involved: The world is complicated and full of problems, and it's hard
> to know where to start.
>
> But, yeah, everybody should get involved, and the election would be a good
> thing to be involved with. If you live in the U.S. you could just go to
> MoveOn.org or Google for "letter writing campaign" or "phone bank" or
> whatever else, depends on what sounds less intimidating to you. If you don't
> live in the U.S. you might want to check out this article at the Guardian
> which talks about how non-Americans can try to influence the election:
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1326033,00.html
>
> Call me a fuzzy one-worlder, but I'd appreciate help from outside our
> borders.
>
> And if you like a little anxiety first thing in the morning, you can check
> out http://electoral-vote.com/, where state-by-state polls are summarized
> daily to see who's ahead in the Electoral College. Ever since the debate
> started, Kerry and Bush have been neck-and-neck, so it's not for the faint of
> heart.
>
> Still, I'm cautiously optimistic that Kerry will win, but only if the people
> on the left learn to fight with the same vigor and discipline that the right
> fights with. I'm even cautiously optimistic that once Kerry _does_ win, we
> won't repeat the mistake of the Clinton-era years where we were too busy
> getting facial piercings and founding dot-coms to keep pushing to the left,
> and maybe the left will form a coherent policy of what to do next in Iraq
> instead of just saying "Dude, Bush fucked up," and maybe Iraq will not turn
> out to the next Vietnam. And maybe I won't have to worry about my cousin
> Alberto, who I love more than almost anything on this Earth, being eligible
> for the draft in 8 years. Like MLK said: "The arc of history is long, but it
> bends toward justice."
>
> Yours in victory,
>
> Francis Hwang
> Director of Technology
> Rhizome.org
> phone: 212-219-1288x202
> AIM: francisrhizome
> + + +
>
> +
> -> post: list@rhizome.org
> -> questions: info@rhizome.org
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> -> visit: on Fridays the Rhizome.org web site is open to non-members
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>
>
NEWSgrist: Derrida's Quiet Gestures
NEWSgrist - where spin is art
An e-zine covering the arts since 2000
======================
Vol.5, no.22
======================
read it on the blog:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com
Archives:
http://newsgrist.net
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Derrida's Quiet Gestures
[image: Derrida]
via ArtForum Online:
INTERNATIONAL NEWS DIGEST - 10.11.04
Derrida's last Interview
By Jennifer Allen
Critics, journalists, and fellow philosophers from across Europe remember
Jacques Derrida, who died last week in Paris at the age of seventy-four.
With stories from Le Monde, Libration, The Times (London), The Guardian,
Frankfurter Rundschau, Die Sddeutsche Zeitung, and Il Manifesto.
via The International Herald Tribune, Oct 15:
The real meaning of deconstruction
By Mark C. Taylor - New York Times [last week]
NEW YORK: Along with Ludwig Wittgenstein and Martin Heidegger, Jacques
Derrida, who died last week in Paris at the age of 74, will be remembered
as one of the three most important philosophers of the 20th century. No
thinker in the last 100 years had a greater impact than he did on people
in more fields and different disciplines. And no thinker has been more
deeply misunderstood.
To people addicted to sound bites and overnight polls, Derrida's works
seem hopelessly obscure. It is undeniable that they cannot be easily
summarized or reduced to one-liners. The obscurity of his writing,
however, does not conceal a code that can be cracked, but reflects the
density and complexity characteristic of all great works of philosophy,
literature and art.
What makes Derrida's work so significant is the way he brought insights of
major philosophers, writers, artists and theologians to bear on problems
of urgent contemporary interest. Most of his infamously demanding texts
consist of careful interpretations of canonical writers in the Western
philosophical, literary and artistic traditions, from Plato to Joyce. By
reading familiar works against the grain, he disclosed concealed meanings
that created new possibilities for imaginative expression.
Derrida's name is most closely associated with the often cited but rarely
understood term "deconstruction." When responsibly understood, the
implications of deconstruction are quite different from the misleading
clichs often used to describe a process of dismantling or taking things
apart.
The guiding insight of deconstruction is that every structure - literary,
psychological, social, economic, political or religious - that organizes
our experience is constituted and maintained through acts of exclusion. In
the process of creating something, something else inevitably gets left
out. These exclusive structures can become repressive, and that repression
comes with consequences. In a manner reminiscent of Freud, Derrida insists
that what is repressed does not disappear but always returns to unsettle
every construction, no matter how secure it seems.
As an Algerian Jew writing in France during the postwar years, in the wake
of totalitarianism on the right (fascism) and on the left (Stalinism),
Derrida understood all too well the danger of beliefs and ideologies that
divide the world into diametrical opposites: right or left, red or blue,
good or evil, for us or against us. He showed how these repressive
structures, which grew directly out of the Western intellectual and
cultural tradition, threatened to return with devastating consequences. By
struggling to find ways to overcome patterns that exclude the differences
that make life worth living, he developed a vision that is consistently
ethical.
Yet supporters on the left and critics on the right have misunderstood
this vision. Many of Derrida's most influential followers appropriated his
analyses of marginal writers, works and cultures as well as his emphasis
on the importance of preserving differences and respecting others to forge
an identity politics that divides the world between the very oppositions
that it was Derrida's mission to undo: black and white, men and women, gay
and straight.
Betraying Derrida's insights by creating a culture of political
correctness, his self-styled supporters fueled the culture wars that have
been raging for more than two decades and continue to frame political
debate.
To his critics, Derrida appeared to be a pernicious nihilist who
threatened the very foundation of Western society and culture. By
insisting that truth and absolute value cannot be known with certainty,
his detractors argue, he undercut the very possibility of moral judgment.
To follow Derrida, they maintain, is to start down the slippery slope of
skepticism and relativism that leaves us powerless to act responsibly.
This is an important criticism that requires a careful response. Like
Kant, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, Derrida does argue that transparent truth
and absolute values elude our grasp. This does not mean, however, that we
must forsake the cognitive categories and moral principles without which
we cannot live: equality and justice, generosity and friendship.
Rather, it is necessary to recognize the unavoidable limitations and
inherent contradictions in the ideas and norms that guide our actions, and
do so in a way that keeps them open to constant questioning and continual
revision. There can be no ethical action without critical reflection.
During the last decade of his life, Derrida became preoccupied with
religion, and it is in this area that his contribution might well be most
significant for our time. He understood that religion is impossible
without uncertainty, that God can never be fully known or adequately
represented by imperfect human beings.
And yet we live in an age when major conflicts are shaped by people who
claim to know, for certain, that God is on their side.
Derrida reminded us that religion does not always give clear meaning,
purpose and certainty. To the contrary, the great religious traditions are
profoundly disturbing because they all call certainty and security into
question. Belief not tempered by doubt poses a mortal danger.
As the process of globalization draws us ever closer in networks of
communication and exchange, there is an understandable longing for
simplicity, clarity and certainty. This desire is responsible, in large
measure, for the rise of cultural conservatism and religious
fundamentalism.
Fortunately, he also taught us that the alternative to blind belief is not
simply unbelief but a different kind of belief - one that embraces
uncertainty and enables us to respect others whom we do not understand. In
a complex world, wisdom is knowing what we don't know.
In the two decades I knew Derrida, we had many meetings and exchanges. In
conversation, he listened carefully and responded helpfully. As a teacher,
he gave freely of his time.
But small things are the measure of the man. In 1986, my family and I were
in Paris, and Derrida invited us to dinner at his house in the suburbs 20
miles away. He insisted on picking us up at our hotel, and when we arrived
at his home he presented our children with carnival masks. At 2 a.m., he
drove us back to the city. In later years, when my son and daughter were
writing college papers on his work, he sent them letters and postcards of
encouragement as well as signed copies of several of his books.
Jacques Derrida wrote eloquently about the gift of friendship, but in
these quiet gestures - gestures that served to forge connections among
individuals across their differences - we see deconstruction in action.
Saturday, October 16, 2004 at 05:05 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/derridas_quiet_.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The Atlas Group: Real + Imagined Narratives
[image: from The Atlas Group]
Issue 2 of Bidoun Magazine is out with articles ranging from the politics
of archiving to the Egyptian literary scene to what's happening at Cannes.
Featured is a profile of Walid Raad and the Atlas Group:
The Atlas Group Opens its Archives
by Kaelen Wilson-Goldie
Walid Raad has a knack for tricks. A thirty-seven-year-old contemporary
artist based between Brooklyn and Beirut, Raad has been known to confuse
form and fact. He is the driving force behind an organization called the
Atlas Group, which takes a serious and fastidious approach to the
accumulation of documents related to Lebanons recent history in general,
and the countrys fifteen years of civil war in particular. As such, Raads
work has all the trappings of traditional documentary research. Yet
appearances can be deceptive. Imagine Lebanese historians frittering away
their time at the racetrack, gambling on finish-finish photos, while
shells are being lobbed back and forth throughout the country. Imagine
police investigators, tasked with solving the crimes of car bombings, but
fixating instead on the particular trajectory of the engines launched from
those detonated vehicles. Raad may not be pulling his viewers legs, but he
may just be holding back the hint of a smile and cocking one eyebrow as if
to suggest slyly, You see? Things arent always as they seem.
[...]
As Raads brainchild, the Atlas Group erupted onto the art scene several
years ago, afforded a space in such high-profile venues as Documenta XI,
the 2002 Whitney Biennial, and the Venice Biennale in 2003. As to when the
Atlas Group was established, and by whom, answers depend on how one asks,
when and where. At this point, the story of the organizations origins has
settled on the year 1999, but previously Raad has tossed about dates from
1975 through 1996, along with the names of such co-founders and
co-conspirators as Maha Traboulsi and Zeinab Fakhouri. In short, the Atlas
Group started firmly in the realm of Raads imagination, but now exists in
real, concrete terms. Its work has been documented, after all.
[...]
To look at the Atlas Group as a conceptual artwork in and of itself raises
interesting questions about contemporary art practices across the board.
At the same time, however, one runs the risk of overlooking the nature of
the documents and archives themselves, as well as the Atlas Groups
particular approach to them all. And it is here, underneath the set-up and
the framework, where some of the most trenchant questions lie.
In collecting and archiving documents related to the contemporary history
of Lebanon, the Atlas Group seeks to analyze as yet unexplored dimensions
of the civil war (or wars) that raged through the country from 1975 to
1991. Along the way, it also digs into the manner in which that history
has been written and communicated, the dominant narratives and prevailing
discourses. [...]
Saturday, October 16, 2004 at 10:38 AM in Art Exhibitions | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/the_atlas_group.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Blogging Art Criticism
[image: Tyler Green]
via NYFA Current:
In Their Own Words
by Tyler Green
Tyler Green is the founder of Modern Art Notes, a blog of his criticism,
news, and chatty observations on modern and contemporary art. Greens
hilarious, caustic, and infectious writing has won him countless art-world
devotees over the past three years, and he recently became the staff art
critic for Bloomberg News. NYFA Current asked Green to write on how blogs
have changed, and will continue to change, the nature of art criticism in
the 21st century.
[...] Blogs haven't (yet) changed anything about how art criticism is
written. Jerry Saltz, for example, still covers art in New York City for
the Village Voice just as he did a year ago. And bloggers are more art
observers than critics; they mostly write about their favorite shows in
and around their towns or they talk about gallery openings they've
attended. (And, of course, they tell us how much they drank at those
openings.)
This isnt meant to imply that blogs aren't players in art criticism.
Here's where blogs have an impact: The local art critic is no longer just
local. Blogs have proven to be outstanding at making sure good art
writing, even if it's hidden in a Denver alt-weekly, is read nationwide.
Every art critic has become a national art critic. Before blogs, who in
New York read Washington Post critic Blake Gopnik? Who in Boston paid
attention to what Kenneth Baker was writing in the San Francisco
Chronicle?
Now every critic has a shot at a national audience. Only two newspapers
"hide" their critics from the blogosphere: the Wall Street Journal and the
Los Angeles Times. And, thanks to an underground email network among
bloggers and their pals, it's pretty easy to get a hold of what's being
written in those newspapers, too.
Strangely, not every art critic has realized this. This is all the more
remarkable given that art critics are the biggest navel-gazers in
journalism history. It seems like once a month someone, somewhere is
sponsoring an "Is Art Criticism Dead?" panel discussion where everyone
says the same thing: Yes, because nobody reads what I write. Hogwash.
Thanks to blogs, the best art writing is read by more people, in more
places, than ever before. If nobody is reading what a certain critic
writes, it's because that critic isn't worth reading.
To bloggers, theres no such thing as a local audience. To me, this is a
real plus. The art world is increasingly global and decreasingly local.
Group shows in Europe feature artists from Washington, DC. Museum exhibits
regularly travel between Europe, Asia, and the US. The local, one-city art
critic is a journalism rubric-turned relic. [...]
Thursday, October 14, 2004 at 11:08 AM in Weblogs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/blogging_art_cr.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
This Week's New Yorker Cover
[Cover]
Thursday, October 14, 2004 at 10:17 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/theis_weeks_new.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
I've Got Who Under My Skin?
[image: Implant]
via NYTimes:
Identity Badge Worn Under Skin Approved for Use in Health Care
By BARNABY J. FEDER and TOM ZELLER Jr.
The Food and Drug Administration has cleared the way for a Florida company
to market implantable chips that would provide easy access to individual
medical records.
The approval, which the company announced yesterday, is expected to bring
to public attention a simmering debate over a technology that has evoked
Orwellian overtones for privacy advocates and fueled fears of widespread
tracking of people with implanted radio frequency tags, even though that
ability does not yet exist.
Applied Digital Solutions, based in Delray Beach, Fla., said that its
devices, which it calls VeriChips, could save lives and limit injuries
from errors in medical treatment. And it expressed hope that such medical
uses would accelerate the acceptance of under-the-skin ID chips as
security and access-control devices.
Scott R. Silverman, chairman and chief executive of Applied Digital, said
the F.D.A.'s approval should help the company overcome "the creepy factor"
of implanted tags and the suspicion it has stirred.
"We believe there are far fewer people resisting this today," Mr.
Silverman said. But it is far from clear whether implanted identification
tags can overcome opposition from those who fear new levels of personal
surveillance and from some fundamentalist religious groups who contend
that the tags may be the "mark of the beast" referred to in the Book of
Revelation. [...]
Applied Digital has been free to sell VeriChip in the United States for
nonmedical applications, but lack of acceptance of the technology made
F.D.A. approval for medical uses a high priority.
"I've believed all along that the medical application was the best,
followed by security and financial applications," Mr. Silverman said.
Still, the science-fiction specter of a nation of drones tagged with
sub-dermal bar codes may be a difficult image for the company to overcome
in selling its technology.
Online conspiracy theorists, for example, often attach abilities to the
technology that do not exist, like the ability to track individuals via
satellite. [...]
+ + +
Bigbro
more on tracking devices from the blog We Make Money Not Art:
RFID in driver's licences, patients and sci-fi plans to track anything
that moves
[...]
An influential group of Pentagon advisers, the Defense Science Board, is
convinced that the only way to win the war on terror is to track everyone,
and everything, that moves.
The Pentagon urgently needs a massive effort to develop tools to track
individuals, items and activities in ways that exist today only in science
fiction, a high-level advisory panel recently told U.S. Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld.
Technologies that can identify people by unique physical characteristics
fingerprint, voice, odor, gait or even pattern of iris must be merged
with new means of tagging so that U.S. forces can find enemies who escape
into a crowd or slip into a labyrinthine slum.
"Cost is not the issue; failure in the global war on terrorism is the real
question."
Via Defense Tech < ISR Journal.
Thursday, October 14, 2004 at 10:08 AM in Current Affairs |
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Postcards From the Edge
via Visual AIDS:
Visual AIDS Postcards From the Edge Benefit: Artists Wanted
Visual AIDS invites artists to participate in our seventh annual Postcards
From the Edge benefit. We are looking for artists to create and donate a
4" x 6" work on paper for the exhibition and sale. Painting, drawing,
photography, printmaking and mixed media are welcomed. We are pleased to
announce that our host gallery this year will be Brent Sikkema. Added this
year will also be a pre-view event on Saturday, Dec. 4 from 6:00-9:00 PM.
The benefit sale will be Sunday, Dec. 5 from 3:00-6:00 PM.
Postcards From the Edge is a show and sale of original, postcard-sized
artworks on paper by established and emerging artists. All artworks will
be priced at $50 and sold on a first-come, first-served basis. The works
are signed on the back and exhibited so that the artists' signatures
cannot be seen. While the buyers have a list of participating artists,
they don't know who created which piece until it is purchased and the
signature is revealed. A collector might end up with a work by a famous
artist or someone they don't yet know. Either way, they walk away with a
great piece of art while supporting Visual AIDS's important work.
If you would like to participate, please send a 6" x 9" SASE to:
Visual AIDS
526 West 26th Street #510
New York, NY 10001
Postcards From the Edge Benefit 2003
Or create your artwork on any 4" x 6" paper. Remember to only sign the
BACK. Then download the submission form and mail your piece with the form
to the address above. Please consider including $1.00 for postage and
handling. If you would like confirmation that we received your artwork,
please send a self-addressed, stamped postcard with your submission.
Deadline is Saturday, November 15, 2004.
One submission per artist.
Some of the artists who have participated in past Postcards From the Edge
benefits.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 at 10:52 PM in Benefits | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/postcards_from_.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Supreme Court Disses RIAA; Privacy Scores
[image: Riaa-boycott -- Webmasters Unite]
via Copyfight:
Supreme Court Denies Cert in RIAA v. Verizon
- Posted by Donna Wentworth
This just in: the Supreme Court has denied cert in RIAA v. Verizon, the
case in which the recording industry initially won the right to unmask an
anonymous KaZaA user with a special non-judicial, PATRIOT Act-like
subpoena under the DMCA. The DC Circuit reversed (PDF) that ruling, but
the RIAA appealed. Now the Supreme Court has declined to hear the case.
It's wonderful news.
Despite the rhetoric surrounding P2P, this case is not about filesharers
"hiding" from the law. It's about making sure that the law keeps
protecting innocents until there is a bare minimum showing of illegal
activity. Just because someone suspects you of being a "pirate" -- or
would like to use claims of copyright infringement to gain easy access to
your personal information -- does not make you guilty until proven
innocent.
The DMCA allows anyone simply claiming copyright infringement the ability
to get your name, address, phone number, etc. This removes critical
constitutional and privacy safeguards on the mere assertion of wrongdoing.
Many people are angry about the PATRIOT Act for removing these kinds of
safeguards. Shift the context to filesharing, and they tend to shrug it
off because it's about "pirates." But it's the same Consitution, and the
same rights are being eroded. [...]
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 at 11:44 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/supreme_court_d.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Charged Image Mischarged?
Oldloeb
[image: an an older but not a-typical Damian Loeb painting ca. 1996; the
painting in question, "Blow Job (Three Little Boys)," dates from 1999]
I agree with the take that this is about privacy and not a copyright
issue; I really don't get why they are bothering to drag it into the
nightmarishly ambiguous copyright arena as it seems like the case for
privacy would have more teeth anyway--isn't privacy really what this is
about? Are greedy, predatory IP lawyers trying to take over every issue
now or what?
LOEB WORK PULLED FROM CRAMER SHOW 10/05/04
A provocative painting by Damian Loeb has caused a rumpus in Hartford,
Conn. Loebs 1999 Blow Job (Three Little Boys), which shows a trio of
blueblood boys in the foreground with a teen girl performing oral sex on a
boy in the background, was abruptly pulled from the equally provocative
new show, "The Charged Image: Work from the Collection of Douglas Cramer"
at the University of Harford Joseloff Gallery. The reason given was
copyright infringement, and the museum refused to comment further -- but
the Hartford Courant got on the case and discovered that the image of the
three boys was copied from a photograph by Tina Barney of the sons of a
prominent local art patron and former member of the Wadsworth Atheneum
board.
Presumably, the powerful patron didnt like the association and demanded
that the picture be suppressed. The Courant wrote a long story on the
controversy, noting that Loeb has made his reputation by reproducing
appropriated imagery in his paintings, often in suggestive combinations.
Subsequently, Steven Holmes, director of visual arts at the Hartford
alternative space Real Art Ways, wrote a commentary in the paper urging
the museum to provide the forum for dialogue that the exhibition promised
in the first place. "If the real reason for the removal of the painting
was to protect the privacy of a family," he wrote, "why not say so?"
Kauper_1
[image source: Kurt Kauper painting in The Charged Image]
Here's more:
via the NYTimes:
Coincidence Sets Off Storm Over Erotic Work
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
[...]
Some critics have accused the school of bowing to pressure from a patron
and parent. The Hartford Courant, which first reported the removal of the
painting, ran a commentary last week by Steven Holmes, a curator at an art
center in Hartford, criticizing the university for not explaining its
actions more fully. But by every account, from the curator to Mr. Cramer
to Mr. Loeb, the painting's removal was less a clear censorship case than
it was one of copyright and surprising coincidence.
Several intellectual property lawyers said in interviews that Mr. Loeb's
painting might have violated laws by appropriating Ms. Barney's image, and
left the university vulnerable to charges of copyright infringement for
displaying the image of the boys without permission.
"We were made aware that there was a possible copyright permission issue
with this painting," said David Isgur, a spokesman for the university.
"With that, it was deemed that the most appropriate action to take was to
remove the painting from the exhibit while that issue hung over."
[...]
Mr. Loeb expressed regret that the family was offended by the image. "I am
saddened by the effect it has had on the subjects used in the painting,
and I am embarrassed by the inconvenience it has caused the people
involved in curating the show," he said.
But he also defended his work. "I do not, however, regret the images I
created, or the way in which they were made," he wrote in response to an
e-mail query. "When we as a society lose the ability to comment on what we
see and to have an opinion on what we are exposed to, then we have all
lost what makes us unique on this planet." [...]
Prince_1
[image source: Richard Prince piece in The Charged Image]
via ArtsJournal:
Copyright, Or A Father's Ire, Forces A Painting's Removal
A Damian Loeb painting that borrows an image from a 1990 Tina Barney photo
was pulled from a University of Hartford exhibition, but why? "Was it
merely a question, as the University of Hartford insists, of a painting
removed from an important show because of suddenly discovered 'copyright
issues'? Or did an angry, powerful university parent, incensed that images
of his children were included in a work titled 'Blow Job (Three Little
Boys),' demand that the painting be taken down?" Hartford Courant 09/29/04
via FreeRepublic:
Banished Painting Raises Questions
BY MATTHEW ERIKSON
Was it merely a question, as the University of Hartford insists, of a
painting removed from an important show because of suddenly discovered
"copyright issues"?
Or did an angry, powerful university parent, incensed that images of his
children were included in a work titled "Blow Job (Three Little Boys),"
demand that the painting be taken down?
That's the issue this week as a photograph snapped more than a dozen years
ago figures prominently in a sexually charged painting that was whisked
off the walls of a University of Hartford gallery nine days after the
Sept. 7 exhibit opening. Copies of the exhibit's catalog, which included
the Damian Loeb painting on its cover, are no longer available.[...]
via Hartford Informer:
Controversial Painting Removed From Exhibit
By Caitlin Bailey, Published: Thursday, September 23, 2004
[...] Loeb's work, described by many critics as "hyper-realistic",
typically features oil paintings centered on a recognizable movie still or
a photograph. Two of his most well-known paintings involve elements of
"Jaws" and "Poltergeist".
This is not the first time Loeb's chosen style of art has led to copyright
issues. A 2001 issue of The New York Post told of a lawsuit filed against
Loeb by photographer Lauren Greenfield, who claimed that one of her
photographs was the model for one of Loeb's paintings. [...]
Yuskavage
[image source: Lisa Yuskavage painting in The Charged Image]
About the exhibition
via Litchfield County Times:
Roxbury Art Collector Loans Works to 'Charged' Exhibit
By: E.L. Lefferts, 09/10/2004
"To anyone with an awareness of the New York art scene they are anything
but shocking," Mr. Cramer said of the pieces in the exhibit. "At this show
you can see what's been done with the human form and sexuality for the
last 100 years."
via New Mass Media:
Carnal Knowledge: Sex and the body at the Charged Image show at the
University of Hartford
by Alistair Highet - September 2004
Damian Loeb's "unofficial site".
About the Douglas Cramer Collection
More about Cramer and Loeb from the NYObserver (1999)
Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 11:11 AM in Art Exhibitions | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/charged_image_d.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Stop Sinclair's Anti-Kerry 'Attackumentary'
Attackumentary
[image]
via Eyeteeth:
STOP SINCLAIR!
As you may have heard, Sinclair Broadcast Group--owner of TV stations that
reach 25% of American viewers and owner of KMWB here in the Twin
Cities--has decided to pre-empt programming on the eve of the election to
air a documentary, Stolen Honor, that bashes John Kerry's service in
Vietnam. Sinclair was the network that refused to air Nightline's episode
The Fallen, where Ted Koppel read off the names of soldiers killed in
Iraq, deeming it a political act (Ah, the irony: "patriots" who won't
honor the dead, fierce partisans bemoaning perceived partisanship!). For
more on their rightwing bias and disturbing embrace of centralized,
non-local news, read my piece "The Death of Local News."
Here's what you can do: several websites have been set up, one hosting a
petition and another, more effectively, offering contact info for
companies advertising on Sinclair-owned stations, nationally and locally.
Please, write a letter to these advertisers, especially in your town where
you can have more impact. Then, search for markets in swing states, where
Sinclair's Kerry-bashing can do more damage (the "Barely Kerry," "Weak
Kerry," and "Barely Bush" states shown here), and put pressure on
advertisers there. Feel free to repurpose my letter [...]
...............................................
or use this easy form to send a letter to the FCC. Stop Sinclair now.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 10:17 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/stop_sinclairs_.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
JibJabbing DC
Jibjab [image]
Gregg and Evan Spiridellis have done it again with Good To Be in DC.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 10:05 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/jibjabbing_dc.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
NEWSgrist - where spin is art
http://newsgrist.typepad.com
Archives
http://newsgrist.net
An e-zine covering the arts since 2000
======================
Vol.5, no.22
======================
read it on the blog:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com
Archives:
http://newsgrist.net
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Derrida's Quiet Gestures
[image: Derrida]
via ArtForum Online:
INTERNATIONAL NEWS DIGEST - 10.11.04
Derrida's last Interview
By Jennifer Allen
Critics, journalists, and fellow philosophers from across Europe remember
Jacques Derrida, who died last week in Paris at the age of seventy-four.
With stories from Le Monde, Libration, The Times (London), The Guardian,
Frankfurter Rundschau, Die Sddeutsche Zeitung, and Il Manifesto.
via The International Herald Tribune, Oct 15:
The real meaning of deconstruction
By Mark C. Taylor - New York Times [last week]
NEW YORK: Along with Ludwig Wittgenstein and Martin Heidegger, Jacques
Derrida, who died last week in Paris at the age of 74, will be remembered
as one of the three most important philosophers of the 20th century. No
thinker in the last 100 years had a greater impact than he did on people
in more fields and different disciplines. And no thinker has been more
deeply misunderstood.
To people addicted to sound bites and overnight polls, Derrida's works
seem hopelessly obscure. It is undeniable that they cannot be easily
summarized or reduced to one-liners. The obscurity of his writing,
however, does not conceal a code that can be cracked, but reflects the
density and complexity characteristic of all great works of philosophy,
literature and art.
What makes Derrida's work so significant is the way he brought insights of
major philosophers, writers, artists and theologians to bear on problems
of urgent contemporary interest. Most of his infamously demanding texts
consist of careful interpretations of canonical writers in the Western
philosophical, literary and artistic traditions, from Plato to Joyce. By
reading familiar works against the grain, he disclosed concealed meanings
that created new possibilities for imaginative expression.
Derrida's name is most closely associated with the often cited but rarely
understood term "deconstruction." When responsibly understood, the
implications of deconstruction are quite different from the misleading
clichs often used to describe a process of dismantling or taking things
apart.
The guiding insight of deconstruction is that every structure - literary,
psychological, social, economic, political or religious - that organizes
our experience is constituted and maintained through acts of exclusion. In
the process of creating something, something else inevitably gets left
out. These exclusive structures can become repressive, and that repression
comes with consequences. In a manner reminiscent of Freud, Derrida insists
that what is repressed does not disappear but always returns to unsettle
every construction, no matter how secure it seems.
As an Algerian Jew writing in France during the postwar years, in the wake
of totalitarianism on the right (fascism) and on the left (Stalinism),
Derrida understood all too well the danger of beliefs and ideologies that
divide the world into diametrical opposites: right or left, red or blue,
good or evil, for us or against us. He showed how these repressive
structures, which grew directly out of the Western intellectual and
cultural tradition, threatened to return with devastating consequences. By
struggling to find ways to overcome patterns that exclude the differences
that make life worth living, he developed a vision that is consistently
ethical.
Yet supporters on the left and critics on the right have misunderstood
this vision. Many of Derrida's most influential followers appropriated his
analyses of marginal writers, works and cultures as well as his emphasis
on the importance of preserving differences and respecting others to forge
an identity politics that divides the world between the very oppositions
that it was Derrida's mission to undo: black and white, men and women, gay
and straight.
Betraying Derrida's insights by creating a culture of political
correctness, his self-styled supporters fueled the culture wars that have
been raging for more than two decades and continue to frame political
debate.
To his critics, Derrida appeared to be a pernicious nihilist who
threatened the very foundation of Western society and culture. By
insisting that truth and absolute value cannot be known with certainty,
his detractors argue, he undercut the very possibility of moral judgment.
To follow Derrida, they maintain, is to start down the slippery slope of
skepticism and relativism that leaves us powerless to act responsibly.
This is an important criticism that requires a careful response. Like
Kant, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, Derrida does argue that transparent truth
and absolute values elude our grasp. This does not mean, however, that we
must forsake the cognitive categories and moral principles without which
we cannot live: equality and justice, generosity and friendship.
Rather, it is necessary to recognize the unavoidable limitations and
inherent contradictions in the ideas and norms that guide our actions, and
do so in a way that keeps them open to constant questioning and continual
revision. There can be no ethical action without critical reflection.
During the last decade of his life, Derrida became preoccupied with
religion, and it is in this area that his contribution might well be most
significant for our time. He understood that religion is impossible
without uncertainty, that God can never be fully known or adequately
represented by imperfect human beings.
And yet we live in an age when major conflicts are shaped by people who
claim to know, for certain, that God is on their side.
Derrida reminded us that religion does not always give clear meaning,
purpose and certainty. To the contrary, the great religious traditions are
profoundly disturbing because they all call certainty and security into
question. Belief not tempered by doubt poses a mortal danger.
As the process of globalization draws us ever closer in networks of
communication and exchange, there is an understandable longing for
simplicity, clarity and certainty. This desire is responsible, in large
measure, for the rise of cultural conservatism and religious
fundamentalism.
Fortunately, he also taught us that the alternative to blind belief is not
simply unbelief but a different kind of belief - one that embraces
uncertainty and enables us to respect others whom we do not understand. In
a complex world, wisdom is knowing what we don't know.
In the two decades I knew Derrida, we had many meetings and exchanges. In
conversation, he listened carefully and responded helpfully. As a teacher,
he gave freely of his time.
But small things are the measure of the man. In 1986, my family and I were
in Paris, and Derrida invited us to dinner at his house in the suburbs 20
miles away. He insisted on picking us up at our hotel, and when we arrived
at his home he presented our children with carnival masks. At 2 a.m., he
drove us back to the city. In later years, when my son and daughter were
writing college papers on his work, he sent them letters and postcards of
encouragement as well as signed copies of several of his books.
Jacques Derrida wrote eloquently about the gift of friendship, but in
these quiet gestures - gestures that served to forge connections among
individuals across their differences - we see deconstruction in action.
Saturday, October 16, 2004 at 05:05 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/derridas_quiet_.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The Atlas Group: Real + Imagined Narratives
[image: from The Atlas Group]
Issue 2 of Bidoun Magazine is out with articles ranging from the politics
of archiving to the Egyptian literary scene to what's happening at Cannes.
Featured is a profile of Walid Raad and the Atlas Group:
The Atlas Group Opens its Archives
by Kaelen Wilson-Goldie
Walid Raad has a knack for tricks. A thirty-seven-year-old contemporary
artist based between Brooklyn and Beirut, Raad has been known to confuse
form and fact. He is the driving force behind an organization called the
Atlas Group, which takes a serious and fastidious approach to the
accumulation of documents related to Lebanons recent history in general,
and the countrys fifteen years of civil war in particular. As such, Raads
work has all the trappings of traditional documentary research. Yet
appearances can be deceptive. Imagine Lebanese historians frittering away
their time at the racetrack, gambling on finish-finish photos, while
shells are being lobbed back and forth throughout the country. Imagine
police investigators, tasked with solving the crimes of car bombings, but
fixating instead on the particular trajectory of the engines launched from
those detonated vehicles. Raad may not be pulling his viewers legs, but he
may just be holding back the hint of a smile and cocking one eyebrow as if
to suggest slyly, You see? Things arent always as they seem.
[...]
As Raads brainchild, the Atlas Group erupted onto the art scene several
years ago, afforded a space in such high-profile venues as Documenta XI,
the 2002 Whitney Biennial, and the Venice Biennale in 2003. As to when the
Atlas Group was established, and by whom, answers depend on how one asks,
when and where. At this point, the story of the organizations origins has
settled on the year 1999, but previously Raad has tossed about dates from
1975 through 1996, along with the names of such co-founders and
co-conspirators as Maha Traboulsi and Zeinab Fakhouri. In short, the Atlas
Group started firmly in the realm of Raads imagination, but now exists in
real, concrete terms. Its work has been documented, after all.
[...]
To look at the Atlas Group as a conceptual artwork in and of itself raises
interesting questions about contemporary art practices across the board.
At the same time, however, one runs the risk of overlooking the nature of
the documents and archives themselves, as well as the Atlas Groups
particular approach to them all. And it is here, underneath the set-up and
the framework, where some of the most trenchant questions lie.
In collecting and archiving documents related to the contemporary history
of Lebanon, the Atlas Group seeks to analyze as yet unexplored dimensions
of the civil war (or wars) that raged through the country from 1975 to
1991. Along the way, it also digs into the manner in which that history
has been written and communicated, the dominant narratives and prevailing
discourses. [...]
Saturday, October 16, 2004 at 10:38 AM in Art Exhibitions | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/the_atlas_group.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Blogging Art Criticism
[image: Tyler Green]
via NYFA Current:
In Their Own Words
by Tyler Green
Tyler Green is the founder of Modern Art Notes, a blog of his criticism,
news, and chatty observations on modern and contemporary art. Greens
hilarious, caustic, and infectious writing has won him countless art-world
devotees over the past three years, and he recently became the staff art
critic for Bloomberg News. NYFA Current asked Green to write on how blogs
have changed, and will continue to change, the nature of art criticism in
the 21st century.
[...] Blogs haven't (yet) changed anything about how art criticism is
written. Jerry Saltz, for example, still covers art in New York City for
the Village Voice just as he did a year ago. And bloggers are more art
observers than critics; they mostly write about their favorite shows in
and around their towns or they talk about gallery openings they've
attended. (And, of course, they tell us how much they drank at those
openings.)
This isnt meant to imply that blogs aren't players in art criticism.
Here's where blogs have an impact: The local art critic is no longer just
local. Blogs have proven to be outstanding at making sure good art
writing, even if it's hidden in a Denver alt-weekly, is read nationwide.
Every art critic has become a national art critic. Before blogs, who in
New York read Washington Post critic Blake Gopnik? Who in Boston paid
attention to what Kenneth Baker was writing in the San Francisco
Chronicle?
Now every critic has a shot at a national audience. Only two newspapers
"hide" their critics from the blogosphere: the Wall Street Journal and the
Los Angeles Times. And, thanks to an underground email network among
bloggers and their pals, it's pretty easy to get a hold of what's being
written in those newspapers, too.
Strangely, not every art critic has realized this. This is all the more
remarkable given that art critics are the biggest navel-gazers in
journalism history. It seems like once a month someone, somewhere is
sponsoring an "Is Art Criticism Dead?" panel discussion where everyone
says the same thing: Yes, because nobody reads what I write. Hogwash.
Thanks to blogs, the best art writing is read by more people, in more
places, than ever before. If nobody is reading what a certain critic
writes, it's because that critic isn't worth reading.
To bloggers, theres no such thing as a local audience. To me, this is a
real plus. The art world is increasingly global and decreasingly local.
Group shows in Europe feature artists from Washington, DC. Museum exhibits
regularly travel between Europe, Asia, and the US. The local, one-city art
critic is a journalism rubric-turned relic. [...]
Thursday, October 14, 2004 at 11:08 AM in Weblogs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/blogging_art_cr.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
This Week's New Yorker Cover
[Cover]
Thursday, October 14, 2004 at 10:17 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/theis_weeks_new.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
I've Got Who Under My Skin?
[image: Implant]
via NYTimes:
Identity Badge Worn Under Skin Approved for Use in Health Care
By BARNABY J. FEDER and TOM ZELLER Jr.
The Food and Drug Administration has cleared the way for a Florida company
to market implantable chips that would provide easy access to individual
medical records.
The approval, which the company announced yesterday, is expected to bring
to public attention a simmering debate over a technology that has evoked
Orwellian overtones for privacy advocates and fueled fears of widespread
tracking of people with implanted radio frequency tags, even though that
ability does not yet exist.
Applied Digital Solutions, based in Delray Beach, Fla., said that its
devices, which it calls VeriChips, could save lives and limit injuries
from errors in medical treatment. And it expressed hope that such medical
uses would accelerate the acceptance of under-the-skin ID chips as
security and access-control devices.
Scott R. Silverman, chairman and chief executive of Applied Digital, said
the F.D.A.'s approval should help the company overcome "the creepy factor"
of implanted tags and the suspicion it has stirred.
"We believe there are far fewer people resisting this today," Mr.
Silverman said. But it is far from clear whether implanted identification
tags can overcome opposition from those who fear new levels of personal
surveillance and from some fundamentalist religious groups who contend
that the tags may be the "mark of the beast" referred to in the Book of
Revelation. [...]
Applied Digital has been free to sell VeriChip in the United States for
nonmedical applications, but lack of acceptance of the technology made
F.D.A. approval for medical uses a high priority.
"I've believed all along that the medical application was the best,
followed by security and financial applications," Mr. Silverman said.
Still, the science-fiction specter of a nation of drones tagged with
sub-dermal bar codes may be a difficult image for the company to overcome
in selling its technology.
Online conspiracy theorists, for example, often attach abilities to the
technology that do not exist, like the ability to track individuals via
satellite. [...]
+ + +
Bigbro
more on tracking devices from the blog We Make Money Not Art:
RFID in driver's licences, patients and sci-fi plans to track anything
that moves
[...]
An influential group of Pentagon advisers, the Defense Science Board, is
convinced that the only way to win the war on terror is to track everyone,
and everything, that moves.
The Pentagon urgently needs a massive effort to develop tools to track
individuals, items and activities in ways that exist today only in science
fiction, a high-level advisory panel recently told U.S. Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld.
Technologies that can identify people by unique physical characteristics
fingerprint, voice, odor, gait or even pattern of iris must be merged
with new means of tagging so that U.S. forces can find enemies who escape
into a crowd or slip into a labyrinthine slum.
"Cost is not the issue; failure in the global war on terrorism is the real
question."
Via Defense Tech < ISR Journal.
Thursday, October 14, 2004 at 10:08 AM in Current Affairs |
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Postcards From the Edge
via Visual AIDS:
Visual AIDS Postcards From the Edge Benefit: Artists Wanted
Visual AIDS invites artists to participate in our seventh annual Postcards
From the Edge benefit. We are looking for artists to create and donate a
4" x 6" work on paper for the exhibition and sale. Painting, drawing,
photography, printmaking and mixed media are welcomed. We are pleased to
announce that our host gallery this year will be Brent Sikkema. Added this
year will also be a pre-view event on Saturday, Dec. 4 from 6:00-9:00 PM.
The benefit sale will be Sunday, Dec. 5 from 3:00-6:00 PM.
Postcards From the Edge is a show and sale of original, postcard-sized
artworks on paper by established and emerging artists. All artworks will
be priced at $50 and sold on a first-come, first-served basis. The works
are signed on the back and exhibited so that the artists' signatures
cannot be seen. While the buyers have a list of participating artists,
they don't know who created which piece until it is purchased and the
signature is revealed. A collector might end up with a work by a famous
artist or someone they don't yet know. Either way, they walk away with a
great piece of art while supporting Visual AIDS's important work.
If you would like to participate, please send a 6" x 9" SASE to:
Visual AIDS
526 West 26th Street #510
New York, NY 10001
Postcards From the Edge Benefit 2003
Or create your artwork on any 4" x 6" paper. Remember to only sign the
BACK. Then download the submission form and mail your piece with the form
to the address above. Please consider including $1.00 for postage and
handling. If you would like confirmation that we received your artwork,
please send a self-addressed, stamped postcard with your submission.
Deadline is Saturday, November 15, 2004.
One submission per artist.
Some of the artists who have participated in past Postcards From the Edge
benefits.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 at 10:52 PM in Benefits | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/postcards_from_.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Supreme Court Disses RIAA; Privacy Scores
[image: Riaa-boycott -- Webmasters Unite]
via Copyfight:
Supreme Court Denies Cert in RIAA v. Verizon
- Posted by Donna Wentworth
This just in: the Supreme Court has denied cert in RIAA v. Verizon, the
case in which the recording industry initially won the right to unmask an
anonymous KaZaA user with a special non-judicial, PATRIOT Act-like
subpoena under the DMCA. The DC Circuit reversed (PDF) that ruling, but
the RIAA appealed. Now the Supreme Court has declined to hear the case.
It's wonderful news.
Despite the rhetoric surrounding P2P, this case is not about filesharers
"hiding" from the law. It's about making sure that the law keeps
protecting innocents until there is a bare minimum showing of illegal
activity. Just because someone suspects you of being a "pirate" -- or
would like to use claims of copyright infringement to gain easy access to
your personal information -- does not make you guilty until proven
innocent.
The DMCA allows anyone simply claiming copyright infringement the ability
to get your name, address, phone number, etc. This removes critical
constitutional and privacy safeguards on the mere assertion of wrongdoing.
Many people are angry about the PATRIOT Act for removing these kinds of
safeguards. Shift the context to filesharing, and they tend to shrug it
off because it's about "pirates." But it's the same Consitution, and the
same rights are being eroded. [...]
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 at 11:44 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/supreme_court_d.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Charged Image Mischarged?
Oldloeb
[image: an an older but not a-typical Damian Loeb painting ca. 1996; the
painting in question, "Blow Job (Three Little Boys)," dates from 1999]
I agree with the take that this is about privacy and not a copyright
issue; I really don't get why they are bothering to drag it into the
nightmarishly ambiguous copyright arena as it seems like the case for
privacy would have more teeth anyway--isn't privacy really what this is
about? Are greedy, predatory IP lawyers trying to take over every issue
now or what?
LOEB WORK PULLED FROM CRAMER SHOW 10/05/04
A provocative painting by Damian Loeb has caused a rumpus in Hartford,
Conn. Loebs 1999 Blow Job (Three Little Boys), which shows a trio of
blueblood boys in the foreground with a teen girl performing oral sex on a
boy in the background, was abruptly pulled from the equally provocative
new show, "The Charged Image: Work from the Collection of Douglas Cramer"
at the University of Harford Joseloff Gallery. The reason given was
copyright infringement, and the museum refused to comment further -- but
the Hartford Courant got on the case and discovered that the image of the
three boys was copied from a photograph by Tina Barney of the sons of a
prominent local art patron and former member of the Wadsworth Atheneum
board.
Presumably, the powerful patron didnt like the association and demanded
that the picture be suppressed. The Courant wrote a long story on the
controversy, noting that Loeb has made his reputation by reproducing
appropriated imagery in his paintings, often in suggestive combinations.
Subsequently, Steven Holmes, director of visual arts at the Hartford
alternative space Real Art Ways, wrote a commentary in the paper urging
the museum to provide the forum for dialogue that the exhibition promised
in the first place. "If the real reason for the removal of the painting
was to protect the privacy of a family," he wrote, "why not say so?"
Kauper_1
[image source: Kurt Kauper painting in The Charged Image]
Here's more:
via the NYTimes:
Coincidence Sets Off Storm Over Erotic Work
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
[...]
Some critics have accused the school of bowing to pressure from a patron
and parent. The Hartford Courant, which first reported the removal of the
painting, ran a commentary last week by Steven Holmes, a curator at an art
center in Hartford, criticizing the university for not explaining its
actions more fully. But by every account, from the curator to Mr. Cramer
to Mr. Loeb, the painting's removal was less a clear censorship case than
it was one of copyright and surprising coincidence.
Several intellectual property lawyers said in interviews that Mr. Loeb's
painting might have violated laws by appropriating Ms. Barney's image, and
left the university vulnerable to charges of copyright infringement for
displaying the image of the boys without permission.
"We were made aware that there was a possible copyright permission issue
with this painting," said David Isgur, a spokesman for the university.
"With that, it was deemed that the most appropriate action to take was to
remove the painting from the exhibit while that issue hung over."
[...]
Mr. Loeb expressed regret that the family was offended by the image. "I am
saddened by the effect it has had on the subjects used in the painting,
and I am embarrassed by the inconvenience it has caused the people
involved in curating the show," he said.
But he also defended his work. "I do not, however, regret the images I
created, or the way in which they were made," he wrote in response to an
e-mail query. "When we as a society lose the ability to comment on what we
see and to have an opinion on what we are exposed to, then we have all
lost what makes us unique on this planet." [...]
Prince_1
[image source: Richard Prince piece in The Charged Image]
via ArtsJournal:
Copyright, Or A Father's Ire, Forces A Painting's Removal
A Damian Loeb painting that borrows an image from a 1990 Tina Barney photo
was pulled from a University of Hartford exhibition, but why? "Was it
merely a question, as the University of Hartford insists, of a painting
removed from an important show because of suddenly discovered 'copyright
issues'? Or did an angry, powerful university parent, incensed that images
of his children were included in a work titled 'Blow Job (Three Little
Boys),' demand that the painting be taken down?" Hartford Courant 09/29/04
via FreeRepublic:
Banished Painting Raises Questions
BY MATTHEW ERIKSON
Was it merely a question, as the University of Hartford insists, of a
painting removed from an important show because of suddenly discovered
"copyright issues"?
Or did an angry, powerful university parent, incensed that images of his
children were included in a work titled "Blow Job (Three Little Boys),"
demand that the painting be taken down?
That's the issue this week as a photograph snapped more than a dozen years
ago figures prominently in a sexually charged painting that was whisked
off the walls of a University of Hartford gallery nine days after the
Sept. 7 exhibit opening. Copies of the exhibit's catalog, which included
the Damian Loeb painting on its cover, are no longer available.[...]
via Hartford Informer:
Controversial Painting Removed From Exhibit
By Caitlin Bailey, Published: Thursday, September 23, 2004
[...] Loeb's work, described by many critics as "hyper-realistic",
typically features oil paintings centered on a recognizable movie still or
a photograph. Two of his most well-known paintings involve elements of
"Jaws" and "Poltergeist".
This is not the first time Loeb's chosen style of art has led to copyright
issues. A 2001 issue of The New York Post told of a lawsuit filed against
Loeb by photographer Lauren Greenfield, who claimed that one of her
photographs was the model for one of Loeb's paintings. [...]
Yuskavage
[image source: Lisa Yuskavage painting in The Charged Image]
About the exhibition
via Litchfield County Times:
Roxbury Art Collector Loans Works to 'Charged' Exhibit
By: E.L. Lefferts, 09/10/2004
"To anyone with an awareness of the New York art scene they are anything
but shocking," Mr. Cramer said of the pieces in the exhibit. "At this show
you can see what's been done with the human form and sexuality for the
last 100 years."
via New Mass Media:
Carnal Knowledge: Sex and the body at the Charged Image show at the
University of Hartford
by Alistair Highet - September 2004
Damian Loeb's "unofficial site".
About the Douglas Cramer Collection
More about Cramer and Loeb from the NYObserver (1999)
Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 11:11 AM in Art Exhibitions | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/charged_image_d.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Stop Sinclair's Anti-Kerry 'Attackumentary'
Attackumentary
[image]
via Eyeteeth:
STOP SINCLAIR!
As you may have heard, Sinclair Broadcast Group--owner of TV stations that
reach 25% of American viewers and owner of KMWB here in the Twin
Cities--has decided to pre-empt programming on the eve of the election to
air a documentary, Stolen Honor, that bashes John Kerry's service in
Vietnam. Sinclair was the network that refused to air Nightline's episode
The Fallen, where Ted Koppel read off the names of soldiers killed in
Iraq, deeming it a political act (Ah, the irony: "patriots" who won't
honor the dead, fierce partisans bemoaning perceived partisanship!). For
more on their rightwing bias and disturbing embrace of centralized,
non-local news, read my piece "The Death of Local News."
Here's what you can do: several websites have been set up, one hosting a
petition and another, more effectively, offering contact info for
companies advertising on Sinclair-owned stations, nationally and locally.
Please, write a letter to these advertisers, especially in your town where
you can have more impact. Then, search for markets in swing states, where
Sinclair's Kerry-bashing can do more damage (the "Barely Kerry," "Weak
Kerry," and "Barely Bush" states shown here), and put pressure on
advertisers there. Feel free to repurpose my letter [...]
...............................................
or use this easy form to send a letter to the FCC. Stop Sinclair now.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 10:17 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/stop_sinclairs_.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
JibJabbing DC
Jibjab [image]
Gregg and Evan Spiridellis have done it again with Good To Be in DC.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 10:05 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink:
http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2004/10/jibjabbing_dc.html
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
NEWSgrist - where spin is art
http://newsgrist.typepad.com
Archives
http://newsgrist.net