By
Marisa Olson
on
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at
1:00 pm
Jennifer and Kevin McCoy are a married couple of New York-based artists whose collaborative work conveys a love of film and televised narratives. Their early projects embodied database aesthetics as they chopped shows like 8 is Enough, Kung Fu, and Starsky and Hutch into short clips, often inviting viewers to rearrange them according to what we'd now call metadata. For instance, one could choose from a bank of DVDs in their Every Shot, Every Episode to watch every occurrence of the color blue, or of extreme close-ups. More recent works have entailed building elaborate miniature film sets, complete with working cameras, to shoot microfilms. In the case of High Seas, the set is a sort of kinetic sculpture in its own right, mimicking its subject as it moves around to create shots of the famed Titanic loosing its footing on the ocean. The role of filmic media in mythologizing the ill-fated boat is of course implicit in the installation. While these projects have always been infused with a sense of subjectivity, as the artists perform their fandom through their selective decisions, lately their work has incorporated more explicitly autobiographical elements. Their piece, Our Second Date, for instance, is a miniature movie set which features the artists watching the film from their second date, Weekend, reenacted through a mobile sculpture and video streamed live to a tiny screen. The choice to position themselves as spectators within their own reality, and moreover to confess that their romance budded around screen pleasure opens up a number of interpretations of their ongoing work and paves the way to their newest project, which opens November 22nd at Postmasters Gallery. In I'll Replace You, the artists again place themselves at center stage, without stepping in front of the camera. Instead, a series of different actors (some of whom are quite miscast) play them in enacting a "day in the life" of the artists. Of course, this day is unfathomably long in that it includes every type of activity in which the artists, parents, lovers, and professors might possibly engage on a given day, thus exploring the roles and experiences that constitute our identities. Nonetheless, the fake McCoys manage to do it all, with the actors changing shift throughout the day, while engaging with the artists' real children, students, friends, and colleagues. The resultant video installation is accompanied by a series of photo portraits of the artists in which passersby and friends stand in for one or another member of the couple (raising questions about the deeper psychic or cosmic nature of compatibility and the implausibility of replacement) and a series of "artist talks" in which actors from outside of the art world discuss work by famous artists as if it was their own. Once again returning to the database form, the latter piece promises to shed light on the genre conventions of art-related discourse and critique with clips that are both humorous and poetic. Leave it to the McCoys to sketch out the formal boundaries of a practice and then show us how fun and beautiful it can be to color within those lines! - Marisa Olson
Image: Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, I'll Replace You, 2008 (Photo courtesy of Postmasters Gallery)
Statement:Radio Astronomy is an art and science project which broadcasts sounds intercepted from space live on the internet and on the airwaves. Listeners will hear the acoustic output of radio telescopes live. The content of the live transmission will depend on the objects being observed by partner telescopes. On any given occasion listeners may hear the planet Jupiter and its interaction with its moons, radiation from the Sun, activity from far-off pulsars or other astronomical phenomena.
Statement: Stephen Vitiello's first solo project for the web, Tetrasomia presents intriguing web-based archives of sounds from the natural and physical world, including such sounds as a fruit fly courtship, an underwater volcano, and poison frogs, as the source for an interactive sound project. Tetrasomia also features four new sound compositions by Vitiello: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.
By
Ceci Moss
on
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at
9:00 am
"Assembly Instructions" is a visual thought map, comprised of over 120 small framed black and white xeroxed collages, by Brooklyn-based artist Alexandre Singh. Each collage represents an idea, which the artist connects to other collages via a network of dotted lines. The city of San Francisco is the originating point for the series, and the visitor can follow Singh's train of thought related to this subject by following the intricate and tangential maze of images, which spread throughout the gallery. In a sense, this project is almost a tactile answer to the visual sequence of ideas encountered on sites such as FFFFOUND!, while also drawing on the older practice of free association. The exhibition is up at Jack Hanley Gallery in San Francisco until the end of November.
By
Ceci Moss
on
Monday, November 17th, 2008 at
2:40 pm
With the recession in full swing, the upcoming year will undoubtedly be a difficult one for the arts. Many crucial organizations are feeling the heat, such as New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). Earlier this year their budget was cut $2.6 million or 6% and now they face major cut backs again. A special legislative session will convene this week on November 18th to discuss cuts, which includes an additional $7 million to NYSCA's current budget. If this proposal goes through, almost 400 grantees in the October cycle and a similar number in the December cycle will receive almost nothing. Arts Action for NY have set up a letter writing campaign to the governor to stop this proposal from passing, see link below.
By
Brian Droitcour
on
Monday, November 17th, 2008 at
12:28 pm
This past Sunday the New York Times Magazine profiled Lewis Hyde, a writer and poet whose 1983 book The Gift described the value of art and literature in a market system as "the commerce of the creative spirit." Now a fellow Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Hyde is at work on a book that attempts to define how the market of cultural property should be regulated. Excerpts below, see link at the bottom for the full article.
In the late 1990s, Hyde began extending his lifelong project of examining "the public life of the imagination" into what had become newly topical territory: the "cultural commons." The advent of Internet file-sharing services like Napster and Gnutella sparked urgent debates over how to strike a balance between public and private claims to creative work. For more than a decade, the so-called Copy Left -- a diverse group of lawyers, activists, artists and intellectuals -- has argued that new digital technologies are responsible for an unprecedented wave of innovation and that excessive legal restrictions should not be placed on, say, music remixes, image mashups or "read-write" sites like Wikipedia, where users create their own content. The Copy Left, or the "free culture movement," as it is sometimes known, has articulated this position in part by drawing on the tradition of the medieval agricultural commons, the collective right of villagers, vassals and serfs -- "commoners" -- to make use of a plot of land. This analogy is also central to Hyde's book in progress, which looks closely at how the tradition of the commons was transformed once it was brought from Europe to America.
...
Hyde posits that the history of the commons and of the creative self are, in fact, twin histories. "The citizen called into being by a republic of freehold farms," he writes, "is close cousin to the writer who built himself that cabin at Walden Pond. But along with such mainstream icons goes a shadow tradition, the one that made Jefferson skeptical of patents, the one that made even Thoreau argue late in life that every 'town should have ... a primitive forest ..., where a stick should never be cut for fuel, a common possession forever,' the one that led the framers of the Constitution to balance 'exclusive right' with 'limited times.' It is a tradition worth recovering."
Rhizome staff writer Ed Halter posted a bootleg recording of Cory Arcangel's lecture/performance "Continual Partial Awareness" on Friday to his blog this morning. See above. For those so inclined, imeem also allow you to download it as a ringtone. We will post an entire video of the performance to Rhizome's Video and Vimeo pages soon.
By
Ceci Moss
on
Friday, November 14th, 2008 at
5:00 pm
Rhizome's Curator-at-Large and Staff Writer Marisa Olson recently curated the online segment of the exhibition "OURS: Democracy in the Age of Branding," which is currently on view in New York City at Parsons' Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center. The exhibition, on a whole, looks at how democracy has become situated as a consumer brand in order to disseminate American values worldwide. The online portion of the show specifically examines subversive strategies emergent from network culture, and how these methods may produce and disseminate ideas that may work against the sway of branding. In light of the recent success of Barack Obama's campaign for presidency, largely due to Web-based grassroots organizing, the scope of "OURS: Democracy in the Age of Branding" seems to take on a whole new significance. Given this backdrop, I wanted to speak with Marisa about some of the fundamental questions asked by the exhibition. - Ceci Moss
Many of the projects in the online portion of "OURS: Democracy in the Age of Branding" are a direct response to the troublesome policies of the Bush Administration, whether it be the divisive rhetoric of "Us" vs. "Them" as seen in Steve Lambert's WhyTheyHate.US or war propaganda as in Joseph DeLappe's Dead-In-Iraq. Now that Obama has been elected president, do you think the tone of politically minded art will change? Working on this show, do you have any sense of what that change might be?
It's funny, a lot of people have been asking me this. One person asked me if there's no longer a need for activist art. Of course there is! I think there's a sense of relief and excitement about Obama's election, but I think things will only gain momentum. What's interesting is that activism doesn't always have to be about saying no. Sometimes it can be about saying yes -- speaking in the affirmative, either to amplify the awfulness of the status quo or to point your target in the right direction. That would be the torque behind the "power of positive thinking." If anything, I believe that Obama has sold people on the fantasy that he will listen to them -- "especially when we disagree," as he so often said in his campaign speeches. A project like this week's NY Times Special Edition (while in the works for several months prior to his election) speaks to this belief and in fact I believe that's why they decided to release the paper after the election, rather than before it, as they'd originally planned. But now that someone in power seems to be listening, activists have all the more reason to speak up and ask for what we want. Truth be told, while the nightmare of the last eight years are coming to an end, it will take a long time to implement the changes we need. And we need to keep asking for these changes. But yes, it will be interesting to see how people's creative and rhetorical strategies shift in this new climate.
Can you flesh-out the way in which you are using the word "branding" in the show?
Carin Kuoni first came up with the idea for the show and then asked if I'd like to curate an online component. I agreed because I thought it was important to address the branding of democracy, particularly during election cycles. I once made a video comparing presidential elections to the "Pepsi Challenge." They tend to feel like a non-choice: one's red, one's blue, but they both taste about the same, and they're both pretty bad for you. Their only difference is that they are branded differently. In prior elections, the concept of democracy had seemed more like a fantasy that one buys into, rather than a reality. For this reason, I particularly liked the first word in the show's title: "Ours." For me, it raises this question of the possibility of voters having ownership over the democratic process (of "having a purchase" on it), vs. the sensation that votes can be bought, or the constant state of slippage in which consumption and investment move from something you do to keep yourself healthy to something you're lured into doing in alignment with an ideological fantasy.
By
Brian Droitcour
on
Friday, November 14th, 2008 at
2:28 pm
Artist's Statement: A video demonstration of a classic Experimental Philosophy experiment on "The Concept of Intentional Action" (AKA the "Knobe Effect"). Comedian Eugene Mirman narrates.
Statement: Since ancient times cartography has been used to describe the world as a geometric ensemble of measurable points, lines, areas and data-labels on a plane. While the world slowly fades away in an increasingly multiplication of self-representations, the map making process - missing its real reference - becomes nothing more than an empty-meaning abstract practice: so, what do all those maps stand now for?
In order to disclose this contradiction - or just to give a paradoxical point of view about it - the imaginary art-group Les Liens Invisibles has explored the world along its self-referential techno-linguistic layers, moving through its hidden mechanisms and forcing the grammar of its public-released API code.
By
Ceci Moss
on
Friday, November 14th, 2008 at
10:30 am
Machine Project's Mark Allen discussed their massive undertaking in an interview Rhizome published last week, but in case you missed it, this Los Angeles interdisciplinary non-profit arts organization will be taking over LACMA tomorrow for a full 10 hours. With over 60 separate projects, the program is ridiculously elaborate, so I suggest you view the full schedule here. Let's see...the Center for Tactical Magic will exhibit their wand collection, Lewis Keller will do live remixes of LACMA's air conditioning system, Walter Kitundu and Robin Sukhadia will play tabla within Richard Serra's sculpture, one workshop will invite visitors to make replicas from the Classical sculpture collection using the museum's trash, while another will crochet birds to accompany Chris Burden's Urban Light....This is going to be awesome. I mean, a few weeks ago they were auditioning for the "ultimate black/speed/grind/doom metal guitarist" to perform hourly under a gothic arch viewable from LACMA for the project. Seriously -- so cool! I wanna go!
By
Ceci Moss
on
Friday, November 14th, 2008 at
9:32 am
Transmission Arts non-profit free103point9 have announced a new distribution grant for New York State artists working in film, video, sound, new-media, and media-installation. The grant will assist artists in making their work available to public audiences, and applicants may request funding of up to $10,000. Deadline is December 31, 2008. For more information, click the link below.
By
Marisa Olson
on
Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at
11:45 am
Given that you're reading this article on a blog (a blog that addresses technology, in fact!), you are quite likely familiar not only with the phrase "Web 2.0," but moreover the concept of beta versions. The latter are ideas or applications that are the result of extensive research and yet manage to live an active life despite being defined by their own self-admission of imperfection. The Centre Pour L'Image Contemporaine in Sant-Gervais Geneve has made "Beta" the theme of their 2008 Version Biennial. The show consistently surveys contemporary work in emergent media, but this year's exhibition and related public programs investigate the state of new media art from a perspective of transition. Their position is that the field's been around long enough to have established some standard operating procedures, but there is a question as to where it's headed. More than anything, their question is that of the state of the new media artist. Is she an inventor? Someone for whom the tools are secondary to or primary to their work? Or someone who places technology first or second in their creative practices? In the case of the Centre, their effort is even to expand what we might consider art, by looking at the artfulness with which media and tech skills are applied in different social scenarios. A series of workshops, screenings, performances, and public forums will augment the installed exhibition and seek to flesh-out preconceived notions about issues like real-time communication, disembodiment, virtuality, mobility, and reproducibility that once seemed inherent to new media and yet may now be in need of updating. Meanwhile, the Centre is presenting important works by Vaibhav Bhawsar, Bureau d'études, Coldcenter, John Klima, Golan Levin, Julie Morel, Esther Polak, Andrea Polli, Tania Ruiz, Mizuki Watanabe, and many others -- so you can take in the cutting edge while getting your critical discourse on. - Marisa Olson
Tomorrow evening join us at the New Museum at 8:30pm for a premiere of a new performance by artist Cory Arcangel titled "Continual Partial Awareness."
According to the artist: "This performance is going to be about 'Continuous Partial Awareness' -- a phrase that was first described to me as meaning 'you know, like, when you have three IM windows open, two e-mail in boxes dinging away, are texting five different people, and also have five tabs open on your browser, each with updated content.' It is about paying attention to everything all the time, but not really concentrating on anything. It is different from multitasking, because with multitasking, one actually is expected to concentrate on tasks at some point, even if in small doses. 'Continuous Partial Awareness' is the eroded degenerate modern version of multitasking. I still don't know how this performance will take shape, it might be a lecture, a music show, a broadcast, a chess game, etc., but what I do know is that the feeling of 'non-concentration' that has seeped into today's life through our flat-screen displays and Wi-Fi will be its starting point."
This event is part of Rhizome's ongoing New Silent Series at the New Museum.
Please make a donation to Rhizome now during our annual Community
Campaign! Our goal is to raise $30,000 by 12/31/08, a figure that is
completely vital to sustain us this year.
Rhizome ($25 level): Rhizome Membership
Rhizome membership comes with full access to our archives, ability to use special site features and discounts to art merchandise online. See our individual membership page for a full list!
Sprout ($50 level): Rhizome Ringtones by YACHT, Rainbro, Taigaa and Ben Coonley In return for a donation of $50, you can choose one of four ringtones
by artist bands Rainbro (a.k.a. Ben
Fino-Radin), Taigaa, YACHT (Jona Bechtolt and Claire
Evans), or Ben
Coonley, who will record a dialogue with his internationally
beloved pony, just for your phone.
Seedling ($100): Nasty Nets DVD, Nasty Nets collective
Nasty Nets is an international ensemble representing some of the most
active artists working online today. Identifying themselves as a "web
surfing club," together the work they post on the nastynets.com blog
both celebrates and critiques the internet. Their collections of
animated gifs, YouTube hacks, html cheat codes, and other found and
edited material offer a poignant and humorous take on contemporary
digital visual culture. On a DVD player, the Nasty Nets DVD offers a
handful of funny, visually playful videos and remixes from the
treasure trove of internet pop culture. On a computer, users can also
access a multitude of file folders jam-packed with a collection
gif-mashups, videos, and other appropriated material that has made the
site so popular, online.
Shoot ($200): Floor Warp, Guthrie Lonergan, 2008
Members will get a screensaver (for Mac or PC) by Guthrie Lonergan. For
members only, Guthrie has converted his video loop Floor Warp
2 into a work of art for your computer. Veteran PC users will
remember the old Warp screensaver for Windows, which inspired this new
loop.
Bud ($300): Member, 2009, Steve Lambert, 2008, edition of five Steve Lambert is going to make a
brand-new business-card-sized drawing edition that states simply
"Member, 2009."
Stolon ($500): Rhizome Balaclava, Cat Mazza, 2008, edition of five
In a variation on her Stitch
For Senate project, Cat
Mazza will use her microRevolt knitPro application to create a
balaclava with the Rhizome logo, to keep you warm in style.
Craft Hackers
Craft Hackers is a panel discussion among artists who use crafting
techniques to explore high tech culture and the relationship between
needlework and computer programming.
Friday, December 12 at 7:30pm
at the New Museum
$8 General/ $6 Members BUY TICKETS HERE
Every year, Rhizome awards commissions to a group of international artists for the creation of new work. Read about the nine projects commissioned in our 2009 cycle!
In return for a donation of $50, you can choose one of four ringtones
by artist bands 
Nasty Nets is an international ensemble representing some of the most
active artists working online today. Identifying themselves as a "web
surfing club," together the work they post on the 
Members will get a screensaver (for Mac or PC) by 
In a variation on her 
