Charles Eames Centennial

[From Paper Mag with thanks to MFC in Saugus, the following post from the brilliant performance artist Ann Magnuson, leader of the seminal art band "Bong Water."]

"This year marks the centennial of modernist designer Charles Eames' birth. Together with his wife Ray, the Eames' created some of the most enduring modernist architecture and furniture in the world. This story in Thursday's LA Times celebrates their unique vision, which you can see on display in their own films (Powers of Ten is one of my all-time faves), including the video. [below]

House is a whimsical document the couple made after five years of living in what is now viewed as one of the most important architectural works of art in southern California (and the world!). Ironically, the Eames' (who celebrated the beauty and artistic merit of everyday objects) were anti-elitist and it's a shame their creations have been fetishized and turned into expensive object d'art for the super-rich and the Design Nazis currently taking over Beverly Boulevard. But how fitting that Charles and Ray Eames have become the legends they deserve to be!"



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[photograph of Ann Magnuson by Rocky Schenck from REDCAT web site ]

Raw

The Drawing Center
35 Wooster St
New York, NY 10013

William Anastasi: Raw
through July 21, 2007

"For this exhibition in the Drawing Room, the artist William Anastasi will recreate seminal site-specific works dating from the mid-1960s. These early pieces are a testament to the artist's interest and pioneering efforts in site-specific projects, as well as in the medium of drawing."

press release [pdf file]

[image from Drawing Center Web site]

Movies Music Revolution

Brooklyn Academy of Music
Peter Jay Sharp Building
30 Lafayette Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217

June 28–July 7
Afro Punk Fesitval

"This Fourth of July, let's talk about a real revolution! Afro-Punk returns to BAM bringing film, music, and art united under the banner of black rebellion. This year includes a focus on the Black Panthers, an art exhibit display in the lobby featuring archival Black Panthers photographs and work from Pratt Institute, an Afro-Punk Block Party, more music than ever before, and a special appearance by Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale."

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[image from BAM Web site]

Speed | Size | Density | Diversity | Form

Tate Modern
Bankside
London SE1 9TG

Global Cities

June 20 - August 27, 2007

"Global Cities looks at changes in the social and built forms of ten large, dynamic, international cities: Cairo, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo. Drawing on data originally assembled for the 10th Venice Architecture Biennale, the exhibition features both visual art and architectural responses to explore these cities through five thematic lenses: speed, size, density, diversity and form. This exhibition in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern incorporates a range of existing art works that explore conditions in each of the focus cities, with many of the international artists presenting their work in the UK for the first time.

Closer to home, a number of commissions responding to the London context and to specific issues such as sustainability and social inclusion have been realised especially for the exhibition. As Global Cities takes place in the midst of one of the focus cities, the exhibition uses London as a concrete point of reference and comparison. Inspired by the local urban dimension of London as part of a global phenomenon, a selection of prestigious architectural practices have been commissioned to present research and proposals about London's urban development."

[image from exhibition Web site. Caption:
"Nils Norman 1966
Born and works Britain
Bus shelter 2015 2007
Bus shelter, poster prints, wooden planter, agaves
Bus Stop lent by Transport for London (London Buses) Trueform"

one of six commissions for the exhibition.]

Superheroes

[The post below was developed from an item on Provisions Library's most recent critical dispatch, "Is Anybody Home: Provisions Library Looks at Immigration."]

Dulce Pinzón

The Real Story of the Superheroes

"After September 11, the notion of the “hero” began to rear its head in the public consciousness more and more frequently. The notion served a necessity in a time of national and global crisis to acknowledge those who showed extraordinary courage or determination in the face of danger, sometimes even sacrificing their lives in an attempt to save others. However, in the whirlwind of journalism surrounding these deservedly front-page disasters and emergencies, it is easy to take for granted the heroes who sacrifice immeasurable life and labor in their day to day lives for the good of others, but do so in a somewhat less spectacular setting.

The Mexican immigrant worker in New York is a perfect example of the hero who has gone unnoticed. It is common for a Mexican worker in New York to work extraordinary hours in extreme conditions for very low wages which are saved at great cost and sacrifice and sent to families and communities in Mexico who rely on them to survive.

The Mexican economy has quietly become dependent on the money sent from workers in the US. Conversely, the US economy has quietly become dependent on the labor of Mexican immigrants. Along with the depth of their sacrifice, it is the quietness of this dependence which makes Mexican immigrant workers a subject of interest.

The principal objective of this series is to pay homage to these brave and determined men and women that somehow manage, without the help of any supernatural power, to withstand extreme conditions of labor in order to help their families and communities survive and prosper.

This project consists of 20 color photographs of Mexican immigrants dressed in the costumes of popular American and Mexican superheroes. Each photo pictures the worker/superhero in their work environment, and is accompanied by a short text including the worker’s name, their hometown in Mexico, the number of years they have been working in New York, and the amount of money they send to Mexico each week."


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[image from Dulce Pinzón Web site. Caption: "NOE REYES from the State of Puebla works as a delivery boy in Brooklyn New York. He Sends 500 dollars a week."]

Cybersonica 2007

Kinetica Museum
SP2 Pavillion
Old Spitalfields Market
London UK E1 6AA

June 24 - 6 p.m.

"In this site-specific presentation, Ray Lee will perform with theremins and custom designed tone oscillators in order to demonstrate and further explore the hidden forces that surround us. A virtual cornucopia for the senses, Lee’s performance will combine movement, and sound to produce an unforgettable audio experience."


[Exhibition continues through June 29. Image from Kinetica web site]

Bike-in Theater 2007

[From Iowa City, Midwest HQ of the Data Stream, a brilliant example of community-based practice.]

Public Access Television
206 Lafayette Street
Iowa City, IA 52240

"Bike on down to the first of the series on Thursday, June 21st at sundown when we’ll be presenting “Day of the Triffids”. This classic 1962 film has it all… blinding meteorites, attacking plants, it’s CHAOS! Will humanity SURVIVE? Come find out."

Bike-in Theater is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

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[image from PATV Web site]

Eden's Edge

Hammer Museum

10899 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024
310.443.7000

Eden's Edge: Fifteen LA Artists
May 13 - September 2, 2007

"Eden's Edge: Fifteen LA Artists is an exploration of art made in Los Angeles during the past decade that crosses generations, mediums, and materials to link artists who create work ingrained with intensely personal visions. The exhibition features the work of 15 artists—Ginny Bishton, Mark Bradford, Liz Craft, Sharon Ellis, Matt Greene, Elliott Hundley, Stanya Kahn & Harry Dodge, Monica Majoli, Matthew Monahan, Rebecca Morales, Lari Pittman, Ken Price, Jason Rhoades, Anna Sew Hoy, and Jim Shaw—who share a dedication to craft and mix a wide array of media to create fantasized, often ambiguous, worlds. The artists featured in Eden's Edge: Fifteen LA Artists share a perspective toward landscape and figure that investigates complex contradictions, which are inherent to life in Los Angeles and more broadly to contemporary American culture."

[image from Hammer Web site: Lari Pittman,Untitled 2000.]

Alkyd and aerosol on mahogany panel
Goetz Collection, Munich, Germany. Courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles, CA.

Midland Two-Step

Savoy Doucet Cajun Band

From the archive of Acadian music on YouTube, a sprited performance by Beausoleil's Michael Doucet; Marc Savoy & Ann Savoy, along with Aly Bain.""Another clip from the "Aly Meets the Cajuns' 1988 Documentary."

Humanity for Fuel

[below are the opening paragraphs of the most recent press release from the brilliant, high stakes activist|performance art collaboration "The Yes Men." Note that at the time of this post, their servers seem to be struggling to keep up with the traffic, but persistence will result in reaching their web sites.]

The Yes Men

June 14, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EXXON PROPOSES BURNING HUMANITY FOR FUEL IF CLIMATE CALAMITY HITS
Conference organizer fails to have Yes Men arrested

Text of speech, photos, video: http://www.vivoleum.com/event/

GO-EXPO statement: http://newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2007/14/c5086.html
Press conference before this event, Friday, Calgary: http://arusha.org/event/7214
Contact: mailto:fuel@theyesmen.org

Imposters posing as ExxonMobil and National Petroleum Council (NPC)
representatives delivered an outrageous keynote speech to 300 oilmen
at GO-EXPO, Canada's largest oil conference, held at Stampede Park in
Calgary, Alberta, today.

The speech was billed beforehand by the GO-EXPO organizers as the
major highlight of this year's conference, which had 20,000
attendees. In it, the "NPC rep" was expected to deliver the long-awaited
conclusions of a study commissioned by US Energy Secretary
Samuel Bodman. The NPC is headed by former ExxonMobil CEO Lee
Raymond, who is also the chair of the study.

In the actual speech, the "NPC rep" announced that current U.S. and
Canadian energy policies (notably the massive, carbon-intensive
exploitation of Alberta's oil sands, and the development of liquid
coal) are increasing the chances of huge global calamities. But he
reassured the audience that in the worst case scenario, the oil
industry could "keep fuel flowing" by transforming the billions of
people who die into oil.

"We need something like whales, but infinitely more abundant," said
"NPC rep" "Shepard Wolff" (actually Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men),
before describing the technology used to render human flesh into a
new Exxon oil product called Vivoleum. 3-D animations of the process
brought it to life.

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[graphic from Yes Men Web site press area.]

Projects in India

"Since 2000, the Daniel Langlois Foundation has supported a number of projects in India. These projects have highlighted, documented and engaged various aspects of Indian culture and ecological issues, including current local and national realities.

Vishal Rawlley
Legend of the Sea Lord
(2007)
Using a creative mix of voicemail technology and mythology, Rawlley developed a prototype for an interactive light installation which seeks to raise public awareness about water pollution in Mumbai."

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[note: to learn about the project in English click on 'enter' and then 'projects in India']

[image from foundation newsletter]

Rencontres Internationales - Berlin

Les Rencontres Internationales
Paris/Berlin/Madrid
New cinema and contemporary art

Babylon:Mitte Movie Theatre
Berlin
June 25 - 30 2007

"Since 1997, the Rencontres Internationales have been presenting in Paris and Berlin an international program between new cinema and contemporary art.

With the participation of about hundred artists and filmmakers from all-over the world, this exceptional edition will propose a program, which is presented for the first time internationally and which includes many film premieres, a panorama of contemporary video, multimedia concerts. Furthermore, the festival's program can be viewed and reviewed in the video library."


Each screening is built around a theme:
"Contemporary cities; ""Politic of images;" "Long shots;" "Photography / Landscape;" "Body / dance;" "Gender is my genre;" "Footage / samplage;" "Top model;""Super experimental;" "New fiction;"and "Contemporary animations.""

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[image from Rencontres Internationales Web site]

Ancient and Eternal Mysteries

[With thanks to our loyal scout EC in Buffalo, New York, the 'Stream' is delighted to feature a newly discovered gallery in New Orleans. We look forward to learning more about Barrister's and welcome first hand reports from those lucky enough to visit in person.]

Barrister's Gallery
2331 St.Claude Ave & Spain
New Orleans, LA 70117
504-525-2767 / 710-4506
Tues-Sat 11am-5pm

Unusual Suspects
June 1- June 30, 2007
Opening Reception June 9, 4-9pm

Dan Tague
Daphne Loney
Tim Best
Generic Art
Solutions

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[image from Barrister's Gallery Web site]

For the Love

[For those of you who may have missed this latest bit of art\performance by no-longer-quite-so Young British Artist Damien Hirst, below from ArtDaily.org.]

"LONDON.- Artist Damien Hirst unveiled a diamond-encrusted human skull worth £50m. It is said to be the most expensive piece of contemporary art. The skull is entirely covered in 8,601 jewels. The skull dates from the 18th Century and new teeth were made for the artwork at a cost of £14m. The skull is believed to belong to a 35-year-old European who lived between 1720 and 1810.

Damien Hirst said, "It works much better than I imagined. I was slightly worried that we'd end up with an Ali G ring. You just want it to be flawless, like a diamond is a flawless. We wanted to put them everywhere. They go underneath, inside the nose. Anywhere you can put diamonds, we've put diamonds. I wouldn't mind if it happened to my skull after my death.""

[image from artdaily.org Web site: "'For the love of God' by Damien Hirst." Click on the image for the full effect.]

Wild Gift

Barbican Centre
Silk Street
London EC2Y 8DS

Panic Attack!
Art in the Punk Years
5 June – 9 Sept 2007
Barbican Art Gallery, London

"Panic Attack! examines artists who represented, in very different and unexpected ways, the punk zeitgeist of the mid-70s to the mid-80s. Although the punk movement is largely known for its music, fashion and graphics, this exhibition exposes the vibrant art scene that emerged during these years, most notably in London, New York and Los Angeles."

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[image from Barbican Gallery Web site: portrait of Detroit poet|musician Patti Smith by Robert Mapplethorpe.]