New Year's Eve with the Dead

[For some Americans, NYE Dead Concerts rivaled Dick Clark and the ball dropping in New York's Times Square. NB: audio of hundreds of hours of Dead shows are available at archive.org. Wishing one and all a brilliant 2010!]

Hey Patti Smith

[Below, a vintage performance by the brilliant, irrepressible Patti Smith on the occasion of her sixty-fourth birthday. Rock on Patti!]



[Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Happy New Year | Happy Endings

[a nod to the end of a momentous year, wishing all a brilliant 2010]

le cinema a 114 ans

The first public film screening was held on December 28, 1895, at the Salon Indien du Grand Café on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris by The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean . This history-making presentation featured ten short films. Each film is 17 meters long, which, when hand cranked through a projector, runs approximately 50 seconds.

[Text from Wikipedia. Still from "L'arroseur arrosé," one of the films included in the program. Many happy returns to SC in Newcastle, and heartfelt appreciations to DLP.]

My Parents Were Awesome

My Parents Were Awesome

[Photo from My Parents Were Awesome website. Thanks to ASP in Berkeley for the tip. Caption: "'Flo and Brunov.' Submitted by Adrienne."]

Larry Sultan

American photographer Larry Sultan died earlier this month at the age of 63. Below is a link to a 1989 interview on NPR's [National Public Radio] Fresh Air. The interview with host Terry Gross explores "Pictures from Home," his decade-long project chronicling his father's job loss and the effects it had on the family.

Listen

[Information and graphic from Fresh Air website. Caption: "Dad Looking into Pool," from "Pictures from Home"']

Removed from the Crowd

Skuc Gallery
Stari trg 21
SI - 1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia
ph: + 386 1 251 65 40

23 December - 15 January 2010
Removed from the Crowd:
The Fate of Outer Planets

Concept: Ivana Bago and Antonia Majaca
(Institute for Duration, Location and Variables – DeLVe)

"Removed from the Crowd / The Fate of Outer Planets is a curatorial/art-historical piece based developed through an ongoing research that considers the phenomenon of the New Artistic Practice in the Socialist Republic of Croatia during the 1960s and 1970s outside the context of the analysis of the actual artistic production of that time, involving new elements and fragments with each new presentation.

The first phase of the long-term project was the publication Issue-ing the Revolution published as the 83rd issue of the Life of Art Magazine/Zivot umjetnosti with contributions by Jens Kastner, Waler Seidl, Marco Scotini, Maroje Mrduljaš & Srećko Horvat, Jelena Vesic & Dušan Grlja, Sezgin Boynik, Artur Zmijewski, Maja & Reuben Fowkes, Hedvig Turai and the editors Ivana Bago & Antonia Majaca (hart.hr/izdanja/zivot-umjetnosti), while the second phase eveloved as the educational program Kustoska platforma comprised of 10 monthly seminars with the students of art history in Zagreb initiated in Spring 2008 and focusing on the history of curatorial and exhibition practices Croatia.

The first 'staging' of the project, presented earlier this year in Belgrade in the framework of the exhibition Political Practices of (Post) Yugoslav Art focused on the modes of collaborative work of artists and the forms of self-organisation while the second one, at ŠKUC Gallery, includes a new chapter focusing on progressive curatorial strategies and innovative exhibition models during 1960s and 1970s.

Fragment 1: New Collective Practices - Artists' Association Beyond Manifesto and Program stems from a consideration of the three-year activity of the Podroom Working Community of Artists. Podroom, an artists-led space initiated by Sanja Ivekovic and Dalibor Martinis, was a working and exhibition space that between 1978 and 1981 brought together the key figures of the New Artistic Practice. A transcript of a conversation (a working meeting) held in Podroom and published in the 'catalogue-journal' First Issue (1980) serves as a point of departure for the rendering of narrative about self-organised artistic initiatives and the history of associations from Gorgona Group at the beginning of the 1960s to the establishment of the artist –run PM Gallery in Zagreb in 1981. What is common to all the initiatives, irrespective of their duration, is the specific, non-programmatic and organic manner in which they group together around an only adumbrated common goal. The fragment focuses on temporary manifestations of collectiveness, on models of 'being singular plural' or more exactly, on being-with as a search for a different understanding of the relation between individual and collective, but also for the point of a collective itself and the possibility of a joint programme.

Fragment 2: New Curatorial and Exhibition Practices brings the focus to innovative curatorial and institutional practices with the special attention given to the projects initiated and curated in the 1970s by Ida Biard in Zagreb and Paris. Selected curatorial projects, as well as institutions and informal spaces in which they took place, are here not seen merely in the role of mediators who present artistic products to the audience, but as the active protagonists and initiators of innovative approaches to contemporary art, whether these concern the New Tendencies movement, early conceptual art of the 60s or the New Artistic Practice of the 70s.

The title Removed from the Crowd (taken from the title of a piece by Mladen Stilinović from 1979) thus becomes a signifier not only of the differentiation of the 'associated individuals' as against the ideologically propagated collectivity but also a signifier of the actual methodology.

Accordingly, the intention of the project is not the creation of a 'convincing' and scientifically well-grounded historical or art-historical narrative - it aims rather to indicate an associative cartography functioning as memory script, a map that selects the facts about processes, methodologies and situations considered to be relevant for us today as well as from a series of speculations derived from the enlargement of details, deliberate omissions, arbitrary connections, all in the aid of articulating a different viewpoint, a temporary and unstable truth through a different 'performance' of the writing of the history of contemporary art.

Skuk

[Text from e-art now. Graphic from Skuk website. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

spaza-de-move-on

dala
Durban, South Africa
ongoing project: spaza-de-move-on

In the early 60s ‘café-de-move-ons’ could be seen wherever there were substantial numbers of African workers or passers by in need of refreshment. Vendors were frequently arrested in police raids and fined or imprisoned.

Since apartheid, South Africa witnessed the phenomenon of urbanization. Thousands of workers move daily from the township’s into the cities for their livelihood. This has given rise to the re-birth of the trade in refreshments, loose cigarettes, sweets and chips along pedestrian routes. Similarly these vendors too face victimisation by the powers that be.

The spaza-de-move-on is a design response to the need for an efficient, easily transportable solution for these vendors. Its evolution, involved bottom-up collaboration with Moses Gwiba – a street vendor – who Doung has formed a relationship over a number of years of walking in the city of Durban. His hail “when you make something for me?” sparked the inspiration for this South African solution.

==

dala is an interdisciplinary creative collective that believes in the transformative role of creativity in building safer and more liveable cities. dala emerged as a response to the growing need for a sustainable space for creative practitioners actively engaging in the production of art / architecture for social change in eThekwini. dala believes that sustainable change can only happen through democratic participation and collaboration. dala therefore facilitates creative initiatives between creative practitioners from a variety of backgrounds (artists, architects, researchers, performers, urban planners, designers), the municipality and most importantly the people and organisations that live and work within and around the city. dala’s initiatives all revolve around re-imagining the use and expression in and of public space.

Founders, Doung Jahangeer, Rike Sitas and Nontobeko Ntombela have been working on similar initiatives individually and collectively for close to ten years. The strength of dala lies in the interdisciplinary skills the founders bring to the organisation – Doung (architect), Rike (social scientist), Nonto (curator). All three are practicing artists and educators who have been involved in a number of local and international projects and exhibitions.

[Text and graphic from dala website. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Artists on Their Bicycles

Artists on Their Bicycles New York: 2010 Calendar

Forty years after Joe Goode's legendary calendar LA Artists in Their Cars (1969), the East Coast strikes back. Artists on Their Bicycles New York establishes a new connection between artists and mobility, portraying them with their eco-friendly vehicles. Swiss photographer Lukas Wassmann, commissioned by Emma Reeves and Gianni Jetzer for the Swiss Institute, captures vibrant everyday scenes. Some artists navigate the Manhattan grid as urban flaneurs, while others take advantage of biking as an effective means of transportation. This limited edition project harnesses the artistic will to operate outside the lanes of constraint.

[Text and image from Art Agenda electronic mailing. Thanks to ETN in NYC for the tip.]

Climate Debt No Joke

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Copenhagen Spoof Shames Canada; Climate Debt No Joke
African, Danish and Canadian youth join the Yes Men to demand climate justice and skewer Canadian climate policy

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - "Canada is 'red-faced'!" (Globe and Mail) "Copenhagen spoof shames Canada!" (Guardian) "Hoax slices through Canadian spin on warming!" (The Toronto Star) "A childish prank!" (Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada)

What at first looked like the flip-flop of the century has been revealed as a sophisticated ruse by a coalition of African, North American, and European activists. The purpose: to highlight the most powerful nations' obstruction of meaningful progress in Copenhagen, to push for just climate debt reparations, and to call out Canada in particular for its terrible climate policy.

The elaborate intercontinental operation was spearheaded by a group of concerned Canadian citizens, the "Climate Debt Agents" from ActionAid, and The Yes Men. It involved the creation of a best-case scenario in which Canadian government representatives unleashed a bold new initiative to curb emissions and spearhead a "Climate Debt Mechanism" for the developing world.

The ruse started at 2:00 PM Monday, when journalists around the world were surprised to receive a press release from "Environment Canada" (enviro-canada.com, a copy of ec.gc.ca) that claimed Canada was reversing its position on climate change.

In the release, Canada's Environment Minister, Jim Prentice, waxed lyrical. "Canada is taking the long view on the world economy," said Prentice. "Nobody benefits from a world in peril. Contributing to the development of other nations and taking full responsibilities for our emissions is simple Canadian good sense."

Thirty minutes later, the same "Environment Canada" sent out another press release, congratulating itself on Uganda's excited response to the earlier fake announcement. A video featuring an impassioned response by "Margaret Matembe," supposedly a COP15 delegate from Uganda, was embedded in a fake COP15 website. "Canada, until now you have blocked climate negotiations and refused to reduce emissions," said "Matembe." "Of course, you do sit on the world's second-largest oil reserve. But for us it isn't a mere economic issue - it's about drought, famine, and disease."

(The video was shot in a replica of the Bella Center's briefing room, at Frederiksholms Kanal 4, in the center of Copenhagen. Matembe was actually Kodili Chandia, a "Climate Debt Agent" from ActionAid, a collective of activists that push for rich countries to help those most affected by climate change for adaptation and mitigation projects. The "Climate Debt Agents," with their signature bright red suits, have been a ubiquitous presence in Copenhagen during the climate summit.)

Then it was time for Canada to react. One hour later, another "Environment Canada" (this one at ec-gc.ca) released a bombastic response to the original release. This one quot ed Jim Prentice, Canada's Minister for the Environment, decrying the original announcement: "It is the height of cruelty, hypocrisy, and immorality to infuse with false hopes the spirit of people who are already, and will additionally, bear the brunt of climate change's terrible human effects. Canada deplores this moral misfire."

Because almost none of the resulting news coverage even mentioned Uganda or "Matembe's" response, a fourth release was sent from the second website (ec-gc.ca).

Meanwhile, in the real world

The real Canadian government's reactions were almost as strange as the fake ones in the release. Dimitri Soudas, a spokesperson for the Canadian Prime Minister, emailed reporters and blamed Steven Guilbeault, cofounder of Quebec-based Equiterre. "More time should be dedicated to playing a constructive role instead of childish pranks," said Soudas in a first email, while misspelling Guilbeault's name.

Guilbeault demanded an apology. "A better way to use his time would probably be to advise the Canadian government to change its deeply flawed position on climate," said Guilbeault.

Soudas and Guilbeault were seen exchanging angry words in the hallway outside of Canada's 3:30pm press conference, which did not start until 4:30pm, and at which the Canadians refused to answer any questions about the flurry of false releases.

More raised voices were heard when Stephen Chu, the US Secretary of Energy, refused to pose for a photo with his Canadian counterpart, Jim Prentice. After Steve Kelly, Prentice's chief of staff, begged for 10 minutes, the US guy finally asked why a photo was so important. Kelly replied that "we were carpetbagged this morning by [environmental non-governmental organizations] with a false press release. I gotta change the story."

Why Blame Canada?

The only country in the world to have abandoned the Kyoto Protocol's emissions and climate debt targets, Canada also has the most energy-intensive, destructive and polluting oil reserves in the world. The Alberta tar sands, according to The Economist, are in fact the world's biggest single industrial source of carbon emissions.

"By not agreeing to emissions reductions, Canada is holding a loaded gun to our heads, and seems ready to pull the trigger on millions of us around the globe, " said Margaret Matembe aka Kodili Chandia of the "Climate Debt Agents." "They leave us no choice but to see them as criminal."

At last year's climate summit in Poznan, Poland, over 400 civil society organizations voted Canada worst of all nations in blocking progress towards a binding climate treaty. Will Canada take the dubious prize again this year in Copenhagen?

"The Canadian government is not listening to its citizens," says Sarah Ramsey, a resident of Alberta who has seen the destruction of the tar sands firsthand. Ramsey traveled to Copenhagen to give voice to a generation of young Canadians. "We are discouraged and demoralized by our government's position on climate change. We decided to lend our government a hand, and show them what good leadership looks like."

In solidarity with the delegates from the G77 Bloc of nations, today's intervention was also meant to highlight an issue at the heart of the ongoing talks—the issue of climate justice, and the climate debt that the developed world owes the developing world. Seventy-five percent of the historical emissions that created the climate crisis came from 20% of the world's population in developed countries, according to the UN, yet up to 80% of the impacts of the climate crisis are experienced in the developing world, according to the World Bank.

"I meant every word I said," says Kodili Chandia, a spokesperson for the Climate Debt Agents, who spoke out as a member of the Ugandan delegation. "This debate isn't just about facts and figures and abstract concepts of fairness—the drought we are seeing right now in East Africa is directly threatening the lives of millions of people, including farmers in my own family. We have not created this problem but we are living with the consequences. That's why I still say: It's time for rich countries to pay their climate debt."

- 30 -

More dream announcements coming soon! Come make your own or stay tuned at good-cop15.org.

[Text from Yes Men press release, reprinted in its entirety. Screen grab from YouTube video. Caption: "Angry Canadian delegate at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen responds to the fake announcement that Canada would reduce emissions by 80 percent and pay the climate debt of developing nations. He doesn't think its funny! Watch him spit teeth!" Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Rosetta Stone's Return to Egypt?

[Article reprinted in full from artdaily.org]


Egypt's Zahi Hawass to Ask British Museum for Rosetta Stone

LONDON (REUTERS).- The head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said he plans to ask the British Museum to hand the Rosetta Stone over to his country.

The ancient stone was the key to deciphering hieroglyphs on the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs and is one of six ancient relics that Egypt's chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass said his country wants to recover from museums around the world.

"I did not write yet to the British Museum but I will. I will tell them that we need the Rosetta Stone to come back to Egypt for good," Hawass told Reuters this weekend.

"The British Museum has hundreds of thousands of artifacts in the basement and as exhibits. I am only needing one piece to come back, the Rosetta Stone. It is an icon of our Egyptian identity and its homeland should be Egypt."

The 3-1/2 foot high Rosetta Stone was unearthed by Napoleon's army in 1799 and dates back to 196 BC. It became British property after Napoleon's defeat under the 1801 Treaty of Alexandria.

Hawass, whose flamboyant style and trademark hat have led some to liken him to film character Indiana Jones, has in the past said he wanted to acquire the stone for Egypt and now wants to go about it through official channels.

His wish list for relics also includes the bust of Nefertiti from Berlin's Neues Museum, a statue of Great Pyramid architect Hemiunu from the Roemer-Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany, the Dendera Temple Zodiac from the Louvre in Paris, Ankhaf's bust from Boston's Museum of Fine Art and a statue of Rameses II from the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy.

The Rosetta Stone, which has inscriptions in hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek, has been housed at the British Museum since 1802 and forms the centerpiece of the museum's Egyptian collection, attracting millions of visitors each year.

Hawass had previously asked to borrow the stone for the opening of a new museum in Giza, near Cairo in 2012, but said he would no longer settle for just a loan.

The British Museum said in a statement that its collection should remain as a whole to fulfill the museum's purpose, and it would consider the request for a loan to Egypt in due course.

David Gill, reader in Mediterranean archaeology at Swansea University, said the British Museum would be cautious about handling the request as it could lead to increased pressure over other items in its collection, such as the Parthenon marbles.

"The whole issue for the British Museum is if they say we're going to give you back the Rosetta Stone, it sets a precedent," he said. "They're worried that countries like Italy, Greece and Turkey are going to demand large numbers of objects back."

Masako Muro, a 34-year-old tourist in London from Japan, said she felt that the Rosetta Stone should remain in London, at least for the benefit of visitors.

"It is easy to travel here especially for tourists compared to traveling to Egypt. And that makes it open to everybody," she said.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

[Text and graphic from artdaily.org. Caption: "The 3-1/2 foot high Rosetta Stone was unearthed by Napoleon's army in 1799 and dates back to 196 BC. Photo: EFE/Trustees of the British Museum." Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Art + Infrastructure

Nevada Museum of Art
160 West Liberty Street
Reno

Center for Art + Environment
Art and Infrastructure: Patricia Johanson and the Petaluma Wetlands Park

"Art, ecology, landscaping and functional infrastructure meet in Patricia Johanson’s collaborative project – Petaluma Wetlands Park. Using constructed and natural wetlands Johanson created a multi-purpose public landscape providing three miles of recreational use, educational programs and nature study alongside a facility that simultaneously processes human sewage, while also generating crops and creating wildlife habitats."

through January 10, 2010

[text and graphic from NMA website. Caption: Ellis Creek Water Recycling Facility, Petaluma, CA, April 2008. Image courtesy the City of Petaluma, California." Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Babel

Blank Projects
113-115 Sir Lowry Road
Woodstock
Cape Town 8001
South Africa

Candice Breitz
Babel Series

"The Babel Series consists of seven constantly stuttering DVD loops. Each steals a fragment of footage from the history of music video. The content of each video is relentlessly simple and literally monosyllabic: the seven different moments are appropriated from various pop performances (the line-up ranges from Madonna, Wham and Grace Jones to Queen, Prince, Abba and the Police). Each of the seven moments is then trapped in repetition as it is looped endlessly and noisily before the viewer on a series of television monitors. The seven loops play simultaneously in the space of the installation, creating a cacophonous babble that allegorically echoes the biblical story from which the work takes its title. What the seven videos have in common - beyond their reflection on narcissism and their deliberate choice of ambiguously-gendered stars - is that each evokes the primary building blocks of language. Together, the videos bang a millennial baby talk out of a series of dissonant beats,a baby talk that approaches sheer pandemonium."

The installation, on view through January 8, 2010 at Blank Projects is part of Dada South? an exhibition curated by Roger van Wyk & Kathryn Smith at the South African National Gallery.

Dada South? draws together a range of works by South African artists dating from the 1960s to the present, representing a range of avant-garde positions in the aftermath of Dada. South African art production is understood not simply as by-products of western avant-garde practices, but as drawing selectively and even randomly on these practices to articulate specific, local conditions. Through an eclectic collection of material, imaginary and intellectual work of our recent history, the exhibition proposes a review of the ambivalent relationship between cultural creation and political resistance."

[Text and graphic from Blank Projects website. Caption: "Candice Breitz, Babel Series, 1999, DVD Installation: 7 Looping DVDs, Installation view: O.K Center for Contemporary art, Linz. Photograph: Jason Mandella." Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Hommage à Boris Vian

Hospice Saint-Charles
30 rue Nationale
78710 Rosny-sur-Seine
Tél. : 01 30 42 91 55


Les Hivernales - Hommage à Boris Vian

"Figure mythique du Paris d'après-guerre, Boris Vian a marqué la vie intellectuelle et artistique française d'une empreinte singulière. Écrivain, auteur, chanteur et musicien, il laisse derrière lui une œuvre moderne et insolite.

La première édition des Hivernales lui rendra hommage, à l’occasion de la commémoration de sa disparition en 1959. Proposées dorénavant chaque fin d’année pendant un mois à l’Hospice Saint-Charles, les Hivernales se déclineront autour de la célébration d’un anniversaire, d’un événement ou de la mise en valeur d’un personnage. Elles réuniront tous les acteurs culturels du territoire de Mantes en Yvelines qui le souhaitent et inviteront à la création, à la diffusion dans les domaines de la musique, du théâtre, de la danse, de la lecture publique et des arts plastiques."

Entrée libre et gratuite – Tous les jours.

Earlier post on the fiftieth anniversary of Boris Vian's death

le programme complet

[Text and graphic from Hivernales website. Thanks to borisvian.org for the tip.]

The Dixie Chicks @ 20

Formed in 1989 in Dallas, Texas, The Dixie Chicks.

From Wikipedia: "During a London concert ten days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, lead vocalist Maines said, "we don't want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas" (the Dixie Chicks' home state). The statement offended people who thought it rude and unpatriotic, and the ensuing controversy cost the group half of their concert audience attendance in the United States and led to accusations of the three women being un-American, as well as hate mail, a death threat, and the destruction of their albums in protest."

Click here to view a video of their 2006 song "Not Ready to Make Nice," co-written with Dan Wilson.

World AIDS Day

"The World AIDS Campaign has been established to strengthen and connect the advocacy and campaigning activities of civil society that target governments and other stakeholders to deliver on their promises and commitments on HIV and AIDS. Whether that is with politicians, policy makers, the donor community or those countries most affected by HIV or indeed a multilateral agency or civil society, the aim is to create a unified voice on the need to take the action necessary to scale up the response to HIV.

Our Objectives are:

1. To catalyse and strengthen national, inclusive campaigns for accountability on universal access;
2. To increase involvement in campaigning for accountability on universal access within and across international constituency-based networks; and
3. To increase access to resources and information to support more effective, campaigning for accountability on universal access.

The World AIDS Campaign is a global coalition of national, regional and international civil society groups united by the call for governments to honour their AIDS commitments under the slogan “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.” The campaign is governed by a steering committee of global constituency-based networks and supported by a team of support staff based primarily in Cape Town, South Africa and partially in Amsterdam, The Netherlands."

[Text and graphic from Campaign website and Facebook page. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Decorate and Protect

Southern Alberta Art Gallery
601 Third Avenue South
Lethbridge, Alberta T1J 0H4
Canada

November 28 – January 17, 2010
Decorate and Protect
Mary-Anne McTrowe

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 28 | 8 pm

Prevalent throughout the domestic decorative arts, the tea-cozy remains an oft-visited tradition for novices and seasoned practitioners alike. Knit, crocheted or quilted, the purpose of the object is two-fold – it functions as an insulator keeping the tea warm, and is also a decorative and creative expression of its maker. Extending its utility, artist Mary-Anne McTrowe embraces the ‘cozy’ as a device to approach ideas of domestic production, protection, and decoration.

more

[text and graphic from gallery website. Caption: "Cozies for Destroyed Lethbridge Landmarks: Capitol Theatre." Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix, born Johnny Allen Hendrix. November 27, 1942. Seattle, Washington.



From hotshotdigital: "Considered to be the most influential guitarist in modern music, Jimi Hendrix perfected the deliberate use of distortion and feedback, using it to complement his natural virtuoso ability. He exuded charisma, raw talent, and creativity to excess - delivering some of the most revolutionary music of the 20th century.

A self-taught left-handed guitarist, Jimi played with a right handed Fender Stratocaster - upside down and re-strung. His use of the Strat's tremelo bar was one of the signature elements of his blues influenced style of rock music. In addition to his songwriting and playing ability, Jimi Hendrix was also a pioneer in using the recording studio as an 'instrument'."

The 411 on Tryptophan

"One belief is that heavy consumption of turkey meat (as for example in a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast) results in drowsiness, which has been attributed to high levels of tryptophan contained in turkey."

more

Dorkbot Regina

Saturday, November 28
1:20pm - 5:20pm

Soil Digital Media Lab http://www.neutralground.sk.ca
1856 Scarth St.
Regina, SK Canada

Dorkbot Regina

Guest speaker: Professor David Gerhard, University of Regina Computer Science Department

"David will come give a 20 minute presentation about The Rough Music and Audio Digital Interaction Lab–aRMADILo–he runs.

David's research interests include Computational Music and Audio, Information Retrieval, Speech, Multimedia, Classification, Signal Processing, HCI/CHI, Artificial Intelligence."

[text from Facebook Event Page . Graphic from Google image search for 'Signal Processing.']

An American Life

[Were it not for the current Sarah Palin media blitz in conjunction with the publication of her autobiography "Going Rogue," one might get nostalgic watching this Thanksgiving 2008 gem.]

Holiday Fais do-do Dance Concert

Saturday, November 28
Beatnik Studios
2421 17th Street
Sacramento, CA 95818

Holiday Fais do-do Dance Concert:
The Savoy Family Cajun Band

Ann Savoy has produced several critically noted, bayou-influenced albums with high profile friends of Cajun music--including Linda Ronstadt, John Fogerty, Richard Thompson, Maria McKee and Nick Lowe.

Marc Savoy, her husband, is widely regarded as a savior and revival catalyst for traditional Cajun music and the sweaty swampland culture from whence it sprang in Southwest Louisiana. He plays stellar, fais-do-do driven accordion as well as his home-made fiddle. Marc is renowned internationally for designing, creating and overseeing the handmade acadian accordions at the Savoy Music Center.

They are joined by their sons Joel and Wilson Savoy.

Door: 7 pm | Showtime: 8 pm
$25.

[text from Swell Productions website. Thanks to VMcN for the tip.]

The Maker as Revolutionary in Times of Commodified Culture

Thursday, November 19 | 7 p.m.
Carson City Library [map]
900 N. Roop Street
Carson City
ph. 775-887-2244

Capital City Arts Initiative [CCAI]
Nevada Neighbors Lecture Series
Illustrated talk by Artist|DIY Activist Wendy Tremayne
"The Maker as Revolutionary in Times of Commodified Culture"

In her talk, Wendy Tremayne, founder of "Swap-o-rama-rama," will explore evolving grassroots trends in contemporary life, from design to social activism. She writes: "Revivifying the human experience is a mission of purpose, something commodified life has taken from us. What we have to gain is intimacy, creativity, the revival of community, a healthy planet and ultimately happiness. We can each embrace a do-it-yourself spirit and use it to break down the barrier between consumer and creator and by doing so begin to reclaim the creativity that has been lost."

Informal reception: 6:15 p.m.
Free. The public is coridially invited!

The talk is presentation is part of CCAI Fall 2009 project" Recycled Seconds" focusing on community-based practice,'do it yourself' fashion design, sustainability and civic engagement.

more

[graphic from Google image search for 'swap-o-rama-rama.' Cross-posted to The Data Stream. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Labor Issues in the 21st Century

The New School
Theresa Lang Community and Student Center
55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor
New York City

November 19 – 6:30 to 8 pm
Panel Discussion
Bookforum at The New School: Getting to Work - Labor Issues in the 21st Century

"The economic crisis has raised fundamental questions about how income is generated and what constitutes work that is both dignified and secure. Is there such a thing as a “postindustrial economy” and what does that mean for working Americans? Can we prosper without a vital manufacturing base? Is the global free market a fatally compromised myth, and if so, what is the alternative? Bookforum, in conjunction with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, presents a discussion to question how work has changed, how it will be defined in the coming years, and how it can be fairly rewarded in an era of changing standards.

After years of business deregulation, American workers have little or no representation. The government serves business at the highest levels, covering debt and protecting shareholders while the labor unions vanish, disparaged as anachronistic in the new corporate culture, leaving American workers without security or benefits. As Americans come to resemble their counterparts in those countries where we’ve exported so many jobs, must the workers of the world unite? Or are they doomed to compete?

How will the government’s efforts to renew the American economy translate into jobs, and will those jobs be secure? What standards will apply for people seeking “green” employment and who are the employers? And can America hope to reinvent its economy without an overhaul of its educational system, particularly in math and science? Assuming the answer is no, what will sustain us in the meantime?

American culture remains one of our greatest exports. New York and Los Angeles depend on it. But can we live solely on art and music, fashion and film? Is that possible without the support of a wealthy and confident public? Without Wall Street’s excess, can New York continue to employ its many thousands of people working in the arts?

Presented as part of the Vera List Center’s 2009/2010 program cycle “Speculating on Change.”

more

[Text and graphic from List Center website. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

"Machine + Jellyfish = Relax"

[The following information is provided on the YouTube clip:

"Designed by Yuri Suzuki.

The movement of Jellyfish controls the sound, air- conditioning, the visual image and lighting.

Water is the element that possesses the most relaxing characteristics for human beings.
Jellyfish are the closest living thing to water that can be found on Earth.

I used jellyfish as the control center, since jellyfish are made up of 98% water, and I thought that the will of the water would be reflected in the movement of the jellyfish, if only a little.

If we were able to create a space controlled by jellyfish, wouldn't it be the ultimate place of relaxation?

I got the inspiration for this system from the Theremin which is the oldest electronic music instrument in the world. The Theremin is also an instrument which is as mysterious as a jellyfish.

www.yurisuzuki.com

Thanks to RMA in Seattle, Washington for the post title and tip.]

New Orleans Fringe Festival

"45 groups and over 100 shows from New Orleans and around the country. Opera buffa, drama, cryptic revival, physical clown-theater, dark comedy, cabaret, romance noir, overhead projector shadow puppetry, butoh, hip hop, dance theater, environmental performance, puppet aerial musical..."

more | line-up | schedule

[Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Amateur Boxing Card in Virginia City

Piper's Opera House
Drawer J
1 North B Street
Virginia City, NV 89440
775-847-0433
866-422-1956

November 14 | 3 pm on:
Amateur Boxing Card
Welter, Middle and Heavy Weight Contests
Special Appearance by Joe Gilbert
Hosted by Bruno's Boxing Club

Acccording to the Reno Gazette Journal, quoting Brandi Lee, there will be 12-15 bouts with boxers from Nevada and California. This will be the first boxing card at Piper's in 116 years. The last one was May 4, 1893.

Tickets $15-25
$10 for seniors and students.

To order tickets, call Piper's at 775.847-0433 or 866.422-1956.

[Basic information from Piper's website. Graphic from Google image search for '19th Century Boxing.']

American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life

Metropolitan Museum of of Art
New York, New York

American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765–1915

"Between the American Revolution and World War I, a group of British colonies became states, the frontier pushed westward to span the continent, a rural and agricultural society became urban and industrial, and the United States—reunified after the Civil War under an increasingly powerful federal government—emerged as a leading participant in world affairs. Throughout this complicated, transformative period, artists recorded American life as it changed around them. Many of the nation's most celebrated painters—John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale, William Sidney Mount, George Caleb Bingham, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, John Sloan, and George Bellows—along with their lesser-known colleagues captured the temperament of their respective eras, defining the character of Americans as individuals, citizens, and members of ever-widening communities.

"American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765–1915" presents tales artists told about their times and examines how their accounts reflect shifting professional standards, opportunities for study, foreign prototypes, venues for display, and viewers' expectations. Excluding images based on history, myth, or literature, the exhibition emphasizes instead those derived from artists' firsthand observation, documentation, and interaction with clients. These paintings are analogous to original—not adapted—screenplays. Recurring themes such as childhood, marriage, family, and community; the notion of citizenship; attitudes toward race; the frontier as reality and myth; and the process and meaning of making art illuminate the evolution of American artists' approach to narrative."

Through January 24, 2010

[Text and graphic from museum website. Caption: "Thomas Anshutz (American, 1851–1912). "The Ironworkers' Noontime, 1880." Oil on canvas; 17 x 23 7/8 in. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd.

During one of his annual trips to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he had spent his teens, Anshutz sketched workers taking a break in the yard of a nail factory, the sort of dreary industrial setting from which most painters averted their eyes. He then painted the men frozen in classical poses derived from life-drawing instruction, which he had received as Thomas Eakins's student at the Pennsylvania Academy. The painting's subtle narrative has invited multiple interpretations. For example, in 1884 Procter & Gamble quoted the image in an advertisement for Ivory Soap by adding washtubs to the foreground. Other commentators have read in it a message of labor's toll upon the men or a celebration of relations between workers and employers. Recent scholars have considered it a nostalgic account of skilled laborers in the face of impersonal factory production and an emblem of rugged masculinity in the face of feminized late-nineteenth-century American culture." Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Make and Mend

Sunday 8th November 2009 11 am – 4 pm
The Star and Shadow Cinema
Stepney Bank
Ouseburn
Newcastle Upon Tyne England NE1 2NP
Make and Mend Market

The Make and Mend Market is the 1st monthly craft, art & flea market in Newcastle. The event showcases new creative talent in the area and gives people the chance to recycle quality items no longer in use & help keep them out of landfill. The market alternates between the Grainger Arcade in Newcastle City Centre and the Star and Shadow Cinema in Ouseburn, Newcastle which was built and is run entirely by volunteers. It has been running for almost 2 years now and is a great alternative to High Street shopping.

At this event we will have 20 stalls from local traders, new designers and artists offering clothing, jewellery, homewares, art and more.

Some of the goodies we'll have on offer:

Handmade retro jewellery from Candy Doll Couture
Vintage & 2nd hand homewares from Louise Bradley
Karon from Calmic Therapies giving mini reiki sessions & massage
Beautiful prints & wall hangings from Doris Illustrated
Lovingly handcrafted instruments by Mike Smith
Recycled vintage accessories from Make Do & Mend Arts
+ loads more.

Market MySpace Page

[Text and graphic from Cinema website. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Poetics Across Languages

Wayne State University
Poetics Across Languages

"Poetry/film performance in movie-telling after the traditions of Benshi, Benzi, Pyônza, and Gavrilov translators"



[graphic from Face Book Event Page. Click to enlarge.]

Housewarming

Wunderbar Festival
"Housewarming"
138 St. Lawrence Square
Newcastle England NE6 1SU

"Jorn Ebner and Monica Ross cordially invite you to a housewarming in reverse.

On this site a row of council flats was demolished in 2008 to make way for the Byker South Redevelopment plan. The scheme has recently been shelved due to the current economic crisis - a situation that reflects the fragility of the social housing sector within society.

Housewarming will take place in open space, unsheltered and probably cold. No house stands here and another may or may not again: the artists imply the history of their private occupation of a flat on this site as the basis to host the sharing of social space. Tea, coffee, drinks and snacks will be provided by the artists, but guests are also welcome to contribute refreshments to be shared by all.

Housewarming is produced by Michelle Hirschhorn and supported by Wunderbar Festival, Newcastle City Council, ISIS Arts and the Friends of St. Lawrence Park."

more on Byker and The Byker Wall:

• BBC on the original Byker Development
• City of Newcastle > Environment and Planning > Regeneration > Ouseburn Byker Sites >St. Lawrence Square

Wunderbar Festival Schedule

[text and graphic from Housewarming Facebook Event page. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

24/7 Technological Culture

Part of Media Modes, a graduate student conference.

Conference Panels: 10am - 3:30pm
All events are free and open to the public

[Graphic and text from SVA website. Click to enlarge.]

E|AB Fair 2009

November 6-8
Editions|Artists' Book Fair
X Initiative
548 West 22nd Street
[Between 10th & 11th Avenue]
New York City, New York

VENDORBAR
304 West 10th Street, 1A
New York, NY 10011
1.212 431 4571

"VendorBar is part of an ongoing series of itinerant exhibitions and interventions, organized by Kirby Gookin and Robin Kahn, in which art is presented to the public that is either free, with no copyright, or sold inexpensively. The goal is to open up direct lines of communication between artists and the public in order to make ideas and artwork more accessible. Past projects include Free Show, Disappearing Act, Holiday Shopping, Copiacabana, Copilandia and To Market to Market. For E/AB'09 VendorBar is inviting artists to directly engage the public by presenting actions, exchanges and services that result in the production and distribution of artists editions made specifically for the event. Participating artists will include ARTifariti-Western Sahara Collective, Mike Bidlo, Gaye Chan & Nandita Sharma, Kirby Gookin, Geoffrey Hendricks, Nancy Hwang, Robin Kahn, Amanda Keeley, Alison Knowles & Alan Bowman, Cary Leibowitz, Larry Miller, Ken Montgomery, Peter Nadin, Yoko Ono, Tom Otterness, Sal Randolph, Showpaper, and Elaine Tin Nyo."

[Text and graphic from E|AB Fair 2009 website. Capiton: "Free Show: Nancy Hwang, 'Hand Job', 2008. Unlimited edition."Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Scan to Screen | Pixel to Projection

Orange County Museum of Art
850 San Clemente Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92660
1.949.759-1122

The Moving Image: Scan to Screen, Pixel to Projection II

This exhibition traces experiments with electronic media art from the early 1970s to the present.

Karen Moss, Curator

Through February 12, 2010

more

[Information and graphic from museum website. Caption: "Cory Arcangel and Frankie Martin, '414-3-Rave-95,' 2005; single-channel video; 4:54."]

Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness

American Visionary Art Museum
Baltimore, Maryland

ph. 1.410.244.1900

Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness
through September 5, 2010

"The quest for human rights and the search for personal fulfillment, as proposed in the 1776 American Declaration of Independence, provide the starting point for this international exhibition. Works by the last surviving descendant of the Tsars of Russia, Iroquois Indians, French Revolutionaries, illegal immigrants, Algerian War veterans, Guantanamo Bay detainees, Holocaust survivors, incarcerated prisoners, African-American civil rights activists and Iraqi doctors are among the 86 visionary artists to be featured."

[text and graphic from museum website and public information materials. Sculpture in situ by Adam Morales. Click on image to enlarge. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Dead Halloween Show at RCMH

October 31, 1980
Radio City Music Hall
The Grateful Dead

Listen | Archive.org

Gracie turns 70

Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing on October 30, 1939), lead singer of the seminal San Francisco psychedelic rock group The Jefferson Airplane.

To New Horizons

apexart
291 Church Street
New York, New York

Wednesday, October 28, 6:30 pm
Public Talk:
To New Horizons

Emre Huner, current apexart resident, and Lauren Cornell, Executive Director Rhizome, will discuss utopian constructs, speculative fiction, and the juggernaut of modernism. In their conversation they will touch upon the inspirations for Huner's latest work from the New York World's Fair, to the NASA Space Program, and Walt Disney.

Born in Istanbul in 1977, Emre Huner is an artist producing drawing, video and spatial works following different techniques. He now lives and works in Istanbul after being in Milan for eight years. Central to his oeuvre are over technological, industrial progressions and the concept of society of risk in this respect and the themes such as the affinities of the modern man with architecture and nature. Huner creates a common language in his works through using an archive he formed out of various sources such as internet, found out pictures and books.

Lauren Cornell, Executive Director, Rhizome, oversees and develops Rhizome's programs, all of which serve to promote and contextualize art engaged with technology. Previously, Cornell worked as a curator and writer in London and New York.

Part of apexart's international resident lecture series.

[text and graphic from apex art website. Caption:
"Trylon, Perisphere and Helicline. Photo by Sam Gottscho." Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Erratic Anthropologies

Art in General
79 Walker Street
New York NY 10013

Opening Oct 29 6–8pm
Erratic Anthropologies

"Art in General presents three performance installations by Guy Benfield, Shana Moulton, and Rancourt/Yatsuk that mine the visual culture of flawed but influential community structures: the hippie commune and the American suburb. Using narrative strategies the artists act as quasi-anthropologists, investigating domestic objects and architectures to pick apart the promises identified with these cultures — wealth, power, happiness, and transcendence. With a dose of the fantastic, these artists highlight the psychological, economic, and environmental fallout from the failure of idealistic attempts at redefining western social dynamics."

Presented by Art in General for Performa 09

[text and graphic from Art in General website. Graphic: "Rancourt/Yatsuk, Phase IV.**"

** See correction below in the comments section, identifying the image above as one from "Shana Moulton's The Undiscovered Antique." Click here for a graphic for "Phase IV."

In Phase IV artists Rancourt/Yatsuk enact the story of fictitious star realtor Don Donavucci and his desperate attempts to construct the model home for his idyllic community during the height of the housing market crash. Donavucci’s fantastic architectural vision (a mixture of elegant suburban excess and raw construction materials) will house a series of “OPEN HOUSE” days, where Don will be on-site to show his creation and attempt to make the sale. Drawing inspiration from failed suburban housing developments of the past century, Phase IV will investigate issues of sustainability, urbanization, and limitations of natural resources. Phase IV seeks out the dramatic extremes of the housing crash to reveal the grim human ecology that has spread throughout United States and the world." Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Obliscence, Theories of Forgetting and the Problem of Matter

The Museum of Jurassic Technology
9341 Venice Boulevard
Culver City, California 90232

The Delani/Sonnabend Halls
Obliscence, Theories of Forgetting and the Problem of Matter

The Delani/Sonnabend Halls which occupy the entire rear quarters of the Museum's original building house a sequential array of exhibits which, when taken together, detail the lives and work of Madelena Delani, a singer of art songs and operatic material and Geoffery Sonnabend, a neurophysiologist and memory researcher who's three volume work "Obliscence: Theories of Forgetting and the Problem of Matter" stands a milestone in the field.

In the work Mr. Sonnabend departed from all previous memory research with the premise that memory is an illusion. Forgetting, he believed, not remembering is the inevitable outcome of all experience. From this perspective, he states, "We, amnesiacs all, condemned to live in an eternally fleeting present, have created the most elaborate of human constructions, memory, to buffer ourselves against the intolerable knowledge of the irreversible passage of time and the irretrieveability of its moments and events."

more:
"'Obliscence, Theories of Forgetting and the Problem of Matter' by Geoffrey Sonnabend
An Encapsulation by Valentine Worth"

New York Times review of Lawrence Weschler's "Mr. Wilson's Cabinet Of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology."

[text and graphic from museum website.]

Windows 7 Whopper

Getting an early start on weekend amusements, meat eaters and PC users rejoice: Microsoft teams up with Burger King to have it your way!

From an October 22 post on a Computer World blog dubbed, Microsoft's Windows 7 'Whopper' campaign: The worst promotion ever?

"Microsoft is celebrating the release of Windows 7 in Japan with a Burger King promotion for the Windows 7 Whopper: Seven patties stacked on top of one another in one sandwich. Given that Microsoft has been criticized for releasing top-heavy, bloated operating systems, this could be one of its worst promotional ideas ever."

Mac Daily News cleverly, viciously, self-servingly and succinctly put it:
"One bloated puke-inducing heart attack-in-a-box deserves another."

[click on image for full-blown impact. NB: this post in no way endorses the Apple Computer Corportation.]

Shelter

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th Street)
New York, NY 10128-0173

Sackler Center for Arts Education
Design It: Shelter Competition

On the occasion of the exhibitions Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward and Learning By Doing, the Guggenheim and Google SketchUp invited amateur and professional designers from around the world to submit a 3-D shelter for any location in the world using Google SketchUp and Google Earth. Over the course of the summer, nearly 600 contestants from 68 different countries submitted designs that met the competition requirements. Current Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture students then selected ten finalists for the People's Prize award.

view the winning designs

[text and graphic from Guggenheim website. Thanks to CB in NYC for the tip on FB.]

Copyright Criminals

Bijou Theater
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa

October 25 - 7 pm
COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS
Directed by Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McCleod

Produced by University of Iowa professor Kembrew McCleod, Copyright Criminals is a documentary that poses the question: Can you own a sound? The film traces the history of sampling in the music industry and the increasing government regulation on the practice, featuring interviews from music legends like Chuck D, George Clinton, and Clyde Stubblefield.

Q&A session with producer Kembrew McCleod following the free screening.

[text from Bijou mailing. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Vic Mizzy

[Vic Mizzy, perhaps best remembered as the composer of the theme songs for The Adams Family and Green Acres*, died on Saturday. Below is a link to his obituary in the Los Angeles Times.]

Vic Mizzy dies at 93; film and TV composer

* On a related note, highly recommended: David Marc's remarkable 1984 book Demographic Vistas: Television in American Culture that includes a relevant chapter, "The Situation Comedy of Paul Henning." Mr. Marc writes: "Green Acres is as utterly self-reflexive as any program ever aired on network TV."

[Thanks to Norman M. for the FB posting.]