Tuesday, April 27, 2010

"We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint"

[Below, excerpt and link to article by Elisabeth Bumillerin today's New York Times.]

"'PowerPoint makes us stupid,' Gen. James N. Mattis of the Marine Corps, the Joint Forces commander, said this month at a military conference in North Carolina. (He spoke without PowerPoint.) Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who banned PowerPoint presentations when he led the successful effort to secure the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar in 2005, followed up at the same conference by likening PowerPoint to an internal threat."

The entire article.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Chris Ware's rejected Fortune cover


From Boing Boing:

"It's not surprising that the editors of Fortune rejected cartoonist Chris Ware's fantastic cover for the May 2010 issue. It contains too much truth for comfort. Also, it hearkens back to the golden age of Fortune as an exemplar of beautifully designed and illustrated magazines, and so would have invited unkind comments about the magazine's typical current level of design aesthetics."

From Indie Pulp, reporting on the C2E2 [Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo] panel that Ware participated in:

"[Ware] showed a cover he did for Fortune magazine which was supposed to be on the Fortune 500 issue. He accepted the job because it would be like doing the 1929 issue of the magazine, and he filled the image with tons of satirical imagery, like the U.S. Treasuring being raided by Wall Street, China dumping money into the ocean, homes being flooded, homes being foreclosed, and CEOs dancing a jig while society devolves into chaos. The cover, needless to say, was rejected."

"Click image for big version so you can see the jokes."

["Click image for big version so you can see the jokes." Cross-posted to Signal Fire. Thanks to CDN in Napa for the tip.]

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Dream-In


Saturday May 1-Sunday May 2 7pm – 9am

Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024
310.443.7000

A Hammer Dream-In

Hosted by artSpa and Machine Project.

"Dreamers are invited to camp out in the Hammer courtyard and collect any dreams that occur during their stay. The evening will feature experimental dreaming workshops, concerts, and bedtime stories, followed by a waking concert in the morning, all facilitated by a dreamy batch of local artist-psychonauts. The following day museum patrons may encounter dream reenactments, workshops, and napping music during their visit.

A Hammer Dream-In will feature:
- Experimental dreaming workshops with Claire Cronin, Ecstatic Energy Consultants, Katie Bachler, Krystal Krunch, Laura Steenberge, and Marc Herbst.

- Bedtime stories with Amanda Yates and Joshua Beckman

- Music and sound by Moon, BYOFF, Claire Cronin, and Aaron Drake & Clay Chaplin

…. plus, watch out for sporadic dream reenactments on May 2nd by Gawdafful Theater.

MORE DETAILS:

This event runs RAIN OR SHINE! Participants should plan to attend the entire Dream-In, from 7 PM on Saturday May 1st until 9 AM on Sunday May 2nd. No late entry or early departure will be permitted. Check-in for registered campers begins Saturday May 1st, 7-8 PM. Packing up begins Sunday May 2nd, 8-9 AM.

Even more information:

- Participants should pack food and sleeping bags as if they were really camping, as none of these amenities will be provided and guests must commit to staying at the Hammer until morning. Toilets, sinks and hot water will be available to guests. Sorry: no tents, generators, amplified music, fire, alcohol or pets allowed. Event is open to guests 18 and over only.

- In exchange for their overnight fortitude and Sunday morning dream-recollections, Dream-In campers will receive complimentary admission to the Hammer Museum for Sunday May 2nd, which reopens to the public at 11am.

- More information on the event schedule and what to bring will be provided after you register.

This event is being held in conjunction with the Hammer’s Red Book exhibition.

[Text and graphic from Museum website. Thanks to MFC in Silver Lake for the tip.]

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Tipitina's Jazz Fest line-up

Tipitina's Uptown
501 Napolean
New Orleans, Louisiana

[Cross-posted to Signal Fire. Graphic from Tipitina's electronic mailing. Click on image to enlarge.]

Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Bag Factory | Border Farm

The Bag Factory
10 Mahlatini Street · Fordsburg
Johannesburg · 2001

mailing address: PO Box 794 · Newtown ·
Johannesburg · 2113
South Africa

+27 11 834 9181

Border Farm

"...an exhibition conceptualized by Thenjiwe Nkosi, featuring videos and writing by migrant farm works on the South African/Zimbabwe national border The show features works by Nkosi, Raymond Marlowe and the Maroi Farm Art and Drama Group.

Nkosi has been participating in a group project called Living In-Between, based in Musina, in Limpopo Province – the last town before the Zimbabwean border. Due to its ongoing history as a mining town surrounded by several productive farms, Musina’s population is largely comprised of migrants. The community of Maroi farm is made up of both Zimbabwean and South African farm workers.

Through a series of workshops held by Nkosi and Marlowe, along with Tapiwa Marovatsanga, Michelle Harris and Daniel Browde, a group of farm workers from Maroi Farm have been taking photographs, filming and writing about their experiences. Through their experiences one sees a confluence of contemporary issues and questions about national borders and their impact on individuals and communities – particularly communities under pressure. The idea of belonging is central to how self and group identities operate in situations of dislocation."

Through May 5.

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

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Ndizakuyivula Ibhayibile

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

Khanyisile Mbongwa
Ndizakuyivula Ibhayibile


Artist's Statement:
"Looking at the black body as raced, gendered and classed in a literal, symbolic and figurative sense – becomes manifest of the ‘othering’ and its objectification. The availability of the black female body is precisely because black is available. The placing of African female bodies as the sentient black body is bent by colonial weight and injustice into the exotic, savage and fantasies of white imagination. The element of the performing black female body is undertaken in the representation of black identities as subjugated or silent – i.e the victim or the apologetic black.

Post-colonialism is still a western concept, a political project of subversion and deconstruction concentrated on Eurocentrism by reacting against the imposition of European cultures. By no means is this a deconstruction the black female body, but instead it constructs it further for the ‘Pleasure of European Gazers’. But the black female body is not only subjected by this white capitalistic supremacist gaze, it is further subjected to black patriarchy constructing the black female body through its own objectifying lens.

The black vagina can be used as a weapon against oppressors yet it also stands as a site of oppression, i.e: it is the site of contest – men fighting against each other inside and outside the colonial and radical demarcations; it is where war can be resolved and ignited (but this by no means propagates that white will fight or die for black pussy). It can exude a politic of positivity. The impetus of religion (Christianity) in reading the racial and gendered is important for the construction of the black female body. This is only a start of interrogating the content, context and function of religion on black women’s bodies. The idea is to bring to surface the process of subsuming everyday life; the mute world of commodities; text – textures and forms; and the religious reproduction in the contemporary."


Khanyisile Mbongwa was born in 1984 in Gugulethu, Cape Town, she is one of the founding members of the experimental art collective, the Gugulective, that has exhibited locally and internationally. In 2007 she established THE BINARY, a discussion group critically engaging with issues around the black condition and marginalization. She was part of the Cape 09 Bienalle , the fringe collective Artpays and has also served on the board of VANSA Western Cape. Khanyisile continues to produce and perform independently, while contributing to various collective arts initiatives.

In her most recent work, the physical video piece Fragments, Khanyi explores the subjects of racial inequality, intimidation and invasion as it is manifest in the Apartheid legacy.

Through May 1.

[Cross-posted to Signal Fire. Text and graphic from Blank Projects website. Caption: "Khanyisile Mbongwa. Untitled (2010). Production Still.]

Sunday, April 11, 2010

2010 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Line-up - Saturday May 1

2010 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Saturday, May 1


* Pearl Jam * Jeff Beck * Teena Marie * Pete Fountain * Band of Horses * Kenny Wayne Shepherd * Galactic * Sonny Landreth * Sugarfoot's Ohio Players * Rebirth Brass Band * Allen Toussaint * Cyril Neville & Tribe 13 * Old Crow Medicine Show * Marcus Miller * The Dirty Dozen Brass Band * Henry Butler * BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet * Chris Thomas King * Sagbohan Danialou of Benin * The Allen Toussaint Jazzity Project * Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band * Shamarr Allen & the Underdawgs * MyNameIsJohnMichael * Charmaine Neville Band * AARON NEVILLE * Banu Gibson with Swing Out & Tap! * Bobby Lounge * Chubby Carrier & The Bayou Swamp Band * New Birth Brass Band * Germaine Bazzle * The Johnson Extension * Betty Winn & One A-Chord * Pine Leaf Boys * Gregg Stafford & the Young Tuxedo Brass Band * Jumpin' Johnny Sansone & the XL Band * Mem Shannon & the Membership * Russell Batiste & Friends feat. Jason Neville * Driskill Mountain Boys * DJ Soul Sister * Pinstripe Brass Band * Jockimo's Groove feat. War Chief Juan & Billy Iuso, Lynn Drury, Evan Christopher and Tom McDermott * AsheSon * White Cloud Hunters Mardi Gras Indians * Zion Trinity * Kenny Bill Stinson & the ARK-LA-Mystics * Roderick Paulin & the Big Easy Groovers feat. Nicole Slack-Jones: A Tribute to Julian 'Cannonball' Adderly * New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra * Connie Jones & the Crescent City Jazz Band * Trouble Nation and Ninth Ward Hunters Mardi Gras Indians * New Generation * First Emmanuel Baptist Church Choir * Arthur Clayton & Purposely Anointed * Paula & the Pontiacs * Xavier University Jazz Ensemble * Baby Boyz Brass Band * Jonno's Cajun Experience * Jamil Sharif * Ayla Miller * Undefeated Divas, and Lady Jetsetters Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs * Saltimbanqui of Mexico * Stephen Foster's Foster Family Program * Cherokee Hunters, Wild Red Flame, and Mohawk Hunters Mardi Gras Indians * Donnie Bolden, Jr. & the Spirit of Elijah * Tyronne Foster & the Arc Singers * Craig Adams & Higher Dimensions of Praise * Westbank Steppers * Valley of Silent Men, and Pigeon Steppers Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs * Alana Villavaso

[Cross-posted to Signal Fire. Information from Jazz Fest website. Graphic from Google image search for 'Beausoleil'.]

Friday, April 09, 2010

One Shot!

B.P.S.22
espace de création contemporaine
Boulevard Solvay 22
6000 Charleroi
Belgium




6 March – 11 July 2010

ONE SHOT!
Football and contemporary art


"... an exhibition dedicated to contemporary art and football until 11 July 2010. Far from limiting itself to sports news (the Football World Cup) this project, entitled One Shot!, approaches numerous facets of this popular sport in connection with a multitude of challenges of the contemporary world. It also brings out the relationship that current artists maintain with the universe of football.

The starting point for this exhibition is the thoughts expressed by the Hungarian writer Péter Esterházy, who among others wrote Journey to the Depths of the Sixteen-Metre Line, a brilliant and comprehensive survey of both philosophical and autobiographical considerations on football. A former amateur footballer himself, Esterházy considers Ferenc Puskás, the mythical Hungarian football player of the 1950s, as a perfect metaphor for the modern world: "Puskás is the last public figure in football, a familiar personality, the last flash of light in modernity, the way towards the unique metaphor. After him, there are no more (only) stars, the situation of existence no longer has solutions, there are only versions of the answer, exemplary versions, of a high level (Cruyff, Pelé, Maradona)." And further in the book: "In other words: It is with Puskás that the game stops and that the age of entertainment begins."

Could football, the way it is covered by the media nowadays, metaphorically summarize the challenges of today's world? It is therefore based on this assumption that the first two works of the exhibition were selected. Rather than Ferenc Puskás, the Northern Irish player George Best is the one who seems to have best embodied the fulfilment of the modern dream, especially in the film Fussball wie noch nie that German director Hellmuth Costard dedicated to him: throughout a match against Coventry City, six 16-mm cameras closely follow Manchester United's star attacker, without paying any attention to the match itself. With all the attention focused on him alone, Best is therefore able to control his own space-time continuum, while the very fluid editing, alternating between quick accelerations and recovery stages, follows the moves of the one they used to call the "5th Beatles".

In reverse, thirty years later, artists Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno use seventeen cameras to follow the French player Zinedine Zidane during a match with Real Madrid, his last club, against Villareal. They thus deliver the portrait of an individual who is omnipresent in the media, yet whose personality remains elusive as it is exploded in a multitude of different stances. The pace of the film is made to be breathless, frantic even, via an editing technique taking its inspiration from both a video clip and the aesthetics of a video game. The combination of both projections, in the museum version of the work, heightens even further the feeling of speed and explosive power. The player appears disembodied, a purely virtual construction subject to a pace that is outside his control and imposed by media rules that, more than ever, have a crucial impact.

Another fifty works or so have been added in-between those two works, each exploring an aspect of today's football that might echo the modern world."

Artists: Juan Pérez AGIRREGOIKOA, Taku ANEKAWA, Mathias BRASCHLER & Monika FISCHER, Roderick BUCHANAN, Paolo CANEVARI, Jota CASTRO, Joseph CHATELAIN, Cedric CHRISTIE, Claude CLOSKY, Freddy CONTRERAS, Hellmuth COSTARD, Josef DABERNIG, Laurent DANDOY, Robert DAVIES, Stephen DEAN, Raoul DE KEYSER, Wim DELVOYE, DEMOCRACIA, Marie DENIS, Julius DEUTSCHBAUER, Patrick EVERAERT, mounir FATMI, Thierry FONTAINE, Massimo FURLAN, Kendell GEERS, Douglas GORDON & Philippe PARRENO, Andreas GURSKY, Julie HENRY, Runo LAGOMARSINO, Ingeborg LÜSCHER, This LÜSCHER, Laurent MARESCHAL, Andrea MASTROVITO, Eugenio MERINO, Priscilla MONGE, Gianni MOTTI, Laurent PERBOS, The Plug, PSJM, Jean-Pierre RANSONNET, Javier RODRIGUEZ, Pierre SCHWARTZ, Walter SWENNEN, Pascale Marthine TAYOU, Uri TZAIG, Yoann VAN PARYS, Marijke VAN WARMERDAM, Maria ZGRAGGEN

Curator: Pierre-Olivier Rollin

Catalogue (64 pages / Languages: English, French): designed as a testimony to the Panini albums, the catalogue compiles the exhibited works, a short explanatory note, and a general overview of the guiding principle. It also includes a number of stickers!

[Cross-posted to Signal Fire. Text and graphic from eFlux website. Thanks to SC in Newcastle Upon Tyne and the globe for the tip!]

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Jacques Brel

For better or worse, Jacques Brel, born on April 8, 1929, is primarily known in the United States–if at all–for the 1968 off Broadway production "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris," a musical revue of his songs.

An indelible icon of French popular music and culture, Brel was a brilliant, explosively emotional singer, willing to take an unflinching look at the dark side of bourgeois existence and the hopeless heartbreaking despair of romance.

Brel died of lung cancer at the age of 49.

Below is a video of "Une valse a mille temps." Headphones - encouraged - as is a review of all his songs.

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Road to Freedeom

The Bronx Museum of the Arts
1040 Grand Concourse
Bronx, New York 10456

Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956–1968

During the span of twelve years, a series of events, later hailed as the Civil Rights Movement, would forever change the social and political course of America. The exhibitions chronicles these pivotal moments in the nation’s history.

Organized by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination.

[Cross-posted to Signal Fire. Text adapted from museum website. Graphic from Google image search for 'Bob Adelman.' Caption: "Bob Adelman. 'Kelly Ingram Park, Birmingham, 1963.' Gelatin silver print.]

Monday, April 05, 2010

Bike Night at the Hammer


Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024
310.443.7000

April 8
Bike Night at the Hammer


"Grab some friends and pedal on over to the Hammer for a bike-centric evening of free food, live music, film, and fun. Enjoy free museum admission, screenings of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and a series of bike-related short films, musical performances by Dobrega and Fusion, free vegan food bar, and an appearance by a VERY SPECIAL SURPRISE GUEST! Free bike valet parking provided by LA County Bike Coalition. Presented by the Hammer Student Association (HSA) in conjunction with artist Lisa Anne Auerbach."

7 pm
Bike Valet opens
Dobrega performs

7:30 pm
Screening of student Bike Shorts

8 pm
Fusion performs

9 pm
Screening
of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure

[Cross-posted to Signal Fire. Text, information and graphic from Hammer website.]

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Tabla-rama

Machine Project
1200 D North Alvarado Street
Los Angeles, CA 90026
213-483-8761

Monday April 5, 2010 - 7 pm
Tablacentric Launch Party
.

Featuring PremaSoul (Sheela Bringi and Clinton Patterson) & Mandeep Sethi (MC).



Video segments of tabla masters presented by Jaeger Smith.

***

April 6-17
Hammer Museum

10899 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024
310.443.7000

"Join Robin Sukhadia and his 12 pairs of tabla interactive tabla workshops/events Open tabla classes will be interspersed with live performances from LA based Indian classical artists."

more

[Cross-posted to Signal Fire. Information and graphic from Machine Project website. Click on image to enlarge.]