Irrelevant Topics

From Beck's website:
Tom Waits x Beck Hansen : Pt. 1

"Irrelevant Topics in a new section featuring conversations between musicians, artists, writers, etc. on various subjects, without promotional pretext or editorial direction. For the first in this series of conversations, the legendary musician and performer, Tom Waits agreed lend an hour of his time to talk about anything and nothing in particular.

Here is Pt. 1 of that conversation."

[Text and graphic from Beck website. Thanks to CDN in Napa for the tip.]

SoCal Dorkbot 37

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

Saturday, July 11 | 1 pm
Dorkbot SoCal 37


Robots and interactive technology in everyday objects, media-generated cities, and sensors + visuals.

[text from Machine Project website. Graphic from Google image search for 'SoCal Dorkbot.']

The Fog of War

Errol Morris

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

Robert McNamara (June 9, 1916 — July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense. McNamara served as Defense Secretary for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1968.

[Text from Wikipedia. Graphic from film's official website. Fog of War won an Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2004. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Wondermare

apexart
291 Church Street
New York, New York

July 8 - August 8
Wondermare
Curated by Susan McIntosh and Albert Wilking

Opening|Scene One: July 8, 6-8 pm
"Be part of the cast in an interactive film epic where expectations are challenged and realities are remade.

Wondermare is based on the notion that much of the behavioral conditioning programmed in our subconscious is the unhealthy byproduct of a world out of balance, a "house of cards" on the brink of catastrophe; the truth of which is obscured from us by our own myopic pursuits and illusions.

The exhibition uses as its setting the story of Alice in Wonderland precisely because it contains anecdotes about the rites of passage into adulthood. The tale consistently resists an easily defined linear structure and at the same time confronts the confusing and often nonsensical rituals that we must travel through in order to obtain a civilized or adult persona in the world we see through our looking glass.

...

It is time to fall down a rabbit hole, to play a new role and forge a commitment to a different reality.

Welcome to Wondermare."


Participating Artists:
Sophy Bot, Ken Cypert, Sean Dineen, Tegan Flanders, Mimi Fontana & Manhattan Tribal, Adrian Harpham, The Highline Erotic Arts Gallery & their beautiful team, Natali Jones, SH Lace, Vivien Lewit, Kelly Lincoln, Ian Phillips, Alberto Pinto, Charlie Reis, Joseph Teichman, Ronny Wasserstrom, Martha Williams (The Movement Movement), Dred Williams

more

[text and graphic from apexart press release.]

Vive le tour!

[On the first day of the Tour de France, arguably the world's greatest contest of athleticism and most exhilarating celebration of national pride, we link to the origin of the event's name. Vive le tour!]

"Le Tour de la France par deux enfants (1877) is a French novel/geography/travel/school book. It was written by Augustine Fouillée (née Tuillerie) who used the pseudonym of G. Bruno.

The book was widely used in the schools of the Third Republic, where it was influential for generations of children in creating a sense of a unified nation of France. Its success was such that it reached a circulation of 6 million copies in 1900, It was still used in schools until the 1950s and still in print to this day. It was sometimes known as "the little red book of the Republic."

The story recounts the journey of two young brothers from Alsace, Andrew and Julian Volden, who, following the annexation of the Alsace-Lorraine by the Prussians in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War, and the death of their father, go in search of family members through the French provinces. The diversity of the people they meet lead them on to learn more. There are passages on the taste of local foods, the strange patois, mitigated by methodical learning. It is very patriotic and emphasis civic education, geography, scientific, historical and moral youth. The story teaches about monuments and symbols, exemplary lives of inventors, soldiers and patriot benefactors. They are very zealous to learn more about France. The accumulated wealth of knowledge: agriculture, home economics, hygiene ... leads them to establish a perfect farm called "La Grand'Lande," symbolic of the nation of France."

[text–lightly edited–and graphic from Wikipedia.]

"Your Bright Future"

Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036
1.323.857.6000

Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea
through September 20

"The exhibition features work by a generation of artists who have emerged since the mid-1980s—some well-known and others on the brink of recognition—working on the cutting edge of international art trends and within a distinctly Korean context. Featuring site-specific installations as well as video, computer animation, and sculpture, the exhibition represents each artist through a large-scale installation piece or substantial body of work."

more:
Los Angeles Times review by Christopher Knight

Los Angeles Times article, "From 99-cent Only Store to LACMA, Korea-style," on participating artist Choi Jeong-Hwa


[Text from the LACMA website. Graphic from the LA times. Caption: "Bahc Yiso, 'Your Bright Future,' 2002/2009, electric lamps, wood and wires. Cross-posted to Signal Fire. Thanks to FB friend JJ in LA for the tip.]

The League of Imaginary Scientists

Outpost for Contemporary Art
6375 N. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90042

apexart Franchise | Outpost for Contemporary Art | The League of Imaginary Scientists present:

X, Y, Z, and U

"... an exhibition and a series of related workshops and interactions by artists and scientists who use participatory and experiential mapping in their work. The League of Imaginary Scientists is an art collective whose work pairs the creative experimentation of the science lab with free-floating and far-fetched ideas that are decidedly not guided by science. x, y, z, and u includes artists and scientists who are not members of the League, but whose practice also marries their creative practice to experimentation."

participating artists and scientists: Kim Abeles|Kelly Jaclynn Andres|Jason Bobe and Mackenzie Cowell |Liz Kueneke |Andrea Polli and Chuck Varga

nb: through July 3

[text from Outpost public information mailing. Graphic from The League of Imaginary Scientists website. Thanks to JJ in LA for the tip. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]