Learning from New Orleans, the Western Balkans, and Acre, Brazil

The New School - Orozco Room
66 West 12th Street
New York City

Thursday, November 1, 2007 - 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Admission: $8, free for all students, as well as New School faculty, staff and alumni with valid ID*

"Future Talk Now: Learning from New Orleans, the Western Balkans, and Acre, Brazil"

2007-08 Vera List Center Fellow Marjetica Potrc, in conversation with Carlos Basualdo, Curator of Contemporary Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art

"Sustainability has become a buzzword recently. Slovenian artist and architect Marjetica Potrc has applied and investigated this concept for many years in artworks, museum exhibitions and on-site interventions around the world. In this conversation, the renowned curator Carlos Basualdo will introduce the artistic oeuvre of Potrc, the newly appointed Vera List Center Fellow with whom he has collaborated on several projects.

The focus of their conversation will be Potrc's new research project on the use of water: during an artist's residency with the Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans this fall, the artist was conducting on-site examinations into sustainable water-use practices that have developed in New Orleans since Katrina such as the reclamation of wetlands, and she is now beginning to draw comparisons to New York City.

The New Orleans project is characteristic of the artist's approach: Potrc took up residency in a site of political turmoil and social transformation and, after extensive scientific and cultural research, will insert into the contested situation her work, possibly an architectural installation or simply a conversation, in order to provide clarity and new solutions. The outcome of this project will be featured in the exhibition "Something from Nothing," curated by Dan Cameron and opening at the New Orleans Contemporary Art Center in early 2008."

*["Space is extremely limited; reservations are required."]

[graphic from google search for "water" found on Sustaining the Environment and Resources for Canadians - About Water Web site.]

Waiting for Godot in New Orleans

[thanks once again to EC, our scout in Buffalo, New York.]

Creative Time
Paul's Chan's
Waiting for Godot in New Orleans

"... a project by Paul Chan, co-produced by Creative Time with curator Nato Thompson and The Classical Theatre of Harlem with director Christopher McElroen, featuring New Orleans born actor Wendell Pierce, and in collaboration with New Orleans’ partners: University of New Orleans, Xavier University, Dillard University, NOCCA High School, Lusher High School, Frederic Douglass High School, John McDonough High School, Students at the Center, Neighborhood Story Project, The Porch, and Renaissance Project.

The Project
New Orleans is the setting for the 20th century’s most emblematic story of waiting. According to artist Paul Chan, “The longing for the new is a reminder of what is worth renewing. Seeing Godot embedded in the very fabric of the landscape of New Orleans was my way of re-imagining the empty roads, the debris, and, above all, the bleak silence as more than the expression of mere collapse. There is a terrible symmetry between the reality of New Orleans post-Katrina and the essence of this play, which expresses in stark eloquence the cruel and funny things people do while they wait: for help, for food, for tomorrow.”

The Play
Four free outdoor evening performances of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot will take place over two weekends in November in two New Orleans neighborhoods — the middle of an intersection in the Lower Ninth Ward, and the front yard of an abandoned house in Gentilly.
November 2 & 3, N Roman St & Forstall St., Lower Ninth Ward, 7:00PM
November 9 & 10, Robert E Lee Blvd & Pratt Dr., Gentilly, 7:00PM

more

[image from project web site]

Beyond Boundaries

October 26 - November 14, 2007
Beyond Boundaries: The Emergence of Croatian Cinema

Walter Reade Theater
The Film Society of Lincoln Center


"Croatian filmmakers’ talent for making provocative, satirical & innovative work has garnered them attention & awards on the international film festival circuit. We’re presenting a vibrant mix of political dramas, black comedies & sophisticated animations. One highlight is Light Drawings: The Zagreb School of Animation, a program of animated shorts curated by Croatian film scholar Mato Kukuljica. We also welcome 3 directors to New York to introduce their films: Krsto Papic (A VILLAGE PERFORMANCE OF HAMLET), Dejan Sorak (TWO PLAYERS FROM THE BENCH), and Ognjen Svilicic, whose film ARMIN is the Croatian nominee for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award."

more

[image from Lincoln Center Web site. Production still from "The Melody Haunts My Reverie."]

techPresident

[With thanks to AB in Solon, below is a link to a techPresident — "How the candidates are using the web, and how the web is using them," a political web log well worth exploring. Among the stream of posts and a number of data visualization features, the site is tracks candidate support on Facebook. Click on graphic to view today's numbers.]

explore

[graphic from techPresident Web site]

Two at the Apex

Thursday, October 25, 7-9 pm
Why Am I Here? The State of Residency

A Panel Talk With:
Nathalie Anglès, Residency Program Director, Location One
Fritzie Brown, Executive Director, CEC ArtsLink

Alexandra do Carmo, artist, past resident Location One, Irish Museum
Kambui Olujimi, artist, past apexart outbound resident to Australia

Moderated by Steven Rand, Executive Director, apexart
"Why do we have residencies and what types of programs are most effective? Who do residencies serve, who should they serve? Why do artists seek out residencies, what are the expectations and what are the results? The panel will address these questions and related issues in a discussion that will be informative and engaging for residents and arts administrators alike.

===

January 9 - February 16, 2008
The Promotion Project
curated by the public

"Why don't museums and galleries advertise on TV? Why don't people in the arts tell the truth about how much TV they watch? Help bring the art world in touch with the real world.

apexart invites creatives to challenge the "TV is not good enough for me" attitude by making a 30-second spot promoting.... us."

submissions due December 7, 2007.

[graphic: first image displayed from a google image search for 'residency']

Weekend Distractions

[with thanks to GC in CC]

Spiral Aftereffect


[From Michael’s “Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena" Web site]

Getting Personal

Arts Council of England
Getting Personal: artists and audiences in the era of Web 2.0

23rd October
3.30 - 5.30pm
Arts Council of England
2 Pear Tree Court,
London U.K. EC1R0DS

In the 4th Digital Culture Lunchtime Session, Arts Council London invites you to consider with us the implications of MySpace, Second Life, Facebook, You Tube, Flickr and other online collaborative interfaces on artistic practice and cultural participation. Do they represent a fully democratised cultural opportunity for artists and audiences? Does endless availability, access and openness lead to a deterioration in artistic quality? Is the paid professional contributing any more than the unpaid amateur?

Join in the discussion with:-

Andrew Keen: Author of 'The Cult of the Amateur'
Paula LeDieu: Managing Director, Magic Lantern Productions
Alex Fleetwood: Producer and associate of Punchdrunk
Saul Albert: Artist and co-founder of 'The People Speak' and nm-x.org

Please RSVP to sabine.unamun@artscouncil.org.uk

ANDREW KEEN is a Silicon Valley author, broadcaster and entrepreneur whose acclaimed new book 'Cult of the Amateur: How the Internet is Killing Our Culture' presents an antidote to the prevailing assumptions around Internet cultural democracy as championed by Charles Leadbeater. Andrew is a prominent media personality who has appeared on CNN International, NPR, and BBC Newsnight. He has written for The Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Guardian, and has been featured in many publications including Time Magazine, the Financial Times, the Sunday Times, & the Independent.

PAULA LE DIEU is MD at Magic Lantern Productions. Set up by Anthony Lilley it creates innovative interactive media, most notably FourDocs, the broadband, user-generated documentary channel with Channel 4. Other partners and clients include the BBC, BT, the UK Film Council, Skillset and many others. MLP specialise in understanding the power of broadband networks and emerging digital platforms, for the creation, presentation, distribution and sharing of ideas. Prior to joining Magic Lantern, Le Dieu was the director of iCommons, the international arm of Creative Commons.

ALEX FLEETWOOD is an artist and producer of Hide & Seek, London's first pervasive games festival. He is a collaborative associate of Punchdrunk Theatre Company and along with other artists and creatives will be exploring audience participation within alternate reality gaming as part of the PlayTime Lab at this years London Games Festival Fringe.

SAUL ALBERT, our esteemed compere, is an artist, coder and writer known for his open source ethos and advocacy of collaborative, self-organised structures. Instrumental in establishing projects such as the University of Openess, nm-x.org, Node London and others, Saul is co-producer of The People Speak, which is currently re-inventing funding models with 'Who Wants to Be..'. Based on the ask-the-audience feature of the popular TV game show 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' it helps large groups of people to make suggestions, discuss an issue, and to vote on each step in a creative decision-making process.

In association with the PlayTime Lab at this years London Games Festival Fringe.

[graphic from a google image search for 'Web 2.0']]