Churner and Churner gallery screens a Kuchar Brother pairing

The Secret of Wendel Samson (1966, Mike Kuchar) (Above and below)

Encyclopedia Of The Blessed (1967-69, George Kuchar) (above)

Two very different George and Mike Kuchar selections were screened Friday night courtesy of the Film Co-op and a 16mm projector borrowed from Light Industry at the new space Churner and Churner on 10th Avenue. Curator and Archivist Leah Churner has become an expert on the Bronx-born twins-cum-avant-garde filmmakers. She has had a hand both in physically preserving the Kuchar's works, and regenerating interest of the brothers' work through exhibition. (Read her article 'The New Flesh' on the brothers here.)

The space: clean, nice floors, good size, and most importantly; excellent location. From the website:

"Churner and Churner combines solo shows by emerging artists and art-historical public programs, connecting contemporary artists with historical influences. Between exhibitions, the gallery becomes a venue for week-long events, including film and video screenings, long-duration performances, and installations."

The gallerists: two brilliant sisters, Rachel and Leah Churner. While Altscreen already beat me to a very nice write-up about the sisters' new space and tonight's screening, I wanted to add that I am really excited that this space opened in Chelsea, because it is just the type of DIY lifeblood that is needed among such corporate-gallery-institutions. And I say this mostly because of Leah and Rachel's respective backgrounds and interests. The gallery website states,

"Rachel Churner has worked in academic, nonprofit and commercial art spaces, including Peter Freeman, Inc., New York; New Langton Arts, San Francisco; and the Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany. Now completing a PhD in Art History at Columbia University, Churner has published catalogue essays on Little + Furgason, Robert Mangold, and Nina Katchadorian; written for Artforum and Artweek; and served as the managing editor of October magazine. Advising on special projects is Leah Churner, a film and video curator whose programs have appeared at the Museum of the Moving Image, Anthology Film Archives, Light Industry and X-initative, and who was formerly the archivist at Electronic Arts Intermix. Their combined experience in various art worlds lends a theoretical underpinning and broad cultural attunement to the gallery’s program."

I am so very excited to see what kind of programs and exhibitions are produced through Churner and Churner's new space, and welcome the gallery into my repertory of frequented institutions!

Churner and Churner Gallery
205 10th Ave (between 22nd and 23rd Street)
New York NY 10011
212-675-2750 info@churnerandchurner.com
hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10 - 6 pm

Barbie Video Girl

I need this ASAP.







Always wanted one of these as a kid, but never had one. Used my parents' Panasonic shoulder camcorder instead to make SWV and Juliana Hatfield home music videos. Maybe someday I will transfer them and upload them. They're pretty good..


In fourth grade, I had to earn straight A's to get a Talkboy. By the time the quarter was over, they were all sold out, and we went on a wild goose-chase trying to find one. Much to my dismay, the thing did NOT work as well as the one in Home Alone 2. It was kind of a piece of garbage actually. Overall, the experience was a character-builder for sure.

Sorta Power/ Kinda Crust/ Vaguely Wave

What I did with my tax return

William Powhida print from Jen Bekman

(don't worry, I bought the reissue)

(also the reissue)

orig (lame)

Did not buy this, but it would be awesome if someone did.

MIAP Program Offers New Summer Course on Copyright and Intellectual Property

Yeah, so I really wish I could take this course. MIAP friends sneak me a syllabus for some self-directed study!

Copyright Law for Cultural Institutions 3 credits, July 25 August 5 2011, M-F 9am-12pm (plus an additional hour of online activities each day)

Instructor: Rina Pantalony

This graduate-level course addresses the intellectual property issues and related ethical ones that surround the management, preservation, and dissemination of cultural material (such as paper records and their digital surrogates, museum objects, film, video, and other ephemera) in collecting institutions. The course is designed for current students and also for professionals who already work with cultural objects, providing either a refresher or an upgrade to existing knowledge and practice.

The first step in the registration process is to reserve a space in the course. You can do this by contacting the MIAP Coordinator, Alicia Kubes at tisch.preservation@nyu.edu or 212-998-1618 . After this step is complete, NYU students will be able to register through Albert. All other students will get instructions from the MIAP Coordinator by e-mail.

Any questions about the course or the registration process should be addressed to the MIAP coordinator.

Full Course Description:

With the advent of new technologies, content producers, aggregators and those who manage collections and related ephemera are faced with a number of legal and ethical issues concerning the use of their own works, those of others and in providing access to collections of such works to their patrons and other third parties. Because of the complexity of intellectual property rights, the answers to many such legal questions are not always apparent. Managers of collections are often faced with the need for a risk assessment that takes into account ethical considerations in order to allow a project to move forward.

What are the various legal rights that may encumber cultural material? Who holds these rights? How may they be cleared? What are the extraneous issues that must be given consideration in clearing them? How do these rights affect the subsequent long term exhibition, distribution and hosting of the works once they enter into the collection of a museum or archive? How can these issues be managed effectively? What are the international considerations in dealing with content, created in one jurisdiction, but exhibited or distributed in another? What are the legal considerations in such circumstances and what may be the cultural or ethical considerations?

The issues discussed in this course are the subject of a publication, by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), authored by the instructor, Rina Elster Pantalony, where the publication will serve as one of the primary texts for the course.

Students will be required to analyze existing collections, examine the intellectual property issues, present findings within existing standards of practice in the field, and use electronic means of communication to compare and contrast findings. All students will be required to participate in assessing risk, preparing intellectual property assessments and discussing their analysis of existing content by posting their findings to a Wiki exclusively developed for the course and hosted by NYU.

The total cost for this 3-credit course including tuition and fees is $3490

Edge of the Wedge

"In Watermelon Sugar the Deeds Were Done and Done Again as My Life is Done in Watermelon Sugar."

The Wedge
Severed Heads
Edge of the Wedge Theorem
In Watermelon Sugar

Dreamweapon: The Art and Life of Angus MacLise (1938 – 1979) at Boo-Hooray

Boo-Horray gallery on West 23rd St will present Dreamweapon: The Art and Life of Angus MacLise from May 10 - May 29 curated by Johan Kugelberg (JOHANN KUGELBERG!!!) and Will Cameron. The larger project will also encompass a Sound Installation (at 265 Canal St) and a Film series at Anthology (on May 12th) featuring the film and video works by Ira Cohen and Piero Heliczer. The exhibition marks the first overview of the artist, poet, percussionist, and composer active in New York, San Francisco, Paris, London and Kathmandu from the 1950’s through the 1970’s. Best known as the original drummer of the Velvet Underground, MacLise’s lifework included music, calligraphy, performance art, poetry, drawings, plays, and limited edition artist’s books.

The exhibition website states:

On Summer Solstice 1979, MacLise died from hypoglycemia in Kathmandu, and was cremated in the fashion of Tibetan Buddhist funerary rites.

A suitcase of Angus MacLise’s artwork, publications, and manuscript as well as more than 100 hours of recorded music was left with La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela for safe-keeping thirty years ago. This extraordinary time-vault is the foundation of the exhibition, with additional materials drawn from private previously unseen collections and archives.

The 521 West 23rd Street exhibition features manuscript, calligraphy, ephemera, photography, artwork, memorabilia, posters and handbills illuminating MacLise’s multi-faceted career through a narrative of original artifacts.

The 265 Canal Street Suite 601 sound installation, the premiere exhibition at Boo-Hooray’s new Chinatown space, features previously unheard recordings from the 1960’s and 1970’s featuring Angus MacLise performing alongside notables such as: Tony Conrad, La Monte Young, John Cale, Billy Name, Terry Riley, William Breeze, Piero Heliczer, Jack Smith, Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker among others. Each day one may experience a unique set of curated programs of MacLise’s music. Every day is different.

Thursday, May 12th, 2011 at 8pm, Anthology Film Archives are hosting an evening of film and video works by Ira Cohen and Piero Heliczer. At the center is the underground classic, The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda (Dir. Ira Cohen, 1968), showcasing the music of Angus MacLise. The program will also include works by Heliczer featuring MacLise, and Marty Topp's portapak video from the Ira Cohen Jefferson St. loft (1971-72). Boo-Hooray are also pumped to announce the world premiere of Heavy Canon, directed by Ira Cohen (1968/2011). This film is comprised of unseen 16mm footage shot in Cohen’s Mylar Chamber and scored with the music of Angus MacLise.

“Angus MacLise was the Velvet Underground's first drummer. He withdrew when he found out that at a paying job he had to start and stop playing when told to. No one told Angus to stop playing. So the job of a working musician was impossible for Angus, and he taught us all a lesson about purity of spirit.” -- Lou Reed

Co-curator Johan Kugelberg describes Angus MacLise as the American Henri Michaux:

MacLise was a collaborative partner in the early 1960’s with art groups and individuals such as Fluxus (George Maciunas, Yoko Ono), Theatre of the Ridiculous, and Jack Smith. As a poet, MacLise began publishing in partnership with high school friend Piero Heliczer in the late 1950’s, establishing the Dead Language Press in Paris, widely acknowledged as one a most significant small artist book presses of the 20th Century. Together with his wife, artist and underground press illustrator Hetty MacLise, he edited issue No. 9 of the magazine-in-a-box, Aspen, considered a hallmark of American publishing.