Diamond Shine

Here are some things that I have been up to lately that I have not had time to blog about because of the oppression that is being a 25 year old s/w/f living in New York, going to grad school, while working part time. It's soooo awwwwful. I can't even blog about all of the fabulous things i get to do all of the time... I don't even have time to shop at Urban Outfitters and eat brunch at Marlow and Sons while listening to Animal Collective on my iPhone! Oh, the horror!

(list in reverse chronological order)

Olaffer Eliasson- Multiple Shadow House, at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
Ever since my epiphiny that was experiencing 'Into the Light' as a 17 year old in Cleveland, OH, I have been a sucker for the projected image. This beautifully installed show provides the best kind of interaction with the art itself, and with gallery visitors. I don't think I have ever connected with random people in the gallery setting as in this installation. The nuanced, pastel-colored bands of light, activated by the movement of participant's bodies in the space was dynamic and compelling, inviting us to question how we see others, and ourselves. There was almost a cinematic quality to it; with surprises around every corner. In a weird way, it reminded me of Bruce Nauman's "Video Corridor" (1969) or Dan Graham's "Opposing Mirror and Video Monitors" (1974) in that institutional spaces are used as a site for interrogation, participation, and social interaction. The driving force behind participant's behaviors in all of those works is driven by our curiosity for how the apparatus functions. It would be amazing to have a dance party in this space. Or to take acid in there with like 2 other people. and some unicorns. A guaranteed crowd pleaser.




Banks Violette- Gladstone Gallery in collaboration with Team Gallery
This show seems to be so much about mythology of both concepts and material in contemporary art. It's rough edges and DIY details compete for attention from the more sublime elements of the monumental installations. Initially looking like the interior of a deconstructed Mercedes showroom from the future, the combine industrial materials which at first glance, seem to be assembled with precision. Once you move around the works and look at the structure, they are held together with sandbags, ducktape, shellac and execution of technique. A metaphor for so many elements in our cultural landscape, (shoddily constructed buildings, plastic surgery, sleazy stockbrokers...) the work makes sense and is beautifully installed. Is it anything new? Probably not.




White Columns-Ecstatic Peace Poetry thing.
The main gallery at White Columns right now is pretty amazing. There are zines displayed in vitrines along the periphery of the gallery, and blown-up xeroxes of zine covers pinned to the walls. From the website:

Moore was inspired to publish Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal after years of appreciation, study and relentless archiving of post-war poetry publishing focusing on the activity of the “mimeo revolution” of the ’60s and ’70s. The stapled mimeo poetry journals produced from the St. Mark’s Poetry Project, Peace Eye Bookstore in New York City, and Asphodel Bookstore in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as a myriad of other subterranean centers of shared post-beat writing, rage, meditation and experimentation continues to inform the publication of Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal.

It isn't clear whether the collection on view is Thurston's, or if it came from the zine archive at Columbia, or what, but I don't care. It rules. Also, there has been a pretty fierce lineup of weekly performances in conjunction with the show. The show itself is installed really well, it is clear that they thought about the fact that there would be lots of people in the gallery during the performances. They compensated by posting large xeroxes high on the wall, so viewers can absorb some content of the exhibit while listening to a noise performance or poetry reading. Ask me about some of the craziness sometime. One story involves Kim, Thurston, and Coco trying to get out of a parking spot in their Volvo Crosscountry....


X-Initiative- BYOA- I really wish I didn't go to this. It was depressing. Lots of crap. I don't want to talk about it.

William Borroughs "Target#5" 1997 (above)

Artist's Space-Rip It Up and Start Again
I love the idea of having a show around a marginalized philosopher, or writer, and presenting documents and events from their life. This show, where 5 downtown artists were presented by another invited artist, acquaintance, friend, academic and/or admirer, the show largely focuses on transdisciplinary artists working outside of the institutionalized contexts of production and presentation. As with the White Columns show, this exhibition presented some pretty great events. Très dec, and very inspirational.

William S. Burroughs
presented by John Giorno

Charles Henri Ford
presented by Mitchell Algus and Christopher Muller

Ray Johnson
presented by Bill Wilson and Stefan Kalmar (director of Artist's Space)

Philippe Thomas
(readymades belong to everyone (r) )
presented by Claire Fontaine

Arhur Russell
presented by James Merle Thomas




Superflex-Flooded McDonald's at Peter Blum Chelsea
Danish collective reconstructs (I still can't believe it wasn't a real McDonald's..) the evil fast-food restaurant and floods it. That's the narrative. It is slow, but worth the wait. Once the site is flooded, all of these distopian themes about how we are decimating the universe with our selfishness and disregard for the future was articulated in a succinct way. Visually, garbage, food-bits, and furniture floating through the murky depths was scary and poetic. There were some other works in the show as well. They were so-so.






Joan Jonas-Mirage at MoMA- This show is cool. Babs London: you are my hero. That's all I have to say.


Jaimie Davidovich-"The Live! Show" at Cabinet-
This exhibition examines the history of New York-based artist Jaime Davidovich's pioneering cable TV show "The Live! Show," shown on Manhattan cable Channel J from 1979-1984. In addition to episodes from the show, the exhibition also showcased some of the objects that Davidovich, mimicking the commercial language of television, made to be sold during his show's “Video Shop" segment. The show typically featured guest performances by other artists drawn from the downtown art community of the period, many of which were previously involved with Cable SoHo, an organization dedicated to producing and showing new artistic works on cable television which changed its name to Artist Television Network in 1977.

You make me happy when skies are gray

Thank the non-existent "god" for Tony Oursler. Especially his 2001 work Timestream, which is archived on a dedicated website through the MoMA. I wish more sweet artists could take on these sorts of projects; and I wish museums didn't wise up to the fact that this shit is super expensive and maintenance-needy in collecting...Oh well, A for effort, Babs London.

Oh, yeah.

2009: Best of (in no particular order)

X Initiative- If no one writes a book about the importance of X in the coming year, I am going to make it the topic of a dissertation. Meant to exist for exactly one year from it's conception, X has offered excellent exhibitions and even better spontaneous performances, lectures, and events. It has easily been the best DIY space I have ever been a part of...This is how institutions should be used in this day and age.



Performa 09(in general-- a whole best of Performa list could be generated here) It was so amazing that I had to up the zoloft dosage after it ended. A special shout-out to RoseLee Goldberg's leather pants!
Mike Kelley (and co.) events around town- There were so many great Mike Kelley related events this fall in NYC, that I feel almost guilty. Any one of them would have made the best of list, but there were multiple! Can this man do any wrong?
William Powhida's cover for the Brooklyn Rail- It was poignant, it was timely. A fucking plus, guy.
Creative Time Summit at the New York Public Library- Despite the time limits cramping many of the speakers' "flow," the ideas proposed but not answered are what I found most useful from the conference. I want more.

Joan Braderman's- The Heretics- The documentary about the infamous feminist zine, "The Heresies" and the second wave of feminism in general rocked m'socks off. It was only at the MoMA for a few screenings, hopefully it will be put in better circulation in 2010.

Thomas Hirschorn 'Universal Gym' at Barbara Gladstone Gallery- In this large-scale DIY installation, Hirshhorn combined found imagery, obsolete consumer products and constructions made out of cardboard, foil, and packing tape constructing a gym-like site that forced social critique. If the gymnasium represents a place for interaction, learning, and physical exercise, as well as the desire for physical well-being and longevity, Hirshhorn used the gymnasium as a filter to examine communal notions of long life through physical upkeep, discipline, and logic.
Allora & Calzadilla, Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on “Ode to Joy” for a Prepared Piano (Gladstone Gallery, New York) For this ongoing, in-gallery performance, six pianists traded shifts playing the theme over and over—while standing in a hole carved in the middle of the instrument, so they faced the keys backward. The piano was fitted with wheels; while playing it, each musician wheeled it around the gallery.

"Curating" article in the New York Times- Even though purists might say that the word has been somewhat bastardized, I think this article points to the fact that curating, while it has ascended in rank within the artworld during the past 10 years, it is now working itself into mainstream culture--to the extent that you have people like Todd P integrating it into their vernacular. Interesting to see it in print, anyway.
Ryan Trecartin I-BE Area- At both the New Museum in the Generational Younger than Jesus exhibition and at the Fabric Workshop. Mentalfragmentationmindfuckadhdtotallyfuckingawesome!?

Bruce High Quality Foundation University-
As they describe it, the unaccredited BHQFU is a "university, a space for higher education and research, a community of scholars; an expansion of the BHQF practice to include more participants (that's where U come in); and a "fuck you" to the hegemony of critical solemnity and market-mediocre despair." As students of Hans Haacke, coming out of Cooper Union, BHQFU believes in the artistically educational possibilities of collaboration, and that income shouldn't preclude education or cultural participation. At Bruce-U, students are teachers are administrators are staff; they believe in the value of shared creative experience and responsibility. Bruce meets every Tuesday, alternating between Open-Critique, and B.Y.O.U. (Build Your Own University), a class to discuss and develop admission procedures, rubrics of success, governance, etc.

Marcel Duchamp- Étant donnés at Philadelphia Museum
Recess Art- This brand new DIY space on Grand St., ran by the brilliant Allison Weisberg is devoted to rendering artist's residencies visible to the public, fusing public space with exhibition space-- killing two birds with one stone, much? Also, she has an impressive line-up of artists practicing in this space, like Corin Hewitt and Molly McFadden in 2009, and Bruce High Quality Foundation slated for 2010. Can't wait for more programming!

I don't feel like writing blurbs about these things, but they were cool:
Lars von Trier's Antichrist
The Third Mind- Guggenheim
Teching Hseih- MoMA
Bernadette Corporation exhibition at Greene Naftali
The Generational Younger than Jesus- New Museum

Music
Fresh and Onlys- Grey-Eyed Girls (Woodsist)
TNV- Born Again Revisited (Matador)
El Jesus Klip Aught 7" (CDR)
Hunches- Exit Dreams (In the Red)
Eat Skull- Wild and Inside (Siltbreeze)
Zola Jesus- New Amsterdam CDR
Nothing People-Late Night (S.S.)
The Mantles- The Mantles (Siltbreeze)
Dan Melchior and und Das Menace- Thankyou Very Much (S.S.)
Tyvek-Tyvek (Siltbreeze)
Blues Control- Local Flavor (Siltbreeze)

Reissued Music
Bill Fox-Shelter From the Smoke (Scat)
Raincoats (KillRockStars)
Spiritual Singers, Ntsamina (Mississippi)
Axemen, Scary Pt. III and Big Cheap Motel (Siltbreeze)
Jim Shepard 7"- CDR

The Suck List
New Museum trustee stuff- I mean, come on.
Lady Gaga- what a turd/dunce
Metropolitan Museum- The Pictures Generation
Shaq: Size Matters exhibition at Flag Art Foundation
Roman Polansky stuff

Sorry, Charlie

Ummm... so, yeah:


and when you thought it couldn't get better:

Mr. Mom

Walking down the street one day, I happened upon a bag full of brand-new mostly deplorable dvds. Some movie called "Pale-Male," "Pirates of the Carribbean 2," "Face-Off," some show tunes, you get the picture. I did find myself tempted by a double feature of "Baby Boom" and "Mr. Mom." After selling the crappy ones to the record store for a measly $5, I had forgotten all about my one score, until unearthing it this past weekend. After watching Mr. Mom, I have to admit, it's pretty fucking fantastic.

The plot: A Detroit car salesman loses his job at the plant, due to hard economic times, and his wife goes to work for a high-rolling PR firm, saddling him with three kids. And as we all know, men can't care for children... what a predicament! You can watch it yourself, and see the normative 1950s suburban family unit unravel before your very eyes--hilariously. A parent dressed up like ET during a trick or treat scene had me crying, especially because he creepily pops out from behind a tree, and just sort of lingers akwardly throughout the scene... A screen grab:


Additionally, MGM didn't do much with the transfer, creating a hybrid VHS-DVD, washed out tone that makes it all look like an early 90s cereal commercial. Or maybe that was, umm... err... part of the director's creative vision... Either way, I love the crappy picture quality. It doesn't say what the transfer method was, but my guess would be that it was processed by either optical wet-gate printing, or contact printing.

This trailer pales in comparison to the real thing, but alas:

The Sheer Ingenuity of "Shredding"

At first, I was hesitant about these videos, but there is something amazingly fulfilling about watching these douche-mops egos be completely emasculated through simple sound editing.

Wikipedia's definition of "Shredding":

Shred guitar or shred refers to lead electric guitar playing that relies heavily on fast passages; the act of playing fast passages on an electric guitar is termed "shredding". While one critic argues that shred guitar is associated with "... sweep- picked arpeggios, diminished and harmonic minor scales, finger-tapping and whammy bar abuse", several guitar writers argue that rather than being a musical definition, it is a fairly subjective cultural term used by guitarists and enthusiasts of guitar music. It is usually used with reference to hard rock and heavy metal guitar playing, where it is associated with rapid tapping solos and special effects such as whammy bar "dive-bombs". The term is sometimes used with reference to playing outside this idiom, particularly country, jazz fusion, blues, and some modern variants of bluegrass.

Wikipedia's going to have to add this to their definition, because Houston, we have a genre.

Len Lye: The Cosmic Archive

The Birth of the Robot, 1936

If I had money to burn, the exhibition "LEN LYE: THE COSMIC ARCHIVE" at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in Aotearoa, New Zealand would be a serious priority. Us New York based folk, and NZ foreigners will have to settle for the forthcoming publication from Govett-Brewster Art Gallery instead, which is fantastic considering the major scarcity of scholarship on his body of work. "Len Lye" is co-published by the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and the Len Lye Foundation with support from the Govett-Brewster Foundation, and distributed internationally by Random House

LEN LYE: THE COSMIC ARCHIVE
12 December 2009 – 15 March 2010
During his career, New Zealand-born artist Len Lye (1901–1980) witnessed a period of tremendous expansion in scientific inquiry. The Len Lye Collection and Archive at the Govett-Brewster contains hundreds of scientific articles the artist gleaned from the popular press, in fields ranging from psychology to astronomy, particle physics to palaeontology.

Featuring several of these news clippings, Len Lye: The Cosmic Archive explores the space age imagination and its impact on Lye’s work in a range of media. This exhibition presents the newly reconstructed kinetic sculpture, Moon Bead (1968/2009), the rarely seen Bones (1965), as well as the films The Birth of the Robot (1936) and Particles in Space (1957–1979).

Curated by Tyler Cann
Courtesy the Len Lye Foundation and The New Zealand Film Archive

(The Cover of the Publication)

With contributions by editors Tyler Cann and Prof. Wystan Curnow alongside new essays by Guy Brett, Roger Horrocks, Evan Webb and Tessa Laird, this comprehensive and visually rich presentation of Lye's work underlines his distinctive place in modern and contemporary art.

Best known for his vibrant 'direct' films painted on celluloid, New Zealand-born Len Lye (1901-1980) was a kinetic sculptor, poet, painter and writer as well as an experimental filmmaker. This new publication brings together the many facets of Lye's energetic mind, pioneering career and ebullient personality, throwing fresh light on a seminal figure in the history of the moving image.

Rainbow Dance, 1936

Free Radical, 1958

Trilogy (A Flip and Two Twisters) 1977, (still and in motion photos)

Universe, 1976

The Exhibition Site
Art New Zealand