implicit art

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I am still ill.
I spent all day with Abrie and Donna yesterday, in from Pretoria - what fab cats.
They both had some good ideas for my May show with marcus neustetter - content,
framing, curating, etc. We went and had a tasty lunch at the famed Kapitan’s,
in downtown Jozi, and Abrie even got some great snaps of Mr. K.
Here’s
a summary of the most recent Dem debate and next up is an interesting article
on the positioning of the latest primary ads: Candidates
Cast Kerry as Insider

Bush Backs Away From His Claims About Iraq Arms, but still, Bush defends Iraq war in face of WMD findings. Meanwhile, Kerry claims New Hampshire primary and Howard Dean is struggling to stay afloat. Most voting Dems just seem to want Bush out of the White House. Altho I agree, wouldn’t it be nice to see someone we want in Washington? How about a Dean upset in the Feb 3rd Primaries? Can we make that happen?
Well, here’s
Tim Russert on that.
Oh yeh. Art. Uh, looks like the Outlet show next week has been moved up to the
7th, and the May show at ArtSpace moved forward to the 16th. Lebo Mashile is also
on board to do some collaborating for my April show at Outlet. Rock.

Welcome back, nathaniel! Thank you, nathaniel! You are more than welcome.
Zanzibar was beautiful. The Spice Tour was great; the beach dreamy; the seafood
fantabulous; the shopping fun (and I usually don’t like shopping) and my wife
is pretty cool, too.
However, I got some stomach bug on the last day, and I am totally grounded here
at home in Joburg (trying to empty my inbox). nicole also got some bug (of a different kind) bite
that she’s allergic to - there are forces in the world that seem to
not want us to go back to work. I just wish they could get us out of labor
without making us feel ill, KWIM (Know What I Mean)?
A lot has happened in my absence - as usual - and most of which I am unaware
of. It’s so nice to not be a solipsist.
BIG disappointment to see John Kerry take Iowa, and only have Howard Dean in
third. Personally, I don’t think Kerry stands a chance against Bush, and moreover,
I don’t like him that much.
Ars Electronica has
opened its doors to a new competition year, and Turbulence
also has a great new net.art proposal competition (for a nice li’l commission
of $5000) - yummy.
Sam Stern, the good child of my parents (Jeanette & Phil Stern), is also
feeling ill this week - so we wish her all the best here in webland, don’t we?
Please also give crazy e-shouts to Jen Wandy on the Shaolin, kicking mad bacteria,
in a fight for health. Word.
The RRF 2004 site
is up - tho the official launch is on 18 February - and I look forward to seeing
hektor’s contemporaries.
Remember when I posted that link to the American Family Association, asking
y’all to vote your mind in their "gay marriage poll"? Well, check
it: Gay
Marriage Poll Gets Annulled
Ben’s (of Ben and Jerry’s) explanation
of our national budget in terms of Oreo cookies.
Whether you are a fan of Dean, not a fan of Dean, or you even hate him, this
is funny.
Imma git meself a bit o’ rest, but ’spect some good ole’ blogs coming up soon,
aight?

Solo show at the Johannesburg Art Gallery confirmed for September, 2004.

the GetAway Experiment, a duo show with Marcus Neustetter at the ArtSpace, also confirmed to open on May 9, 2004 (Fairlands, just outside Joburg). GREAT meeting with Marcus and the curator yesterday.

Looks like I’ll also be doing a small installation at an art and music party (featuring Joao Orrechia, aka neverland) around February 9th somewhere in Pretoria, thanks to Abrie Fourie.

But in the meanwhile, I’m off to Zanzibar for a week-long holiday tomorrow, so be sure to miss me. Until then…

Yahoo! News - Professor Lives Life As a Cyborg

Not sure if I agree with Nader’s view on this particular point (The Independent: Nader Says a Run Would Benefit Democrats), but you have to love this quote:
"’I would not do this if I didn’t really want to defeat Bush,’ Mr. Nader said, calling the McCarthy era ‘chicken feed compared with what we have now.’"

Dean Exudes Pragmatism, Not Personality - is what I’m saying.

The Balance Sheet for Dean - but he needs to think a bit before he speaks

Still, this is good: Senator Harkin Endorses Dean

And, a fantastic candidate has some wise words of caution that my pick (Dean) should give a listen to: Kucinich: ‘Anger’ doesn’t work

Just got back from 5 days on safari in The Kruger Park. We saw 4 of "the
big five" in the wild (note: the big 5 are rhino - which we did not see -
buffalo, lion, leopard and elephant), amongst many other beautiful creatures (I
LOVE birds of prey!). The two highlights, for me, were watching a leopard chomping
down on its recent kill up in a tree (impala), and a herd of elephants cooling
off in a mud pool (this one baby ‘phant kept purposely plopping over on its side
to splash its mother).

On my return, I see that Bill Bradley has endorsed Howard Dean (good move), calling the Dean campaign "one of the best things to happen to American democracy in decades." Rock!

The strangefruits — art
& design portal has a new update, just in time for the coming semester! I
should also remind all of you out in webland that net.art:
online interventions, the new class I am distance teaching for the Minneapolis
College of Art and Design begins in mid-February! The description is as follows:
The web is used to conduct business, promote professionals, students and artists, and as an art medium itself. Through research, discussion and experimentation, this class will cover the benefits, shortcomings, history and production of internet-specific art. Our main focus will be to push the envelope in this quickly-settling medium, in order to create online and/or networked interventionist spaces - artworks with the power to engage viewers in dialogue, transform their perceptions of relevant concepts. The term will see us through three full, grant-ready proposals, complete with sketches and proof of concept pages; one of these proposals will be completed as your final project. Note that although they are not required, collaborative projects between students in this class will be enthusiastically encouraged - there is a lot of work involved in this process. Enrolled students must be fluent with their own computer and the Internet. Experience with HTML, FTP software, image scanning and web page formatting are also required. There will be resources and tech support for advanced HTML, JavaScript, CSS, Flash, Digital Video and Shockwave (Director and Lingo) as required for your proposals, but if you are not comfortable with at least one of these technologies, it is recommended you first take the “portfolio.net” course, or an equivalent, which has more focus on web formatting techniques. MCAD will provide each student with a web account for the duration of the course.
Registration is now open
for all interested parties. It’s gonna be fab!

Last thing: wanna see an impressive site that one of my students produced in my
other class, "portfolio.net," last semester? Check out Calvin Buchanan’s
designisdelicious.com.

Conservatives want Reagan to replace FDR on U.S. dimes - WTF? Vote NO!

Operation Nobel Prize - very interesting new e-literature project by August Highland And The Superheroes of Humanities

Department of Art & Technology - a net.art intervention by Randall M. Packer

A Pragmatic Streak Colors Dean’s Green Credentials - this is a touchy one. Sometimes, pragmatics can lead to better debate than idealism. A good example might be that it was the whites that voted out apartheid here in SA - and a lot were voting that it was unsustainable, rather than voting out of guilt or idealism. One can be pragmatic and much more easily win an environmental argument than if they were to argue on ideals alone. However, Dean didn’t seem to do to well here…

Some School Districts Challenge Bush’s Signature Education Law - gee, do you really think better textbooks and teaching resources would do better than simply penalizing efforts?

Op-Ed Columnist: Who’s Nader Now? - altho I completely disagree with this editorial writer’s stance on Nader, it’s an interesting take on the current status of the democratic party…