Have been offline (and sans phone!) for three days now (and counting). Am writing from David Krut studios, stealing their bandwidth. You’d think that telkom’d at minimum, pro-rate me; but no, Telkom will charge me (out the nose) for my time offline and sans voice.
We. Hate. Them.
Telkom is Satan. See?
Been chillin’ wit JR and RK (Richard Kilpert) at David Krut’s studio as of late, working on translating some of the Compressionist images into more traditional prints - looking towards using things like silk screen, lithography, engraving and etching. You can check out one preliminary experiment over at the kagablog (I just started the occasional art post over there - thanks, Kags!). Am very excited about this work - RK and JR are inspired!
Gotta mention there’s some nice work by Colbert Mashile o’er thar (Krut) - and that his painting also sold for a ‘nice price’ at the Beeldspraak benefit auction. Worth a shout out or three. The pic is Jill in front of an unintentionally reflective (no pun intended) Mashile print….
So there I was this morning feel a wierd combination of creativity and romance.
So I decided to try and realize this image I had in my head. The result as seen below (click to see the full-size version) raises the age old question: "can sincerity replace actual talent ?"
I’ll just leave the answer as an excercize for the reader.
There’s a nice interview with Michael Szpakowski on the front page of Rhizome today, conducted by yours truly. It starts:
Michael Szpakowski has spent the last 30 years collaborating across varying theatrical, visual, sonic, and digital media. His vlog, "Scenes of Provincial Life," was recently featured on Rhizome’s Net Art News. Rhizome is our shared community that he claims literally changed his life. We had an e-conversation about his work, philosophies, and interests. read on…
While I’m kicking it to other artists, I forgot to mention the new SAartsEmerging feature on Doung Anwar Jahangeer. A very interesting cat, he’s got a show he co-curated on at the JAG right now. The piece is written by me, Simon Gush and Bronwyn Lace - altogether now ;) Begins something like:
A kind of cultural chameleon of difficult-to-place origins, Doung’s ‘art-work’ is more like a long-term social project that asks us to look again at our preconceptions, stereo-types, and interpersonal relations. Obviously idealistic, a walk through Doung’s efforts is an invitation to believe; it may sound overly-sentimental, seem futile, or even appear condescending at points, but his optimism and faith in humanity are utterly infectious, and his project is more than a gesture towards empowerment: it works. read on…
W00+
Things are hilarious over at Zod2008.com. A sampling:
Eliminate the Iraq War. The Iraq War has shifted $187 billion to the defense industry. How is this "defense industry" to kneel before me? Are my praises to be sung as footnotes in their paperwork? You will stop giving these corporations your wealth. I suggest you put the money into your own schools and health care, so that I may have intelligent, healthy servants. I will indulge your wishes if you all want a Westernized, unpopular regime in Iraq, and I too shall gloat in its troubles, but it will not be done at my expense.
Universal health care. Even a criminal like myself is shocked that millions are not able to get health insurance and cannot pay for basic surgery. Who are these power brokers that allow the pigpen to become wormy and filthy? I demand your very lives, but I am not such an imbecile as to institutionalize suffering and poverty. You have my assurance that this shall change swiftly.
Corporate reform. You people have become disgusting minions to these things you call "corporations". These things take your money and your land, put you into debt, send your jobs overseas, provide you with unsafe foods, and sue you when you say anything bad about them. Yet you people fatten them up at the ballot box. You give them free land, name your stadiums after them, allow them to telemarket you, and even sacrifice your own bankruptcy protections. Quite frankly it astonishes me. I will break this sickly codependency. It is I who shall be your ruler. I shall empower you with wealth to give me as tribute. A corporation cannot bow to me or give me tribute that comes from the heart.
You will buy U.S. made items. Why do you buy Chinese-made items when you know that it sells out the jobs of your family and friends? How will you buy those cheap things when you have no job? You are sending my wealth and tribute to foreign lands. I will not tolerate this.
…Kneel before Zod!!!…
One of the greatest Myths propagated by the contemporary American neo-conservative powers that be is the idea that Democracy and Capitalism are one and the same, that the former cannot exist without the latter, and, most dangerously, that big company-led Capitalism Uber Alles actually leads to, promotes and protects what the Founding Fathers intended for our Democracy.
Yes, most developed and Democratic countries are regarded as capitalist, but the vast majority of them have some “combination of mixed economies, government-owned means of production, economic interventionism” (paraphrased from Wikipedia) and/or various socialist-inspired policies that insure the well being of their citizens and the world.
The Conservative movement, at least the version I grew up with, used to be based on a core value of small government - a kind of overarching mistrust of big powerhouses that controlled everything. In a government of, by and for the people, it seemed in line with the Revolutionary “no taxation without representation,” except that Conservatives wanted, both, little taxation, and small government: control of your own money, choices, rules - an almost libertarian approach to decision-making, with the occasional foray into public safety (such as Nixon’s commitment to the environment).
But two groups have mostly taken over the Conservative agenda since the 80s: the Christian Right and Corporate America. The former was needed as a base simply to win votes, and is mostly kept happy with ideological rhetoric and a faux born again Christian in the White House (”I guess I’m more of a practical fellow,” in response to the Biblical / Rapture questions around the War on Terror this week). The latter is far more dangerous.
Ironically, the Christian Right goes against my aforementioned base Conservative values. It wants government to restrict a woman’s right to choose, and take rights away from same sex couples, for example. These have become part of core Neo-Conservatism over the years.
But Big Business actually takes hypocrisy to whole new levels. Of course, they are fully behind exporting Democracy (Capitalism). The Iraq war turned, and continues to turn, huge profits for the likes of Halliburton et al, and was also meant to insure oil in our futures, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola in Iraq’s.
On the one hand, we have a 9 trillion dollar deficit, warrant-less wire-tapping, unprovoked war, an obliteration of checks and balances, not to mention the ridiculous subsidies Big Farmers get in our “Free Trade” - basically, the biggest government (and debt) in the history of our nation.
On the other, we have these same “Conservatives” screaming for tax cuts, no regulation on things like pollution, the only developed nation without universal health care - all in the guise of small government.
In between, we have a media mostly maintained by the same corporate sponsors who lobby in Washington by making “donations” to our governmental “representatives” - leaving very little room for accountability.
This is not conspiracy theory; this is Capitalism in the guise of Democratic policy, and it’s no longer controlled by The People if The People are misinformed. In a country where Democracy = Capitalism, Power and Freedom are inextricably linked to Capital: dollars and cents. The main links holding the Neo-Con agenda together are, simply, Corporate America profits. Corporate America has become the powerhouse Conservatism always warned against; but since they are one and the same, they are not complaining.
At a distance, I’m beginning to mourn for my birth-country. We are fighting for principles we do not uphold; we are giving up Freedoms in the name of Freedom; we are enabling commercials to sell us lies, and user-tested rhetoric and taglines to define our government. This is not Democracy; it’s 1984.
If you are not angry, you are not paying attention.
Let’s hope that American education teaches our children some critical thinking skills.
There’s been a cross-blogging comment buzz between myself and Andre SC (fellow Jo’burger Andre Clemens - that link is to his prints in discussion) as of late, since he picked up on my Compressionist movement. Trained in information theory and design, Andre has been crossing over into the fine art realm as of late - beginning with his PornAgain and NetPorn series (some featured at GordArt), and now working with ‘Search Engine Compressionism‘. Beautiful and interesting stuff, created using experimental, generative, iterative and sometimes performative algorithms (mixed with aesthetic decision-making here and there).
We’re talking about a live-ish generative net.art collaboration, potentially. Watch this space….
Left: Andre SC: Search our Family Photos
My flickr has some nice photos of Vusi Beauchamp and Eric Rintisi at gordart (who promise a new website soon), as well as two of my fave works from the ABSA L’Atelier (joburg entries). I think a good compromise between both spaces was to show an image of this clever piece by Stephan Erasmus, who works at the former and is a finalist in the latter.
I was not too excited by what I saw of the L’Atelier when I first dropped off my work for the competition, but once hung and selected, I can see that it really is an interesting and impressive show of young artists, and await seeing it when we bring the rest of the country’s finalists to Jozi.
I just hope this year’s winner is more impressive and surprising than last year’s (meow!)….
