implicit art

My great host, hostgator, fixed the issue quickly and without complaint. you should use them to host your site cuz they are great

Haven’t heard from hostgator yet - there’s obviously a compatibility issue, and I’m sure they’ll handle it cuz they are great - but I removed the line of offending code, which didn’t seem to make much of a difference to my site anyhow.

Sorry for the issues - enjoy!….

apologies. i think my host upgraded to a newer version of php, and my main site seems to be giving some odd error messages (i am also not running the most recent wordpress on my backend, as i worry about my custom plug-ins, and this may be causing a few issues, too). I’ve mailed support and hope to have the ugly banners gone soon. sorry for the issues.

UPDATE Well, read the below and watch the interview, but I will admit that, to quote AmericaBlog, Wright “crossed over into cuckoo-land yesterday, saying that our government created AIDS, among other things.” It’s weird the juxtaposition between the Moyers interview and his self aggrandizing press conference yesterday. I don’t understand….

UPDATE II: Joe Conason argues about how I feel re: the NAACP and press conferences held by Wright earlier this week. You should also google or youtube some of the clips from those, especially the former. It’s amazing how differently Wright can perform there and on PBS. And it’s sad that such a wonderful man would behave so badly for reasons unknown….

UPDATE III: I should make clear that I think this is in no way reflective of Obama, and I’m utterly sick of all the coverage Wright gets, while important issues (and Clinton and more importantly McCain scandals) are ignored by the MSM (mainstream media). Look at the polls! People care more about the economy, about Hillary’s political opportunism, and funnily enough the McCain ties to GEORGE W BUSH (who is actually less popular than the Reverend Wright!), than they do about Obama’s ties to Wright. Whatever the news agents tell you, and they all say Wright is more important, these are the real numbers. Americans know what’s important - can we please try to keep our eyes on the ball?

Original post:

Honestly, what an amazing man. Given Obama and what I know of him from reading both his books and watching his speeches (and my obsessive political followings more generally), I knew Wright was being mischaracterized by the media, but, wow, I had no idea of his lifelong commitment to making a better world. And what unflinching care, forgiveness and pacifism… It’s just striking. I am now a Wright fan, and plan to go see one of his sermons in the midwest when I’m there in the Fall.

Reverend Jeremiah Wright interview, part one

Reverend Jeremiah Wright interview, part two

And Bill Moyers, too - they don’t make them (journalists) like that any more….

Haydn Shaughnessy gives a little teaser / preview of his Fragments project today and features my work. For some reason, he put up a tiny image, so here’s a close-up:

Window, 8×10 inches, lambda print on metallic paper, edition 100

Saving this for the web unfortunately managed to dull the colors a bit - the blues and reds are wonderfully startling with the real thing. I’m very happy with the project generally; it’s the first time I’ve produced “artist affordable” archival art (€40 / $65 each!). Haydn explains the project, in which he solicits artists to re-work larger projects at the lower-priced editions of 100:

Basically Fragments is a project where I’ve asked artists to go back to a work and select a fragment that in some way typifies the larger work or has special resonance. This fragment is called Window and it is from a street scan called Cathedral by Nathaniel. We have some interesting artists lined up for Fragments more of which later when I’ll also get round to posting Cathedral.

Beat ya to it, buddy! Here’s the original work: Cathedral, lambda print on metallic paper, 20 x 36 inches, edition 5 (also with colors slightly dulled when saved for web, sadly):

I really like how the “fragments,” can be details, screen grabs, refigured pieces or collages - Haydn has some really great artists and art works lined up, and I can imagine them flying off the web/wall a set at a time once he launches next month. Keep a look out!

Both Window and Cathedral are part of my ongoing Compressionism series of prints.

The Dublin Art and Technology Association is having a hot month!

8pm Tuesday 29 April
Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin
Guests: Alessandro Ludovico (Italia), Jaime Villarreal (Mexico), Ivan Twohig (Ireland)

See the flyer at full size.

DATA:EVENT:30 - * Special 30th Event Anniversary*

Alessandro Ludovico (Italia):
Alessandro Ludovico, 1969, lives and works in Bari, Italy. He is a media critic and the editor in chief of the magazine Neural from 1993 and was awarded with a “Honorary Mention” for Net.Vision at Prix Ars Electronica 2004. Alessandro Ludovico is one of the founding contributors of the Nettime community and one of the founders of the organization “Mag.Net (Electronic Cultural Publishers)”. www.neural.it

Jaime Villarreal (Mexico):
Jaime Villarreal is an artist, technologist and researcher whose work explores the use of emerging technologies and electronic media as tools for creative expression. He works at the Centro Multimedia of the National Center for Arts of Mexico where he researches and develops creative applications of computer graphics programming and electronics. He is 1/2 of the electropunk/hardcore band “555vs666″ and 1/3 of the audiovisual performance group “rrr”. Jaime will be performing with his collaborators Sonida RRR live from Mexico City using networked electronic instruments. Dublin heads will also be taking part using instruments they’ve built in local workshops at NCAD and the Science Gallery.

Ivan Twohig (Ireland):
Ivan Twohig is an artist and student of the Ncad (2nd year MA, Art in the Digital World) His work operates at the convergence between fine art, architectural design and pop culture.� He works across a range of media including electronic art, video, sculpture, installation, net art, drawing and text based work.

All D.A.T.A. events are FREE and open to the public!

GalleryICA launches a new project in the coming weeks…

Funny derivative below the fold… (more…)

I had to post this beautifully understated new video work by Doron Golan.

Till Joseph flies to hide the biting tears (2008, 48MB, 5.20 min.)

Michael Szpakowski, also of DVblog, says (via rhizome):

…this is great & quite the strangest thing you’ve ever made. The tone is quite disturbing, made me quite nervous, but it’s also beautiful. In particular there’s one moment near to the end with lots of effects when there’s just some of the most beautiful shades of green *ever* on the screen.

Also I had an epiphany whilst watching - I realised one particular move I love in your editing ( and it lends it so much of its personal quality and power) -it’s like a sort of “half-jump-cut” - we move from one position of a person to another, sometimes with a slight zoom in or out or a slight change of angle but the continuity is both manifestly broken and somehow retained. It *is* a jump cut but in your hands it
doesn’t have the brashness that one might associate with that term. It’s amazingly potent.

Do you shoot with that sort of thing in mind, zooming in and out with a mind to removing some of the intervening footage?

I like the performance too, understated but effective…

The effects are the thing I find strangest - they are so in-your-face and contrast so markedly with that lovely B&W look you achieve. The little buzzing objects ( for want of a better description) put me in mind of the helicopter in the Tell Aviv portraits..

The symbolism (again for want of a better word) is so intensely personal, or at least hermetic that at this end of your work there’s a flavour of Blake. I couldn’t exactly logically justify that assertion but it *feels* true to me…

in two minds, Marcus Neustetter
a chat with the artist on Thursday 17 April 2008 at 18:00 - 20:00

Art on Paper Gallery, 44 Stanley Avenue Braamfontein Werf (Milpark), Johannesburg South Africa

Marcus Neustetter: in two minds, site-specific installation, 2008

Although Marcus Neustetter’s latest exhibition at Art on Paper Gallery invokes processes of mapmaking - representing space by drawing it in two dimensions on a map - it is not about conventional cartography. Rather, he introduces the element of motion into the mapmaking process, intimating the aspect of time in the exploration of geographical space. In fact, Neustetter’s art is about finding a method of referring to our experience of the coalescence of space and time.

On the last evening of Neustetter’s ascent of Kilimanjaro in December 2006 the night was so clear that the lights of the city of Moshi at the foot of the mountain seemed to be reflected in the stars of the sky. The sky above could as well have been a map of the landscape below. Neustetter generated digital maps of these reflections exploring the structural similarities of various spaces at specific times.

Marcus Neustetter considers his solo exhibition as an opportunity to articulate his ideas and concepts about dealing with a profound personal experience, and searching for the relationship between seemingly random occurrences in his life and subsequent visual ‘translations’. The exhibition includes an installation, digital traces, drypoint prints, drawings, photographs and images presented on SANSUI LCD screen.

Marcus Neustetter was born in Johannesburg on 14 November 1976 and attended the Deutsche Schule zu Johannesburg. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand, and his Masters Degree in 2001. During this time he launched sanman (Southern African New Media Art Network).

He has been a professional artist since 2001 and, in partnership with Stephen Hobbs, has been developing The Gallery Premises, The Trinity Session and their artistic collaboration, Hobbs/Neustetter, as documented in www.onair.co.za.

Marcus Neustetter lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.
www.marcusneustetter.net

The exhibition closes on 26 April 2008

Every now and then I see art that sort of crushes me and elates me at the same time. For example, Brian Dettmer’s book sculptures. I love books. We might be at the tail end of the book as a form. I understand that, and, if books go extinct, it will probably be for the best. Some people probably regretted the demise of shadow puppet theater, too, but art moves on. Still, I’m torn, and it always kind of kills me to see someone destroying books.

But what he’s making is so beautiful. It’s so hypnotizing. It’s got both literal, visual and metaphorical depth. In an interview on What to Wear to an Orange Alert, Dettmer says he goes looking for heavy, old, reference books. He seals them up on the edges and then starts carving into them, looking for images and words that jump out at him. He doesn’t move anything, but he enables the viewer to see, all at once, words and images that they would have once had to go looking for.

I hate to see a nice book destroyed, but most of these books are “dead,” anyway. That is, as old sources or information, there are newer, more up-to-date, fresher books that people turn to for the same information now. The information in these books may not be useful, except for historical reference.

In a way, Dettmer gives these old books new life by tearing them to pieces. Interestingly, he doesn’t plan ahead. He seals it up and goes digging. It’s an improvisational approach. I’d be curious to see what he came up with if he picked a few images out ahead of time before he got the glue and carving knives out.

I first discovered his books at Centripetal Notion. Centripetal Notion seems to be a popular website with a strong community around it, but this post got 20 times more attention than any of his other recent posts. I think there are a lot of people out there who feel like I do. Books are great! They are still great! Try one! Try one!

Everyone wants you to win their interest at a glance anymore, but if you just glance at a book all you will see is a cover and a spine. So, writers are indebted to Dettmer, for his work in one way. A glance at a book after he’s done with it and you’ll see a little more — there is some exciting stuff in these things. Come see.
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BradyDale is the keeper of This Too Will Pass.

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