sean slemon

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23 December 2005 by sean slemon

Keep your Knives and scissors

It has finally been ruled that airline passengers are allowed to take all kinds of nail clippers, knives shorter than 4 inches/ 12cm and tweezers, NT cutters and other highly terrifying tools of terrorism(sic) back onto the planes for their trips.
Freedom at last. Keep your stuff.
The five year collection period has ended.
Maybe airlines will open museums to display their vast quantities of confiscated tools with looped videos of disgruntled passengers and Art handlers who arrived at work on the other side, only to discover they had to buy new leatherman’s and tools and tweezers and knives. Or maybe they will be given to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for a large scale public sculpture at Ground Zero.
Where did they all go? Does anyone know?
Thanks Guys. Thanks for collecting all that stuff. We missed it!
This ruled on the same day on which the transit strike ended here in New York. I felt that walking to work was pretty exciting-use you’re legs your fat enough! I actually cycled into Manhattan each day.
I had hoped it would make people realise that cars had had their day. They too became useless when everyone who had one got inside one to drive around ahem, sorry, I mean sit in traffic. You couldn’t really call it driving now could you.

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14 December 2005 by sean slemon

What is Culture

A panel discussion at the New School, here in NYC was held last night.
The topic at hand was the issue of Culture at the World Trade Centre Site. Mainly whether or not the future planners knew what it was or if there was any intent to have any in the the new memorial, or lack thereof.
The panel was headed by Paul Goldberger- the author of the book Ground Zero and a heavy critic of the entire process.
Other panelists were artist, Hans Haacke, Tom Bernstein, Thelma Golden, currently curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, and Mike Wallace and Robert Yaro.
This was my first public interaction with the issues of Ground Zero and the ongoing public debate on its future and it was disappointing to say the least. There wasn’t really enough time given for the panelist to really get their teeth into any issues. Some did-and to quote Hans Haacke- “There is no hope”- his response to the question Is there any culture at Ground Zero?
Brutal and tough.
This is a place in the middle of the financial district and one of the most uncultured areas of Manhattan. Those programming the site are trying very hard to incorporate some kind of museum and also have the financial sustenance of 10 million square feet of office space, replacing that lost in the old buildings.
The process of programming the site of the former WTC buildings has been plagued by raging disagreements as to what the lease owners want and what New Yorkers want: this event was no different with everyone who had a chance, voicing their opinion as to what should replace the buildings. Suddenly everyone had become an architect and site programmer. Currently from what I can tell, most city dwellers want to see a green grassy field with nothing else and I am inclined to agree. They feel it will become and has already grown into, its own memorial-The people and its gravitas make it what it is.
My opinion: It is a project that simply has too many people with their finger in the pie. And it could be a very lucrative Pie for some. Those with money will get further into and more from the Pie. If you have more you can get more.
These high profile public projects often begin with good intentions of ambitious contemporary museums and memorials and other cultural stakeholders, and this site is no stranger to such a phenomenon. The Drawing centre, which has always been in Soho, was to move to the site, and pulled out some time ago due to constraints and censoring that they could not subscribe to.
The evolution and politics of this site are a very interesting thing to watch.
Check out www.lmcc.net/ and also www.renewnyc.com/ for more information.
And also http://www.petitiononline.com/911wtc/petition.html for a different less corporate view

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05 December 2005 by sean slemon

http://swarmsketch.com/

A great new site recently featured in the New York Times: The website allows anyone to collectively draw a single picture-each person can draw one line about an inch long. After that you can vote on the opacity of other lines that already exist in the drawings. A new drawing is posted on a weekly basis and some pretty surprising images emerge considering the amount of people that create the work and the length of the line. Collective consciousness. Its a lot of fun.
Other than that I’m working on a new project now that my show is done: The noble planting of street trees in Manhattan. More on this later maybe.

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30 November 2005 by thando

direction cape

it seems that heads are heading to cape town this weekend for the sessions ekapa.
will be coming out from my hide out to join the masses this summer and will try to get some pics whilst there.
i don’t know about the Jozi dudes but cape town seems to be getting a lot of slices of the art world of mzantsi.
is cape town the new big thing and are cape town artist now the big deal? Are cape town artists and galleries in?all eyes on ekapa!!

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23 November 2005 by sean slemon

Rats

In Deshnoke, a small city in the northwest province of
Rajasthan, India, pilgrims cross miles of scorching desert on
foot to pay homage to Karni Mata, the Rat Goddess. Thousands
of rats, believed to be the reincarnated souls of mystics,
roam fearlessly through Karni Mata’s temple, even in broad
daylight. Human worshippers bring the sacred beasts enticing
grains and fruits in silver bowls, occasionally offering an
affectionate pat on the head or scratch behind the ears as the
satisfied rodents stretch lazily in the sun.

The grateful rats select the tastiest morsels, of course, but
generously leave some tidbits for their devotees. Having
completed their sacred mission, the worshippers go home
fulfilled, and the rats remain, happy and well-fed. All in
all, the system seems to be working just fine.

On this side of the globe, humans fail to see the divinity in
their rodent neighbors. Reincarnated mystic or not, rats are
unwelcome in most American cities. Surprisingly, in New York
City, cultural center of the richest country on the planet,
people are not only unwilling to worship or share their food
with their rodent brothers, they actually consider a vigorous
population of several million rats a public nuisance!

rats are becoming an obsession for me: for the rest of the story go here: http://members.bellatlantic.net/~lilbun/ts/nyrats.html

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20 November 2005 by sean slemon

Stormking and DiaBeacon

So the last few weeks have been hectic and I have finally got my show up. I must say its very different putting up a show in New York compared to South Africa: Harder to say the least. I am relieved to finally have it up and installed and now it can be it’s own entity. This is the most interesting stage of showing for me – where the work takes on a life of its own and its out of my head and into the public realm. People can be honest and see what the work is and I can see what its seen to be.
If you haven’t managed to take a look then please go by- www.davidkrut.com Their website is coming along slowly but you can get all the basic details off it. The show is better.
After the opening my girlfriend and I took a trip up the Hudson River. We went to two museums. Stormking sculpture park. Its an independently run operation and consists of large scale outdoor sculpture. Much of it is pretty dated in my eyes but its good to see a lot of the stuff that may have had a large part in influencing me to be come concerned with large scale sculpture. Lots of Mark di Suvero works, Richard Serra and some other big names. Have a look at the website on www.stormking.org. Nam Jun Paik even had a go – nice work but it isn’t not really suited to outdoor work.
The highlight there was Magdalena Abakanowicz more for the strangeness of the objects she made which where wooden sarcophagi structures in glass houses. The only works that really toe the line between reality and the world of sculpture which is a good place to be I think. They made you question their existence a little more than most. Its a huge park and we managed to catch the last day before they shut for winter, which is a pity as many of these works must look amazing in snow: a northern phenomenon still to be seen by me.
The following day we went to DiaBeacon. A relatively new museum In a town called Beacon not far from Storm king. Its a huge space which used to be a factory of some kind. It was donated to the Dia foundation who also have spaces in Chelsea in NYC and they also maintain other site specific installation work done in the early 80’s and 90’s. They have a whole stream of funding and are a well run operation who know what they’re doing. The permanent collection houses Bruce Naumen, Richard Serra’s Torqued Ellipses-quite something to walk in. Id like to live in them in fact and it was great to see them at last. Sol Lewitt is amazing-he produced a wall drawing based on line and graph, using tone explore pattern. It goes beyond that of course but the collection overall is very good.
The two places represent very different eras in time and kind of follow on from one another. But very much worth seeing. Dia Beacon is a good day trip up from NYC-about a 40 minute train ride. www.diabeacon.org . A visit to the website is worth your while if you aren’t in New York and cant make it to these places.
I feel like this is beginning to become the new “Letter from America”
Ill have to cultivate my radio voice. For the television.

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