stimulus | implicit art

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01 May 2006 by nathaniel

Time and Seeing @ Outlet gallery, Pretoria

Time and Seeing
an exhibition of Compressionist prints
outlet gallery, 1 May – 12 June
closing reception on Saturday 10 June, 16:00

^{earth (2006), metallic lambda print, 50 x 25 cm}

Time and Seeing exhibits selections from nathaniel stern’s Compressionism – a "digital performance and analog archive.” Stern traverses bodies, spaces and objects with his scanner face, while the head is in motion. After being Compressed into digital images the size of a small sheet of paper, the files are then stretched, cropped and colored by hand. Compressionism is an exploration of media and perception, a transfiguration in Time and Seeing.

^{*The 11 pieces on show at Outlet are a preview for a large-scale exhibition of Compressionist works – ranging from photographic to traditional prints – in negotiation for early next year @ Art on Paper gallery, Johannesburg.}

outlet
24 du Toit Street, Building 10, Projector Room, Arts Faculty, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa
Hours by appointment, +27 82 440 5406, outlet [at] mweb [dot] co [dot] za

more information @ http://compressionism.net and http://nathanielstern.com

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30 April 2006 by nathaniel

CT wrap-up

OK, so The End of that workshop I gave at Stellenbosh went pretty well – I think there are more than a handful of students who will likely carry on and try to produce interactive art. The last two days were spent consulting on work individually, mostly as a crit, but sometimes on how to be cool (Ralph did most of the latter meetings).

But then I had almost two days of leisure! I think the highlight was probably an early morning trek up the mountain, with Mikhael Subotzky and his mother, Eve.

I should note at this point that she is much cooler than he is.

Really, the two are amazingly warm and generous people. And tough – my legs feel like spaghetti after all that huffin’ and puffin’; they had to wait for me to catch up a few times. For those of you who don’t know Mikhael’s work, he’s the hot, young, new photography star of SA, recently paired with the Goodman, and I highly recommend taking a look. It’s not just about the images, but their stories.

I saw Virginia MacKenny and Carol Anne Gainer for coffee (also very cool, and am hoping to have the latter do a feature on the former for SAartsEmerging in the coming months), and did big walks through SANG, Long St and surrounds with Christian Nerf.

Had to do Royale again, hit up Wim Botha’s show, spent time in Clarke’s books, chilled in Nerf’s studio, and finally headed home to hang a small exhibition in Pretoria (still working on that). Great to be back in Jozi, but wish I had more of a break – too too too much to do!

Oh, and not related at all, check out Stephen Colbert at the White House.

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29 April 2006 by nathaniel

Intent and Content

For those of you who recall, I did a little write up on Contempo mag – the new Arts/Cutlure/Design SA thinger – when it first came out. More or less, I said I completely support their intentions, despite my occasional skepticism of some of their content (which is mostly applaudable). There’s been some overt aggression towards the mag by some of the more vociferous (I eagerly await their magazines and web sites that support the arts in any way, shape or form!).

I recently got a mail from the features editor, Germaine Moolman (edited):

…in the "A Posed Question" for the second issue we’re hoping for varying views that launch a debate (or carry on the debate, rather) … Would you please be so kind as to respond to [these questions] for us, and maybe pass it on to some of your connections to fill out for us? …

The questions she sent me are pasted below, and you can feel free to enter into the debate by responding, via email, to copy [at] contempo [dot] co [dot] za. You should get this to her by end of day on Tuesday.

These questions are aimed at highlighting the issues in the debate surrounding the commercial viability of art.

•    Should art be influenced by its commercial validity?
•    Does the art market support non-commercially viable art?

•    Do you take into consideration the commercial viability of the artwork or are you lead purely by the work and the thematic concerns?
•    What is your opinion of “commercial art” as opposed to “fine art”, or is there in fact this distinction?
•    In the context of being a South African artist where there is no such thing as “living on the dole”, how much of an influence does having to support yourself with your art play in the art that you produce?
•    What role does the gallery play in this issue? Do you find that your less commercially viable art is not accepted by galleries? Does this influence the art that you produce?

LENGTH: Your response should not exceed 200 words

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION

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26 April 2006 by nathaniel

Johan van der Schijff at Bell-Roberts

Lazy Susan – an interactive installation
at Bell Roberts gallery

Here’s an action shot of Lazy Susan, an interactive sculpture by Johan van der Schijff (right), at his solo show, which opened at Bell-Roberts gallery last night.

An ironic and explicitly phallic interplay between weaponry, technology, culture and comedy, Johan’s exhibition – his first solo in SA in about 8 years (if I’m not mistaken) – was aptly titled Power Play. Deliberately male and dominant, Johan’s aesthetic entry points ranged from cooky, erect juxtapositions and orifice-infested media, to fun and easy-to-use mechanical interactions – look, ma! it follows me! In short, the show makes us all smile that uncomfortable smile that, if you’ve met Johan personally, you’ve probably seen on his face once or twice…

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20 April 2006 by nathaniel

Live from Stellenbosch U

physical computing @ Stellenbosch

Ralph Borland and I are giving a two-week workshop in interactive art at Stellenbosch University! Shown here is Ralph working with the Basic Stamp microcontroller (BS2), building some circuits just before we go ahead and try some input/output from and to the “real world”. I’ve been showing them how to interpret that data into sound and video on their eMacs, and they’ll plug the two together on Friday.

w00+!

Aside, check out the cool post about the work me and Jill are doing over at the David Krut site.

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19 April 2006 by sean slemon

Gladstone Hotel, Toronto

This weekend my girlfriend and I went to Toronto for her bosses birthday. It was a chance to get out of town and have a bit of a break too.

We were directed to stay at the Gladstone-one of the longest continuously running hotels in Toronto. Its recently been redone and the owner-an artist herself, decided to curate a group of artists to design and decorate the rooms. We stayed in the Map room, which was easy on the eye and very simple but there are 37 to choose from. We looked in on a few others just to check them out. And its cheap too.
Thought I should just mention that they do leave earplugs on the counter in each room. At first I thought Amy had brought them, but later found out that we actually needed them. The room we stayed in was nicely done but not that user-friendly. A word of advice to any artist doing room in a hotel- Live in it first-with your girlfriend. This guy didn’t.
I know that artist decorated hotel rooms are catching on, with them being commissioned in Nelspruit at Harry’s and also more recently at Spier in Cape Town. Does anyone know whats up with that by the way? Who’s on the list and what are they doing? And when can we stay there? Lang and Baumann also did some fantastic rooms as well and they have a great site.