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19 November 2005 by nathaniel

firefox, adsense, help me

Howdy all., This is a public service announcement.

Am on a trip, am broke, am an artist, etc.

I was chatting to a friend yesterday about how there are all kinds of publications around the internet and in print that make money; people pay for them, too, even tho, in private, they complain about the content. But here I am online doing a public service, for free, trying to support the scene, and you don’t even want to know how many complaints I get about what I cover (or don’t) on this blog. (Again, if you are of that vein, please write me and volunteer to contribute – I’ve never said no to anyone who wanted to guest blog yet!) Not that you have no right to offer criticism – but please do so in context of the above, constructively, and certainly, please, join in and help me out…. I’d love more crit and art and engagement from those who can offer more – saying I suck does very little (tho it is kind of fun, I admit).

In the same vein, if you want to help but are not a public person (I’m also open to a noms de plum if you want to be scathing but don’t want to get into trouble), feel free to try and help cover my costs! I will accept donations (contact), but more reasonably, as of a little while ago, I’ve added some ads to my site – these are on the right-hand side the blog. I’m using google adsense, which gives directed ads of what my viewers are (supposedly) interested in, based on their browsing and the content of the blog. I only get paid when people click (and not so much), so please do so if you ever (and whenever you) see anything interesting there! They always change.

Of special interest are the little banners, which I get credit for if you follow through on them from this site, directly. One allows those of you with sites to place ads on your own – they are relatively non-invasive, adaptable, and targeted. Even better is the Firefox ad – Firefox is the best browser around. Fast, least bugs, most compatible with most sites, easy to use for beginners (ask Kathryn Smith!), but also has lots of advanced features and plug-ins for super users (I’m sure AJ Venter will agree)… And the latest version comes with google built in to the browser bar! Please click and download and try direct from this page! Free and open source, it really is the best thing to come to the internet since Mosaic. Thanks all.

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18 November 2005 by nathaniel

the upgrade! boston

I gave a talk at the the upgrade! Boston last night, which took place at the experimental art interactive gallery space. (Thanks to Jo green and Turbulence for setting it up!) Check out the link to see the pretty cool GlowLab exhibition (which I guess, in theory, I’m a part of now – cool projects that jumped out at once include soundbike and opsound) and learn more about "the only game in town" (what Jo Green from turbulence calls this hot spot art space).

There was a nice li’l crowd of trickle ins and trickle outs, mostly artists. It felt great to hear some feedback on documentation and the work (Compressionism went down the best, and there were all kinds of thoughts around bringing it to new levels, and having The First Exhibition of the Compressionists), as well as have a full-on discussion about where the two (documentation and work, that is) collide in the displacements between body and text, work and body, work and documentation, and where social anthropology (and cultural studies) play into all of the above. The crowd was mostly artists, and I will be googling them all as soon as I get their surnames from Jo.. Want a few places to start? Check out Michael Mittelman’s Aspect DVD magazine, or kanarinka (aka Catherine D’Ignazio, AI’s co-director) and friends’ the institute for infinitely small things.

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16 November 2005 by nathaniel

fun, tired, sickly

hans haacke, news, state of the union show, 1969 / 2005
Hans Haacke, news, 1969 / 2005, at the state of the union show, Paula Cooper Gallery

You may have noticed a little bit of playing by Thando Mama on the blog over the past few days, as he gets to know the WordPress software — he responded to the artthrob article about how I’ve been looking for peops to participate in this space, and is learning how to upload and spell check now (!). Forgive the inconsistencies. If you are interested in blogging (I NEED writers now!!!!), contact me.

I, on the other hand, have been a little sickly, and running around like a headless chicken. Simon, Bronwyn and I have been catching as many of the Marina Abromovic performances as we can (between us, we’ve missed only two), checking out some amazing work at the MOMA and PS 1, running to the Berni Searle and DJ Spooky show on the LES, gallery hopping in Chelsea, etc and so forth.

Highlights include (no time to look up URLs, but by all means, google it!):

  • Lips of Thomas re-enactment/document by Marina
  • Hans Haacke at Paula Cooper
  • James Turrell at both MOMA and PS 1
  • Gary Hill (his stuff at MOMA, but not at PS 1)
  • I had forgotten about the Kentridge permanent stairwell at PS 1!
  • Jon Kessler at PS 1 was not my taste, but it was a very successful installation
  • Chatting to another Staten Islander at Berni Searle’s thing (who knew they liked art?)
  • The New Museum book store

In South Africa? You should be sad if you missed the Colleen Alborough exhibition at KZNSA – shame on you. The eKapa conference in Cape Town is coming up, and looks hot — wish I could make it. Chat to Simon about his trip while there, if you can! Also, tell Franci Cronje hi.

But sooner, and in Joburg, don’t miss Etch A Sketch: “an experience into the unfamiliar edge where art and sound converge. Watch live collaborations between visual artists and musicians for the first time ever in the entire universe.” Wow. That’s awesome.
Drill Hall, Thursday 24 November, 7:30pm, R30, cash bar. Features include Joao Orecchia, mtkidu, Mitch Said and Templar Wales.

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07 November 2005 by nathaniel

Talk at Brown University

Nicole and I are giving a li’l talk at Brown University today. 7pm, Grant Auditorium, corner in the music department – you can see it on a map here.

The Implicit Body

Nicole Ridgway and Nathaniel Stern ( http://nathanielstern.com ) will discuss their concept of the implicit body: the body as an emergent locus of exchange. Showing contemporary examples of interactive and immersive work, The Implicit Body explores questions of affect and perception, and embodiment as performance. This will be followed by a closer look at Stern’s own video, performance and interactive pieces.

nicole ridgway is an interdisciplinary scholar and public intellectual who currently teaches at the Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand. She teaches in the fields of cultural, visual and gender studies across the divisions of film, drama, art, and interactive media. In 2000 she was awarded a Markle Foundation Fellowship to explore the teaching of Digital Arts in South Africa, and in 2001 spent a year as a Visiting Professor in the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University. Her two most recent publications address the question of interactivity and new media art (“In Excess of the Already Constituted: Interaction and Performance”) and the anthropological concept of culture appropriated as a form of prophylaxis in popular discourses around HIV/AIDS (“Culture, Contact and Contamination; Or, If I Touch You Will I get what you’ve Got?”).

nathaniel stern is an internationally exhibited installation and video artist, net.artist and performance poet. His interactive installations have won awards in New York, Australia and South Africa, and his net.art has been featured in festivals all over Europe, Asia and the US. nathaniel’s collaborative physical theatre and multimedia performance work with the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative has won three FNB Vita Awards and has seen three main stage features at the Grahamstown Festival. His poetry repertoire includes CBGBs and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the US National Poetry Slam and the South African HIV/AIDS Arts, Media & Film Festival.

If on Rhode Island, please drop in! Many thanks to Todd Winkler and noah wardrip-fruin for organizing!

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06 November 2005 by nathaniel

physical computing

Nice li’l article on p-comp in South Africa by Carine Zaayman in Artthrob this month. Granted, I’m more than biased, since it’s mostly about Ralphy Borland and me, but it’s really cool to see such a staple arts publication making a statement like that. Must read if you have no idea what the title of this post means….

With regards to finding info on p-comp in SA, Ralphy Borland’s site has way more than mine, but I gotta give props to Tom Igoe, and the book he wrote with Dan O’Sullivan for getting started. If in Natal, no need to feel left out — Colleen Alborough has a beautiful p-comp installation up at KZNSA for another few weeks! She used the aforementioned book (with a little help from Borland) to teach herself how to hook up alarm-based motion sensors to her computer , and use them as triggers for projected animations and sonic treats.

And speaking of community, I am still taking guest bloggers on: contact me if you are interested in writing on this site. No restrictions on anything other than image sizes! Oh, and no porn or torrentz (I’m not The Man, please be reasonable)…. Would love to get some SA peops outside of the Gauteng area for a change (tho am still accepting writers IN that area).

w00+

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