stimulus

Archives

15 October 2005 by nathaniel

Ralph Borland in NYC: Suited for Subversion

South Africa’s own Ralph Borland is exhibiting on a group show in NYC at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), right now! Suited for Subversion is part of the exhibition SAFE: Design Takes on Risk, October 16, 2005 – January 2, 2006.

Here’s two pics he sent me from over in the states:

Ralph Borland and his Suited for Subversion at the MOMA, and in the streets of NYC. He wore that same suit as my date to the Kebbles in 2003; my wife thought he looked good. Pictures by Kim Silberman
Ralph Borland and his Suited for Subversion at the MOMA, and in the streets of NYC. He wore that same suit as my date to the Kebbles in 2003; my wife thought he looked good. Pictures by Kim Silberman

Suited for Subversion draws on Ralph Borland’s work as an activist involved in street demonstrations in New York. Made of vinyl stuffed with polyurethane foam, the suit protects the wearer from police batons at large-scale street protests, and monitors the wearer’s pulse. In the centre of the suit’s chest is a speaker that projects this amplified heartbeat. It can also be used to play music and chant slogans.

As much as my suit is armour, it is also disarming; as much provocation as protection.

Archives

12 October 2005 by nathaniel

Americans Favor Bush’s Impeachment If He Lied about Iraq…

…which we know he did.
Thanks for the link, AmericaBlog. Impeach Bush!

Poll: Americans Favor Bush’s Impeachment If He Lied about Iraq | AfterDowningStreet.org

What’s most interesting to me is that a similar poll on Clinton turned up only 36% support for impeachment, but the right and the mostly-right-controlled media went ahead and booted him anyway. Whereas here, it’s barely touched the press at all. Granted, one might argue that this poll was contingent on his Iraq lie (proven over and over and over again; even Cheny was caught in a bold-faced lie, by “the fake news that delivers the truth,” Daily Show, with actual footage — see extremely funny but no less serious clip of Bush/Cheney lies here), but hey, what about Katrina, foreign policy, fiscal policy? The question could have been phrased any of these ways, and would probably have gotten the same response.

Bush’s approval ratings are lower than Nixon’s or Hoover’s, and certainly lower than Clinton’s (nobody died for his indiscretions — he made love not war… I’ve got plenty of these, guys, and I’m here all week). Why is it just politics as usual in DC?

A little of the looney left action going on in this, but interesting points nonetheless: Impeach Bush: The Four Reasons for Responsible Citizenship

Archives

05 October 2005 by nathaniel

art in JHB and GHT

First off, big ups and big welcomes to AJ Venter, the newest guest blogger on this site. You can catch him, and the occasional post from me (from now on) over at silent coder.

So, this week/end I’m going to be missing a lot of great art and openings. I’ll catch them on the flip, but I thought I’d give y’all the heads up for JHB…

  • VANSA (Visual Arts Network of South Africa) show opened at The Premises last Saturday
  • Ian Waldeck opened at Gordart last Sunday
  • Angus Taylor opened at ArtSpace last Sunday
  • Tonight, new student piece choreographed by Athena Mazarakis opens at Wits. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Athena is probably the most underrated physical theatre director in South Africa
  • Thursday at WITS, Richard Kilpert will be conducting a talk and a slide show of his experience of this year’s IMPACT printmaking conference in Berlin and Poland. (thanks to Jill, over at David Krut, for this) — Appollonia room, Main WSOA, at 12 noon (thanks to Colleen Alborough for further details)
    note: latest word on the street is that this talk has been postponed until 20 Oct, 12:30 – will re-post then
  • Thursday 6 October, 18h00 at Gallery MOMO is a Marco Cianfanelli solo show; he is a beautiful sculptor and fellow major award winner at the Brett Kebble Art Awards, 2004.
  • Friday 7 October, 18h00 at Franchise Gallery, 44 Stanley, is SURFACE, a group show with works by Luan Nel, Virginia MacKenny, Moshekwa Langa, Dorothee Kreutzfeldt, Trasi Henen and Dineo Bopape; this is gonna be H-O-T

And why am I missing all of this? Because I’ll be in Grahamstown giving this talk on interactive video:

The Interactive Video Landscape
Three hour lecture/presentation
Fri: 7th Oct 2005. 2:00 – 5:00pm
Fine Art Dept Lecture Theatre (Painting & Sculpture Building, Upper Rhodes Campus)
ALL WELCOME

This lecture, discussion and demo will survey the interactive video landscape in 2005, and the pioneers who led up to it. We’Äôll take a look at the likes of David Rokeby, Camille Utterback, Golan Levin and others like them over the last 20 years – all artists working with technology and the body. During our time together, we’Äôll also see what kinds of tools are available for potential VJs, artists and musicians who want to produce interactive installations or multimedia performances. Finally, we’Äôll break down, conceptually, how someone might achieve body-tracking, motion tracking or proximity sensing with a simple web cam, and take a quick look at ’Äújitter’Äù (a very popular interactive video development environment for artists), and some projects made with it.

If in GHT, tell your friends. It’ll be followed by a two-day advanced workshop on interactive video (using Jitter), but I’m pretty sure that’s invite only – for members of the Studio for Interactive Sound (yay, Toni Olivier!) and the fine arts department staff (who will hopefully pass it on to students).

next blog (probably) from Grahamstown!

Newer posts →