south african art

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13 August 2006 by nathaniel

the shooting gallery

via site:

a digital ceremony for a war photographer

Literary cult figure and pioneering digital filmmaker, Aryan Kaganof joins Catherine Henegan, Amsterdam based multi-disciplinary artist, for a gripping performance about a war photographer and an insatiable media machine. Also included in the team is James Webb, internationally renowned electronic sound artist who has created an audio landscape for the performance….

read more….

I went to go see this piece on its closing day. There were some amazingly beautiful moments, such as when aryan swung naked from the ceiling, blowing out candles in remembrance, or his hilarious first phone call about war being great for his career. A comment on mass media as producing reality, some important messages in the piece (tho occasionally the piece itself felt a little too mediated). Definitely a historical landmark for networked performance in South Africa, if not the world.

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12 August 2006 by nathaniel

Max/MSP+Jitter announces Intel-based Mac Support!

Not much more to say about this – except how awesome it is.  Intel Macs can now run everybody’s favorite interactive video application in two operating systems…. Downloads here….

PS – I just proposed a free, 5-day workshop on Jitter for The Bag Factory’s ‘for artists by artists’ series; watch this space  if you are interested in attending.

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09 August 2006 by nathaniel

retro-Compressionist update

compressionismThere’s some newly updated Compressionist documentation on Compressionism.net. Latest additions to the video reflect, both, some of the performative aspects of the series, and the current hand-made editions; the latter are being created with the help of printmaker Jillian Ross at  David Krut Workshop in Johannesburg.  For those who have not been to the site in a while, the text has also been updated site-wide, and I am continually uploading new images.

Latest Sound Byte:

Compressionism is a "digital performance and analog archive.” I traverse bodies, spaces and objects with my scanner face, while its 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, then printed as editioned, archival works. The latest pieces in the series further transform details of these prints into hand-made art objects: etchings, engravings, aquatints, lithographs, spit bites and more.

 Compressionism is an exploration of media and perception, a transfiguration in time and seeing.

Thanks also to Niall and Lungi @ Krut for their tireless efforts on this project.

Please watch callandresponse.co.za for updates on my January  ’07 exhibition @ Art on Paper, Joburg.

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04 August 2006 by nathaniel

two great jozi shows on saturday

cruise @ krutFirst, check out Cruise @ Krut at noon – I’ve seen many of these beautiful pieces, a year in the making, and believe me you don’t want to miss this. Via site:

… While Cruise’s preparation for her sculptures has always included writing, sketching, and reworking thoughts on paper, she never considered these preparations art-making, but a mere means to an end. Says Cruise:

My usual way of preparing to work on a sculpture is to photograph a figure, photocopy the print, alter it, draw on it, draw from it and write about it. This process continues throughout the making of the sculpture and even after it is complete when I wrestle to access its final meaning through line and word. Thus I fill notebook after notebook.

It was David Krut who suggested that I formalise these private musings into a series of prints…  READ ON

Then at three an opening at the new Art on Paper space inludes Sam Nhlengethwa’s Black Goats – a print installation – and lithographs, drypoints and drawings by Johann Louw and Clifford Charles.

Make a day of it!

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02 August 2006 by nathaniel

Skatesonic – Cobi hits Cali

via networked performance (who got it from we-make-money-not-art – even tho Cobi actually sent me an email which I accidentally deleted… cobi, could you send me that again?):

vanTonder250x.jpg

Skateboard music interface

Cobi van Tonder, author of the brilliant Ephemeral Gumboots, has been commissioned a new work for ISEA2006. The project, Skatesonic, uses the motions and sounds of skateboards and explores their inherent ambient rhythm to create music. In a way, each move translates to musical parameters and the rider ends up skating through a landscape of music (which s/he influences over time).

Skatesonic will work in both solo and group situation. The system "listens" to space through movement, which it maps out and translates into music. Each of the four boards will map to a unique sound and structural parameters, so if there are 4 riders they will be able to jam like a band. For example, Skatesonic will allow skaters to buffer through a sound file in Max, meaning that as they rolls over a certain distance it is as if they have a record needle under the board, and every inch of movement progresses the sound. The live microphone input also reveals information about the texture of surface under the board and intensity of movement. From an interview with the artist by Sylvie Parent. [blogged by Regine on we-make-money-not-art]

JOHANNESBURG AND SA REPRESENT!!!!

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01 August 2006 by nathaniel

@ krut

via david krut publishing (posted by Jillian Ross):

So…..

Nathaniel Stern walked into DKW in March, about five months ago, and things haven’t quite been the same for us. Bursting with energy and excited at the new-found potential of the printmaking medium, he set to work on a grande project. Working towards an exhibition at Art on Paper for January of next year and on a print portfolio to be released prior to the exhibition, we have set to creating about 14 new works that vary in technique and size. We are consistently working on several images at once, with myself and two assistants – Niall and Lungi, plus Nathaniel, all working on different elements of each image at any one time.

The whole project started with a computer scanner. Nathaniel has been working on a new digital movement….

Read on (plus more pix!)…. Newly updated Compressionism video will also be online soon….

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