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07 February 2006 by nathaniel

Relational Clothing – collecting fragments

RC2 by Jose Ferreiera
RC2 by Jose Ferreira

As covered by Carine Zaayman on Artthrob, the Very Real Time project launched its second phase at the Drill Hall (Point Blank Gallery, downtown Jozi) this past weekend, hosting, "Two panels of selected speakers… chaired by Gregg Smith and … an intervention by Johannesburg based artist, Jose Ferreira."

Ferreira’s RC2 (courtesy of the artist):

This work consists of a series of journeys and a garment. Appearing to be an ordinary overall, it unfolds and translates into various forms, provoking unusual relationships. It is at once a vessel for shelter, a protective unit, and gatherer of ephemera. … The focal point of the work is to extricate new readings of social interactions in this urban context that may have become accepted, habitual and even suspicious. The work is an exploration of urban survival, self-preservation, and a dreaming of possibilities. … My intention is to make a work that embraces the multiplicity of an urban Johannesburg experience.

 

Read and see more.

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05 February 2006 by nathaniel

artthrob artbio feature

Nathaniel Stern

Ralph Borland writes:

Nathaniel Stern is an artist, a teacher, a technologist, a blogger, a social catalyst and constant networker in the art community. As an artist, his works spans performance, poetry, interactive installation and video, net.art and print. … Nathaniel’s artwork often touches on the mutability of personal identity, as in his assumption of multiple personas through his video performance work. His ideas around the body, a centre in much of his art and his focus in recent academic work around The Implicit Body, speak of the body and person ‘enfolding’ the world around them into themselves, and so constantly transforming….. Read more

It’s a very generous and comprehensive overview of my current work, and most of my arts career. "ArtThrob is South Africa’s leading contemporary visual arts publication, reporting on the national arts scene and the involvement of South African artists in the international art world." See the full bio.

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04 February 2006 by nathaniel

moCo (mobile Compressionism)

This just makes me smile: ‘action Jackson’ (Compressionist scanner / appendage) strapped onto my bling bling of a bike, ready to hit Johannesburg, South Africa (click for larger image).

Compressionism is a digital performance and analog archive. In the current studies, I compress bodies, spaces and objects by traversing their surfaces with an image scanner, along varying 3-dimensional paths – literally, I glide, run, hover and swoop across windows, trees, or lilies while the scanner head is in motion. The resulting digital images, which are transfigured down to the size of a small piece of paper, are then re-stretched to their original size, sometimes cropped or colorized. The final prints ask us to ‘look again’ at the relations between subjects, objects, actions and perceptions.

more at Compressionism.net

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02 February 2006 by nathaniel

PWO (post whites only)


still: dineo bopape

Kagablog, ex-guest blogger Aryan’s own space, writes about a showing of South African art he curated for the Rotterdam Film Festival (obviously, ironically titled – that’s info for my overseas readers who don’t know Aryan, who is, ironically, also ironically titled…):

post whites only digs deeper and provides an encounter with the more disturbing realities of the south african condition. identity is always a concern with artists working in a neo-colonialist context, and it is no surprise that some of the most rigorous and challenging work coming out of south africa today is directly concerned with interrogating issues of identity and self manufacture.

It’s a lucid and long post, detailing all featured artists and their works. He’s also been added to the ‘roll and the ‘reader. We miss him over here, but are also glad to see some consistent text about his other work online! See his daily – I would not call them rants. They are too articulate to be rants.  uuuuuuum – posts. My ‘sentimental deconstruction,’ A Song for The, is a video made sometime mid-last-year, specifically for the festival and at Kaganof’s request. It’s a ‘slammy’ exploration of growth and listening, inspired by conversations with my father, Marshall Blonsky and Edmundo Desnoes. There’s a hot line-up on Kag’s reel, and I hope he considers re-showing it in Joburg etc sometime soon!

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01 February 2006 by nathaniel

Scenes of Provincial Life


still from Kingfisher 0.9MB 10 sec loop

Michael Szpakowski, the brilliant artist, writer and personality behind alot of the JoyWar backing a couple of years ago (and a big supporter of Steve Kurtz) – as well as one of the core producers of DVblog – has started Scenes of Provincial Life, a new vlog of his own provocative QuickTime shorts:

A couple of years ago, I started making tiny QuickTime movies, as a kind of moving image dream diary. They quickly became a major focus of my work & I have made two or three at least every month since…

One of the things that excite me about the digital is that it makes possible a new sort of collaboration with both other artists and with non-professionals. Digitization makes the simple juxtaposition of different kinds of work straightforward, or enables a kind of framing process that, done sympathetically, enriches the work of both parties.

(Read more from the artist.) The videos, so far, range from Kentridge-like, sorrowful beauty, to quirky and experimental fluxus framing. Szpakowski’s mastery of re-mixing pop and historical culture/imagery feels like techno-poietic counsel for an ever-opening future-present, a sad co-celebration of the banal, and the possible. I want to collect them all…. Visit Scenes of Provincial Life.

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