vertexlistblog

Artist Talk: Lillian Schwartz

2009-11-12T12:49:00.006-05:00

Friday, November 13 @ 1:30PM

Drew University, Madison, NJ

Lillian Schwartz is a pioneer in computer graphics and computer art. Her work is represented in major art collections and museums around the world, and has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of Art, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Georges Pompidou, Centre Beauborg, and Grand Palais museums in Paris. A frequent lecturer at universities throughout North America, she has been a visiting or adjunct professor at New York University, Princeton University, Rutgers University and the School of Visual Arts. For many years she was a consultant in computer graphics at AT&T's Bell Labs.

Postscript for ArtBlog

Douglas Henderson

2009-11-09T06:30:00.002-05:00

Douglas Henderson

Music for 100 Carpenters at The Boiler

Live Performances | 8pm. Saturday, November 7 + Sunday, November 8*
*Seating is limited. We regret that latecomers cannot be seated

Video/Sound Installation Exhibition Dates | November 12–December 20, 2009
Hours | Noon –6pm, Wednesday through Sunday, and by appointment
Location/Directions | The Boiler @ #191 N. 14th St. (bet. Berry St. + Wythe Ave.)
Take the L train to Bedford Ave. Walk 1 block west to Berry St., turn right, cont to N. 14th St.
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Video: Aron Namenwirth

"system:system": 21 Monitor Street

2009-10-24T21:54:00.010-04:00

I was genuinely excited to find this make-shift exhibition venue just a few blocks away from our old space. This rather ambitious show made me think of the early glory days of PS1.

Pardon the iphone quality images, click on them to check out more detail...

Here is some info from the curators Adam Henry and Christina Vassallo of Super Square:

System:System

Opening reception: Friday, Oct 23, 7 pm – 10 pm
Hours: Friday Oct 23, 7 pm – 10 pm / Saturday & Sunday Oct 24 – 25, noon – 6 pm
week of Oct 26-30 by appointment. Saturday Oct 31 and Nov 1 noon-6 pm.
Location: St. Cecilia’s Convent, 21 Monitor Street, Brooklyn, NY

A failing economy has decided the recent fate of 21 Monitor Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Formerly a nun’s convent, the grand three-story house now stands uninhabited due to the declining membership of St. Cecilia parish. Rather than let the building fall into disrepair the parish has found ways to breathe new life into it through a rotating schedule of film shoots, screenings, dance performances, and art exhibitions.

Taking its cue from the friends-of-friends network that has allowed access to 21 Monitor Street, system:system is a three-day event that reflects on the nature of associations between parts of a whole. The title is a play on the term “complex systems,” which are characterized by their connections and tendencies toward unpredictable behavior. The organizing of this event evokes these qualities and embraces the small world phenomenon of strangers being linked through minimal degrees of separation to form a dynamic structure.

The unoccupied nun’s living quarters will now showcase work that experiments with the building up and/or breaking down of systems: mathematical, scientific, social, perceptual, economic, and otherwise. Much like the social and economic factors responsible for this event, the behavior between the separate elements—artistic interventions and performances—will result in an atmosphere of emergent interconnectedness. The act of creating artistic content in a temporary context will feature prominently, remaining true to the fluid way in which these works were executed.

Exhibiting Artists:

Abby Manock, Anya Kielar, Arthur Ou, Bonnie Pipkin Presents, Chris Dorland, Curver, David Brooks, Derick Melander, [dNASAb], Emily Mae Smith, eteam, Ethan Breckenridge, Francesca DiMattio, Gandalf Gavan, Garth Weiser, Ian Davis, Inna Babaeva, Jeff Konigsberg, Johannes VanDerBeek, Kai Vierstra, Lisha Bai, Maria João Salema & Lee Wells, Marius Watz, Matthew Monteith, Matthew Schenning, Melissa Brown, Meridith Pingree, Mike Hein, MiYoung Sohn, Nika Sarabi, Peter Kirn, Phil Vanderhyden, Saira McLaren, Skyler Brickley, SOFTlab, Studio Mode, Suzanne Song, Tom Brauer, Yeni Mao

Music performances by: Matamoros and New Idea Society

Recession or not, it is so nice to see so much confident, contemporary work in one place.
Relevant, coherent and aware of its surroundings... I really liked the dollar bill & fireplace installation .... there is something oddly "internet" about it.

Anyhow, I hope this venue continues... it would be such an awesome permanent addition to the local art scene. Congratulations!

Player 1!

2009-09-24T14:12:00.000-04:00

How cool is this, I can't wait to order a bottle and check it out. I'll keep you posted!

"8-Bit Vintners is the creative love child of Mike James. His passion for wine and love of gaming has come together to create the coolest mash-up since The Flintstones met The Jetsons. All fruit comes from high-end vineyards within Columbia Valley and Walla Walla Valley AVA's. It is produced with the highest winemaking standards in Walla Walla, WA and aged in a selection of fine cooperage.

My wine is for anyone who spent time trying to save a princess or fit odd shaped blocks together. We may have never met, but we have more in common than we ever knew. So blow out that old Contra cartridge, give the NES a good dust off, and pour yourself a glass"

Player 1

The inaugural vintage of Player 1 displays the quality and diversity of fruit that is being produced in Eastern Washington. Player 1 is blended from various vineyards throughout the Columbia Valley, Wahluke Slope, and Walla Walla Valley. 2007 was a moderately warm growing season with long, dry, sunny days that allowed for extended hang time during harvest. This wine shows an accessible and approachable style that is both fun to drink now and has the acidity and tannins to hold up for 5 years plus.

Appellation: Walla Walla Valley, Wahluke Slope, and Columbia Valley
Blend: 50% Syrah, 30% Tempranillo, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Carmenere, 5% Malbec
Harvest Date: August and September 2007
Bottling Date: July 2009
Cooperage: French, American, and Hungarian for 18 to 22 months
Alcohol: 14.1%
pH: 3.74

The Vitreous: Of Eyes and Optics

2009-07-16T17:27:00.015-04:00

The Klein Art Gallery at the University Center Science Center in Philadelphia is proud to host its first national juried exhibition entitled The Vitreous: Of Eyes and Optics. The exhibition runs July 24th through September 5th 2009, with an opening reception on Friday, July 24th from 5pm to 8pm.

Monstrosities in San Francisco

2009-06-16T11:37:00.003-04:00

Jillian Mcdonald
Monstrosities
June 20 - July 23, 2009
Rosenthal Gallery
365 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103
opening with Zombie Makeup Station, Saturday June 20, 2009, 4 to 9 PM

"Opening Saturday, June 20th at Michael Rosenthal Gallery is the premiere of Canadian-born, New York-based Jillian Mcdonald’s Zombie Apocalypse filmed in the Northern California Headlands, alongside three other video works and a series of lenticular photos, all of which comprise Mcdonald’s upcoming exhibition Monstrosities."

Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11 am to 7 pm

ARTBOOM 09'

2009-06-06T00:30:00.010-04:00

Marcin Ramocki and ARTBOOM 09' have the pleasure to present the European premiere of "Brooklyn DIY: A Story of Williamsburg Art Scene".

The screening will take place on Saturday, June 13th, 7pm
Kino Pod Baranami, Rynek Główny 27, Krakow

ARTBOOM Festival
Krakow, Poland - June 12-22, 2009

ARTBOOM 09 is a first edition of a cyclical event which will focus on art in the urban space.

featuring works by: Paweł Althamer, Mirosław Bałka, Rahim Blak, Rafał Bujnowski, Brad Downey, Karolina Kowalska, Norman Leto, Teresa Murak, Joanna Rajkowska, Marcin Ramocki, Pipilotti Rist, Jadwiga Sawicka, Roman Signer, Paul Slocum, Grzegorz Sztwiertnia, Julian Tomaszuk, Twożywo , Erwin Wurm, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Zeus

lectures/presentations by: Adam Budak, Michaela Crimmin, Regine Debatty and Robert Rumas

With special Atari music performances by Paul Slocum.

Organized by the Krakow Festival Office and the East of Art Foundation Curated by Małgorzata Gołębiewska.

Brooklyn DIY @ El Parqueadero, Bogota

2009-05-23T20:22:00.004-04:00

Please joins us for the Latin American premiere event of "Brooklyn DIY: A Story of Williamsburg Art Scene" at El Parqueadero, Bogota.

The screening will take place on Saturday, May 30th, 5 pm, first floor of Museo de Arte del Banco de la República, Calle 11 # 4 – 21, Bogota, Colombia.

Curated by Ernesto Restrepo.

Related events:

"Hacker Art y prácticas alternativas de navegación por Internet ", lecture/workshop by Marcin Ramocki, May 27-28, 2009

"8 BIT" (Ramocki, Strawhand 2006), screening and Q&A, May 29, 5pm

All events are free and open to the public.

El Parqueadero is a collaborative project of Fundación Gilberto Alzate Avendaño and La Banco de la República promoting contemporary media arts.

"2 X 3 X 10" @ vertexList, opening Saturday 05.23

2009-05-17T15:23:00.007-04:00

vertexList has the pleasure of presenting

2 X 3 X 10: MARSHA COTTRELL, MATT HARLE, JAMES SHEEHAN
an exhibition organized by Charles Goldman.

A reception will take place on Saturday, May 23, 2009, from 6 to 9 p.m.
And the exhibition will be on display through Sunday, June 21st, 2009.

2 X 3 X 10: MARSHA COTTRELL, MATT HARLE, JAMES SHEEHAN, examines two works made ten years apart by each of these three mid-career artists.
“Marsha, Matt and James are some of the first people I met when I moved to New York over 10 years ago. There’s something about "intimacy" in this show -- it exists between these artists and within (and between) their works. The work suggests a language just beyond the viewer’s reach. One that is simultaneously infinite and intimate in scope and one that continues to resonate.”–Charles Goldman

Marsha Cottrell has exhibited solo in New York and Paris and been included in group exhibitions at the Tang Teaching Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria, and the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. Cottrell has received awards from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the N. Y. Foundation for the Arts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Matt Harle has exhibited widely, including "Linked" at Heskin Contemporary in New York City and "The Medium is the Message" at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art. His upcoming exhibitions include "Silent as Glue" at The Oakville Galleries in Toronto. Harle is the recipient of Guggenheim and Pollock-Krasner grants.

James Sheehan has had solo shows in New York, Zurich and Montreal. Selected group shows include "181st Annual: An Invitational" The National Academy of Design Museum, NY, "Working in Brooklyn" at the Brooklyn Museum, "Ehrenshal" at the Haus der Kunst Museum in Munich, Germany, “Painting as Paradox" at Artists Space in New York City. He has received numerous awards, grants and residencies, including NYFA, Pollock-Krasner. Charles Goldman multifaceted practice explores the cyclical nature of life and the standardized units used in its measurement. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally. His work is included in public and private collections.

Charles Goldman multifaceted practice explores the cyclical nature of life and the standardized units used in its measurement. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally. His work is included in public and private collections.

vertexList gallery hours are Friday, Saturday, Sunday 1pm - 6 pm, or by appointment. We are located between Graham and Manhattan Avenues on Bayard Street. For more info please visit our website www.vertexlist.net or call (646) 573-5837.

Undead in the Night, Jillian Mcdonald

2009-05-14T02:59:00.005-04:00

Undead in the Night May 28 - 30, 9pm to 1am.
Malmö, Sweden
*Already sold out!*

The performance Undead in the Night is a collaboration between Jillian Mcdonald (New York) and Lilith Performance Studio in Malmö, Sweden that involves over 100 actors, out in the forest in the middle of the night. The artist places two undead creatures (hideous Zombies and stunning Vampires) in the same scenes with their victims, violating the codes and boundaries of the horror genre, and creating an impossible scenario. The observer becomes a visitor in a living horror movie. Starting at twilight a bus transfers the audience 8 people at a time to an undisclosed forest location. Following a path in the dark various scenes come alive along a 3 km long horror path.

Info here.
More info including press release here.
Article in Sweden's People magazine by Mirjam Johansson here.

"Kiosk" @ STRP, Eindhoven

2009-04-27T19:50:00.003-04:00

via: http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com

http://www.strp.nl/strp/artist/125

Blanka Amezkua @ vertexList: opening Friday, April 17

2009-04-10T18:09:00.005-04:00

vertexList space has the pleasure to present “Mala Moska”, a solo exhibition by Blanka Amezkua.

A reception will take place on Friday, April 17th, 2007 from 7pm - 10pm, with the artist in attendance.

The exhibition will be on display until Sunday, May 17th, 2009.

Blanka Amezkua presents several series of image and text works made from modified and reconfigured Mexican adult comic books. In these new works, Ms. Amezkua explores and reveals the codes and language of pulp pornographic comic books commonly found through out Mexico. She uses invasive techniques and materials to isolate the images and separate the text from its’ original context, creating intensely disembodied figures and a cacophony of dialogue. The works in the exhibition celebrate the vernacular language and slang of pulp fiction and popular culture prevalent in Mexico as well as demolish the prevalent sexist clichés and stereotypes in a transgressive act of reclamation.

Ms. Amezkua hails from the Bronx wher she initiated the Bronx Blue Bedroom Project in 2008. She was included in How Soon is Now? (AIM 28) at The Bronx Museum of the Arts and has shown at El Museo del Barrio, Queens Museum of Art, Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA) in San Jose and recently had a solo show at The Taller Boricua in Spanish Harlem. Mentions of her work are included in the New York Times, TimeOut, Daily News, Queens Chronicle, among others. Her fututre exhibitions include: There Goes My Hero, curated by Erin Riley-Lopez at The Center for Book Arts; A Complex Weave, curated by Marty Rosenberg and Susan Isaacs at Rutgers University; and an upcoming project for Jersey City Museum in 2010 curated by Rocio Aranda-Alvarado.

VertexList gallery hours are Friday, Saturday, Sunday 1pm - 6 pm, or by appointment.
We are located between Graham and Manhattan Avenues on Bayard St. For more info
please visit our website www.vertexlist.net or call 646 573 5837.

Turbulence@PaceDigitalGallery

2009-03-29T14:18:00.006-04:00

April 7th
Pace Digital Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition premiering 3 works commissioned by Turbulence, Turbulence@PaceDigitalGallery.

View sound, web, and video works by R. Luke Dubois, Stephanie Rothenberg, and G.H. Hovagimyan with Christina McPhee

Opening reception Tuesday, April 7, 5 - 7pm
(Artists' presentations, 5PM; Reception, 5:30PM)
Exhibition runs April 7 - May 1, 2009

Info, directions, + Artist's Bios and Project Descriptions are available on the website.

Images, top to bottom: R. Luke Dubois, Hard Data; Stephanie Rothenberg, School of Perpetual Training; G.H. Hovagimyan with Christina McPhee, Plazaville

(re)terrain @ vertexList opening Friday, March 6th

2009-02-28T12:34:00.008-05:00

vertexList has the pleasure to present (re)terrain, a three-person exhibition by Daniel Bejar, Rebecca Loyche, and Laura Napier.

A reception will take place on Friday, March 6th, 2009 from 7pm - 10pm, with the
artists in attendance. The exhibition will be on display through Sunday, April 5th, 2009.

(re)terrain examines spaces and places of the heavily urbanized and conflicted world we live in. The exhibition looks at the social production of space as well as the malleable and volatile nature of public space. The works in the exhibition ask us to (re)consider the complex nature of the world we inhabit and the very ground we stand on.

Daniel Bejar reconfigures one of the most familiar representations of New York City- the MTA

vertexList gallery hours are Friday, Saturday, Sunday 1pm - 6 pm, or by appointment.
We are located between Graham and Manhattan Avenues on Bayard Street. For more info
please visit our website or call (646) 573-5837.

"Brooklyn DIY" : images from the premiere

2009-02-26T23:08:00.011-05:00

Brooklyn DIY premiere screening sold out!
Most of the cast was present in the audience...
The images below were taken by John Berens.

Sally Berger, the curator of Documentary Fortnight introducing the film.

Marcin Ramocki and Gene Pool, (Q&A after the screening)

The crowd.

Meredith Allen and Mike Ballou in the audience.
A short "mobile" video below.

Joe McKay speaks at Pace University

2009-02-22T23:33:00.005-05:00

Join us on Thursday, February 26 for an artist's talk by Joe McKay!
Followed by the talk there is a reception for The Aesthetics of Gaming, curated by Michelle Kasprzak.
Pace Digital Gallery
163 William Street (between Beekman and Ann Streets)
New York, NY
visit the website for info + map + directions

5PM - 6PM Joe McKay lecture
6PM - 7PM Reception with the artist

On view in the exhibition are Avoid by Joe McKay (top image), and CuteXdoom II by Anita Fontaine and Mike Pelletier (bottom image).

"the future is not what is used to be" @ Postmasters

2009-02-20T23:41:00.005-05:00

February 28 – April 4, 2009

"the future is not what is used to be"

Opening: saturday, february 28th 6-8 pm

"the future is not what is used to be” brings together artists engaged in the Internet shaped culture. Through drawings, photographs, sculpture, video, and online projects they explore social interaction in a networked world, reflection in the times of speed, new communication tools and smart technologies affecting cultural and sociopolitical reality, sustainable strategies for contemporary life, connectivity and dis-connect, digital/analog divide, instantaneity and obsolescence, the web as the largest image depository ever, and new forms of appropriation, means of production, and modes of political engagement.

What we do today shapes our tomorrows.

Kevin Bewertsdorf conducts Google searches for images that he then orders printed onto variety of objects employing online services like walgreens.com. These remotely made “Promotional Objects” transcend banality of its origins as private found imagery: from infinite web space onto a limited product, the unwitting subjects are made physical once again, staring at you across time and space.

http://www.maximumsorrow.com/

Charles Broskoski’s "Films" reverse the culture of image overload. On his site, six well known films (Pulp Fiction, Terminator 2 and When Harry Met Sally among them) play continuously on a fixed daily schedule. There is a catch: the screen is black save only for the subtitles of the dialog; an absurd comfort of knowing that the movies are always there to serve as a catalyst for visual memory.

http://www.supercentral.org/9/

Marc Horowitz found an analog way to connect with his fellow twitterers: "for the next 100 people that add me on twitter ( twitter.com/ineedtostopsoon ) I'll send you a small drawing.” The 100 drawings on view will be mailed out at the end of the show. In addition every afternoon Horowitz will broadcast “AnHourADay.me” - a livestream video and chat talkshow with scheduled field trips, interviews, concerts, covert meetings, cooking instruction, comedians, reviews, round tables, celebrity guests, LA artist studio visits, road trips, and more

http://www.ineedtostopsoon.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marchorowitz/sets/72157607123055883/

Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung has been called “the John Heartfield of the digital era” His collages and animations composed entirely of imagery appropriated from the web deliver a biting political satire. New series -“In God We Trust” - presents global and domestic challenges facing the new Obama administration with the savior president cast as different deities (Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Krishna, prophet Abraham, Yoruba Orisha Trickster God Elegua/Eshu, Buddha, and Guadalupe)

http://www.111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111.com/

http://www.tinkin.com/

Kristin Lucas pays hommage to the ever-replacable technological marvels: maclassic, a 25 years old icon of personal computing, and other nearly forgotten hardware objects are cast in colored wax as beautiful yet perishable candles

http://www169.pair.com/klucas/archive/

Michael Mandiberg’s altered encyclopedias, dictionaries, and newspapers, words incised into them with a laser cutter, highlight the loosing battle of printmedia at a time of rapid online delivery and the never ending newness of information. Everyday a fresh copy of The New York Times with the words “old news” cut onto it will be delivered to the gallery, a stack accumulating over the course of the exhibition.

http://www.mandiberg.com/

Eva and Franco Mattes (0100101110101101.org) inject new synthetic life into art long gone. Their avatars in a virtual world Second Life re-enact seminal performance works from the seventies. Gilbert and George’s “The Singing Sculpture” and Marina Abramovic and Ulay’s “Imponderabilia” are staged for a very different audience.

http://www.0100101110101101.org/

Joe McKay finds the ghosts of Google Street View van and Mapjack car. His photographs recreate these stealth vehicles from partial reflections in store windows in San Francisco.

http://homepage.mac.com/joester5/art/

JooYoun Paek’s inflatable objects are smart appliances for urban survival. A bicycle cover made from garbage bags provides inconspicuous “blend-in” protection for a city cyclist, and a self-sustainable chair inflated by walking offers its user an independence from the urban infrastructure.

http://www.jooyounpaek.com/

Sharing and communal nature and of online engagement has lead to formation of surfing clubs: group blogging sites with fast-paced conceptual exchange based on treatment and analysis of online material. Marcin Ramocki & Paul Slocum (with Spiritsurfers) will present “Where is it?,” a short video based on the blog posts of Spiritsurfers.

http://www.spiritsurfers.net/

http://ramocki.net/surfing-clubs.html

*The title of this show is a quote from Paul Valery

Postmasters Gallery located at 459 west 19th Street between 9 and 10 Avenues is open Tuesday through Saturday 11 - 6 pm.

Postmasters Gallery 459 W 19th Street New York, NY 10011 212 727 3323 postmasters@thing.net

Feb 25th: "Brooklyn DIY", World Premiere @ MoMa

2009-02-16T07:15:00.003-05:00

Marcin Ramocki and The Museum of Modern Art have the pleasure to invite you to the world premiere of "Brooklyn DIY".

Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 8:30 p.m.

The Museum of Modern Art
(212) 708-9400
11 West 53 Street,
between Fifth and Sixth avenues
New York, NY 10019-5497

Theater 1 (The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1), T1

Brooklyn DIY. 2009. USA.

A Story of Williamsburg Art Scene 1987-2007

Directed by Marcin Ramocki.

Brooklyn DIY is a long overdue examination of the creative renaissance in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Home to underground warehouse parties, anarchistic street creativity, and artist-run galleries and performance spaces, Williamsburg gave birth to one of the most vibrant and rebellious artistic communities to arise in the 1980s, permanently changing the city's cultural landscape. Featuring interviews with a host of artists and neighborhood characters, Ramocki's film captures life in a utopian universe made by artists, for artists—along with its inevitable decline in the face of real estate development, gentrification, and the post–September 11 market collapse. 71 min.

Cinematography: Lalo Molina
Edit: Jessie Stead

Associate Producers: Carlton Bright, Jason Roque
Assistant Director: Jessie Stead
Production Assistants: Zoe Willoughby, Jenine Orzechowski
Sound Mix: Chris Burke

Featuring interviews with: Joe Amrhein, Daniel Aycock, Mike Ballou, Ken Butler, Don Carroll, Lauren Cornell, Ebon Fisher, Matt Freedman & Jude Talllichet, Jillian Mcdonald, Aron Namenwirth & Nancy Horowitz, Sarah Schmerler, Ward Shelley, Amy Sillman, Becky Smith, Larry Tee, Conrad Ventur and Eric Z.

Special appearances by: Medea, Gene Pool, Adam Simon, Brian & Leon Dewan, Brian Conley, Charles Beronio, Mike Smith, Lexy Grey, Golden Triangle, Tim Spelios and many more.

http://brooklyndiy.com

http://ramocki.net

trailer: http://vimeo.com/3230069

World premiere. Q&A with director

In the Film exhibition Documentary Fortnight 2009

Screening tickets info: http://www.moma.org/visit_moma/admissions.html#top

Two Scary Shows: The Bronx and Saskatoon

2009-01-20T18:20:00.013-05:00

If you dare, see these shows!
Visit the Bronx between now and mid-March, and check out Shivers, at The Bronx River Arts Center featuring 2 videos (1 interactive) about haunted chandeliers.

Also showing is a series of lenticular prints where ordinary people turn into zombies right before your eyes. Freaky. More here.

If you're in Saskatoon, Canada, you're probably already shivering. Jo-Anne Balcaen and I installed a collaborative billboard titled "Scream" which requires 3D glasses, available at Paved Media Arts where our 2-person show featuring scream-related videos is on view through Feb 20. More here.
~Jillian Mcdonald

Rubbernecking Democracy: Pepsi endorses president-elect

2009-01-15T13:51:00.002-05:00

While watching an AP report from the war in Gaza on YouTube, an advertisement at the bottom of the screen invited me to contribute to America. I think the exact words, from the new Pepsi campaign, were "Dear Mr. President, Help us refresh the nation." Everyone it seems has jumped on the Obama merchandising bandwagon. Yesterday in the New York Times, a briefly quoted DC lawyer astutely observed the recent Obama consumption mania thusly: "when Americans want to express their excitement, they turn to merchandising."

With so many people having voted for Mr. Obama (or claiming to after the fact), it's no surprise that everyone wants a piece of him. How many articles have been written about the president-elect and his choice of cell phone? A quick search on news.google.com listed over 1,000. In addition to the usual T-shirts, bobbleheads, bumper stickers, key chains, mugs, jewelry, and tote bags, collectors will be going mad for more obscure tchotchke such as DC Metro faircards and toilet paper. Is it that far off to predict that one day Obama memorabilia could outnumber that of Elvis's? The younger set may even live to see thirty Obamas parachute from an airplane.

It's nice to see a multinational corporation such as Pepsi contributing to the celebration of democracy. (According to the Center for Responsive Politics, out of the $279,561 PepsiCo contributed to federal candidates in 2008, 58% went to Republicans.) Perhaps after the inauguration Pepsi could turn its resources and attention to promoting peace in the Middle East. Now that's change we need. But then again, that would require Pepsi to actually take a position on a live issue, not after the fact.

—Lance Wakeling

Made in U.S.A. -Party On (part 2)

2008-12-16T10:45:00.002-05:00

Charles Beronio the new director of VertexList with Glomag
*Show Extended by appointment only through Feb. 28th call 917.301.6680 0r 646.5735837

Mary Baronne and Tom Moody who writes first review
Marcin Ramocki: Founder of VertexList
Aron Namenwirth, Jay Davis, Kelly, and Dan Kopp the next Julian Schnabel
John Best (left) Jillian Mcdonald (right)
Photography: John Bailey- Thanks!
Due to some editing via blogger half initial post was edited.

Made in U.S.A. -Party On

2008-12-15T11:29:00.002-05:00

*Show Extended by appointment only through Feb. 28th call 917.301.6680 0r 646.5735837

Photography: John Bailey

Mary Alpern, John Illig, me, Sakurako Shimizu

John Berens, Bin Laden
Nancy Horowitz, John Illig

Zoe Sheehan Saldana with cellphone

1981 Atari Ring by Sakurako Shimizu

2008-12-07T16:37:00.000-05:00

Sakurako Shimizu: 1981 ATARI Ring, 2008

"1981 ATARI Ring", 18 K Gold, hand fabricated, edition of 7.

This man's ring features a precise cast of the original Atari computer chip out of 18 karat gold.

detail views

Bit Shifter @ Blip

2008-12-07T15:31:00.000-05:00

Managed to make it to one evening of the 2008 Blip festival! I checked out the new stuff by Role Model, Glomag and Bit Shifter. The ambiance was super, as always: i also liked the Brooklyn location.

I remember people were worried back in 2005 that chiptunes would be shamelessly incorporated into mainstream pop... well, seems to me like they are doing just fine on their own. It is good to see how much this scene grew! I literally knew nobody in the (rather large) audience, which is a sign that micromusic is no longer an insider playground...

Also, for the record, chiptunes have never been the same since the Scandinavian scene collided with Blip last year. Both local artists and Europeans took their music to a whole new level thanks to this rare cross pollination.

Check out an awesome bit of Bit Shifter below, and come to see Glomag next Saturday at vertexList!

Notes from ZKM

2008-12-06T00:43:00.002-05:00

I finally got around to post some images from "What Was Old is New Again", a fabulous event/conference organized by Henry Zemel (Caeno Foundation) and hosted by ZKM, Karlsruhe. This most unique gathering brought together assyriologists, architects, anthropologists, art historians, new media artists and dealers.

The most memorable presentations included the short history of "computer user" by Olia Lialina & Dragan Espenschied, a lecture on transformation of Nam Jun Paik's work from minimalism to maximalism by Barbara London, Luke Murphy's demonstration of uranium decay driven Geiger counter-perfect-randomness generator, a 3 thousand years old Babylonian song reconstructed and performed by Theo J.H. Krispijn and a very strange lecture by Bazon Brock, which made no sense at all, but everyone thoroughly enjoyed .

Olia Lialina & Dragan Espenschied

The full list of participants: Mel Alexenberg / Netanel Anor / Michael Bielicky / Bazon Brock / Yiyi Chen / Michael Cohn / Brian Dillon / Dragan Espenschied / Dmitry Gutov / Jenia Gutova / Wayne Horowitz / Th. J. H. Krispijn / Bo Lawergren / Olia Lialina / Barbara London / Naomi May / Luke Murphy / Muzaffer Ozgules / Marcin Ramocki / Morty Schiff / Irene Sibbing / Joey Skaggs / Peter Weibel / Martin Williams / Jocelyn Wolff / Henry Zemel.

The conference opened symultaneously with "Medium Religion", a huge and quite interesting exhibition curated by Boris Groys and Peter Weibel, which "aims at demonstrating the medial aspect of religion using current examples of religious video propaganda and the work of contemporary artists".

Fore some moving images of the symposium/exhibition check out the short video below.