The Data Stream

Irrelevant Topics

2009-07-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

From Beck's website:
Tom Waits x Beck Hansen : Pt. 1

"Irrelevant Topics in a new section featuring conversations between musicians, artists, writers, etc. on various subjects, without promotional pretext or editorial direction. For the first in this series of conversations, the legendary musician and performer, Tom Waits agreed lend an hour of his time to talk about anything and nothing in particular.

Here is Pt. 1 of that conversation."

[Text and graphic from Beck website. Thanks to CDN in Napa for the tip.]

SoCal Dorkbot 37

2009-07-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

Machine Project
1200 D North Alvarado
Los Angeles, CA 90026
213-483-8761

Saturday, July 11 | 1 pm
Dorkbot SoCal 37

Robots and interactive technology in everyday objects, media-generated cities, and sensors + visuals.

[text from Machine Project website. Graphic from Google image search for 'SoCal Dorkbot.']

The Fog of War

2009-07-06T08:54:00.001-07:00

Errol Morris

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

Robert McNamara (June 9, 1916 — July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense. McNamara served as Defense Secretary for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1968.

[Text from Wikipedia. Graphic from film's official website. Fog of War won an Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2004. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Wondermare

2009-07-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

apexart
291 Church Street
New York, New York

July 8 - August 8
Wondermare
Curated by Susan McIntosh and Albert Wilking

Opening|Scene One: July 8, 6-8 pm
"Be part of the cast in an interactive film epic where expectations are challenged and realities are remade.

Wondermare is based on the notion that much of the behavioral conditioning programmed in our subconscious is the unhealthy byproduct of a world out of balance, a "house of cards" on the brink of catastrophe; the truth of which is obscured from us by our own myopic pursuits and illusions.

The exhibition uses as its setting the story of Alice in Wonderland precisely because it contains anecdotes about the rites of passage into adulthood. The tale consistently resists an easily defined linear structure and at the same time confronts the confusing and often nonsensical rituals that we must travel through in order to obtain a civilized or adult persona in the world we see through our looking glass.

...

It is time to fall down a rabbit hole, to play a new role and forge a commitment to a different reality.

Welcome to Wondermare."

Participating Artists:
Sophy Bot, Ken Cypert, Sean Dineen, Tegan Flanders, Mimi Fontana & Manhattan Tribal, Adrian Harpham, The Highline Erotic Arts Gallery & their beautiful team, Natali Jones, SH Lace, Vivien Lewit, Kelly Lincoln, Ian Phillips, Alberto Pinto, Charlie Reis, Joseph Teichman, Ronny Wasserstrom, Martha Williams (The Movement Movement), Dred Williams

more

[text and graphic from apexart press release.]

Vive le tour!

2009-07-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

[On the first day of the Tour de France, arguably the world's greatest contest of athleticism and most exhilarating celebration of national pride, we link to the origin of the event's name. Vive le tour!]

"Le Tour de la France par deux enfants (1877) is a French novel/geography/travel/school book. It was written by Augustine Fouillée (née Tuillerie) who used the pseudonym of G. Bruno.

The book was widely used in the schools of the Third Republic, where it was influential for generations of children in creating a sense of a unified nation of France. Its success was such that it reached a circulation of 6 million copies in 1900, It was still used in schools until the 1950s and still in print to this day. It was sometimes known as "the little red book of the Republic."

The story recounts the journey of two young brothers from Alsace, Andrew and Julian Volden, who, following the annexation of the Alsace-Lorraine by the Prussians in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War, and the death of their father, go in search of family members through the French provinces. The diversity of the people they meet lead them on to learn more. There are passages on the taste of local foods, the strange patois, mitigated by methodical learning. It is very patriotic and emphasis civic education, geography, scientific, historical and moral youth. The story teaches about monuments and symbols, exemplary lives of inventors, soldiers and patriot benefactors. They are very zealous to learn more about France. The accumulated wealth of knowledge: agriculture, home economics, hygiene ... leads them to establish a perfect farm called "La Grand'Lande," symbolic of the nation of France."

[text–lightly edited–and graphic from Wikipedia.]

"Your Bright Future"

2009-07-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036
1.323.857.6000

Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea
through September 20

"The exhibition features work by a generation of artists who have emerged since the mid-1980s—some well-known and others on the brink of recognition—working on the cutting edge of international art trends and within a distinctly Korean context. Featuring site-specific installations as well as video, computer animation, and sculpture, the exhibition represents each artist through a large-scale installation piece or substantial body of work."

more:
Los Angeles Times review by Christopher Knight

Los Angeles Times article, "From 99-cent Only Store to LACMA, Korea-style," on participating artist Choi Jeong-Hwa

[Text from the LACMA website. Graphic from the LA times. Caption: "Bahc Yiso, 'Your Bright Future,' 2002/2009, electric lamps, wood and wires. Cross-posted to Signal Fire. Thanks to FB friend JJ in LA for the tip.]

The League of Imaginary Scientists

2009-07-01T00:01:00.001-07:00

Outpost for Contemporary Art
6375 N. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90042

apexart Franchise | Outpost for Contemporary Art | The League of Imaginary Scientists present:

X, Y, Z, and U

"... an exhibition and a series of related workshops and interactions by artists and scientists who use participatory and experiential mapping in their work. The League of Imaginary Scientists is an art collective whose work pairs the creative experimentation of the science lab with free-floating and far-fetched ideas that are decidedly not guided by science. x, y, z, and u includes artists and scientists who are not members of the League, but whose practice also marries their creative practice to experimentation."

participating artists and scientists: Kim Abeles|Kelly Jaclynn Andres|Jason Bobe and Mackenzie Cowell |Liz Kueneke |Andrea Polli and Chuck Varga

nb: through July 3

[text from Outpost public information mailing. Graphic from The League of Imaginary Scientists website. Thanks to JJ in LA for the tip. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

All-Star Jazz 1958

2009-06-29T19:11:00.000-07:00

The Odgen Museum of Southern Art
University of New Orleans
925 Camp Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
504.539.9600

JTimes All-Star Jazz Show 1958: Photographs by Jerry Dantzic

On April 20, 1958, Jerry Dantzix photographed one of the few studio sessions between jazz greats Louis Armstrong and Lionel Hampton, who were rehearsing for the Timex All-Star Jazz Show at the CBS Studios in New York City. More than 30 photographs of this historic occasion, as well as a video of the show.

[text and graphic from museum website.]

Gay Icons

2009-06-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

National Portrait Gallery
2 St. Martin's Place
London WC2H 0HE
England +44 20 73122490

July 2 – October 18
Gay Icons

Selected by Waheed Alli, Alan Hollinghurst, Elton John, Jackie Kay, Billie Jean King, Ian McKellen, Chris Smith, Ben Summerskill, Sandi Toksvig and Sarah Waters

"Gay Icons explores gay social and cultural history through the unique personal insights of ten high–profile gay figures, who have selected their historical and modern icons. The chosen icons, who may or may not be gay themselves, have all been important to each selector, having influenced or inspired them."

more

[Photograph from NPG website. Caption: Gisèle Freund, "Virginia Woolf." Colour print, 1939. Click on image to enlarge. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Auto(biography)

2009-06-27T08:50:00.001-07:00

Gallery 16
501 Third Street
San Francisco, California 94107

Alice Shaw:
Auto(biography)

In her exhibition, Alice Shaw has employed others, such as a handwriting analyst and a psychic, to tell her information about herself that she may not have been aware of. She has taken what she has learned from these sessions and made artwork in response to this new knowledge.

Shaw, primarily known as a photographer, has also used painting, printmaking, drawing, and other media to illustrate her responses. Shaw looks at the theory that 'digital photography is more closely akin to painting than traditional photographic techniques because of its malleability.' She also believes that the digital arts has created a 'society of skeptics.' Auto(biography) sets out to satisfy these skeptics, and suggests 'we should not always believe what we see.'

Through July 3.

[Text and graphic from gallery website.]

Man in the Mirror

2009-06-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

Frontier Preachers

2009-06-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Soap Factory
518 2nd St SE
Minneapolis, MN

June 6 – July 26, 2009
Frontier Preachers

"As cities that sit at the origin and conclusion of the great Mississippi River, New Orleans and Minneapolis are connected by commerce, travel, and folklore. Long after the heyday of the Mississippi River as the central artery in the heart of America, Frontier Preachers developed out of a desire to investigate this rich history through the work of contemporary New Orleans artists Tim Best, Kyle Bravo & Jenny LeBlanc from Hot Iron Press, Aubrey Edwards & Allison Fensterstock, Courtney Egan, Stephen Collier, Sally Heller, Srdjan Loncar, Cynthia Scott, David Sullivan and Dan Tague.

Curated by Jayme McLellan, Civilian Art Projects, Washington, DC

[text and graphic from Civilian Art Projects website. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

New York Night Train

2009-06-20T18:11:00.001-07:00

Civilian Art Projects

[graphic from Civilian Art Projects mailing. Click on image to enlarge.]

Chet Atkins

2009-06-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

[On the occasion of the eighty-fifth anniversary of the birth of Chester Burton "Chet" Atkins, below a live performance of his first major hit. Headset recommended.]

His trademark "Atkins Style" of playing, which was and is very difficult for a guitarist to master, uses the thumb and first two — sometimes three — fingers of the right hand.

Many happy returns.

[text from the Wikipedia entry for Chet Atkins.]

Bloomsday

2009-06-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

"Bloomsday is a commemoration observed annually on 16 June in Dublin, Ireland, and elsewhere to celebrate the life of Irish writer James Joyce (1882 – 1941) and relive the events in his novel Ulysses (19220, all of which took place on the same day in Dublin in 1904. The name derives from Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses. 16 June was the date of Joyce's first outing with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle, when they walked to the Dublin village of Ringsend."

[text from Wikipedia entry for Bloomsday. Photograph from Google image search for 'James Joyce.' Caption: "James Joyce by Bernice Abbott, 1926." Click on image to enlarge.]

¡Salud!

2009-06-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center
Community Events

341 Delaware Ave.
Buffalo, NY 14202
1.716-854-1694

Monday, January 15, 2009 7 p.m.
Latin America Solidarity Committee presents:
Cuba and Global Health - Featuring a Special Screening of the Documentary Film ¡Salud!
Free

2006, USA
Produced & directed by Academy Award nominee Connie Field

"A timely examination of human values and the health issues that affect us all, ¡Salud! looks at the curious case of Cuba, a cash-strapped country with what the BBC calls "one of the world's best health systems." From the shores of Africa to the Americas, ¡Salud! hits the road with some of the 28,000 Cuban health professionals serving in 68 countries, and explores the hearts and minds of international medical students in Cuba—now numbering 30,000, including nearly 100 from the USA. Their stories plus testimony from experts around the world bring home the competing agendas that mark the battle for global health—and the complex realities confronting the movement to make health care everyone's birthright."

more

[text and image from Hallwalls website. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

The End of Oil

2009-06-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

Exit Art
475 Tenth Ave
New York, NY 10018

1.212 966 7745

June 13 – July 31
The End of Oil

"A project of SEA (Social-Environmental Aesthetics) , The End of Oil is an exhibition of photography, prints, videos, installations and new media that addresses human dependence on oil and other fossil fuels; the ramifications that this dependency has on the future of the environment and of global geopolitics; and the recent push towards viable alternative energy resources.

In July 2008, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies (OPEC) announced that the price per barrel of oil had climbed above $130. About five months later, in December 2008, the New York Times reported that oil had fallen below $40 a barrel, less than a third of the July 2008 price. In the first six months of 2009, oil prices seem to have steadied around $55 a barrel. These fluctuating oil prices are evidence of the instability of global oil markets and reminders of our urgent need to develop alternative fuels and forms of energy.

The works in this exhibition draw attention to and investigate the violent conflicts (such as in Nigeria, Burma and Sudan) and negative environmental effects that result from mining and drilling; the politicization of the oil industry; carbon-footprinting; and renewable energy options, such as vegetable and electric-powered cars, geothermal energy, and solar power. The End of Oil does not prophesize a dystopian future, but looks critically at the way in which we use and generate energy, encouraging a dialogue on this issue for the benefit of future generations."

Featured Arists: Khalil Chishtee, Louisa Conrad, Robert Ladislas Derr, Dominic Gagnon, Ed Kashi Matt Kenyon, Michael Mandiberg, Andrei Molodkin and Jo Syz.

more

[graphic and text from Exit Art website. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

The Reverse Ark: In the Wake

2009-06-10T07:54:00.000-07:00

Contemporary Museum
100 West Centre Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
410.783.5720

The Reverse Ark: In the Wake
through August 22, 2009

"The Contemporary Museum will serve as gallery, laboratory, workplace and studio to explore the social and environmental history of Baltimore"s mills and textile industry in the site-based exhibition The Reverse Ark: In the Wake, on view through August 22, 2009.

Using the concept of an "ark" as a place of preservation and exploration, the San Francisco-based Futurefarmers art collective created a multidisciplinary exhibition that explores culture, science, and the environment. Created using locally-sourced waste and surplus materials including fallen trees, hundreds of floorboards from abandoned row homes, cast-off paper, and surplus clothing and textiles, The Reverse Ark fills the museum with literal and figurative illustrations of Baltimore"s industrial past.

Works in The Reverse Ark mimic nautical elements with interactive components. A massive loom resembles a sail, which visitors can help weave to completion. A printing press, also doubling as a sail, invites visitors to fasten stamps to their feet and press letters onto surplus newsprint. Oars fashioned from harvested floorboards and mounted through the museum walls can be rowed, while a ladder made from reclaimed wood creates the illusion of a mast.

Community involvement was integral to the creation of The Reverse Ark, for which Futurefarmers put out a call for donations of recycled items for use in the exhibition and volunteers to assist in building the ark. This engagement is continued in The Reverse Ark Schoolhouse. In the tradition of free schools and with a shared curiosity about learning, The Reverse Ark Schoolhouse hosts public workshops, readings, and discussions in an exploration of the environmental themes of the exhibition.

Concurrent with The Reverse Ark, the Contemporary Museum is also presenting works by artist Hugh Pocock, in the complementary exhibition My Food My Poop. The exhibition is the result of a 63-day experiment during which the artist weighed all the food and drink he consumed, and the waste he eliminated in an analysis of human consumption and energy production."

[text and graphic from museum press release. Caption: © Courtesy Amy Franceschini, Futurefarmers.  The Reverse Ark exhibition at the Contemporary Museum. Cross-posted to Signal Fire]

wow

2009-06-08T11:51:00.000-07:00

Laguna Art Museum
307 Cliff Drive
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
1.949.494-8971

WoW: Emergent Media Phenomenon

"... explores various forms of cultural production based on World of Warcraft in particular and on gaming in general. While surveying Warcraft's Fifteen-year history, the exhibition looks at artistic practices that have been influenced by game culture. The actual works by the producer of World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment, provide a starting point and reference."

more

[text and graphic from museum website, which provides the additional information: "This exhibition is generously supported by Blizzard Entertainment, the Samia Family and Tierzero." Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

The Louvre during the War

2009-06-07T22:29:00.001-07:00

Musée du Louvre
Paris, France

Through August 31:
The Louvre during the War - Photographs 1938-1947

"Through a remarkable grouping of 56 photographs, this exhibition invites visitors to discover the life of the Louvre during the Second World War.

Bringing together French and German images taken between 1938 and 1947, many of which have never before been on public display, it offers a new perspective on the evacuation and the later re-installation of works amid the upheavals of war."

more

[text and photograph from the Louvre website. Caption: "Pierre Jahan / Archives des musées nationaux. "l'ascension de la Victoire de Smothrace." Click on image to enlarge.]

x-initiative

2009-06-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

"X is a not for profit initiative of the global contemporary art community that will exist for one year and present exhibitions and programming in four phases."

X INITIATIVE

June 24–28
NO SOUL FOR SALE – A Festival Of Independents
548 W. 22nd Street
New York, New York

[graphic: screen grab from x-initiative website. Cross-posted to Signal Fire.]

Mbongeni Buthelezi

2009-06-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

Pretoria Art Museum
Cnr Schoeman and Wessels Str
Arcadia Park
Arcadia
Pretoria
Republic of South Africa

Albert Werth Hall
Mbongeni Buthelezi

through August 16

[graphic from Seippel Gallery Johannesburg website. Caption: "Mbongeni Buthelezi, Qhum`size (Skipping), 2007, plastic painting, 245 x 520 cm."]

The Way Things Are

2009-06-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

"I have this notion that art occurs in the process of life itself, and you don’t have to go outside of the context of your own life. It’s all there, and you just tap into it. You open up to it. You have to make yourself available to possibilities."

David Ireland
August 25, 1930 - May 18, 2009

more

[Quote from Oakland Museum website. Image from the Los Angeles Times. Courtesy of Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco. Caption: "Interior view of 500 Capp Street." With "Broom Collection with Boom," 1978/88. Brooms, wire, copper, concrete, and C-clamp. 52 x 31 x 82 inches.]

Social Innovation + Civic Participation

2009-05-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

[From NPR's May 28 Morning Edition]

White House Creates Office Of Innovation
by Pam Fessler

"The Obama administration has created the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. The idea is for the government to work with nonprofit organizations to identify programs that have had proven success in tackling social problems, such as homelessness and joblessness, and then to expand those programs across the country. The office will in effect provide seed money for the most innovative ideas."

Listen

[text from NPR web site. Graphic from Google image search for 'Office of Innovation.' Cross posted to Signal Fire.]

Meliès Cinémix

2009-05-28T12:04:00.000-07:00

Jean Vigo Evénements
Meliès Cinémix

Friday, May 29
6:30pm - 8:20pm

Cour Mably
3, rue Mably
Bordeaux, France

Cinéconcert "mix" par Flamen autour de l’intégrale de Georges Meliès, sur des enregistrements de musiques instrumentales de Pierre Thilloy et des sons électroniques de Flamen.

Par le mix, le DJ allie et enchaîne différentes idées musicales pour les faire avancer ensembles, parfois vers un même but : bien souvent la danse...
Pour Guillaume Flamen (DJ producteur/remixeur, pianiste), ce cinéconcert est un cinémix.

L'objectif de ce cinémix est d'accompagner musicalement de façon actuelle des films de Meliès datés de 1905. C'est proposer un mix de musiques et de procédés : le DJaying et l'accompagnement instrumental de films muets ; le déclenchements de fichiers audios et le jeu improvisé ; le soutien ou la destabilisation du sens de l'image.
Les ingrédients de ce cinémix ?
- un cinéma poético-humoristique à effet spéciaux première génération
- une musique instrumentale, de chambre ou symphonique aux sensations fortes, à l'image de péplums grandioses
- des sons electro/minimale/house/ambient empreints de groove old-school et teintés de culture web & blog.

[text from FB event page. Graphic from image search for "Meliès."]