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Don’t miss Lynn Hershman Leeson’s shocking new film, “Strange Culture,”
which documents the case of artist and professor Steven Kurtz and
geneticist Robert Ferrell, accused in 2004 by the U.S. Justice
Department of “bioterrorism” and currently awaiting trial. The case
threatens to set dangerous precedent by eroding the boundary between
civil and criminal law, and by criminalizing those who legitimately and
legally criticize government policy.

::WATCH THE TRAILER HERE::
http://www.strangeculture.net/media/qthi-strangeculture.mov

“4
STARS… ‘Strange Culture’ is an important heads-up to what is going on
in our country right now in the name of national security, and a
brilliant statement on artistic freedom and the dangers it faces.”
–Film Threat

::UPCOMING SCREENINGS OF “STRANGE CULTURE”::

April 25
Toronto
Hot Docs

April 27
MCA Chicago

April 28, May 4 & 5
San Francisco Film Festival

June 15
New York, NY
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival
Lincoln Center

Oct 1
New York, NY
MoMA

For more information about screenings please visit:
http://www.strangeculture.net

For more information about the case, and how you can help:
http://caedefensefund.org

Originally by joy garnett from NEWSgrist - where spin is art

Originally by joy garnett from NEWSgrist - where spin is art

Originally from

Originally from

from Cory Arcangel's blog; though i'm all for that text, it's worth reading a discussion that happened on Tom Moody's blo, with pros and cons and relevant debated points. 

Offline Art Show
(editorial note: this was a comission from low-fi and was posted on their website a few months ago, … for all those out there who have tired of the "hyperlink", I have now reposted it here in an alternative "link-free" form …).

Hello, for this project I have been asked to curate a small "online" artshow by low-fi.org.uk Therefore, for a reason I am unable to explain myself, I have decided to put together this show "offline" aka - with no internet connection. So, since I have no Internet, I can't check my bookmarks to see whats Ive been interested in lately, and I cant search though my email to help me remember cool stuff I've seen lately, so basically I just have to remember the stuff off the top of my head. My theory is, if I can't remember it, it wasnt worth remembering in the first place. Because it is only stuff I can remember, this show also has no content theme………I also will not at any time during this curating effort be hooking my computer to the internet, therefore, this show will contain no links. I will describe the best I can how to find these projects I like, but from there you are on your own. Internet art and the related scene is too easy and that is one reason people dont talk about it like they talk about art that takes up real space. To see art that takes up actual space (a painting for example), you have to get up, put on some nice clothes maybe, get in a car or bus, pay some money, climb some stairs, and only then you can see whatever it is the museum is showing. Compared to that, a few google searches wont hurt you,… so toughen up. Also please note, that I do not distinguish between art and non art. ….. We are past that moment so lets all please get over it. (The internet even makes this easier for us because everything is presented on an equal plane. A youtube movie of a dog skateboarding, has no visual or contextual difference from an artwork by some fancy artist). cool? Ok, ready, here we go:

Personal Kyoto. This is a project by Ben. Just google "Personal Kyoto". You will find it. I know Ben cause he is a fellow at Eyebeam.org where I am currently a research fellow. I also have no idea what Ben's last name is (I of course would check it I was allowing myself the use of the internet), but I really like this project. Basically, if you live in NYC, you type in your con-ed (thats the people who give you electricity) energy bill number, and this project shows you your energy usage in a fancy graph, and then shows you what you need to do to achieve a 20% reduction. In the future when energy costs alot, we will have things like this cause it will be a great way to save money. Kinda like Quicken for energy. But now, it takes some non-profit muscle and forward thinking. Awesome.

Of all the Youtube videos I have seen lately, my favorite one has been of an old grandmother shooting a machine gun. So to find this I would try to youtube search "grandma machine gun", or just google that and it should come up. I think a problem with most youtube videos and viral video in general is that you are laughing AT the people, but this one I think is different, cause you end you laughing with the people. Also in a weird way this video makes me proud to be an American. Yes, we have back yards with rusty cars and yes we shoot machine guns for fun. Basically I like the "dont f$%k with us" side this country still has. It has gotten a bad rap lately cause of the Bush administration, but this video I think shows it in a positive light.

John Michael Boling is next. 53o's. To get to his page, type in www.gooogle.com, but put 53's o's in "google". Yep. There is a video on John's page called 3 weddings and a funeral. Basically it is 4 embedded youtube videos. Three of a wedding, and one of a funeral. I am always a sucker for art projects that are plays on words, and pop culture, etc, etc…. And while your at it, try to google Pierre Bismuth's Bruce Nauman out of order video. I am not gonna try to explain this one, except that the effect is of going to a Bruce Nauman exhibition and seeing an "out of order" sign stuck on one of the TV's (except of course this is a work by Piere Bismuth). There are not very similar, but for some reason I associate one with the other. I also associate the band "Letters to Cleo" with the book "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Truman Capote. Im getting off track here… Also I should include here Emma Davidson's "My Worst Nightmare" video. To find this, google "Emma Davidson my worst nightmare", or try "lektrogirl my worst nightmare". Anyway, you should be taken to a page similarly with 3 embedded youtube videos, but here each guy is playing a bongo (or course all to different tempos). I also hate bongos. Getting back to John, google "nastynets", …it is an internet surfing club website he is part of. Check it out. There should be some cool stuff there. I like these group blogs that have been appearing lately. On this tip also check out supercentral.org.

Let get back to the youtube tip, —> I just thought of another wicked youtube video. Search for on google "paint, exercise, and make blended drinks TV". This should take you to a youtube video of a cable access show in which the host does the show on a treadmill, while teaching people how to paint, also while teaching people how to make blended drinks (i know, proof Western civilization is not anywhere near being over…). Then, if you go to the page of the guy who made it (you can google his name a poke around his site a bit)… somewhere on there it should take you to an ebay auction of his where is is selling a painting named "portrait of Tyra Banks done while on a treadmill". it is of course exactly what it says. Yep, I approve 100% of both projects.

While we are talking about video, google "Jack Goldstein" and "ubuweb" and you should come to a page on ubu web (the great site that archives the coolest of the avantguarde stuff). Basically this page has in quicktime format films (ok, ok, more exactly films transferred to video transferred to quicktime) by the legendary jack goldstein. Goldstein among other things is known for his early films. I think these are notable 4 a few reasons. One is their use of appropriation (check the one with the Metro Goldwyn lion roaring over and over again…in fact i take back what i just said cause i think that is the only one that uses found footage, but its a doozy…my own work looks pretty small next to the tall shadow left by this very film). They are also wicked cause of their simple visual beauty. It amazing today with all the neo/post/wiseass/conceptual art, etc, etc, how effective some well put together and balanced visuals can be. The other great thing about these films are his production methods. He was an early artist who worked with Hollywood production techniques. Basically, he would hire small Hollywood crews and special effects people to make his films. This is wicked common now, but not in the late 70's. Anyway, get to know your history and school yourself on this page. And while your at it, check out Alvin Lucier's page on ubu web. There is a recording of his super famous "I am sitting in a room" which is a very important / cool work. Oh yeah, and while your there also check out Mary Lucier. Her "burn" work is wicked, though I am not sure if it is there, but anything of hers is worth seeing.

I'm running low on steam here, but do yourself a favor and google "Chinese democracy". This is the name of the new Guns N roses record. I am sure something interesting will come up.

To be perfectly honest, I cant think of anything else right now. Hope you enjoyed this information. Feel free to throw this around the Internet. Copy / paste, etc, etc. <——————— Cory Arcangel 2k6

Originally from cpb::softinfo : Weblog on April 16, 2007, 5:08am

wordreference.com being the website i visit the most, i had to pay an explicit hommage, after the implicit one i made a couple of days ago. click again:

Originally from cpb::softinfo : Weblog on April 15, 2007, 10:03am

wordreference.com being the website i visit the most, i had to pay an explicit hommage, after the implicit one i made a couple of days ago. click again:

Originally from cpb::softinfo : Weblog on April 15, 2007, 10:03am

This jpeg of a print by Ryan McGinness comes from Paddy Johnson’s blog. She’s talking about the marketing of this image and this artist and it’s worth a read to show you the mechanics of the hype and real estate and brand-building. I’m posting it on a slightly different topic, which is the “defaults” school of digital art. This strikes me as a very good example. It’s got the flat “Adobe Illustrator look” but this artist doesn’t make any bones about it. It’s a preset, and he is using it very well. There’s no getting around the content, either–any collector who buys the print will be looking through a prison camp fence, stylishly dressed up and tastefully layered as it might be. Several years ago I wrote about an installation by McGinness in a gutted building, soon to be renovated, on Lafayette–it also didn’t hide the digital “facture.” It was kind of the reverse of the above image–instead of a bleak adornment of a tony loft, the Lafayette show presented slick product logos on the inside of a “pre-owned” structure.

This post could probably read in tandem with one on Nasty Nets showing the similarity of some recent work by abstract/conceptual photographer James Welling and an Adobe Illustrator promotional graphic. Compare and contrast the relations of artists to well-known imaging software.

It could also be read together with my short interchange with a commenter about the use of presets in music (or more specifically the familiar interface Cubase.)

Originally by tom moody from Tom Moody on April 11, 2007, 11:49am

There are some very lovely things in Martellen’s Flickr set.
(Via I Like/City of Sound)

Originally by marbergrid from Ace Jet 170 on April 6, 2007, 2:21pm

Sol LeWitt died yesterday. If you have had your eye on Dataisnature for a while, you will have heard his name mentioned a lot on these pages. Just after time of the ‘heroic’ gestures of Abstract Expression Lewitt conceived of a new language utilising simple impersonal forms in repetition and modulation, often drawing directly onto the wall. The fact that these Conceptual drawings were designed to be painted over solidified Lewitt’s claims that the ‘idea behind the work supersedes the work itself’ and that ‘The idea becomes the machine that makes the art.’ Prophetically for our times Lewitt also said that “Ideas cannot be owned. They belong to whomever understands them.”

The works are conceptual and aesthetically pleasing at the same time and Lewitt’s path eventually lead him to writing instructions for making a piece of art. These instructions meant that his works could be recreated anywhere and more importantly it represented a shift in ‘artistic authority’ from a centralised model to a distributed one. The idea of ‘instruction based art’ was incredibly forward thinking when we consider the contemporary practices of digital generative artists and their use of code and algorithms to make ‘pictures.’ More so the concepts and philosophies dealing with ownership have never been more relevant.

This is a nice tribute and a good explanation of LeWitt’s importance. Yet the early sentences on conceptual art were better than the somewhat boring process-based line drawings that resulted from them and those line drawings were better than the later, somewhat tacky ink wash drawings that became permanent fixtures of museums after LeWitt’s canonization. Would that it were true that many works were “designed to be painted over.” Also, I believe many artists using computers misunderstand LeWitt’s relevance to them. The key sentences for me are the first ones:

1. Conceptual artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach.

2. Rational judgements repeat rational judgements.

3. Irrational judgements lead to new experience.

4. Formal art is essentially rational.

5. Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically.

As Rosalind Krauss interpreted LeWitt,

the experience of the work goes exactly counter to ‘the look of thought,’ [which critics such as Donald Kuspit and Suzi Gablik were claiming for it] particularly if thought is understood as classical expressions of logic. For such expressions, whether diagramatic or symbolic, are precisely about the capacity to abbreviate, to adumbrate, to condense, to be able to imply an expansion with only the first two or three terms, to cover vast arithmetic spaces with a few ellipsis points, to use, in short, the notion of et cetera.[….]

In Variations of Incomplete Open Cubes….what we find is the “system” of compulsion, of the obsessive’s unwavering ritual, with its precision, its neatness, its finicky exactitude, covering over an abyss of irrationality.

Krauss compared the “Open Cubes” to the activities of an obsessive-compulsive in a Beckett novel who had an elaborate system for moving “sucking stones” between various pockets and his mouth (see earlier discussion re: Manfred Mohr). Yet many digital artists still fetishize logic and “the look of thought” with artworks based on data analysis and modeling, even more egregiously when the art purports to highlight or “solve” some social condition. (See generally VVork.) LeWitt is not really for them, only a recuperated idea of LeWitt.

Originally by tom moody from Tom Moody on April 10, 2007, 10:58am