“Dear Eric and Patricia.
You took my car. I am happy for you on so many levels, but don’t disguise it as anything other than a half-assed gesture. I’m sure the act probably had some stale thrill of transgression. but please believe me, without your self- promoting twittering and FBing to the Saltz page no one would have given a flying f**k about it. Please, you are human beings – express yourselves through yourselves. You will be dead soon. Drive my car – drive it back – then leave it at that.
Is this sad excuse for self promotion and self-definition what you wish to leave for future generations? I quote you as you exited the car: “We thought it was part of the interactivity.” Is this Disney? And as for the rest of the digi-witterers – no more mentions of “Relational Aesthetics” or ‘RA’ or whatever you need to call it… Leave that to the librarians, accountants, and score keepers. Its art. It has no name – just like the void, no name. Do you think that Donald Judd had ‘Minimalist’ on his drivers-license? Your incessant babble is deafening, fearful, and boring. Please cease.”
- Clipped from Art Fag City [where you'll find all the appropriate links to this operatic composition; it's as charming as the letter above] -Clipped from NYMagazine [Jerry Saltz's Thing]

Aidan is a 5 year old boy who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. He loves to draw and he loves monsters. He sells some prints of his drawings to raise money for his bills.

Here is his Etsy store, where you can buy his prints.
Here is his blog, where you can read more of his story.

The Internet medium is an awkward medium within the art industry. It has no intrinsic value other than providing a basic measurement of your advertising ROI for your site’s requests for engagement. Additionally, it’s immaterial and therefore incapable of generating monetary gain on its own, but rather directs the engaged to more traditional means [even online] of market exchange where they are able to collect material souvenirs of their online experience. Thus, net art is more directly capable of referring to art’s hidden social role as an abstract economy. After all, it’s one of the largest unmediated and illiquid markets in the [public] world.

With this said, there are Net Artists that continue to test the potential of the Internet medium. Rafaël Rozendaal, http://www.newrafael.com/, is a Dutch-Brazilian artist that has helped pioneer the “single serving site” and has developed an international exhibition reputation [e.g. "Los Angeles, Barcelona, Tokyo and London amongst others."]. Each site/work is an interactive animation that simply does what static works of art cannot: it plays with you/you play with it. In addition to each work’s share-value [i.e. the value produced by the gesture of sending a site link to a friend and them thinking "wow, that's pretty cool; so-and-so is cool for sharing this and now I will share this and create the same cool value for myself"], and an online store that sells limited addition prints of the work, Rozendaal sells the individual domain spaces as collectible works of art.

Recently, Rozendall has opened a new exhibition in Berlin, at The Future Gallery. Below is a video walk through of the exhibition. The following links will take you to the works being exhibited: TowardsAndBeyond.com, IntoTime.com, HybridMoment.com. Please note the corresponding title information for each work at the top of the browser window.

Occasionally, a bit of writing comes along that strikes a chord of resonance nearly too perfect to be true. The sound of this particular resonance echos around the complicated cavern of discernment that an artist’s role operates in relation to a public [whatever that may be]. Clearly, rendering a history of an artist’s behavioral tendency to perform the responsibilities and power dynamics of an institution has an essential urgency that needs to be addressed. Thus, the essay, “Art Without Artists,” by Anton Vidokle [mentioned in admiration several times before], currently being occupied by the 16th issue of the E-Flux journal, does just this. Please read the entire essay at e-flux.com/journal. If you are involved in any activities, be them collective, collaborative or organizational, you owe it to the history of your methodology to read this essay.

…

“If the artist is already expected to question the social, the economic, the cultural, and so forth, then it goes without saying that when a curator supersedes the artist’s capacity as a social critic, we abandon the critical function embodied by the role of the artist and reduce the agency of art.”

…

“If there is to be critical art, the role of the artist as a sovereign agent must be maintained. By sovereignty, I mean simply certain conditions of production in which artists are able to determine the direction of their work, its subject matter and form, and the methodologies they use—rather than having them dictated by institutions, critics, curators, academics, collectors, dealers, the public, and so forth. While this may be taken for granted now, historically the possibility of artistic self-determination has been literally fought for and hard won from the Church, the aristocracy, public taste, and so on. In my view, this sovereignty is at the very center of what we actually understand as art these days: an irreducible element considered to be the ‘freedom of art.’”

…

“It has recently been pointed out to me that as artistic production becomes increasingly deskilled—and, by extension, less identifiable by publics as art when placed outside the exhibition environment—exhibitions themselves become the singular context through which art can be made visible as art. This alone makes it easy to understand why so many now think that inclusion in an exhibition produces art, rather than artists themselves. But this is a completely wrong approach in my opinion: what most urgently needs to be done is to further expand the space of art by developing new circulation networks through which art can encounter its publics—through education, publication, dissemination, and so forth—rather than perpetuate existing institutions of art and their agents at the expense of the agency of artists by immortalizing the exhibition as art’s only possible, ultimate destination. ”

“As Group Material, Martha Rosler, and other artists in the 1980s demonstrated, curating can become a part of artistic practice just as any social form or activity can. For example, Martha Rosler’s If You Lived Here began as an immediate response to a lack of institutional support for an exhibition she was invited to do at the Dia Center for the Arts. Rosler felt that the best way to do something there was by positioning herself as curator/organizer—a kind of one-person institution rather than an individual artist. This resulted in a project comprising several exhibitions on housing and homelessness involving numerous artists, architects, activists, and community groups, which then turned out to be a seminal artwork that influenced several generations of artists including Rirkrit Tiravanija, Renée Green, Liam Gillick, Jeanne van Heeswijk, Marion von Osten, and many others.”

I like to imagine that collapsing the economy is extremely important for establishing additional relational value structures and ultimately encouraging more sustainable ways to survive together in the 21st Century. [If you're a return-reader, you are well aware of this and are probably tired of hearing me say it.]

Cue the presciently [somewhat] well supported efforts of Temporary Services, who are comprised of Brett Bloom, Marc Fischer and Salem Collo-Julin, and have been producing exhibitions, events, projects, and publications since 1998. Their latest project is Art Work : A National Conversation About Art, Labor, and Economics, and is directly concerned with the livelihood of artists in the Untited States of America.

Their efforts to establish a professional knowledge base and platform for concrete career sustainability is an incredibly transgressive action for the fine art industry [including the aspects of it that don't involve class theatrics: Jeffrey Deitch/Biennales/Art Fairs].

Finally, an organization that helps artists do what they’re not inherently good at, because they’re mostly arrested by their own intuitive organizations.

On the projects download page, you can download the publication in various formats, making the consumption of the support-oriented information extremely easy to access.

If you are an art educator, please make this publication project part of your curriculum, IMMEDIATELY.

Additionally, you can learn more about Temporary Services and the Art Work publication at Rhizome.org.

(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

 Loading ...

The following art school art talk stars an impressive cast of competent professionals such as Bruce High Quality Foundation University, Colin Lang, Robert Linsley, Mira Schor, and Howard Singerman.

The professionals discuss the professionalization of the art-field in addition to non-traditional teaching methods, the history of art’s academy, and the further development of ‘models for the future of art school.’

The two hour thirteen minute and fourty-eight second performance is a wonderful tool for discussing the art production of institutions and their abilities to define the philosophical grounds in which art develops its social functions. The performance does [through attempting to] do much more than this, but you’ll have to listen to name the what and how. Listen and download from Cabinet magazine’s site.

Additionally, this discussion is great when coupled with considerations of the amateur in relation to the professional, in After the Amature, by Ed Halter, on Rhizome.Org.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

The following promotional video is a strangely poetic visualization strategy for thinking about industries that depend on content based place-making. [I clearly like to think of "Art" working this way, as its nature of being an organically replicating collective activity is responsible for local gentrification and God knows how many tourism grants.]

The video is also incredibly helpful in my own pursuit of expressing my fascination and use of the color green.

(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

 Loading ...

The x-initiative is (for now) a non-profit art entity with a simple goal to inspire and challenge us to think about new possibilities for experiencing and producing contemporary art. The charmingly experimental intentions of “reaching across traditional boundaries” by providing a framework of investigation based in a quick responsiveness to the cultural shifts taking place around us is most appropriately realized by the pre-established life-span of the organization. The x-initiative is organized into three phases starting from Spring 2009 through Winter 2010.

Each of the phases, their accompanying artists, lectures and events are all suggestions of the durational sort and when conceptually compiled and reflected upon, as a curatorial whole, clearly represent the changing landscape of contemporary art. However, this sort of ‘changing’ in the landscape of contemporary art, is to a degree, a constant in so far as the reciprocal energy needed by artists, organizations, galleries and curators, isn’t always available, therefore rendering the inert qualities of these endeavors durational, by nature. [i.e. how many galleries and/or institutions have you seen open and close in the life-span of your attention for contemporary art?]

My favorite of the events listed on x-initiatives site is [ironically] ArtTable presents BLOG THIS! Blogging the contemporary arts, a panel discussion, 6:30 PM, 1/15.

And thus, I’d actually like to propose that all start-up arts organization design their operations to live for only one year. Perhaps this strategy might encourage more practically resourceful, thoughtfully designed operations and ideally more engaged receptions? If anything, it will help prepare those instigators involved, for the death of the organization upon inception, giving them a more vital relationship with creating something strong enough to survive longer, and a more palpable taste of acknowledgement during the grieving period.

(1 votes, average: 2.00 out of 5)

 Loading ...

If you follow art-world gossip, you’re probably aware that their is an ethical conversation happening in regards to the insularity and small-town-mindedness of the global art world. The drama is being played out by various agents of the press, and stars the New Museum and billionaire art-aggregator Dakis Joannou. The drama is rather complicated and unfolds in many directions, such as e-flux’s brilliantly immediate response announcement:
“In response to a series of articles concerning museum ethics that appeared last week in the New York Times, The Art Newspaper, Time, New York Magazine, Brooklyn Rail, Artnet, and blogs such as Art Fag City, Modern Art Notes, and JamesWagner.com, we would like to bring to your attention several helpful resources on this subject and let you know about a conference taking place at the Seton Hall University today.”

New Directions in Museum Ethics: A Conference of Graduate Student Research
November 14, 2009, 8:30 am-4:30pm
Seton Hall University
Science and Technology Building
Science Center Atrium & Room 101
South Orange, New Jersey

http://www.museumethics.org/

The International Council of Museums: Code of Ethics for Museums

American Association of Museums: Code of Ethics for Museums

The most acutely emotional, synoptic version of this currency is by Mr. Jerry Saltz’ article, Money, Insularity, and a Huge Controversy for the New Museum, in New York Magazine, where he outlines said dynamics as follows:
“In this case, the circle looks something like this: Joannou, a New Museum trustee, is friendly with Lisa Phillips, the museum’s director. Her curator, Massimiliano Gioni, has worked previously with Joannou, and he oversaw the current three-floor Urs Fischer show. Urs Fischer has curated shows for Joannou; Joannou also owns a good deal of Fischer’s work. Fischer’s art dealer is Gavin Brown, who also represents Elizabeth Peyton, Jeremy Deller, and Steven Shearer, all four of whom have had solo shows at the New Museum since it re-opened less than two years ago. I like that the art world isn’t regulated. I have seen Joannou’s collection and it is incredible. Still, when you add in Koons as the curator here the whole thing just breaks down. If only the museum would have either curated the collection itself or gotten someone else to do it …”

[The amazingness of New York Magazine's web intelligence is on display below (i.e. link appeared magically during copy/paste).]
Read more: Saltz: Money, Insularity, and a Huge Controversy for the New Museum — Vulture http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/11/saltz_money_insularity_and_a_h.html#ixzz0WqtM08Pt

However, my personal favorite relational-appendage to the situation is the following drawing, made by William Powhida, for the cover of the Brooklyn Rail [click image for link to hi-res version]:

(1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

 Loading ...

[Video: SUPERFLEX trailer]
Danish collective Superflex has created a series of films about the financial meltdown in which the artists treat the crisis as a form of psychosis to be treated by a hypnotist. The offering is a sort of therapeutic device that has a correspondence with the theatrical devices of art that have been employed in recession’s past.

This is no longer a seller’s market.
There have been claims that the art market will remain immune to the global financial crisis. However, a recent report by the USA’s National Endowment for the Arts, for example, finds that artist unemployment peaked two years after the last US recession had ended.

The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies put out a report that found respondents expect that the downturn will induce changes in consumer behaviour that will be both positive and negative for the arts.
• Less travel/cultural tourism, particularly international tourism (with an additional effect
in the USA where travel tax revenues, such as motel taxes, are often put toward the
arts).
• A shift to less expensive arts experiences.
• A shift to the arts away from more expensive leisure pursuits.
• Reduction in spending on theatre tickets, particularly single ticket purchases rather
than subscriptions (‘loyal supporters via subscription tickets likely to remain’).
• Fewer art purchases by both individuals and institutions.
• Consumption of quality and major arts experiences will be stable, but smaller local arts
may experience a decline in consumption (‘Consumers will cut back on discretionary
spending in anticipation of economic difficulties, which will skew arts attendances
towards bigger, more mainstream and crowd-pleasing fare as smaller personal budgets
make audiences more discriminating and risk-averse in their arts spending).
• Sales and private sponsorships declining in value

Positive outcomes from the downturn:
The majority of respondents expect some positive or ameliorating factors to arise from the
downturn. Three possible factors were provided in the questionnaire to stimulate thought:
• Local cultural tourism may increase, offsetting an expected decline in international
tourism.
• People will turn to the arts in times of turmoil for the arts’ ‘feel good’ factor, so demand
for the arts may not drop as much as in other sectors.
• Innovation, creativity and flexibility in the arts sector will allow it to respond better to the
downturn than other economic sectors.

Synoptic Version: The total results of the report were “mildly negative” regarding the effect the global economic downturn will have on the arts sector.

Yet, an alternative perspective is that some are considering this crisis a time for rebirth, or a pruning of unessential and/or reckless tactics of the art world’s inflation. Some critics are admittedly supporting the optimistic attributes of the crisis by referring to the problematic situation as a sort of cleansing of their excessively prompted critical capacities and bankrupt attentions. “Recessions are hard on people, but they are not hard on art,” writes Saltz. “The ’40s, ’70s and the ’90s, when money was scarce, were great periods, when the art world retracted, but it was also reborn.”

Additionally, since the 90′s, there has been a massive collective push in art that celebrates interpersonal exchange and monetary-free [via representation] models for the collective trafficking of ideas. Personally, I’m unable to reason whether or not this concern was caused by the pattern-recognition of artists, as early-adapters, or if this focus was caused by [the somewhat] newly developed exchange principles of the internet. In the past, I’ve mentioned that I was glad such times had descended upon us, as the rate in which we find creative and more self-sustaining practices of production increasing as a matter of survival. The test of this perception [one that I find myself now thoroughly engaged with] is the elasticity of hypothesis and the level of passion that the holder of such perceptions is willing to invest. I find the most important aspect of the test, to be that the understanding of such an investment must remain within the abstract terms in which the investment’s resources are culled. The difficulty of such pursuits then becomes a matter of faith, regarding the collective’s abstract equity and that equity’s relationship with an individual’s personal value system. Meaning: is it possible to really even claim self-sustainability, on the front of any ideological crisis? Or, is such a claim imaginary, and therefore empty of material resource beyond the ability to simply bring things together [conceptually]?

(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

 Loading ...