May 23, 2011
+Progressive Programming
Programming [a host of activities] itself is a medium that should be discursively reconsidered within the field of shifting organizational responsibility and transnominal embodiment. For the past few weeks I’ve been noting several new programming initiatives, both institutional and non-institutional, that make a strong case for being as progressive as the art and/or artists they typically champion. Below is a small compilation of a few of these programs.
-KOW ISSUE 8: GENERAL STRIKE
One of my favorite galleries [and gallery spaces] in Berlin is the relatively new KOW Berlin. The gallery’s conceptual agenda is rooted in their conviction that the social dimension of artistic practices is what makes them helpful in understanding the conditions, and in influencing the modes, of our individual and collective lives.
More specifically, GENERAL STRIKE is published as the eighth contribution to KOW ISSUES, a sequence of projects in varying formats that explore the social and political implications of artistic practices. Conception, texts, and graphic design: Alexander Koch.
From the excerpt:
“Artists are positively expected to criticize the society in which they live. Criticizing art—the market, the institutions, the role of the creative outsider in which many people like to cast them—is likewise a conventional part of what they do; in Institutional Critique, it has even become the central feature of a distinct art movement. But what happens when artists go so far as to criticize not just individual features of the art world but art as a whole?”
This is the transcendent beauty of criticality as ouroboros. I’d love to see more blogs dedicated to this theme alone.
-REGIONALISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY
On Saturday, May 7th, 2011, Glasstire and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth presented a panel in celebration of their 10th anniversary. The issues being discussed are apropos to many of the issues being [mostly unconsciously] projected by the artist and art collective behavior of mimetic institutionalization.
“Regionalism in the 21st Century” featured Robert Storr, dean of the Yale University School of Art and curator of the 2007 Venice Biennale; David Pagel, Los Angeles Times art critic and associate professor of art at Claremont Graduate University; Toby Kamps, curator of modern and contemporary art at The Menil Collection in Houston; and Michael Galbreth, one of the artist duo known as The Art Guys. The panel was moderated by Christina Rees, a Glasstire correspondent and director of Fort Worth Contemporary Arts.
-INSTANT CINEMA
Instant Cinema is a comprehensive platform for experimental film, video and computer art, making the best audio-visual work of artists of all generations available to a worldwide audience.
The fact that they’re presenting several Bas Jan Ader works alone should be enough reason to inquire further. The interface itself is rather beautiful and lends itself well to the question of whether or not the portability of video art will lead the way in the technological hyper-weaving of art and everyday life. Also, please read the about page.
-FREE PROPOSALS FOR ART SCHOOL CRITIQUE
artschoolartcritiques.tumblr.com ✔
-KURATOR
KURATOR is a combined curatorial agency and research platform at the intersection of art, technology and society. It has a particular interest in the emerging discourse and practice that links curating with programming, software and networks.
KURATOR’s core activities include projects, research and publications. A repository of all contents in the database can be found in the Archive section.
-A Conversation on Useful Art #1
“It’s time to put Duchamp’s urinal back into the restroom” —Tania Bruguera
On Saturday, April 23 Immigrant Movement International hosted A Conversation on Useful Art #1, an event organized by artist Tania Bruguera as part of Immigrant Movement International, a year-long, socio-political movement initiated by the artist in Corona, Queens and presented by Creative Time and the Queens Museum of Art.
Tania Bruguera’s Immigrant Movement International, presented in partnership with the Queens Museum of Art, is a long-term art project in the form of an artist-initiated socio-political movement. Bruguera will spend an entire year operating a flexible community space in the multinational and transnational neighborhood of Corona, Queens, which will serve as the movement’s headquarters. Engaging both local and international communities, as well as working with social service organizations, elected officials, and artists focused on immigration reform, Bruguera will examine growing concerns about the political representation and conditions facing immigrants.
