implicit art

yeh, that’s pretty much all i got right now.

- defrosting in Florida with Teh Fam

Merry Christmakkah! Happy new year!

The turkey is defrosting (mmmm, bourbon basting), Sidonie stayed up late (for a two year old) last night eating chocolate and playing with her new doll house from her ouma (OMG I have the cutest daughter ever), and I have little bit of morning to pound out a blog on what will probably be the only full day off I take this year (OK, OK, I already spent 30 mins on my dissertation when I first woke up, but the thing has to get done, right? Wait, is blogging ‘work’?).

So for my Tops of 2008: A Different Kind of Year in Review, I’ve decided to go with four different Top 5 lists: The Top 5 people I newly met in 2008, The Top 5 people I’d like to meet because of what they did (or the work I saw from them) in 2008, The Top 5 exhibitions for me (what I found most enjoyable), and The Top 5 shows I wish I had seen, but didn’t. Hope you like it! Feel free to comment, leaving any things/people I missed but might (or should have) enjoy(ed)!

The Top 5 people I newly met in 2008

1. Scott Kildall. A great net.artist, video artist, SL performer, and more - and becoming a great friend - check out his work if you don’t know it, and expect some collaborations from the two of us in the near future. Scott and I were introduced online through a mutual friend over a year ago, and did several shows together because of that contact, but only met in person for the first time this year.
   

   Scott Kildall's 'Uncertain Location,' 2007

2. Camille Utterback. Also an amazing (and award-winning) artist, working mostly in interactive media, Camille makes appearances in my recent writings on Rhizome and in my dissertation. She came out for the Act/React exhibition in Milwaukee, on which she has 3 works; we did dinner and grad crits, and plan to hang out again in San Fransisco before too long.
3. Edward Winkleman (that’s his blog link, here is his gallery). I popped in to curator and gallerist Ed Winkleman’s space for a chat on my stop-over in New York when moving from Ireland/South Africa to Milwaukee for the new job. He is as professional, excitable and generous with his time, critique and advice as his blog suggests.
4. Zach Lieberman (his site seems to currently be down, so that link googles him). Co-creator (with the also awesome Theo Watson) of openframeworks, the free, open source, multimedia art development environment, Zach is an Ars Electronica-winning artist, Eyebeam fellow and NYC-based teacher. I took an openframeworks workshop with him in London, where he “adopted” everyone there: a promise to help us with our work how- and whenever he could in the future.
5. Jessica Meuninck-Ganger, my new printmaking collaborator who I speak of at length here. Expect much from us in 2009.

Top 5 people I’d like to meet because of what they did (or the work I saw from them) in 2008

1. Rachel Maddow. Maddow is the only news pundit I’ve ever had a crush on. (Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert don’t count). I’ve been following her for over 3 years now - I used to listen to her show on Air America via the internet in South Africa - and she gets even cooler as she gets more famous.
2. Brian Massumi. Yes, I’ve been going on about cultural theorist and philosopher Massumi for ages; but I still have not met him, I am more familiar with his work the more I write about it, and he does have a new essay out in this book. I still find his Parables for the Virtual dreamy.
3. Johan Grimonprez. A brilliant video -actually, it may be film- and print artist. Grimonprez is obviously obsessed with Hitchcock and all he has done to culture and vision, and gifts it back to us in the most stunning and unusual ways. You must see his 2005, Looking for Alfred. I wish he had more of an online presence!
4. Ai Weiwei. I saw Chinese art celebrity Ai Weiwei’s interdisciplinary art work at dokumenta 12 - and I can’t remember where else - in 2007, and have been reading up on him ever since (and so am counting him in 2008). His site does him no justice, so google him. Amazing.
   

   Ai Weiwei's 'Template'

5. Shai Agassi. Have you read this guy’s ideas for the electric car? Check out this Wired Article on him and his work/mission.

The Top 5 exhibitions for me (what I found most enjoyable)

1. Act/React at the Milwaukee Art Museum. This exhibition of full-bodied interactive art was like a welcome present - it opened just weeks after my arrival to my new home. It’s a great show - you really should go see it if you are in the Midwest before it comes down early next year. Read my review here.
2. Juan Muñoz: A Retrospective at the Tate Modern. Granted, part of my enjoyment of this show was the company and conversation (every time I go to London, the wonderfully gregarious Michael Szpakowski takes me museum/gallery hopping), but Muñoz’s work also encompasses some of the most affective and gut-wrenching sculpture I’ve ever seen.
   

   Juan Muñoz, Many Times, 1999. Polyester and resin, Dimensions variable

3. Song of Solomon at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland. This was actually a performance-based adaptation of an 8-channel generative sound sculpture by Ralph Borland (fellow South African artist and Trinity grad student) and Julian Jonker, but I found the performance version wonderfully moving. See slightly more about the piece, and what I thought, here.
4. When enough people start saying the same thing, Michael MacGarry at Art Extra, Johannesburg, South Africa. This show was a double wammy: it proved MacGarry’s standing as the new hot young art star in South Africa, and simultaneously solidified David Brodie’s standing as the hot new gallerist. The latter already has an ongoing and reciprocal deal with Cape Town’s Michael Stevenson Gallery. Also, the show was great. More here and here.
5. Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia: The Moment Art Changed Forever at the Tate Modern. So it’s a historical show and the second one I’ve put from the Tate, but what a show! And Michael really is fantastic to talk to about art - it makes the whole experience much more exciting. Also, check out his beautiful vlog.

The Top 5 shows I wish I had seen, but didn’t

1. (REPEAT) from the beginning, William Kentridge’s new solo at the Cape Goodman in Cape Town, South Africa (and elsewhere). Need I say more? This is on now.
   

   Construction for 'Return' (Conductor), 2008, Steel, black paint, Two identical figures, each c. 61 x 61 x 33cm

2. The Art of Participation, 1950 to Now at SF MOMA. This show makes both implicit and explicit connections between relational aesthetics and interactive / net.art, through historical and contemporary work. And several of my friends are on it!
3. Take Your Time, Olafur Eliasson at MoMA and P.S.1. Eliasson has gotten to the point where he is big enough that it is trendy to hate him - and yeh, as Paddy Johnson asserts, his waterfall in NYC sucks. But from what I have seen of his work, I am sure this retrospective was stunning.
4. .ZA Young Art From South Africa at Palazzo delle Papesse, Sienna. Many of the new, young contemporary art stars from South Africa are on this exhibition. They all deserve props, and I wish I could have been there to give ‘em some. Here’s a review by Rat Western.
5. Jozi and the (M)other City at Michaelis Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa. A group show of commissioned works by South African artists on their relationships to the cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town, and also the commissioner/premier  for my Doin’ my part to lighten the load. Some of the work looks awesome, so I was really sad to miss it. Sigh. I miss you, South Africa (especially from under all this snow in Milwaukee!).

Dude, I forgot how long proper blogging takes. That’s all I got. Happy Holidays!!!!

Here’s a great project by A. Bill Miller and Brandon Bauer in Milwaukee.

Blatz Beer Baron

Say the artists (slightly edited):

The work was presented at the Blatz Building in Milwaukee as part of the Make Your Own History group exhibition. This site is more in line with what we originally intended for the project.

The 15 animated gifs act as portraits across time, highlighting two important moments in the history of Milwaukee.

Each of the 15 Beer Barons/ Breweries that were in operation in Milwaukee at one time is represented by one portrait. This moment was the rise of Milwaukee industry and effected how the city became what it is. The texts come from Milwaukee newspaper coverage of the Brewery Union Workers strike that, according to some local historians, eventually lead to the end of beer brewing in Milwaukee. This in turn lead to the departure of industry and jobs from Milwaukee and effected how the city became what it is now.

Link - some great animations!

Tis the season to be giving. Remember: net.art and digital art and interactive art would not be where they are today without turbulence.org. They don’t offer memberships, don’t have a community list-serv, don’t have comments on their site. But every other major community -with memberships or not- is constantly and consistently talking about what they do, and who they support. They have several amazing, ad-free blogs, have commissioned hundreds of international projects, and are all-around ongoing supporters of the arts in ways that have touched all of us in some way.

I gave $25 before I did my holiday shopping. Please, if you have not spent all your money for the year yet, you should, too. Every dollar counts.

Contribute to turbulence here.

From AFC:

• My goal is to raise $6,000 by January 1, 2009.

• Momenta Art has generously offered to umbrella Art Fag City under their 501-C3 status so readers can write off their donations. They process all on and offline contributions, and ensure the funds are not used for profit purposes.

• By contributing to this fundraiser, donors are not only supporting the efforts of one blogger, but staking a claim for the value of independent blogs in a climate of mainstream media arts cutbacks.

Read more and find the PayPal link here!

Update 1: I’m a turd and forgot to say that this comes via MTAA’s blog. Sorry, dudes.

Update 2: You can also donate - and in a smaller increment than via Paddy’s site, if things are tight - via the support AFC facebook page. I just gave $10

Seriously. This was our 6th snow of the season (and it’s not even Christmas!) adding another 16 inches to the already large sum of white stuff from the sky - until it all freezes into ice tomorrow when it is 20 below (F, which is more than 30 below in C - granted this includes the wind chill, but STILL). It was up to my knees, up above my daughter’s waste; it was 3 ft tall in front of the garage. But it does make for neat photos with the kid. Slideshow follows:

DIVAS LIVE
experience the magic…
UWM DIVAS Junior/Senior Project
Peck School of the Arts

WED, DEC 17th 6-9 PM
Kenilworth Square East
1925 E. Kenilworth Pl. @ 4th floor
use west entrance
FREE ADMISSION

DIVAS LIVE is a multimedia exhibition that showcases student work from the DIVAS Junior/Senior Projects class along with work from the Film Department’s Sound As Art and Sound Recording and Digital Audio classes. The show will feature interactive installation, animation, photography, audio and video. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information contact
Contact Person: Brent Coughenour
Title: Course Instructor
E-mail: cokenrc@aol.com

one night only at the Kunzelmann-Esser Gallery

Friday, December 12th 6-10pm
Kunzelmann-Esser Gallery
710 West Historic Mitchell Street, Second Floor
Milwaukee

material is a one night exhibition of audio and video installation including interactive, experimental, formalistic, and political work.

Artists Include Jesse Egan, Sean Kafer, Kim Ziegler, Kris Martinez, Nicholas Teeple, Matthew Dunlop and Garrett Gharibeh

organized by Nathaniel Stern and Ashley Morgan

with support from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
Peck School of the Arts, Visual Arts Department and
ArtSite

So I’ve been in Milwaukee for three months now, nearly four, and things are finally starting to settle. My first semester of classes is over, I’m finishing up my dissertation, am all unpacked, and even have a one-night show with one of my art classes opening this Friday (more on that tomorrow). It’s time to really start making again, I’ve decided, and part of that, for my current practice at least, means finding a great collaborator. Enter Jessica Meuninck-Ganger. Jessica, the head of “Printmaking and Narrative Forms” at UWM, and I will be working together on a large-scale installation, print and video project/series over the next year or so (which will also involve some Internet and socially participatory activities), and much of the work will hopefully be shown here in the Midwest, as well as with my South African gallery, Gallery AOP, in the near future.

More on Jessica via her web site and below.

Jessica’s Statement:

My artwork is a mix of personal journal, documentary, and impressionistic narrative. Its content develops out my research and involvement with individuals dealing with brain trauma, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. I produce prints, collages, and participatory installations that reference the inherent time-based elements of story telling and memoir, but imply the deterioration (decline) of sensible narrative progressions. I often use book structures as a way of mediating a story by tapping viewers’ expectations; and I am interested in presenting challenges or discontinuous shifts from that norm. I am not an “edition” printer, but create one-of-a-kind assemblages, artist books, and printed props that function within the context of performances or relational works.

I recently discovered/invented a new process that allows me to print etchings on the surfaces of three-dimensional forms using a vacuum former, photo-printmaking films, PVC, and plaster. This presents an exciting opportunity for “pages” to further exceed their conventional two-dimensional limits and physically fall onto the floor. A good friend and colleague, Nathaniel Stern, is also introducing me to new technologies that I intend to incorporate in a new collaborative body of work. I’m excited about investigating how to further manipulate spatial and time-based elements, traditional and new.

Bio:

Jessica Meuninck-Ganger’s prints, artist’s books, and mixed media works have been exhibited regionally, nationally and internationally and her prints and books are included in several private collections as well as in portfolios owned by the Weisman Museum of Art and the Target Corporation. She’s received numerous residencies and fellowships, and has instructed various printmaking courses and workshops at the South Bend Regional Museum of Art, Charles Martin Youth Center, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.

“Teaching is a privilege that offers me the unique opportunity to exercise my commitment to emerging artists and further explore and share my studio disciplines.” Jessica is the Printmaking Area Head and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She taught Fine Arts courses at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design; and both, Fine and Liberal Arts courses at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design.

She began her professional career teaching in the Elkhart Memorial High School art department where she received the Sallie Mae Outstanding Beginning Teacher award. While teaching in Indiana, she co-chaired the Scholastic Art Awards for the Indiana/Michigan region and taught summer courses through the Elkhart School Corporation’s Gifted and Talented Program. She received her MFA in Studio Arts from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2004 and a BS degree in Visual Arts Education from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana in 1995.