CONTENTS:
1. William Wegman, FF Alumn, in Times Square through Jan. 22, 2003
2. Stephanie Brody-Lederman, FF Alumn, in new book, “Unframed.”
3. Rae C. Wright, FF Alumn, at MacDowell Colony, through the end of December 2002.
4. Billy X. Curmano, FF Alumn, on PBS Dec. 17; also CD release of “New X, Xmas”
5. James Andrews, FF Alumn, organizes a presentation at New School, Dec. 5, 7-9 pm
6. Joshua Fried, FF Alumn, presents free performance/talk at New School, Dec. 12, 3 pm.
7. Karen Finley, FF Alumn, presents Thnk Hard Darling Creatures, Dec. 10, 8:30 PM, 45 Bleecker Theater
8. Yoav Gal, FF Alumn, has music featured in two events, Dec. 5 and 6, 2002
9. Vito Acconci, FF Alumn, exhibit opens at Austrian Cultural Forum, TONITE, 6-9 pm.
10. Komar & Melamid, Tom Otterness, Howardena Pindell, John Fekner, Kristen Jones & Andrew Ginzel, Vito Acconci, FF Alumns included in Lehman College Art Gallery’s Public Art in the Bronx website.
11. Annie Lanzillotto, FF Alumn, reads on December 7, 6-8 pm at Vino, NYC.
12. Tiffany Ludwig, FF Staffer, presents new work in Durham, NC, opening Dec. 5, 2002
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1. William Wegman, FF Alumn, in Times Square through Jan. 22, 2003
Creative Time and Panasonic proudly present William Wegman, FF Alumn, in The 59th Minute: Video Art on the Times Square Astrovision, through January 22, 2003. The 59th Minute airs on the last minute of every hour from 6 am – 1 am, seven days a week, with the exception of two daily preemptions for the NBC Today Show (7-10 am) and the Nightly News (6:30-7 pm); and for breaking news and special events in Times Square. For more information please visit: www.creativetime.org
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2. Stephanie Brody-Lederman, FF Alumn, in new book, “Unframed.”
Stephanie Brody-Lederman, FF Alumn, has paintings reproduced in “UNFRAMED Artists Respond to AIDS.” Published by powerHouse Books, this beautiful tome is a chronicle of the benefit art sales of the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA) 1993-2002. The Foreword is by Manuel E. Gonzalez and Chapter Introductions by JA Forde. The book includes 144 pages, 116 artists and 365 color plates. Special artist’s edition available with choice of original artwork by Ross Bleckner, Marco Breuer, Adam Fuss. Anna Gaskell or Philip Taaffe. www.acria.org or call (212) 924 3934 ext 107
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3. Rae C. Wright, FF Alumn, at MacDowell Colony, through the end of December 2002.
Rae C. Wright, FF Alumn, has been awarded an 8-week residency at MacDowell Colony, through the end of December 2002. She is working on Act 2 of The Moon in Vain.
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4. Billy X. Curmano, FF Alumn, on PBS Dec. 17; also CD release of “New X, Xmas”
“The Main Stream” with Roy Blount Jr., Produced and directed by Roger Weisberg. Premiers on PBS Tuseday Dec 17, 2002 at 9 p.m. ET (Check local listings)
“An offbeat journey down the Mississippi River, exploring the literal and metaphorical ‘Mainstream’ of America.”
It includes the first ever test swim of my experimental “X3C Polluted Water Wear”. Roy Blount Jr. and I yell an interview back and forth, while I try swimming casually along in the contraption. You may recall the “X3C”. It’s worn by a model in the “Swimming the Mississippi” video presented in Franklin Furnace’s “History of the Future.” It’s a production of Public Policy Productions, Inc. in Association with Thirteen/WNET New York.
Also…
Billy X. Curmano’s New X Art Ensemble announces the CD release of their Xmas deconstruction, “New X; Xmas”. This 1993 low-fidelity, cassette only release has been “normalized”, but retains the disclaimer “Warning: Boombox recording; CD sissies need not buy!” It contains a New X take on Christmas standards like “Little Drummer/Insane Drummer Boy”, “Endless Xmas Medley” and a masked version of “Silent Night”. Here’s what one reviewer had to say: “A word of caution: If Bing Crosby singing ‘White Christmas’ or Andy Williams singing about chestnuts and open fires is your Christmas carol tea, avoid this tape! However, if music makers like Ornette Coleman and the Art Ensemble of Chicago appeal to you, this may just be the weirded-out take on holiday music you’re looking for.” – Mike Starling, “LAX”, La Crosse, WI 12/15/93
Available for 15 bucks from: Art Works USA, RR 1 Box 116, Rushford, MN 55971
Cheers!
Billy X Curmano
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5. James Andrews, FF Alumn, organizes a presentation at New School, Dec. 5, 7-9 pm
Please join us for a presentation with Ester Partegas and Sze Lin Pang, Thursday December 5th from 7:00 to 9:00PM, at New School University — 55 West 13th, 9th Floor, Center for New Design (free)
Ester Partegas presents recent work plus images of inspirational spaces: voided corporate, quazi-public and double-bind environments.
Sze Lin Pang discusses a new way to celebrate the season: gift-economy performance at the New York Stock Exchange.
Organized by James Andrews. http://www.nsumi.net/partegas
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6. Joshua Fried, FF Alumn, presents free performance/talk at New School, Dec. 12, 3 pm.
Dear People
I will give a free performance and talk December 12th in NYC. Joining me for the discussion portion will be artist/writer/thinker Thalia Field, and YOU, from the audience, if you want.
Thursday afternoon, December 12th, 2002, 3pm
The New School, Tishman Auditorium
66 W. 12th Street, Main Floor
New York, NY
Radio Wonderland: I will walk out with my FM boom box, grab some audio bits on the spot, and fire up the PowerBook and Musical Shoes to slice, dice and rhythmatize the media as it flies through the air. (In other words, the usual, and still in-progress!)
Discussion: Thalia Field will engage me on the use of sounds taken by chance, the meaning of funky beats, the cultural context of it all and probably many more items which will surprise all of us. She has a forceful, funny mind and knows all the stuff I just pretend to know. We will encourage those present to join in the conversation.
I’d like to mention also that I realize that many of you are far away. I don’t expect anyone to fly out to see me, but I wanted you to know what I’m up to. A press release follows below. Peace,
Joshua Fried
http://composer.home.acedsl.com/
The Vera List Center for Art and Politics and The Institute for Retired Professionals present a performance and conversation with experimental composer Joshua Fried.
Fried will perform Radio Wonderland (for FM Radio, computer and shoes!) and award-winning writer Thalia Field (Brown University) will join him for a lively discussion on music, art and culture.
December 12, 2002 at 3:00 p.m. in Tishman Auditorium, 66 W. 12th Street,
NYC.
John Cage, who taught at The New School, made music history with his notion of “chance” in composition. Two generations have followed, and many composers have created their own brands of new music inspired by Cage’s idea of indeterminacy. Joshua Fried offers his unique take on aleatory methods.
Currently a work in progress, RADIO WONDERLAND uses a laptop computer, a boom box, plus electrified shoes–four ordinary shoes which act as a surreal drum kit. Together these elements transform fragments of commercial FM radio, grabbed live on the spot, into organized structures and patterns, sometimes funny, even funky, explicitly musical and implicitly political.
Fried says, “Machines allow the exaltation of unrepeatable moments–taken by intention or by chance. For chance methods, I am entirely indebted to John Cage who challenged us to open our ears so wide that the wild universe of all sound is heard as music. I try for something far less adventurous perhaps: to take any sound and tame it, narrowing it down to match the width of our ears as they are right now.”
Joining Fried to discuss his work, its context and other issues, will be award-winning writer Thalia Field, a specialist in interdisciplinary art, chance methods, and performance. They will take questions from the audience. This event, co-sponsored by the Institute for Retired Professionals and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School, is part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the IRP.
JOSHUA FRIED is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards. His work has been presented at Lincoln Center, The Guggenheim Museum, Juilliard, Bang On a Can Festival, The Kitchen and other venues in NYC, also in Los Angeles, Chicago, Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Prague, and Copenhagen. Fried’s recording “Jimmy Because” (with guest guitarist Fred Frith) was released by Atlantic Records; he has been re-mix producer for They Might Be Giants, Chaka Khan, and Ofra Haza.
THALIA FIELD is on the faculty of Brown University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Her collection, Point and Line, is available from New Directions. Field’s writing has appeared in Chain, Avec, Central Park, Chicago Review, FC2’s New Women’s Fiction Anthology, Salt Hill, Facture, and Conjunctions, where she was a Senior Editor from 1996-99. She guest-edited a special issue of Conjunctions (#26) on experimental music-theater (including Monk, Ashley and Partch).
Admission Is Free. For Reservations Call: (202) 229-5682
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7. Karen Finley, FF Alumn, presents Thnk Hard Darling Creatures, Dec. 10, 8:30 PM, 45 Bleecker Theater
Karen Finley and the Culture Project present ‘
“Think Hard Darling Creatures”
December 10th at 8:30pm
45 Bleecker Theater@ Lafayette Street
Tickets Available at the Door
General Admission $10/ Students $5
Featuring Performance, Video, Installation, and Music by the following Tisch School Artists: Neely Benn, Lucas Krech, Pamela Booker, Mollie Marr, Annie Campbell, Nancy Noto, Tom Duane, Kena Onyejekwe, Melissa Garjarsa, Kristen Palmer, Joshua Hoglund, Rebecca Portia, Jimmy King, Morgan Schechter, Rachel Kolar, Cody Trepte, Theresa K Smalec.
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8. Yoav Gal, FF Alumn, has music featured in two events, Dec. 5 and 6, 2002
Hi Friends, My music (and some talk) will be featured in two events this
week. Announcements bellow. Would love to see you.
Yoav
a) Please join me and several of my collaborators this coming Thursday, December 5 at Eyebeam. During the presentation Yael Kanarek will review the evolution of World of Awe since his last upgrade presentation over two years ago (April 2000). The presentation will cover Chapters 1 and 2, the love letters email dispatcher, music for World of Awe, the mRB, a sneak preview of the work-in-progress net.dance Portal and future plans. Collaborators will contribute their points of view and a new piece of music will be played.
URLs:
http://www.worldofawe.net
http://worldofawe.net/docs/WOA_map101902.pdf
Thursday, December 5, 7:30 PM
Eyebeam
540-548 west 21st street
bet 10 & 11 Ave
(No later then 8 PM)
b). Three songs of mine (two of which are actually excerpt from the up-coming “The Dwarf” opera), will be featured in this concert:
Golden Fleece LTD,Presents, SONG NEW YORK A concert of Vocal Music by New York Composers.
December 6 (Friday) @ 8:00 PM
Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow Street New York, NY
Admission $15 Students and Seniors $10
For reservations and information call: 212 691 6105
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9. Vito Acconci, FF Alumn, exhibit opens at Austrian Cultural Forum, TONITE, 6-9 pm.
International Exhibitions Publications Special Projects
Press Release
ACCONCI STUDIO
“The Making of an Island”
Opening Reception:
December 4th, 2002, 6 – 9pm
Exhibition Dates:
December 5th, 2002 -December 20th, 2002
Monday through Saturday
10 am – 6 pm
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street
New York, NY
New York City, December 2002
ART&IDEA is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition “Acconci Studio – The Making of an Island” at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. The exhibition documents the design and construction of an “Island of Water” – an interactive, multifunctional piazza for the new millennium on the river Mur in Graz, Austria, including a floating theatre, playground and café/bar.
Within the framework of the celebration of “Graz 2003 – European Capital of Culture”, Vito Acconci/ Acconci Studio (Design/ Architectural Implementation) and Robert Punkenhofer/ ART&IDEA (Idea/ Curatorial Development) develop an artificial island on the river Mur in the historic city center of Graz, the second largest town in Austria. The island opening date is scheduled for January 11th, 2003.
When Punkenhofer presented his idea and program for an artificial island to the city officials in Graz and Acconci Studio three years ago he envisioned the following: “My aim was to break the prevailing isolation between the river and the city by establishing a multifunctional, futuristic platform that offers a new public space for communication, adventure and artistic creation. Housing an open-air theatre, a children playground and a café – the island should take the city into the river and the river into the city”. A joyful, unifying piazza for the new millennium is created where people can meet and discuss, play and dance or simply daydream and relax on the water, in the water and under the water. Acconci’s design of the island reminds of a utopian spaceship and immediately sets up an unexpected oasis that unites art and nature in provocative synthesis. The island bridges the UNESCO protected historic city center with the technology driven surrounding such as proposed art center by Cook/ Fournier. The form of the island relates to the organic shape of an egg or a clam-shell cut in half and shifted along the waterline. The three parts constituting the island seem to float on the platform just like the island itself on the water. There is no single isolated space, the open air playground and the cafe covered by a glass dome are all intertwined and merge through a spiraling walkway that emphasizes the overall shape of the island including the two access ramps that connect the island with the riverbanks. “If people sit in the theatre, they see the playground in the back, if they sit in the café, they are protected by the playground forming part of the café’s roof. These different functions should not be separated radically: around the island flows water, and we wanted the construct an object that is also flowing and changeable”, explains the American artist turned architect.
The island is anchored and sits on the riverbed unless high water in spring makes it float. The challenging engineering work heavily relies on a unique system of steel frames and glass tiles. The intense use of glass stresses the lack of boundaries between the visitors and the water and creates the sensation of sitting in a bubble of air ready to drift away.
Vito Acconci, born in New York in 1940, is one of the most influential artists of our times. His first work in an art context, in the late 60’s and early 70’s, used performance, film and video as instruments of self-analysis and person to person relationships. In the mid-70’s, his audio and video installations turned exhibition spaces into community meeting places. In the early 80-‘s, participatory sculpture provided performative spaces for viewers, whose activity resulted in the construction and deconstruction of rooms, shelters, houses and buildings. At the end of the 80’s, Acconci started his architecture firm, Acconci Studio, designing public places – streets and plazas, gardens and parks, building lobbies and transportation centers – as well as exhibition displays, furniture and vehicles. Acconci Studio designs both theoretical projects and buildable spaces. Recent theoretical projects include a portable home attached to the bones of the human body, and reclamations of garbage dumps and recycling plants in Tel Aviv and Breda. Recently built public spaces are: an indoor park at the Philadelphia Airport, a plaza for the Midwest Convention Center in Milwaukee, a screened walkway to the Shibuya Station in Tokyo, a movable courtyard for the Buildings Department Administrative Building in Munich. Acconci had numerous one-person exhibitions such as at the Kunstmuseum Luzern, the Stedelijk in Amsterdam, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna. ART&IDEA is a not for profit institution devoted to promoting and facilitating a cross-cultural dialogue by organizing contemporary arts programs of international scope. Since its foundation as a nomadic project space with a permanent gallery in Mexico City by Robert Punkenhofer in 1995, ART&IDEA has presented more than 50 exhibitions and special projects in Mexico, New York, Madrid and Berlin. Past exhibitions featured the work of artists such as Maurizio Cattelan, Cheryl Donegan, Rainer Ganahl, Emiko Kasahara, Peter Land, Marko Lehanka, Teresa Margolles, Damian Ortega, Carolee Schneeman, Maria Serebriakova, Santiago Sierra, Joep Van Leishout and Bill Viola. A current edition program for the leading German weekly “DIE ZEIT” presents new projects by Jenny Marketou and Do-Ho Suh. For further information, please contact Robert Punkenhofer at punkenhofer@art-idea.com or phone +43-1-596 4364. Visit also the related websites www.art-idea.com, www.acconci.com, www.acfny.org and www.graz03.at space
ART&IDEA’s programs are generously sponsered by : Selection Finance Ltd rainerstudio.com ART&IDEA, founded in 1995 as a not for profit institution, is devoted to promoting and facilitating a cultural dialogue by organizing contemporary arts programs of international scope.
ART& IDEA
Morizgasse 8/12
A-1060 Vienna
Austria
Phone +43-1-596 43649
FAX +43-1-596 43649
punkenhofer@art-idea.com
Parque España 47
06140 México, D.F.
México
Phone: +52-55-2167 1844
haydeer@art-idea.com
www.art-idea.com
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10. Komar & Melamid, Tom Otterness, Howardena Pindell, John Fekner, Kristen Jones & Andrew Ginzel, Vito Acconci, FF Alumns included in Lehman College Art Gallery’s Public Art in the Bronx website.
http://bronxart.lehman.cuny.edu/pa
Lehman College Art Gallery/City University of New York has developed Public Art in the Bronx on the World Wide Web as a multimedia guide to the extensive public art collection of the borough of the Bronx. The site provides an overview of public art in the Bronx-from the contemporary projects currently being produced under such public agencies as Percent for Art, Arts for Transit, CityArts, the New York State Dormitory Authority, and the Public Art Fund to the earliest works created at the turn of the century, through the WPA period.
The web site features major artists including Vito Acconci, Komar and Melamid, Christy Rupp, Carrie May Weems, Tim Rollins + KOS, Justen Ladda, Rafael Ferrer, John Ahearn, Rigoberto Torres, Faith Ringgold, Tom Otterness, Jackie Ferrara, Howardena Pindell, Justen Ladda, Bill and Mary Buchen, Bob Rivera, Alice Adams, Ron Baron, Michael Kelly Williams, Janet Zweig, Wopo Holup, Jorge Tacla, Alan and Ellen Wexler, Alison Sky, John Fekner, Noah Jemisin, Walton Ford, Martin Wong, Andrea Arroyo, Kristen Jones and Andrew Ginzel, Helen Frankenthaler, Charles Alston, Paul Manship, Romare Bearden, Richard Pousette-Dart, Ben Shahn, Bernarda Bryson Shahn, Attilio Piccirilli, Jo Davidson, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, Malvina Hoffman, Frederick MacMonnies, and many others. These public art works are distributed throughout the Bronx-in subways, schools, parks, firehouses, and courthouses-and exist in virtually every neighborhood.
The web site is organized around neighborhood walking tours. It includes backgrounds on the artists and projects; a map/directory; a Bronx history component, a guide for K-5 teachers with lesson plans including follow-up art and writing activities, and a public art bibliography with print and web resources. The project, which incorporates lesson plans and ideas for teachers, provides an important model for use of community art resources to enrich the elementary level curriculum by focusing at the local level on an extraordinary public art collection in the Bronx.
This site has been developed through the generous support of: National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Institute of Museum and Library Services/National Leadership, Initiative “Museums On-line” program, New York Council for the Humanities, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs/Cultural Challenge Program, New York State Council on the Arts Technology Initiative, Bronx Council on the Arts, J.P. Morgan; the Robert Lehman Foundation, Inc., Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Inc., Henry Luce Foundation, Inc., and New York Community Trust.
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11. Annie Lanzillotto, FF Alumn, reads on December 7, 6-8 pm at Vino, NYC.
You are invited to a Wine Tasting and Book Reading celebrating the poems and stories of writers from the new anthology:
The Milk of Almonds: Italian American Women Writers on Food and Culture
edited by Louise DeSalvo and Edvige Giunta
Saturday, December 7, 2002
6:00pm-8:00pm
Vino (an Italian wine and spirits shop)
121 East 27th Street between Park and Lexington, NYC
writers: Annie Lanzillotto, Cheryl Burke, Rosette Capotorto, Edvige Giunta, Joanna Clapps Herman, Phyllis Capello
vocalist: Michela Musolino performing traditional Sicilian and Southern Italian songs
for more information about the event call 212-725-6516 or go to www.vinosite.com for information on how to order the book go to www.feministpress.org
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12. Tiffany Ludwig, FF Staffer, presents new work in Durham, NC, opening Dec. 5, 2002
Two Girls Working
Tiffany Ludwig & Renee Piechocki
Trappings; Solo Exhibition
Durham Arts Council
5 December 2002 – 6 January 2003
Opening 5 December 2002, 6-8 PM
What do you wear that makes you feel powerful?
Two Girls Working: Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Piechocki celebrate the one-year mark of their project Trappings with a solo exhibition at the Durham Arts Council in Durham, NC.
Trappings instigates dialogue about contemporary approaches to women’s issues by taking the daily ritual of getting dressed and recontextualizing it to ask women to ask themselves what they think about power. Two Girls Working have met with a wide range of women, from diesel engine mechanics, stay at home moms and fashion industry mavens to artists, nurses and women returning to the workforce. Trappings presents the opportunity to question ideas about power, as well as the expectations, beliefs and assumptions that are created based on appearance.
The installation at the Durham Arts Council has two parts, each containing photos and audio interviews on personal cd players. In the main gallery, 11 of the women who have participated in the project are presented in large scale digital prints with audio works that feature the women in dialogue with each other on topics that are related to clothing and power including work, social status, sex and gender, transformation, personal power, and money. In the second part of the installation, a broad survey of the participants are presented in smaller portraits and their complete individual interviews.
Visit the project website, http://www.xexuit.com/trappings to see installation images and listen to select interviews.