Franklin Furnace’s Goings On
June 24, 2005
CONTENTS:
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1. Nicolás Dumit Estévez, FF Alumn, NYC art pilgrimage walk, June 28-29
2. Alexander Komlosi, FF Alumn, in Hunter NY, July 9-10
3. Red Dive, FF Alumn, in lower Manhattan, thursdays, June 30-Aug. 18
4. Sue de Beer, FF Alumn, at the Whitney at Altria, June 27, 7-10 pm
5. Murray Hill, FF Alumn, in London, England, June 28-Aug. 1
6. Mendi Lewis Obadike, FF Alumn, at the New Museum, thru Sept. 10
7. Zlatko Kopljar, FF Alumn, reviewed in the NY Times
8. Halona Hilbertz, FF Alumn, at Pussycat Lounge, NY, June 28
9. Susan Leopold, FF Alumn, at Hudson River Museum, opening TONITE.
10. Lee Gordon, FF Alumn, at Luxe Gallery, NY, June 30-July 30
11. Stanya Kahn, FF Alumn, at Elizabeth Dee Gallery & Participant, starts TODAY
12. Deborah Garwood, FF Alumn, reviews current show at Marian Goodman Gallery
13. Koosil-ja, FF Alumn, at Location One, NY, June 25, 8 pm
14. Franc Palaia, FF Alumn, in three exhibitions, Summer 2005
15. John Fleck, Andres Serrano, FF Alumns, in Sunday L.A. Times, and more.
16. Anton Van Dalen, FF Alumn, at DFN Gallery, NY, thru Sept. 2
17. Vitaly Komar, FF Alumn, at Ronald Feldman Gallery, thru July 29
18. Simon Cutts, FF Alumn, at Christian Brothers School, Cork, Ireland, July 1-Aug 13
19. Gabrielle Hamilton, FF Alumn, in Food & Wine magazine, July 2005
20. Jennifer Miller, FF Alumn, announces “Princess” in NYC parks, Sept. 05
21. Annie Sprinkle, FF Alumn, in June 22-28 issue of NY Press
22. James Scruggs, FF Alumn, Disposable Men, reviewed in NY Times, June 14
23. Lady Pink, FF Alumn, honors Guerrilla Girls, in new mural
24. Liza Bear discusses Avalanche magazine, Chelsea College, London, June 25
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1. Nicolás Dumit Estévez, FF Alumn, NYC pilgrimage walk, June 28-29
FOR ART’S SAKE
The longest way home: From Downtown Manhattan to the South Bronx
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Franklin Furnace host a work by Nicolás Dumit Estévez
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) and Franklin Furnace are proud to partner on interdisciplinary artist Nicolás Dumit Estévez’s yearlong performance series For Art’s Sake. Several torturous pilgrimages enacted by Estévez were conceived as a part of the LMCC/Workspace: 120 Broadway residency program and the Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art.
Estévez models his piece after the Catholic El Camino de Compostela in Spain, where devotees travel to the tomb of St James, staging a series of pilgrimages that reverse the relationship between art and religion. In this project, religion becomes a tool in the service of art as the artist endures journeys that begin in Lower Manhattan and conclude at several NYC museums. Passersby are encouraged to help him endure each penance and provide the artist with physical and moral support. They may offer to help him carry his backbreaking load of art catalogues or cheer him on as he travels on his knees to a museum. Alms collected during the journeys will be used to spread the word about the project. Upon completion of each penance, a passport credential is signed by the director of each institution or by an appointed official.
On his second pilgrimage of the series, on June 28 & 29th, Estévez forges his way backward from 120 Broadway in lower Manhattan to his home borough’s Bronx Museum of the Arts. As night falls on June 28, Estévez asks Longwood Arts Project/Bronx Council on the Arts for “posada,” a place to rest. He spends the night sleeping on a hard bed of art catalogues provided by Longwood. The following morning, he has a nourishing brunch of exhibition-opening food (crackers, Brie, grapes and red wine). The rest of the day is spent at the gallery reading about art history. The strenuous two-day journey comes to an end on June 29, 7:30pm, when the director of The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Olivia Georgia, officially greets him at the doors and signs the passport that Estévez keeps as an official record of the journeys. The reception that follows also celebrates 25 years of the Artists in the Marketplace Program (AIM). Other performance sites are yet to be determined.
Those wishing to offer support during the pilgrimage are invited to meet up with Estévez along the way. To find his exact location as the journey progresses, call 917-302-9492.
A component of Estevez’ project includes a handmade, limited-edition devotional and instructional guide to be developed at the Center for Book Arts in New York.
For the first journey on March 20, Estévez was heavily laden with donated art publications strapped to his back on a trip that took him from the heart of the world’s financial capital to Spanish Harlem with a departing blessing performed by noted performance artist Martha Wilson, Director of Franklin Furnace. The pilgrimage ended at El Museo del Barrio in time for a red wine reception that celebrated Estévez’s arrival and marked the closing of the exhibition Retratos: 2,000 years of Latin American Portraits. El Museo del Barrio’s Director Julián Zugazagoitia commemorated the performance by signing Estévez’s passport.
Nicolás Dumit Estévez is an interdisciplinary artist working primarily in performance art. His work has been exhibited in New York at P.S.1/Clocktower Gallery, Sculpture Center, El Museo del Barrio, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Henry Street Settlement/Abrons Arts Center, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Queens Museum of Art, Longwood Art Gallery, Art In General, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning and at The Newark Museum; at the Museo de Arte Moderno and Museo del Hombre Dominicano in the Dominican Republic and Museo de Ciencias y Arte (MUCA/Roma) in Mexico City, and other venues. In 2001-2002 he was chosen to be part of The National Studio Program at P.S.1. His awards include, a Special Editions Fellowship from the Lower East Side Printshop, an Independent Projects Grants from Artists Space in NY, a Puffin Foundation Grant, and a Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art. Estévez is currently the recipient of a 2003-2006 Lambent Fellowship in the Arts from Tides Foundation and a Michael Richards fund from LMCC. He holds a Residency from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and a Cyber Residency at Longwood Arts Project in the Bronx. In 2005, Estévez performed at Madrid Abierto (ARCO 05) in Madrid, Spain.
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2. Alexander Komlosi, FF Alumn, in Hunter NY, July 9-10
The Office of the Professional Human Being will be appearing live atThe 6th Annual Mountain Culture Festival in Hunter, New York
The Office of the Professional Human Being will be appearing live at The 6th Annual Mountain Culture Festival, presented by the Catskill Mountain Foundation, in the Village of Hunter, New York on the weekend of July 9th and 10th, 2005.
Part performance, part opportunity for public and personal reflection, The Office of the Professional Human Being, presented by Alexander Komlosi, P.H.B., will be available for visits by festival goers on both Saturday and Sunday. The Office will be open from 10 A.M to 1 P.M. and 2 P.M. to 6 P.M. both days. No appointment is necessary for the initial twenty-minute session. Clients may register with the Professional’s Assistant. The Office tent will be located on the festival grounds.
Begun as a respectful parody of the psychotherapeutic process, The Office of the Professional Human Being has grown to become a real and virtual event during which people share and reflect upon the distinctive experiences that characterize what it means to be human. The initial consultation – conducted by Komlosi in English, French, or Czech – is free.
Festival goers will be able to visit The Office of the Professional Human Being and address such questions as:
-Are you interested in becoming a human being? Do you feel you already are one?
The 6th Annual Mountain Culture Festival, presented by the Catskill Mountain Foundation, celebrates distinctive mountain culture and landscapes throughout the world by bringing international and regional music, art, fine crafts, film, food, farm animals, and family fun to the Village of Hunter on the weekend of July 8th, 9th, and 10th.
In just six years, the Catskill Mountain Foundation has become one of the premier cultural organizations in its region, with the goal of presenting the work of outstanding artists from the Catskill region and beyond. The 6th Annual Catskill Mountain Culture Festival promises to attract nearly 6,000 people. The Festival is designed to entertain, educate, and enlighten festival goers of all ages.
Alexander Komlosi is a Czech-Russian-Slovak-Polish-German first-generation American writer, director, and actor whose work explores the energy and dynamics of open, honest, and joyful communication. Although The Office of the Professional Human Being has been open for consultations in the Czech Republic and France since 2000, The 6th Annual Mountain Culture Festival will be The Office’s first appearance in the United States. The performance is made possible, in part, by the Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art, supported by the Jerome Foundation in celebration of the Jerome Hill Centennial and in recognition of the valuable cultural contributions of artists to society, and the New York State Council on the Arts.
For more information and/or directions contact: info@professionalhumanbeing.net
or
Pam Weisberg, ext. 209, Weisbergp@catskillmtn.org, www.catskillmtn.org/mcf/index.php
The 2005 Mountain Culture Festival, The Catskill Mountain Foundation, 7970 Main Street, P.O. Box 924, Hunter, N.Y., 12442, Ph: 518-263-4908, Fax: 518-263-4459
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3. Red Dive, FF Alumn, in lower Manhattan, thursdays, June 30-Aug. 18
This summer come on a Peripheral City tour of lower Manhattan
This event is presented by SITELINES and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s River to River Festival.
And it is free, free, free!
Ready for an urban expedition? Guides in orange jumpsuits lead these walking tours, revealing personal stories collected from the neighborhood, unusual historical facts, and public art along the route through the narrow, winding streets of the financial district. All done in a distinctively Red Dive fashion- featuring live music, dance and performances along the way.
Thursdays this summer-
June 23, June 30
July 7, July 14
August 11, 18
Tour times- 12pm, 1pm, 2pm
Reservations at 212-615-6797 or just show up.
Meet us under the big black & white sculpture at 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza
Located between Liberty, William, Pine & Nassau Streets
Trains- 4, 5 to Wall Street, J, M, Z, A, C, 2, 3 to Broadway/Fulton-Nassau Streets
map
http://www.reddive.freeservers.com/images/map.jpg
Produced by Red Dive
Tour Guides- Kerry Lowe, Dani Nolan & Maureen Brennan
Composer- Fred Wright
Choreographer- Ashley Smith
Musicians- Sam Kulik, Adam Kriney
Dancers- Kate Garroway, Susanne Grochett, Colleen Hooper, Kim Whittam, Jessica Wiess
Red Dive is Ellen Baird, Maureen Brennan, Kerry Lowe, Ashley Smith and Joy Delp
http://www.reddive.freeservers.com/
Peripheral City is presented by LMCC’s Sitelines which is produced in association with the Downtown NYC River to River Festival 2005.
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4. Sue de Beer, FF Alumn, at the Whitney at Altria, June 27, 7-10 pm
Downtown Arts Projects and The Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria
Invite you to the Launch Party for Downtown Arts Projects’
EMERGE Book Series
and the first title
EMERGE: Sue de Beer
Monday, June 27, 2005
7 – 10 pm
Summer Halloween costume party with special performance
by The Prosaics
* Masks provided, costumes encouraged *
Admission by invitation only
RSVP required for guestlist or present invitation at door
Reply to info@downtownarts.org by 5pm on June 26
Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria
120 Park Avenue at 42nd Street
New York City
Published by Downtown Arts Projects, the EMERGE series is comprised of monographs on important early-career visual artists who are at the forefront of current contemporary art practice.
Info: www.downtownarts.org or 212.243.5050
EMERGE: Sue de Beer: Executive Editor: Simon Watson. Editor: David Frankel. Editorial Coordinator: Howie Chen. Essays by: Shamim M. Momin, Trinie Dalton, Jens Hoffman, Casey McKinney, Brandon Stosuy. Monologues and reprints by: Alissa Bennett, Dennis Cooper, Rachel Greene, Alexandra Phanor, Brian Sholis, Holland Cotter, Ellen Blumenstein, Bruce Hainley. Design: Omnivore. Distributed by D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers.
Sue de Beer: Black Sun is currently on view at the Whitney Museum at Altria. The exhibition was organized by Shamim M. Momin, associate curator Whitney Museum of American Art, branch director and curator.
EMERGE: Sue de Beer has been generously supported by:
Marianne Boesky, Ursula Kalish, Cher Lewis, Lybess Sweezy & Ken Miller, Jackie & Julian Taub.
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5. Murray Hill, FF Alumn, in London, England, June 28-Aug. 1
Hey gang!
What a beautiful week –I’m sweating bullets over here in my 3-piece polyester suit. I lost 20 pounds…but somehow, the suit is still a bit tight…anyway.. I’m heading to London to guest star in a show in the West End! Seven shows a week kids! That’s a lot of fish and chips. Please visit if you are overseas and send your pals!
Have a great summer and godspeed.
Only regards,
Murray
A new theatrical phenomenon has arrived in London’s West End – IMMODESTY BLAIZE & WALTER’S BURLESQUE! Audiences are invited to rediscover the lost arts of tasselling and tease in an intoxicating and glamorous atmosphere where they’ll see show stopping routines infused with infectious energy and opulent charm. New York City’s Murray Hill guest stars from June 28 – August 1st.
ARTS THEATRE
Great Newport Street, Leicester Square, London WC2H 7JB
Tue – Thur at 8pm | Fri & Sat 7pm & 9.30pmm
£18.50 £25 £30 £32.50 £37.50 | Groups 10+: £27.50
Box Office 020 7836 3334 or
http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/promo/132?affiliate=W258
More info and pix:
http://www.mrmurrayhill.com
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6. Mendi Lewis Obadike, FF Alumn, at the New Museum, thru Sept. 10
Mendi’s net art piece “Keeping up Appearances, a Hypertextimonial” is in the RHIZOME ArtBase 101 show currently at the New Museum in New York. The work uses minimalist coding to highlight the tension between what is said and not said in a story structured by silences. You can find it on the monitor designated for the CYBERFEMINISM works and at http://www.blacknetart.com/keepingupappearances.html
RHIZOME ARTBASE 101 surveys salient themes in Internet-based art-making, a practice that has flourished in the last ten years. The exhibition presents forty selections from Rhizome.org’s online archive of new media art, the ArtBase, which was launched in 1999 and currently holds some 1,500 works by artists from around the world. Featured works are grouped by ten unifying themes and include seminal pieces by early practitioners as well as projects by some of the most pioneering emerging talents working in the field today. Encompassing software, games, moving image and websites installed on computers or elaborated in installations, Rhizome ArtBase 101 presents the Internet as a strapping medium that rivals other art forms in its ability to buttress varied critical and formal explorations.”
RHIZOME ArtBase 101, Media Lounge
June 23 – September 10, 2005
New Museum of Contemporary Art
556 W. 22nd Ave. NYC 10001
Telephone 212-219-1222
Email newmu@newmuseum.org
http://www.newmuseum.org/now_cur_RhizomeArtBase101.htm
Til next time,
M+K
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7. Zlatko Kopljar, FF Alumn, reviewed in the NY Times
Congratulations to Zlatko Kopljar, FF Alumn, who was included in Carol Kino’s “Croatian Artists Set their Sights on New York” in the June 23rd New York Times.
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8. Halona Hilbertz, FF Alumn, at Pussycat Lounge, NY, June 28
Hi Bubilis,
Full Tank’s last Tuesday at Pussycat Lounge is approaching!
Last DANCE! Last CHANCE! So head on down there…
Remember our courageous, hilarious and hot GoGo Boy Matt from a while back?
Well, this time GoGo Boy “J” will amuse you….bring a fistful of singles!
Yours always,
Full Tank
TUESDAY JUNE 28
8 PM FULL TANK
9 PM MELOMANE
10 PM EIGHTEEN
11 PM TEENANDERTHAL
PUSSYCAT LOUNGE
96 GREENWICH ST. (2 BLOCKS SOUTH OF WTC)
Subway: 1/9 or N/R to Rector Street, or 4/5 to Wall Street.
www.pussycatlounge.com
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9. Susan Leopold, FF Alumn, at Hudson River Museum, opening TONITE
Susan Leopold: Castles and Untold Stories
thru September 5, 2005
Opening reception: Friday, June 24, 2005 7-9pm
The Hudson River Museum
511 Warburton Avenue
Yonkers, New York 10701
RSVP 914-963-4550, x333 e-mail invitation@hrm.org
For the museum website, go to http://www.hrm.org/index.html
To view the artist’s website, go to: www.fractured-visions.com
Susan Leopold designed her work for the Hudson River Museum to explore Bannerman Castle, a romantic ruin on Pollopel Island in the Hudson River. Her panoramic photo-construction plays with perspective, the poetry of decay, and the bizarre history of this dramatic edifice.
Directions:
By Train:
Grand Central Terminal, Take Metro-North Hudson Line local train (Croton-Harmon direction) to Glenwood or Yonkers Station. From Glenwood – walk up the hill and take the first left on Ravine. Follow this street through the park and the path will lead you straight to the museum (about a 5 minute walk). From Yonkers, the Museum is approximately $5 cab ride from the station.
For more information: directions http://www.hrm.org/information.html
Susan Leopold
Cell: (646) 279-5989
E-mail: leopold13@earthlink.net
www.fractured-visions.com
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10. Lee Gordon, FF Alumn, at Luxe Gallery, NY, June 30-July 30
I am in a group show about one of our favorite subjects, “It’s Not About Sex”, at
LUXE Gallery
24 West 57th Street,
Suite 503,
New York, NY 10019
Tel: 212 404 7455
I believe this is up June 30-July 30.
Thanks and keep up the great service to all artists. You guys rock!
Lee Gordon, FF Alumn
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11. Stanya Kahn, FF Alumn, at Elizabeth Dee Gallery & Participant, starts TODAY
Stanya Kahn and Harriet “Harry” Dodge show two videos at Elizabeth Dee Gallery in New York in the group show “Sugartown”/ Part one opens June 24th, Part 2 opens July 8th. Reception for BOTH on July 8th.
ELIZABETH DEE GALLERY
545 West 20th Street
New York NY 10021
Tel 212 924 7545
www.elizabethdeegallery.com
Contact: Michelle Matson
michelle@elizabethdeegallery.com
PARTICIPANT INC
95 Rivington Street
New York NY 10002
Tel 212 254 4334
www.participantinc.org
Contact: Lia Gangitano
Sugartown: an exhibition in two parts
Opening Reception at Participant Inc
Friday, July 8, 7-9pm
Performance: My Barbarian, 8pm
ELIZABETH DEE GALLERY
June 24 – August 6, 2005
Harriet “Harry” Dodge & Stanya Kahn
Robert Fontenot
Will Fowler
Drew Heitzler
Elisa Johns
William Jones
Ashley Macomber
Laurie Nye
Renee Petropoulos
Anna Sew Hoy
Ed Templeton
Rob Thom
PARTICIPANT INC
July 8 – August 7, 2005
Walead Beshty
Samara Caughey
Shannon Ebner
Skylar Haskard
Pentti Monkkonen
Rebecca Morris
My Barbarian
SterlingRuby
Sugartown is a two-part showcase of artists living and working in Los Angeles, taking place simultaneously in two New York venues, Participant Inc and Elizabeth Dee Gallery. The art/performance collective My Barbarian (www.mybarbarian.com) will stage an opening performance at Participant Inc on July 8 at 8pm
Los Angeles moves east to provide a snapshot of this energetic and swiftly developing art scene. Thematic divergences and affinities between the coasts emerge in an exhibition that highlights conversations significant to artists living and working in Los Angeles.
Part One, Elizabeth Dee Gallery features a diverse group of artists whose works focus on geographies of storytelling. The halcyon days of summer and a flourish of enigmatic romanticism dovetail with bohemian nostalgia and surface obsession in these works. Issues of gender and sexuality are explored through discussion or documentation of musical subculture, the death of Kurt Cobain retold on video, or documented in the Mexican community’s obsession with Morissey.
Part Two at Participant Inc breaks with traditional modes of presentation to outline the lineage and boundaries of emerging discourse in a post-Helter Skelter era. Punk rock, performativity, and 80’s glam culture contribute to a certain dark irony articulated by artists who deliberately assemble conflicted vernaculars.
About the artists:
Walead Beshty graduated in 2002 from Yale University and has participated in exhibitions at PS1, NY; the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; and the DeKordova Museum and Sculpture Park, MA. He is represented by Wallspace, NY.
Samara Caughey has exhibited at Midway Contemporary Art, MN (curated by Bruce Hainley); the Walter McBean Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute; and David Kordansky Gallery, LA.
Harriet “Harry” Dodge & Stanya Kahn graduated in 2003 from Bard College and have screened their work at the Getty Center, LA; MoCA, LA; LACE (organized by LTTR); and the Sundance Film Festival.
Shannon Ebner has exhibited at the CCA Wattis Institute of Contemporary Art, CA; LACE; and High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA. She is represented by Wallspace, NY.
Robert Fontenot has exhibited at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI; Outpost, LA; and the Mark Moore Gallery, LA.
Will Fowler graduated in 2000 from Art Center College for Design, and has exhibited at Hot Coco Lab, LA; Storage Gallery, LA; and David Kordansky Gallery, LA.
Skylar Haskard graduated in 2005 from UCLA and has participated in exhibitions at High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA; Villa Arson, Nice, France; and Anna Helwing Gallery, LA.
Drew Heitzler is a New York artist who has been living in Los Angeles since September. In addition to making art, Drew runs Champion Fine Art with his wife and partner, Flora Wiegmann. The Champion exhibition series will finish in October, so the two have joined up with Justin Beal to develop a cocktail lounge and art space on La Cienega Boulevard, opening in December.
Elisa Johns recently debuted her work at Black Dragon Society, LA.
William Jones has exhibited and/or screened his work at the Tate Modern, UK; Wexner Center, MN; Pacific Film Archive (city); The Project, LA; and Artists’ Space, NY.
Ashley Macomber has shown at New Image Art, LA; Rocket Gallery, Tokyo; and Agnes B, Paris.
Pentti Monkkonen has exhibited at the Metro Tech (city); Public Art Fund, NY; UCLA Hammer Museum, LA; and LACE. He is currently exhibiting new work at Daniel Hug Gallery, LA.
Rebecca Morris is currently exhibiting her work at the Renaissance Society, Chicago.
My Barbarian was formed by Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon, Andy Ouchi and Alexandro Segade in LA in 2000. My Barbarian has collaborated with a number of musicians and artists, including Scott Martin, Norwood Cheek, Giles Miller, Laura Schnitger, and Pearl Hsiung. They have performed and exhibited at the Power Plant, Toronto; LACE; and REDCAT, LA.
Laurie Nye graduated from Cal Arts in 2002 had has exhibited most recently in Having Differences (curated by Kevin Hanley, Steve Hanson and Paul Judelson) at I-20, NY; Santa Monica Museum of Art; and Mixture Gallery, Houston.
Renee Petropoulos has exhibited at the ICA London; the MAC Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House, Los Angeles; and is represented by Rosamund Felson Gallery, LA.
Sterling Ruby graduated in 2005 from Art Center, Pasadena and recently finished his second solo exhibition with Foxy Productions, NY, where he is represented. His work has been featured in Artforum and Frieze.
Anna Sew Hoy has exhibited at Locust Projects, Miami (curated by Jedediah Cesar); Changing Role Move Over Gallery, Naples, Italy; and is represented by Perez Projects, LA/Berlin.
Ed Templeton recently completed a solo exhibition at Modern Art, London, and took part in the group exhibition Beautiful Losers at the Orange County Museum of Art. He exhibits with New Image Art, LA.
Rob Thom graduated in 2004 from UCLA and has had debut exhibitions at Black Dragon Society, LA, and Zach Feuer Gallery, NY.
Summer Hours: Elizabeth Dee Gallery
June: Tuesday- Saturday, 11-6pm
July: Tuesday- Friday, 11-6pm
August: Tuesday- Friday, 11-6
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12. Deborah Garwood, FF Alumn, reviews current show at Marian Goodman Gallery
Greetings!
Happy early summer to everyone. Beautiful thunderstorms in the northeast US and all of that!
Thomas Schutte at Marian Goodman Gallery,
http://www.gaycitynews.com/gcn_424/whenonemansanisland.html
Volume four, Issue 24 | June 16 – 22, 2005
Enjoy. Comments welcome.
Deborah Garwood, FF Alumn
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13. Koosil-ja, FF Alumn, at Location One, NY, June 25, 8 pm
Saturday June 25, 2005
A New Work In Progress
Dance Without Body
by
Geoff Matters/music and video
koosil-ja/dance and video
For
Roulette MIXOLOGY 2005
Venue:
Location One 26 Green Street (between Canal and Grand Street)
Time
8PM
Admission
General: $12
Location One, Harvestworks, and DTW members, Students $ Seniors: $8
Roulette Members: Free.
Reservations/Tickets
(212) 219-8242
More Information
Dansology at (212) 375-0186
About the Performance:
Geoff Matters and koosil-ja will perform the first stage of the exploration of a dance and mixed media work, Dance Without Body, which is a study of the chapter, Body Without Organs from the book Mille Plateaux by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. They describe Body Without Organs as a radical state in which all divisions between things are erased, and all hierarchies are flattened. For Mixology Festival, koosil-ja and Geoff will perform live processing, one of three main components of the work, in which koosil-ja dancers following multiple self-prepared video source materials. The system is created to experiment with a new performance method that aims to remove all restrictions of intent, self-imposed aesthetics, and organizational thought. Geoff will perform live video and sound score using a customized software environment. Deleuze and Guattari describe how the same process can first used to achieve Body Without Organs, and then to work within it. Therefore koosil-ja and Geoff will perform the work twice.
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14. Franc Palaia, FF Alumn, in three exhibitions, Summer 2005
Franc Palaia, FF Alumn, will be included in three shows this summer. Montclair Museum, “New Jersey Arts Annual thru Sept 19, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, Suny- New Paltz,NY, “Recycled- Revisited”, July 1- August 30, and the “Kingston Sculpture Biennial”, Kingston, NY- July 16- Oct 1, 2005 – for more information call 845-486-1378
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15. John Fleck, Andres Serrano, FF Alumns, in Sunday L.A. Times, and more
If you’re interested, here’s an Op-ed piece in this Sunday’s LA Times that suggests that a performance of mine, ‘Blessed are all the Little Fishes’ way back in 1989 paved the way for the desecration of the Koran at Guatanamo Bay. I think there’s a few holes in his premise, but you decide. I’ve included my Letter to the Editor after the article.
LA Times, Sunday, June 19th
Is Nothing Sacred? RELIGION AND ART IN THE TOILET’
by Christopher Cole
The Left has responded predictably to Newsweek’s retracted story about U.S. interrogators flushing a Koran down a toilet at Guantanamo Bay and the subsequent revelations of the Islamic holy book being treated in a way Muslims find sacrilegious (including an incident in which a Koran was apparently splashed with urine). Liberals, progressives and assorted antiwar activists have claimed that the incidents are proof of anti-Muslim bigotry and religious right-wing intolerance permeating the Bush administration and its war on terrorism. The controversy takes me back to 1989 and a particular skirmish in our ongoing culture wars that itself seems to have been flushed down the memory hole. Here’s a recap of the commotion that erupted when the taxpayer-funded National Endowment for the Arts gave money to avant-garde artists Andres Serrano for a piece in which a crucifix was submerged in urine. Taxpayer money at the same time flowed to performance artist John Fleck, whose masterpiece was made up of an ‘altar’ toilet with a picture of Jesus on its lid. Anger erupted immediately from right-wing Christians who had the intolerance to suggest that they should not be forced to pay for the desecration of their holiest symbols. Riding to the rescue were a host of individuals and organizations then-NEA Chairwoman Jane Alexander, the ACLU and not just a few Democratic senators and House members. I know about this because I was
there. In 1989, I ran the Los Angeles chapter of the leftist organization Refuse and Resist and, in coalition with the ACLU, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Highways Performance Space, I helped organize a series of demonstrations across L.A. to defend the right of Serrano and Fleck to desecrate holy symbols at taxpayer expense. Of course, the people we called right-wing extremists in Congress fought us, passing a law that allowed the NEA to withhold money from art that insults “the American people’s diverse faith and values.” That law was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1998, but in a blistering dissent, Justice David Souter argued that denying public money to sacrilegious art amounted to “viewpoint discrimination” that violate ” the very foundation of the 1st Amendment.” One could easily interpret Souter’s opinion as implying that the very existence of our constitutional freedoms depends on the right of an odd-ball artist to desecrate a crucifix at taxpayer expense. Sixteen years ago, when the “Piss Christ” controversy broke, I would have echoed Souter’s comments. By 1998, however, I had changed my opinion (I like to think that I matured to a point where I could understand that conservatives were no less automatically wrong than liberals were automatically right). Which brings us to the fact that many of the same liberals who supported Serrano and Fleck are now up in arms about the alleged mistreatment of a Koran at Guantanamo Bay. I find the position of my former ideological allies baffling. If it’s true that some U.S. personnel were disrespectful of the Koran, to what extend did the left’s rigid defense of Serrano and Fleck influence their actions? Many of our troops were children or preteens during the Serrano controversy. If a young person is told that desecrating a holy symbol is a positive act that not only celebrates but actually safeguards our constitutional freedoms, isn’t it likely that this young person, once grown up, might have no problem desecrating a religious symbol, especially if that desecration is carried out in the name of a greater good, like national security? Sixteen years ago, social conservatives argued the submerging a crucifix in urine was a base act that Americans should not be forced to support. They warned that rewarding this debasement would lead to an erosion of respect in American society for our “diverse faith and values.” As someone who ridiculed that argument at the time, I now feel obligated to admit that I was wrong. Any of my old allies care to join me?
Letter to the Editor
Christopher Cole misses the mark on ‘Religion and Art in the Toilet’ by not discussing ‘context’ and ‘artistic intent’ in his attempt to expose leftwing hypocrisy towards art funding and military torture. I’m the performance artist whose piece, ‘Blessed are all the Little Fishes’ he cites as having, ‘an altar toilet with a picture of Jesus on its lid.’ This is where Mr. Cole (and the pundits who denounced my work) took a moment out of context and twisted my ‘artistic intent’, which was not to desecrate but to expand our views of how religion and personal experience coexist on a cultural and existential tangent. Whereas, I doubt the US soldiers allegedly splashing the Koran with urine at Guantanamo Bay did so with any artistic intent, and unlike a theater, the prisoners, forcibly and possibly illegally detained, had no choice in staying or leaving.
John Fleck
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16. Anton Van Dalen, FF Alumn, at DFN Gallery, NY, thru Sept. 2
DFN Gallery is pleased to present our summer group exhibition, Animal Tales. Curated by DFN Gallery’s John Nickle, the show features paintings, drawings, and photographs of man’s contemporary relationship to animals.
From the cave paintings at Lascaux to the current animated film Madagascar, humans have depicted animals as characters in a universal story. Animals, wild and domestic, have provided many things to man – a source of food and clothing, transportation, and companionship. They have also been worshipped and mythologized, and have often been seen as a physical manifestation of God. By the 19th century, technological advances and a Biblical belief that man shall have dominion over the animals led to their brutal subjugation, while many species were hunted to extinction. Oddly, the further we are removed from animals, the more we project “humanness” upon them, developing a sort of detached empathy for them. At the same time, our scientific understanding of animal behavior has ironically returned us to more pagan appreciation of animals. Once-feared predators have now become pop-culture icons, like the benign characters in Shinto-influenced Japanese anime, or corporate mascots for breakfast cereal.
Animal Tales features the work of
Katrina Balling, Dozier Bell, Tom Birkner, George Boorujy, Chuck Connelly, Anton van Dalen, FF Alumn, Peter Drake, Jana Duda, James Esber, Rick Finkelstein, Madora Frey, Jill Greenberg, Julie Heffernan, Werner Hoeflich, Catherine Howe, Elizabeth Huey, David Humphrey, John Jacobsmeyer, Kate Javens, Lisa Krivacka, Damon Lehrer, Adela Leibowitz, Kam Mak, Marion Peck, Raphael Perez, Sylvia Plachy, Jean-Pierre Roy, Wade Schuman, Ryan Scully, Robert Selwyn, Shawn Spencer, Saul Steinberg, Dan Witz, and Brenda Zlamany.
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17. Vitaly Komar, FF Alumn, at Ronald Feldman Galler, thru July 29
Vitaly Komar
Three-Day Weekend
thru July 29
Vitaly Komar will exhibit new works based on the theme of the Three-Day Weekend, a symbol of the peaceful coexistence of different peoples and different concepts of faith and spirituality: Friday for Muslims, Saturday for Jews, and Sunday for Christians. The artworks – paintings, stained glass panels, and collages – are based on the form of the mandala, traditionally associated with unity, healing, and meditation, and are intended to promote
the concept of the Three-day Weekend.
Several mandalas contain a mirror, and one has a hole that can accommodate the spectator’s face, which can then be photographed, allowing the viewer to establish a personal connection with eternal symbols of spirituality. During the exhibition, the artist invites those who find value in these concepts to receive a signed Polaroid mandala portrait as a gift.
The artworks combine personal, historical, and spiritual references. The series stems from two Post-War photographs that had been superimposed in the artist’s memory: the legendary image of the Yalta Conference, which depicts Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill, and another triple portrait, of Komar’s family, taken when he was six. Both record what the artist calls Fragile Unities. The peaceful aspirations of the conference were followed by the Cold War, and his parents’ Jewish/Christian marriage dissolved in divorce. Komar never saw his father again. The photographs are collaged with revered religious shapes, including the Christian cross, the Jewish Star of David, and the Muslim crescent, which in turn are intertwined to create a complicated celestial geometry.
Themes of passing time and nostalgia permeate the exhibition. Reoccurring images include an hourglass and a Jewish cemetery in ruins. Symbols of state power that have been used to divide groups – the hammer and sickle, the American eagle – recall the ironic iconoclasm of SOTS ART, established with his collaborator Alex Melamid at a time when dissident artists in the former Soviet Union had dreams of visionary alternatives to totalitarianism.
As part of the longtime collaborative duo, Komar and Melamid, Komar describes his first solo exhibition as a new departure and deeply personal. In an artist’s statement, he writes: The search for spirituality in art, begun by Kandinsky during the flowering of the Russian avant-garde, was interrupted first by Stalin, and later, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, by the advent of the capitalist free market. I never imagined that my artist friends and I would be transformed from the so-called avant-garde of spiritual and intellectual life to the avant-garde of real estate. At the beginning of the 21st century, both in Russia and in the West, we have gained much, but have forgotten much too, just as I had forgotten my childhood photograph.
For almost thirty years, the Feldman Gallery has represented Komar & Melamid, including their first exhibition of work smuggled out of the Soviet Union in 1976.
***
To be photographed by Vitaly Komar with the mandala, please make an appointment with Lyndsay Skeegan at the gallery (212) 226-3232.
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10 – 6. Monday by appointment. In July, the gallery will be open Monday – Thursday 10 – 6. Friday 10 – 3. For more information, contact Laura Muggeo (212) 226-3232 or Laura@feldmangallery.com.
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18. Simon Cutts, FF Alumn, at Christian Brothers School, Cork, Ireland, July 1-Aug 13
Project for Installation. Vinyl. Readings, bookroom. Work in process. Installation of vinyl filmn as sign and graphic and vinyl used as material to build and construct. Vinyl as the single unifying means of making work in a commonmedium. The bookroom situated in the room above the Sullivans Quay building provides information on the prpject and books are available for puirchase. Christian Brothers School, Sullivans Quay, Cork, Wednesday – Sunday, July 1 thru Aug. 13. for more information vinyl@coracle.ie
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19. Gabrielle Hamilton, FF Alumn, in Food & Wine magazine, July 2005
Congrats to Gabrielle Hamilton, FF Alumn, who is profiled in Food & Wine magazine’s July 2005 issue.
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20. Jennifer Miller, FF Alumn, announces “Princess” in NYC parks, Sept. 05
Please check www.circusamok.org for the 2005 schedule and details of Circus Amok’s “Princess” in NYC parks in September 2005, run by Jennifer Miller, FF Alumn
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21. Annie Sprinkle, FF Alumn, in June 22-28 issue of NY Press
Congrats to Annie Sprinkle, whose new book “Spectacular Sex” is reviewed in Jennifer Blowdryer’s “Sprinkles on Top” in the June 22-28 issue of New York Press. www.nypress.com
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22. James Scruggs, FF Alumn, Disposable Men, reviewed in NY Times, June 14
Congratulations to James Scruggs, FF Alumn, whose work “Disposable Men” is reviewed in the June 14th New York Times. The piece continues thru July 2nd at HERE Arts Center, 145 Avenue of the Americas at Dominick Street, thru July 2.
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23. Lady Pink, FF Alumn, honors Guerrilla Girls, in new mural
Lady Pink, FF Alumn, is painting a mural entitled “When Women Pursue Justice” with Artmakers Inc. It will feature a huge portrait of the Guerrilla Girls. For more information call 718-783-6082 or send email to artmakersnyc@aol.com
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24. Liza Bear discusses Avalanche magazine, Chelsea College, London, June 25
presentation at Chelsea college of Art and Design,London
by Liza Bear
Saturday June 25 11am
“Avalanche: The Making of an Avant Garde Art Magazine:”
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~~end~~
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