All-American art star Matthew Barney still has two weeks to run on his traveling survey at the Guggenheim Museum How's he doing? One plus would have to be the sale of several works right out of the show. As reported by New York Times art scribe Carol Vogel, the room-installation including live pigeons (titled The Erich Weiss Suite) has been bought by Manhattan collector Adam Sender, while the large installation with a grand piano (The Cloud Club) was purchased by the Dallas Museum of Art for something close to $800,000.
The depth of Barney's iconography is well-described in the Times. "The piece makes references to two post-war artists who have had particular influence on Mr. Barney: the piano itself is a nod to the famous piano wrapped in felt by the German artist Joseph Beuys, while a metal steel slab leaning against the keyboard refers to the work of Richard Serra. On the floor surrounding the piano are potatoes, a reference to Mr. Barney's Idaho-Irish background."
Meanwhile, at the spring contemporary art auctions in New York, a single work by Barney came on the block, and did rather well. Dubbed The Man in Black (1999) and derived from Cremaster 2, the work consists of a copy of Billboard magazine with a picture of Johnny Cash giving the middle-finger salute (topped with some beeswax and petroleum jelly), held in one of the artist's trademark plastic frames. It sold for $25,095, at the low end of its presale estimate of $20,000-$30,000. Another example from the edition of six is also included in the Guggenheim show.
One setback for the gender-bending artist, arguably, came in the May issue of Artforum, where art critic Roberta Smith took a rare sabbatical from her usual berth at the New York Times to pen a tough-minded review of the Guggenheim show. (The Times itself had gotten squarely behind the Barney-Guggenheim enterprise, with not one but two giddy puff-pieces from chief art critic Michael Kimmelman.) Smith's verdict? "Barney's Bayreuth seems more like his Waterloo," she wrote, revealing an artist "who has put his development as a sculptor of objects on hold to make five of the most lavish, intermittently beautiful but generally tedious art films. . . ."

Taschen has just published Leonardo da Vinci: The Complete Paintings and Drawings, a 696-page hardcover monument that measures 12 in. wide by 17� high ($150). Authored by Frank Zollner and Johannes Nathan, the XXL tome features supersized blowups of Leonardo's works, which are usually so difficult to see in those crowded, light-controlled museum galleries. The book devotes three two-page spreads to full-color enlargements of sections of the National Gallery of Art's Portrait of Ginevra de' Benci, for instance, and provides photographic details of the portraits in the Last Supper fresco paired with related drawings.

The arts organization Minetta Brook has organized 10 outdoor art projects along an 80-mile stretch of the Hudson River. "Watershed: The Hudson Valley Art Project," as it is called, includes film installations by Peter Hutton and Matthew Buckingham on Main Street in Beacon, along with sound-equipped benches by Constance De Jong in a nearby park. Other projects on view include sculptural binoculars by Matts Leiderstam in Bear Mountain State Park, with views inspired by Hudson River School landscapes; an audio installation of "sonic textures" of the Hudson River by Annea Lockwood at Dick's Castle in Garrison; and an earth sculpture by Christian Philipp Muller at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson. In Minetta Brook's own office space in Beacon is an exhibition of projects that are still in the works: a deck and landing on the Hudson designed by George Trakas; photographs from the "Agricultural Works" series by James Welling; and an earthwork planned for Denning's Point in Beacon by Lothar Baumgarten.

The Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona is getting a handle on the global spectacle with "Trash Culture: The Potholes of Taste," May 20-Aug. 31, 2003. Organized by writer and journalist Jordi Costa, the show "raises to an esthetic category everything that official culture regards as aberrant." The exhibition is divided into such categories as "Beauty in Monstrosity" and "The Empire of Trash." Among the artists included are Margaret Keane and her imitators, "serial killer artists" like Charles Manson and John Wayne Gacy, filmmaker Ed Wood Jr., and musicians like the Shaggs and Luixy Toledo.

Raymond Loewy -Designs for a Consumer Culture,The Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE
His designs became a part of the fabric of our lives in the mid-twentieth century; the Sears Coldspot refrigerator, Greyhound buses, the Studebaker Avanti automobile, and the streamlined locomotives of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Raymond Loewy, the most famous industrial designer in America, will be the focus of an exhibition at Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware, through August 3, 2003. An accompanying catalog written by Glenn Porter is available from the Hagley Store.

The No-Contact Jacket is a wearable defensive jacket created to aid women in their struggle for protection from violence. When activated by the wearer, 80,000 volts of low amperage electric current pulses just below the surface shell of the entire jacket. This exo-electric armor prevents any person from unauthorized contact with the wearer's body. If an assailant were to grab hold of the wearer the high voltage shocking exterior wouldinterrupt their neurological impulses which control voluntary muscle movement. The neuromuscular system would be overwhelmed causing disorientation and loss of balance to occur and of course pain. The pain experienced is non-lethal but is enough of a shock to effectively and immediately deter contact with her body and provide a critical life saving option for escape.
posted by Chad

Apologies to the readers for being so quiet the past three weeks while on work hard/play hard assignment in southern California. Currently camped out at the downtown LA Standard, catching up on some e-mail and sorting through all the goodies that need to be posted. To start with, B'lab conspirator Marius Watz has a new beauty application called C Drawer at Processing, run by computational design geniuses Casey Reas and Ben Fry.

Serious work starts next week on design for the long-awaited new Chemlab LP, due out on Invisible later this year. I just found out that Jared and I are getting some typography help from long-time design heroes +ISM.

Look for photos from this past weekend's 24 hour road trip to Vegas and the Movement festival in Detroit over the next few days.

posted by Michael Doyle

Monday, May 26, 2003

sad to announce that my bid for legitimately representing burnlab at sonar has come up short...press pass denied! i guess i�ll overlook it just this once.....

posted by chris

Sunday, May 25, 2003

Thanks to the free resources of Sony I am able to file this short report from Hart Plaza on day two of Movement 2003. Mike you are missed here and I will try not to rub it in too much. The festival is going well so far with good crowds and no glitches that I could percieve. Attended the Speedy J party last night at Saint Andrews and will verify that it was probably the hardest set I've heard this weekend so far. Stewart Walker as usual delivered a great set as well. I do have to say that Liquid Liquid was amazing yesterday and Canyon sounded better than ever. Still a lot to go today but Thinkbox including members Rob Theakston and Bill van Loo were very impressive this morning. Watch for a photo gallery soon.....Hang in there Mike!

posted by Dave Pinter

Thursday, May 22, 2003

GREECE: ACROPOLIS MUSEUM RULING
Greece's highest court has ruled against government plans to construct a $105 million glass museum on the Acropolis in Athens. The decision was interpreted as a setback for the government's effort to win the return from Britain of the so-called Elgin Marbles, fragments of the frieze that once adorned the Parthenon on the Acropolis. The 2,500-year-old sculptures have been in the British Museum since 1816. Greece had hoped that the new museum would induce Britain to return the marbles for display during the Olympic Games next year in Athens. Local residents and cultural organizations argued that the impact of construction on nearby antiquities was not addressed by a study of the proposed museum. The museum was designed by Bernard Tschumi of New York, who will step down on June 30 as dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. The BBC report said that although the decision by the Council of State had not been published, it was customary in Greece to release news of rulings first to reporters

posted by Chad

Wednesday, May 21, 2003

very, very big recommendation for matthew herbert big band�s goodbye, swingtime. an incredible mix of an appreciation for and knowledge of classic jazz and future electronica. listen once, then reeeeally listen.

posted by chris

Tuesday, May 20, 2003

Those of you in NYC who will not be making the pilgramage to Detroit this weekend for Movement (my condolences) should check out Pole at Filter 14 on Monday night. He's slated for a set the day before in Detroit. Word has it, he'll be performing a lot of material off the upcoming album on Mute. Along for the ride and contributing to a number of tracks is Ohio native MC Fat Jon...yes you read that right....an MC. Aparently much of the new material has come down a few steps on the BPM ladder and is now more hip-hop derived. Timberland look out.

Pole w/ Satamile, Sara Walker, and Jon Turi
when: Mon 5.26 (10pm)
where: Filter 14 (432 W 14th St, 212.366.5680)
price: $10

posted by Dave Pinter

Monday, May 19, 2003

I'm going to be writing a rather large piece on indie/dance crossover music for BPM. I'm curious if anyone has suggestions for record stores, venues, labels, etc... that would fit in this category. I wanna get a global feel for this piece, not just my obvious Detroit/Chicago axis. Hit me at joshua_glazer@hotmail.com

And speaking of Axis, I'm amused to announce that I'll be DJing in the Nefarious.net booth at Movement:DEMF. My time slot is 10.30-mid on Monday, which puts me head-to-head with Jeff Mills. Anyone coming out this year should take a break from the 140bpm assault and swing by the riverfront booth.

posted by joshua

Friday, May 16, 2003

The New Museum is delighted to annouce Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa/ SANAA Ltd. as the architect of the museum's new building on the Bowery. Sejima and Nishizawa, who formed their firm SANAA in 1995, are widely recognized as the most original and influential young Japanese architects.

posted by Chad

belio is a collaboratory group of artists, designers, musicians and dj�s based principally in madrid that organize concerts, exhibitions, and are also responsible for belio magazine, covering music, design, and culture, and including outstanding graphic design from collaborators from all over the world...on the webpage check out the gallery section for examples of some of the articles and take some time to check out their links section too. the magazine isn�t yet available, but hopefully with their permission i�ll try to pass along some info/links from the issues. the latest issue focuses on urban art and grafitti and features the project of worldwide domination that is space invaders and the work of french illustrator/grafitti artist miss van.

check out the paintings of former car design colleague and current fashion design collaborator (more details on that as they become available!) markus haub, who uses a technique of painting over photoshop-manipulated images. his work is currently on display in various locations around barcelona.

i guess not too many of you will be able to make it but next thursday i�ll be playing with the new incarnation of my band, misnoma, at city hall club in barcelona. the lineup: male and female vocals, bass, keyboard, and me on beats, loops, and samples using ableton live

posted by chris

Thursday, May 15, 2003

Solar cells have harnessed the energy of the sun to power homes and to irrigate African deserts by desalinating seawater. In 1990, a plane powered by SANYO solar cells actually broke a world record, becoming the first solar powered plane to fly across America. Now they have taken the next step forward. The Solar Ark is the world's largest solar-power generating structure. Opened in Gifu, Japan on April 2002, this enormous architectural edifice combines the efficiency of a massive photovoltaic power generation system with a state-of-the-art science centre.

OLED technology is not far away.

posted by Chad

Wednesday, May 14, 2003

Chinese poster art from the 20's and 30's. Stripped down to make way for cultural revolution art

posted by Jaron

Monday, May 12, 2003

"I'm in a silver mood,"
The special-edition cushionless Zenith, of which only 10 are being made, recently snatched up by designer Karl Lagerfeld for a mere $47,000. The Zenith chair, low, armless and footless, is made of highly polished aluminum. It is a special edition of the Newson Nimrod chair introduced at the Milan furniture fair last month. The Nimrod, to be sold this fall, is the first Newson piece designed to be widely affordable. Made from molded polyethylene with a glossy white finish and red or blue wool cushions for the back and seat, it will sell for about $630.

Guggenheim Museum director Thomas Krens is about to add another global to his Guggenheim empire. The Guggenheim Museum Rio de Janeiro, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel on a 400-meter-long pier in Rio's Guanabara Bay, got the official go-ahead from Rio mayor Cesar Maia at an official ceremony at the Gugg in New York on Apr. 30. Construction begins on the new museum soon, with completion projected in 2007.
Nouvel's design features a huge (270 feet long x 125 feet tall) white extruded aluminum "gate" at the beginning of the pier, a vast entry hall with a 7,000 square foot glass pool of water as a ceiling, a series of exhibition pavilions set in a tropical garden that includes a 50-foot wide, 115-foot-tall waterfall, and a large, cylindrical concrete exhibition hall topped with a restaurant with views of the bay and the city. The entire compound is set below sea level, and surrounded by perimeter walkways at 10 feet above the bay. Overall, the facility incorporates 240,000 square feet, with -- in separate pavilions -- 21,500 square feet for Brazilian and Latin American galleries, 13,000 square feet for modern art galleries, 30,000 square feet for multimedia production facilities, and 35,000 square feet for temporary exhibitions.

Socrates Sculpture Park , the outdoor museum established in 1986 on neglected landfill in Long Island City on the East River across from Midtown Manhattan, opens with on May 11 with "Yard," an exhibition about "the private landscape that surrounds suburban domestic architecture".

Lower East Side Troll Museum founder Saint Reverend Jen launches a new magazine, called All Star Scene Magazine (AKA A.S.S. Magazine). The new magazine promises to "celebrate the uncool, the marginalized, the dimple-butted, the sloppy, the eccentric, the washed-up" and more.

posted by Chad

a bit of very cool mouse interface

looking very forward to SONAR. no word on the press pass yet though, mike....for those coming make sure to get tickets for matthew herbert big band on thursday. supposedly press passes aren�t valid (not positive but seems that way). it�s taking place in a theater away from the normal SONAR activities and has pretty limited seating.

posted by chris

Saturday, May 10, 2003

I'll be reporting from Terrific Torrance California for the next couple weeks, and then from Detroit during the Movement festival, if all goes as planned. Might be time for a sequel to the Mobile Lab feature, that was cut short in Sept. of 2001, when I was stranded in Singapore for a week. (Still never made it to Hong Kong.) Also look for a SONAR feature from our man in Barcelona, Chris Daniels, who should be wielding a legitimate Burnlab press pass for the occasion.

posted by Michael Doyle

Simply the coolest little software app. Period.

posted by BitBoy

Friday, May 09, 2003

the act or process of sucking.

posted by israel

Recently lifted from NewsToday: Guilty as charged. Rowrr.

posted by Michael Doyle

Thursday, May 08, 2003

Damien Hirst in Space
Damien Hirst planned his spot paintings as an endless series, and set about formulating a process for making them: 'On each painting no two colors are the same. No matter how I feel as an artist or a painter, the paintings end up looking happy...' Like mood-enhancing drugs, such as Valium, they force you to be happy. As Hirst has noted: 'Art is like medicine - it can heal. Yet I've always been amazed at how many people believe in medicine but don't believe in art, without questioning either.
Hirst has said that his spot paintings are about interaction: while the colors are isolated from one another, they still manage to influence each other, interacting across the surrounding white space. All of the spot paintings are named after pharmaceutical compounds, and this allusion to drugs reinforces the theme of interaction - different elements (colors, chemicals, humans...) combining to create a greater influence. Hirst has said that he feels life is a composition, or an interaction between isolated elements.
Hirst's spot paintings have become such influential icons of contemporary art that they are even headed for outer space. Hirst is acting as 'contributing artist' for the Beagle 2 lander, which will head for Mars in 2003 on a mission to find evidence of extraterrestrial life. Hirst will create an image based on his spot paintings, which will serve as the color calibration target for the on-board cameras. These will be equipped with a variety of filters of known wave length. By using various iron oxides and other known minerals it will also be possible to obtain signals to standardize the M�ssbauer and X-ray spectrometers.
The artwork will have to tolerate temperatures of up to 2000 degrees if it is to become the first human artwork encountered by Martians...

posted by Chad

Wednesday, May 07, 2003

This one is for Chad.

posted by Michael Doyle

Tuesday, May 06, 2003

6 months after it passed through nyc resfest-digital video festival- is finally coming to barcelona this coming weekend. looking very forward to the chris cunningham retrospective among other things....

posted by chris

Friend of the Detroit techno community Diana Potts has an online photo album from this past Friday's event at the Apple store in NYC. You'll see Mr. Hawtin is in fact sporting hair. Rumor has it that Richie is also lobbying for pitch control as a feature on the next iPOD.....who wants to carry around a bulky laptop and two records anyway.

posted by Dave Pinter

Friday, May 02, 2003

It's Up Folks!

MOVEMENT 2003

posted by Dave Pinter

More Eva Zeisel appearances, as promised:
May 6; 12-2 pm at Gump's (135 Post St., San Francisco) and May 7; 6 pm at Limn Furniture (290 Townsend St., San Fran.)
Here's another recent article on Eva

posted by olivia

The only excuse for not going to see Eva Zeisel at the NYC Historical Society tonight [see Olivia's post yesterday] is going to the SOHO Apple Store to see Richie Hawtin perform as part of the nationwide iPod DJ media extravaganza [see Dave's post from Tuesday.] A gentle reminder that Apple has hooked up with some of our bestest friends and favorite record labels for this 18 city, simultaneous event. Those in Motown should be at Somerset Mall (I refuse to call it "Somerset Collection") in Troy to see Ghostly's Matthew Dear and SV4, a.k.a. Sam Valenti, Master of Chopsticks and Turtlenecks. Other Ghostly artists perform around the country, including Kill Memory Crash in Oak Brook, IL. Schematic Records represent all over Florida, the highlight being Otto Von Schirach at Wellington, outside of Palm Beach, and Kooky Scientist Fred Gianelli will perform in suburban Boston. Techno has taken a long, strange path from abandoned warehouses to shopping malls, hasn't it?

If you miss Rich at the Apple Store, make sure to get over to Filter 14 in Chelsea, where he and Magda will be doing that thing they do with records and laptops which few can match.




What the... ?
Pretty kinky, G.W.
God bless America. [photo courtesy of the Detroit Free Press]

I've been slacking with photos this week - now corrected.
Scroll down for visual support of various articles.

posted by Michael Doyle

ROY/Design Series 1
SFMOMA -Saturday, April 19, 2003 - Sunday, September 07, 2003
The first solo museum exhibition of work by innovative architect Lindy Roy, ROY/design series 1 launches a series devoted to new voices in contemporary design. Roy, founder of the studio ROY, is currently engaged in projects ranging from an extreme skiing lodge in Alaska to a Manhattan showroom for Swiss furniture manufacturer Vitra. The exhibition surveys six projects through approximately 20 renderings, models, and digital presentations

MARC NEWSON WITH HOUSE & GARDEN @ ICFF
Saturday, May 17, 2:00PM-3:00PM
House & Garden's style guru Brooke Stoddard hosts a talk with Australian design star Marc Newson, whose forward-thinking designs have proved yet again the galvanizing effect of forceful, celebratory modernism on a design savvy public. Newson, whose interior for the new restaurant in the Lever House will become tout New York's latest destination, and whose concept car for Ford rocked the world a few years ago, is the designer of a host of contemporary products both sensuous and sinuous.

At The Echo in Los Angeles
Friday 05.02 SYNTHETIC w/ guests DIRTY SANCHEZ
Jason Lavitt's weekly electroclash dance party disco bump & grind from Italian duo DIRTY SANCEHZ
Tuesday 05.06 Adult, Magas, Ghost Orchid
The Adult sound falls somewhere between indie rock and techno. Stripped-down analog synths and chugging drum machine beats are offset by strange, disembodied voices droning barely perceptible lyrics. Think Richie Hawtin meets Devo." - The Toronto Now

posted by Chad

Lots of Movement/DEMF news to report throughout the day. Here is an intro article from the Freep.

posted by Dave Pinter

I am proud to report that my first national cover story hit the news stands this week. Feel free to pick up the Urb with se�ors Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins on the front. Or if the news stand is too far, check the website for a special interview with Richie Hawtin talking exclusivly about the Music Institute.


Now if only I could do one of these a month...

posted by joshua

Thursday, May 01, 2003

Two rare chances to meet design living legend Eva Zeisel; First in NY tomorrow at 6:30 at the New York Historical Society. It's the premiere of a film on Eva by Jyll Johnstone called "Throwing Curves". Discussion with Eva and reception. Available at the event is a great little Compact Design Portfolio [Chronicle Books] written by Lucie Young. It's not in stores yet, but I've read it [to Eva] and it was met with resounding approval and giggles.
Then on May 5 in SF at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is another discussion in conjunction with SFMOMA Architecture & Design Forum, and the SF Chapter of American Institute of Graphic Arts. There are two book signings in SF as well, I'll post the locations soon....

posted by olivia

For those of you in San Francisco, don't miss out this Friday, May 2nd - it's an all night party with Holland's Disco Militia; Legowelt, Orgue Electronique, Bangkok Impact featuring Kassen and DJ TLR at the Bunker/Créme Tour. More information here and here.

posted by BitBoy

Warp Records is pleased to announce full details of a Warp Spectacular at the FONDATION VASARELY in Aix-en-Provence, Southern France. This will be the first time that this beautiful building has been used for such an event.
Finally finished in 1976, the Foundation was set up by the famous optical artist Victor Vasarely as a means to educate and demonstrate how his own carefully developed principles and theories of colour and design could be integrated into architecture to positively affect the daily lives of ordinary people. Along with Vasarely's own 'Musee Didactique' in Gordes (sadly now closed forever) and Le Corbusier's 'Cite Radieuse' in Marseille, the Foundation is one of the few great modern buildings in southern France, and is an awe-inspiring tribute to the visionary ideas of this postwar architect/urbanist/artist and socialist.
Warp will take over the Fondation on the 23rd and 24th of May 2003, utilizing the three upstairs rooms for a full program of live acts and DJs on both nights, plus visual work and the latest Warp Films premieres in the foundation's own dedicated cinema.
THE DESIGNERS REPUBLICwill also be joining the event, and are currently producing a site-specific sequential graphics piece that will run for several days in the main gallery areas. The event will be the opening weekend of "NumeriqueS" - a week-long festival of concerts, workshops and events that will run until the 31st May.
Full lineup:
PLAID (Full Live Show), JAMIE LIDELL, BROTHOMSTATES, MIRA CALIX, REQ, & CHRIS CUNNINGHAM

posted by Chad

The sound of onehundredthousand sixty story mechanical spiders lumbering over the frozen landscape will descend on Detroit Saturday, May 24th.

Our good friends and conspirators at Blackbx and Paxahau are bringing Jochem Paap, a.k.a. Speedy J to North America for the first time in nearly ten years. He will perform live at St. Andrews Hall, along with Stewart Walker and Psilopolisp, a.k.a. Keith Kemp. Quite possibly the four best young DJs in Detroit, a.k.a.the usual UNTITLED suspects will be performing downstairs at the Shelter. YEL, as the event is called, is certain to be the off-site focal point of what is shaping up to be an outstanding DEMF-Movement weekend. We'll be hyping this one all damn month. (For those not familiar with Speedy J, he sounds like Darth Vader's hand feels on your throat.)

More info at SpeedyJ.com and the all new Paxahau.com.
...and even more info here.

posted by Michael Doyle

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