further notes on Benoit Hennebert

Just to point out a few older posts from the blogs of Dennis Cooper and Momus. The identity of the Hennebert Sleeves.

Chantal Akerman: Moving through Time and Space

Chantal Akerman: Moving through Time and Space
19 Jan—29 Mar 2008
In her first major US museum exhibition, Belgian-born artist Chantal Akerman presents five multimedia video installations dating from 1993 to the present. Best known for her politically charged pieces, the exhibition brings together D'Est, 1993, De l'Autre Côté, 2002, Sud, 1999, Là-Bas, 2006, and a new work created in Siberia especially for the exhibition. After its premiere in Houston, the show travels to the M.I.T. List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge (1 May-6 July), the Miami Art Museum (16 October-18 January 2009) and the Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis (8 May-2 August 2009). Categories: Contemporary Video & New Media Contemporary (1970-present)

first stop: BLAFFER GALLERY
University of Houston, 120 Fine Arts Building 77204 - 40
+1 713 743 9530

(Information provided by: The Art Newspaper.

recent articles of note - large update

12 Nations put on Copyright Piracy List, Alice Rawsthorn on Design for the Unwealthiest 90 Percent, Tyler Brûlé on Trade Shows, Alice Rawsthorn on Milan's supersized creations, The French are on Kings Road, Mark Kermode gives a brief introduction to British End-Of-The-World Cinema, Bidisha talks of Zombie Films, as the House of Hammer Horror rises the dead, [Jonathan Miller's documentary on Atheism still controversial in America, Jonathan Glancey on Norwegian Architecture, Mark Di Ionnio on how Food Companies have Marketed us to Death, reports on Poorly Designed Crop Insurance and who benefits in America, Jeffrey H. Birnbaum reports on the Farm Bill, a book review of the recent Sassy book which explores the like between indie and populist, Natalie Hanman can't stand The Simpsons" and I'd have to agree, Eric Alterman's report from Planet Republican, John Harris weighs in on the Sixties and its diminished 'values', the CBC looks at Leisure Time, Peter Bradshaw's top ten picks at Cannes, the CBC on CONTROL - Anton Corbjin's Ian Curtis biopic and Peter Bradshaw's praise for the film-- [Admittedly, given that fact that it is Corbjin's project, it must look stellar--as so much of the band's existence is known through his photographs. A pity it wasn't shot in Macclesfield though.], Quintessential English Eccentric Isabella Blow Passed Away and her husband reflects on her Originality Author Lloyd Alexander Passed Away, Antony Gormley's latest exhibit explores a tastefully English Fog, Colby College in Maine receives a large gift of American Art, and A distinctly Belgian Contest for the Birds.

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The Legacy of Rachel Carson is Celebrated this Weekend.

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A slideshow of Montreal's Sanchez Brothers' work.

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The World Without Oil Scenario
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Harold Pinter Retrospective at the HFA

Recent Articles of note

The Minitel evolves; Public Art & Plagiarism are considered ; Pop music is sacred; sports get exclusive; Newspapers don't know how to handle blog comments; drugs and morality get the spotlight; The curse of retro-cinema is upon us; more end of the world scenarios profligate; Jean B and Kurt V passed away; Troxler's Swiss poster Tradition; Excellent look at the Ennio Morricone series that's been about; Jacques Rivette resurfaces; How to tell real drugs from fakes; what cyberchat does to the brain(cuts off inhibitions); A look at current Swedish Design; British seaside towns are in decline; Germany is booming.

That's most of what I've enjoyed reading in the past month or so news-wise.

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Kick off your weekend with an informative look at theAu Pairs.

recent articles of note - large update

Alberto Manguel investigates libraries

Counterterrorism measures sometimes foiled in europe. A new German film fund has been set up. Christian-themed music sales are on the rise. The consequences of cultural imperialism as reported by Luis MartÍnez-FernÁndez may have little consequence at all. Canadian documentaries are suffering from their own kind of limitations. Emma Brockes interviews Turner Prize winner Tomma Abts. Anthony Lane gets into Disney's world. The Washington Post's recent expose on the Milk Lobby. Time Out New York's panel rates the critics.

Dirk Dirksen passed away – Los Angeles Times obituary

The Complaints Choir of Helsinki gives everyone something to sing about.

recent articles - late November

Plans for a green dance club in Rotterdam. Christopher Lee in the Washington Post reports on the USDA relaxing regulations on GMOs. Also in the Washington Post, Anthony Faiola talks about the recent crackdown on bad sushi. Doreen Carvajal in the International Herald Tribune discusses French youth radio expansion (yes, this is about Skyrock). James Vaznis in the Boston Globe reports on library attraction/expansion in the USA via cafe culture.
Kristin Downey in the Washington Post reports on Watters v Wachovia Bank, due to come before the US Supreme court.

Philippe Noiret passed away (From an early role in "La Pointe-Courte" under Agnes Varda's direction, to the Uncle in Louis Malle's "Zazie dans le metro" to a few of William Klein's films: as a reporter in "Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?" and as Moujik Man in "Mr. Freedom", as well as a few films directed by Marco Ferreri, several films directed by Bertrand Tavernier including "Coup de Torchon", and the murky conspiracy thriller "L'Attentat").

Midnight Eye interviews Satoshi Kon.

Wesley Yang writing in the Los Angeles Times reviews 'The Trouble With Diversity' by Walter Benn Michaels. Doug Harvey writing in LA Weekley looks at the spate of Streetsignism.
Recent looks at the Whitney's latest from Christopher Knight in the Los Angeles Times and Peter Schjeldahl in the New Yorker looks at Kiki Smith. Sarah Lyall in the New York Times reports on the London Review of Books obnoxious personals. In the Dallas Morning News Lawson Tattie, Theatre Critic and Tom Maurstad, Media Critic, discuss why so many contemporary playwrights are writing for television.

Rachel Cooke in last week's Observer UK had this to say about looking at art. Grayson Perry in the Times UK on recent concepts.

recent articles

Robert Tait in Tehran writing for Guardian UK discusses Bestsellers Banned In Iran. Susan Brink in the Los Angeles Times discusses the portrayal of health and medicine on the small screen. Benedict Nightingale writes in the Times UK on the recent work of playwright Caryl Churchill. Marc Fisher in the Washington Post says the NEA thinks NPR is making a mistake. Debra Craine writing in the Times UK of an intersting collaboration of dance and architecture. Tim Page in the Washington Post discusses the plethora of Opera reissues. Robert Kyle reports in the Art Newspaper of the government seizing work made by New Deal artists. Diane Garrett writing in Variety reports the death of VHS. Nick Hasted writes in the Independent UK of a recent trend in films that treats recent German history with sympathy. Elizabeth Williamson in the Washington Post reports on the USDA's refusal to recognize American hunger.

The CBC reports on a rare case of Scotch.

recent articles

The Washington Post weighs in on Deval Patrick. A Grocery Industry Conference in Toronto assesses the modern diet [CBC].
From the Guardian UK:
Julie Bindel explains why rape laws are still inadequate. Ohio may indeed go Democrat. Nicky Wire talks to Alexis Petridis about the joys of C86. Also discussion a new music show on the BBC. A tribute to Serge Gainsbourg at the Barbican. Adrian Searle looks at a collection of contemporary Eurpoean photography.

Absolute Wilson

The new documentary Absolute Wilson directed by Katharina Otto-Bernstein. It won a Teddy Award earlier this year. It is a look at the life and work of the artist Robert Wilson.

Theatrical Trailer: Quicktime or WMV

Opens Theatrically in New York
on October 27, 2006
at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas

New York Times article of October 22, 2006 by Sylviane Gold

Deutsche Welle report

A biography by Katharina Otto-Bernstein about Robert Wilson is also available.

More information here:

German Films

design museum

Robert Wilson's 14 Stations at Mass MoCA.

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If anyone knows when this is coming to the Boston area, please let me know.

Recent Articles

Fish farms kill wild salmon, study finds [CBC News] (Full Story)

Infamous French Art Thief to release memoir [CBC News] (Full Story)

Author J.G.Ballard's influence on Music [CBC News] (Full Story)

STEPHEN H. BURRINGTON, A new path for state park system [Boston Globe] (Full Story)

Crime Writer to Donate 82 Sickerts to Harvard

From the Art Newspaper Bulletin:

"Patricia Cornwell, who believes that the artist was Jack the Ripper, has promised her entire collection to the Fogg Art Museum

By Martin Bailey | Posted 20 August 2006

LONDON. The crime writer Patricia Cornwell has promised to donate 82 works by the artist Walter Sickert to the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is part of Harvard University. This massive collection, worth millions of dollars, was assembled while Ms Cornwell was writing Portrait of a Killer, published in 2002. The controversial book concludes that Sickert was Jack the Ripper, who brutally murdered prostitutes in London’s East End in 1888."

Full article here.

It's funny that this should come on the heels of a recent exhibition: Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec: London and Paris, 1870–1910, Catalog of the exhibition by Anna Gruetzner Robins and Richard Thomson an exhibition at Tate Britain, London,October 5, 2005–January 15, 2006; and the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.,February 18–May 14, 2006(Tate Publishing, 231 pp., $55.00) and a biography, Walter Sickert: A Life by Matthew Sturgis (HarperCollins, 768 pp., $50.00) both of which were reviewed by Sanford Schwarz in the May 25, 2006 issue of the New York Review of Books.

Yale University Press also has Paintings, which was the catalogue a retrospective exhibition of Sickert's works at the Royal Academy of Arts, London in the early 1990s. Wendy Baron, director of the British Government Art Collection, has a future book coming out next year on Sickert's Paintings and Drawings which should be nearly definitive.

video pioneer Nam June Paik passed away

Nam June Paik passed away at his Miami home at 8:00pm EST on Sunday, January 29, 2006.

Rip it Up and Start Again by Simon Reynolds

The best new book about contemporary music history I've read is Rip it Up and Start Again: postpunk 1978-1984 by British music journalist, Simon Reynolds. Arguably the most exciting time in music since the late sixties, the postpunk era finally gets its due. This near complete version of postpunk independent music and how the subsequent labels, distribution methods and venues to deliver the new sounds came about (--and were gradually devoured by major labels and each other). This is a book that had to come out. This kind of music was only available for such a brief period of time before being trampled underfoot by a horde of commercially produced imitators. This is the music created by the generation that came of age in the mid-seventies. The sounds created were so new that independent methods were the only way to communicate their existence. People deliberately eschewed courting major labels in the name of having absolute control over their music. Reynolds chronicles all the successes and failures of the most consistently inventive (both sonically and visually) group of young artists and businessmen that tried to make a lasting impact on modern life.

To a certain extent, the simultaneous movements on both sides of the Atlantic (the book primarily deals with the United Kingdom and the United States-- deliberately leaving the project open for companion works discussing similar activity in Europe, Canada, Latin America and Japan) have left their mark on what passes for culture today. The timing of the book's release could not be more welcome, as a number of the labels mentioned recently celebrated anniversaries (Rough Trade, Mute and Les Disques du Crepuscule, among others) while primarily re-issue labels like James Neiss's Les Temps Modernes (LTM) have made a bulk of the long deleted music metioned in the book available to a wider audience. (The most recent of which being the double disc compilation of Eric Random's work titledSubliminal 1980-1982.)

Apart from filling in the gaps of my education in this expansive and somewhat personal study, this book helps to show the relationships between the people involved in the culture industry at that time. The book is really about a network for the production and dissemination of culture, that presented a near viable alternative to current methods of perception. It is not just about the artists and musicians involved but also the contributions of the label owners, journalists, and the public. Shifts in taste, budget, politics, and -- to a large extent -- technology, acted to create a unique cultural product. The emergence of so many young artists into the cultural arena at that time was astounding. A record label, such as Manchester based Factory Records was hyper-conscious not only of the quality of the music but also its packaging, often delaying releases for weeks so its delivery could achieve visual perfection. The goal amongst all these labels was to craft a--whether conscious or not--brand identity, to manipulate the public into the fold. This created a wonderfully red-hot tension between the musicians, the labels and the public resulting in the furious activity this book describes. It is this same commitment to quality and artistic integrity that fans of this period discuss to this day with the intensity of an erotic fever-dream.

Multiple criticisms can be leveled against the writer for spending too much time on certain groups and not enough time on others. While this is a valid concern, I do not see any glaring omissions in this work. This book is not only for anyone who wants to know about certain bands but it is also for those who want to understand the systems of interaction between the events discussed and how so many disparate elements influenced each other. In doing so, it provides a survey of the influential acts of the period.

One must never forget the lessons learned here of how it can be done. Applying these notions today one immediately sees distribution methods rapidly changing by the hour. Radio is still primarily dominated by commercial programming (check stopcbcpop for a current example of this). The template created by college radio in the United States (there is no such thing as an "independent music chart" in the United States--not to mention the absolute absence of a ministry of culture.) has been modified and turned into so-called alternative programming on commercial stations after someone recoginzed the viability of this demographic (circa mid-1980s). Today, the market is even further entrenched in this petty commercialism.

Then again, the knife cuts both ways, new independent labels are born daily. Nearly everyone involved in culture has a website or e-mail as technology enables things to change yet again. Disenchanted consumers of fine music are able to trace cultural activities that were previously inaccessible. In this sense, "Rip it Up and Start Again" is a worthy reference to the early days when it was all done via telephone, SNAIL mail, live performances and radio programmes (today, one is tempted to add music blogs to that list).

Our culture is on the mend, we desperately need free thinking creative people to wake up the underground once again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Rip it Up and Start again
by Simon Reynolds
ISBN: 0 571 21569 6
Format: Paperback
Published: April 21, 2005
Pages: 608pp
Price: £16.99

Also due for publication in USA late January/early February 2006.

check out Simon's blog in the meantime.

Alena Akhmadullina - printemps - ete 2006

Fashion designer Alena Akhmadullina's latest comprises a unique runway show with animal masks and outfits inspired by Russian folktales.

dignity with a sense of humor.

Amateur d'art - lunettes rouges

The above blog gives an interesting perspective on contemporary art.

en francais!

Renoir / Renoir at La Cinémathèque française

Martin Scorsese, Wong Kar-wai and Souleymane Cissé were among the guests Monday at the opening of the new exhibit "Renoir/Renoir" at 51, rue de Bercy, the new location of la Cinémathèque française.

The building is open to the public today.

Ides of March

At home now, just had dinner, about to collect my thoughts in some manner-- so much seems to collect at once. I've been running into quite a few old friends recently. All with good recommendations-- Artikal Records for instance. Brilliant stuff so far, nice New Order like sound. Too bad i missed them when they played here at the end of February. Alas, one can only do so much.

Other things going through my mind, I've got some good tunes lined up for this Friday night. Perhaps I should mention that I do a radio show on WZBC 90.3fm (www.wzbc.org) Friday evenings from 7-10pm. I've had this gig for over 10 years now. I enjoy being able to turn people on to new music by playing artists that do not get airplay around the Boston area. For this Friday I have: (1) David Sylvian's new one "the good son vs The Only Daughter" -- its remixes from his album 'bemish'. However, they're hardly conventional remixes -- quite a few of them improve on the original. (2) David Kristian "Sweet Bits", these are some of his 'quieter pieces', from now on when he records in this style he'll be know as Gentle Bakemono check: www.davidkristian.com, (3) Marc Leclair "musique pour 3 femmes enceintes" (music for 3 pregnant women), he recorded while his wife and two friends were pregnant. This is very good IDM style material. It really almost feels like one long track. (Marc Leclair also records under the name Akufen). (4) Coti "Lido/Lato", excellent ambient electronica from Greece, Coti, incidentially, helped to create and produce the last Tuxedomoon album ("Cabin in the Sky").

Another item of note is Hal Foster's "In Central Park" essay from the last issue of the London Review of Books - find it here:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n05/fost01_.html He really contextualizes the whole 'Gates' project well.

This just in as well:

Harold Budd farewell concert at the Brighton Festival...

Saturday the 21st of May will mark Harold Budd's last live
performance, before retiring from the concert arena.

Alongside Brian Eno, Harold Budd was one of the founding fathers of
what has since come to be known as 'ambient' (though Budd prefers the
term 'discrete') music. The Mojave desert landscapes of his childhood
and the formative influences of John Cage and Morton Feldman informed
Harold Budd's sparse, hypnotic and deeply atmospheric aural
soundscapes. However, it wasn't until his seminal ambient adventures
with Eno in the early 80s - "Ambient 2 : The Plateaux of Mirror", and
"The Pearl", followed by highly acclaimed collaborations with the
Cocteau Twins, that he came to the world's attention. Since then he
has made a profound impression on an eclectic British music scene,
from Big Chill artists Fila Brazilia to neo-classical minimalist
Michael Nyman.

Harold will be joined on stage by John Foxx (Ultravox), Jah Wobble
(Public Image
Limited), Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins), Bill Nelson (Be-Bop Deluxe)
and other special guests for a landmark celebration of over thirty
years of musical innovation.

Full details can be found at the "Brighton Festival" website :
http://www.brighton-festival.org.uk/index.asp?id=1563

I wish I could make it. Brighton is so much fun anyway.

That's about where things are at the moment-- I'll let you know if anything changes.

I'm off to buy some beer.

bonne nuit

Sunny Days

Snow on the ground again but at least its nearly forty degrees. Spring is almost here!

I returned home from Philadelphia late yesterday afternoon. The Dali exhibit was brilliant, easily one of the most comprehensive exhibits I've seen. It took nearly two hours to see all of it (without doing the audio tour). Its amazing how accomplished Dali was as an artist from such an early age. The first two rooms of paintings are from age 11 to 21 or so. Once he gets the gig to attend art school in Madrid and is classmates with Luis Bunuel, things really take off. After this point works are thematically and chronologically grouped by room. I thoroughly enjoyed the exploration of his 'paranoiac-critical method' and the eventually progression towards 'nuclear mysticism'. As a whole, I am also very impressed with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, its collection is very good. I will have to spend some more time there seeing the rest of the museum. I regret only staying in Philadelphia for a little under 48 hours. I should say if you plan on going to the Dali exhibit you need an advance ticket or you will not get in. The entire day was sold out when I attended the show. You should visit the Museum's website (http://www.philamuseum.org/main.asp) and arrange for some kind of package with a hotel or some such. The packages allow for VIP tickets which are absolutely key, you enter when you want, no timed entry, no waiting in lines.

Lovely Philadelphia had no snow to speak of and sunny blue skies. It is very easy to walk around the entire city and many street signs encourage it. I stopped at Monk's for dinner and was plesantly shocked and amazed to find Saison Dupont on tap as well as a few Belgian beers I wasn't familiar with. Monk's is a priority stop on any visit to Philadelphia. The frites with mayonnaise are especially tasty. (http://www.monkscafe.com/) I walked from there down though the historic district and over to AKA Records to meet a friend.