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the MTAA-RR

[splash image]

MTAA-RR:

Dec 31, 2006

more 06 cya

posted at 14:57 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

When I was thinking about what to add to this list 06, I sent an email off to artist Rick Silva and collector, curator, photographer and art blogger extraordinaire Barry Hoggard asking what they liked in art in 06. Both sent lists of work I loved as well as shows that I wish I had seen. Enjoy.

One of my favorite works in 06 was Rick’s Recap. Here is a list of some of Rick’s favorites for the year.

cassini - saturn’s rings
spike lee - when the levees broke - a requiem in 4 parts
matmos - the rose has teeth in the mouth of the beast
pleix -birds
john kilduff - let’s paint tv
media archeology: software cinema festival - houston, texas
cai guo qiang at site santa fe
james turrell’s ‘meeting’ at ps1 at around 10 degrees farenheit right before they close for the night
john hodgeman - areas of my expertise
drawing restraint 1-9 at sfmoma
gazira babeli - secondlife code performer
radar at denver art museum

In Dangling Between the Real Thing and the Sign in The Window, James and Barry curated a group of artists who I felt held the mirror to 06. It was funny, dystopic and experimental. I hope, in 07, they will do it again. Here are some of Barry’s highlights for the year.

Susan Dessel’s bodies from our show
videos of Robert Boyd
Jeremy Eilers sculptures
Klara Liden Bodies of Society 2006
New Charles Goldman sculpture
This 9/11 show
Heather Rowe’s sculpture
Jacques Louis Vidal’s videos

Barry adds at the end of his list “I saw a lot of painting I liked too.” permanent link to this post

Dec 30, 2006

06 cya

posted at 22:27 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Nerdz Rising 06
Cory Archangel at Team
Jessica Ciocci at Foxy Production
Michael Bell-Smith at Foxy Production
Paul Slocum at Vertex List
Tom Moody at Artmoving Projects
Jennifer & Kevin McCoy at Postmasters

Straight up Net Art
UNIVERSAL ACID
punk rock 101
Toni Burlap
With Elements of Web 2.0
Weather Gauge
Tracking Transience
Oil Standard, Greasemonkey conversion of US Dollars to Barrels of Oil
DVblogH4ck
www.pulp.href
<$BlogPageTitle$>
Lambs In Ascension
Tracking Transience
deptofnetworkperformance
Midnight
My Digital Pog Page

Some Other Good Stuff (Lots of MOMA for some reason)
Dada at MOMA
“…But I was Cool”, Jerry Gant, Robert Pruitt and Dread Scott at Aljira
Lee Walton at Conflux
Noah Lyon at 33 Bond Street
Herzog & de Meuron at MOMA
Douglas Gordon at MOMA
8 Bit at MOMA
On and Off at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery
Nicole Eisenman at Leo Koenig Inc.
The Downtown Show at The Grey Art Gallery

Update: (aka oh, yeah)
Strange Powers at Creative Time
permanent link to this post

Dec 29, 2006

another leftover 06 AIOTD

posted at 15:58 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

The Long Campaign

A computer driven, dual channel, video of a MTAA rock, scissor, paper game. Software selects chance game play and keeps the accumulated score forever. permanent link to this post

Dec 28, 2006

AIOTD 06 Leftovers

posted at 15:48 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

…a late Merry Christmas or an early Happy New Year to all.

And now, by popular demand (of one MTAA fan), here are a few leftover AIOTD’s from 06 for you to snack on.

Power of Love and Hate - a dual portrait of MTAA listing (off the cuff) all the things they love and hate using overlapping dialogue.

Believing (In the Morning) - a dual portrait of MTAA enthusiastically using morning beauty products.

Clocking In - a computer driven video in which MTAA chimes the hours by beating an alarm clock with bats.

I think we have some more 06 AIOTDs sitting around. We’ll post them if they show up permanent link to this post

Dec 24, 2006

House music making a comeback?

posted at 14:37 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Cory Arcangel is probably the hippest person I know. If he’s linking to Brooklyn Bounce videos from his del.icio.us feed, perhaps BIG house music is ready for a comeback? I have to admit, listening to Get Ready To Bounce really made me want to dance; more than current dance music.

Maybe jungle will come back with it? ;-)

Or maybe I’m just a nostalgic old geezer.

Merry Christmas! permanent link to this post

Dec 23, 2006

Copy-paste (net.)art

posted at 23:36 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

It seems particularly apt that I simply copy and paste this post from We Make Money Not Art

0galerijasi.jpg
Last May, i blogged about Plagiarismo, an exhibition that tried to demonstrate that the appropriation and re-formulation of other artists’ ideas is an essential component of culture.

Vuk Cosic - who’s having a solo exhibition at the Škuc Gallery in Ljubljana- wrote me then that he was putting together a show called CTRL-C on a similar subject. The show has just opened at the galerija Simulaker in Slovenia. Here’s the gist:

From Duchamp and Benjamin to Beuys the art of the previous century has asked the question of copying and multiplying as a legitimate artistic practice. The advent of the internet has dramatically placed the digital original and digital copy in the very center of artistic but also economic frictions.

Mere simplicity of making copies is socially not perceived as a liberating tool for artistic creation but is turning out to be the main point of conflict between economic interests and those of societies at large. Traditionalists fighting for Intellectual Property are trying to pull the giants from under our feet.

The CTRL-C show is presenting projects exclusively focused on the artistic relevance of the digital copy. Exhibited works are using the language of the non-original to express a very concrete critique of the circumstances in the world of art and in the society. All works in the show have provided their authors with a measure of scandal and a bigger measure of fame:

In September 1997, Vuk Ćosić made an almost perfect copy of the website of Documenta X before it was taken down by the organisers of the famous contemporary art show. The artist saw his act as an “expression of a rebellion against the art system and the return of art from a gallery into reality.”

0020101t.jpgEpilogue: The copy found its way into relevant “kunst.historisch” literature and is still accessible on the author’s internet server. Being a legitimate and conceptual work it has been exhibited many times, also at the Venice Bienale in 2001.

In 1997, 0100101110101101.ORG made a series of clones of well-known net.art projects (hell.com, art teleportacia, Jodi) as a digital monument to the principles upon which the Internet runs. “The belief that information must be free,” explained at the time Renato, 0100101110101101.ORG spokesman, “is a tribute to the way in which a very good computer or a valid program works: binary numbers move in accordance with the most logic, direct and necessary way to do their complex function. What is a computer if not something that benefits by the free flow of information? Copyright is boring.”

Epilogue: The three copies are still accessible on the authors’ server. Nowadays they are known for their numerous net.art projects, acknowledged by the public and the media.

In 1999, RtmarkThe Yes Men altered the website of the World Trade Organization and made it very similar to the original. They received invitations to symposia (no one’s going to forget their talk and little demo at the Textiles of the Future conference in Tampere), where they presented the identity of GATT as they understood it.

0yesmort.jpg 0yeszizi.jpg
Yes Men stunts in Salzburg and Tampere

Epilogue: The authors belong to the group of the most recognizable names of the New Media scene. A documentary has been made about their work (also available on google video btw.)

0enikmaa.jpgDuring the exhibition of Fluxus in 2005, Gordan Karabogdan and Nikica Klobučar snatched a few of Beuys’ videos, copied them at their home and returned the “originals” without anyone noticing it. They even produced free copies and the media comprehended this deed as a criminal act.

Epilogue: The work, called Enigma of an object, ended with an act of handing over the copied films and entire documentation to the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka.

Thanks Vuk for the information and translations! permanent link to this post

Dec 22, 2006

Please address me thusly

posted at 18:03 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid


My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
His Excellency T.Whid the Loquacious of Molton St Anywhere

Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title… permanent link to this post

Dec 17, 2006

Automate QuickTime video on OS X

posted at 20:21 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/geek

This post may be helpful for artists and other creatives that need to automate the launching of digital video files using QuickTime on the Mac OS.

MTAA is in a group show in January and we’re showing a simple digital video loop. The goal was to automate the launching of the video full screen and looping when the computer starts up. The strategy was to use an AppleScript as a login item to achieve this.

The straightforward way to do this is to create a script that tells QuickTime to open the file, play it full screen and loop by pointing to the explicit path of the file on disk, e.g bootdisk:path:to:foo.mov. The problem with this is that if the file is moved QuickTime can’t open it. To make it more error-proof I wanted to make one application package with the video inside it. This allows there to be one file that can be moved to any Mac and double-clicked to start the video playing with all the properties I need.

After a bit of research and trial-and-error I think I came up with a decent solution.

I should note here that you can set QuickTime movies to play full screen on launch in the Movie Properties/Presentation panel of QuickTime Pro, but I couldn’t find a way to tell it to always loop so I took the approach below. If there is a way to tell a QuickTime movie to loop on launch then I wasted a bunch of time ;-) On the other hand, for a video that QuickTime can play but isn’t wrapped in the QuickTime container (like a straight-up MPEG4) this is probably the only way to do it.

Regardless, this is what I did:

First, in Script Editor (/Applications/AppleScript/Script Editor), I created a new script and saved it as an ‘application bundle’ (making sure to uncheck ‘Startup Screen’). This created an application package — basically, a special folder — almost every OS X application is this format. By control-clicking this application in the Finder, I selected ‘Show Package Contents’ in the contextual menu. This opened a new Finder window with a folder called ‘Contents.’ Inside Contents was a folder called ‘Resources’ (and some other files). I copied my video file into the Resources folder.

Back to Script Editor, I typed a script very similar to this:

--set path to video file
set _f to ((path to me) as string) ¬
	& "Contents:Resources:foo.mov"

-- open and play it
tell application "QuickTime Player"
	launch
	activate
	stop every movie
	close every movie saving no
	try
		my play_movie(_f)
	on error
		(* in case the file has been 
		moved or deleted for some reason *)
		choose file with prompt ¬
			"File not found! Please locate it:"
		set _f to result
		my play_movie(_f)
	end try
end tell

on play_movie(_file)
	tell application "QuickTime Player"
		open _file
		tell movie 1
			(*
			you can put any properties you
			need in here
			*)
			set looping to true
			present scale screen
		end tell
	end tell
end play_movie
Note: this script doesn’t work when run from Script Editor. It needs to be saved and launched by double-clicking the application bundle.

In the end, I have a little app that contains my video, is easily copied from computer to computer and can be set as a login item so it launches automatically when the computer starts. For a bonus, it’s easy to replace the icon by replacing the file applet.icns in the Resources folder in the application bundle. I used CocoThumbX to create a new icns file.

Another tip: if you need to edit the script a bit, you should go into the bundle and open the main.scpt file in the [app bundle]:Contents:Resources:Scripts folder instead of editing the actual app bundle file. If your video file is large, it takes a long time to save the script when you’re editing the bundle as opposed to the script on it’s own. permanent link to this post

Dec 14, 2006

iPhil can be yours

posted at 13:57 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

$250 to the Rhizome benefit gets you a MTAA print of iPhil
Yup. That’s right. For supporting a new media not for profit, you can own an MTAA work that does not need to be plugged in. Wild. permanent link to this post

Dec 11, 2006

We meet Rick Silva in person

posted at 02:23 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

The other night M.River and I attended Dorkbot with presentations by (among others) Rick Silva and Marisa Olson.

M.River snapped this pic of me, Marisa, Tom Moody and Rick Silva:

IMGP8282.JPG

Special bonus, more studio tests:
IMGP8338.JPG permanent link to this post

Dec 05, 2006

land of the ice and snow..

posted at 14:49 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Saw fellow camp Creative Capital 06 alum Jane Marsching last night. Her project is up. Check it.

Climate Commons - a networked conversation about climate change, sustainability, and the Arctic developed by Jane D. Marsching with Matthew Shanley from November 27 2006 - February 28, 2007.

climate-commons.net

Also, if you’re in Boston, Jane’s show “Arctic Listening Post” is at the ICA from December 10, 2006 - March 11, 2007.

Update: Here is Holland Cotter’s NTY review of the shows up at the ICA with a mention of Jane’s project. permanent link to this post

Dec 04, 2006

MTAA in Miami

posted at 15:29 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Not!

For some reason or another we never find our way to Miami Beach for the December art fairs. This is probably a good thing for those that might otherwise catch a startlingly bright glimpse of our NTSC-illegal-white bodies burning like phosphorous on the beach.

Hoping everyone has fun. permanent link to this post

Nov 30, 2006

Detroit Rock City

posted at 13:26 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

NYT on the new MOCAD permanent link to this post

Nov 28, 2006

CC v Zune

posted at 14:52 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/geek

Wired.com’s Listening Post blog touches on the back-asswards Zune player and its non-compatibility with Creative Commons licenses. The crux of the issue is that the Zune will apply DRM to any song that is shared (or, um, ‘squirted’) between Zunes via the wifi feature regardless of what license is applied to the song. Creative Commons is adding language to their licenses that will explicitly make it a violation of the license to do this.

Read the story (with comments) here.

It will be interesting to see if any lawsuits result because of this. Have there been any CC-related lawsuits yet? permanent link to this post

Whitney at the High Line

posted at 01:28 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

I’m sure everyone that reads this web site probably already knew…

[via NYT]
A month after the Dia Art Foundation scrapped its plans to open a museum at the entrance to the High Line, the abandoned elevated railway line that the city is transforming into a public park, the Whitney Museum of American Art has signed on to take its place and build a satellite institution of its own downtown.

The Whitney recently reached a conditional agreement on Wednesday night with the city’s Economic Development Corporation to buy the city-owned site, at Washington and West Streets in the meatpacking district, officials at the museum said yesterday. Plans call for the new museum to be at least twice the size of the Whitney’s home on Madison Avenue at 75th Street, they said, and to be finished within the next five years.
permanent link to this post

Nov 26, 2006

MTAA art at home in NJ

posted at 14:20 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

When it came time to remove our installation 3’ High and Rising, Newark from the E7 show at Aljira, we received an email asking if MTAA would be interested in donating the work. We, of course, said “Yes. It’s for you.” So, like Cats on Broadway, MTAA is “now and forever” raising the desk at Aljira in Newark, NJ by 3 feet. permanent link to this post

Nov 22, 2006

Parachute fails

posted at 17:11 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

image.jpg

The Canadian contemporary art magazine PARACHUTE ceases publication. This sucks.

From the press release (available in PDF: english | french):
Montreal, 20 November 2006 — The contemporary art magazine PARACHUTE, founded in 1974, has taken the difficult decision to suspend its activities. Despite the success of its new format, introduced in 2000, and its international recognition, funding levels no longer make it possible to ensure a reasonable level of quality and stability.

Despite its determination and efforts to maintain the journal’s presence on the contemporary art scene and to continue operations, PARACHUTE’s board of directors was obliged to take this last-resort decision after examining all the economic and social factors which would have enabled the journal to extract itself from the impasse facing it. The journal had recently succeeded in increasing its sales by more than 200% while at the same time cutting expenses and trimming budgets. Major fundraising efforts over the last years have produced significant but insufficient results. As well, the repeated demands on government agencies have been unproductive. An overall drop in subsidies, in tandem with the current funding structure of the journal and the media environment today make the task that much more complex. Despite PARACHUTE’s exceptional longevity in a highly competitive milieu — a longevity owing to the enthusiasm of its contributors and readers and to the unflagging determination of its director — its suspension of activities at this time highlights the precariousness of cultural organizations in Quebec and the rest of Canada.
permanent link to this post

Baste every 10 minutes

posted at 14:16 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

For my brother Doug and all who will attempt to roast a turkey for the first time this year:

McSweeney’s
BUTTERBALL HELP-LINE HELP-LINE

twhid adds…
…my humble turkey related links. permanent link to this post

Nov 21, 2006

MartinLutherKing[dot]org run by racists

posted at 15:35 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

MartinLutherKing[dot]org is run by racists. If you go to the site (don’t go there) there is a link at the bottom of the page that says it’s hosted by Stormfront, a racist group. A quick Google search for “Martin Luther King” provides a link to martinlutherking[dot]org in the first slot.

Here are some better links, that should really make up the first page of results on Google:

Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King

[via] | [digg it] permanent link to this post

Nov 17, 2006

BuzzFeed

posted at 22:47 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Jonah Peretti’s new venture, BuzzFeed is live. Sure, there are other people involved (John Johnson and Kenneth Lerer of The Huffington Post) but this thing has Peretti’s fingerprints all over it.

I don’t want to be a buzz kill, but I’m unsure how this is going to be different from Technorati or Digg. They’ve added editorial oversight and commentary it seems, but is that a just throwback to pre-crowdsourcing techniques?

They’re in the early stages of this thing and I’m sure Jonah and the gang have a lot up their sleeves.

Congrats!

update
Looking over BuzzFeed a tad more I’d like to amend my first response. BuzzFeed is doing something different than Technorati and Digg. Where Technorati will tell you there are n number of links to story x, BuzzFeed is focused on larger trends. It gives you relevant links to the larger meme. Also, the archives are great.

I’d like to know more about it though. Are they only analyzing the sites under ‘sites making buzz’? Oops, I guess I should have read the about page, it says they track 50,000 sites. That doesn’t answer what the ‘sites making buzz’ list is however. permanent link to this post

Nov 16, 2006

Last minute reminder: 3x3 was last night!

posted at 17:31 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Just in case you don’t look at dates and just do what the MTAA-RR tells you, the show was last night.

Blind following of the MTAA-RR is fine, in most cases, but we would not want you showing up at EFI, find a locked door and then wonder why we would go the empty gallery as art route again.

Oh, yeah. The 3x3 show was fun. permanent link to this post

Nov 15, 2006

Last minute reminder: 3x3 tonight!

posted at 22:47 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

The world premier of The Un-scary Movie! A very, very short video by MTAA at:

3 Minutes : 3 Hours
Wednesday November 15 – 7pm
EFA Gallery | EFA Studio Center
323 West 39th Street, 2nd Floor, NYC

More info here.

Be there or be a rhombus. permanent link to this post

Artist billboards of gay Poles banned

posted at 16:14 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Billboards of portraits of gay Poles by Polish artist Karolina Bregula were censored by Lamar Outdoor Advertising.

Edward Winkleman has the lowdown (along with a call to action). There’s info on Newsgrist as well.

Institutionalized bigotry against gays, lesbians and transgender people really needs to end. Now. How long can we continue to treat a good portion of our population like second-class citizens? permanent link to this post

Nov 14, 2006

Wiley Wiggins comments on Cory

posted at 18:23 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Wiley Wiggins, star of Dazed and Confused has commented on Cory Arcangel’s Untitled Translation Exercise (scroll down). Read Wiggins’ blog post.

Note: “Untitled Translation Exercise” is Cory’s video that re-dubs Dazed and Confused using Indian outsourcing workers.

Also, Cory would, presumably, be publicly executed under the Realtime Art Manifesto. permanent link to this post

Realtime Art Manifesto

posted at 18:08 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

It’s safe to say that I disagree with the majority a whole bunch of this (including the idea of writing a manifesto at all…).

An interesting read none-the-less.

+++

Realtime Art Manifesto by Auriea Harvey & Michaël Samyn

1. Realtime 3D is a medium for artistic expression.
2. Be an author.
3. Create a total experience.
4. Embed the user in the environment.
5. Reject dehumanisation: tell stories.
6. Interactivity wants to be free.
7. Don’t make modern art.
8. Reject conceptualism.
9. Embrace technology.
10. Develop a punk economy.


[via]

m.river adds:
“including the idea of writing a manifesto at all…”

We did write one.

[Artainment]

twhid responds:
Yeah, but ours was ironic.

Irony, under the Realtime Art Manifesto, is punished by having kneecaps shattered. permanent link to this post

Nov 13, 2006

computerfinearts.com @ [DAM] Berlin

posted at 18:07 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

This is a tad late, but the show runs through December 5th.
COMPUTER FINE ARTS COLLECTION OF DORON GOLAN

Internet Art / Software Art

www.computerfinearts.com

Exhibition 06:
10th November 2006 – 5th December 2006

Doron Golan collects artwork, which have been developed for the internet. He concentrated on an aspect of contemporary art, which was consindered as not marketable. The different pieces, which were developed specifically for the Web are free available for everybody. In many cases the internet, with its specific possibilities, is an integral part of the artwork. By aquiring these pieces he enables the persistence of these artworks online. The collection is internationally and you´ll find some important artists, which were already known for internet-art in the 1990s. We present his collection as a projection in the gallery.

[DAM] Berlin
Digital Art Museum
Tucholskystr. 37
D-10117 Berlin

Tue- Fri 12-6 pm | Sat 12-4 pm


There’s a lot of great stuff in Doron’s collection. It’s a very valuable resource, so check it out! permanent link to this post

Nov 08, 2006

Rumsfeld: force quit

posted at 20:42 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/politics

Too funny not to republish! (via boingboing)  

Rumsfeldresignation.jpg permanent link to this post

MTAA At The Art Opening [part 9]

posted at 16:37 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid



Part 9 is ready for download. (MP3, 10.2MB, 16’00)

In which M.River and T.Whid blather on about inane stuff as they count down to the end of this torturous exercise. Lauren Cornell pops in at the end to provide some much needed relief.

This is the final installment in this series. permanent link to this post

FUCKING FINALLY!

posted at 04:45 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/politics

Dems win House!!!

CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and even FOX news call the house for the Dems.

The beginning of the end of the nightmare called the Bush Administration is at hand.

update
It’s the morning of the 8th now and it looks like a great win! As I’m writing this the Democrats have picked up at least 27 seats in the House (as reported by the NYT and the WaPo) and it’s looking good for the Senate too. Webb (D) is up by only .3% (7847 votes)! and the Democrat Tester in Montana is up by .4% (1735 votes)! If the dems can hold on there (and that’s a big ‘if’ because we all know how good the repubs are at cheating and lying) then the members of the reality-based community get a win (almost) beyond our wildest dreams :-)

I’m from Ohio and the map below (from NYT) illustrates just how far the Democrats have come in just two years. Look at all that blue :-)

ohio_map_2006_election.gif
For more maps like this go here, select ‘state by state’ then select a state on the left.

update 2
Holy shit! Rumsfeld is out! Almost better news than the Congressional revolution. permanent link to this post

Nov 07, 2006

MTAA At The Art Opening [part 8]

posted at 02:49 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid



Part 8 is ready for download. (MP3, 11.2MB, 16’36)

In which T.Whid chats with Marisa Olson.

And in case you’re wondering, there’s only one more after this. I suppose that’s either good news or bad news depending on your point-of-view. permanent link to this post

Nov 06, 2006

MTAA At The Art Opening [part 7]

posted at 01:36 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid



Part 7 is ready for download. (MP3, 10.1MB, 15’28)

In which M.River talks to some guy that seems to really hate art, artists and anything to do with art and artists except for the free drinks at openings (which he can’t drink because he’s training for a marathon). Helen chimes in now and then with wisecracks. permanent link to this post

Nov 04, 2006

MTAA At The Art Opening [part 6]

posted at 18:50 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid



Part 6 is ready for download. (MP3, 5.5MB, 8’07)

In which T.Whid talks to Tinydiva (AKA Margaret Jameson). Unfortunately, due to a technical glitch, a good portion of the interview was lost :(

Make sure to listen to Tinydiva’s submission (entitled Running — direct link; MP3, 35MB, 15’16) to To Be Listened To… permanent link to this post

The world premier of The Unscary Movie - Nov 15

posted at 16:33 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

The world premier of The Unscary Movie - a very, very short video by MTAA

In the spring Marina Zurkow asked us if we could make a 3 minute film in 3 hours. We said, “Yup. ”

In the early summer, we filmed Coney Island’s Dante’s Inferno ride. It took a bit more than 3 minutes but not much more. In the early fall, we edited the film. It took a bit more than 3 hours but not much more.

The Unscary Movie is, for the most part, black video. It is, for the most part, loud. It is, for the most part, 3 minutes of sitting in the dark while someone screams and groans. Sometimes a monster pops up. Sometimes you see daylight. It’s not very scary. It’s not action packed. If you come to see it, you should just pass the 3 minutes thinking of the summer past. Feel free to scream along.

3 Minutes : 3 Hours
Wednesday November 15 – 7pm
EFA Gallery | EFA Studio Center
323 West 39th Street, 2nd Floor, NYC

premiering 3 x 3 works by artists:

Chris Doyle, Margarida Garcia, Josh Greene, Oliver Kellhammer, Erin Lee, Zachary Mortensen, MTAA, Ruth Ozeki, Michael Portnoy, Robert Ransick, Marcia Scott, Abigail Simon, Elaine Tin Nyo, Lance Wakeling, Josh Weinstein, Marina Zurkow,(+ organized by Marina Zurkow) permanent link to this post

Pickle passion

posted at 15:09 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/geek

si.jpg
If you love, or even like, pickles. Then run, don’t walk, ah… somewhere to pick up some of Rick’s Picks. Be warned though, they ain’t cheap (11 bucks a jar on the web site).

The newly (re-)opened Cobblestone Foods in my neighborhood in Brooklyn started carrying them and I picked up a jar of the Spears of Influence last night. It was a really fucking good pickle. It was, perhaps, even better than Guss’ Pickles. But I think I should treat my wife and myself to a taste test to decide.

Mmmmmmmm, test taste… I mean mmmmmmm taste test… permanent link to this post

Nov 03, 2006

just another cool show alert…

posted at 18:57 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

One of the best parts of our residency at Aljira and our retreat with Creative Capital was the chance to meet and be mentored by the artist Dread Scott. Dread has been making politically strong and conceptually sharp work for years. I believe his advice and encouragement has helped focus our studio practice over the last few months. When you make work that does not always mesh well with what you believe the art world is, it’s good to hear from an artist who has navigated his work within the artworld while maintaining his work’s heart.

Dread will be showing at Aljira this fall with Jerry Gant, and Robert Pruitt. Sounds like it will be a great show. So, check it out.

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
Aljira: a Center for Contemporary Art
³…But I was Cool²
November 9, 2006-January 27, 2007
Opening reception Nov. 9, 2006 5:30 PM ­ 7:30 PM

Exhibition with Jerry Gant, Robert Pruitt and Dread Scott
Panel Discussion with the artists Sunday Nov 12, Noon
Artists Talk Nov. 12, 2006 12 noon ­ 2:00 PM

permanent link to this post

Nov 02, 2006

MTAA At The Art Opening [part 5]

posted at 16:50 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid



Part 5 is ready for download. (MP3, 5.3MB, 8’26)

In which M.River talks with the one and only Mark Napier as T.Whid goes AWOL in order to smoke. permanent link to this post

Nov 01, 2006

Olia Lialina in NYC

posted at 15:59 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

A Conversation with Olia Lialina
Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery
601 W 26th Street, Suite 1240
New York, NY 10001
212-243-8830

November 2, 2006 6:30PM

In conjunction with the exhibition On and Off at the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, celebrated artist and net.art pioneer Olia Lialina will discuss her work with curator Caitlin Jones. Using her iconic work “My Boyfriend Came Back from the War” as a springboard, Lialina will address issues such as the changing aesthetic and thematic landscape of the web, new models of authorship and participation; and the outward expansion of network based ideas and practice into off-line spaces and contexts.


Lialina is one of the original net.artists. All the true heads will be in attendance I’m sure ;-) And note, this is also in conjunction with Rhizome’s Tenth Anniversay Festival. permanent link to this post

MTAA At The Art Opening [part 4]

posted at 14:28 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid



Part 4 is ready for download. (MP3, 11.6MB, 17’23)

This one features MTAA babbling about the opening and a short interview with Patrick May, artist and Rhizome’s Director of Technology.

Also, some files were uploaded to 2bl2 that we think are in arabic (and look to have been uploaded from an ISP in the United Arab Emirates). The uploader neglected to add them to a feed so I added them to the ‘…in a park in Europe as you wait for the sun to rise and the snow to stop’ feed. If anyone knows arabic, please enlighten us as to the content. We’re curious. permanent link to this post

Oct 30, 2006

MTAA At The Art Opening [part 3]

posted at 21:42 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid


Go there now! Get your iTunes on.

Part 3 is ready for download. (MP3, 4.4MB, 06’52)

This one features GH busting some Dan Graham moves.

We have a few more parts to go. So settle in… permanent link to this post

NEW MEDIA ART

posted at 21:06 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

NEWMED~1.png

THE LAST AVANT-GARDE

Rough version of an interview with Mark Tribe & Reena Jana, authors of NEW MEDIA ART (Taschen, 2006). A shorter version has been published in Flash Art Italia, Issue 260, October - November 2006, p. 73.

Domenico Quaranta: Even from an editorial point of view, your book describes new media art as a movement (such as Surrealism or Conceptualism) rather than a mere possibility of the medium. This is a very interesting point. Do you believe in it or is this a marketing strategy? Is new media art the last avant-garde, and why?

Mark Tribe: Before we discuss New Media art as a movement, we describe it more generically in terms of “projects that make use of emerging media technologies and are concerned with the cultural, political, and aesthetic possibilities of these tools.” I think this is more-or-less what you mean by “a possibility of the medium.” […]

keep reading… NEW MEDIA ART permanent link to this post

MTAA At The Art Opening [part 2]

posted at 01:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid


Get up on it!

Part 2 is ready for download. (MP3, 15MB, 13’11)

Go to To Be Listened To… and upload your own stuff for crying out loud! permanent link to this post

Oct 28, 2006

MTAA At The Art Opening [part 1]

posted at 16:26 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid


The title of a series of audio files we’re releasing has been sort of up-in-the-air so I decided (unilaterally btw (sorry M)) that I’m going to call it “MTAA At The Art Opening.” It’s a series of audio recordings that we’ll be releasing via our podcast website “To Be Listened To…”. (See this for more info.)

You can download part 1 of “MTAA At The Art Opening” now! (MP3, 14.4MB, 12’39)

Please stare at this image of MTAA as you listen to part 1. Also, subscribe to the podcast feed in iTunes (iTunes link) or other podcast client (RSS link) to get future parts as they’re released.

Note: alternately, we’ve been calling this piece “2BL2 Rhizome Reception” and “A Live Demonstration of MTAA Art Practice At Rhizome’s Reception For The 2005 - 2006 Net Art Commissions” and having no title at all. It’s all very confusing. permanent link to this post

Oct 25, 2006

Dangling Between The Real Thing And The Sign In The Window

posted at 21:21 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Barry Hoggard and James Wagner have released a very thorough and extensive web site documenting their curatorial effort, “Dangling Between The Real Thing And The Sign In The Window” at Dam, Stuhltrager in Brooklyn.

It’s a shame that most art exhibitions don’t have such a great resource accompanying them. permanent link to this post

MTAA @ NuMu last night

posted at 13:42 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

imgp7843.jpg

More at: M.River’s Tinjail/tintype photoblog. Start here and work your way back.

See this and this for more info. permanent link to this post

Oct 24, 2006

McCoy lite™ ?

posted at 19:18 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

friday13.jpg

Friday the 13th: In 7 Minutes is a video on YouTube that…

[…] features every on-screen death in the film series FRIDAY THE 13th, displayed back to back and in chronological order.


See Jennifer and Kevin McCoy’s Every Anvil for context. permanent link to this post

Oct 23, 2006

2BL2 live demo

posted at 15:51 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Cutting-edge cute!

Making fun… for everyone!

Back from decrepitude!

YES! The long-awaited live demonstration of “To Be Listened To…”!!!

>>> Listen to the exciting announcement in MP3 format <<<

When? Tomorrow Oct 24, 2006, 6:30PM - 8:30PM
Where? New Museum bookstore (google map)
Why? ask Rhizome
How: 1 mic, 1 MTAA, 1 laptop, 1 crowd of new media swells and their hangers-on

>>> Listen to the exciting announcement in MP3 format <<<

As part of the reception for the 2005-2006 Rhizome Commissions.

Be there or be a parallelogram! permanent link to this post

Oct 21, 2006

boo

posted at 13:57 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

2 Halloween links I found this morning that you might enjoy…

a haunted house made out of balloons
ghost in the Tate permanent link to this post

Oct 20, 2006

to give back

posted at 18:20 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Infinitive Phil
Digital Print by MTAA
11 x 17 edition of 20
$250

Made exclusively for Rhizome, this print captures the still frames from the artists’ video contribution to Cory Arcangel’s legendary ‘Infinite Fill’ exhibition, in which Phil Hartman plays Phil Donahue

Rhizome Community Campaign

DC 911 - The Evildoers’ Remix
DVD with unique cover collage
1 hour 10 minutes.
$100

DC 911 is a guerilla edit of the pro-Bush propaganda film DC 9/11 - A Time of Crisis. First shown during the 2004 RNC at Postmasters Galley in New York. The video is a collaboration between new media art duo MTAA, video artist bodyatomic and musician/DJ tinydiva

Turbulence Fundraiser
permanent link to this post

Oct 19, 2006

2bl2 live in store.

posted at 02:19 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

A live demonstration of MTAA art practice in which a recording will be made of the event celebrating the artwork made. In other words, at the opening celebrating the public release of the MTAA’s artwork 2bl2, commissioned by the good folks of rhizome.org, MTAA will create a new 2bl2 sound artwork using the sound of the opening. I’m thinking about it as a big information loop. Get it?…No? Ummmm…Ok - I understand. T.Whid’s not sure about this one as well. How about: please come to the opening and see MTAA do some stuff that we like to call art? It might be interesting. Ok, Please. How’s that? Please. Please. I’ve gone to so many openings and events this past month that my eyes are tearing shut. I keep having that same sad conversations at openings that I kick myself about later. “Oh No, yeah. We’re working on stuff in the studio. Yeah. You should stop in. That would be cool.”. I never really know what to say. I end up all panicked. This time will be different. I’ll have you by my side while I go through it. Just come over and sit down. Say “Hello.” Help me stay calm and focused. Please. Thanks.

RHIZOME COMMISSIONS 2005-2006
New Museum Store
556 West 22nd Street
NYC
October 24, 2006 6:30pm

Participants: Hans Bernhard and Alessandro Ludovico, Peter Horvath, Jason Corace and Vicky Fang, Andy Deck, Jason Freeman, Sean Kerr, Ethan Ham and Tony Muilenberg, MTAA, Thomas Laureyssens, Adriaan Stellingwerff

Admission: FREE

“The Rhizome Commissions Program makes financial support available to artists for the creation of original works of Internet-based art. In 2005, Rhizome awarded eleven grants to an international group of artists. All the works took the Internet as their primary vehicle for exhibition; several also extended off the web as sculpture, video or installation. This evening will celebrate the works with a one-night installation and presentations by several of the commissioned artists. Cocktails will be served.”

update: note to self - never blog with a fever permanent link to this post

Oct 18, 2006

another tinjail shot.

posted at 13:33 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

rhizome at 1071

Yeah, I know it’s kinda hard to tell what’s going on but it might sum up the energy of the night. permanent link to this post

Oct 16, 2006

P-UNIT

posted at 17:59 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

This week from 11am to 11pm, Noah Lyon (aka retardroit) presents “The Living Installation: Part Deuxxx Tracying Eminem” at the soon to open 33 Bond Gallery. Stop on in and check out the work in progress. Closing party Sat Oct 21.

Tinjail pic from the first night.
permanent link to this post

last one out, hit the lights.

posted at 12:28 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

We are about to loose one of the great music and art venues in New York City. No, not CBGB’s. They shut down last night. I’m talking about Monkeytown. Looks like the doors shut in early November. Go see what you’ll wish you had while it’s still here.

Hmmm…Monkeytown Las Vegas anyone? permanent link to this post

Oct 13, 2006

MTAA’s studio on a top block in NYC?

posted at 14:48 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

According to TimeOut NY, MTAA’s studio (at 60 N.6th St. btw Wythe & Kent) is on the 40th best block in NYC. It’s true, they said that (scroll down)!

What they said:
40. North 6th Street between Kent and Wythe Avenues, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Near the waterfront, this block affords unobstructed views of Manhattan in a quintessential Williamsburg setting, near cutting-edge restaurants, cooler-than-thou bars and trendy boutiques.


Are they insane? (OK, yes, this is N.6th between Berry & Wythe, but you get the idea.)

We do have some Bansky on our building… perhaps that makes it a top block?

And, of course, the inevitable question: does this mean our rent is going up? permanent link to this post

Oct 10, 2006

Paraskevidekatriaphobia

posted at 16:49 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

General note: It’s Friday, October the 13th this week.

More info on Paraskevidekatriaphobia

twhid adds:
the inevitable Wikipedia link permanent link to this post

Oct 09, 2006

McCoys in WaPo

posted at 15:50 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

mccoy_wapo2.jpg

Our favorites, Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, are profiled in the Washington Post today.

The article bounces back and forth from bio piece:
Kevin, who is 39, is in torn jeans, a plain black T-shirt and scuffed black running shoes. He has long, unruly locks and a mustache that crawls, sluglike, down the sides of his chin. He could pass for a stoner selling used guitars.

His wife, 38, is notably more tidy. She sits near him wearing fresh khakis, a flowery green vest over a clean white shirt (untucked, because she’s pregnant with their second child ) and sparkly little flats. Her straight hair is cut at girlish shoulder length.

To discussions of the art:
[Their recent show in LA] is typical McCoy. It’s built around the cultural theories they were both schooled in in France — structuralism and its descendant, deconstruction — which emphasize the constructedness of all experience. The theories insist, that is, that culture, including silly children’s books, conditions everything we think we know about our world, such as what counts as “special” and “scary,” and maybe also how girls and boys will “naturally” think. (The installations, say the McCoys, were partly inspired by watching Ginger, their 2-year-old daughter.)

But instead of mouthing off about such things, the McCoys’ art tries to flesh them out and test them: If our mental and cultural world is supposed to be constructed, then they’ll craft building blocks of sense and a machine that lets us watch them being put together into an edifice of meaning.


There’s a video accompanying the article that shows snippets of their work. It was a bit strange having to watch an ad for AT&T before seeing a clip of “Horror Chase,” but that’s what comes with main stream press I guess ;-)

Congrats guys!

Artists Who Dissect ‘Starsky & Hutch’ in the Washington Post. permanent link to this post

Oct 07, 2006

The MAMP is phat

posted at 20:30 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/geek

If you need a quick and not-so-dirty way to set-up a MySQL, Apache and PHP system on your Mac, then MAMP (Macintosh, Apache, MySQL and PHP) can’t be beat for speed of set-up and ease-of-use.

There’s universal, powerpc and intel disk images available. The current (1.3.1) version installs MySQL 5.0.19 (with phpMyAdmin 2.7.0-pl2), PHP 4.4.2 and 5.1.4 (you can choose which to use in a simple preference panel) and Apache 2.0.55. It installs itself on non-standard ports so you can use OSX’s default web config alongside it if you like or, you can set Apache and MySQL to use their default ports (80 & 3306 respectively) and leave the OS X version of Apache off.

The developers recommend their product for local development only. You don’t want to use it as a production web server (especially with the out-of-the-box settings).

It looks like this nice piece of software has been around for about 2 years (Oct 2004 was their initial release). Not sure why I hadn’t caught wind of it until now. Rock on MAMP! permanent link to this post

Oct 05, 2006

Join the foie gras rebellion!

posted at 17:38 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

More on the haters trying to tell you what to eat in Salon today (must click through the ad to read the article).

The money quote:

[…] these ducks aren’t doing anything that a porn star doesn’t do on a regular basis.


And making my point:

Billions of chickens, hogs and beef are being harmed — that’s carnage on a far vaster scale — but big agribusiness is a difficult and powerful target. They don’t get much bang for their buck, from a political standpoint. It’s much easier to go for the small artisanal farmer with little resources and no lobbying group in D.C.


As I’ve said before, regardless of what you think of ‘gavage,’ do you really want politicians and the government enforcing prohibitions on food? permanent link to this post

Google’s not punk

posted at 13:36 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Cory Arcangel’s “punk rock 101” (recently talked up here) has been shut down by Google. I don’t know the details, just received this brief email from Cory:

google shut off the cobain thing :(

If you visit now, instead of real ads you see the public service stuff. If I learn more I’ll post it here. permanent link to this post

And of course

posted at 13:34 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

The show that we’re not in is opening tonight :-) permanent link to this post

Oct 04, 2006

GH reports from Split

posted at 14:04 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

check it out… Split Festival Quick Report

G.H. Hovagimyan reports on the Split Festival of New Film in which MTAA’s “1 year performance video” was shown. There’s a text review as well as an MP3 interview (direct link) with Branko Karabatic, the head of the festival. permanent link to this post

1ypv reviewed (hebrew)

posted at 13:49 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

If you know hebrew you can read an article about our “1 year performance video” written by Avi Rosen.

Here’s the link. According to Avi this is a “a major Israeli computer & culture site”.

Avi was the first person to view 1ypv for an entire year. Thanks for the ink dude! permanent link to this post

Oct 03, 2006

AFC reviews 8 BIT

posted at 21:59 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

(Following Moody’s lead…)

check it out: Art Fag City: Video Game Culture Thrives in New Documentary

The film premiers this Saturday at MoMA.

If you’re planning on going note that MoMA has a really inconvenient admissions policy for their films. You have to buy the tickets in person; there are no phone orders nor online orders. You also need to get them the day of, except “[a] limited number of advance tickets are available, no more than one week in advance of a film” and you pay a buck fifty for the privilege. permanent link to this post

Sep 29, 2006

Cory makes Digg front page

posted at 15:13 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

(Yes, this is Cory Arcangel week on the blog (as it always is when Cory has a show opening).)

Just in time for Cory Arcangel’s opening at Team Gallery tonight his net art piece “punk rock 101” made it to Digg’s front page (931 diggs at the time of this posting 959 diggs at the time of updating this post).

Check out the Digg post… (with the lame commentary and all)

This net art work is brilliant. Cory has, with one simple gesture, created a work of art that brings into stark relief both mass media’s lurid fascination with celebrity downfall and the commercialization (monteziation in the parlance) of private lives via web sites and services like MySpace and Gmail. We’re both repelled and fascinated by it.

update:
I fixed the title of the piece, originally I had it as “Kurt Cobain’s suicide letter vs. Google AdSense.”

According to Cory, he made 92USD from the page yesterday (when it first hit Digg) and has made 230USD since he launched it. permanent link to this post

Sep 26, 2006

Cory @ Team this Friday

posted at 15:49 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Swiped straight from Cory’s blog…

So, Ive been pretty quiet for about the last 4 - 5 months,…no new projects posted to the web, … even my delicious linking fell off … well that cause I have been working on an art show I have opening this Friday :-) the show is called “subtractions, modifications, addenda, and other recent contributions to participatory culture”. I am happy to be opening Team’s NEW SOHO GALLERY!! There are some new videos, a few computer hacks, and even a 12inch vinyl record. Source code for the projects will appear here eventually, but for now there is just a real world version. So please come and check it out. Here are the details:

Team Gallery
83 Grand Street, between Wooster and Greene
Friday, September 29, 6:00PM - 8:00PM

and here is the press release.

via: Team Gallery Soho Opening! Sept 2006 permanent link to this post

fall travel, part 2

posted at 15:38 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

1ypv at the Split Film Festival, Split, Croatia. permanent link to this post

Sep 25, 2006

fall travel

posted at 13:20 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Eteam’s new project, INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT MONTELLO in Artforum Diary

permanent link to this post

Sep 22, 2006

Rough Want

posted at 15:57 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Our first rough steps into turning Want into the world-conquering video installation that we envision…


permanent link to this post

Sep 21, 2006

you will not need to wrap it.

posted at 17:44 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

In case you are still wondering what to pick up for my birthday on Friday, here is a link for the limited edition 75th Anniversary 19’Bambi Airstream Thanks. Love ya. permanent link to this post

Warhol documentary part 1

posted at 13:45 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Well, it definitely seemed like a documentary about an artist. I always find it weird when art historians give great weight in dating things really, really specifically (“he started using silk-screen in april of ‘62”). Of course you want to know when things happened, but to use the fact to prop up the fallacy of a progressive linear continuum in art isn’t good history.

Still, I enjoyed the documentary very much.

One thought I had while watching is that what Warhol did for the mechanical image in art still hasn’t been done for the digital image. permanent link to this post

Sep 20, 2006

Burns’ Warhol tonight

posted at 13:51 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Ric Burns’ (no not his brother Ken Burns. I was confused too…) Warhol documentary is airing tonight and tomorrow night on PBS stations (NYT).

Go here to find the schedule on your local station. permanent link to this post

Sep 19, 2006

photo documentation of…

posted at 01:21 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

M. River and the ghost of James Lee Byars permanent link to this post

Sep 16, 2006

In the future everyone will be anonymous for 15 minutes

posted at 14:14 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Look. There are lots of photos of Bansky’s opening in LA (scroll down past the celeb photos for the actual art work).

My fave? the bobbies grappling with wildstyle graffiti.

And, of course, the update of Warhol’s prediction. permanent link to this post

Sep 15, 2006

Walton leaves Union Square…

posted at 18:17 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

…never to return.

walkingout.jpg
(open image in new browser window for full-size)

Background info here.

Photo provided by Marisa.

addendum:
I’ve decided that it is now my life’s mission to trick Lee Walton into entering Union Square again. permanent link to this post

E7 rolls on.

posted at 12:49 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Earlier this summer, the E7 (Aljira Emerge 7) show was reviewed in the NYT with a nice mention of MTAA’s 3’ High and Rising, Newark. The show gets another good review in the paper toady. This time Holland Cotter gives it his thumbs up. No mention of MTAA (Rats, Holland Cotter is one of my favs) this time but it’s great that the Emerge artist, the show, Aljira and the city of Newark is getting some love and support. Rise Newark Rise.

E7 is slated to come down Sept 30, so check it out. permanent link to this post

Sep 14, 2006

vlog preformance

posted at 16:21 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

“the birth of a new art form” ???

Wikipedia tries to sort out the unfolding story of Lonelygirl15 permanent link to this post

Sep 13, 2006

more from conflux 06

posted at 16:18 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

From our art pal Lee Walton, a sad day of self exile from Union Sqaure. No tears Lee, no tears.

On Friday, September 15th effective precisely at Noon- Lee Walton will leave Union Square Park never to return again.

Following a self-imposed life restriction, Walton’s world will get a little bit smaller. In the morning, Walton will be spending his final hours in the park before his departure. Exactly at noon, he will descend the steps of the park and begin walking south in search of a cold valedictory beer.

Any additional company and support on this difficult day would be welcomed and appreciated.

Hint: The 4th floor windows at the DSW shoe store on 14th street yield an excellent view of Walton’s final descent down the steps of Union Square Park. permanent link to this post

Sep 12, 2006

Port Huron Project

posted at 15:30 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Also, as a part of the Conflux Festival, Mark Tribe’s Port Huron Project 1: Until the Last Gun Is Silent Saturday, September 16, 5 PM, Central Park West. permanent link to this post

10 Pre-Rejected, Pre-Approved Performances: Midnight In The Deli
2005, web page, $100 worth of deli goods, digital video, wood
Artists' Space, We are all Together: Media(ted) Performance

“10 Pre-Rejected, Pre-Approved Performances” was a list of performance-based artworks that had been rejected by curators at various venues worldwide. An on-line vote via the MTAA website determined which performance was created. Documentation of the performance and voting process was shown as the final piece.

read more »

permanent link to this post

Sep 12, 2006

Conflux Festival this week

posted at 13:43 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Powered by Glowlab, from the PR:

Conflux is the annual NYC festival for contemporary psychogeography where international artists, technologists, urban adventurers and the public put investigations of everyday city life into practice on the streets. Currently in its third year, Conflux will take place September 14 - 17th in Brooklyn. Over 80 artists from across the US and countries including Canada, UK, Spain, Germany, Finland, Sweden and Australia will come to Williamsburg to present projects including experimental walking, biking, boat and public-transport tours; street games and tech workshops; mobile broadcasts, performances and temporary installations.


Get all the info at the web site of course. permanent link to this post

Sep 11, 2006

Sept. 11, 2001

posted at 14:48 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Fuck you George Bush and fuck you to your criminal administration.

Fuck you Dick Cheney.

Fuck you Karl Rove.

Fuck you Donald Rumsfeld.

Fuck all the motherfuckers that took this heinous crime and used it for their own pathetic political powerplays. Their cheap and disgusting tactics have done more harm to the US and the world than 1000 Osama’s could ever hope to do.

Congratulations motherfuckers! Happy September 11!

update 9/12:
A less hysterical take: Olbermann . permanent link to this post

Sep 10, 2006

Cory Arcangel using AppleScript?

posted at 15:16 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

It’s right here in his del.icio.us osx category.

He says:
dont tell anyone, but i might be using applescript for a project……


So… ya know… um, keep it cool. permanent link to this post

Sep 09, 2006

art festival

posted at 14:50 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

back from vacation
permanent link to this post

Sep 06, 2006

Have you no sense of decency, sir?

posted at 14:10 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/politics

Keith Olbermann on Bush’s disgusting speech of yesterday:
It is to our deep national shame—and ultimately it will be to the President’s deep personal regret—that he has followed his Secretary of Defense down the path of trying to tie those loyal Americans who disagree with his policies—or even question their effectiveness or execution—to the Nazis of the past, and the al Qaeda of the present.

Today, in the same subtle terms in which Mr. Bush and his colleagues muddied the clear line separating Iraq and 9/11 — without ever actually saying so—the President quoted a purported Osama Bin Laden letter that spoke of launching, “a media campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their government.”

Make no mistake here—the intent of that is to get us to confuse the psychotic scheming of an international terrorist, with that familiar bogeyman of the right, the “media.”

The President and the Vice President and others have often attacked freedom of speech, and freedom of dissent, and freedom of the press.

Now, Mr. Bush has signaled that his unparalleled and unprincipled attack on reporting has a new and venomous side angle:

The attempt to link, by the simple expediency of one word—“media”—the honest, patriotic, and indeed vital questions and questioning from American reporters, with the evil of Al-Qaeda propaganda.

That linkage is more than just indefensible. It is un-American.

full transcript on MSNBC

video on Crooks & Liars permanent link to this post

Sep 05, 2006

More moolah for artists

posted at 13:33 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

United States Artists is going to start dropping $50k on individual american artists as reported by the NYT. Nice. permanent link to this post

Sep 04, 2006

McCoys first solo show in LA

posted at 14:40 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

If you’re in LA this coming Friday brings the opening of the McCoys first solo show in your city! It’s at Fringe Exhibitions:

For their first solo Los Angeles exhibition, the McCoys present two new works. Both pieces are inspired by the language and themes of childhood. In the upstairs gallery, their project Special Things explores a super-charged utopian childhood of cavorting lambs, romping youths, and chiffon rainbows. All of this is rendered sculpturally in fragments across sixteen small hanging sculptures. Each sculpture consists of a miniature scene, a small video camera, and a mirrored word layered across the front of the sculpture. On a nearby screen, images of the sixteen scenes and their words are rapidly intercut, creating new sentences and shifting meaning: “The children feel special today” or “You can smell the flowers”.

In the downstairs gallery, the McCoys present Scary Things whose images come from simple elements of nature that can be frightening to children. This sculpture uses a similar technique of tiny cameras, sculptural miniatures, and acrylic text, but here the terrain is one integrated platform. Although the sculpture contains only ten words, hundreds of sentences are created, forming a reduced poetry of fear: “Dogs are fighting scary things” or “Lost birds are scary “.
permanent link to this post

Sep 02, 2006

Sol LeWitt on new materials

posted at 15:07 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Robbin Murphy reminds us of LeWitt’s warning…
New materials are one of the great afflictions of contemporary art. Some artists confuse new materials with new ideas. There is nothing worse than seeing art that wallows in gaudy baubles. By and large most artists who are attracted to these materials are the ones who lack the stringency of mind that would enable them to use the materials well. It takes a good artist to use new materials and make them into a work of art. The danger is, I think, in making the physicality of the materials so important that it becomes the idea of the work (another kind of expressionism).
Sol LeWitt, “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art”


I remember taking a photography class in college (I was a painter at the time). I liked it quite a bit and considered changing my focus. But I realized that I was infatuated with the tech, I knew that I would simply follow the tech down a hole. It was the non-tech of painting, I thought, that would help me focus on the ‘art.’

So it’s ironic to me that I ended up working as a new media artist for so long… perhaps this is why we feel part of the ‘new media ghetto.’ It’s a good thing that MTAA has M.River, who, on many levels, doesn’t give a shit about the tech.

M.River adds: Wow. I just found out interweb is not about “trucks”. It’s about “tubes”. Why doesn’t anyone tell me these things? Luckily the government is on top of all of this. permanent link to this post

Aug 31, 2006

Knox Rocks

posted at 12:57 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

1. Cool Karaoke art show in Knoxville with Abe ! and MO ! (and other “a list” art stars.)

2. Check out The Art Gallery of Knoxville’s website. It’s total “jimpuckolinaish”. Right on Knoxville. permanent link to this post

Aug 30, 2006

Schlock artist actually a con artist

posted at 01:26 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

punkasskinkade.jpg
The LA Times writes..

The FBI is investigating allegations that self-styled “Painter of Light” Thomas Kinkade and some of his top executives fraudulently induced investors to open galleries and then ruined them financially, former dealers contacted by federal agents said.

[…]

“It was a program of lies and deception, predicated on Christian values that weren’t there,” said Joseph Ejbeh, the Michigan attorney who tried the arbitration case.


via Boing Boing

addednum:
My wife points out what the The Mercury News wrote about this affair:

Critics - including highbrow art aficionados, satirical bloggers and starving artists annoyed by Kinkade’s marketing success - snicker at his work.

And then asks…
My question is, which category are you in, honey? All three I suspect…. :-)

To which I reply, yes, except for the starving part of course! permanent link to this post

Aug 28, 2006

The Stuckists?

posted at 22:05 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Edward Winkleman blogged about Stuckism today.

I think I missed the joke. Reading the later comments on the post, it looks like it was a ‘movement’ started by Tracy Emin’s pissed-off ex-bf, Billy Childish.

It seems that perhaps it became a real ‘movement’ of not-so-talented painters and that’s when the one of the co-founders (Childish) left. This comment claims to be from the the other co-founder of the group, Charles Thomson.

Regardless of the sincerity of its inception, the painting examples linked from Ed’s blog post are all entirely horrible. Perhaps on purpose? (Who cares?)

You can go to the Stuckism web site (which has a marquee! Is it an ironic marquee? (Who cares?)), or read about it on Wikipedia. permanent link to this post

Aug 24, 2006

gif.art

posted at 12:31 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Some old (way back in 01 folks) tinjail.com gif.art in the new This is (Not) a magazine Issue 18:

“Click to go forward, never go back”

This is (not) a Magazine proffers the new 2-bit-good-for-nothing Issue compiled entirely from animated GIFs made or found by artists working in and around the internet today. permanent link to this post

Aug 23, 2006

Foie gras rebellion

posted at 14:43 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

I love foie gras unapologetically. My wife and I dined on it almost every evening while in Paris on our honeymoon so it will always hold a special place in my heart.

It’s now officially illegal in Chicago to sell it. How stupid. The NYT reports on the foie gras rebellion taking place in the city!

In one of the more unlikely (and opulent) demonstrations of civil disobedience, a handful of restaurants here that never carry foie gras, the fattened livers of ducks and geese, featured it on the very day that Chicago became the first city in the nation to outlaw sale of the delicacy.


Defying Law, a Foie Gras Feast in Chicago

m.river (the non-meat eating part of mtaa) adds: Get over it Tim and Chicago. It’s not good for you, animals and farming in general.

To which T.Whid retorts:
I didn’t say it was good for me, but it’s not like I eat pounds of it a day. It’s a delicacy that I eat, at most, 3-4 times a year. No one’s arguing it’s good for the ducks or geese. But eating an animals liver is never good for an animal. Factory farming is worse for the environment. Regardless, I’m against prohibitions on drugs, alcohol, cigarettes etc. Why would I be pro foie gras prohibitions?

More on foie gras at wikipiedia, including the controversy surrounding it. permanent link to this post

3’ High & Rising, Newark
2006, wooden platform, gallery reception desk
Aljira Emerge 7

Another in our series (1, 2) of gallery reception desk mods/interventions, “3’ High & Rising, Newark” took Aljira’s reception desk and placed it 3 feet above the gallery floor.

read more »

permanent link to this post

Aug 23, 2006

Net Art Catch and Release Program 2006 (NA CARP 06)

posted at 00:37 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

If you find it
If you like it
If it was made in 06

then tag it “net_art_06”

del.icio.us/m.river
permanent link to this post

Aug 19, 2006

Gnarls Biggie

posted at 21:22 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Gnarls Biggie

by Sound Advice

…Gnarls Barkely mashed-up with Biggie Smalls

phat permanent link to this post

Aug 18, 2006

AIOTD - Reception Record

posted at 00:11 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

AIOTD - Reception Record / Self Portrait as an Open Mic.

On October 24, the New Museum bookstore will hold a reception for the Rhizome 06 commissions. The event will include MTAA’s net based audio art work / community ”2bl2”

At the Reception, MTAA will be create a new sound artwork called “Reception Record”. This work is a recording of the reception held for the artwork being produced. In other words, an artwork will be created from the material generated by the celebration of the artwork being created. It’s kind of a horse / cart thing.

Yes, you can say that the New Museum/ Rhizome reception is really for the “2bl2” project NOT the “Reception Record” project (which will be hosted within the “2bl2”) Let’s consider this detail only a small conceptual glitch akin to a hic-up.

So, if you find yourself in New York at the New Museum bookstore on the evening of the 24th of October and you see a microphone standing by itself in some corner, please go say “Hello”. Wish the microphone congratulations. Tell it a story or a joke. Get a few free reception drinks from the bar and chat it up. Have one of those awkward art opening conversations that just drift off and end. “Hey! How’s it going? What have you doing lately? Yeah? Cool…Excuse me, I’m going to go get anpther drink and say “Hi” to someone. Let’s hang out sometime soon” permanent link to this post

Aug 16, 2006

New York Mag does Creative Capital

posted at 20:19 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

…with an article full of tired cliches.

Or perhaps they’re just trying to be funny?

Whatev.

Check it out permanent link to this post

The Times UK does new media

posted at 18:21 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

It’s sort of a weird article that seems to mostly diss new media. Check it out

I’m proud to say that this…

So are artists at the cutting edge of new-media technology? No, says Charlie. One of the problems is that other stuff on the net is so much more mind-blowing. A site such as Google Earth is so much more awesome and thought-provoking than something an arty hacktivist can knock up on her PC.


is something I’ve been saying for years. Except the ‘thought-provoking’ part. That’s bullshit.

Artists don’t need to be at the cutting edge of technology to be relevant. They need to be at the cutting edge of expression. Being steeped in digital culture gives new media artists access to new modes or angles of thinking and feeling. permanent link to this post

Aug 15, 2006

Eye Calls

posted at 15:44 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

The Residents + MOMA + You + YouTube = New Media Public Art (NMPA)
permanent link to this post

Aug 14, 2006

New media art shouldn’t suck

posted at 21:41 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

AFC has a good post today about the realities of new media artists crossing-over into the larger art world. Here’s the bit that should be common sense to new media artists (but often isn’t):

Unlike many professions, there are a great number of people within the art world who could give a shit about the Internet. […] This sort of thing can create problems for artists who are making work in the medium because the people who understand it best are often the sixteen year nerds [sic] who spend 18 hours a day in front of a computer, as opposed to art world professionals who are responsible for the evaluation of art.


There are some new media artists who cross-over and make it look easy. Cory Arcangel and the McCoys come to mind. Arcangel succeeds by acting a bit like a ethnographer who travels into hacker culture and exports the bits that make sense to the art world. The McCoys succeed by addressing the older tradition of film and not letting themselves geek-out when addressing the art world.

MTAA recently had our worst fears realized when speaking to some traditional art world types about a new piece we’re developing with RSG. We were told bluntly that phrases like ‘peer-to-peer’ and ‘file-sharing’ are jargon and the art world doesn’t give a shit about them anyway. At first, I was defiant. These file-sharing networks are part of the subject of the piece, I told the art world pro. It’s like saying you don’t like apples so you don’t like paintings of apples. It’s just not your subject.

But then we realized, with some help from the art world pro (who’s remaining nameless but was very sharp and helpful), that we were failing to communicate what is interesting about our subject. (At least our 7 minute presentation about the project didn’t communicate it.) What we find interesting and exciting culturally about this technology needs to be expressed to folks in the present that may be ignorant of it or fail to understand it. We also need to communicate to people in the future that may have no idea what happened in the late 90s / early 00s.

MTAA has been wanting to move into the gallery for quite some time now. In order to do so, we’ll need to start thinking that our audience is completely ignorant of digital culture. We can’t expect them to be geeks that are excited about a good hack. We’ll need to communicate our emotion, interest and excitement. We can’t expect them to share it until we communicate every bit of it.

I can’t believe it took me so long to realize this… permanent link to this post

Aug 11, 2006

tin or aluminum anniversary

posted at 12:47 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Congrats to Rhizome for 10 great years.

MTAA will be joining the year long Rhizome party on October 24 at the New Museum bookstore with the rest of the 06 Commissions. (Hans Bernhard and Alessandro Ludovico, Peter Horvath, Jason Corace and Vicky Fang, Andy Deck, Jason Freeman, Sean Kerr, Ethan Ham and Tony Muilenberg, Thomas Laureyssens, and Adriaan Stellingwerff.)

It’s a one night stand and we’ll be doing something with 2bl2
permanent link to this post

Aug 07, 2006

3’ High And Rising, Newark -

posted at 14:45 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

We’re just back from the Creative Capital “Art Boot Camp” to find a review in the NY Tiimes of Aljira Emerge

Tristate Talent Search Hits a High Note

“Mr. Sarff and Mr. Whidden have done their best to be noticed, reinstalling the gallery front-of-house reception desk on a three-foot-high wooden podium. It seems a slightly hostile gesture, for visitors are confronted by someone looking down on them as they enter the gallery. It will be interesting to see what Mr. Sarff and Mr. Whidden have to say about their work during the artists’ talks that accompany the exhibition.” permanent link to this post

Jul 31, 2006

out of the office automated reply…

posted at 23:52 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Dear Internet, MTAA will be away at “art boot camp” for a week starting Tuesday. Please try to be good while we are away. Thanks. permanent link to this post

MTAA’s Limited Edition Business Card #1

posted at 13:59 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

MTAA needs to get professional. To that end, we made some business cards. These just aren’t any business cards however. They’re a limited edition print — signed and numbered on the back.

bizcard01.jpg

How can you get a free limited edition business card print from MTAA? You must meet us in person and give us some reason to think that you can help us professionally.

This is the first in a series. permanent link to this post

Jul 30, 2006

The dot.com burst and the net art fizzle

posted at 14:17 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

There’s been discussion on Rhizome about whether or not Rhizome is covering net art well enough. This discussion led into a debate on the robustness of net art. Amongst this discussion, there has been several assertions made that the dot.com bust poured cold water on the movement but I wanted to look at it a little more closely.

As some of you know, M.River and I were very much involved with the net art movement from 97 onward. I was also working within the dot.com bubble at the time and was very attuned to its movements.

I remember knowing there was trouble with the bubble in mid-‘00. Then, by late 00/early 01, it was obvious to everyone that the burst had happened. (See this graph of the nasdaq.)

I was out of work in early/mid 00 and it was super-easy to get a dot.com gig at the time due to the fact that the forward momentum of companies isn’t as easily stopped as the rise of their stock price.

Remembering the crash, I was thinking at the time that it would throw cold water on the net art movement and thinking that it didn’t seem to be happening.

Probably due to the fact that museums and art institutions are even slower-moving than businesses, it took a good year or two after the dot.com burst for the net art fad to fizzle in the art institutions. Not to say that the dot.com collapse didn’t help cause it, but it took a while for it to be felt.

m.river adds:

I’ve always thought that the linking of the dot.com boom/bust and the art world’s early interest and then abandonment of net art is a red herring. I feel something else was in play. A clue may be found in the recent championing of art works and artist that use the net as a reference or source but do not use the net as the primary site of the work. permanent link to this post

Jul 26, 2006

The Warriors free screening

posted at 22:09 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

OK, I know this is total corporate PR bullshit…

But! The Warriors! AT CONEY ISLAND!

Wish I was in town :-(

All details here (Netflix promo FYI). permanent link to this post

Artkrush does digital art

posted at 18:27 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

There’s a bunch of new media stuff in the current issue of Artkrush (issue 37):

An interview with Lauren Cornell, Executive Director or Rhizome.org (in which your humble net artists MTAA are mentioned)

A profile of Cory Arcangel

A review of Jon Ippolito and Joline Blais’ book “At the Edge of Art”

And more! Check it out… permanent link to this post

Jul 25, 2006

Super nice Beuys gif

posted at 13:45 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid



By John Michael Boling, lot’s more here, check it out… permanent link to this post

Jul 19, 2006

Some cools things recently found

posted at 15:36 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

i use this
A Digg-like site similar to MacUpdate or VersionTracker; find the software you need.

freenigma
A Firefox extension to easily and freely encrypt email sent via popular web mail services like Gmail. It’s in beta so you need to wait for an invite once you sign up, I’m still waiting…

American King
A cool new videoblog documentary

Goatse Polo
I want one!

plus

A great Rocketboom today
An interview with David Cronenberg on the opening of his curatorial effort, “Andy Warhol/Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters, 1962-1964” at the Art Gallery of Ontario. permanent link to this post

Jul 16, 2006

A short interview with RSG about LCL

posted at 19:05 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

(via IM)

MTAA: why is it ‘liberated’?
RSG: politically liberated
MTAA: how so?
MTAA: (this is an interview for the blog now)
RSG: lol RSG doesn’t do interviews :-)
MTAA: too late
(a few minutes pass)
MTAA: ok.. i guess i’ll have to print that…
RSG: haha

Check out Notes for a Liberated Computer Language permanent link to this post

Notes for a Liberated Computer Language

posted at 19:05 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

New from RSG: Notes for a Liberated Computer Language

From the Control Structures section:
Historic
Executes a code block by evaluating an entity according to its current value as well as all previous values.

Exceptional
Designates an abnormal flow of program execution and guarantees that it will never be handled as an error.

Flee
A branching construct that moves flow control from the current instruction to a stray position in the program.

Maybe
Allows for possible, but not guaranteed, execution of code blocks.

Never
Guarantees that a block of code will never be executed. This is similar to block quotes in other languages, except that “never” blocks are not removed during compilation.

Potential
Evaluates an entity only according to as yet unrealized possibility.


Check it out permanent link to this post

Jul 11, 2006

Designers diss Bush

posted at 15:36 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Rock on!

Because the Awards program was originally conceived as an official project of the White House Millennium Council, the First Lady serves as the honorary chair of the gala at which the winners are celebrated. She also traditionally hosts a breakfast at the White House to which all the nominees and winners are invited. That breakfast was today.

This year, however, five Communication Design honorees decided to decline the invitation. They wrote a letter to Laura Bush explaining why.
permanent link to this post

Jul 10, 2006

MTAA’s gallery reception desk intervention series

posted at 23:50 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Well, that’s not the actual title of the actual series… or perhaps there is no series? It seems to be more of a pattern. Eh.. what am I babbling about? Oh yeah! Our new piece (that M.River conceived, and today, built at Aljira in Newark as our submission for E7: Aljira Emerge 7 Exhibition (more here)) is pictured below.

IMGP6726.JPG
3’ High and Rising, Newark
Wood platform, gallery reception desk
2006, MTAA

(Note: this is just a quick pic that M.River took after completing the installation, better documentary photos coming later this month…)

We’ve done this sort of thing in the past when invited into galleries. (Silly gallerists, don’t you know you shouldn’t invite filthy net artists into your pristine white walls?).

Prior gallery reception desk interventions include:

In Preparation For The Over-Running Of White Columns By Hordes of Bloodthirsty Barbarians (AKA Bunker Flood) (In which, we walled in the reception desk of White Columns with cinder blocks and sandbags.)

~and~

In Preparation For An Attack By Mobs Of Hideously Deformed Radioctive Mutants On 31 Grand (AKA Cage Match) (In which, we caged in the reception desk of 31 Grand with chain link.)

The opening for “E7: Aljira Emerge 7 Exhibition” is Thursday July 20 from 5:30 - 8:30 PM at Aljira’s space in Newark. permanent link to this post

Jul 09, 2006

AIOTD - Pirated Movie 2

posted at 13:36 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

On a slightly lower moral high horse than my last bootleg movie post - It’s that time again. Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man’s Chest (thumbs up - no matter what the press sez) just came out. This means I’m hunting the subways of NYC for the Bootleg. Once I have the bootleg in hand, it will be time to make the “Pirated Movie 2”

For the Pirated Movie, MTAA took the bootleg and projected it in black and white without sound at Postmasters. We had a group of artist perform a live soundtrack for the film. This one time only performance was recorded and mixed with sections of the bootleg to create a final DVD.

This year, I’d like to mess with the recipe a bit. I’m still thinking about projecting the bootleg silent in black and white but I’d like to try it outdoors without the bands. Just set up some chairs on a sidewalk or in a park and press play. The final DVD will document the results.

hmmmm…at the beach?

twhid adds: let’s just shoot it out your window onto Franklin St. and use the sound! permanent link to this post

bootleg 911

posted at 12:37 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

James Wagner’s post on Chris Moukarbel took me back to the thought that fueled dc911. If you take our pain for propaganda (and/or profit), we will take your film for art.
permanent link to this post

Jul 08, 2006

Some MTAA exhibition news

posted at 18:12 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

We have a few things coming up exhibition-wise…


July 20th, 2006 - September 30th, 2006
E7: Aljira Emerge 7 Exhibition
opening reception: Thursday, July 20, 5:30-8:30PM at Aljira in Newark, NJ.

This is a big group show of a bunch of artists (see link above for a full list of artists) that have taken part in Aljira’s Emerge professional development program.

+++

Split Film Festival
It looks like we’re also be included in the Split Film Festival in Split, Croatia. Unfortunately they don’t have a travel budget so it looks like we won’t be able to attend :-( We’ll be showing 1 Year Performance Video. permanent link to this post

Jun 30, 2006

2006 - 2007 Rhizome net art commissions announced

posted at 20:52 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

The new Rhizome net art commissions for 2006 - 2007 were announced today.
Rhizome is pleased to announce that eleven international artists/groups have been awarded commissions to assist them in creating original works of Internet-based art. Each commission will range from $2500 — $1000. The selected artists are Annie Abrahams and Igor Stromajer, Nadia Anderson and Fritz Donnelly, Adam Brown and Andrew Fagg, Corey Jackson and Aaron Meyers, Zach Lieberman, Michael Mandiberg, the Institute for Applied Autonomy and Trevor Paglen, Evan Roth and Ben Engebre, SLOWLab (Carolyn Strauss and Julian Bleecker), Marek Walczak and Martin Wattenberg and YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES.


Go to Rhizome to check out the project descriptions and artist bios.

Congrats to everybody!

As an aside, MTAA’s To Be Listened To… was a 2005 - 2006 Rhizome net art commission. permanent link to this post

Jun 29, 2006

Jill Greenberg’s End Times series

posted at 01:12 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

revelations_b.jpg
image © Jill Greenberg
See more at Paul Kopeikin Gallery web site

There is a bit of controversy on-line regarding the End Times series of photographs by Jill Greenberg. The photographs depict a series of children in differing stages of frustration and rage. It’s basically a bunch of toddlers screaming and crying. Thomas Hawk has gone so far as to call for her arrest on child abuse charges.

The use of a child in any media endeavor (film, tv, theater, art installations, child beauty pageants, etc) is exploitative. Obviously, a young child can’t make an informed decision as to their participation in a particular enterprise so they are all being ‘used’ to some degree.

The question of whether or not the children in Jill Greenberg’s photos are being exploited is simple. Yes they are. But why does Thomas Hawk see this as any worse than the thousands children being exploited everyday in our media? Why does he perceive child abuse in these photographs?

My answer is that the power of the photos overwhelms him; he’s a naive viewer. He sees compelling photos of distressed children and can’t separate the fiction of the photo from the reality of its making.

Hawk is simply a fool. He has no idea what went on in Greenberg’s studio, but that doesn’t stop him from screeching “child abuse” as loud as he’s able. He has no facts, he only has the photos — a fiction — but he recklessly calls for the artist’s arrest. It’s inexcusable. In fact, according to Greenberg’s husband (Hawk posted a comment from him at the bottom of this post), the children were made to cry by having lollipops taken away from them. If that’s child abuse we’ll need to lock up 99% of the parents in this country. Greenberg’s husband goes on to say that this is the industry standard method of getting kids to cry on camera. I have no idea, having no experience and the source of this info is obviously tainted.

This is the part of the post where I’m a dick. I’m trying to figure out why Hawk went ballistic regarding Greenberg, when this sort of thing goes on daily in the media industry. My guess is that he’s jealous. He’s an amateur and not very talented photographer whereas Greenberg is a very successful and enormously talented commercial and fine art photographer. Her End Times photos are incredibly well crafted, beautiful and powerful, whereas his answering photo is trite and cliche.

Note: In the time it took me to start and finish this post (a span of a few days), Jill Greenberg and her husband have done a few not-so-nice things to try to shut Thomas Hawk up. They should have kept the moral high-ground, but they decided to try some bully tactics. Their actions are inexcusable. But Hawk’s a self-rightous fool so I guess it evens out. permanent link to this post

Jun 28, 2006

AIOTD - We Never Get the Chance to

posted at 22:46 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

This AIOTD is a performance/ collaboration between MTAA and another artist in a public space or gallery. At 5pm on Saturdays, members of MTAA bring a coffee or a beer (depending on the collaborating artist choice) to the performance location. MTAA and the collaborating artist have a beer or coffee and talk about what happened last week. When one and only one coffee or beer is done, everyone shakes hands, says goodbye, and walks away. The performance occurs for one month.

update - oh, btw, if you are an artist or a gallery in nyc that would like to do this AIOTD with us this fall, just give me an email. (mriver@mteww.com) thanks. permanent link to this post

Will MTAA ever post again?

posted at 13:57 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

That is the burning question… will MTAA ever post to this blog ever again?

The answer: probably.

In the meantime, read this: Raising the Reblog Bar (AFC).

I’m writing a slightly longer post regarding this controversy, but haven’t finished it yet. permanent link to this post

Jun 18, 2006

I want video angels

posted at 13:55 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

I want video angels permanent link to this post

Back to Ubuntu

posted at 13:49 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/geek

Long, long ago (unsure when; the dates got messed up on this blog) I tried to get into Linux with the Ubuntu flavor. It seemed to work OK for a while, but it eventually failed to boot and I got sick of re-installing it, so I finally gave up on it.

Yesterday, I installed Parallels on my Macbook Pro. Parallels allows you to run different OSs simultaneously. I didn’t have a copy of Windows, so I downloaded Ubuntu and installed it as a ‘guest os.’

Ubuntu has come a long way (I installed 6.06). The installer is easy and user-friendly. It’s basically a liveCD that, once booted, has a one-click installer on the desktop.

According to Parallels, Ubuntu isn’t officially supported, but it works wonderfully. There are some complaints on the forum that folks can’t get it to use the airport card, but it automatically bridged my airport connection and I was on-line with no configuration. There’s also issues with running it at a higher resolution than 1024x768. That’s the default resolution I’m getting, but I haven’t looked into that issue yet.

What am I going to do with it? I’m not sure. I’m also not sure I want to shell out the 50USD for Parallels. Installing Windows on Parallels would be more practical for me (obviously) and may make it worth the 50 bones. Plus, how cool would it be to be a triple-threat: OS X, Linux and Windows all on the same hardware, at the same time! I think I’ll attempt a Vista install, stay tuned. permanent link to this post

Jun 16, 2006

The Fair Use Network

posted at 19:06 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

A new on-line resource from the Free Expression Policy Project at the Brennen Center of Justice at NYU School of Law, The Fair Use Network introduces itself thusly:
How much can you borrow, quote or copy from someone else’s work? What happens if you get a “cease and desist” letter from a copyright owner? These and many other questions make “intellectual property,” or “IP,” law, a mass of confusion for artists, scholars, journalists, bloggers, and everyone else who contributes to culture and political debate.

The Fair Use Network was created because of the many questions that artists, writers, and others have about “IP” issues. Whether you are trying to understand your own copyright or trademark rights, or are a “user” of materials created by others, the information here will help you understand the system — and especially its free-expression safeguards.

If you have received a “cease and desist” letter from a copyright or trademark owner, or a notice from your Internet service provider about a “takedown” letter, you’ll also find useful information on this site.


The site contains what it terms “basic legal guides” on copyright, fair use of copyrighted works, trademark and more. I’m assuming this all pertains to US law, but I haven’t looked the site over extensively.

The Fair Use Network, check it out… permanent link to this post

Jun 14, 2006

Let’s get to Home Depot — quick!

posted at 21:15 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Last week, a contractor bought a bathroom vanity at a Massachusetts Home Depot and discovered two 50-pound “bricks” of grass inside. Elsewhere in the state, a plumber purchased a similar product at an unnamed “hardware store” and opened it to find 40 pounds of weed plus 3 kilograms of cocaine. Police and DEA officials have swept a dozen Home Depots in the state and found other loaded vanities.

via Boing Boing permanent link to this post

Jun 13, 2006

more on culture war 2.0

posted at 15:20 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

President Bush’s brand new chief domestic policy adviser, Karl Zinsmeister, has a few thoughts on contemporary art.

When Art Becomes Inhuman

twhid adds:
This author is one sick fuck. A sample:
Novel writers and film and theater producers have started selling voyeurism, drugs, homosexuality, and pedophilia to middle-Americans at the mall, instead of leaving these things to patrons of peep shows and trendy art galleries. One of the most heavily Oscar-awarded movies of recent years — American Beauty — combined all four of those degradations in one package.

Equating pedophilia and homosexuality — nice guy. permanent link to this post

Jun 12, 2006

Vote for Bill

posted at 19:39 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

MTAA’s friend Bill Hallinan directed a music video for the musician Maggie Kim. It’s in competition to launch on MTV’s new Korean-American channel: MTV-K. Follow the instructions below to help his video be released on MTV. Watch the video too; it’s really good.
Please go to www.mtvk.com and vote for Maggie Kim’s video for “Obvious (Want You)”.

Don’t vote for Yeah Yeah Yeahs, because they get ALL the candy. They don’t need any more candy. Let someone else have some candy for a change. Let that someone be Maggie Kim.

So, please vote, and help re-distribute the candy.
permanent link to this post

AFC: Geeks in the Gallery

posted at 16:08 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

“Geeks in the Gallery” is a three part discussion with artists Michael Bell-Smith and Tom Moody, which will run on Art Fag City from Monday June 12 – Wednesday, June 14, 2006. A recurring theme of the talk is how technology informs artistic production, as both artists have individually exhibited work usually described as New Media, yet also seem somewhat skeptical of “tech art.”

Check it out

Discussion at Moody’s blog permanent link to this post

Want shoot pix on tintype

posted at 14:15 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Some of you may know that MTAA is collaborating with RSG on a networked video installation with the working title “Want.”

This weekend we did the video shoot at a studio in Williamsburg and M.River has posted some pix on his Tintype photo blog.


Check it out…

Big thanks to Bill Hallinan, Margaret Jameson and Sarah Hendrick, our professional and talented crew :-) permanent link to this post

Jun 08, 2006

I want…

posted at 16:06 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

i want forever
i want the full version
i want company
i want michelle marsh
i want amateurs
i want jennifer lopez
i want bibcams
i want taylor hicks
i want robbie williams
i want old school
i want people
i want a special edition
i want perfection
i want 640x480
i want love
i want the original
i want the french
i want donkey kong country
i want robert kiyosaki
i want greatest hits
i want christmas

(a random sample from the shared script) permanent link to this post

Jun 07, 2006

A GLOBAL CREATIVE MOVEMENT

posted at 13:01 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

And speaking of the devil, let’s take a look in Ye Ol’ MTAA mail box…

Here is note from the youth marketing group “Look-Look.”

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO KICK-0FF A GLOBAL CREATIVE MOVEMENT?


from t.whid: Golly, that sounds fun!
Coca-Cola has asked us, Look-Look, to find the most creative thinkers and doers from all over the world to contribute original work to a new website. This collection of videos, animations, songs, photos, paintings, drawings, (and anything else you can dream up) will set the tone — and the benchmark — for a new generation of global creators. That’s why you’ve been handpicked for this invitation.


And it goes on to tell us we have a chance to win an iPod or something if we submit some music or art.

MTAA has always been interested in “setting the benchmark for a new generation of global creators.” I remember that just the other day, T.Whid and I sat around in some dim bar in Brooklyn yakin’ about how could we, as net-based performance and conceptual artists, voice the tone of our generation — even though, now in our mid 30s, we have probably passed the golden moment when each generation gets to self-define as a point of rebellion. At this point, a big dog (one of those pitbull mixes that I like and Tim thinks are ugly) walked into the bar and we lost our train of thought.

Anyhoo.

Although we are a bit busy right now and will not be able to make some new work for Coca-Cola (as loyal sons of Warhol, lord knows we would if given truck loads of cash), we can give you not a drawing or some music but an idea. It is an idea T.Whid and I have been kicking around. It might be the idea that “sets the tone for a new generation of global creators.” Here it is…

Info-materialism permanent link to this post

Jun 06, 2006

6-6-6

posted at 15:57 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

6/6/6

Satan’s tuesday MUTHAF*CKERS!

(Sorry to knock M’s post down, but I had to do it.) permanent link to this post

The club is open.

posted at 11:57 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

By the power of the web 2.0, MTAA’s AIOTD - Walton becomes true.

The Aspiring Lee Walton Meme (thanks AFC)

Update: as soon as we get 100 members, we’re going to have a party for Lee. permanent link to this post

Jun 04, 2006

Interview with Paul Johnson

posted at 12:44 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Paul Johnson interviewed by Jonah Brucker-Cohen. One of my favorite artists interviewed by one of my other favorite artists.
In the generic “plastic brick” design world of game console hardware, the passive player is usually subjected to standardized devices that they may choose to augment with their own “case mods”. Although extremely creative, most of these modifications are embellishments that have no connection to the games themselves. Exploring this contextual rift between mass-produced consoles and their software counterparts is Brooklyn, NY based artist, Paul Johnson. Johnson creates work that challenges traditional console forms by integrating the goals and virtual landscapes of games into the physical realization of the hardware. His projects examine the inherent conflicts between constructed systems and their emotional proclivity. Gizmodo spoke to Johnson about the future of gaming, interactivity, and why the physical design of consoles should be closer tied to the games that they support.

Check it out… permanent link to this post

Jun 03, 2006

Brokeback Mountain & the same-sex marriage ban

posted at 14:53 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

My wife and I watched Brokeback Mountain last night and it was a really great flick. We were both kicking ourselves that we didn’t see it in the theater. The beautiful shots of the western landscape would have been so much more impressive on the big screen, but then we realized that we probably wouldn’t want to by sobbing in public at the end of the movie.

Brokeback doesn’t go for cheap sobs however (you can imagine what lesser filmmakers could have done with it). It goes for the real heartbreak; the “I’ve wasted my life because of fear and bigotry and now there’s nothing I can do about it” kind of despair and tragedy.

Which brings me to the recent news that Bush “is beginning a major push for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage” (NYT). Some discount it as just a cynical political ploy that won’t be passed and it is. But just the talk of it leads to the stigmatization of homosexuals.

Most of the christian right in the USA wraps their homophobia in “hate the sin, not the sinner” claptrap. I’m sure the backers of the same-sex marriage ban will bend over backwards to pretend that they don’t wish to persecute gays, just defend marriage. Even many on the center left (like Kerry) don’t want to use the marriage word, but will endorse civil unions which carry all the rights and responsibilities of marriage except for the crucial semantics. This is all complete and utter bullshit.

Unless you endorse complete freedom for gays and lesbians to marry you add to the persecution of a minority. Even when you endorse civil unions, what you’re saying is “You’re different. You need to be treated differently. You’re not a complete and equal member of this society.” And that, to put it simply, is bigotry, institutionalized bigotry, the sort of bigotry that can lead to an empty and broken life as depicted in Brokeback Mountain.

Signing off (as M.River likes to say) as just another straight white man for gay marriage. permanent link to this post

Jun 01, 2006

AIOTD - Walton

posted at 17:02 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

We like Lee Walton’s art. We also like Lee Walton, as a human being and artist, in general. We’ve talked with Lee about doing an online performance in which our two homepages kinda blur for a day. As in, you’re looking at Lee’s homepage and MTAA walk onto it, look around and then walk off. We also thought about a space on the net between out home pages. It would be kinda like a lounge, a resting place away from the net.

We’ve never got around to doing a project with Lee. I hope we will. In the meanwhile, here is an AIOTD. MTAA’s Unofficial Lee Walton Artist Fan Club (ULWAFC). Send me (mriver@mteww.com) an email to join. permanent link to this post

Lee Walton in Belgium

posted at 13:34 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

check it out

From what I can gather, there will be postcards and some low-key, almost invisible, art situations in the true better-look-now-or-you’ll-miss-the-art-or-perhaps-you-
just-need-to-look-very-closely Lee Walton style.

There’s a PDF (6.8MB) that sort of explains things. permanent link to this post

Link-a. Policies of affectivity, aesthetics of biopower

posted at 12:04 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

MTAA’s Five Small Videos About Interruption and Disappearing in a net group show: vinculo-a.net permanent link to this post

May 31, 2006

Taschen’s “New Media Art” @ NuMu with Rhiz too

posted at 18:58 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid



Meet the trailblazers of the online collaborative revolution.

Taschen’s “New Media Art: Art in the Age of Digital Communication” is a history of net art movement written by one of its grand poobahs, Mark Tribe along with Reena Jana, Wired reporter and one of the first witnesses (and reporters) of this digital revolution.

Hosted by: Rhizome.org and the New Museum Store
Location: The New Museum of Contemporary Art
556 W 22nd Street at 11th Ave, NY, NY
When: Friday, June 2, 6:30pm to 8:30pm

via: dailygotham

And, yeah, we is in it :-)

update: M.River took a little pic. permanent link to this post

May 28, 2006

AIOTD 3’1”

posted at 19:44 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

MTAA’s “3 Feet High and Rising, Newark”

Artwork titled after De La Soul’s 1989 debut album which was titled after the Johnny Cash song “Five Feet High and Rising” (“How high’s the water, Mama?/It’s three feet high and rising”)

MTAA proposes to raise Aljira Center for Contemporary Art’s reception desk 3’1”

The rising of the desk (and chair) will be accomplished by a platform and steps made of salvaged wood from an unnamed New York art museum combined with material gathered from the streets of downtown Newark, New Jersey. permanent link to this post

3’1”

posted at 19:17 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

The drawing for MTAA’s “3 Feet High and Rising, Newark”

Context: MTAA is getting ready to make the 3rd in a series of what we like to call “Reception Desk Mods”. We have walled in White Columns’ desk and caged 31 Grand’s. This July, we will raise Aljira Center For Contemporary Art in Newark’s desk by 3 feet 1 inch. More info to come soon. permanent link to this post

May 27, 2006

AIOTD: abandonedcomputers

posted at 12:59 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

(If you’re new to the MTAA-RR, AIOTD = Art Idea Of The Day.)

The other day I saw a great still life of an abandoned computer, desk and monitor. The entire set-up was sitting on the sidewalk in the west village. I suppose it was a beige box at one point, but all the plastic (and even the formica desk) had become a sickly yellow color with light tan blotches. It’s hard to describe, but it was amazing and I was kicking myself for not having a camera.

Then, a day or two later, I saw another little set-up on the sidewalk in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. This one was different, a later model that was still a nice chalky light grey. The cheap box had a little blue accent on the front which perfectly matched the little blue VGA connector on the monitor. Again, no camera.

So I thought, “Hey! wouldn’t it be cool if someone created a series of photos of abandoned computers?”

Then I thought, “Hey! Fuck that. This is a networked culture! Wouldn’t it be cool if someone created a web site where anyone could post photos of abandoned computers?” Maybe I, being a net artist, could do that?

But then I thought, “Damn, that would be a lot of work to build a web site for people to upload photos when there’s already Flickr! All we need to do is get the idea out there that people should post photos of abandoned computers on Flickr and tag them: abandonedcomputers.

So. Go do that. Presently there is nothing there.

update
From Marisa: something similar permanent link to this post

May 25, 2006

Two on NYFA

posted at 14:01 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Discourse Is a Weapon: a Legacy Continues by Paddy Johnson (Art Fag City).
The history of most artistic disciplines is full of figures that fulfilled several roles at once, often out of necessity. When mediums or concepts are new and inaccessible to the writers, curators, and producers who can help solidify and critically frame a discipline, it’s often left to the artist to explain the new thing. Here, Paddy Johnson surveys various New Media artists who, faced with chronic lack of institutional recognition, have proactively shaped the discourse around their medium through writing and curatorial work.


and Hey! GH has some Rants & Raves:
G.H. Hovagimyan is a New York-based artist, one of the first to begin experimenting with digital and online work in the early ’90s. He has curated and participated in shows since the early ’70s and his practice has encompassed poetic manifestoes, “faux conceptual art,” and a notorious 1994 public billboard commissioned by Creative Time titled Hey Bozo, Use Mass Transit, among many other projects. The co-creator (with Peter Sinclair) of the “techno-driven word jam” Rant/Rant Back/Back Rant, it seemed clear that Hovagimyan would be a natural ranter and raver.
permanent link to this post

May 24, 2006

And even more random bits

posted at 14:33 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

del.icio.us network
I just discovered the network feature in del.icio.us. Add me to your del.icio.us network if you want lots of links to js news and tutorials, php news and tutorials, web video, net art and other crap.

If you maintain del.icio.us bookmarks, let me know and I’ll add you to my network :-)

Michael Bell-Smith
MBS has a show up at Foxy Production (ends May 27 extended through June 3 (thx Barry)) and he’s had a review of it in the NYT. Congrats! Read Tom Moody’s take on it.

The GIF Show
A very belated link. oops.

The GIF Show, an exhibition opening May 3rd, at San Francisco’s Rx Gallery, takes the pulse of what some net surfers call ‘GIF Luv,’ a recent frenzy of file-sharing and creative muscle-flexing associated with GIFs (Graphic Interchange Format files).
permanent link to this post

May 23, 2006

Lee Walton in China (almost)

posted at 22:23 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

“Instructed by email from Brooklyn, New York and locally executed by the co-artist and curator in Shanghai, China, Western Shift consists of moving objects towards the West.”

The resulting video Western Shift can be viewed by visiting the following site then clicking on WESTERN SHIFT permanent link to this post

May 17, 2006

Cork’d

posted at 22:02 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Sweet (or dry, depending on your taste): Cork’d!

According to their propaganda:
The simple way to review and share wine.

Cork’d is making life easier for wine aficionados. And it’s completely free. Become a member today and …

* Catalog, rate, and review wines in your Wine Journal.
* Find out what your buddies are tasting.
* Discover and keep track of new wines you’d like to buy and try.


Check it out… permanent link to this post

Free screen capture utility

posted at 00:20 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/geek

A good and FREE (while it lasts) alternative to Snapz Pro:

iShowU by shinywhitebox

check it out… (1.2MB DMG; software is Mac OS X 10.4 only) permanent link to this post

May 15, 2006

Marc Garrett interview on Art Dirt Redux

posted at 20:40 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

G.H. Hovagimyan interviews Marc Garrett of Furtherfield fame via an ultra-cool (and cheap) Skypecast.

Check it out…

direct link to the MP3… (30 min; 22MB)

update
Part 2 of the interview posted (MP3 link, 24.1MB) permanent link to this post

May 13, 2006

Americans = 41% sheep

posted at 22:22 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/politics

This poll is really sad. Technically, a ‘majority’ do indeed disapprove, but I guess I have a higher standard for the American people. Of course, it doesn’t matter if 99% approve of this illegal program, it’s still a criminal infringement of people’s privacy — or so says the US Constitution.
Has the Bush administration gone too far in expanding the powers of the President to fight terrorism? Yes, say a majority of Americans, following this week’s revelation that the National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone records of U.S. citizens since the September 11 terrorist attacks. According to the latest NEWSWEEK poll, 53 percent of Americans think the NSA’s surveillance program “goes too far in invading people’s privacy,” while 41 percent see it as a necessary tool to combat terrorism.
permanent link to this post

May 10, 2006

More Infinite Phil World Tour

posted at 19:45 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Hey, If you happen to find yourself in Viborg Denmark, This is Not A Magazine is showing MTAA’s Infinite Phil at Senko Studio.

Yeah, yeah…I know I could have put a bunch of links all over this post but I did not. Also, I think Phil now holds the MTAA record for most widely exhibited artwork. S.N.A.D comes in a close 2nd. permanent link to this post

Brooklyn College bullshit

posted at 01:51 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Most of the folks that read this blog are probably already familiar with the Brooklyn College fine art MFA exhibition being closed by the NYC Parks Dept. You can read all about it at the student’s web site, Plan C(ensored) (warning: the trolls are a real piece of work).

I just need to go on the record: what is happening is completely outrageous, disrespectful and disgusting. Argh! James Wagner says it better than me: Brooklyn College: the assault of the philistines continues. permanent link to this post

What new on the 2bl2?

posted at 00:14 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Check out “Thrush Exile” It’s a 10 min. field recording from a creek in West Virginia. Perfect listening for late night emails. permanent link to this post

May 09, 2006

Practical Performances In The Wilderness Part II

posted at 13:58 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

More of Cary Peppermint and Christine Nadir’s series of performance-art videos begun in 2002 are now on DVblog.

Check it out… (direct link to DVblog post) permanent link to this post

May 08, 2006

NYTimes on art fabricators and etc

posted at 00:38 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

The NYTimes is running a story today on the “army of technicians, studio assistants, artisans and engineers” who do the actual work of putting together large-scale (and some small-scale) art works.

I find this article very interesting as we’re working on a fairly large-scale video shoot right now that is requiring lots of folks to help and I was wondering how to credit them. I’m thinking that a large wall label will be sufficient… permanent link to this post

May 06, 2006

Gina and Ronda and myspace

posted at 11:34 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

MTAA knows this very nice pop culture/art/music writer down in Florida named Gina Vivinetto. She also runs a gallery/ music space called Bombshell. Gina makes us laugh.

Also down in Florida is a women named Ronda Storms. She’s the Hillsborough County Commissioner. She successfully banned the county government from acknowledging gay pride “in any way, shape, or form.” She also got gay pamphlets out of the public Library. Ronda make us shake our heads and wonder how bigots get government jobs

Anyways, here is the sad story of how Gina got canned from her job for posting a snarky comment on myspace about Ronda.

TAMPA - A tbt* pop music critic resigned Thursday after acknowledging she had posted negative comments on a Myspace.com profile that parodied Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms.

The messages posted by Gina Vivinetto, a columnist for the free tabloid daily, which is published by the St. Petersburg Times, were “inappropriate,” Neil Brown, the Times’ executive editor and vice president, said late Thursday.

The comments, which Brown declined to describe in detail, were “mocking Ronda Storms in a somewhat sexual nature,” he said.

more from the st. pete times

Note you can go to Bombshell’s myspace site for Gina’s take on the story. Seems “mocking Ronda Storms in a somewhat sexual nature” is not as depraved as it sounds. I think she said posting something about Ronda leaving underwear in Bombshell’s bathroom. Yeah, it’s juvenile but not that depraved. permanent link to this post

May 05, 2006

Is LOST a repeat?

posted at 02:24 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/geek

http://www.islostarepeat.com

One of the reasons the web was invented… permanent link to this post

May 03, 2006

they still show art in Brooklyn (part 2)

posted at 14:15 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Tom Moody at Art Moving Projects. Opens this Friday. permanent link to this post

May 02, 2006

New Media Art by Tribe and Jana

posted at 01:44 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Mark Tribe and Reena Jana’s book “New Media Art” published by Taschen is coming out soon. I’m unsure of when it’s being released in the USA, but I received a letter a few days ago that MTAA would be receiving our comp copies soon since we’re included.

Here’s a complete list of the artists in the book:
Cory Arcangel, Jonah Brucker-Cohen and Katherine Moriwaki, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, Vuk Cosic, Mary Flanagan, Ken Goldberg, Paul Kaiser and Shelly Eshkar, Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, Mouchette, MTAA, Keith and Mendi Obadike, Radical Software Group, Raqs Media Collective, RTMark, and John F. Simon Jr.

There are lot of duos and collectives. I guess it’s the nature of new media. Congrats everybody! permanent link to this post

May 01, 2006

Cary Peppermint & Christine Nadir, Practical Performances

posted at 15:10 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Chapters from the DVD “A Series of Practical Performances In The Wilderness - Summer 2005” will be posted (three at a time) on DV Blog starting May 1st.

“A Series of Practical Performances In The Wilderness, Summer 2005” is a video performance work made in the woods and on rural back-lots. Performative chapters on the DVD include, Move This Rock, Waiting On Bob, DoAble, Home Economics, Sticks Like Snakes, Digging for Chicory, and Springwater Finale. This video is the first in a series of forthcoming performance-art videos by Peppermint & Nadir which engage issues, ideas, and mythologies of the American concepts of wilderness, space, the frontier, and humans’ ethical relation to animals, forestlands, and nature. permanent link to this post

Apr 30, 2006

Bway April 29, 2006

posted at 13:20 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Cross-posted from tinjail.
permanent link to this post

Apr 29, 2006

March Today

posted at 12:04 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

It’s a wonderful spring day in NYC. Please join MTAA at today’s anti-war march. info here permanent link to this post

Apr 27, 2006

AIOTD Newark

posted at 15:42 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

MTAA will be making a new site and /or performance based artwork for a group show in downtown Newark New Jersey this July.

Newark? Yes, Newark.

Yes, we could use some help on this. If anyone has any bright ideas, feel free to email them in. Our self imposed production budget is around 100 bucks. So, think small. If you do send in an idea and we go for it, let’s call it collaboration. Here are some of my random thoughts on Newark so far. train ride. monorail, airport, swamp, throwing rocks at Manhattan, warehouse, museum, park, parking lot, kids, sea containers, goggle maps, helicopters, port, planetarium, perfume factories, abandon car,

Oh… and here is MTAA’s late “happy birthday” to the Port Newark born Containerized Shipping. CS turned the big five-0 yesterday. Congrats permanent link to this post

Apr 22, 2006

Godamnit Apple! stop being a dick

posted at 14:24 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/geek

This from a company that’s says “Think Different”:
A California court in San Jose on Thursday is scheduled to hear a case brought by Apple Computer that eventually could answer an unsettled legal question: Should online journalists receive the same rights as traditional reporters?

Apple claims they should not. Its lawyers say in court documents that Web scribes are not “legitimate members of the press” when they reveal details about forthcoming products that the company would prefer to keep confidential.

via c|net…

So let me get this straight. For their own purely selfish motives, they are willing to get a court to decide that press freedoms don’t apply to the internet.

That’s fucked. And they’re fuckers for doing it.

If there was a reasonable alternative to my beloved iPod and OS X… (grumbling in an impotent sort of way) permanent link to this post

Apr 21, 2006

Miro estate axes Google logo

posted at 13:37 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

miro.gif
Yesterday, Google was using a logo inspired by the work of Juan Miro, but Miro’s estate complained and Google removed it.

What a bunch of dopes — the Miro estate I mean. According to the estate, the logo uses elements of Miro’s paintings, ie, it wasn’t simply ‘inspired.’ I call them dopes because not only is it an ad for Miro with the sort of reach that his estate could probably never hope to attain but it was selfish of them as well. They harm all artists with this censorious action. The visual arts are so marginalized in contemporary culture that a high profile homage to a great artist helps all artists.

The bright side is that it will probably get more attention because of this little spat.

More here… and here (digg comments). permanent link to this post

Apr 20, 2006

N. H. 5 D.!

posted at 18:19 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

I’m beginning to think, that T.Whid thinks, that some of my posts (like the one yesterday) are a bit…vague. He might be right but here it is. MTAA High Five, T.Whid.

Brooklynvegan notes that it’s NATIONAL HIGH FIVE DAY

Also of note: Nintendo RBI Baseball video reenactment of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series permanent link to this post

Apr 19, 2006

Triple Candie

posted at 13:34 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Cady Noland Approximately: Sculpture & Editions, 1984-1999

Cady Noland from a Google Images search

twhid update:
Tom Moody has more… permanent link to this post

Apr 18, 2006

rantapod

posted at 19:36 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

rantapod.gif
GH Hovagimyan’s rantapod, now on iTunes.

Check it out…
(you must have iTunes installed for the link to work)

Here’s a direct link to the XML. permanent link to this post

Apr 15, 2006

To Be Listened To…

posted at 14:30 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid



We have a new(-ish) web project on-line called “To Be Listened To…” (aka 2BL2) and we need you to help it grow.

2BL2 is a collection of podcast feeds that anyone may add to. It’s very simple to add new audio files to the feed and you can even upload MP3s (10MB limit) to the site and add them to a feed.

Upload your audio, add it to a feed, tell your friends!

Check it out… permanent link to this post

Apr 14, 2006

Go to tintype

posted at 20:21 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

I haven’t been posting much, but M.River has been posting up a storm over at his tintype photoblog. Check it out…

Why are all those people on Franklin Street? permanent link to this post

Apr 13, 2006

What’s new on the net?

posted at 15:18 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Here is a small gem from the MTAA-RR email bag.

Emo + vLoging + Ohio + a dog = the state of the net

MTAA Notes: It’s all in the Tags folks. permanent link to this post

Apr 12, 2006

Final 4

posted at 17:25 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

I’ve been to blue to post about this but here it is.

“When the final buzzer sounded, the dejected-looking [MTAA] trotted off the floor, their magical ride at an ugly end.”

sniff.

Congrats to Instant Coffee permanent link to this post

WMD

posted at 15:38 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

or “the biggest sand toilets in the world.” ?

permanent link to this post

Apr 09, 2006

what’s playing on 2bl2?

posted at 13:20 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

In my dream, ECC speaks to me of Bjorkeley permanent link to this post

Apr 07, 2006

Weil takes over Artists Space

posted at 17:14 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

According to Artnet.com’s ArtNet News for April 04, 2006, Benjamin Weil has been named director of Artists Space.

Benjamin Weil, the founder of the pioneering digital art website ada web in the mid-1990s and adjunct curator of media arts at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, has been named director of Artists Space in SoHo. He succeeds Barbara Hunt McLanahan, who was recently appointed director of the Judd Foundation.


Hmm, no mention of his tenure at Eyebeam.

Congrats to Benjamin! Wonder if we’ll see more of an emphasis on new media at Artists Space?

Via Rob on Thingist. permanent link to this post

Apr 06, 2006

This guy is my hero

posted at 21:32 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/politics


Check it out…


He told Bush to his face:
Okay, I don’t have a question. What I wanted to say to you is that in my lifetime, I have never felt more ashamed of, nor more frightened by my leadership in Washington, including the presidency, by the Senate…And I would hope — I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration, and I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself inside yourself…


Of course the chimp acted like the arrogant frat boy he is. A real class act. permanent link to this post

“Among the Trees”

posted at 12:56 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Lee Walton’s new work “Trees” opens this Friday at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey Visual Arts Center of New Jersey permanent link to this post

Apr 05, 2006

Boot Camp — holy shit!

posted at 13:23 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/geek

On Apple’s site: Boot Camp Public Beta, boot Windows XP on your Intel-based Mac! Holy Shit again!

More and more people are buying and loving Macs. To make this choice simply irresistible, Apple will include technology in the next major release of Mac OS X, Leopard, that lets you install and run the Windows XP operating system on your Mac. Called Boot Camp (for now), you can download a public beta today.
permanent link to this post

Apr 04, 2006

Back from Ohio

posted at 21:19 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Just got back from Ohio where I gave a short talk on MTAA’s art work at MTAA’s alma mater (both M. and I attended CCAD and received bachelors degrees).

We had a great time and (I hope) fun was had by all. The faculty and staff were also very gracious and welcoming and the school seems like it has come a long way since I attended.

We also had (surprisingly, for Ohio) good food. (Yes, I let a tad of the NY snob creep into that last sentence.)

There was also a video tape made of my presentation. If there are any tasty bits perhaps they’ll be posted on this site in the future. permanent link to this post

they still show art in Brooklyn…

posted at 13:07 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

If you find yourself in Brooklyn this weekend, check out the Momenta benefit. I have a small painting named “Locker” in the show. Last year, ”Softsoft” was pick up by James and Barry. So, you know that if you get “Locker” for your collection, you will be in high class company.

Also in Brooklyn this weekend, the answer to the age old question - “Can appropriation, at the core, be a subset fan art?”

The Matthew Barney Show curated by Eric Doeringer permanent link to this post

RU READY TO ROCK? I said…RU READY?

posted at 00:10 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

OK…(actually, this post will NOT rock, but here it anyways…

To Be Listened To…(2bl2) is now open for you to enjoy and activate. Big thanks to the artist who supplied 2bl2 with “seed” work to get things going. Please feel free to jump in and add some sound.

To Be Listened To… (2bl2 for short) is an open relay for sound art, audio blogs, mashups, re-mixes, dance mixes or any other sort of experimental audio. 2bl2 is comprised of 10 thematic podcast feeds with 8 open feeds to which anyone may post an audio file. Each feed’s name, along with the original ‘seed’ post, sets its tone.

1. …as you sit in front of your computer around midnight (prologue). By MTAA

2. …in a bar in Brooklyn on a spring Sunday afternoon, sipping a Bloody Mary, waiting for your love to appear. - with seed project “Troy’s (Non)Mixtape of Love” by Marisa Olson

3. …with eyes closed in a theater before a movie starring Brando begins. - with seed project “Cushing’s Disease” by Helen and Ben

4. …as you commute to the job you are thinking of leaving once again. - with seed project “DJ Hump” by Frankie Martin

5. …before calling 911 while waiting for something outside to stop fucking screaming. - with seed project “coma loveship” by : Pee In My Face With Surgery

6. …while sitting on your kitchen floor holding a photograph of your father. - with seed project “What Kind of Information? “by Cary Peppermint

7. …in a park in Europe as you wait for the sun to rise and the snow to stop. - with seed project “Did It Again “ by G.H. Hovagimyan

8. …in a hotel near the Everglades while having sex in the afternoon. - with seed project “Everglade” by Messages [Taketo Shimada + Tres Warren (Psychic Ills)]

9. …while running, but not running as in jogging, running as in blindly racing though the streets without direction or goal. - with seed project “Running” by tinydiva (Margaret Jameson Composer, Performer and Producer. Add’l Guitars by Thomas Jameson)

10. …as you fall asleep in the bed in the place that you call home (epilogue). by MTAA

So, have fun. Sit in bed with your headphones on. Make some noise. Interact. Thanks. permanent link to this post

Apr 03, 2006

found art on the MTAA-RR?

posted at 14:16 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

I was just looking at the MTAA-RR Archive and noticed something strange. It seems as though we have been either 1. hacked or 2. we’ve unknowingly created some weird results when we moved the blog a few months back. Tim’s away till Monday, so we’ll have to wait on the answer for the time being.

Until then, check the new found MTAA-RR archive for the year 1970. Note: what sucks about this is that we do not have a working archive for the site at this point. permanent link to this post

Apr 01, 2006

tintype

posted at 13:15 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

dvd still project 06

One jpeg from each dvd I rent and watch by myself in 2006. Jpeg is shot without pausing the dvd. permanent link to this post

Mar 31, 2006

It’s my birthday

posted at 17:23 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

On this day in 1969, I was born.

So far I’ve gotten an Airport Express, a DeWalt cordless drill and 3 nice shirts. Plus, nice cards and well-wishes.

Off to Columbus, OH tomorrow to speak about net art and MTAA at my alma mater. I’ll let you know how it goes. permanent link to this post

Mar 29, 2006

Baghdad: peaceful, calm

posted at 17:38 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/politics

I’m not sure many of my loyal readers know that I’ve just returned from an extended trip to Iraq. What I found was surprising. The right-wing is right, there is no civil war in Iraq and what violence there is, is being greatly exaggerated by the media. Below is proof!

downtown_baghdad_small.jpg
enlarge image

Look how calm, orderly and peaceful this downtown intersection in Baghdad is!

(If you don’t get the joke, see this, this, this and this.) permanent link to this post

Mar 28, 2006

Paddy interviews Cory

posted at 14:44 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City has an interview with everyone’s favorite computer-geek/artist Cory Arcangel on a web site called Fanzine.

Check it out… permanent link to this post

MTAA at the big dance…

posted at 12:36 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

Update on Collaborative March Madness

Concept Trucking / Leisurearts just wrote to say -

“MTAA has made the final four as a number 11 seed! Your success was modeled/is hitched on George Mason University’s in the NCAA tourney. I will be posting an updated bracket soon! Guess you better start rooting for the Patriots to win it all.”

twhid adds:
I have had zero (or, more likely, negative) interest in this so-called March madness… until now! Go George Mason!

(more update)
The chart is updated. Check it out… permanent link to this post

Mar 25, 2006

graphpaper.com: no graph paper for sale

posted at 15:15 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Chris Fahey: artist, information architect and all-around über-geek has transformed his graphpaper.com into a well-written and insightful blog on just about everything to do with web tech and design.

Check it out… permanent link to this post

Mar 23, 2006

busy, busy, busy, busy, busy

posted at 22:47 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Been busy.

Robbery
They might have caught the guy that stole our stuff. Not sure if/when we’ll get the stuff back.

I scored a new Mac mini g4 to replace one of the one’s that got stolen; these things are getting harder to find now that the intel version is out.

Birthday
My birthday is the 31st of this month, feel free to send me money via paypal.

I’ll be 37 and that’s getting pretty old.

For the last two years we’ve done the Drinkin’ and Drawin’ Championship on my birthday but we’re not doing it this year. If anyone wants to steal the idea you have our blessing. permanent link to this post

Mar 20, 2006

first round

posted at 01:34 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

just got an email that MTAA is in some sort of March Madness permanent link to this post

Mar 19, 2006

The fucking USA is nuts

posted at 15:51 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid/politics

When a citizen can have more faith in their slot machine than their voting machine, you know you’ve got a problem. permanent link to this post

Bloggy has a ton photos from the fairs

posted at 15:38 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Check out Bloggy’s Flickr set of the recent New York art fairs. He’s got a ton of great shots, it’s almost like you didn’t even need to go yourself… permanent link to this post

Mar 16, 2006

Paddy’s day is the 18th

posted at 20:26 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Not *St.* Paddy’s day, I’m talking about Paddy Johnson. The Art Fag City blogger wants to stay in the States (with the Bush admin ruling it’s unclear why) and you can help her out!

To find out how, go here for the more details… (direct link to the invite)

(I was thinking about posting this but once I read AFC’s interview with ARTList, in which she mentions MTAA as one of the most influential artists working today, I just had to didn’t I? Thanks Paddy :-)) permanent link to this post

McCoys interviewed on Artinfo

posted at 02:13 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Their latest exhibition, “Directed Dreaming,” opened at Postmasters Gallery in New York on March 4.

It comprises a series of complex, kinetic sculptures that are covered with tiny tableaux that they call “fragmentary, miniature film sets.” An array of tiny cameras are trained on these tableaux, and, as part of each installation, a sequence of greatly enlarged images are projected on to a wall of the gallery. The works are at once funny, bizarre and somewhat worrying. Immediately after the opening at Postmasters, Jennifer and Kevin McCoy spoke to ArtInfo about their work.
Check it out… permanent link to this post

Mar 15, 2006

Oil Standard

posted at 18:27 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Michael Mandiberg’s new net art project: Oil Standard. Check it out!

This is a wonderful piece of net/conceptual/political art. Good job Michael! permanent link to this post

net art prints…

posted at 13:45 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

SNAD Read me
CNAD Remix
SNAD and CNAD together at last. permanent link to this post

Mar 14, 2006

IOTD - Website Visitations

posted at 13:47 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

While packing up the Rhizome show at Scope, Lee Walton told me his cool idea for a MTAA / Walton net art project. The idea is to somehow blur the lines between the websites for a day. Not linking the sites but blending them a bit. He described it as akin to the 5 Small Videos “On/Off” project but on other artist homepages. I liked the idea of avatars for MTAA and an avatar Walton wondering around each others pages or just walking off together to get a beer. permanent link to this post

Mar 13, 2006

MTAA in the studio

posted at 15:16 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Check out this interview with us: MTAA in the studio on “Hello?” a video blog by Mica Scalin.

We talk mostly about “10 Pre-rejected, Pre-approved Performances: Midnight In The Deli.”

This video will eventually be posted to DVBlog, we’ll update when it happens. It’s up on DVBlog, check it out… permanent link to this post

Mar 10, 2006

MTAA has bad luck

posted at 15:08 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Installing at Rhizome’s All System’s Go at the ~scope New York art fair yesterday, could more have gone wrong?

Things seemed to go fine until the entire building was evacuated by the FDNY. That wasn’t horrible, except that it pre-empted the press preview.

The bad part was after we got back. Our piece, 1YPV, had been shut down by someone and rebooting the computer wouldn’t work. I’ve never had this happen on a Mac before. On boot, I kept getting an error message telling me I needed to reboot the computer. Disk utilities supposedly fixed problems, but the computer wouldn’t read the hard disk as the boot disk or even recognize the hard disk as a drive capable of installing an OS. It seems the hard drive died :-(

Luckily, Jason Van Anden was there and offered to loan us a Mac mini for the duration of the fair. I’m heading over there soon to set it up. Keep your fingers crossed!

Thanks for all the help Jason! permanent link to this post

Mar 05, 2006

Two openings last night

posted at 18:14 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Saw some good, good work in Chelsea last night. My beautiful wife and I attended 2 openings, both of friends of ours.

The first was Inka Essenhigh at 303 Gallery. Inka’s a long-time friend (I’ve known her since college) and her current show is really fantastic.


“In Bed,” 2005 (link to larger image)

I’m unclear as to when Inka moved from painting with household paint to oil (the paintings at 303 aren’t the first, but I think the earlier ones were shown in Europe). Inka’s use of line has always been phenomenal and now with the oils, she has added brilliantly executed volumetric forms and space. For me, this creates a richness to the picture, a greater depth and complexity.

It also allows her to add more detail to the faces, fingers, toes etc. Which is interesting, since they seem to be more and more resembling her figurative work from college. (The more things change…) Her work in undergrad was very figurative and I’m proud to say that one of the only portraits in existence by Inka is of yours truly. I’m continually conniving a way to gain possession of it but it belongs to her parents! :-(

+++

The next stop was Jennifer and Kevin McCoy at Postmasters for their exhibition entitled “Directed Dreaming” (press release).

The show consisted of two major new pieces: “Double Fantasy II (sex)” and “Dream Sequence.” Both pieces follow the formal and technical achievement of their seminal work “Soft Rains.” They are mini-sculptural tableau’s with bunches of tiny video cameras driven by software algorithms to cut together never-ending cinematic narratives.


image of “Double Fantasy II (sex)” photo courtesy of Tintype

The McCoys’ work is great, in my opinion, for their formal technical achievements. Their work effortlessly marries sculpture (sometimes kinetic, bonus!), video, film and new media. There is a lot of complex technology going on, but it never interferes with the work. The way their work externalizes the usually hidden processes of film-making I find endlessly fascinating. The twisted metal tubes that hold the cameras and lights reminds one of those robots from “The Matrix” and work as a metaphor for the hungry beast of the entertainment-industrial complex, greedily and endlessly slurping up images.


image of “Dream Sequence” photo courtesy of Tintype permanent link to this post

Mar 04, 2006

SNAD readme for March 2006

posted at 14:37 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

In March you will be able to go the Scope Art Fair in NYC and buy a 16” x 20” framed print of MTAA’s Simple Net Art Diagram (SNAD) for 625 USD. The weird part is that you could, at this very moment, download the SNAD digital graphic file from this site, blow it up into a 16” x 20” graphics file using any number of popular graphics editing programs, take it to a printer and then to a frame shop and have the exact same thing that we’re selling. This process will cost you less than 625 USD (it would run you under $250, depending on your choice of frame of course, we suggest something heavily and deeply carved with lots of gold leaf).

Actually, that’s exactly how we created the print we’re selling. M.River downloaded the Illustrator version from the web, imported it into a 16” x 20” Photoshop document, scaled it to fit comfortably in the frame of reference and then sent it off to a digital output joint.

So. What’s the deal?

First, the SNAD is free. Yes, thanks to a generous Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license, you can do with it as you will. Which naturally leads to this question: If it’s free, what are you buying for 625 bucks?

The answer: Production.

Yes, that’s right. You will be paying for the cost, time, and expertise of having MTAA make the work for you. As the production was done by a member of MTAA, the work may be thought of as an “Official Production SNAD” or, more obtusely, an “OP-SNAD.” However, it’s completely legal and even encouraged for others to print their own SNADs and sell them. If you buy a SNAD print from someone other than a member of MTAA you will have an “Entrepreneurial Production SNAD (AKA EP-SNAD). If you print it yourself, you will have a “DIY Production SNAD (AKA DIY-P-SNAD)”. For us, EP-SNADs or DIY-P-SNADs are both nice choices for your home, office, gallery or museum. Although, if you’re short on time, have the money and can actually find one, an OP-SNAD is the way to go.

If you happen to buy a 16” x 20” OP-SNAD, what will keep MTAA from making more? The short answer is “nothing,” but there are some reasons that we probably won’t:

1. We’re lazy.
2. We tend not to repeat ourselves. Sure, someday we might make a 48” x 60” on canvas OP-SNAD or maybe a 32” x 40” light box OP-SNAD, but chances are you will be the only one in the world with a 16” x 20” OP-SNAD from 2006.

Get it? Got it? Good.

(Note, this is a rare post that was written by both members of MTAA. The first draft, by M.River, was edited by T.Whid for this final version. It should probably go in the Texts part of this web site, but it seems too time-relative to belong there.) permanent link to this post

MTAA @ Upgrade! Joburg

posted at 14:22 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Check it out: a wrap-up of Nathaniel Stern’s presentation of our work at Upgrade! Johannesburg.



Thanks again Nathaniel, wish we could have been there. permanent link to this post

Simple Net Art Diagram
1997, digital image
thisisamagazine issue 13; Protocol: How Control Exists after Decentralization; TIME!®; etc

We’ve released a resolution independent vector art version of the Simple Net Art Diagram.

read more »

permanent link to this post

Mar 02, 2006

Some early Whitney Biennial posts from blogs

posted at 18:18 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

There’s bloggy’s post (includes a pic):
My first impression is that there are a lot more artists with whom I was unfamiliar, unlike the previous one. I’m pleased to see that, because I don’t want the Biennial to show a lot of work that regular New York-based gallery-goers have already seen.


And there’s also an Art Dirt Redux podcast:
2006 Whitney Biennial. Actual artists statements mixed with Rob & my comments. The first mash-up of its kind. The statements are as inane as the exhibition. Oops, am I being insensitive? The political stuff was OK. Deep Dish TV was great. The big deal was the remake of Di Suvero’s Freedom Tower from the 1960’s protest days. It’s a simulation of an actual protest piece.


Don’t miss one of the curator’s blogs (wink wink, nudge nudge).

update:
Artnet’s review by Jerry Saltz

There’s some Flickring going on over there too. permanent link to this post

Mar 01, 2006

Near perfect commute

posted at 14:41 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Every once in a while an NYC commuter falls into a little eddy of calm in the maelstrom of rush hour. You can’t plan it — don’t even try — just enjoy when it happens.

Today I had that pleasure. First, the train arrives just as I’m walking onto the subway platform (2/3 Borough Hall station in Brooklyn). It’s timed perfectly: I don’t need to rush; I don’t need to wait. Entering the train, a prime end seat in the sparsely populated car presents itself. Before sitting down, it’s offered to an older woman; she declines. What luck! a perfect guilt-free seat.

After that, nothing happens — that’s the point. I sit quietly listening to my iPod (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) and reading my book (“A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” — yeah, I might be going thru a 90s revival…). Arriving at the 34th and Penn station, it’s also quiet and easily navigated, practically ushering me with white gloves to my comfortable office where I sit typing this. permanent link to this post

Feb 28, 2006

MTAA in South Africa

posted at 16:17 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Well, we won’t actually be there in person, but we’ll be there via the mediation of Nathaniel Stern. He’ll be presenting our work at the Upgrade! Joburg.

Check out the cool poster:
mtaa_colour_web_s.jpg permanent link to this post

Feb 26, 2006

McCoy’s @ Postmasters 2006

posted at 15:23 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

I don’t try to hide that the McCoys are one of my faves. Opening soon:
March 4 - April 8, 2006
JENNIFER and KEVIN McCOY
“Directed Dreaming”

Postmasters Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Directed Dreaming, the third New York solo exhibition of Jennifer and Kevin McCoy. The show will open on March 4 and will be on view until April 8, 2006. The reception is planned for Saturday, March 4, between 6 and 8pm.

In Directed Dreaming, the McCoys present four new sculptures that use movement to explore anxiety. The title of the exhibit refers to practice of willing oneself to dream about specific situations in order to resolve conflicts in one’s waking life. The works in Directed Dreaming fuse cinematic, personal, and historical images to become visual records of those conflicts, with the question of resolution left open to the viewer.

The two major sculptures in this show expand on the McCoys’ 2004 installation Our Second Date by further exploring the artists personal history, fantasies, and memories. Second Date incorporated miniature models of Jennifer and Kevin intercut with views of a meticulously crafted miniature scene from Godard’s Weekend. The works in Directed Dreaming splinter the couple’s shared autobiography.

In Double Fantasy II (sex), the McCoys represent themselves as nine year olds, drawing on a child’s scant sexual understanding to generate fantasies of their adult selves. With this technique they each reach back to a time when their ideas about love and sex were created from an amalgam of observations from television, popular culture and playground gossip that was hopelessly far from reality. In that these sources provide only the broadest of gestures, Double Fantasy II is an autobiographical take on the importance of genre. Formally, the work is a two-sided sculpture containing miniature film sets that fragment and isolate bodies at once fetishized and romanticized. The images captured by the tiny cameras cut together quickly to form a stream of consciousness meditation on the elusive subject of nascent sexuality and childhood imagination.

In Dream Sequence, the McCoys examine how sleep becomes a filter through which objective reality becomes fantasy . The work consists of a two-sided, 3 feet in diameter revolving circle, each side corresponding to the dream world of one of the artists. Using an obsolete trick of early cinema, a partially reflective mirror superimposes the sleeping artists against mutating landscapes. The resulting double projection physicalizes the dream worlds of each artist’s psyche. Kevin sees a helicopter unloading soldiers in a bleak landscape. Jennifer dreams of floods that segue into suburban resort swimming pools. The artists abandon the cinematic idea of editing with its jarring ruptures and discontinuities and instead set in motion a fluid self-sustaining world in front of the camera and in front of the viewer.

Included in the show are two wall mounted sculptures from the Clouds series that explore the vocabulary of a unending one shot film. In Clouds 9 and Clouds 10, cameras are trained on moving cloud formations to create suggestions of unknowable and yet moving and possibly ominous events.
permanent link to this post

Feb 23, 2006

Eathon G. Hall, Jr. 1965 - 2006

posted at 22:15 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Horrible, horrible news!


Eathon Hall 1965 - 2006

Received from Aljira where Eathon was the Program Director:
It is with deep sorrow that we must inform you of the passing of Eathon G. Hall, Jr., who died in a tragic accident on Friday, February 17, while on vacation in Brasil. Eathon returned to Newark last year as Program Director of Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art (from March 1996 through January 1999, he was Assistant Director of Education at the Newark Museum) following his tenure at the Bronx Museum of Art where he served as Curator of Education for five years.

On Thursday night, February 16, at a V.I.P. reception on the occasion of Aljira’s most recent installations—Sudan: The Land and The People; Children of Darfur: Gen Genocide; and Khalid Kodi—Eathon was publicly recognized by Aljira’s Board Chair Charles Russell and Executive Director Victor L. Davson for his innovation and for the engaging experiences in visual culture that were under his development at Aljira. Future collaborations he intitiated include Mexican Vogue with the Newark Museum, Planet Hip Hop with New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and Do You Think I’m Disco?/B-Side with Longwood Arts Project.

His passing is a great loss to Aljira and to the larger cultural community, and we will all miss his spirit, commitment and leadership.

A memorial service for Eathon Hall will be held on Monday, February 27, 11 a.m. at the Macedonia Baptist Church in Harlem. It is located at 452 W. 147 St. between Convent and Amsterdam. Phone: 212 283-7973. Further information about the interrment and reception will be available at the church.

We got to know Eathon during the Aljira Emerge program. He was very dedicated, smart and organized and there was always a sense of joy about him.

This is just terrible. My deepest sympathies to his family, friends and to the staff at Aljira.

m.river adds -Very sad news. Eathon was a sweet man who was into helping artist live a better lives. Sympathies to all as well. permanent link to this post

new media, the low points

posted at 20:33 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

hahahhahahh… remember flash mobs? haaaaa ahaha. permanent link to this post

Feb 22, 2006

One of those why-I’m-not-posting posts

posted at 14:45 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

I’m not posting here, I’m not posting there or there either.

There’s just to many places to post these days. And I’m busy.

Gotta get the thing done for Rhizome, gotta revise the budget for that grant, gotta cash that check, gotta buy a new studio computer (2 actually and a monitor), gotta call that place and get that information so I can revise that budget, gotta do something for my Mom’s birthday (already got most of that done Mom don’t worry), gotta call that other place, gotta print that thing, gotta figure out how we’re gonna show that piece at that fair, gotta get ready for the Ohio thing, gotta do my taxes, gotta book summer air fare, gotta gotta watch LOST and I’m probably forgetting stuff… permanent link to this post

Feb 18, 2006

Fuck the fucking fuckers

posted at 23:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

MTAA’s studio was burglarized the other night. We lost about $1600 worth of equipment: 2 computers, a monitor and a small PA speaker.

It really sucks.

I’ve been fearful of this happening, and now it has. Luckily our projector wasn’t there and nothing that was stolen isn’t replaceable; but laying out dough to replace it is going to be painful.

m.river adds -if you find on-line or on the street, someone trying to sell a mac mini with the case sprayed silver or one with KDM 100 software installed. Send us a line. Yeah, 1 to 1,000,000 chance but it could happen. Thanks permanent link to this post

Feb 17, 2006

ma.gnolia.com

posted at 20:01 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Does ma.gnolia.com want to lay a bouquet on del.icio.us’ grave?

Similar name (the dot thing), similar service (social bookmarking), schmancier design (by zeldman’s Happy Cog) and you can import from del.icio.us. Hmmmmmm.

I leave it to the you to decide… permanent link to this post

Feb 16, 2006

Found Art

posted at 13:29 GMT by M.River in /news/mriver

R. Mutt’s Blog

twhid responds: so. fucking. funny! permanent link to this post

Feb 15, 2006

Found on Eyebeam’s reBlog today

posted at 14:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

sledgehammer-operated keyboard, 2005
silicone, wood, computer, projector

It actually looks more like a rubber-mallet operated keyboard, but why split hairs?

It also reminds me of Perry Hoberman’s Cathartic User Interface which was fun, fun, fun! permanent link to this post

Feb 14, 2006

If you’re reading this…

posted at 01:49 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

…then you’ve successfully found your way to the new home of the MTAA Reference Resource. Congratulations.

Be sure to update your bookmarks! The new URL is: http://www.mtaa.net/mtaaRR

We had some issues with our other server where MTEWW.COM resolves. I didn’t really want to move everything (including the domain) over to this server, so I just moved the blog and fowarded it from the old domain to this domain.

Is this a big deal for MTAA? Not really. It’s just a pain in the ass.

If you see any problems, please let me know. permanent link to this post

MTAA report on etoy.com’s TOYWAR and interview agent.NASDAQ
2000, originally published on artbreak.net


1. Background Story (as all good computer games need)

Once upon a time, 1994 to be exact, there was a European net art group called etoy.com. etoy spent its young years practicing cultural mischief. They modeled themselves as a hybrid of social art and corporate structure.

read more »

Synopsis of MTAA’s Upgrade Presentation
2000, please see The Upgrade! documentation


Please visit The Upgrade! web site in order to read a fictionalized account of MTAA’s presentation to The Upgrade! group in June of 2000.

Beat Up by Grade School Girls in Drag, M.River’s Report on SissyFight 2000
2001, a shorter version of this text was originally published in Sandbox #9, Gender Play


A general confession: I wasted WAY to much time last summer hanging out on the playground of PS 666 dressed up in a catholic school girl’s uniform with my new punk rock hair style. I tried to get with the "cool crowd" by destroying the reps of little girls. I taunted and scratched them to no avail. In the end, I failed. I was deemed a bully and in general, "totally uncool". I am, in what passes as reality these days, a 33 year old male who spent to much time last summer enjoying the gender/social twisting online game SissyFight 2000.

read more »

Non-Spectator Performance Art
2001, from Limited TIME!® Only


This genre of performance art isn’t solely Internet-based but was born on the Internet; initially identified by T.Whid in late 1997 or early 1998 after attending a chat-based performance in which the chat had been projected for the audience to follow along.

read more »

Interview With Yael Kanarek
2000, originally published in Sandbox #8, BANG


Yael Kanarek’s World of Awe is the documentation of a fictional traveler exploring a magical landscape in search of a lost treasure. We encounter the traveler through an interface which is both magical and mundane. It looks suspiciously like a Mac or Windows desktop—there are icons on the desktop and pull-down menus at the top of the screen. But click an icon or choose a pull-down option and you’ll be instantly transported to the world of the traveler, The World of Awe.

Yael Kanarek builds World of Awe through images of desert landscape, descriptions of the traveler’s tools, pages from the traveler’s journal, and love letters that the traveler sends to a lover left behind. All these elements are seamlessly integrated through the interface, which is a wonderful technical use of dynamic HTML, much of it written by programmer Luis Perez.

read more »

Defunct in Ohio
2003, by M.River, orginally published in the SMAC! zine


Prologue
SMAC! co-founder/editor-in-chief Marisa S. Olson emails me from the warm future-perfect paradise that is California. She asks me to write an essay on obsolescence, the defunct, and, in general, the Technology of What Was. A thousand words by New Year’s.

Of course… umm… sure. I know all about the obsolete.

In a few days I will travel, as I do each year, from New York City to Ohio, for Christmas with my family. In Ohio, in Christmas, I will find the What Once Was.

read more »

Conceptual Art in Relation to MTAA’s Net Art (formatted for chat)
2001, performed live via streaming video and chat during the "Warhol Hijack"


Lucy Lippard (noted art critic) describes conceptual art as "[artwork] in which the idea is paramount and the material form is secondary, lightweight, ephemeral, cheap, unpretentious and/or ‘dematerialized’".

Net art may be loosely defined as art which uses the internet as one of it’s primary components.

This art history lesson will begin with Marcel Duchamp, inventor of the ready made.

read more »

Website Unseen
one hundred titles for art web sites that MTAA will build for $US 100.00 per web site

1999-2002, web sites, variable

We sometimes think that this piece is the best example of MTAA’s net art practice. It’s best to see the original offer then follow the links on the titles list. But we’ve included individual links to the projects below.

Website Unseen
This list is roughly in chronological order (earliest to latest). link to work |  permanent link to this post

Visual—Text Art Venue (V-TAV)

1999, web site

What was this? Good question. It’s sort of exactly what it says it is. OK, it was an on-line gallery which had 3 or 4 shows. We suggest you go and check it out and find out for yourself. link to work |  permanent link to this post

vieweratstar67@yahoo.com
(the 3mb annexation)

2000, web site, Yahoo!

Best explained by the original proposal:
MTAA propose to extend the exhibition space of star67 gallery, brooklyn, by the amount of 3 megabytes of disk space on the servers of yahoo.com.
vieweratstar67@yahoo.com was great fun while it lasted, but sadly the piece was lost when someone changed the password. link to work |  permanent link to this post

TIME!®

1997-2002, web sites, prints

This project is the very first net art work that MTAA ever made.

We actually created four versions of this work all linked below:

Buying Time: The Nostalgia-Free History Sale(1997)
Shudder. Did we really think that this was a web site?

TIME!® The Clearance Sale(1997)
Seems to be getting a little better…

TIME!®(1998)
This is the classic example archived at Rhizome’s ArtBase. It is also where The Simple Net Art Diagram made it’s first appearance.

Limited TIME!® Only(2002)
We did this version right after 9/11. It was nice simply having (basically) a design project which didn’t take much creativity. This version was included in the show Multiple Personalities at Haine’s Gallery in San Francisco curated by Amy Davilla. link to work |  permanent link to this post

Updates Series

2001-2004, web sites

We sometimes ‘update’ seminal process art from the 60s and 70s. We have three in the series thus far. link to work |  permanent link to this post

99 Steps To Contemporary Art In Your Bedroom

1999, web site & commercially printed poster

Not strictly a net art project, this piece was originally created for a curated print publication called “9/9 Revue d’Art Pratique,” but M.River built a web version.

It’s a text-heavy piece to say the least. English with french translation by Stéphane Argillet. link to work |  permanent link to this post

The School of Conceptual Clay

1999, web site

The SOCC’s mission statement says it all:
The goal of the School of Conceptual Clay is to promote the study and practice of conceptual clay.

Conceptual Clay was invented by M.River & T.Whid as a metaphorical activity and an open-ended collaborative performance commenting on the digitization of former analog practices and techniques.
We’re not really running the school any longer. link to work |  permanent link to this post

Signature Series Canceled

1999, web site

MTAA described the Signature Series this way:
The MTAA Signature Series is an attempt to maximize mindshare in the online art market while maintaining the economics of scarcity on which the traditional art market depends.
Yes, but what is the Signature Series Canceled? link to work |  permanent link to this post

Manual Zoom Mirage (CC licensed image)

2003, bitmap and vector images

Technically not on-line art, this piece was created for a solo show at Rome Arts in Brooklyn, NY. The piece took the form of postcards and a large framed print installed in a custom standing frame.

We’ve placed creative commons-licensed images online in a variety of formats including Adobe Illustrator vector art (zip archive). link to work |  permanent link to this post

Five Small Videos About Interruption and Disappearing

2003, web site; Flash, HTML, Javascript

Five Small Videos About Interruption And Disappearing are inspired by early video-based performance art work. MTAA were intrigued by the repetitive gestures and everyday actions in early video art performances. These Five Small Videos are MTAA’s update of the forms and themes of this earlier video work.

Commissioned by The Alternative Museum, Five Small Videos About Interruption and Disappearing has proven to be very popular and has been included in the Seoul Net & Film Festival 2003 (in the Interactive/Web Art section); exhibited at <Pause> (an on-line group exhibition presented by mobilegaze.org); was featured in a net art article in Parachute #113; and is included in the net art section of VideoZone2 — The 2nd International Video Art Biennial in Israel (opening 11/17/04). link to work |  permanent link to this post

Direct To Your Home Art Projects

1997-1998, web site, e-mail, artifacts

DYHAP is really just documentation of a net art work which MTAA conducted via email and postal mail from November 1997 to November 1998 (13 months).

This piece worked like this: Each month a Direct to Your Home Art Project was sent out by email to listservs (Rhizome, Fluxlist and American Express) as well as to the DYHAP mailing list. Each email contained instructions on how to fabricate and install artwork in ones own living space. In exchange for documentation of the installed artwork each collector of a DYHAP received an official signed and numbered Certificate of Authenticity. link to work |  permanent link to this post

1 year performance video (aka samHsiehUpdate)

2004, web site with Flash

1 year performance video thumb
link to higher resolution image

1 year performance video continues MTAA’s series of Updates. Our Updates resound seminal performance art from the 60s and 70s in part by replacing human processes with computer processes.

1 year performance video updates Sam Hsieh’s One Year Performance 1978-1979 (aka Cage Piece).

When a viewer enters the piece she is presented with side-by-side videos of the artists trapped in identical cell-like rooms. The artists go about the mundane activities possible within a cell: in the morning they wake and breakfast; at around 1PM and 7PM they eat; sometimes they exercise; sometimes they surf the net; sometimes they sit and stare at the wall; they piss; at around midnight, they go to bed.

The viewer is meant to watch this activity for one year.

But, in the work we only mimic endurance; the videos are pre-taped clips edited at runtime via a computer program so that each viewer sees a different sequence. The audience can just close the browser and walk away. No one needs to suffer on this one; failure is built-in at the front end.

1 year performance video (aka samHsiehUpdate) is a 2004 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It was made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation. link to work |  permanent link to this post

veiweratstar67@yahoo.com Gallery Interface
2000, large format inkjet print, computer, Yahoo!
Bi-Virtue, star67, Brooklyn, NY

Original Proposal:
MTAA proposes to extend the exhibition space of star67 gallery, brooklyn, by the amount of 3 megabytes of disk space on the servers of yahoo.com.

read more »

permanent link to this post

Win Our Friendship
2000, C-print, index cards, pen, wooden box
Me & My Friends, 57Hope, Brooklyn, NY, USA;
friendly fire, project, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;
(718): A Bridge To Brooklyn, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI, US

A framed photograph announcing the opportunity to win the artists’ friendship for one month.

read more »

permanent link to this post

Happy Fun Summer Rebellion
2000, performance installation: wooden signs, customized police barricades, food, beer, certificates
A Day At The Beach, PS1 Art Center, Queens, NY

MTAA barricaded themselves into an area of the PS1 courtyard on a misty summer day.

read more »

permanent link to this post

Pirated Movie - A Pirated Screening of The Pirates of The Caribbean
2003, DVD-Video documentation of a live performance
Postmasters, New York, NY

Pirated Movie was a screening of a pirated version of Disney’s Pirates of The Caribbean, The Curse of The Black Pearl. The pirated video was screened in black and white and silently while five of NYC’s most interesting artists, DJs, and musicians provided a completely new soundtrack live during the screening.

read more »

permanent link to this post

IN PREPARATION FOR THE SUMMER AIR IN BROOKLYN TO RISE FROM THE CONCRETE IN A MANNER WHICH DISTORTS ONE’S ABILITY TO JUDGE DISTANCE AND MEANING (AKA MANUAL ZOOM MIRAGE)
2003, postcards, digital C-prints, custom plywood frame, digital images
Rome Arts, Brooklyn, NY

MTAA created a single, digital image for a solo show at Rome Arts.

read more »

permanent link to this post

Lo-Fi Message Board
2001, chalk board paint, chalk
Creative Time's Cell Lounge at The Meat Market Art Fair, New York, NY

Lo-Fi MB was a temporary site specific installation.

read more »

permanent link to this post

Contemporary Gargoyle—Black (Soap) Box
2002, plywood, telephones, C-print, recorded messages
The Omega Manual, Smack Mellon Studios, Brooklyn, NY

read more »

permanent link to this post

In Preparation For The Reversal of Gravity (AKA Flying Buttress)
1995-2001, industrial springs, cement block, C-prints
Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY; Tipping Point, White Columns, New York, NY

Originally a site specific installation by M.River (AKA Mike Sarff) at Socrates Sculpture Park,

read more »

permanent link to this post

Direct To Your Home Art Projects Museum Model
1999, custom table, architectural model, doll house furniture, ephemera
Our New Stealth Model of Careerism, Walden Gallery, NYC, NY; Studio-Visit.com - the show, 31 Grand, Brooklyn, NY

This sculpture is documentation of MTAA’s famous Direct To Your Home Art Projects (DYHAP) which were conducted online and via the US mail from November 1997 through November 1998.

read more »

permanent link to this post

Endnode (AKA Printer Tree)
2002, plywood, inkjet printers, 8 1/2" x 11" office paper, cables, computer, email discussion lists
Beta Launch: Eyebeam Artists in Residence '02, Eyebeam Atelier, New York, NY

Endnode is a networked sculpture that literally and figuratively represents the branching of the Internet. Printers nested within the plywood branches of a large “tree” produce hard copies of emails that fall to the ground like leaves or apples, becoming “endnodes” in the worldwide information flow. The general aesthetic of the piece is home-made “Franken-tree.” The emails come from a list created for the project that is centered on art, technology, and communication. Online avatars M. River and T. Whid guide the project.

Visit www.endnode.com for details, images, mailing list archive, and other information. permanent link to this post

Dig: A Search For Captain Paine’s Ill-Gotten Loot
1997, tourist brochure/map, record album, certificates
Convergence International Arts Festival, Providence, RI

A treasure hunt through downtown Providence, RI. MTAA distributed brochures throughout the city in hopes of luring the citizens into a mass treasure hunt.

read more »

permanent link to this post

Restless Crowd Control
2001, video installation, barricades, slide projections
Good Bad Art Collective, Brooklyn, NY

Restless Crowd Control was an environment created for a performance night.

read more »

permanent link to this post

DC 9/11 - The Evildoers’ Remix
2004, digital video
RNC NODE, Postmasters, New York, NY; The Thing, New York, NY

A guerilla edit of the pro-Bush propaganda film DC 9/11 - A Time of Crisis. The video is a collaboration between new media art duo MTAA, video artist bodyatomic and musician/DJ tinydiva.

read more »

permanent link to this post

In Preparation For An Attack By Mobs Of Hideously Deformed Radioctive Mutants On 31 Grand (AKA Cage Match)
2003, chainlink fence, blue tarp, 2x4, flourescent light, digital C-print
Dealer's Choice, 31 Grand, Brooklyn, NY

Cage Match was a site specific installation at 31 Grand, a gallery in Brooklyn, NY.

read more »

permanent link to this post

In Preparation For The Over-Running Of White Columns By Hordes of Bloodthirsty Barbarians (AKA Bunker Flood)
2001, cinder blocks, sand bags, C-print
Tipping Point, White Columns, New York, NY

Bunker Flood was a site specific installation at White Columns in NYC.

read more »

permanent link to this post

Art Film Slide Advertisements
1997-1999, 35mm slides
4 Walls Slide & Film Club, 4 Walls, Brooklyn, NY; miscellaneous other venues

The Art Film Slide Advertisements are shown before screenings of art films, lectures, panel discussions, or performances.

read more »

permanent link to this post

1 Year Performance Video (installation version)
2005, plywood, Homasote®, felt, stage, domestic goods, digital video and custom software
not yet exhibited publicly

1YPV_install_shot_300x233.jpg
[click for a larger image]


The “1 Year Performance Video (installation version)” recasts the set of 1 Year Performance Video as a sculptural tableau with the 1YPV vidoes projected on the rear wall.

Custom-built software runs two video channels independent of one another. Once the software is started it’s programmed to run for one year. The number of days the software has been running is displayed above the video.

The entire stage is rebuilt and encloses the piece. permanent link to this post

Feb 12, 2006

You, Motherfucker

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

We realized today that this is probably our best piece EVER!

“The You, Motherfucker Flag”



See the online version, The Webpage For Planned Self-Obsolescence (AKA Even In The Line To The NYC DMV, One May Think Of Art).

Update
The flag was sold to someone in Canada. If it was you, please contact us. If you know who has it, please contact us. Thanks. permanent link to this post

Yet even more Artstar.tv

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

On the RHIZOME_RAW list, Marisa Olson asks this question (re: this post),
I feel compelled to ask (of him or anyone here who cares) what comprises this “fine line” between the two extremes of “good Pop Art and a sickening psychophantical [sic] homage to the dominant media culture”..? And must all art that appropriates the form and/or content of popular media fall into one or the other of these extreme categories?
(As soon as I saw my words quoted back at me I thought, “Psychophantical? That’s not how you spell sycophantical.”)

Marisa goes on to say,
Where does parody fit in, because to me, for something to be truly successful, on a parodic level, it has to be highly imitative—and, hence, to some degree, reverent, even if only in the sense of (let’s say) what Jameson calls “nostalgia films,” which are not necessarily acting in praise… To me, it is this act of shadowing (miming, resulting directly from, yet in contrast and however shape-shifted) that best affords the opportunity for critique. Admittedly, it is sort of an act of relinquishing some of the sense of “value” implied in models of authority (read: authorship), in order to sort of free one’s speech, ie to protest.
What comprises the fine line? I don’t know, but I know it when I see it. Parody, it seems to me, is neither Pop Art or ‘sickening’ sycophancy. Good Pop Art doesn’t seem like straight-up parody to me as it’s critique isn’t as implicit. You’re not quite sure if Warhol is critiquing popular culture or celebrating it. His best pieces (and his life) seem to have a conceptual shimmer. One is unsure of his intentions. Nonetheless there always seems to be a critical text in there somewhere… it’s just hard to pin down sometimes.

I don’t think Artstar.tv is intended to be a parody. Perhaps I’m wrong. It also doesn’t seem to be intended as Pop art. It just seems to be a regular ole reality TV show (which btw will air on the Zoom hi-definition satellite network) using reality TV conventions and grafting them onto the art world. This is only speculation, but there doesn’t seem to be a critical text or sub-text in sight.
But anyway. I also wonder how TWhid (& MRiver) would situate their 1 year performance project re: reality tv—and if they see similarities, then have they given us “good Pop Art [or] a sickening psychophantical homage to the dominant media culture”? ;)
1YPV doesn’t have anything to do with reality TV or Pop art IMO. Since reality TV is so heavily edited there isn’t really any formal connection. The closest thing it comes to is the 24/7 web-cams that Big Brother used to have online.

Thanks for the discussion Marisa :) permanent link to this post

Yet more MTAA hype

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Yes, this is MTAA’s blog and we’ll hype ourselves if we want to.

The other night at a small reception for Rhizome ArtBase 101 at the New Museum I got some very good news.

First, I learned that Rhizome had considered making 1YPV its first ever limited edition art work. For some reason it couldn’t work out. Sucks that it didn’t happen (yet), but it’s nice to know people are thinking about ya.

Second, Mark Tribe told me that he thought 1YPV was one of the best New Media artworks ever. No offense to Mark, but you just can’t tell an artist something like that. Our egos are big enough already :-)

Third (and the really, really good news), Mark said that he’s including MTAA in a book on New Media art that he’s writing with Reena Jana for Taschen. That rocks. permanent link to this post

Yes, this Williamsburg

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Talk about hopelessly clueless. Check it out: Williamsburg, Brooklyn is full of hipsters! Quite the scoop.
We bought a couple of Zywiec beers and some pirogi, then headed for the gilt-framed stage. Packed onto the honey-colored wood floor (polished by the polka?), hundreds of jeans-clad fans waited for the headlining act, Spoon. Touted as the next big thing for years, the Austin-based art rockers took the stage, all sharp drums and crisp guitar riffs, sounding like they’d finally arrived. This corner of Brooklyn felt like it had, too.

BTW, Cary Peppermint and I were the the forefront of the hipster Zyweic (pronounced something like jev-yitz) beer craze.

via No, Not That Williamsburg - Washington Post permanent link to this post

Yahoo! APIs

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Yahoo! has released their Developer Network. The Developer Network provides documentation and an SDK to help folks get started using the new APIs they’ve released to access Yahoo! web services. The APIs allow anyone to get results for an image search, video search, web search and more. All query results are delivered in an open XML format:
The results returned by the service are in XML which varies per service.
There has been lots of net art which uses search queries or results as the basis of the project (Cory Arcangel’s Dooogle and Thompson & Craighead’s Beacon being two recent examples). And now Yahoo! is making it super easy to use dynamic, live results in any sort of web-based art work. They provide examples in the SDK in a number of languages including Javascript, PHP, Python and Perl.

One caveat however, you must have an application ID to identify your application to the system and they limit the frequency by which you can query the system.
These rate limits are imposed independently for each service and are typically in the thousands-per-day per user range. See each service’s documentation for the individual limits.
This might be a problem for web-based software. The rate is limited by IP#, so a web site would look like one user to the system. The Image Search is limited to 5000 queries per 24 hour period. That doesn’t seem to be a great deal of queries for a popular web site. permanent link to this post

The Yes Men’s hi-jinks

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

The Yes Men bill themselves as “honest people [impersonating] big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them.”

Their latest prank was infiltrating a Heritage Foundation conference in Chicago and making fools of the fools. From the Yes Men web site:
At the Heritage Foundation’s annual Resource Bank meeting in Chicago last Friday, protesters masquerading as a right-wing think tank took the stage and announced that in light of Bush’s shortcomings, they were nominating former Reagan Attorney-General Ed Meese for president.

The audience applauded for nearly ten seconds.
Read all about it and see pix and video at the Yes Men’s web site. permanent link to this post

What a bunch of losers!

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Wrapping crappy XP in an aqua-like look don’t make it a Mac.

Try the real thing why dontchya? Truly pathetic. permanent link to this post

It Felt Sooooooo Good

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

I called the evil XO this morning and canceled my account.

Baby. It felt soooooooo good.

Our loyal followers will remember that XO is the POS hosting company that has been robbing us (well, me) blind with their service fees. You can read all about it here.

This morning I finally —finally— escaped their grasp, this is how the call went:

them: Good morning, how can we help you this morning.

us: I want to cancel my account

[bunch of gibberish that isn’t interesting]

them: May we ask why you are canceling your account today?

us: Because you provide horrible service [pause] and it costs too much.

[bunch more gibberish of no interest]

I know, I know, he was just some schlub answering the phones, but it still felt soooooo good. They’ve cost me at least a few hundred dollars in overpayment over the years (compared to other hosting companies) and it felt nice to finally get away from them. permanent link to this post

XML translation of Dan Graham’s “Schema”

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Found An XML translation of Dan Graham’s “Schema” via the netoworked_performance blog.

Hardcore conceptual art of the 60s meets hardcore information geek technologies of the 00s.

Ya gotta love it!

See the original Schema at ubuweb. permanent link to this post

www.pulp.href - +(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f) - #########0|\|E

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

http://www.jimpunk.com/www.pulp.href/
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jimpunk rulez permanent link to this post

Work sample video

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Download the video here (03’28, 27.4MB, .MOV).

MTAA is applying to a ‘professional development’ program. They accept all sorts of artists, but they take only slides or video for documentation in the application.

d’oh!

So we whipped up a video showing samples of eight pieces of ours: The Simple Net Art Diagram, Endnode, 1 year performance video, The Drinkin’ & Drawin’ Championship, Pirated Movie, DC 9/11 EDR, Infinite Phil, and Five Small Videos.

Download the video here (03’28, 27.4MB, .MOV). permanent link to this post

Williamsburg + space elevator = bad

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

20041219_spaceelevatorflyer.jpg

Join the fight!

(Unashamedly reblogged from reBlog who reblogged it from BoingBoing who got it from somewhere else.) permanent link to this post

Wordpress and DreamHost

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

M.River’s site, tinjail.com, was moved over to a new hosting service recently. It’s now being served by DreamHost.

DreamHost really rocks, I recommend them (tell them twhid referred you please). One of the many niceties they offer is one-click Wordpress installation.

I hadn’t played around with Wordpress before, but it is really nice. Makes me wonder if I should move this blog over to it. Right now we’re running on Blosxom, which I like very much, but it’s written in Perl, and I don’t know Perl very well. Wordpress, on the other hand, is written in PHP. I know PHP much better and could possibly hack it more easily than Blosxom.

Hmmmmmmm. permanent link to this post

Wild speculation

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Is Eyebeam behind Arianna Huffington’s soon-to-be-released HuffingtonReport.com?

According to paidcontent.org (via a Business 2.0 article), HuffingtonReport.com will be,
[…]in the mold of Slate and Salon, with, get this, guest bloggers ranging from Sen. Jon Corzine, Larry David, Barry Diller, Tom Freston, David Geffen, Vernon Jordan, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Harry Evans and his wife, Tina Brown.

Her business partner is Ken Lerer, the head of AOL-TW’s corporate communications in the Bob Pittman era.

Along with the celebrity cred, these super-busy bloggers may not actually blog, but e-mail or phone in their posts: “We’re setting up a system wherein you’ll be able to e-mail or phone in your latest take, which our editorial team will fact-check and turn into a blog post.”

The site’s soft launch is apparently set for April.
Also, according to paidcontent.org, HuffingtonReport.com is registered to none other than our favorite contagious media geek and Eyebeam R&D Director: Jonah Peretti! (confirmed through whois.)

This is probably a side project for Jonah and not an official Eyebeam deal. Jonah is a genius at getting things noticed online, perhaps the publisher of the site decided she needed some of the ‘ole contagious media mojo that he can provide? We shall see… permanent link to this post

Wide-angle will work? Yes it will.

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

This post is for mriver, it won’t be very meaningful to anyone else.

I did some tests with the wide-angle lens I borrowed from Bill with good results. I posted a JPG that you can check out, follow this link. This is simply cropped from a still I took from the video camera. I didn’t capture any video and test it yet. The frame of reference in the still may be different than the video. But the wide-angle lens looks like the way to go. We can get a lot closer. There is a bit of fish-eye effect, but I don’t think it’s horrible.

update: I examined a still I grabbed from the video as well. It looks good as far as cropping it the way we want it (didn’t post this image, sorry). I’m going to experiment with the actual video next using the tools we’ll use for the final output. It’s looking pretty good. I’ll put a flash video version of it online when I’m done.

Let me know what you think. If you go to the studio, don’t move the tripod (or mark it before you do). permanent link to this post

Why show in a gallery?

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

In the comments of this post, an anonymous reader writes:
I’d be interested to know why you made the decision to try and show in galleries. Do you feel you are having to find ways to “shoehorn” your stuff into a format that fits.
Good question.

MTAA have always created physical work in conjunction with our on-line work. Our first net art work, TIME!®, used the web as a component of what was really a sort of relational art work. This piece was eventually shown in a physical permutation at a show we did in 2000 at Walden Gallery. Actually we made physical versions of a bunch of our stuff for that show, including the V-TAV and the DYHAP Museum Model. So it’s not really something new for us.

You can see a bunch of our off-line art work on this web site too. So, it’s nothing new for us really.

The difference is now, we’re really pushing to make some headway into the gallery world. This means a lot of things.

On the production side, it means conceptualizing projects in such a way that they work as net art and sculptural or physical objects too (like our printer tree). It means coming up with ideas that hold our interest in digital materials, but also make sense in a gallery context (ie, it can hang on a wall, sometimes without electricity). And it means producing art-like artifacts that are documents of networked or digital activities or collaborations.

As for why now? I’m copping-out today. It’s late on a Friday evening, I need to chill. permanent link to this post

Wichita State backs down

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Wichita State University has announced that the Emily Jacir exhibition scheduled to run January 20 - March 6, 2005, at the Ulrich Museum of Art will do so without any conditions.

Elizabeth King, Vice President for University Advancement, released the following statement late this afternoon:

“Wichita State University is aware of the discussion generated by the scheduled exhibition of work by artist Emily Jacir at the Ulrich Museum of Art. The University is committed to going forward with the exhibition without conditions or limitations that could be considered to compromise the integrity of Ms. Jacir’s work as an artist. The University appreciates the widespread interest in the artist and the exhibition.”

via: From the Floor: Emily Jacir Exhibition to Proceed without Conditions
It’s good to see that all involved came to their senses. permanent link to this post

White people are mutants

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

This is pretty old, but I thought it was interesting and I haven’t posted much this week…
Scientists said yesterday that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology’s most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity’s greatest sources of strife.

The work suggests that the skin-whitening mutation occurred by chance in a single individual after the first human exodus from Africa, when all people were brown-skinned. That person’s offspring apparently thrived as humans moved northward into what is now Europe, helping to give rise to the lightest of the world’s races.

via washingtonpost.com - Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin permanent link to this post

Which NYTimes Op-Ed Columnist Are You?

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

Take the test here.

I’m embarrassed to say that I’m Maureen Dowd. I knew choosing the lottery numbers for the fortune cookie question and ‘The appalling machismo of the Bush administration’ for the last question would push me into Dowd-ism. I wanted to be Krugman of course.

Fun, but easy to game if you read the NYT Op-Ed page often. permanent link to this post

What is Karaoke Deathmatch 100?

posted at 16:46 GMT by T.Whid in /news/twhid

KDM100.jpg
Artist collaborators MTAA (M