Yoshitomo Nara Nobody’s Fool
Asia Society Museum (NY)
Sept. 9, 2010–Jan. 2, 2011

I started out my NYFF week kind of late. This past Saturday, I rushed up to Lincoln Center for the 48th New York Film Festival, slightly distressed by the weekend morning traffic to arrive an hour late into Mirror of Shadow and Cinders. Part of a series of Avant-Garde shorts curated by Mark McElhatten & Gavin Smith, Mirror of Shadow and Cinders is a strikingly poetic group of work. I was particularly captivated by “Destination Finale” (2008) originally an 8mm color amateur film, edited by the German filmmaker Philip Widmann. If you question the art of film editing, this 9-minute video will persuade you to think otherwise. Created entirely from found footage that was shot in 1964 and resurrected in Saigon in 2005, the German director Widmann tells a story by using his editing skills. We follow his protagonist, a solo traveler, clad in a suit and leather shoes, wandering across cities carrying nothing but his camera and smiles. The audio and visual glitches from the residue of the film is like being in an impressionist painting which triggered a wave of nostalgia. Who is this man?  He remains anonymous even until the end as he reunites with his people at the airport. The end is a bit heavy and unexpected. Continue Reading More »

The Pseudo-Nym Project makes a toast to life, at least in the artists’ perspective. Inspired by Rrose Sélavy – one of Marcel Duchamp’s pseudonyms, the artists in this group show lay completely anonymous until the closing reception. I can understand the playful freedom that the artists and curator gets under the mysterious curtain. Wasn’t that how the dadaists played the game? The Pseudo-Nym Project opens at the Invisible Dog on October 2nd. The only small leak about the artists is that they’ve been shown in The New Museum, Venice Biennale, The Tate Gallery, Istanbul Biennial, The Whitney Museum, and Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. For those who are just as curious as I am to see who’s behind the show, stop by the opening party and celebrate with the artists.

Image courtesy of The Collective Zazazozo for Pseudonym Project / The Invisible Dog

Last week the Whitney Museum ended Christian Marclay: Festival. Marclay is the pioneer of making music out of anything he picks up, from records to restaurant menus. In this piece, a reinterpretation by Nicolas Collins, the artist shows us how to listen to bells in an entirely different way.  From porcelain, to glass and metal, the audience can pick up the subtle qualities of each bell.

If you’re around the Lower East Side tomorrow, join the opening ceremony for Mall-terations, a community urban art project launched by Hester Street Collaborative. Try out the brand new roller benches made from found and saved materials installed on hand-painted maps. Read more about it on our previous post here.

Friday, October 1st, 2010 at noon
Allen Street Pedestrian Malls (between Houston & Delancey)

Four weeks ago I received an anonymous postcard in the mail with a mysterious little poem in the back that goes:

And I would share something,
Something beautiful with you.

I gaze at you distantly.
And should I?
Should I approach?

For I would share something,
Something beautiful and true. Continue Reading More »

Electrochroma courtesy of FIAF

For sonic arts fans, mark your calendars this month. Opening tonight and for every Wednesday of October is a series of live experimental audiovisuals curated by the artist Richard Garet. Garet’s own audiovisual blackbox installation entitled Electrochroma is currently on view at the Invisible Dog gallery. Electrochroma “was created in a digital environment utilizing various analog and digital techniques and a variety of software processes to maneuver audio and moving image. The work’s imagery ranges from dark to light monochromatic spheres, shifting tonality and intensity from mild to high saturation, including flickering and pulsating patterns, RGB phenomena, afterimage, retinal impact, and sensory overloads. The sound composition was arranged for 5.1-surround audio and is comprised of a molded experimentation resulting in tones, overtones, profound bass echoing, modulated frequencies, textures, static noises, and electronic sounds moving through space.” The line-up looks good with a premier by one of my favorite avante-garde turntablist Maria Chavez. Complete schedule here.

The Invisible Dog
51 Bergen Street
Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn