We are pleased to announce a new series presenting photo-based artists in conversation with one of their contemporaries or collaborators. Comprised of 10 to 15 minute episodes, Blind Spot Conversations delves into the featured artist’s practice and process, and showcases their current or significant work. In addition to conversation and interview, each episode will include a visit to the artist’s studio, an installation, or current project space. With the launch of Conversations, Blind Spot deepens its dedication to presenting new photographic work by living artists, and encourages dialogue between artists and the photographic & fine art communities. Blind Spot Conversations, conceived and produced by Gemma Ingalls and Glynnis McDaris of Wildcat Presents.
(“Forty-Part Motet” was previously part of MoMA’s “Take Two. Worlds and Views: Contemporary Art from the Collection.” Image courtesy of Janet Cardiff)
The much anticipated White Light Festival opens next Thursday with Janet Cardiff’s “The Forty Part Motet” a 40-speaker sound installation at Lincoln Center. Really looking forward to this. Check the complete program here.
Walking into the HQ of the Conflux Festival in the East Village, it’s easy to believe you’re at an arts festival. The white walls display squares of paper adorned with graphic designs and text in inoffensive fonts, and there are attractive and creatively dressed women and men sipping wine and the ubiquitous cheap beer that has become an unfortunate staple of art gatherings nationwide. Continue Reading More »
I’m not usually a big proponent of feminist art. Before I disenfranchise half of our readers, let me explain. It’s not that I don’t appreciate its message or think it’s unnecessary, I do. With champions of any cause (be it political, religious or whatever) some are bound to be hard line militants and thus annoy me. For all of these reasons, I think Piplotti Rist’s new show Heroes of Birth at Luhring Augustine Gallery is a must see.
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
Sitting in complete darkness I closed my eyes and brought myself closer to the Dreamachine.
The potential hypnotic, hallucinatory effects that this machine promises is a huge expectation for its sitters, myself included. Of course, at the time when Brion Gysin manifested this machine his state of mind was more or less LSD- or hashish-induced. A poet, painter, performer, inventor, and thinker, Gysin collaborated closely with beat poet William S. Burroughs. Their tight friendship is evident in correspondence letters and openly shared in the exhibition Brion Gysin: Dream Machine. Gysin is one of the founding fathers of the Beat movement, and well respected for his endless experimentations with words and images, which eventually led to sound recordings as well. This man traveled greatly both in the physical and spiritual world, freeing himself to what has been taught, searching for the unknown.
As the yellow light continuously flickers on my face at 78 rpm, I cannot imagine what Brion Gysin saw, in my sober state, instead I heard sounds from some distant land. And shed a tear.
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