More New York Noise! Three Sonic Youth Documentaries

Sonic Youth were an amazing band in their time. Well I guess I freeze them in my mind somewhere around late 80s-early 90s-—when I saw them—though they continued for many years afterwards. Thought I would post links to three intriguing films which feature the band. Charles Atlas' Put Some More Blood into the Music (screened by the UK program South Bank Show in 1989) features the formidable John Zorn too as well as interviews with Lydia Lunch, Dan Graham, Glenn Branca, etc. Director David Markey's 1991: The Year Punk Broke covers SY on tour with Nirvana (and Dinosaur Jr. among other bands) in Europe shortly before the latter band's career went ballistic. Christoph Dreher's Silver Rockets Kool Things: 20 Years of Sonic Youth presents a longer career survey for German/French television. Enjoy the noize!

Harry Partch Documentary

The phenomenal New Zealand sound artist Phil Dadson along with Enrique Siques (Chile) and Rob Thorne (NZ) (the three are touring as X-Current) did a magnificent musical performance, presentation, and Q and A for the first year students in Massey's fine arts program today. Totally magical sounds. Dadson mentioned in his talk the great 20th century American composer Harry Partch (1901-1974) who created his own instruments and lived as a transient until his innovative music finally gained some academic recognition later in his life. Here is a link to a 2002 BBC documentary on Partch, and for more info on and sounds by Dadson, check out his website. 

MC5: A True Testimonial documentary

I was thinking about rock and roll, Detroit, Mike Kelley (who I'll post about soon), and all the other typical stuff that swims about in my cranium and thought I'd post this documentary on the fantastic MC5, packed with crazy white boy rock and roll kick out the jams sixties style pandemonium. Hope you enjoy watching this crazy time capsule strangeness.

Selected Greatest Hits of Early Video Art

I wanted to show my fine art elective class a bunch of "greatest hits" so to speak of early video art. So far away now, so conceptual, so fuzzy, so hippie...but often perversely a great deal of fun (of course my idea of fun is many people's vision of torture by art, but oh well). I thought I'd highlight a few links here in one place, but most of them came from the vast archival palace that is ubu.com. Above is a still from the great Media Burn by the collective Ant Farm, and I also love their Eternal Frame. Here's also Technology Transformation: Wonder Woman by Dara Birnbaum, and Semiotics of the Kitchen by Martha Rosler, and Vertical Roll by Joan Jonas. Richard Serra's Boomerang is essential. There's Gary Hill's experiments such as Soundings, and Bruce Nauman filming and taping in his studio. The Space Between the Teeth and Sweet Light and The Reflecting Pool by Bill Viola. Some very early Nam June Paik works and a short Paik interview clip. And the humour of Robert Filliou and William Wegman and John Baldessari I return to again and again. 

Extended run of Victoria Singh's "Waiting Room"

Artist Victoria Singh's WAITING ROOM project which I recently posted on and was just written up in the Dominion Post has now been extended until MARCH 30th—however for the week starting Monday March 24 it has different hours as on TUESDAY and FRIDAY it's open from 430 to 8 PM only. More chances to wait!

Lorde AND the Cramps on the cover of the Rolling Stone...

I was very happy to see the new Rolling Stone (I don't say that very often!) in the supermarket today with its cover pic featuring Lorde sporting a Cramps t-shirt! What a spot of sunshine after spending way too much time perusing the packages of wheat-free loaves. RS to their credit has posted a kind of intro page to the Cramps with some selected songs for the as yet unenlightened. And very very cool that Lorde is on RS cover, but absolutely expected and inevitable, while her wardrobe drops a bit of extra (rather more unexpected) coolness into the glossy magazine rack. And it's clear Lorde's got good taste!

Artist John Preus' kickstarter campaign for "The Beast"!

Chicago-based artist John Preus, a really fantastic maker of objects, installations, collaborations, and all manner of pretty wonderful things and experiences has a kickstarter campaign going to assist him in essential costs going toward his upcoming exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center entitled "The Beast." As the press material states: 

"Intertwining spectacle and site, John Preus’ “The Beast,” becomes a new space for cultural inquiry, public dialogue and creative production within the Hyde Park Art Center, April 13 – August 3. Fabricating a large structure from harvested materials including upholstery leather and discarded wood and furniture from recently closed Chicago Public Schools, Preus will transform the gallery’s interior with a complex architectural framework inspired by the form of a dead steer, emblematic of violence and sacrifice. The gallery will exist as an artist-run space throughout the span of the exhibition, and will be activated through corresponding performances, discussions and educational offerings programmed by Preus and various collaborators.

Best known for his work as the lead fabricator for Theaster Gates, and as the principal designer and builder of the Dorchester Projects’ Archive House, Preus founded Dilettante Studios in 2010, which designs and builds cabinets, furniture, and residential and commercial spaces, relying almost exclusively on second-hand materials. He also co-founded SHOP (Southside Hub of Production), a collective of artists, educators, and local civic organizations with curator Laura Schaeffer, and has collaborated with countless others on projects that make up his multifaceted practice as an artist, builder, writer, and musician. “The Beast” is the culmination of Preus’ yearlong participation in the Jackman Goldwasser Residency at Hyde Park Art Center, and is his first major solo exhibition."

John is a really terrific artist who has contributed a lot to the ongoing vitality of the arts community in Chicago and elsewhere. Please do consider helping to support this ambitious project!

Yoko Ono at Guggenheim Bilbao

The Guardian's Jonathan Jones has written a fine piece on the legendary now 81-year-old artist Yoko Ono's most recent retrospective and her changing critical fortunes (certainly for the better of late). Jones rightly notes how innovative so many of her works that date from 40+ years ago still are, and the importance of her legacy on countless artists. Unfortunately I made the terrible mistake of scrolling through some of the comments below the article and read loads of ignorant and smug screeds attacking Ono in the same old boring, predictable fashion. You encounter (it's not worth it, trust me!) Beatle-fan zealots who "hate her" and seem generally to "hate conceptual art." What truly disappointing stuff. 

Artist Victoria Singh's "Waiting Room" in Wellington

Artist Victoria Singh has a new performance-installation project called The Waiting Room located at 123 Cuba Street (space formerly occupied by Ferret's Bookshop) in Wellington. The artist (as "The Receptionist" pictured below) is collecting video and written responses to the notion of "waiting". Victoria has already collated some very intriguing material which can be viewed here. Victoria has shown internationally and has created some very significant projects, if you're keen to participate, make sure to get down there soon! You can read more about the project and some of Victoria's previous works at http://www.waitingroom.info/. The room is open until Sunday March 23, from 11am until 6pm everyday except Thursday when it closes at 2 pm. 

Duchamp interviewed at the BBC in 1968

Stumbled across this really interesting interview with Marcel Duchamp, who did record quite a number of interviews both on film and tape but not nearly as many as you would hope. Such a lively interviewee who was frequently asked to cover the same material, but usually he didn't respond in exactly the same way, often with a twist and some exertion of his considerable charm. I also highly recommend the book published last year of Calvin Tomkins' 1964 conversations with Duchamp entitled The Afternoon Interviews.