Pretty damned wonderful videotape of 1981 sessions for the Dead Kennedys' EP In God We Trust Inc. which my friends and I passed back and forth so much it was worn out and scratched to bits. The band which later had an acrimonious split was arguably in peak form at that time, energetic, witty, and loud. And how could they go wrong with song titles like "Religious Vomit" and "Nazi Punks Fuck Off"?!
Here are a few snapshots of assorted artworks/multiples by Fluxus artist Robert Filliou.
Painter Douglas Stichbury has a new exhibition opening at Suite Gallery in Wellington on Thursday April 3 at 5:30 PM entitled The Practice of Leisure which runs through April 26. For more info and to see examples of the artist's previous work, consult http://www.suite.co.nz/artists/douglas-stichbury/
For last week’s presentation in my Conceptualisms, Conspiracies, and Counterhistories course I screened some assorted clips that I thought might offer a kind of “conspiracy collage” including the following: the artist Mike Kelley on the notion of “Art and Fucking Things Up.” And some sections of the South Bank Show program on dystopian sci-fi writer J.G. Ballard (part 3) and (part 4). Filmmaker Kirby Ferguson has started a web series called This is not a Conspiracy Theory, and also speaks about the project at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas. Theorist Boris Groys offered his perspective on contemporary art for a segment of the film Future of Art. And closed off with a few minutes of video artist Ryan Trecartin’s P.OPULAR S.KY (section ish).
The Chicago Tribune has posted some nice photos from Kraftwerk's recent appearance at the Riviera Theatre which can be viewed here.
Here's a documentary on the garage rock revivalists of the past several years featuring mostly US bands including the late Jay Reatard, Thee Oh Sees, Davila 666, The Black Lips, and Ty Segall. But also (rightfully) featuring the influence of New Zealand's own The Clean! In Jay Reatard's words (interviewed in the film) garage is "usually three minutes or less, as few words as possible, to convey as much emotion as you can with as little as possible." And here's a link to Pitchfork's Shake Appeal column dedicated to "garage and garage-adjacent releases." For the real old school stuff you can check out a YouTube playlist drawing from the tracks on Lenny Kaye's seminal Nuggets compilation LP of sixties garage punk and psychedelia.
It's normally time to worry when a record company decides to put out "lost" product by deceased musicians, even (especially?) by legendary figures such as Johnny Cash. Taking this apprehension in mind, Cash's recently released Out Among the Stars is a welcome rather than disappointing event. The album is comprised of recordings made in Nashville in the early 1980s but only recently recovered. At that time Cash, despite his iconic status was treated as a rather money-losing proposition, and was even dropped by his record label--the same one that is now releasing this record, ironic no? At any rate, the songs are often overproduced, as is typical of so-much eighties music, whether recorded in Nashville or elsewhere, but there is a residual warmth to Cash's voice and a light, engaging humour that is contagious. While Cash's later Rick Rubin-era recordings benefit from their stripped down empathic approach, even some of the best material is difficult to listen to as Cash was so clearly in decline, ill and not long for this world. Notwithstanding the self-inflicted damage to his voice that Cash incurred due to his wild living, the songs on Out Among the Stars find his voice steady and reassuring even as it often relates narratives of down and out souls and hard times. You can read Cash's son John Carter Cash's track-by-track run down of the album here. And watch a film featuring covers of some of the songs by Brandon Flowers, Father John Misty, and Local Natives. And below you can listen to Out Among the Stars.
My (mixed) review of the Adam Art Gallery's current exhibition Cinema and Painting appears in this week's NZ Listener.
Here's a link to a feature-length 1999 documentary entitled Dial H for Hitchcock on the films and legacy of director Alfred Hitchcock. Whatever your opinion of this complex and problematic figure it's unlikely that there are any other directors whom one can learn more from in relation to suspense, action, plot, horror, narrative, and the often underrated significance of anticipation.
David Cross, after over a decade residing in Wellington has just relocated back across the Tasman to his former home of Melbourne to take up a Professorship at Deakin University. We've had a great time seeing David off lately with a series of events, many of them drenched with the demon drink, but I know we in the local arts community are going to now feel acutely aware that David is so unexpectedly, and finally, not here (he and his partner Ellie and daughter Edie left this past weekend). David's commitment to all kinds of things relating to contemporary visual art significantly increased the energy here, whether involving: public and site-responsive art, live art and performance, art writing and criticism, talks and symposia, and the curation of temporal practices. David has been extremely generous and helpful to me in my six years on the ground in New Zealand, and his friendship has been an utter joy. I wanted to offer a little DC roundup on this post, with a few links that only scratch the surface of his constant activity as an artist, researcher, and educator. I arrived in NZ shortly before the One Day Sculpture project got underway and enjoyed being an invited writer though it was pretty scary at times, leaping into this entirely new context for me. You can read and look at great images retrospectively both in its online site and the lavish book. It was also extremely humorous at times to see a frazzled David trying to project manage (in many places at once) the massive, multi-tentacled beast that ODS became. David's later Tasmanian curatorial project Iteration: Again was something I didn't see firsthand but also became a fascinating series of artworks and responses (and book) that challenged many people's assumptions about contemporary curation, particularly in this part of the world. And in the midst of all this David was making lots of work of his own, documentation of which can be viewed on his informative website, and contributed heaps of writing to many different contexts, particularly about two dozen well wrought and often witty pieces for the EyeContact site in Auckland. One of David's most ambitious recent projects in terms of its scale and conceptual scope was Level Playing Field, commissioned as part of Christchurch's Scape exhibition. I mean how many artists invent a new sport as part of their public art project? David will I hope be making his outlandish, fantastic works for many years to come, it's just sad we have to see him off after such a productive and engaging period here in New Zealand. Thanks David.
A website featuring archived critical essays and reviews
along with
links to other commentary on arts, media, and popular culture
