Jones was formerly the Director of Programming at the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in New York, NY. Prior to this, Jones held a combined curatorial and conservation position at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. She co-curated the groundbreaking exhibition Seeing Double: Emulation in Theory and Practice and coordinated the Deutsche Guggenheim exhibition, Nam June Paik: Global Groove 2004. As a key member of the Variable Media Network, Caitlin has also been responsible for developing important tools and policy for the preservation of electronic and ephemeral artworks. Her writings on new media art presentation and preservation have appeared in a wide range of catalogs and international publications.
BIO
Past Present Future
'The future ain't what it used to be.' So said Yogi Berra, and so too say artists Jon Thomson and Alison Craighead (of the British duo Thomson and Craighead) in a recent interview in the quarterly web journal Vague Terrain. Looking forward through the lens of history is one of the many strands that runs through the work Thomson and Craighead. Their early online work, Trigger Happy (which is included in Rhizome's Artbase), is a 'mashup' of Roland Barthes's 'Death of the Author' essay and the vintage arcade game 'Space Invaders.' The piece reflects the range of historical influence on new media art. Automated Beacon, a live stream of internet search queries, juxtaposes ideas of immediacy and desire from a distanced perspective, while Light From Tomorrow literally sends light from the future into the present by working across time zones. Flat Earth is a new animation created in conjunction with the UK's Channel Four Television. Billed as a 'desktop documentary,' the piece compiles texts from blogs and freely-available satellite imagery to create a narrative slice of our world, now, and what is soon to be our past. Whether embracing the old to reflect the new or vice versa, Thomson and Craighead play not only with the critical tensions between past, present, and future, but also the role of technology within that timeline.
2008 Rhizome Commission: Art vs. Advertising
Like it or not, advertising has become a deeply entrenched part of our online experience. Ads--moving, still, or blinking--sit alongside our news, our email, and our Facebook profiles. If you find this visual bombardment less than pleasing, one of the 2008 Rhizome Commissions should be able to help you out. Developed by Steve Lambert with Evan Harper, Addart is a Firefox extension that replaces ad content on given websites with original artworks from a predetermined database. More than just blocking adds like other available 'ad blockers,' with 'AddArt' every two weeks a selection of five to eight artworks (chosen by invited curators) will be available to you. This is not Steve Lambert's first shot at the plight of omnipresent advertising. He is the CEO of The Anti-Advertising Agency and with GRL (Graffiti Research Labs) they recently created Light Criticism, a creative 'rebranding' of some of New York City's LCD screens. The Bus Stop Bench Project worked to the same effect, by covering Oakland city bus stop benches with original artwork, Lambert addressed the passive ways through which we constantly receive images, and highlighted the ease through which this power can be harnessed for good.
Transvestite-Glitter-Fairie-Theatre
Dear Cockettes: an exhibition for and about the legendary acid queens The Cockettes just recently opened at UKS (the Young Artists Society) in Oslo, Norway. The Cockettes, who emerged from San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury community, performed "transvestite-glitter-fairie-theatre masques"--elaborate performances which even to the contemporary eye seem remarkably avant garde. "Gender fuck" is a term often associated with the group, as their signature beards, glitter, and transsexual costumes, according to Allen Ginsberg, enforced a "gay contribution to the realization that we're not a hundred percent masculine or feminine, but a mixture of hormones." The exhibition, which opened last week with a number of performances including one by London's 'House of Egypt' includes original vintage posters, photographic prints, scripts, newspaper articles, and other paraphernalia. The exhibition will include screenings of a number of rare films as well as the eponymous documentary feature by David Wiessman and Bill Webber (amazing clips and photos of which can be seen on the film's website). 'Dear Cockettes' should be seen as an important historical exhibition--one that looks beyond the usual conceptual and minimalist art history of the 1960s and 70s to cast a wider net of social relevance and cultural influence. The Cockettes can be seen not only as a precedent to glam rock era stars David Bowie and Elton John, but also contemporary performers like Devendra Banhart.
JODI Strikes Again!
Few media artists do documentation better than JODI.org (of course depending on who you talk to, few artists do performance or new media artwork better than JODI.org), and sometime in the past few months the legendary duo of Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans uploaded a sublime example of their documentary gifts. Composite Club, an installation which was shown recently at both VertextList in Brooklyn and And/Or Gallery in Dallas, can now be viewed online as a series of video files. By using Playstation's Eye Toy camera (which maps the user's movements into the game), a few games, and some cinematic classics (and then recording the outcome), JODI has created a series of funny and characteristically disconcerting single-channel videos. The movements of Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren become triggers for a workout video, characters from Tron play 'Monkey Mania,' and Harrison Ford's Blade Runner character conducts an orchestra and captains a cheerleading squad (I suppose this is much easier than hunting down replicants). Composite Club, in both its installed and online versions, gives us the ultimate in mediated experience--movies playing video games.
Imagining Geography
Traveling, you realize that differences are lost: each city takes to resembling all cities, places exchange their form, order, distances, a shapeless dust cloud invades the continents. -- Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
Calvino's Invisible Cities is, among other things, a beautiful and unique rumination on imagination and geography and Never Been to Tehran, an exhibition curated by Andrea Grover and Jon Rubin, explores a similar terrain. For the project they asked an international group of artists (who have never been to Tehran) to look to their own towns and environments, imagine, and then photograph their conception of what the city of Tehran looked like. The resulting photos reflect not only the Tehran we see through our current media-informed lens (exotic, dangerous, and otherly), but also the growing multiculturalism of the world's major centers. Images of architecture, industry, communal spaces, and food, elegantly make visible the power of perception in contemporary geopolitics. The images were streamed everyday, in the form of a slide show, to galleries in Iran, Turkey, the US, New Zealand, Denmark and Germany, but this physical manifestation wraps up today. Luckily for those of us not in any of these cities, however, the exhibition's photo-sharing site remains on view. In a time of heated political rhetoric, 'Never Been to Tehran' encourages us to imagine beyond the recent inflammatory depictions of Iran, to find links to our own personal geographies, and to remember that in many instances 'each city takes to resembling all cities.'
Exhibitions Curator
Deadline:
Mon Oct 31, 2011 04:00
Location:
Vancouver,
Canada
Organization: Western Front Society
Job Title: Exhibitions Curator
Position Type: Full-time contract, 35 hours/week
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Salary: $31,000/year
Years Experience: 3+
DESCRIPTION
The Western Front Society seeks an outstanding, highly motivated arts professional to step into the role of Exhibitions Curator.
The Western Front is one of Canada’s pioneering artist-run centres and produces and presents works in five programs: Exhibitions, Performance Art, New Music, Media Arts, and FRONT Magazine. The Western Front was founded in 1973 by a small group of interdisciplinary artists, and has developed into an exemplary multi-disciplinary environment for experimental art practice and research. With a staff of ten plus interns and volunteers, the Society collectively produces over fifty events a year.
The Exhibitions Program has a mandate to present contemporary visual art by local, national and international artists. Intentionally open, this mandate has historically focused on artwork that is conceptual, media-based or otherwise ephemeral in nature. Currently the program promotes experimentation with conceptual models and contexts for visual art that have allowed the program to expand beyond gallery exhibitions to include artist books and posters, cross-disciplinary works, site-specific and Internet projects, and commissions.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The Exhibitions Curator reports to the Executive Director, and is responsible for:
• Developing and communicating a dynamic vision for the Exhibitions Program
• Curating exhibitions and all associated programming
• Editing publications
• Writing grants and seeking opportunities for additional funding or support
• Supervising one part-time staff member, contract workers, as well as volunteers
QUALIFICATIONS
• Exemplary knowledge and understanding of contemporary art practices
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Proven financial management experience
• Strong organizational skills
• Ability to provide direction and work with a diverse staff
• High capacity to meet deadlines and work under pressure
• Knowledge of a broad range of issues related to the arts
• A clear understanding of the philosophy and history of the Canadian artist-run centre movement
• Knowledge of the principle funding agencies and prior grant writing experience
• Knowledge of managing publications and print projects
• Experience installing a variety of art exhibitions
• Mac OS, Microsoft Office, electronic mail and Filemaker Pro, an asset
BENEFITS
A competitive benefits package is available after the three months probation period is complete. After eight months of employment, four weeks paid vacation may be taken during the period when programs are recessed. An additional ten days paid holiday time may be taken during the December/January holiday period.
A part-time Exhibitions Assistant supports this position. Provisions are also made within the program budget for research-based travel.
HOW TO APPLY
The Western Front Society is committed to the principles of Employment Equity and encourages applications from Aboriginal persons, members of a visible minority group or persons with a disability.
Applications containing a cover letter, curriculum vitae, three references, and writing samples, must be received by 4:00 p.m. on December 14, 2009.
Please send applications by email only to:
Exhibitions Curator Hiring Committee
Email: admin@front.bc.ca
Western Front Society
303 East 8th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5T 1S1
www.front.bc.ca
NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE. Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.
Job Title: Exhibitions Curator
Position Type: Full-time contract, 35 hours/week
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Salary: $31,000/year
Years Experience: 3+
DESCRIPTION
The Western Front Society seeks an outstanding, highly motivated arts professional to step into the role of Exhibitions Curator.
The Western Front is one of Canada’s pioneering artist-run centres and produces and presents works in five programs: Exhibitions, Performance Art, New Music, Media Arts, and FRONT Magazine. The Western Front was founded in 1973 by a small group of interdisciplinary artists, and has developed into an exemplary multi-disciplinary environment for experimental art practice and research. With a staff of ten plus interns and volunteers, the Society collectively produces over fifty events a year.
The Exhibitions Program has a mandate to present contemporary visual art by local, national and international artists. Intentionally open, this mandate has historically focused on artwork that is conceptual, media-based or otherwise ephemeral in nature. Currently the program promotes experimentation with conceptual models and contexts for visual art that have allowed the program to expand beyond gallery exhibitions to include artist books and posters, cross-disciplinary works, site-specific and Internet projects, and commissions.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The Exhibitions Curator reports to the Executive Director, and is responsible for:
• Developing and communicating a dynamic vision for the Exhibitions Program
• Curating exhibitions and all associated programming
• Editing publications
• Writing grants and seeking opportunities for additional funding or support
• Supervising one part-time staff member, contract workers, as well as volunteers
QUALIFICATIONS
• Exemplary knowledge and understanding of contemporary art practices
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Proven financial management experience
• Strong organizational skills
• Ability to provide direction and work with a diverse staff
• High capacity to meet deadlines and work under pressure
• Knowledge of a broad range of issues related to the arts
• A clear understanding of the philosophy and history of the Canadian artist-run centre movement
• Knowledge of the principle funding agencies and prior grant writing experience
• Knowledge of managing publications and print projects
• Experience installing a variety of art exhibitions
• Mac OS, Microsoft Office, electronic mail and Filemaker Pro, an asset
BENEFITS
A competitive benefits package is available after the three months probation period is complete. After eight months of employment, four weeks paid vacation may be taken during the period when programs are recessed. An additional ten days paid holiday time may be taken during the December/January holiday period.
A part-time Exhibitions Assistant supports this position. Provisions are also made within the program budget for research-based travel.
HOW TO APPLY
The Western Front Society is committed to the principles of Employment Equity and encourages applications from Aboriginal persons, members of a visible minority group or persons with a disability.
Applications containing a cover letter, curriculum vitae, three references, and writing samples, must be received by 4:00 p.m. on December 14, 2009.
Please send applications by email only to:
Exhibitions Curator Hiring Committee
Email: admin@front.bc.ca
Western Front Society
303 East 8th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5T 1S1
www.front.bc.ca
NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE. Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.
epic net art
Just to be clear, I have never once suggested that market success is a good barometer of artistic success. I was responding simply to the assertions (somewhere earlier on in the 1.0 v. 2.0 discussion - and maybe we should move this discussion back there, rather than embedded in this epic art thread) that the institution and the 'art world' have embraced the 3rd generation of net artists more than the earlier generation. I almost didn't include that ps. as I don't want the discussion to go back to this 'art market' thread.
That said...
Therefore, not a distraction at all. I think it's a good barometer of where many of the artists (that I see in Chicago, Brussels, San Fran, and elsewhere) are pointing their vector of effort. To me, this shows me what is being "seen as important", when only 40 years ago, media art was still in a mode of challenging the galley and the object itself. This is a major shift...
While I agree with you Patrick that artists are directing efforts towards marketability, I certainly don't see it as a major shift. I think many Internet Artists who are gearing a part of their practice towards the institution/gallery setting, still create work that disrupts and challenges that system. And, I'm sorry, maybe my perspective as the one time programing director for a chelsea gallery that played a role in bringing some first generation net artists into the commercial sphere, but I just don't see this as a problem. I certainly see it as a trend to follow with interest, but don't see it as a whole hearted conversion to 'art world traditionalism.'
cj
That said...
Therefore, not a distraction at all. I think it's a good barometer of where many of the artists (that I see in Chicago, Brussels, San Fran, and elsewhere) are pointing their vector of effort. To me, this shows me what is being "seen as important", when only 40 years ago, media art was still in a mode of challenging the galley and the object itself. This is a major shift...
While I agree with you Patrick that artists are directing efforts towards marketability, I certainly don't see it as a major shift. I think many Internet Artists who are gearing a part of their practice towards the institution/gallery setting, still create work that disrupts and challenges that system. And, I'm sorry, maybe my perspective as the one time programing director for a chelsea gallery that played a role in bringing some first generation net artists into the commercial sphere, but I just don't see this as a problem. I certainly see it as a trend to follow with interest, but don't see it as a whole hearted conversion to 'art world traditionalism.'
cj
epic net art
I think maybe I'm being called out here. So finally, after weeks of lurking I'll respond.
First off. Yes. the ongoing snark/sarcasm/animosity between tom, tim and mriver is super/totally/unbelievably "boring."
Secondly. And this is somewhat off topic on this particular string, but I think this entire net.art 1.0 v. net.art 2.0 conversation is, while not exactly boring, maybe a red herring. To be very simplistic about it, I don't really perceive much theoretical distance between the work of 'the old guard' and the work of the current "3rd generation" net artists. I think both were/are responding to the web as it existed at the time. In the late 1990s people wrote their own html, they 'view(ed) source,' and things were for the most part text based. And the art of the time responded accordingly, creating work about language, translation and disrupting the emerging systems that the general public was so quick to accept unconditionally.
Now, the web has obviously evolved into the web 2.0 (and all that comes with it). You don't need to code to be an internet artist because no one really needs to code to use the web anymore. You just need a myspace or facebook page, access to youtube or flickr, or a blogger address and you are 'actively' participating in the web (obviously a lot of people have written about the deeper implications of this type of migration - notably Olia in her Vernacular Web 2) http://www.contemporary-home-computing.org/vernacular-web-2/). So if internet artists are now making work that is a collection of links, a series of other people's youtube videos? Fantastic. As far as I can tell most of this work is doing so as a means to question the ease with which we are living our most intimate moments online.
The web is a different place, and so obviously the art that comes out of it is going to be different. But I think, at its very core, it is the same. Internet Art responds to the web, its development, and how we use it, regardless of whether it was made by MTAA or Guthrie Lonergan. Like I said, very simplistic, and not a fully formed argument at this point, but I think looking at why this work is so different is far less interesting than exploring its shared characteristics.
Caitlin
ps. This is just an aside. All the muttering about the 'newer generation' of Internet artists having more gallery success is also a bit of a distraction. I guarantee that Vuk, Olia, Thomson and Craighead alone have sold/exhibited more work in the past three years than all of the newer generation put together.
First off. Yes. the ongoing snark/sarcasm/animosity between tom, tim and mriver is super/totally/unbelievably "boring."
Secondly. And this is somewhat off topic on this particular string, but I think this entire net.art 1.0 v. net.art 2.0 conversation is, while not exactly boring, maybe a red herring. To be very simplistic about it, I don't really perceive much theoretical distance between the work of 'the old guard' and the work of the current "3rd generation" net artists. I think both were/are responding to the web as it existed at the time. In the late 1990s people wrote their own html, they 'view(ed) source,' and things were for the most part text based. And the art of the time responded accordingly, creating work about language, translation and disrupting the emerging systems that the general public was so quick to accept unconditionally.
Now, the web has obviously evolved into the web 2.0 (and all that comes with it). You don't need to code to be an internet artist because no one really needs to code to use the web anymore. You just need a myspace or facebook page, access to youtube or flickr, or a blogger address and you are 'actively' participating in the web (obviously a lot of people have written about the deeper implications of this type of migration - notably Olia in her Vernacular Web 2) http://www.contemporary-home-computing.org/vernacular-web-2/). So if internet artists are now making work that is a collection of links, a series of other people's youtube videos? Fantastic. As far as I can tell most of this work is doing so as a means to question the ease with which we are living our most intimate moments online.
The web is a different place, and so obviously the art that comes out of it is going to be different. But I think, at its very core, it is the same. Internet Art responds to the web, its development, and how we use it, regardless of whether it was made by MTAA or Guthrie Lonergan. Like I said, very simplistic, and not a fully formed argument at this point, but I think looking at why this work is so different is far less interesting than exploring its shared characteristics.
Caitlin
ps. This is just an aside. All the muttering about the 'newer generation' of Internet artists having more gallery success is also a bit of a distraction. I guarantee that Vuk, Olia, Thomson and Craighead alone have sold/exhibited more work in the past three years than all of the newer generation put together.
