People's RNC Guide
The People's Guide to the Republican National Convention is online and
20,000 printed copies have been published and are in distribution
throughout the city:
http://www.rncguide.com/
So if you're ready to protest, or are in need of available public toilets,
or would like to know the corporate sponsors of the RNC as well as much,
much more get informed at
http://www.rncguide.com/ or look for the map...
ricardo
Bowery Project
if any of you are interested in the history of NYC's Bowery neighborhood,
I've assembled a site that presents research, links and articles on the
history of the bowery as well as current transformation:
http://www.ambriente.com/bowery/
the site stems from a current installation for the new museum's counter
culture exhibition that will close this saturday... if you're in nyc
check out the show, there's a particularly nice installation by flux
factory at the martial arts store on bowery just above prince. although
the works are open throughout the week, the final curator guided tour is
saturday the 14th, from 2-3:30pm meeting on Bowery at Prince, in front of
the parking lot- future home of the new museum.
best,
ricardo
Public Broadcast Cart
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Radio walks for public.exe:Public Execution
On Wednesday June 16th 11am-2pm; Saturday June 26th, noon to 3pm and July
14th, 11am-2pm, The Public Broadcast Cart will be pushed from Exit Art (at
36th Street and 10th Avenue) to NIKOLA TESLA corner at (40th Street and
Avenue of the Americas). The cart will be stationed near the TESLA corner
in Bryant Square Park as a temporary public broadcasting radio station
online via http://radio.thing.net/ ( or tune your mp3 player to:
http://audio.thing.net:8000)
and miniFM in the immediate area. These radio walks are part of the
exhibition public.exe: Public Execution presented by Exit Art.
http://www.ambriente.com/wifi/
The June 16th walk will begin with street announcements of the Critical
Art Ensemble being subpoenaed in USA Patriot Act Case. Regardless of how
the indictment hearing may turn out, people must know of the invasiveness
of this act. The announcement will be followed by discussions with artist
Andrea Polli and two artists visiting from China - Gao Brothers.
http://www.caedefensefund.org/
http://www.andreapolli.com/
http://www.artnet.com/ag/fineartthumbnails.asp?G=9&aidg20
NEXUM ATM
I'm spreding the word on a new project that I've been working on, NEXUM
ATM, it's both an interactive installation and a web site, please check it
out when you get a chance:
http://www.nexumatm.us/
The installation will be on view at the Bronx Museum through Sept. 28th,
as part of the AIM23 exhibition. The opening is on Wed. July 16th from
6:30-8:30 pm. If you're around please stop by, you can find directions to
the museum at:
http://www.bxma.org/
NEXUM ATM, an interactive video piece in the form of an ATM, presents a
histoy of US global imperialism toward ten small and largely poor
countries. The ten countries represent a history of imperialism dating
back to the 1820's to the present. Nexum is the latin word meaning
getting out of debt through slavery.
Accompanying the physical ATM is a web site:
http://www.nexumatm.us/
The site is informational depository to contest the actions of the Bush
administration by presenting information and links toward civil
mobilization. The site features an atlas of intervention, the Nexum
Anthem, interviews with individuals concerning the US's global status...
ricardo
p.s. In september look for a second ATM installed at a free public
location in NYC.
1000 iCONS
in the daily headlines. Ricardo Miranda Zuniga has created an
icon-based page that maps the deaths reported in the headlines of the
New York Times online. 1000 icons represent a 1000 human being. From
June 15th to August 25th one icon will disappear for each death reported
on the front page of the New York Times Online. The space from which
the icons disappear will be populated by a new icon representing how the
reported death(s) occurred. If the death(s) occurred due to an act of
aggression, the new icon will be accompanied by a flag or emblem
representing the nation, organization or individual claiming responsibility.
Below the icons are listed each day's death headline(s) and a calendar of
past mappings.
http://www.volume71.com/today/
Star Trek into Darkness SUCKS!
I just watched Star Trek Into Darkness and I’m sooo angry. It was boring and everything antithetical to the Trekkie code and I’ve never been a Trekkie, but I do respect them for their pseudoscience. J.J. Abrams is boring, has no imagination and should have never been hired to do this. It was nothing more than a chatty action flick. It lacked any sense of mystery. It’s like NASA reduced to out of atmosphere trips for the very rich.
Worst of all it’s a Khan redo. And even worse Ricardo Montalban isn’t around to do a decent Khan, instead we get the very pale and boring Benedict Cumberbatch, whom I don’t understand why he’s hired to be a scary villain when he lacks any consequence. He’s boring and like Abrams, has no depth. It’s shallow bullshit and for most Hollywood flick, it’s expected, but this is Star Trek and it’s sad, upsetting.
The 80′s movies are so much more interesting. The 60′s was farther ahead of time, this current movie extracts all the innovative qualities of the TV series and the following movies. Whatever you do, don’t waste your money on this movie. It lacks imagination.
Interview with OBTRUSIV
Last Saturday, I met with Keith Estiler and Edgar De La Vega of OBTRUSIV MAG to discuss art. They’ve put the interview on their Art & Culture column, the article is titled – Pricking the Public. Here’s the video:
Ward Shelley, History of Science Fiction
I’m a big fan of Ward Shelley, particularly his performances, but equally love his brain maps. One example I just came across is “The History of Science Fiction, ver. 1:
EXCESS NYC on DNAinfo.com
Sonja Sharp of DNAinfo.com was excited to discover to whom the compost and food rescue bike at the Sterling lot belonged. She got in touch with Brooke and I and ran a story on the project – Bodega Bicycle the Vehicle of Choice for Crown Heights Food Waste Crusaders. It’s perfect timing as we’ve completed our first two weeks of picking up coffee grounds from Lincoln Station.
Hirschhorn’s Laundrette
When visiting Brooke Singer’s prints at the Hudson Valley
Center for Contemporary Art (HVCAA) as part of the ambitious Peekskill Project V, I documented Thomas Hirschhorn’s Laundrette installation that is part of the HVCCA’s permanent collection. I was immediately enthralled by Hirschhorn’s installation as I found it much more approachable than more recent sprawling installations with little way in to the tumultuous sea of media.
Laundrette of course presents a ton of appropriated media from video to magazine, newspaper, audio, book excerpts, stickers, but it is all framed in a laundromat. I spent countless hours of my childhood at a laundromat near the corner of Mission and Kingston or Eugenia Avenue, right near 30th and Mission in San Francisco and Hirschhorn’s Laundrette immediately felt familiar from the variable sized washer and driers to the soap dispensing machine.
I love the framing of this critical content – that immediately alludes to having to wash all our dirty laundry generated by the Capitalism’s insatiable desire for capital. And to inform the audience beyond the video news snippets, day time television excerpts and a gluttony of disturbing media that is being cycled in the washing and drying machines, Laundrette is fortified with quotes and texts from Nietzsche, Spinoza, Klein, Popper, Deleuze and Guatarri. And as usual with this sort of work, I love it, but walk away wondering what the point is. The people viewing it are left leaning artists or collectors that may feel guilt at their wealth, but are comforted by the labor of the artists that they support.
Today – April 10th Immigration Reform March on Washington DC
I can’t be at today’s March for Full Citizenship, Rights for All Immigrants in Washington DC. However after receiving an email from Dream Activists, I took virtual and phone action. If you wish to be heard today as others march go to the Dream Activist’s page and form to help Everilda and keep her from deportation an action that could result in her death. Read her story below:
Everilda has been living in the U.S. since 1998; she was placed into deportation proceedings in 2005 after she went to the border to pick up her 8 and 10 year old kids. Everilda’s family fled Guatemala after Everilda’s sister, father and three nephews were assassinated by a gunman. They were all out-spoken activist and because of that they were killed. If deported, Everilda’s life has already been threatened and she will most likely be killed.
Because of our broken immigration system people like Everilda are being deported left and right. Let’s put a stop to that. Let’s bring Everilda home and show that we are serious in demanding reform.
And if you have time to make a phone call to ICE Director John Morton 202-732-3000 use this sample script:
“I am calling to ask for the immediate release of Everilda Sanchez (A#200-070-769), currently being held at the Calhoun County Jail in Michigan. In 2005 Everilda’s sister, an activist in Guatemala, was murdered. In 2011 Everilda’s son was deported and targeted by the same people who killed her sister. If deported Everilda will be killed. Grant discretion; let her stay!”
EXCESS NYC Documentation
EXCESS is a community-based art project that investigates the large amounts of organic waste in urban centers and creatively employs new tactics to divert food from landfill and back to people to consume or compost. Can we make smarter urban infrastructure where edible food gets eaten, organic waste is turned into compost, compost is used to remediate contaminated lots, vacant lots are transformed into gardens and cities save money while reducing greenhouse emissions? EXCESS NYC is currently active in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
The food rescue and composting bike will be circulating in downtown Stamford, CT in conjunction with the exhibition Strange Invitation at Franklin Street Works.
EXCESS at Just Food Conference 2013
Today at 10:30am Brooke and I are presenting our neighborhood composting project at the Just Food Conference as part of MAKING ART WITH FOOD IN MIND (ENGAGING NYC COMMUNITIES) panel. We’ve made an initial video cut documenting the project thus far that we’ll be presenting as an introduction and then briefly describe where we are at and how we are moving forward with EXCESS NYC.
EXCEDENTES/EXCESS 2011-2013 from Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga on Vimeo.
About the panel:
10:30-11:45am
Food & Finance High School (Sign outside of the building reads Park West High School)
525 West 50th Street, New York, NY
MAKING ART WITH FOOD IN MIND (ENGAGING NYC COMMUNITIES)
For centuries artists have given us new ways of seeing the world around us through the lens of food. The last decade has been especially rich as artists respond to the challenges and concerns of feeding ourselves by creating models that are local, sustainable and community-oriented. In this workshop, visual artists will offer practical advice on using food creatively while fostering social change.
Speakers: Atom Cianfarani, Co-Author of A Roof Grows in Brooklyn: The Do-It-Yourself Green Roof Workbook; Jason Gaspar, Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum; Lisa Gross, Boston Tree Party; Brooke Singer & Ricardo Miranda Zuniga, collaborating artists on “Excess NYC”; Tattfoo Tan, artist
El Anatsui at the Brooklyn Museum
Following a visit to El Anatsui’s exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum (on view through August 14th) a friend commented – what a great shtick – use discarded material and unskilled labor to produce large scale work that can be folded for easy travel in a globalized art market. I’m paraphrasing here, but the point is clear – the work is formulaic and beautifully executed as high-end commodity. My friend is a Filipino-American artist/academic well versed in post-colonial studies and critical culture. El Anatsui is an African artist born in Ghana, working in Nsukka, Nigeria and trained in Western European Art. The brilliance of the work is applying minimalist conventions while using non-Western materials to create large scale abstraction. It is mesmerizingly beautiful to look at and various meanings may be allotted to the work – so it is aesthetic with theoretical potential.
The minimalist conventions include the use of least possible materials and repetition to create the maximum effect by using discarded mass produced materials such as lids from tin cans, bottle caps, newspaper printing plates… As the mass-produced products are from Nigeria or other African countries, the work presents a distinct quality from parallel work created by U.S. and European artists using recycled American and Western products. The unfamiliar labels and unique colors of these discarded elements adds a veil of the other for a Western art audience. All this said, there is plenty of reason to praise the work – it is aesthetically beautiful, unique, grand in scale, works from a distance as well as up close, reflects waste while recycling the waste and the artist brings racial diversity to a still all too white art world.
In the end, I’m writing about the work because I find it problematic. El Anatsui is embraced by the Art World and in his work, I perceive the colonizing effects of Western Art and Art History. By combining his Western Art training with the products of his culture, he has established a unique niche. In the end the work doesn’t move me. I don’t feel that the various pieces present an entry point. They are nice big objects, neat to look at for a bit, but with little resonance. If I was an art collector, on the other hand, I’m sure I’d buy in to it and see both it’s material and constructed cultural value.
Click on the images below to view at larger dimensions.
El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum
El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum
El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum
El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum
El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum
El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum
El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum
El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum
El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum
El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum
El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum
El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum
