Finally, installation art that matters

This current exhibition by Karen Kilimnik looks mighty promising at the Philly ICA, as proposed by Roberta Smith at the New York Times. It's just the right amount of thinking, for me. Not too little (party art) and not too much (opaque and overintellectual). I have started to realise that I don't care for much of the latter any longer. This was sparked by a really very dense Liam Gillick show I saw here in Antwerp. It seemed like his old work on acid, visually. I used to like his work - in fact, I glowingly reviewed his 'Communes, Bars and Greenrooms' exhibition at the Power Plant when I was in school. Then again, I had a penchant for deliberately choosing pretentious and contrived work to like, so as to attempt to flex my intellectual muscle (which likely doesn't exist). The thing is, I don't know if I ever really 'got' it in the end. Well, now I know that I don't 'get' that kind of work because as I'm out of the academic art environment, it just doesn't make much of a difference in my mundane everyday life.

Anyway, Kilimnik is clever in presenting a culmination of her oeuvre thus far. Like a neat little package (and I like those), it has just enough of everything without a lot of fuss. Plus, it looks good. Who can complain?

"The Commons" on The Common

Platform2 presents

“The Commons” on The Common

Friday, June 1, 5:30 7:30PM
Meet in front of the State House on Boston Common at the 20-foot picnic blanket. Food & drink on hand, but please bring something of your own to share.

A picnic on the Boston Common where we will discuss “the Commons” in relation to the work of invited guests, including Iain Kerr, Stan Pipkin and Paul Bartow of spurse and David Bollier of onthecommons.org. Excerpts from Lewis Hyde's upcoming book on the commons will be read.

What is the Commons?

The word "Commons" has now come to be used in the sense of any sets of resources that a community recognizes as being accessible to any member of that community. The nature of commons is different in different communities, but they often include cultural resources and natural resources. ‹ from Wikipedia



“The commons is an emerging new paradigm for understanding how groups of people can create and preserve value in more sustainable ways. Unlike the conventional market paradigm, the commons consists of a diverse set of models rooted in social norms and ecological principles. A growing number of scholars, activists and policymakers is beginning to recognize the power of the commons matrix and its importance in creating and managing resources.” ‹ from www.onthecommons.org

Featuring

Iain Kerr, Stan Pipkin and Paul Bartow of spurse - an international collective composed of individuals with experience in a wide variety of fields. spurse has no (fixed) content or members rather it is a viral multiplicity that is continuously reforming itself as it becomes new projects and new events. In this, it is open to change, contradiction, multiplicity, tangents, infection, and betrayal. We are interested in considering the public as that which must be continually constructed as a part of the invention of public space. In this we are interested in emergent forms of individuality swarms, crowds, the person, groups, ecosystems. www.spurse.org

David Bollier is an activist, author and Editor of OntheCommons.org, the website and blog of the Tomales Bay Institute that explores the commons as a new paradigm of politics, economics and culture. He is the co-founder of Public Knowledge, a Washington public-interest advocacy group that fights reckless extensions of copyright law, and the author of /Silent Theft: The
Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth/ (2002), /Brand Name Bullies: The Quest to Own and Control Culture /(2005), and seven other books. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. www.OntheCommons.org

Platform2 is a series of events that are designed to facilitate dialogue about art & social engagement. Platform2 is organized by iKatun and Jane D. Marsching. Visit the Platform2 Blog. The Institute for Infinitely Small Things markets dissent through performances, maps, books and videos. The Institute promotes actions that
are creative, research-based and participatory in order to temporarily transform public spaces dominated by corporate and military agendas. This interdisciplinary group includes between 5 - 20 people at any given time.

iKatun is an artist-run organization whose mission is to present contemporary art that fosters public engagement in the politics of information. iKatun supports art projects, organizes exhibitions and conferences, publishes critical writing, runs workshops and fosters community locally and internationally. iKatun was founded in 2000 as a 501(c)3 organization based in Boston, MA.

iKatun | 144 Moody Street | Building 4, 4th Floor | Waltham | MA | 02453

bored?

then you may want to head over to peekvid and watch, for free, some classic 90's movies (such as trainspotting) or movies you would never pay money to see (such as the break up). i personally recommend shaolin soccer, but unfortunately, the links don't seem to work at the moment (maybe they took them down?).

Watch and learn

This was a '24HR Casino' vending machine that we used in Caen, France. Only video can truly record the glee from seeing your chosen item arrive in the chute. You can even get flour from this machine. In the spirit of conspicuous American consumption (herehere Veruca Salt), 'Daddy, I want it now!'

Cookies in a Bag

There's something to be said for cookies in a bag.

A few days ago, I was wandering through the aisles of my local grocer when I spotted a 400g bag of biscuits and wafers. What struck me as odd was that these imported cookies were a dollar cheaper than a Canadian box of cookies (weighing in at a measly 300g).

While the lack of any kind of container inside the bag does not prevent the smashing of the cookies inside, I must admit that I care very little whether my treats come in whole or granule format. Not to mention that the extra packaging would just be wasteful.

So, here's to cookies in a bag, all the way from Germany!

junk food

so this is what happens when i attend meetings right before lunchtime - i get so hungry i start sketching junk food.

Treat your mother right and other words of wisdom

On a tip from my friend Walt, click here to watch Mr. T's classy video "Treat Your Mother Right"

Also, check out Mr. T's advice on 80s fashion here. S.O.L.I.D. G.O.L.D.

Save Kinowelt Hall!

I just read this, and don't know why the Goethe-Institut would decide to close such an important and clearly successful part of their institution in Toronto.

Sign the petition here.