Hello readers: today, Paddy Johnson has launched her new biweekly column at Artnet News. Those of you who read her regularly at The L Magazine can now find her essays and reviews at news.artnet.com.
- Artist Andrew Benson has launched an amazing new tumblr for his wolf and unicorn GIFs. A warning though. This site is occasionally marked by Watership Down levels of gore. [Wolf + Unicorn]
- What happens to conceptual art online? Artist Brad Troemel has a few answers, off and online. I reviewed Brad Troemel’s exhibition at Zach Feuer. The verdict? Thumbs down. [artnet]
- It’s never too early in the morning to start thinking about wine. I’m taking wine classes (but the Bordeaux is going to break my bank)! [The New York Times]
- Elmgreen & Dragsets famous sculpture Prada Marfa in Texas has been hit by a vandal calling himself the ‘TOMS. [The Internet]
- We’re big fans of Rhizome’s community campaign, which on March 19th will feature a 24 hour telethon over google hangouts. Artist and famed Rhizome commentor Tom Moody tells us Rhizome invited him to read aloud his comments at 12 pm EST for an hour. We’re looking forward to reliving the Holy Fire thread! Summary here. Donate in bitcoin here. [Rhizome]
- #WithSyria: Hands Across America for twitter? [#WithSyria]
- Bitcoin may not replace dollars as soon as we thought (according to people who write about money). A study by Goldman voices its doubts about the stability of a currency that’s not backed by any standard other than comparison with other currencies. Says professor Eric Posner, whom Goldman interviewed: “The people who maintain the Bitcoin network can change the money supply through a majoritarian process. And that means that the supply of bitcoin is a function of what the majority of these people think at any given time.” [Business Insider]
- The new TEFAF art market report is out, and according to Alexander Forbes’ summary on artnet news, it spells good news for the continued health of physical and online galleries. Fairs, he says, have lost a little steam as exhibitor costs are becoming too expensive. [Artnet News]
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Thanks, Paddy and Whitney. One correction: I’ll be reading my comments at 12 noon, NY time, on March 19, 2014. This will be like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, except by invitation.
Sorry about that! Fixed.
Regarding your Troemel review, you’re right that the problem is translating internet excitement into gallery excitement. Am not particularly excited by The Jogging, a kind of Nasty Nets-lite website that has the appearance of spontaneity but carefully stays on message. If we assume that the artist’s various online efforts are about what Nicholas O’Brien calls “aggregation” (certainly Tumblr is all about that) it makes some sense to try to capture that spirit in the gallery setting, with these, let’s call them “hoarder collages” of American Apparel ads and Semiotext(e) book covers. But aren’t those references slightly out of date, relative to elements of the collages such as Litecoins (slightly more obscure than the highly topical bitcoins) and “customized human hair dreadlocks” that you might have to read the press release to identify? And what’s up with those lentils? And ultimately, are the vacuum-sealed collages intriguing to look at, as collages? I’d say not very — to be nice you could maybe relate them to Martin Kippenberger’s bad-boy assemblages. One viewer I visited the show with thought the main value of the work was as a time capsule: in other words, you buy the work on faith that it will say more about the present moment than it does now.
Why is it time capsule work always seems to interpret our current moment as vacuous and empty?
I assumed Litecoins were the medium of choice because the Silkroad was shut down last year, and that’s been a source of a lot of Troemel’s work. Not sure that’s the case though, since it’s apparently back up and running in 2.0 form. Not sure what the motivation behind sourcing Vice and Semiotext(e) is, but since both seem more gallery friendly content wise, perhaps that has something to do with Troemel’s choices.
LOL “Watership Down levels of gore”
I am very sensitive to anything even vaguely violent! The site’s great btw.
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