Archive of Rhett Jones

Rhett has written 41 article(s) for AFC.

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Rhett Jones

A Brief History of Autechre’s Album Covers

by Rhett Jones on August 5, 2016
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I’ve always hated minimalism. I don’t think that’s a blanket statement I’d make about any other artistic movement but I hate minimalism. From my perspective, it was audacious for like a year, and then it was decoration. This hatred even extends to minimalist design for the most part, though I can occasionally be persuaded to appreciate a nice, functional spice rack. But, I’ve always loved the tension between the experimental electronic music duo Autechre’s stark album packaging and dense, maximal music.

Throughout their 30-year career, the experimental electronic music duo Autechre (Sean Booth and Rob Brown) has been subverting expectations of what an album in the genre looks like. And as their music became more complex and structurally more in line with sound art and noise, they’ve crafted an uber-minimal visual identity.

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NEW INC’s “Public Beta” Showcase Is Incubating Something Weird

by Rhett Jones on July 29, 2016
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It’s been about 35 years since we were first promised a viable, commercial virtual reality headset. The time for that promise to be fulfilled seems to be upon us with major technology companies going all in on the research and infrastructure that will be necessary to make it happen both as a technology and a product.

NEW INC, the New Museum’s ambitious effort to fuse artist residencies, coworking spaces and business incubators into one singular program, has had two years to become a fully-formed innovation. It’s tough to say whether that’s happened yet, but the latest “Public Beta” (on through July 31st, part 2 will run from August 4-7th) is certainly different than any exhibition going right now and indicates that what’s to come could be a weird and original niche between several disciplinary worlds.

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This Week’s Must See Events: Fear and Loathing in the Art World

by Rhett Jones on July 25, 2016
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Politics, politics, politics. Practically every event we have this week has some sort of political edge. From a video art retrospective dedicated to the political conventions of 1972 to Martha Wilson invading the persona of Trump, the campaign season is infiltrating the exhibition space.

Take a break from being yelled at on Facebook by someone you’ve only met once and hit the gallery. People will surely be more open to a dialogue when they can’t just click unfollow. Right? Right???

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