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Living in Dystopia

GIF of the Day: Paul Chan

by Michael Anthony Farley on May 19, 2017

burningkindlepointone.gif (2011)

There’s a dark humor to Paul Chan’s work that seems appropriate to today’s socio-political climate. That’s not surprising, considering his 2011 interview with Rhizome touches on our last conservative government’s disastrous invasion of Iraq as an impetus for art making. “weatherman.gif”, for example was created in 2004, shortly after the war began. It feel especially relevant now—especially considering the East Coast’s crazy temperature swings today and apocalyptic climate outlook.

Weatherman.gif, gif based on scene from RE:The_Operation (2004)

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Michael Jones McKean Makes Museums Existentially Terrifying

by Michael Anthony Farley on May 19, 2017

In Michael Jones McKean’s The Ground, presented by The Contemporary, the artist has inserted a dystopian anthropology museum in a long-vacant department store. It’s smart, funny, and just a little terrifying.

See it while you can.

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Tuesday Links: Artist Makes Salt Circle to Trap Self Driving Cars

by Michael Anthony Farley on March 21, 2017

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Émilie Régnier photos of hairstyles from the Ivory Coast are amazing. [The Huffington Post]

Bronx Commons, an affordable housing complex coming to the Bronx along with a performance space, was supposed to include set-aside apartments for aging musicians being priced out of the borough. Now, the developers are being told that policy might violate fair housing laws. This is a bad precedent for affordable artist housing. [Curbed]

Artist James Bridle has designed a salt circle (like in witchcraft) to trap self-driving cars. This is so good. [The Creators Project]

White Mule Framing Inc. is auctioning off pretty much everything they own. This includes vouchers for future framing work. The business has decided to move out of Manhattan due to rising rents and is auctioning off their inventory to raise money for a down payment on a forever home. That’s a pretty smart move. [32 Auctions]

Looks like we’re going to have to check out Lynn Hershman Leeson’s work at Bridget Donahue. Photos from this show pique curiosity. [Contemporary Art Daily]

A.E. Benenson considers Sean Raspet’s faux-food innovations as the conceptual grandchild of the Bauhaus’s optimism—a foil to a not-so-distant, cynical Silicon Valley dystopia. Paddy and I weren’t so happy with the non-food’s texture and chemical-y taste. We tried it at Frieze last year. To quote myself, the gel in a tube had “notes of past-due seafood kimchee with a squirt of toothpaste.” [Art in America]

Pace announces it will open a second gallery in Hong Kong during the Art Basel Hong Kong art fair. [artnet News]

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GIF of the Day: Flamethrower Drones Clear Trash From Chinese Power Lines

by Michael Anthony Farley on March 7, 2017

Sometimes there’s a story so weird that it goes straight from local news to viral GIF sensation practically overnight. Such is the case of these guys—flame-throwing drones that a utility company in Xiangyang, China has started using to clean pesky trash off of power lines.

This raises so many questions, such as “Is this really the most efficient way to deal with trash?” or “Don’t power lines burn too?” to “Who the hell thought this program up and/or funded it?” Whatever the reasoning behind using cute/terrifying robots that look like they wandered off the set of a Hunger Games sequel, there’s no denying they’ve won over the hearts of the internet. If there’s ever an Olympics-style international Battle Bots, I feel like these would totally beat the USA’s most viral/dystopian robots—those sad Boston Dynamics creations that seem to have no purpose other than being kicked by mean MIT grads in animated GIFs.
china drone

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Monday Links: Neo-Nazis and Robot-Designed Architecture Sound Like the Plot of a Straight-to-VHS Sci-Fi Flick

by Michael Anthony Farley on February 27, 2017

La Pyramide (1973) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, by Rinaldo Olivieri

La Pyramide (1973) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, by human Rinaldo Olivieri (not an AI!). Photo by Iwan Baan.

New York’s Center for Architecture has a show about postcolonial African modern architecture and it looks amazing. Apparently, somewhat paradoxically, African nations celebrated their independence from European colonial powers by commissioning avant garde works from European architects. These are so cool. [Dezeen]

A group of alleged neo-Nazis and a group protesting with the Industrial Workers of the World got into a physical confrontation inside the Minneapolis Institute of Arts this weekend. No art was damaged. [StarTribune]

“There have people using their own fecal matter in a harmful way in the bathrooms, in the showers, all over the bathroom,” a RISD student discussing the poop swastika found on campus. I can’t tell if I’m more weirded out by the sudden rise of neo-Nazis or the sheer amount of poop-related news we’ve been reading lately. What the hell is wrong with people?? [New York Daily News]

How Jamillah James became the head curator of LA’s new-ish ICA. Spoiler: not via grad school. [Hyperallergic]

LD50, the London gallery which hosted a controversial show about the alt-right, may be closing. The gallery has since been targeted by intense protests. [The New York Times]

For the first time in Europe, Cindy Sherman’s recent self portraits as aging Hollywood starlets are on view all together. The show is at Sprüth Magers in Berlin, and this series looks so good. [artnet News]
“Watson,” IBM’s AI, has been tasked with learning to think like Antoni Gaudi. It’s been designing organic/modernist sculpture. Maybe one day, it will design buildings. [Forbes]

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Friday Links: Lets Stop Pretending to Be Shocked that People Take Selfies at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial

by Michael Anthony Farley on February 3, 2017

From Tindercaust

“What Eisenman did in the Memorial, for all its strange and eerie power, was shrug his shoulders about such dated subjects as ‘meaning’ and ‘politics’ and let people decide what it is for themselves.” -Amy Frearson on Peter Eisenman’s Holocaust memorial in hipster mecca Berlin. The sunken plaza is in the news again, as there’s yet another website shaming visitors’ selfies at the memorial, Yolocaust. When are artists going to realize this idea is more clichéd than the act of taking a selfie at the memorial? We have Grindr Remembers, we have the absurdly-similar Marc Adelman project “Stelen (Columns)”, and the straight people version, Tindercaust. This is a perfect example of post-internet culture’s obsession with endless-cycle shaming over politics of representation. Pick your damn battles, people! If you want to make some connection between abhorrent human rights abuses and selfie vanity, how about tackling the smartphone industry (and by extension, consumers’) slave labor issue? Oh, right… that’s a contemporary problem which could actually be addressed to productive ends. But that would involve more work than screen-capturing, not to mention addressing the awkward hypocrisy of generation-thinkpiece’s consumption habits. [Dezeen]
Today, Bandcamp is donating 100% of its shares from music downloads to the ACLU, in support of refugees and in protest of Trump’s policies. What a great opportunity to support independent artists and a good cause! Some musicians, such as (amazing) punk band BIDET, have pledged to donate their shares as well. [Bandcamp]
Eike Schmidt, director of Florence’s Uffizi Gallery, has vowed to show more female artists, and will make efforts to highlight the work of women in their collection. This stemmed from a conversation with the Guerrilla Girls. Hell yes! [artnet News]
Other good news: NYC is finally getting the ball rolling on Community Land Trusts. Basically, this is a model of semi-collective ownership that ensures neighborhoods control their housing stock and can keep it affordable in perpetuity. More of this, please! [Next City]
The Contemporary, a rad, non-collecting institution in Baltimore presently headed by AFC friend Deana Haggag, is seeking a new Executive Director (Deana’s leaving to head US Artists… we’re sad/happy for her). [The Contemporary]
Mutations is coming to the Highline, and the exhibition looks like it should be good. It will feature works by Jan Rafman, Radames Juni Figueroa, and many others. [ARTnews]
Why are some single-collector museums terrible and others successful? It seems striking a balance between the appearance of a “vanity project” and adaptable programming are vital. This is an article I wish so many rich people had read before assuming their personal tastes were a public good. [Observer]
Illustrator Maki Naro confirms what we’ve suspected: we are living in a 1990s cyberpunk dystopia. [The Nib]
“Art can become a strong ally of revolution only in so far as it remains faithful to itself. Poets, painters, sculptors and musicians will themselves find their own approach and methods, if the struggle for freedom of oppressed classes and peoples scatters the clouds of skepticism and of pessimism which cover the horizon of mankind.” -Leon Trotsky, 1938. Thank you, editors of Temporary Art Review, for republishing this on inauguration day. [Temporary Art Review]

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Monday Links: MLK Day, Luxury Apocalypse Bunkers, Museum Loans to Inauguration, CalArts Walkout

by Michael Anthony Farley on January 16, 2017

LA-based artist Kadir Nelson on his Martin Luther King cover for The New Yorker: "hat happened to his dream of racial and economic equality, and what is the impact of non-violent resistance over half a century later?"

LA-based artist Kadir Nelson on his Martin Luther King Jr. cover for The New Yorker: “What happened to his dream of racial and economic equality, and what is the impact of non-violent resistance over half a century later?”

Museums all over the country are celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day with special programming. The Studio Museum in Harlem will be open on a Monday (!) and free. [culture type]
Pianists rejoice (in a sort of hauntingly melancholic way?) French pop/classical musician Maxence Cyrin has released the sheet music to his beloved, spooky cover of “Where is My Mind”. You too can now download it and regale your roommates/neighbors with bittersweet ennui. [Maxence Cyrin]
The world is going to shit, and the wealthy aren’t taking any chances. Elites can now buy into a community of decommissioned military bunkers, far from rising seas and nuclear targets, that’s been reconceived as a luxury apocalyptic enclave. Don’t worry, it will be fully stocked with a spa, en-suite media rooms, and armed security. [Dezeen]
The list of the world’s most expensive living female artists is here (yay feminism! shruggy-face to assigning “value” based on the market?) and it features the usual suspects: Yayoi Kusama, Cindy Sherman, Jenny Saville, etc… But it’s nice to see names such as Vija Celmins and Bridget Riley on the list, who have been in the game a long time and weathered many fickle cycles of taste. [artnet News]
Whoa. The Women’s March On Washington organizers have released their platform, and it includes everything from living wages for sex workers to recognition of the burdens women of color bare in the care industry. This is awesome. [BUST]
If you’ve ever dreamed of art school at Harvard but aren’t the heir to a hedge fund fortune or oil-rich emirate, here’s your chance! (sort of). Harvard will be giving away free online photography classes this year. [Konbini]
Ugh. The St. Louis Art Museum is lending George Caleb Bingham’s “The Verdict of the People” (1854-55) for Trump’s inauguration luncheon. People are upset, because, you know, that would imply that Trump’s election was “The Verdict of the People” instead of an archaic and racist institution designed to give rural whites outsized representation in government. [The Daily Beast]
CalArts students have joined the #J20 Strike, and are planning a walk-out in solidarity. We will also be striking, and you should too. [Hyperallergic]
For those who can’t afford a car or rising NYC rents, here’s a list of walkable, transit-friendly suburbs within commuting distance of Manhattan. [Curbed]
Are civic megaprojects like the Second Avenue Subway and Hamburg’s gorgeous new Elbphilharmonie a dying breed? Given cost over-runs and an increasingly fractured political sphere, it seems like these two accomplishments might be a last gasp of public sector city-building in much of the global north. [Community Architect]

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This Weeks Must-See Art Events: The Art World Mobilizes for 2017

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on January 3, 2017

For everyone who has complained that the art world is too apolitical in the past month or so, take note of how 2017 is kicking off. We have a week of feminist exhibitions, the start of a month-long project about Trump’s America Saturday at Petzel Gallery, and shows that tackle topics from water contamination to the holocaust and the attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

Welcome to the art world in the Trump era. If the list of participants at Petzel’s event is any indication, the big guns are coming out.

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Monday Links: Florida Man’s Erotic Art Heist and Cyborg Custody Battles

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on November 14, 2016

Some of the recovered stolen artwork, described by the local news as “too graphic to show on TV.”

Headline of the day: “Bizarre erotic art heist unravels.” Unfortunately the story’s not quite as juicy as the title suggests. It’s the standard Florida Man helps mistress steal millions of dollars worth of nudes from her sugar daddy’s island mansion. [KOB 4]
The BALTIC Centre of Contemporary Art is inaugurating a new biennial Artists’ Award, the first of its kind to be awarded to artists by artists. Monica Bonvicini, Mike Nelson, Pedro Cabrita Reis, and Lorna Simpson will each be handing out £30,000 to their selected artists, which includes an honorarium and mostly comprises a budget to produce new work while in residency at BALTIC. [artnet News]
Probably the strangest GoFundMe we’ve ever seen: a dad trying to raise legal fees for a custody battle after his ex-wife deemed him unfit to parent because he’s a cyborg. Yes. Meet “Cyborg Dad”. [GoFundMe]
Starting tonight, Rafael Viñoly’s 432 Park Avenue skyscraper will be illuminated with architectural lighting. So, if you’re looking for the supermoon, you might end up noticing the new skyline instead. [Curbed]
Benjamin Sutton reviews the Phillip Guston show at Hauser & Wirth, which looks at his drawings from 1971-1975. Lot’s of Nixon in those drawings, which these days feels very relevant. [Hyperallergic]
Good news for developers. New York governor Andrew Cuomo has plans to renew the affordable housing program known as 421-a, which expired in January, this time with even more generous terms for those who offer subsidized units. With this new deal, developers get 100 percent tax rebate for 35 years. Not sure I understand why the city needs developers to get richer in order to take care of the poor. [The New York Times]
What will a Trump presidency mean for cities? Short answer: no one really knows. Some are cautiously optimistic about the president elect’s infrastructure “promises” but we’re pretty unconvinced. Brace yourselves for a shitty, shitty ride. [City Lab]

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Fear and Loathing in Trump’s America

by Michael Anthony Farley on November 10, 2016

I’ve been drinking pretty much non-stop from around 7 p.m. on election night to about 12 hours ago. That’s when the realization sunk in that the world hasn’t ended—yet—and I had to work today, sober.

I guess cultural commentators are supposed to provide some sort of eloquent, thoughtful observations in times like these. But there’s just not a lot I can muster beyond repeatedly screaming “FUUUUUUCK!”

All I can add to the echo chamber of despair is an honest account of how one white queer person on Medicaid and food stamps —who is scared shitless for my nieces, and my nephew with disabilities, and my chosen family that’s disproportionately comprised of trans*, immigrant, outspoken, poor, black, brown, and female bodies—has been trying to cope.

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