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Olia Lialina

This Week’s Must-See Art Events: The AFC Goth Benefit and More

by Michael Anthony Farley on April 17, 2017

The time has finally come. Our Goth Benefit is here. We’ll be converting Collapsable Hole into a goth wonderland, complete with drag performers, surprise guests, and options such as handcuffs for couples. (We’re also having a goth couple outfit contest, so plan accordingly). If last year’s benefit was any indication, this is basically going to be the party of the year.

Wednesday, nurse your hangover with a likely-nipple-tastic Betty Tompkins solo show at Marlborough Contemporary. Other highlights this week include Siebren Versteeg’s digital paintings at bitforms on Thursday, the annual Seven on Seven conference at the New Museum on Saturday, and Sunday’s open studios at the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Don’t forget: Buy your Goth Opera tickets now!

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Remixing Intersectional Feminism At Pittsburgh’s Miller Gallery At Carnegie Mellon University

by Emily Colucci on February 15, 2017

Even as feminism experiences a resurgence, there’s still a marked lack of representation of women of color and gender nonconforming individuals in both art and political activism. This disparity was recently debated on an international level with the criticism launched at the disproportionately white and cisgender Women’s March. A current show HACKING/MODDING/REMIXING As Feminist Protest at Pittsburgh’s Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon provides a direct rebuke of this continued inequality by emphasizing the power of intersectional feminism (feminism that embraces multiple, overlapping social identities beyond gender, including race, ethnicity, sexuality and class).

The exhibition leads by example by bringing together a group of twenty two artists who fracture and rearrange technology to create their own narratives within male-dominated fields like gaming, net developing and computing. Organized by artist and game developer Angela Washko, the show, in many ways, is an answer to the much-reported lack of women in tech industries (Washko cites a 2013 study in her introductory wall text, stating only 26% of the positions in computing jobs in the U.S. are held by women). But, with its smart and diverse curation, HACKING/MODDING/REMIXING As Feminist Protest goes further than exhibitions about feminism often go, taking on race and other identity issues. This makes the show not only politically relevant, but also necessary viewing during our current feminist revival.

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This Week’s Must See Events: A Week of Historicization

by Paddy Johnson on October 24, 2016

Brace yourself: Pretty much every museum in the city has a major show launching, from The Met’s Kerry James Marshall show, to the Whitney’s Immersive Cinema survey, to the Rhizome and New Museum’s Net Art Anthology launch. We’re excited about EVERY. SINGLE. SHOW. Why? Because they are all historical shows in some way, attempting to chart a history of important art works and movements. This is important work.

Oddly enough, Historicizing seems to be a broader theme for the week in general—well, in at least one show. Saturday Elizabeth Dee will launch a mammoth show that attempts to look at the East Village scene of the 80’s and where those artists are now. This is a must-see exhibition, so between this, the museum shows, and everything else we have listed you’re going to be busy.

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The Best of the Web, 2015

by The AFC Staff on December 23, 2015

Millions of years from now, aliens and artificial intelligence will be confounded by the follies, foibles and idiosyncrasies of the human race. Henceforth, the 2015.

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An Incomplete History: Looking Back at Rhizome’s Professional Surfer

by Paddy Johnson on September 4, 2015

In 2006, Rhizome’s “Professional Surfer” felt like an important show. Surfing informed the practice of most artists I knew, and seemingly countless artist run blogs existed for the sole purpose of collecting weird shit. This included material like an animated GIF of a flag made in ASCII, MS Paint software instructions, and the largest camera lens you’ve ever seen. It was fun to watch and those with a knack for finding the obscure and truly bizarre were followed religiously.

The online exhibition describes itself as a show that “considers web browsing, aka ‘surfing’ as an art form.” Practically speaking, that meant presenting six websites by artists including Olia Lialina’s Pages in the Middle of Nowhere, Travis Hallenbeck’s Cosmic Disciple, Joel Holmberg’s Chillshesh, John Michael Boling’s 53o’s, and the group blogs Supercentral and Nasty Nets. Each present, combine or recontextualize found material from the web.

Nearly ten years later, we’re still remixing, blogging and collaging material, only we’ve moved to different platforms. Which begs the question: Given the relevance of “Professional Surfer” to today’s online culture, does it hold up as an exhibition and a historical document?

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GIF of the Day: Professional Surfer

by Paddy Johnson on August 19, 2015

Accidental Blue Screen by John Michael Boling

Sometimes GIF of the Day isn’t a very accurate description of what’s being discussed. This would be one of those days. This is a screenshot from John Michael Boling’s “Accidental Blue Screen”, a website included in the Rhizome 2006 show curated by Lauren Cornell, “Professional Surfer”. The show considers web browsing “surfing” as a professional practice, highlighting the work of four artists and two collectives. But this suggests a more performative practice then was often the case. All of the artists in this show use pre-existing images in one way or another, and that was a defining characteristic of many artists working at the time (and continues today). Tomorrow we take a more in depth look at the show. For now, here’s the list of artists we’ll be discussing: John Michael Boling, Olia Lialina, Joel Holmberg, Nasty Nets, Travis Hallenbeck, and Supercentral.

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Friday Links: The Internet’s Best Man-Bun and Brooklyn’s New Tallest Skyscraper

by Michael Anthony Farley Corinna Kirsch Rea McNamara on August 14, 2015

Un bello tutorial para peinarnos chicas 😉
Posted by Kenia en Pulsar 107.3 on Monday, July 13, 2015

The ultimate man-bun video. [Facebook]

There’s a secret gallery in Harlem! The not-quite-legal space was “discovered” by Cy Gavin, and if you want to visit, you have to set up a meeting in a McDonald’s around the corner. The Can, as it is known, is presently showing work by ektor garcia and Michael Blake. [ARTnews]

When visiting the Weather Channel takes too many steps, there’s an even lazier way to check on the weather, the standalone site “Will it rain in …?” only asks for you to type in your city. [Willitrain.in]

Why are fashion exhibitions at museums more popular than art exhibitions? “The bottom line is that however much we love to look at art, everyone gets dressed in the morning.” [artnet News]

Bushwick gallery Norte Maar has moved to East New York. Will these pioneers launch a full-on art migration to the more affordable parts of the city? [Bedford and Bowery]

The Knockdown Center’s latest exhibition is designed to be interacted with—and viewed—via drones. The future is here, and it is fucking weird. [The Wall Street Journal]

In other news related to viewing artwork through the eyes of technology, here’s yet another article about Instagram’s increasing role in the art world. [The New Yorker]

The Shaw Festival has a new artistic director: British theatre and opera director Tim Carroll. The Niagara-on-the-Lake theatre festival is the second largest repertory company in North America, but has faced much criticism for its ongoing lack of diverse casting. Best known for his handling of Shakespearean works, Caroll will take over for the 2017 season and be at the helm of a $45 million building project. [The Globe and Mail]

Clearly, lion cubs give the best hugs ever. [Reddit]

“Here was something for our kids, all our kids—not just any kids’ show, but the kids’ show, created to give a head start to the kids who needed it the most, advantaged or not, and that was proven to work… And now it was being sold, not just to commercial television, but to hypercommercial television, a gold-plated premium channel that requires either cable or broadband and then a subscription fee on top of that.” No one is happy with Sesame Street’s move to HBO, and with good reason. [Time]

Berlin is finally getting its much-needed modern art museum. More than filling the need for more institutional exhibition space in the capital, there’s optimism that a new structure can fill in some of the gaps in the Kulturforum. The pretty desolate cultural district was built by West Germany on a site reduced to rubble in World War II to compensate for the loss of the Museumsinsel to the East. [The New York Times]

Speaking of in-city rivalries, Brooklyn’s booming skyline may soon have its answer to Manhattan’s mega-tower craze. A developer has amassed enough air rights in Downtown Brooklyn to construct a skyscraper on par with the Empire State Building. [Curbed]

London’s Whitechapel just announced its Music for Museums fall programming, and we’re pretty excited about the line-up: Florian Hecker! Rjoyi Ikeda! Hassan Khan! [Whitechapel Gallery]

Ethan Chiel talks to Olia Lialina about her ongoing restoration of old Geocities sites. [Fusion]

For $65, you can see Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band perform at MoMA tonight. It’s one of several art-world activities coming up in the next few days. [Observer]

Ever wanted to cast your own dildo? A smithing group in Virginia just received a donation of “High quality steel in the form of used casting molds.” It is a giant box of dicks. [Facebook]

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