by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on February 24, 2017
- “My bartender was throwing up behind the bar… Plus, it was indecent exposure. They made performance art look bad.” – Mariana Lemesoff, owner of Houston venue Avant Garden on a performance by Sonic Rabbit Hole. Member Michael Clemmons is accused of butt-chugging a protein shake and then projectile shitting all over a fundraiser party for an artist with cancer. [The Huffington Post]
- Programmer Christopher Hesse’s image translation software is amazing. Basically, you can draw a rudimentary building or shoe and an AI will render it semi-photo-realistically based on its knowledge of images from internet databases (think Google Deep Dream in reverse). But what the internet uses this incredible technology for is cats. Terrifying, terrifying drawings of monster cats. How long until someone makes the scary porn version of this? [The Next Web]
- “Now more than ever, in my short lifetime at least, we need the ‘Scullys’ of the world to step up. Whether you’re squinting at a lab bench, or giving a voice to the oppressed in a courtroom, or chasing justice in three-inch heels, you are an integral part of the fight. You will not always win. But like Scully, I implore you to persist.” -Abby Norman on the importance of The X-Files, the show that inspired her (and countless other girls) to pursue science. [Paste]
- Speaking of science, it’s close to 20 degrees above normal high temperatures today in New York and the surrounding area, a phenomenon scientists call Climate Change. They are worried that these changes will endanger all life on earth, but some people don’t believe the changes are real. One of these people has just been appointed head of the EPA. [The Internet]
- The New York Times has announced it will embark on a massive brand campaign In an effort to educate the public on what journalists do, how facts are mined, and the importance of truth, narrative and responsible media in the age of Trump. This is important. Subscribe to the Times and support what they do. We’ve got independent media, and the the judicial system to blunt Trump right now and that’s it. If you want to make a difference, that’s where you spend your money. [The New York Times]
- How Soleilmoon Recordings, a Northeast Portland indie record outlet, landed on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of hate groups. [Willamette Weekly]
- Related: Depeche Mode wants everyone to know that Richard Spencer’s infatuation with them is most definitely a one-way street. [Gothamist]
- New York could add thousands of relatively affordable basement apartments to the city’s existing single-family housing stock. The biggest obstacle that stands in a pilot program’s way: parking minimums. It’s beyond absurd that nearly every American city’s housing initiatives are thwarted by car-related zoning, as if owning a car were mandatory and regulating where people store their belongings were a government issue. [Curbed]
- Well, that didn’t last for four years. Shia LaBeouf has terminated his streaming performance HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US, which had been moved to New Mexico, after gunshots were heard in the vicinity. [People]
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by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on October 17, 2016
- More “Pepe” news: the Anti-Defamation League has reached out to artist Matt Furie in an attempt to reform the cartoon frog’s image to be less racist. Does anyone else feel like the whole supposed Pepe scandal is the media/ADL/internet hardcore trolling everyone? [The New York Times]
- Kader Attia is opening ”La Colonie,” a vaguely-defined art space near Gare du Nord in Paris. It’s not clear what exactly will happen in the new three story exhibition and event space, but knowing Attia’s work ethic, it will likely have programming that’s smart and politically-informed. [The Art Newspaper]
- I can’t watch documentation of this Sachiko Kodama installation and understand that what I’m watching is not CGI. Kodama magnetizes NASA’s ferrofluid rocket fuel, resulting in something akin to trippy visuals from some EDM subculture. [Atlas Obscura]
- With online platforms eroding lower-end sales, and mega galleries dominating the high-end market, middle tier galleries are dropping like flies in New York and California. And more and more gallerists are having to work “for” their artists less and focus on the secondary market, Christian Viveros-Fauné explains: “the against-all-economic-odds gallery once begun with boundless ambition and maxed out credit cards is no more. Here’s the same idea put differently: the era of undercapitalized, illiquid, labor-of-love galleries that rely mostly or exclusively on the primary market for sales is over.” [artnet News]
- Is new development driving up New York’s property values? Quite the opposite, it seems. Thanks to restrictive zoning in most of the city, new developments are bigger and more expensive where they can be—present zoning rules that favor lower densities make it impossible for most of the boroughs to create enough new housing units to absorb demand. [Curbed]
- Matthew Naimi built a house out of garbage and then blew it up, alarming his neighbors and bringing out the fire department. The project, described as a “Rube Goldberg chain-reaction contraption”, was designed to illustrate the connectivity of societal issues. [The Detroit News]
- A Saudi artist, currently working on her P.H.D. in Australia, was told by her native government that she needed to live with a male guardian in order to pursue her studies. She’s since created the #IAmMyOwnGuardian hashtag under the social media nom de plum Ms. Saffaa in protest. [PBS]
- Lite Brite Studios in Gowanus makes neon signs for businesses and artists. We want the field trip this reporter got! [Gothamist]
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