Friday, November 30, 2007

The strange behaviour of things

In natura (Coitus bizzarus) 2004
electric knife, microchip controller, solenoid mechanism, fiber glass, paint, etc.
click for video


Do not Touch!,1996
disc saws, electric motors, concrete


by Krištof Kintera



It is beginning 2004
electronically controlled electric discharge (50.000 V) plug, cable, socket
click for video



Something electric 2004
coconut, cable, microchip controller, excentric AC motor
click for video


Conflict of interests 2004
drill, hoover, microchip contoller, extension cord etc.
click for video


Make work not sport! 2005
Ice hockey sticks, garden tools



There is no way to go now 2007
6 bicycles, 4 x 3 x 2 m


via valentina

Monday, November 26, 2007

Untergunther to the rescue

Guerrilla clockmakers fix Paris landmark's clock



There´s a gentle touch of an Umberto Eco novel in this charming story about a group of Undercover restorers who fixed the 150 year old clock of the Pantheon: "It seems a team of clockmakers broke into the Pantheon in Paris in September 2005 and spent a year fixing the historic and neglected clock, which had been abandoned by the authorities. They were prosecuted for breaking in, but have just been cleared of the charges in court. The group, "Untergunther" have a catalogue of subterranean lo-jinks to their name."
Klausmann and his crew are connaisseurs of the Parisian underworld. Since the 1990s they have restored crypts, staged readings and plays in monuments at night, and organised rock concerts in quarries. The network was unknown to the authorities until 2004, when the police discovered an underground cinema, complete with bar and restaurant, under the Seine. They have tried to track them down ever since.

But the UX, the name of Untergunther's parent organisation, is a finely tuned organisation. It has around 150 members and is divided into separate groups, which specialise in different activities ranging from getting into buildings after dark to setting up cultural events. Untergunther is the restoration cell of the network.



more here and here

via

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Europe supported by Africa and America




Going now to take my leave of Surinam, after all the horrors and cruelties with which I must have hurt both the eye and the heart of the reader, I will close with an emblematical picture of Europe supported by Africa and America, accompanied by an ardent wish that the friendly manner as they are represented, they may henceforth and to all eternity be the props of each other... We only differ in colour, but are certainly all created by the same hand. [Capt. John Gabriel Stedman]



continue at BibliOdyssey

Thursday, November 22, 2007

une soirée de projection d’art vidéo

Directors Lounge at Le Lieu Unique, Nantes




Le Lieu Unique in Nantes welcomes Fragments for a special screening on Friday, November the 23rd at 8:30 pm in collaboration with Directors Lounge. Le Lieu Unique. Salon Musique. No admission fee.

The evening is divided into two parts: a selection of international works compiled by Directors Lounge and a selection of Chinese videos proposed by Fragments.
This double program offers a different vision and illustrates a questioning on the theme of memory, the changing of the organization of society (social architecture, construction of the natural or transformed environment, the place of the individual), of the interdependence between individual and collective histories. The particular interest in all these art works also lies in the preoccupation of the notion of public space and its applications for creative and reflective purposes.


expand for details and french text


PROJECTION D’ART VIDEO
PAR L’ASSOCIATION FRAGMENTS,
association nantaise tendant à la promotion et à la diffusion d’œuvres artistiques et cinématographiques diversifiées.
Vendredi 23 novembre 2007
à 20h30 Salon de musique /Entrée libre, dans la limite des places disponibles.


Spécialisée dans la vidéo et le cinéma chinois indépendant, Fragments présente une soirée de projection d’art vidéo chinois entièrement inédite et s’associe pour cette rencontre avec le collectif berlinois Directors Lounge, collaborateur assidu et organisateur d’événements artistiques appréciés et du festival international d’art vidéo à Berlin en février.
Cette double programmation innovante illustre avec cohérence et exigence la volonté d’une interrogation autour des thèmes de la mémoire, de l’évolution de l’organisation d’une société (architecture sociale, construction de l’environnement naturel ou transformé) de la connexion entre histoires individuelles et histoires collectives. L’intérêt particulier de l’ensemble de ces vidéos réside également dans l’attrait pour la notion d’espace public et son utilisation à des fins créatives et réflexives. Dans une ambiance conviviale, nous vous invitons à une soirée riche en surprises.

Directors Lounge contemporary art and media (around 45 min)
Memory et history (ies) : Construction/Destruction/Reconstruction

Untitled #1 (Masha Godovannaya, Russia, 2005) 3’52 min
Da qui sopra il mare (Mauro Santini, Italia, 2003) 10’37 min.
Crazy love (Yoel Díaz Vásquez, Cuba, 2007) 3'19 min.
Construct (2 moments in Beauty)(Maja Borg,UK/Sweden,2006) 6min
Solo fur Ramallah (Andreas Rost, Germany, 2005) 4’50 min
Under Twilight (Jean Gabriel Périot, France, 2006) 5’10 min.
Shanghai Shanghai (Zhenchen Liu, France/China, 2006) 11’37 min.

Fragments
中国录影带 : Chinese videos (around 65 min)
Memory and society/personal memories and the individual in society
记忆和社会/个人记忆和社会中的个体

Rice and Coins (MaiZi, 2007, 1 min)
Floating Memory (Liu Wei, 2001, 10 min.)
New Road (Xiaopeng, 2007, 9 min)
The Bridge (Xu Xin, 2007, 16 min.)
Terrace (Song Di, 2006, 12 min.)
Perform (MaiZi, 2007, 1 min)
Dian Dian (Liang Yue, 2002, 9 min)
Memories (Zhang Xuezhou, 2007, 5 min)

This event was made possible thanks to the help and the support of Patricia Buck, André Werner, Liu Xiangzhou, Zhang Yaoyi, Bi Shan, Zhu Rikun, Bleuenn Carre who we thank warmly.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Liquidated Logos

ZEVS at Lazarides

Liquidated MacDonald's, 2006 (Paris)

To use the city as a canvas has been the focus of artists for some time now, with Banksy reaping the press and rewards more than any in recent times. Alongside Invader and his pixilated tile interventions, ZEVS represents the vanguard of French street art, pioneering a playful and unconventional approach to the street art scene. Active since the early '90s, his elegiac shadow drawings on pavements and walls have been seen all over Europe, echoing the forensic outline of a murder victim chalked on the ground. More recently his billboard "bombings" (in which he shot pin-up poster campaigns with a spray can, then let the red pain run) have influenced others to copy his technique (see the recent Madonna weeping H&M controversy). For his debut London gallery show, the artist will show his Liquidated Logos series, which reflect the power of global brands. By re-painting the logos in their original colours and letting gravity act, each McDonald's, Nike and Apple logo dissolves in parallel lines of colour.

more here and here



Liquidated Chanel, 2007 (installation view at de Pury & Luxembourg, Zurich)

Lazarides

till Thursday 29 November [Tue to Sat 11am - 7pm ]

8 Greek St., W1 T:020.3214.0055 Tube: Piccadilly Circus

Images © ZEVS, Courtesy Galerie Patrica Dorfmann, Paris

via log_070329

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Sexual Violence in Eastern Congo

...and What You Can Do to Help Its Victims

Honorata Barinjibanwa, 18, said she was kidnapped from a village during a raid in April and kept as a sex slave until August. Most of that time she was tied to a tree, and she still has rope marks ringing her neck. Her kidnappers would untie her for a few hours each day to gang-rape her, she said.
Photo: Hazel Thompson for The New York Times


On October 7, 2007, the New York Times published a story about the rape epidemic in the Congo, "Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War." The piece painted a horrifying portrait of mass rapes in war-torn Eastern Congo. According to the UN, 27,000 women were raped in the South Kivu Province in 2006, and “[t]he sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world." These rapes are particularly brutal: "Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair," wrote Jeffrey Gettleman, the East Africa bureau chief of the Times. "'We don’t know why these rapes are happening, but one thing is clear,' said Dr. Mukwege, who works in South Kivu Province, the epicenter of Congo’s rape epidemic. 'They are done to destroy women.'" Gettleman's depiction was of a world populated by perpetrators gone mad: "According to victims, one of the newest groups to emerge is called the Rastas, a mysterious gang of dreadlocked fugitives who live deep in the forest, wear shiny tracksuits and Los Angeles Lakers jerseys and are notorious for burning babies, kidnapping women and literally chopping up anybody who gets in their way." An accompanying slideshow and video brought the faces of their victims to life. At the center of the story was the Panzi Hospital of Bukavu, a not-for-profit hospital that treats many of the rape epidemic's victims, women who spend their days in bed "lying on their backs, staring at the ceiling, with colostomy bags hanging next to them because of all the internal damage."

Susannah Bresslin a.k.a. The Reverse Cowgirl, who posted the above, went in touch with Erika Beckman, Project Manager of the Female Victims of Sexual Violence project at the Panzi Hospital, asking how people may help the victims.

Read the full reply by Erika after the jump.
Her project surely deserves any support.





Dearest Susannah,

Apologies for my late reply, but I have been in Europe for work two weeks so just got back again.

Thank you so much for mailing us and asking how your readers can help. We are glad to hear that the NYT article has been much spread, and the project has received much-needed attention since the article was published and we are happy that people are touched by the situation of the Congolese women and would like to help us in this struggle to end the violence against women.

If readers wish to contribute funds they can do it through the Bank Account of Panzi General Reference Hospital, to which they can send their donation. Please mark the check or bank transfer with "VVS project" ("Victims de Violence Sexuelle Projet", in other words, Victims of Sexual Violence project). This is the project that is run within the infrastructure of the Panzi hospital and in which we treat and rehabilitate the raped women. The hospital is owned and run by the organisation called CEPAC.

Account number: 170-0362031-93 (USD account)
Title of receiver: 8ème CEPAC V/C HOPITAL GENERAL DE REFERENCE DE PANZI
BANQUE COMMERCIALE DU CONGO
AGENCE DE BUKAVU/ RD CONGO

Swift code / BCDCCDKI

I can assure the readers that it is safe to send funds through the hospital, it is very well run and there has never been any problems with donations not reaching the project and the women. (The hospital is run by a Christian organisation and the accountants and finance staff are all excellent people performing their jobs to the highest standard--I work with them daily so can assure you of this.)

In regards to what the funds will specifically be used for, it is to be able to treat even more women than we already do, and to continue doing this in the future. Currently, part of the VVS-project is funded by ECHO--the European humanitarian agency, but this is by no means enough and most likely the funding will finish in June next year. This is because, as with all humanitarian projects, they are only funded for a short period of time and after that the organisation has to either fund it by themselves or find other donors. With the extent of the VVS-program at Panzi hospital, it is not possible for the hospital or the organisation that is the owner of the hospital (CEPAC), to continue financing this on their own. Also, as I mentioned, we already receive such a high influx of women daily that we are already above the limit of our capacity. We have never turned a woman away from here, but instead our staff work extra long hours to be able to attend to all women, perform all surgeries and we stretch all our resources to the maximum to be able to feed all the women, given them hygiene products and handicrafts training. But we are certainly outgrowing ourselves, this is partly due to the huge number of raped women arriving day and night here, but also because Panzi hospital is well known through radio emissions and word-of-mouth throughout Eastern DRC, so we receive alot of women from far away that want to be treated by the best gyneacologists in Congo.

To give you and the readers a brief overview of how the women are treated here, we receive approx. 200 rape victims a month at the hospital. We have both in-patients (women with more severe wounds) who reside at the hospital, and out-patients (less severe wounds) that stay in our "transit homes" where they are taken care of in-between treatments at the hospital. All women that come here receive the treatment, operations and training for free. Their children they might have with them are also cared for, as well as accompanying relatives or neighbours. Women stay here on average 30 days for treatment, many women need multiple operations to be rehabilitated, and many need to heal in between the operations too. During their stay here, the women are taught how to read and write, they are taught different handicrafts and how to be self-sustainable. They are also given legal counselling and guided by lawyers if they wish to press charges against their perpetrators. (Currently we have 14 cases pending, but sadly because of the weak judicial system in DR Congo, perpetrators are always let off the hook).

The best evidence of the importance we have on the raped women that we treat is that many have told me that they would not have survived if they did not come to Panzi. Many women are, as you can understand, suicidal after the rape, but here at Panzi, except for medical treatment, they are also given their value back by our excellent staff and fellow victims who support each other, sing together to relieve the pain, work together on handicrafts and laugh together. They are truly amazing at finding small things to be happy about in life and really encourage each other in this way.

There is much joy amidst the disaster.

Please let me know if you have any further questions or would like more material. I will attach a general overview of the work of the project and the hospital above.

Wishing you a blessed day, Erika

Erika Beckman
Project Manager- PMU Interlife
Female Victims of Sexual Violence project
Panzi Hospital
vsvbukavu@kivu-online.com
+243 (0)813186246

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

CHRONICLE Sun Nov. 18th, RAW tempel, Berlin

Directors Lounge and W(h)at Is Jazz present:
Raymond Salvatore Harmon with the Chicago Underground Trio




Chronicle, Raymond Salvatore Harmon´s feature length performance film with the Chicago Underground Trio, was a visual and musical highlight of Directors Lounge 2007.
Now, the Chicago Underground Trio and director Raymond Salvatore Harmon will turn the concert film 'Chronicle' inside out and perform a 'film concert' at the RAW Tempel

Chronicle is unlike any music/film performance made to date. Expect an evening verging into the psychedelic, both sonically and visually.

Raymond Salvatore Harmon is a Chicago based sound and film artist whose work spans the past century of technological cul de sacs. With a filmography extending from performance based 16mm and 8mm film to video circuit-bending and analog feedback installations as well as sound and visual conceptual installations and guerilla media actions.

Over the course of the past ten years Harmon has been developing and evolving the theoretical and practical applications of non object orient art. Utilizing new media, web based content and interactive architectures in coordination with public performance, graffiti style ad bombing, and web community social engineering propaganda Harmon's work has carved out an over arching form of new media insurgency.



“Accentuating the trio's vibrant performances with colorization, layered collages, dense textures and split-screen effects, [the filmmaker] becomes a virtual fourth member of the ensemble.”
all about jazz
read more » »




The Chicago Underground Trio
Rob Mazurek - Coronet, electronics
Jason Ajemian - bass
Mike Reed - Drums
The mercurial and improvisatory Chicago Underground debuted as the Chicago Underground Orchestra. Whether they perform as an orchestra, quintet, duo, trio, or quartet, the Chicago Underground members deftly weave acoustically based improvisatory compositions — often times redolent of the Ornette Coleman Quartet — with subtle electronics and moody atmospheric reliefs.

expand for a teasing video and location details





Sun November 18th, 9pm, doors open at 8pm.
RAW Tempel - Revaler Str.99 - Friedrichshain
next to U S station Warschauer Bruecke
admission 5.-€/7.-€


bigger map

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Patience please




Keith Richards at customs in Seatle - 1972
(via oddsock)

Friday, November 09, 2007

Zeche Zollverein, Lucella and all



Back from the contemporary art Ruhr. A great experience that was, literally if you consider the gigantic dimensions of Zeche Zollverein where the fair took place. Txtual healing at the opening night was a blast. You´ve seen already some pics from Txtual healing in the feed post below, more can be found here. The pic above shows the landmark of Zeche Zollverein, an ”Industrial Heritage Cathedral“. The pic below was shot at Lucella´s, the place to be in Katernberg, Essen. The three graces under the mouthwatering collection of bw photographs featuring Italian beauties eating spaghetti are exhausted but happy members of Team Directors Lounge celebrating a sucessful fair.”






photographs by Klaus W. Eisenlohr

Thursday, November 01, 2007

conteporary art ruhr • KunstQuadrate