Society of the Query

This is new to me as I just learned about (via Geert Lovink) the upcoming conference in Amsterdam on the Society of Inquiry. The event is organized by the Institute for Network Cultures. This is incredibly timely for anyone concerned with data, knowledge, access and creativity.

Here's a little about the purpose of the conference (Nov. 13-14, 2009):

With the Society of the Query conference -stop searching, start questioning-, the Institute of Network Cultures aims to critically reflect on the information society and the dominant role of the search engine in our culture. What does the dependency on the engine to manage the complex system of knowledge on the Internet mean? What alternatives exist? How can the increasingly centralized web be regulated? What is the future of interface design? By bringing together researchers, theorists and artists, the conference will examine the key issues that are emerging around web search, and contextualize developments within the fields of knowledge organization and information design.

This two-day Query conference aims to examine the key issues that are emerging around web search, and to contextualize developments within the fields of knowledge organization and information design. The Institute of Network Cultures aims to do so specifically by bringing together researchers, theorists and artists, creating room for speculation and open questions, as well as concrete projects and research. The questions this conference raises are:

• How does the idea of machine understanding influence the fields of knowledge organization and information retrieval?
• How is the legal framework surrounding search engines changing shape?
• Is Google’s increased ubiquity affecting the production and dissemination of art and cultural practice?
• What influence does the existing hegemony of a few large search engines exert on the traditional flow of knowledge and the diversity and accessibility of web content, and in what way might regulation be possible?
• Considering developments in the fields of art and information architecture, how can we get to more sophisticated ways of interface design and the presentation of search results?
• What alternative ways of search are visible on the software level, the network level and the user level that challenge the engine as the major search paradigm?

Conference themes

• Society of the Query
• Digital Civil Rights and Media Literacy
• Alternative Search (1 and 2)
• Googlization of Everything
• Art and the Engine

For more information and registration for the event, please go to http://www.networkcultures.org/query

Greenpoint Open Studios - this weekend 9/25-27

So this weekend begins the first open studio event for our little corner of Brooklyn. I'll be opening my space to show mostly works on paper and a few paintings that have just started so if you come you'll get to see some of the process. It looks like just around 90 artists will be participating which is incredible for a first effort. Also the local galleries will be hanging some works of those opening their doors to the public.

Here is the general program:

OPENING LAUNCH at TRANSMITTER PARK
Sept 25 7 - 9pm

AFTERPARTY AT COCO66

OPEN STUDIOS:
Sept 26 - 27 Noon - 6pm

OPENINGS AT PARTICIPATING GALLERIES:
Sept 26 6 - 8pm

AFTERPARTY AT GREENPOINT GALLERY

ARTISTS TALK AT GREENPOINT GALLERY
Sept 27 6 - 8pm

CLOSING PARTY AT COCO66

For the map and a complete directory of all artists please go to the Greenpoint Open Studios site. Pdf's are available there. See you this weekend.

image: HLIB

Outside In - LaViola Bank Gallery

I had to take a break from this blog for a while due to some deadlines. One of the primary reasons was the preparation for the following exhibition - Outside In (curated by Mary Dailey Pattee) Come out and see the new paintings - 12 of them.

From the press release:

LaViolaBank Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of “Outside In,” a group exhibition curated by Mary Dailey Pattee and featuring the work of six artists: Daphne Arthur, Marina Berio, Diane Carr, Mira O’Brien, Leighton Pierce and Christopher Saunders.

Outside In is a multi-media exploration of the connection between real space and the landscape of the subjective mind. Drawing on land, sea, sky and the atmosphere of imagined vistas, the artists in this exhibition engage the landscape tradition as a means of addressing broader questions related to entropy, destruction and renewal in the contemporary world.

LaViola Bank Gallery

179 East Broadway NYC 10002

September 16 - October 18, 2009

Reception September 16, 6-9 pm

images from the series WhiteNoise

heirarchy of digital distractions

full view - information is beautiful

Greenpoint Open Studios - sign up

CALL FOR ARTISTS, VOLUNTEERS AND SPONSORS!

If you are an artist in Greenpoint, you should welcome the news of an open studio event. Long overdo. Here is the link to get involved.

Details:

Greenpoint Open Studios: September 18 – 20, 2009

Greenpoint Open Studios is a weekend long event celebrating a burgeoning art scene in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It is a collaborative effort between artists, organizations, businesses and volunteers to build a creative platform in which all members of the community can foster and contribute to a support system that encourages the sharing of ideas and relationships. As artist studios and exhibition spaces continue to emerge in the neighborhood we hope to facilitate the growth of a thriving art community.

We are currently registering artists interested in participating in the event. All forms and mediums of creative practice are welcomed and everyone is encouraged to organize activities or assist throughout the weekend. There are no set guidelines other than to make the space available during event hours. We are also looking for local businesses and donors to aid in covering costs of the event from fliers and postcards to napkins and bags of ice. Volunteers are the feeding backbone of GOS and we’ll need all the organizational help possible from logo design and blog maintenance to promotional distribution and bartending.

If you’d like to be a participating artist, sponsor, donor or volunteer for the event, or have any questions send us an email at greenpointopenstudios@gmail.com. Until then, please check the blog for updated information and details!
Thank you!

India Street Mural Project launch

North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition (NbPac) and Council Member David Yassky are proud to present the completion of the India Street Mural Project.

After braving Brooklyn’s wettest June in recorded history, the artists are now finished and we are excited to reveal these stunning works with a celebratory day of drinks, music by local bands Japanther, Ninjasonik, Dilian, Small Black and others; chalk drawing sessions and street games; designs by Brooklyn Printmaking Collective, and more. Featuring goods from Cafecito Bogota, Cookie Road, and Plates & Records. Launch Day! also celebrates the neighborhood of Greenpoint!

Launch Day! After-Party will be held at t.b.d bar with mural drink specials from 6-8!

India Street Mural Project Artists:

Ali Aschman, Untitled

Eve Biddle & Joshua Frankel, India Street Rocket

Joshua Abram Howard, Super Duper Sound System

Robert Seng, Knock, Knock

Skewville, Welcome to Greenpoint

Chris Soria, Antiquated Giant

The murals are located on India Street between West Street and the East River in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

There will be a press conference and ribbon cutting ceremony with Council Member David Yassky, NbPac, and other elected officials beginning at 2:15pm.

About the Project:

This project aims to revitalize one of Greenpoint’s many post industrial spaces that have been either ignored or under-utilized by renewing them for the community through public art. Six artists were chosen by a panel that included Charlotte Cohen, (Regional Fine Arts Officer, GSA), Tom Finkelpearl, (Executive Director of the Queens Museum of Art) and Marisa Sage, (founder, Like the Spice Gallery and President of the Williamsburg Gallery Association) to paint six murals at the waterfront end of India Street.

The India Street Mural Project is the kickoff project for North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition (NbPac) and is part of a greater urban revitalization for India Street, the waterfront, and the surrounding neighborhood. It is our hope that these deserted, industrial streets be re-claimed by the community and surrounding neighborhoods.

USA spending

usaspending.gov. is a new interface to a database of government spending. Highly addictive to read and alarming I imagine for many. It's really well done and hopefully a step towards a more educated citizenry. It feels so 21st century.

(found via Barry Ritholtz's The Big Picture)

USAspending.gov is a re-launch of a prior attempt to put all this info online, www.fedspending.org

hat tip: Phronesisaical

forever summer

I'll have a piece in this lightnin' quick group show opening tomorrow. Swing by the opening.

Platform Project Space at Denise Bibro Fine Art
June 26- July 2, 2009
529 W. 20th St. 4W
NYC
Artists' reception, Friday, June 26th, from 6-8pm.

Platform, the project space of Denise Bibro Fine Art, is pleased to present "Forever Summer," on view for two days only, June 26 and 27, 2009. Organized by Scott Malbaurn, this impromptu salon-style exhibition features small works (maximum 24” x 24”) by more than 50 greater New York City area artists. Malbaurn has brought together a diverse range of artists with eclectic practices and backgrounds for this special celebratory two-day event. In the face of challenging economic times, this show provides the collector with a unique opportunity to purchase small, affordable pieces by emerging artists, as well as offering the artists a forum to meet and discuss their work.

Artist Scott Malbaurn has curated exhibitions at venues including Platform, the project space of Denise Bibro Fine Art, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; H. Lewis Gallery, Baltimore, MD; as well as Pratt Institute's 2007 M.F.A. show for the College Art Association Tri-State exhibition at Hunter College, New York, NY. Malbaurn is a visiting artist instructor at Pratt Institute.

RE/PAINT RE/BUILD

The North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition (NbPac) is proud to present:

The North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition (NbPac) is proud to present:

RE/PAINT RE/BUILD

A fundraiser to benefit the India Street Mural Project.

The India Street Mural Project is the kickoff project for the North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition (NbPac), a new initiative whose goal is to work with local artists, community members, arts organizations and businesses in order to increase the presence of public art in North Brooklyn. By doing so, NbPac hopes to beautify, revitalize, and energize the Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick neighborhoods through public art. Visit our website for more details.

RE/PAINT RE/BUILD will take place at Gallery 1889 on June 24th, 2009, from 7PM to 11PM. The event will feature:

· RE/WARD - Silent auction featuring art from the mural project artists (8-10pm)

· RE/FUEL - Food by Chef Michael Sullivan from new Greenpoint restaurant Anella

· RE/CLAIM - Live found object portraits by artist Zito

· RE/DESIGN - Live screenprinting by the Brooklyn Printmaking Collective (bring your screenprintable goods!)

· RE/IMAGINE – Haircuts by designer/inventor/sculptor Dan Harper

DJ Painted will be mixing music all night, and we’ll have wine and beer on hand from North Brooklyn businesses Brooklyn Oenology and Brouwerij Lane.

Tickets are only $20 and can be purchased through PayPal here or by paying cash at the door. All proceeds go to benefit the India Street Mural Project.

Gallery 1889 is a new gallery and event space located at 1066 Manhattan Avenue and Eagle Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The space has been transformed from a long-vacant storefront to a bustling site for art, design, architecture, and unique events. For a map and to find out more about Gallery 1889, visit the website.

empty lot

NPR has a slide show of the emerging swath of empty car dealerships across the country as automakers claim bankruptcy. If you go to their Flickr pool you'll also get a healthy dose of strip malls too.

You can add your own photos of empty dealers to our Flickr pool or Facebook page, Twitpic them and make sure to let us know on Twitter, or e-mail them.

image: NPR/Thomas Merton(Flickr)
hat tip Matt Yglesias

forcing an event

image:Daily Dish

India Street Mural Project begins

If you reside in Greenpoint you might want to head over to India St. to view the progress on the new mural project. The artists involved are Ali Aschman, Eve Biddle and Joshua Frankel, Joshua Abram Howard, Bob Seng, Skewville and Chris Soria.

Joann Kim has more at the North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition.

Darsombra

This is pretty much my studio soundtrack at the moment. Heavy, dark and majestic.

Eleanor Heartney talks with Phong Bui

I've come to really look forward to these interviews in the BR. Another excellent one by Phong Bui. Heartney looks back on the emergence of globalism in the context of the waning hours of the Cold War and the culture wars of identity politics. Also noteworthy for today's world, Heartney discusses the role of religion in our new era. This is an issue that I assume many of us are grappling with whether we realize it or not. The 'new' metaphysical presence is certainly dictating a lion share of social and political realities across the world. Artist's need to pay attention to this in some manner.

Excerpts:

RAIL: From my own observations, I do feel that the multiculturalism that arose in the 80s, which as we all know was associated with political correctness and the rise of identity politics, had to do with both cultural and economic aspects of globalism. Hypothetically speaking, though culturally it addresses art as a manifestation of basic human interests, economically it seems tied in with corporate interest and political allegiances. In other words, artists tend to see the world at large, from the inside out, whereas corporate interests see the world as small, from the outside in. This, I would say, inevitably creates a huge conflict of communication, which means that artists are usually put in a position of having to satisfy corporate interests, which is so far removed from their intention. But at the same time we also are aware of the real issue of art being irrelevant, no longer as an isolated phenomenon, pursuing its imperatives or personal ideologies without reference to the outside world. How do you see the polarity?

HEARTNEY: I think globalism is very double-edged. It’s interesting because in the art world, when you say globalization, it tends to be a very positive thing because it suggests this new kind of inclusiveness, which admits different sorts of narratives from different places in the world. But it also of course has this other connotation, certainly on the economic front, which is invested in a variety of aggressive forms of corporatization and homogenization. Not only does it wipe out diversity, it seems to be devoted to making us all into the same sort of consumer. However, for artists, I think they find it both exciting and strange to skate between those two realities when they’re dealing with the global art world.

At the panel last week, which was about art critics and globalization, one of the things that was very clear to most of the panelists was that the explosion of International Biennials over the last three or four years has really been a vehicle for bringing artists from far-flung places and introducing them to the larger art world, which is all good, but each of them requires large amounts of money and has multiple agendas. In some cases there is a hidden political motivation that desires to wipe out some egregious kind of political event from the past. In other cases, it’s simply based on pure economic motivations. Either way, artists who participate in those Biennials are quite aware of the two different agendas, yet they’re also advancing their own agendas. So it becomes very complicated. In my case, I find it very important to figure out, “Why this Biennial, at this place, and at this time?” And then I can go on and look at the individual works.

RAIL: To go back to the late 70s and 80s, the name F.A. Hayek, the Viennese economist who wrote The Road To Serfdom (1944) and Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism (1988), somehow loomed quite prominently in the light of Reagan/Thatcher’s political and economic policies. As we knew then, the multiculturalist view had its advantages and its disadvantages. On one hand, there were those who really advocated for and embraced the so-called redemptive “diffusion” from non-Western cultures, which they thought could perhaps replace the old image of the melting pot that allowed differences to be submerged in democracy. Yet on the other hand, you have those who opposed it, who thought it was an anti-Western ideology, and therefore downgraded or undermined U.S. national culture, while raising the status and power of other cultures. Since you have written extensively on the subject, particularly in Critical Condition: American Culture at a Crossroads (1997), which traced the rise of Neo-Expressionism, appropriation, Neo-Geo, and of course multiculturalism, how would you reassess that decade from today’s perspective?

HEARTNEY: You know, writing that book gave me a chance to think about a lot of those issues. The whole multicultural movement, for instance, laid out the groundwork that preceded globalization. On the one hand, it was very much about opening up the art world to these other voices from other cultures and other traditions that had been excluded. But on the other hand there was something about it that often became very militant and very exclusionary, to the point where people were only allowed to express a certain part of their identity. So the notion that we’re all kind of hybrid and made up of many different aspects kind of got lost there. In Art and Today, I have a chapter on art and identity, which I begin with that unitary notion of identity, and by the end I concluded that we’ve moved to a more hybrid notion of identity as something that is much more free-flowing and changing. In terms of the culture war, it had a lot to do with the rise of so-called “identity politics” and the notion that certain groups—non-white, non-male, non-European—were vying for power in the art world.

What was interesting about the whole culture war that rose really in the late 80s and early 90s was that it coincided with the end of the Cold War and the rise of the global market. In so many ways, I think it was a losing battle for the right, but nevertheless one in which they were deeply engaged; and of course looking back now, one that forms the perspective of a year in which we have elected a black president and the nomination of the first Hispanic woman, Sonia Sotomayor, as a Supreme Court justice. I think it’s kind of amazing when you look back to those wars and think that they really felt that they could hold back this tide.

RAIL: Did September 11th, and its aftermath have any bearing on your next book Defending Complexity: Art Politics and the New World Order?

HEARTNEY: September 11th was such an unimaginable event that changed so many things in our lives. One of the things in particular that I was concerned with in that book, which also overlapped with my other book Post-Modern Heretics: the Catholic Imagination in Contemporary Art, finished right after September 11th, was the way in which religion suddenly was on the table in a very significant way, religion being a subject the art world had long ignored or seen it as a purely reactionary force. At any rate, when Serrano’s “Piss Christ” created controversy, the one thing that the right wing and the art world establishment agreed on was that it was an anti-religion work. Whereas, in fact, it wasn’t simply that; Serrano has a much more complicated relationship to religion.

Nevertheless, it became clear that there were certain things we had to pay attention to which we didn’t before, and part of it was the role of religion. Whether we see it for its positive and negative sides or not, religion wasn’t something that we’d put behind us, as some kind of relic of the past. In fact, it became an evermore important and growing force. And within these various religions, there is a great deal of controversy and dissention, and to see it as a monolith is a mistake. I think the political uses of religion, both on our side as well as on the side of those who perpetrated that disaster on September 11th, became more amplified. In both cases, it empowered the people who practiced the fundamentalist versions, which tend to see things as solely in terms of good and evil. And of course that kind of mentality had been guiding the Bush administration, pretty much up till Obama’s election.

Drawing: Phong Bui

The High Line opens

At long last, the High Line is now open to the public. Very exciting.



Image: Joel Sternfield

creeping

...or should I say watching the creeps crawl out of their bunkers for a summer of local terror. I swore to swear off the news but you know, interesting times and all. This is one of those posts about not posting and so on....

Basically what is happening on the HLIB front is a confrontation with reality. Dwindling funds do to the economy and the eternal survival mode one gets accustomed to in NY. Aside from the worry over finances and increasing overhead, the daily practice of painting has never been better. That's all I've been doing - painting, painting, painting - and some needed walking. Walking is starting to figure into my practice in someway yet to be fully understood. I guess you can't always live in the clouds.

intended paths

I'm not concerned with spectacular events or frantic rhythms. The works are about concentration, intention and paths of thought: the flow of totality in our perception, the fragmentation of the 'river of phenomena', which takes place all the time.

- Gabriel Orozco

The Everyday in Contemporary Art Practice

For the upcoming holiday weekend I've signed up for a small group art project/micro residency at 303 Grand in Williamsburg. If anything interesting comes up during the process I'll do my best to post some insights. Here are some details on the project.

The Everyday in Contemporary Art Practice
4 Day Workshop Series

26 artists gather at 303GRAND on Memorial Day weekend.
Rosenclaire have invited them to participate and co-create in a Theoractical focusing on The Everyday in Contemporary Art Practice for four days.
An empty space, tables, chairs, a digital projector, a computer, a window and a door. Pencils, pens, paper, ink, watercolors, sound and image recording devices, body and consciousness.

Opening at Pharmaka

Sorry for the hiatus but travel and lethargy rule the day with me. Here are some shots from My Certain Fate at Pharmaka in LA. I great opening indeed. [video]




images: Timothy Buckwalter and HLIB

My Certain Fate - interview w/Timothy Buckwalter

So I'm just about to head out for a west coast trip and want to share with you a discussion/interview I recently had with Timothy Buckwalter about the up coming show at Pharmaka - My Certain Fate.

HLIB: I believe you’ve had a solo exhibition at Pharmaka in the past? Can you tell us something about the venue and how you came to curate a show there?

TB: After my show at Pharmaka, we all went out to a late dinner around the corner (at Pete's Cafe). And I spent a large part of that time talking to Shane Guffogg, the founder of Pharmaka (and a super painter as well). At one point we started talking about if we could own any paintings in the world, what would we own. Kinda like a dream sports teams, only with art.

HLIB: Ok, so give me some names on your fantasy art team?

Let me think back, we both wanted to own the Monet Lily Ponds at MOMA. Guffogg wanted a Rembrant, and a pre-America Mondrian. I wanted the Met’s Newman. And one of those late Klines… the ones that were in several colors. I also wanted Alice Neel’s painting of the fucked up Warhol. For sculpture I wanted Kippenberger’s Happy End of Franz Kafka's "Amerika" and Duchamp’s “Etant donnes.” And a Sherrie Levine. The game isn’t about just dropping the names of cool shit or picking the most unattainable pieces, it’s about rattling off pieces that you’ve loved over the years and would want to have in your life on a daily basis. Anyway, out of that I wrote a proposal for them about this show -- which for me is that dream sports team. Everyone that is in the show, I would love to have in my collection (and I do own works by some of the artists we are showing).

Over the years, I've collected a lot of art. They form a sort of narrative about my life in the art world -- almost everything I have is by people that I've had some kind of art or life experience with -- either showing in the same exhibitions, represented by the same galleries, living in the same neighborhoods… etc.

With My Certain Fate, I've tried to take the idea of a personal collection and expand it. Expanded it in a way similar to the premise behind mixed tapes – all of these artists say something to me, and I want you to experience those feelings as well.

HLIB: Some people may know you by your reputation as an online curator. What made you want to venture into the realm of curating a show for an actual space versus a virtual space?

Well, it’s kinda the difference between playing Grand Theft Auto and going outside and stealing a car. They are both real. And each serves a purpose. But one of those options involves a lot more work, and real danger. Having reached a certain level -- if you will -- in the binary world, I wanted to try option number two.

HLIB: Aside from the unique opportunity offered by Shane Guffogg, is there anything particular about the Pharmaka venue that influenced your decision making regarding the subject matter and scale of the show?

Certainly, on the most basic level Pharmaka is huge. It is this cavernous space on the ground floor of the Rosslyn Hotels. I don’t know if it was the lobby of one of the hotels or just the retail space. Either way it is enormous. If you’ve seen a movie since the early 80s that has a scene with a bunch of hookers, crackheads and junkies in a rundown SRO, it was probably shot in the Rosslyn.

So instead of choosing a few artists and showing a large selection of their work, which is what I started with at the beginning of the process, I decided because of the amount of space I could have to really connect the dots between a lot of different works from a much larger group of artists.

And the fact that Pharmaka is a non-profit meant I could follow my heart a lot more. I was able to concentrate on artists that either don’t have a regular gallery in LA or have never shown there.

There are plenty of people in LA that would have been perfect for the show – Brian Kennon, for one – but I really wanted to focus on out-of-towners. The one exception is John Altoon. I got a really hairy one from a private collection. Altoon seemed really necessary for the show. To me there is no one more LA than Altoon. And no one who is not seen enough down there. Every city has at least one artist like Altoon – someone who touched the mainstream for a moment then spiraled off into their own intergalactic exploration. The Bay Area has Wally Hedrick.

HLIB: You mention danger. How so? Did you find that loyalties to other artists became an issue? Or is this more like stage fright for a rookie curator?

It’s a lot easier to dismiss crap on the internet than it is in the physical world. Because venturing out of your house or job to see art in galleries or museums is a real commitment people tend to demand a specific value for their effort. The danger to which I was referring was the possibility of my not being to live up to that demand.

HLIB: An excellent point regarding the dismissal of art works. That’s a discussion in and of it self.

HLIB: In music life, there is the notion of being a ‘selector’, especially within DJ culture. Do you see this as your point of departure more than the traditional idea of a curator?

Well, I think the traditional notion of a curator is someone that has a specific agenda they want to explore, like second tier AbExers or female performance artists of the 70s. Which is cool, and certainly necessary. Curators have so much to offer, to teach us about ourselves.

But, I am way less like that and waaaaaay more like the DJ. The DJ -- I’m thinking of the one in a nightclub or party setting -- wants everyone to experience a moment that they’ve created using the works of others. Their skill comes to play in their choices and the mixing. A good one gets the crowd moving together. To me that is amazing. Someone like Josh Wink or Gilles Peterson, I can't understand their intuitiveness but I am really in awe of it. I want My Certain Fate to be like that. I don’t have an agenda that relates to a past era or movement. I want visitors to feel what the art offers when grouped together.

HLIB: Yeah, I often heard artists complain that curators get all the attention in what can be a limited field of visibility. Do you feel as an artist that this is a hazard in a crowded market place or simply a battle of egos or should I say easily bruised egos?

Well the art world like life has a bunch of people in it who complain at the drop of a hat. Some of the bitching is valid. Some is based on backbiting. I tried to be as sensitive to all of the artists’ ideas, needs and concerns, but I’m male. So I’m sure I’ve failed in some way.

HLIB: How has this experience informed your own work, if at all? Do you see it more as an extension of your studio practice or simply a new way for you to expose the public to ideas and artists that you think are important? Making connections for people – bridging communities in some way?

Oh geez, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s had any noticeable affect on my work. It has made me appreciate the amount of effort that galleries afford to their exhibitions. Honestly, I was living under this thoroughly misguided notion that they mostly sit around, answering the phone, emailing invites and showing art in the backroom to collectors. So I’ve come around a lot on my view of that part of the art world. Galleries are kinda like auto mechanics, right? You find one that works for you and you stick with it. At lunch, you only talk to your friends about the mechanic that screwed you, the one that’s a real asshole. If you try to fix your own car, you learn a lot and it gives you some insight into your own mechanic.

HLIB: I think that is an important realization that many artists take for granted or are simply just ignorant on the subject. It is a tremendous amount of work and it takes a small village sometimes to get a show off the ground. Winkleman has covered this issue quite well over the years. Still, until you’ve done it, you’re not really aware.

The other thing I would say is that the artists in the show make work that I, for any number of reasons, truly believe in. And I know that if you want anything in the world, like having others experience your joy, then you need to go out and make it happen. There is no one sitting around taking note of your happiness. You gotta go out and shake them.

HLIB: That’s an excellent point. This has to be a labor of love on some level otherwise you’re in for some dark moments. Belief in the work – I like that. It seems like we haven’t heard language like that so much over the last decade which tended to favor talk of heated markets and branding strategies.

HLIB: Let’s get back to your process for curating this show. How did you come to the artists presented? Did the exhibition concept prefigure your choices or did your choices dictate the theme?

Some I went to art school with years ago. Others I’ve admired since the 80’s and they’ve always been lurking somewhere in my mind. Some are from my current batch of friends. And the rest, I’ve bumped into their works in galleries or on the 'net and lusted after it. I’m greedy so I wanted to put in everything. I didn’t though. While figuring out My Certain Fate, I was concurrently trying to figure out an abstraction-only show called Their Majesties Satanic Request, which features people not included in My Certain. I’m still shopping Satanic around.

HLIB: Well, you have included a very large roster of artists and works for this show. I’ve had a lot of experience working with exhibitions and I can tell you, this scale is a big undertaking. You seem to have handled the logistics pretty well.

Well, speaking of logistics, since you won’t help me hang the show (even though you are in LA at the time) I’m thinking about dumping you from the show. Just kidding!

I don’t know how it grew to be this big. I was keeping it all in my head until a couple months ago. I finally created files for all the artists in my computer. And I was shocked at how many there were. I called my wife and I said, holy fck I think I’ve got like 30 people in this show.

HLIB: You’ve mentioned on your blog that for a lot of the people in My Certain Fate, music is an important part of their lives, and of course the evidence is sometimes right on the surface of their work. Other times it's more obscure. So, I’m interested in your relationship to music as an artist. Can we talk about your relationship with music and art?

I love music. A while back, my Mom gave me her diary. There is an entry from when I was three years old. She and my father were concerned because they felt I spent too much time in my room listening to my record player and drawings with crayons. That’s been my life.The music that I enjoy the most always seems to have some kind of twist to it. The music strays too far from the lyrics. The mood changes abruptly, whatever. I’ve always tried to do that in my paintings -- offer an image, tie it into color and then spin the whole thing to somewhere else with the title.

HLIB: Can you imagine making art without music? I know that I can’t really imagine such a scenario. I might go mad without it.

Last week, my kids wanted to know if I would rather be blinded or deafened at that moment. They were all excited because they had decided that if they were deaf they could still watch TV and get around town. I upset them when I said I wanted to be blind because that way I could still touch art and remember what it looked like, but since I can’t remember sound that well I would be really upset if I couldn’t hear music anymore. Eight-year-olds can be really pragmatic.

HLIB: It’s obvious that recorded music is an essential medium to the contemporary artist as it saturates our lives both in and outside of the studio. It is a tradition that began early in the 20^th century. We’re quite aware of the influence Jazz had on the Ab-Ex generation and how Pop and Rock melded perfectly with Warhol and so on down the line to each of us. I think for a lot artists music not only acts as a creative driver but also as a companion for long hours of independent work. Any thoughts as to how this might be molding artistic decisions? Has music actually become more influential on artists than other visual art?

It seems that artists working to music is not so special. Many people listen to music while they work, not just the art world. And I think everyone works along to it for different reasons – distraction from the mundane, awakening feelings of nostalgia, keeps your body moving, etc.
I listen to music when I work because it’s the perfect lover – I can always switch to something that says just what I want it to say when I want that said.

HLIB: A mood enhancer.

Plus its prevalence throughout the art world gives you something to talk about besides art.

HLIB: yes, a get out of jail free card when cornered or bored.

What’s interesting to me about the whole of pop music is how in adolescence (either in high school or art school) music was used as a way to sort people. Knowledge of certain bands and specific moments had cachet. I remember going to parties and people would quiz you on what music you liked it, and then maybe ignore you if your answer wasn’t hip enough. I’ve done that more than once. Music as a dividing force is about as influential as it gets on the personal level.

HLIB: I remember all too well. It was a filter – even a caste system at times. Still, like you, I think it provided a way of looking at the world and finding your place in it. It helped in understanding social strata and the inherent biases.

But is music any more influential in the world than visual arts? I don’t know. How influential is any of this stuff outside its small group of admirers?

I would say that the nostalgic element, and the hipster quotient, of pop music have recently given risen to a large number of shows that feature titles from 80s songs.

My Certain Fate comes from part of a Mission of Burma song. You can’t get more 80s than that. I think I’ve seen Smith’s songs used five or six times as exhibition titles in the last year. (Btw I would love to do a show titled “Barbarism Starts At Home” there are so many ways you could go with that, right?)

HLIB: Ok final question and cheap self promotion at that. Assuming the show is your ‘mix tape’, what song/artist would I be?!

I think you would be something from the 4AD label. Say, Dead Can Dance, Wolfgang Press or maybe Scott Walker. Those artists are all kinda mysterious and beautiful to me, and I don't really understand their music but I really like it anyway. That is also how I look at your work.

HLIB: Glad to see I’m confounding! Scott Walker is a nice reference but I confess, I was hoping for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds or something more on the drone end of the music spectrum. I can live with 4AD though which was a formative label for me. I’ll even reluctantly share that I’ve been on a Cocteau Twins binge lately. So you’re perhaps a clairvoyant after all.

The Cocteau Twins’ Garlands is amazing. I mean where did that come from? Amazing. A.R. Kane’s i records is pretty great as well (Guthrie produced it).I guess your work could be like early Nick Cave, when he still had some of the chaos of Birthday Party on his sound. For the last decade he’s kinda become a parody of himself. Your work is more unique than that. I think about as drone as your recent work gets for me would be Spiritualized -- maybe their single version of Feel So Sad.You know what, WhiteNoise No. 6 is Exit Music (For a Film) covered by Kolacny Brothers & Scala.

HLIB: Comparisons I can certainly live with. Thanks again for taking time to talk about the show Timothy.

My Certain Fate, curated by Timothy Buckwalter opens May 14 (6-9pm) at Pharmaka, downtown L.A.

Intersections at Seton Hall Law/Newark

Thought I should mention an exhibition I'm participating in. The show is installed and now on view through July. So if you're in Jersey, try and check it out.

INTERSECTIONS

curated by Tania Duvergne

Seton Hall University Law Building, Newark

City without Walls

May 4 – July 31, 2009

“Intersections” at Seton Hall Law from May 4 – July 30, 2009, curated by Tania Duvergne, explores diverse meetings between nature and the man-made – from cataclysmic collisions to serene cohabitations. The exhibition includes large-scale paintings by artists Patty Cateura, Noah Landfield, Christopher Saunders, Sarah Trigg, and Frank Webster. Seton Hall University School of Law, One Newark Center, Newark, NJ 07102. Free and open to the public, daily 10am – 5 pm.

www.cwow.org

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