iPhone is sexy

So this is what supply and demand looks like? or rather Apple fetishism? This poor soul will get his iPhone but has endured some hellish NY weather this week. Be sure and give him a call...

La Jetee and Sans Soleil

Criterion Collection is releasing La Jetee and Sans Soleil today. I believe this is the first packaging of La Jetee with another Marker film. Previous versions were with Alphaville or in my case a cruddy a VHS tape. If you are unfamiliar with Marker this is a great place to start.

I'm excited to see this again after so long especially now that we have the Road and Children of Men context to compare this Cold War era apocalyptic vision. But beyond that, it is a marvelous use of the still image as cinema.

who's your state doppelganger

Here is very interesting map that measures and compares the size of national economies. The GDP = consumption + investment + government spending + (exports – imports)

1. California, it is often said, would be the world’s sixth- or seventh-largest economy if it was a separate country. Actually, that would be the eighth, according to this map, as France (with a GDP of $2,15 trillion) is #8 on the aforementioned list.
2. Texas’ economy is significantly smaller, exactly half of California’s, as its GDP compares to that of Canada (#10, $1,08 trillion).
3. Florida also does well, with its GDP comparable to Asian tiger South Korea’s (#13 at $786 billion).
4. Illinois – Mexico (GDP #14 at $741 billion)
5. New Jersey – Russia (GDP #15 at $733 billion)
6. Ohio – Australia (GDP #16 at $645 billion)
7. New York – Brazil (GDP #17 at $621 billion)
8. Pennsylvania – Netherlands (GDP #18 at $613 billion)
9. Georgia – Switzerland (GDP #19 at $387 billion)
10. North Carolina – Sweden (GDP #20 at $371 billion)
11. Massachusetts – Belgium (GDP #21 at $368 billion)
12. Washington – Turkey (GDP #22 at $358 billion)
13. Virginia – Austria (GDP #24 at $309 billion)
14. Tennessee – Saudi Arabia (GDP #25 at $286 billion)
15. Missouri – Poland (GDP #26 at $265 billion)
16. Louisiana – Indonesia (GDP #27 at $264 billion)
17. Minnesota – Norway (GDP #28 at $262 billion)
18. Indiana – Denmark (GDP #29 at $256 billion)
19. Connecticut – Greece (GDP #30 at $222 billion)
20. Michigan – Argentina (GDP #31 at $210 billion)
21. Nevada – Ireland (GDP #32 at $203 billion)
22. Wisconsin – South Africa (GDP #33 at $200 billion)
23. Arizona – Thailand (GDP #34 at $197 billion)
24. Colorado – Finland (GDP #35 at $196 billion)
25. Alabama – Iran (GDP #36 at $195 billion)
26. Maryland – Hong Kong (#37 at $187 billion GDP)
27. Kentucky – Portugal (GDP #38 at $177 billion)
28. Iowa – Venezuela (GDP #39 at $148 billion)
29. Kansas – Malaysia (GDP #40 at $132 billion)
30. Arkansas – Pakistan (GDP #41 at $124 billion)
31. Oregon – Israel (GDP #42 at $122 billion)
32. South Carolina – Singapore (GDP #43 at $121 billion)
33. Nebraska – Czech Republic (GDP #44 at $119 billion)
34. New Mexico – Hungary (GDP #45 at $113 billion)
35. Mississippi – Chile (GDP #48 at $100 billion)
36. DC – New Zealand (#49 at $99 billion GDP)
37. Oklahoma – Philippines (GDP #50 at $98 billion)
38. West Virginia – Algeria (GDP #51 at $92 billion)
39. Hawaii – Nigeria (GDP #53 at $83 billion)
40. Idaho – Ukraine (GDP #54 at $81 billion)
41. Delaware – Romania (#55 at $79 billion GDP)
42. Utah – Peru (GDP #56 at $76 billion)
43. New Hampshire – Bangladesh (GDP #57 at $69 billion)
44. Maine – Morocco (GDP #59 at $57 billion)
45. Rhode Island – Vietnam (GDP #61 at $48 billion)
46. South Dakota – Croatia (GDP #66 at $37 billion)
47. Montana – Tunisia (GDP #69 at $33 billion)
48. North Dakota – Ecuador (GDP #70 at $32 billion)
49. Alaska – Belarus (GDP #73 at $29 billion)
50. Vermont – Dominican Republic (GDP #81 at $20 billion)
51. Wyoming – Uzbekistan (GDP #101 at $11 billion)

I get a kick out of the parallel between Alabama and Iran!




via Strange Maps

holy highway

In case you missed the new 10 Commandments - of driving...

Avant-Garde Tube or how I learned to love that inane unthing thing

Ever wanted a resource for artist interviews of the last 60 years? A Martha Rosler video from 1975? How about some Beuys or Chris Burden? perhaps you're needing a Dieter Roth fix or a reading by Henry Miller? Well you can find it and much more at UBUWEB. Seriously, this is a treasure trove of archived materials. Tons of MP3's of major historical figures, films, videos....

I wish I could embed a sample but do check out UBUWEB and you'll wonder aloud - where was this when I writing my thesis!

From the site:

UbuWeb: The YouTube of the Avant-Garde UbuWeb has converted all of its rare and out-of-print film & video holdings to on-demand streaming formats à la YouTube, which means that you can view everything right in your browser without platform-specific software or insanely huge downloads. We offer over 300 films & videos from artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Vito Acconci, Pipilotti Rist, Jean Genet, The Cinema of Transgression, Richard Foreman, Terayama Shuji, Paul McCarthy Jack Smith, Carolee Schneeman, John Lennon and hundreds more -- of course all free of charge. Presented in conjunction with our partners at Greylodge.

Heres a short list of the video and film archive:

Vito Acconci Marina Abramoviç Igor and Gleb Aleinikov Alejandra & Aeron Erik Anderson Skip Arnold Robert Ashley Beth B Francis Bacon Derek Bailey John Baldessari Banksy Piero Bargellini Francis Bacon Otmar Bauer Samuel Beckett David Behrman Charles Bernstein Joseph Beuys Christian Boltanski Jorge Luis Borges Walerian Borowczyk Stan Brakhage George Brecht James Broughton Luis Buñuel Chris Burden Robert Breer Gunter Brus Chris Burden William S. Burroughs John Cage Alexander Calder John Cale Peter Campus Louis-Ferdinand Céline Abigail Child Segundo de Chomón Henri Chopin Cinema of Transgression Robert Clampett Rene Clair Carlfriedrich Claus Jean Cocteau Émile Cohl Anton Corbijn Jospeh Cornell Pierre Coulibeuf Merce Cunningham Guy Debord Wim Delvoye Maya Deren Jean-Marie Drot Marcel Duchamp Germaine Dulac Dziga Vertov Group Viking Eggeling Tracy Emin Ed Emshwiller Jean Epstein Harun Farocki

Flux Films Richard Foreman Péter Forgács Terry Fox Hollis Frampton Tessa Hughes-Freeland Ernie Gehr Jean Genet German Dada Alberto Giacometti Allen Ginsberg Gilbert & George Paul Glabicki Philip Glass Godard & Miéville Jack Goldstein Peter Greenaway Groupe Medvedkine Laszlo Hege Her Noise Helmut Herbst Piero Heliczer Gary Hill Henry Hills Abbie Hoffman Takahiko Iimura Isidore Isou Joris Ivens M Henry Jones Larry Jordan Mauricio Kagel Pitor Kamler Anish Kapoor Richard Kern Raashan Roland Kirk Dimitri Kirsanov Yves Klein Alexander Kluge Paul and Marlene Kos Kurt Kren George Kuchar Jerzy Kucia Jacques Lacan Andrew Lampert George Landow Fernand Leger John Lennon Alfred Leslie György Ligeti Alvin Lucier Willard Maas George Maciunas Gregory Markopoulos Toshio Matsumoto Paul McCarthy Jonas Mekas Marie Mencken

László Moholy-Nagy Meredith Monk Irene Moon Jon Moritsugu Robert Morris Frank & Caroline Mouris Otto Muehl Gordon Mumma Music with Roots in the Aether Bruce Nauman Werner Nekes Phil Niblock Hermann Nitsch Pauline Oliveros Yoko Ono Nam June Paik Charlemagne Palestine Kembra Pfahler Robert Rauschenberg Man Ray Hans Richter Ron Rice Terry Riley David Rimmer Pipilotti Rist Donald Ritchie Peter Rose Kay Rosen Jeri Cain Rossi Walter Ruttmann Aram Saroyan Carolee Schneeman Werner Schroeter Richard Serra Situationist International Jack Smith Kiki Smith Robert Smithson Ladislaw Starewicz Ralph Steiner Jerry Tartaglia Shuji Terayama Stan Vanderbeek Agnes Varda Ben Vautier Edgard Varêse & Le Corbusier Dziga Vertov Rene Vienet Bill Viola Robert Watts William Wegman Orson Welles Peter Whitehead Rachel Whiteread Lloyd Michael Williams David Wojnarowicz Tadanori Yokoo Zubi Zuva

great tip: Kazys

Gore nutshells the G8

"The eight most powerful nations gathered and were unable to do anything except to say 'We had good conversations and we agreed that we will have more conversations, and we will even have conversations about the possibility of doing something in the future on a voluntary basis perhaps."

- Al Gore on the G8 climate "summit"



yep that sounds about right - see it's not only the Democrats...




image: eccentric toast

Rorty

The other thing I missed - Richard Rorty's passing last week. Another controversial iconoclast we've lost this year. From the NY Times:

His views were attacked by critics on the left and the right. The failure to recognize science’s particular powers to depict reality, Daniel Dennett wrote, shows “flatfooted ignorance of the proven methods of scientific truth-seeking and their power.”

Simon Blackburn, a philosopher at Cambridge University, has written of Mr. Rorty’s “extraordinary gift for ducking and weaving and laying smoke.”

Mr. Rorty was engaged with and amused by his critics. In a 1992 autobiographical essay, “Trotsky and the Wild Orchids,” he wrote that he was considered to be one of the “smirking intellectuals whose writings are weakening the moral fiber of the young”; “cynical and nihilistic”; “complacent”; and “irresponsible.”

Yet he confounded critics as well, by speaking up for patriotism, an academic canon and the idea that one can make meaningful moral judgments.

Dear Apocalypse

Somehow I missed this opening on my hiatus but Lens Culture cites the following show which just opened at the New Museum - APOCALYPSE: CONTEMPORARY VISIONS (May 30 - July 27, 2007).

The blurb from the show states:

It is not specific, nor is it political. It is meant to be deeply psychological, more fantasy than reality. We have looked for photographs that suggest something. If they are literal, they may not be obvious, as in Stephen Vaughn's image of an iceberg melting quietly on a beach.

Funny I know some bloggers who have a few thoughts on this and would have loved to use that image. Perhaps this could be the official picture for the Democrats in '08...



image: Lucian Perkins: A Survivor of the Gulf War, 1991

Demand's Niger Embassy

So the word I get form Venice is that it is "POLITICAL". And so as luck would have it a few stories on a piece by Thomas Demand are circulating around the web today. The above is Demand's homage to the Niger embassy - infamous generator of a forged smoking gun that not only led to the Iraq war but also the ruination of CIA covert agent Valerie Plame. I've long been a fan of Demand and this is the perfect subject for him. Forgery on forgery so to speak and endless other paper cliches.

From the Fondazione Prada:

The Fondazione Prada is presenting a project by the German artist Thomas Demand, curated by Germano Celant at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice. The proposed work consists of two large installations; Yellowcake, composed of a series of new photographs, exploring a place in Rome which was instrumental to US intervention in Iraq.

For the exhibition presented at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, Demand has developed two large installations. The title Yellowcake refers to its technical meaning: “yellowcake” denotes a concentrated form of uranium, which when enriched may be used to make nuclear weapons. This word recently emerged in mainstream political discourse because it was the fulcrum of President George Walker Bush’s famous accusation in his State of the Union Address in 2003, in which he stated: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of Uranium in Africa”. The evidence was paperwork supposedly stolen from the Embassy of the Republic of Niger in Rome and passed on to British and American intelligence by SISMI, their Italian counterparts. The documents were supposed to be a contract for the sale of hundreds of tons of yellowcake to the Iraqi authorities, which soon turned out to be obvious forgeries.

Demand’s work consists of a series of photographs about the location where the trail leading to this ‘smoking gun’ originated. Usually, the artist bases his works on existing photographic sources, but with Yellowcake there were no images available: no one covering the story had gained access to Niger’s Embassy in Rome. It was thus a story that had yet to be illustrated. Lacking photographic evidence, it remained unanchored to its site. Demand’s first step, then, was to try to gain access to the Embassy. By entering the apartment-cum-embassy he also crossed an extra-territorial frontier between Italy and Niger (and Europe and Africa). The meeting yielded nothing much, but while there, Demand was able to memorize the site and begin a conversation with the embassy’s staff.

The information he gathered from these visits was the basis for a life-sized reconstruction of the very same place, built over a period of months in his studio and, subsequently, the large photographs that constitute the finished work and are presented at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini. So the infamous story that has been named “Nigergate” has finally received a pictorial representation of some kind.

HIV Law Project benefit - June 4

I'm happy to be placing work in the above benefit show at Moti Hasson Gallery. So if you are in NYC on Monday June 4 please consider the event. To encourage attendance, for those that might not be able to afford the $100 ticket, the HIV Law Project is offering discounted tickets at $35.00 each.

If you are interested in these tickets please email Almond Zigmund[almondz@optonline.net]
or you can purchase at the door (Moti Hasson Gallery) as "Friends of Jesse" tickets.

Links for the auction:
tickets
artworks available

spread the word...

super hero dance fever

If gas price gouging has got you down this holiday weekend or if like me, you are still feeling ashamed of our Congressional cave-in yesterday on the Iraq spending bill ....try some escape courtesy of "superman" and "spider-woman".....yes, woman....

the french election and sacrificing for the market

The elections in France demonstrate the power of faulty economic analysis, and more generalized problems with arithmetic, to shape ideas and possibly the future of not only a nation, but a continent.The United States has faced similar problems with its debate over Social Security, in which the majority of Americans were convinced - based on verbal and accounting trickery - that the program is facing serious financial problems when the baby boom generation retires. (It isn’t).

The general theme that has propelled Sarkozy into the lead is that the French economy is somehow “stuck” and needs to be reformed to be more like ours. It is also widely believed that France needs to be made more “competitive” in the global economy, since competition is tougher now in a more globalized world.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has been the most popular proponent of the idea that French workers must lower their living standards because of the global economy. “All of the forces of globalization [are] eating away at Europe’s welfare states,” he writes . . . “French voters are trying to preserve a 35-hour work week in a world where Indian engineers are ready to work a 35-hour day.” For Friedman and most of the pundits, this is impossible.

It is important to understand that there is no economic logic to the argument that the citizens of any rich country need to reduce their living standards or government programs because of economic progress in developing countries. Once a developed country has reached a certain level of productivity, there is no economic reason for its residents to take a pay or benefit cut, or work more hours, because other countries are catching up to their level. That productivity, which is based on the country’s collective knowledge, skills, capital stock, and organization of the economy, is still there, and in fact it increases every year. To the extent that international competition is being used by special interests to push down the living standards of French or German or U.S. workers - and it is - it just means that the rules for international commerce are being written by the wrong people. It is a problem of limited democracy and lack of representation for the majority, not a problem that is inherent to economic progress.

- Mark Weisbrot

So now Sarkozy (as many predicted) is the new president of France and ushers in the 3rd straight conservative govt. for the French marking a 12 year cycle. Admittedly I have watched this election cycle on the vaguest of terms but I was impressed by the massive voter turnout (80%+) and intrigued by the issue that Sarkozy is the first immigrant elected in French history. I also have been struck by the chorus in the MSM as to how this a great outcome for the U.S. So of course if Wolf Blitzer or George W is thrilled about the election results then something must be ugly about this.

Then I read the above by Mark Weisbrot and all the hoopla makes sense. It's a financial plot line that has "people" so excited. Sarkozy's big theme is rupture, a break from the the past that touts reforms such as making it easier for employers to fire workers, cutting taxes - including inheritance taxes, pushing back against the 35 hour work week, and other measures to redistribute income upward.It still seems unclear to me that these measure automatically result in economic growth or employment growth.He is also infamous for calling unemployed youth (many immigrants) - "Scum".

I think these assumptions shed some light on the accepted premises of globalization in general. With this important election for France, there seems to have been no standard debate happening here about "the tension between developing countries needing to restructure their financial, labor, and trade institutions versus the damage that entails to traditional ways of life, local values, culturally-ingrained practices, and identity".

more on this by Helmut at Phronesisaical:

...perhaps the debate should be placed elsewhere. That is, if the evidence shows that globalization is corrosive of what people perceive to be valuable, and if there is good evidence that this corrosion plays out in the empirical terms of running towards a lower common denominator in terms of social goods, then we have to ask again the question of what globalization - economic liberalization, that is - is good for.

So that is the question - What is this good for? Ultimately we are all asked to make individual and collective sacrifices in the name of an abstraction - "the idealized global market". It will be curious to see how the French receive their new president and the American Style he plans to bring. The riots of 2005 may get replayed.

and just for fun here are some potential results of the American Style for American workers:

[The forces of globalization] don't look so benign from the viewpoint of an American computer programmer or accountant. They've done what they were told to do: They went to college and prepared for well-paid careers with bountiful employment opportunities. But now their bosses are eyeing legions of well-qualified, English-speaking programmers and accountants in India, for example, who will happily work for a fraction of what Americans earn. Such prospective competition puts a damper on wage increases. And if the jobs do move offshore, displaced American workers may lose not only their jobs but also their pensions and health insurance. These people can be forgiven if they have doubts about the virtues of globalization.

....It's also going to be large. How large? In some recent research, I estimated that 30 million to 40 million U.S. jobs are potentially offshorable. These include scientists, mathematicians and editors on the high end and telephone operators, clerks and typists on the low end. Obviously, not all of these jobs are going to India, China or elsewhere. But many will.

....That is why I am going public with my concerns now. If we economists stubbornly insist on chanting "Free trade is good for you" to people who know that it is not, we will quickly become irrelevant to the public debate. Compared with that, a little apostasy should be welcome. - Economist Alan Blinder

cinco sir doug

Nietzche Family Circus

He who lives as children live -- who does not struggle for his bread and does not believe that his actions possess any ultimate significance -- remains childlike.

Not sure how many of us remember "Family Circus" but I'm pretty inspired by the randomized pairing of the carton with randomized quotes by Nietzche. Really fun to read through these - check out The Nietzche Family Circus.


Great tip from Steven LaRose and Jacques de Beaufort

Tenet, tweezers and Ron Jeremy??

You have to love the year book picture effect. It crystallizes our collective selves in such an endearing horror show kind of way. The year book picture always tells a truth and holds an ugly mirror up forever. With all the faux outrage George Tenet spewed on 60 Minutes and what I think will be a limply received new book - it's great to see young George next to his classmate, Ronnie "soon to be Jeremy" Hyatt. At least Ronnie made a career openly "pimpin". You gotta love that picture!


Via Wonkette.

4 years later.....

Today marks the 4th anniversary of the Bush photo op - perhaps the greatest American propaganda stunt in history. So what has exactly been accomplished $500 billion later ?

Here's a "then and Now" from Think Progress:

	May 1, 2003	Today
U.S. Troops Wounded	542	24,912
U.S. Troops Killed	139	3,351
Contractors Killed	69	916
Journalists and Media Assistants Killed	11	167
U.S. Forces in Iraq	150,000	146,000
Size of Iraqi Security Forces	7,000-9,000	334,300
Number of Insurgents	less than 5,000	~70,000 (Sunni only)
Insurgent Attacks Per Day	8	148.9
Cost to U.S. Taxpayers	$79 billion	$421 billion
Approval of Bush’s Handling of Iraq	75%	24%
Percentage of Americans who Believe The Iraq War Was “Worth Fighting”	70%	34%
Bush’s Overall Job Approval	71%	32%

Talk about surges....and I still sometimes can't believe it's been 4 years but then again it feels like 20.

Other Music...now digital

So I have finally been able to explore the new digital store at OM and I have to say I am very excited! Sampling great music all day. Check it out and support a great independent music paradise.

capturing exceptional conviviality

Doesn't Frank Stella make painting look fun! The current show at FIAF does look fun and quite interesting. The portraits by Arman of the NY art community of the '60s-'70s are on display and seems like a must see for the history minded here in our fair city.

FIAF Gallery, 22 East 60th Street

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm
Saturday 11am-5pm

image: Arman - portrait of Frank Stella

catching the Amazon wave

ok so I officially have a bad case of spring fever and the travel bug. I keep day dreaming about being anywhere but here. So I thought these pics of people surfing the Amazon River would fulfill today's dream requirements. Pretty amazing - that's a river! for the full story and more photos go to Fogonazos.


tip: Phronesisaical

pining for the road...in a fuel efficient kind of way

Geoff over at Non-Prophet Art has made me rather jealous on this Earth Day with what looks like my dream CA/NV road trip. Call it stuck in Brooklyn with the Mojave blues. Here are some piturs: