actions
- Curation: Three Pieces, P.P.O.W Gallery, 511 W 25th ST, Rm 301, NYNY, June 2, 6:30-8:30
- presentation of my piece Duotone at LISTEN/VISION 05, April 11th, 2009, 9 pm - 12pm Ashamu, Lyman Hall
77 Waterman St, Providence, RI
fiction
michiko’s life
26 May, 2009 – 19:31
The oxygen mask fell in front of her. Statistically she was still on the winning side, just because the mask came down didn’t mean the plane would crash. This must happen on some plane, somewhere, at least once a day. She placed it over her nose and mouth.
Breathing was no longer a habitual act, it became a force of will. Like sucking hard through a straw. The sensation of air without oxygen was terrifying, something so reliable suddenly gone. The plastic was hard, pushing into her cheek at an uncomfortable angle, the engineers who came up with this must have had fat spoiled American faces in mind. Her cells were still functioning but at this altitude she’d be gone fast without it.
After a shake, a couple more deep quick drops, and some loud yelps from her neighbors, they were on the ground. She had unknowingly played the odds and come out on top. She couldn’t help but think that it was the cowboy in them that would make them decide to fly into such a storm. Sensible people would have cancelled that flight. Americans were clever but not necessarily sensible.
That night she danced, forgetting Hiro and forgetting her flight. She was in New York and it felt good to be letting go of Japan. But, like oxygen, she wondered how long she could survive without it.
journal
sunday appreciation day
21 June, 2009 – 11:32
I first discoverd Annika Larsson several months ago, a book of her work jumped out at me at the PS 1 bookstore.
The still images from the book were gorgeous but I found her video work truly entrancing. The dissasociated nearly erotic interactions of the men in POLIISI, the strange coded games of DOLLS, all perfectly balanced with the mysterious minimal synths of Brooklyn based Sean McBride (aka Martial Canterel).
Spend some time with her, you won’t regret it.
PIRATE — “video was filmed 1st of May 2006 in Stockholm Sweden during a manifestation by the swedish anti-copyright movements”
— extract from HOCKEY @ THE 6th SHANGHAI ART BIENNIAL 2006
POLIISI at Kunsthalle Nurnberg, Nurnberg Germany 2004
DOLLS — 2008, Music by Sean McBride.
seen nearby
7 June, 2009 – 16:29
Spotted a few blocks from where we live off of Rogers in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, but seemingly gone now:
Apparently it’s by Specter.
Image via Fading Ad Blog.
6 months… and?
27 May, 2009 – 9:09
I moved here, to New York, December 1 of last year after a ridiculous drive across the country in a rental truck with blown tires, sign damage (due to lack of clear marking for height limitation), tracing out what has to be the most boring interstate system in the world. Since being in New York I’ve gotten settled into my new job at Eyebeam, met some amazing people, seen fresh art, heard some very nice music, bumped into a lot of old friends, and increased the pace of my life by about, say, 230%.
There are days like today when I am reminded of something I could enjoy in San Francisco but not so much here. It’s a deep sense of just letting the world go by, usually while looking out from inside a cafe. New York cafes are more like Tokyo, you come in and get your business done, you don’t look at anyone (unless you mean it), and you work. Even if you’re just reading a book, you should intently focus on reading that book. There is something nice, though, in the acceptance of dawdling in San Francisco. A lot of good ideas can come that way.
nice look at new york now
7 May, 2009 – 17:04
I really enjoy “travel writing” by Momus, he hits the point nicely. His recent entry, upon arriving in New York, sums it up pretty well. I totally concur that the current state of New York buildings is “slightly bathetic” when compared with the grandiosity of the mid 20th century. And for me, that’s fine, I’m totally OK with the city scaling down, losing its inflated sense of itself, becoming a historical city almost.
After all, the 21st century isn’t stacking up the way it was supposed to, so, as Nick says, let Shanghai have it. I’m over the future. In fact I would take it a bit further, what interests me now is beautiful decay and cities, along with New York, like New Orleans or even Baltimore. And, of course, much of Europe has got a head start on this whole thing.
the city as it is
19 April, 2009 – 15:11
Reading the print, yes I am a subscriber, version of the New York Times this morning (OK, OK, I’ll link to the online story), I found out that a new AIA guide to New York City was in the works. I remember years ago lugging that book around New York trying to find the places it described, often trying to force my own opinions to match those I read. I loved its tone of “damning with faint praise”. I haven’t looked at it in years, my copy lost along with too many other books through my moves since.
But now, the new version: post 9/11 New York again seen through the eyes of Norval White, clearly as stodgy and witty as ever. It’s due in 2010, co-written with Francis Leadon. A preview of Leadon’s work on the book is here (highly recommended). I just love the dog-eared pics of the old edition he’s working from.
This city is obviously a different one than it was 10 years ago. It’s an easy place to diss, huge chunks of it have gone the way of the Village. However, all this talk about its disneyfication, the increase in its yawn factor, its role as a yuppie playground, and so on ad inf. is all longpast its sell-by date. To counter, there’s a crazy re-burgeoning LES art scene, Brooklyn’s producing fresh work faster than anybody can keep up with, and any given day of the week kids are throwing too many parties to follow. Yeah, rent takes up a terrifying percentage of income but finding a reasonable job is exponentially easier than anywhere I’ve seen.
Yes, the mythological New York is long gone, but so too, I hope, is the age of people believing in myths.
oscar santis + loud objects = take me back to the noise
15 April, 2009 – 19:52
Walking home tonight from the subway I was listening to Oscar Santis [biodata]. I found out about his work from the de:bug podcast. Really great stuff, hit that nerve. Very vintage, lots of quotations from classic noise, but still sounding fresh. Gotta search out more. Made me want to hurry home, crank up SuperCollider, and start making some loud ruckus myself!
Speaking of loud noise, Loud Objects played at Mixer, our quarterly new media art party at Eyebeam. Having lurked around some of the loudest shows Tokyo had to offer ten years ago, I was prepared to deal with what they had on tap: full on rhythmic noise assault, very cleverly done. They were soldering the circuits as they played, in fact thereby playing with soldering irons and cables, all on top of a ridiculously bright fluorescent box that was so blinding they all had to wear sunglasses to shield their eyes.