Letters to and from Artists

LINK ArtiCity

Sound Poster

The Sound Poster 1.0 is our first experiment in which we try to mix digital with analog or the other way together. The biggest reason is that the 'experience' is considerably larger. Digital installations / projects / apps are often linked to a screen / tablet and that means that for example the environment or material (tactility) play a minimal role while these aspects a large role have on our experience. The Sound Poster is the first experiment with what you can do with a poster (print) in combination with technology (digital). In this case, we uses the open source technology and software Arduino and is connected with conductive copper ink. When the resistance changes, the sound changes with: soft touch gives a different sound than hard on the poster prints. The sound is now based on a synthesizer sound, we are now working on a sequel in which the sound is more based on real classical instruments. We got inspired by Kandinsky his music theory; music was very important for him and most of his work is based on music. LINK trappedinsuburbia

Capitalist Realism

Manfred Kuttner, Konrad Lueg, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter

With a contribution by Christopher Williams 
@ Kunsthalle Dusseldorf  21 July - 29 September 2013

Fifty years ago, Manfred Kuttner, Konrad Lueg, Sigmar Polke, and Gerhard Richter coined the term "capitalist realism" on the occasion of their first self-organised exhibition in Düsseldorf. In 1963, Lueg and Richter also staged the legendary Living with Pop - A Demonstration for Capitalist Realism action in the Berges furniture store. The exhibition at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf is the first to take an in- depth look at the whole phenomenon that is synonymous for a brief period of a specifically West German post-war art, and to show its contemporary relevance. 

The exhibition documents the actions between 1963 and 1966, when the artists used this term, and concludes chronologically with a documentary account about René Block, who politicized the label for his gallery work in Berlin. A separate section is devoted to the Fluxus movement in the Rhineland, which was a key forerunner. The pictorial world of capitalist realism is presented in a selection of more than 50 photographic reproductions of works by the artists. In fact, the paintings by Lueg, Polke, and Richter (Kuttner soon forged a style of his own) were themselves largely based on reproductions. The artists painted subject matters they found in magazines and newspapers. Analogous to British and American pop art, they turned their attention to the trivial aspects of life in their immediate environments. And by training their spotlight on Germany's economic miracle with its questionable promise of a better life and depicting the middle- class platitudes, values, and repressive mechanisms of the post-war era, they simultaneously documented a period of contemporary history. LINK Kunsthalle Dusseldorf

Jane and Louise Wilson

@ 303 Gallery, New York 
June 25 - August 2 2013

For over two decades, British artists (and sisters) Jane and Louise Wilson have meticulously documented the architectural ruins of twentieth-century modernity. In specific, their focus has been directed towards the dire fate of obsolete military-industrial constellations. Like many artists coming of age after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, their work seems irresistibly drawn to the decaying skeletons of modernist utopias. They sift through debris to uncover present-day resonances that also happen to produce eerily beautiful photographs, films, and installations. Their current exhibition at 303 Gallery shows that the subject still holds their attention while making a compelling case that it should also hold ours. LINK 303 Gallery

Kazimir Malevich and the Russian Avant-Garde

@ The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 
19 Oct - 2 Feb 2014

In October 2013 the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam presents 
an exhibition devoted to Kazimir Malevich (1878 - 1935). 
It is the largest survey in twenty years to explore the work of an artist who was arguably one of the most important founders of abstract art. 
The exhibition is a tribute to the Russian avant-garde, and includes more than 500 objects from the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, 
the Khardzhiev Collection (under the stewardship of the Stedelijk), the Costakis Collection (housed by the State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki), and diverse lenders. 
LINK Stedelijk

Rub Kandy

'Anamorphosis series' 
photo: Max Lacertosa and 
Vasili (the man with his hasselblad)

An illusion is described as a false mental image or conception which may be a misinterpretation of a real appearance or may be something imagined. Hence, It may be pleasing, harmless, or even useful. A hallucination however is a completely groundless, false conception, belief, or opinion, caused by a disordered imagination; it is particularly frequent today in the pathological sense, according to which it denotes hearing or seeing something that does not exist. So it is sometimes difficult to define whether art is creating an illusion or a hallucination in your mind when it is viewed. This type of art can lead to many questions and weird conclusions. LINK rubinetto.blogspot.com

10 Years of Wooster Collective: 2003 - 2013

Location:
 525 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011

While street artists express themselves in a myriad of ways, they are joined by a set of common principles: reclaiming public space, beautifying the environment and the fighting for the freedom of speech. Street art has become the catalyst for people of all cultural and economic backgrounds to challenge the system and express themselves without any filter.  Marc and Sara Schiller have been avid supporters of the movement by acting as a mouthpiece to help artists promote their message to a wider audience through the global community online. Ultimately, 10 Years of Wooster Collective: 
2003 - 2013 is a celebration of street art's power to transform people and societies for the better. LINK Wooster Collective

Lisa Weeda speaks

@ Woordmarkt Utrecht
Sunday 21 July 2013

LINK Lisa Weeda

LINK Woordmarkt

Moyra Davey

@ mudam Luxembourg

Moyra Davey (b. 1958 Toronto, Canada) has been working in New York since the late 1980s. She has been the subject of two recent solo retrospectives, Long Life Cool White at the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University (2008), and Speaker Receiver at the Kunsthalle Basel (2010). Her work was featured in the 2011 New Photography exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York as well as in numerous recent group exhibitions. LINK mudam

Jack Lavender's "Dreams Chunky"

@ The approach, London

Lavender's oeuvre suggests a quick and responsive gaze, trained as much by consuming images on the Internet as by finding interesting forms in the discarded objects littering the city's pavements. "Recuperating the tradition of the assemblage and the prehensile alertness of collage, today's sculpture seems to be less engaged in interrogating its own status than it is overexcited by the idea of annexing the whole world to its own body," wrote Massimiliano Gioni in the curatorial essay of "Unmonumental," his 2007 survey exhibition of sculptural practices at the turn of the twenty-first century. Lavender seems to share this annexing complex, hoarding found objects and rearranging them in new configurations of shapes and meaning. What sets his work apart is the almost obsessive use of a structural device-the grid-in most of the pieces, as well as an adept staging of the pieces within the space, creating an immersive experience without ostentation. LINK The approach

The Guggenheim app

With the launch of its new mobile app, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum provides a unique, highly interactive educational platform for visitors to the Guggenheim and mobile-device users around the world. The app hosts a wealth of multimedia material that will enliven the visitor's experience of the museum and enrich learning and dialogue about its exhibitions and collections.The Guggenheim app, which had a soft launch in February, allows users to browse more than 1,200 collection works and learn about the iconic Frank Lloyd Wright building via guides in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Key visitor info is at one's fingertips, including a museum map, hours and location information, and a calendar of events. With the breadth of an ever-evolving digital catalogue, the Guggenheim app provides users with vivid reproductions, extensive information about individual artworks and exhibitions, and exclusive video and audio content.
LINK guggenheim/interact

Marco van Duyvendijk

@ Van Gennep Rotterdam 
DPhoto

After a degree in psychology, Marco van Duyvendijk goes to Romania to spend a year devoting himself to photography. In the years that follow, Van Duyvendijks work will not take him just to Romania, but also to Mongolia, China, South Korea and many other countries. 
He sees art, and therefore his own photography, as a means of communication between East and West and this field of mutual influence is where he feels at home. 
LINK Marco van Duyvendijk

ORWO

ORWO was an East German manufacturer of photographic film and magnetic tape. The basis for ORWO was the Agfa Wolfen plant, where the first modern colour film with incorporated colour couplers, Agfacolor, was developed in 1936. On 20 April 1945, the plant was taken over by US forces and important patents and other documents regarding the Agfacolor process were confiscated and handed over to Western competitors, such as Kodak and Ilford. As the plant was located in what was to become the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, the US forces then handed it over to Soviet Military Administration, which dismantled large parts of the plant and moved it, with key German staff, to Soviet Union, where it formed the basis for the Soviet colour film industry. In 1953 the plant became the property of East Germany, and in a trade agreement settlement, the East German company, VEB Film- und Chemiefaserwerk Agfa Wolfen, was given the right to sell its products under the Agfa brand in Eastern Europe, while the newly re-established Agfa in West German Leverkusen had the right to the name in the rest of the world. LINK ORWO Filmotec

‪Balkan Groove‬s

l'orchestre des Soufflants de Saint-Priest 

This piece combines musical influences originating from the Balkans in southeast Europe and a dynamic groove typical of western music. This mixture results in an ingenious and energetic composition which leaves musicians and audiences torn between enthusiasm and pure pleasure. LINK You Tube

Ron van der Ende

Phasmid 
@ Ambach and Rice 
6.8.13 – 7.27.13

A&R is pleased to present Phasmid, a solo exhibition debuting five salvaged wood relief sculptures by Ron van der Ende. Phasmid is the scientific classification for stick insects. The title suggests a parallel between the insect’s evolved camouflage and the artist’s wood skin constructions, which serve as trompe l'oeil surrogates for their real world counterparts. The phasmid’s ability to hide in plain sight is analogous to Van der Ende’s interest in commonplace themes, in particular objects and forms rendered invisible by their ubiquitous nature. LINK A&R

Dasha Shishkin

@ MCA Santa Barbara 
July 7, 2013 to Sunday, September 8, 2013

The exhibition, Dasha Shishkin, errry icket comprises new work specifically created and conceived for MCA Santa Barbara's main galleries. Internationally recognized, Shishkin has garnered attention for her large, colorful drawings on semi-transparent mylar surfaces, which utilize a variety of media including acrylic, ink, and conté. While the work is figurative in nature, evoking fable-like qualities, Shishkin eschews any concrete narrative. Rather, her complex compositions broadly contemplate themes of romance, eroticism, humor, and the grotesque. LINK mca

Sounding The Body Electric

@ Calvert 22 
Experiments in Art 
and Music in Eastern Europe 1957 - 1984

26 June - 25 August 2013 

The Calvert 22 Foundation was created by Nonna Materkova, a Russian born, London based economist, who in May 2009 opened Calvert 22, a not- for-profit gallery dedicated to contemporary art from Russia, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics. 
The connections between the visual arts and experimental music were closer in the 1960s and 1970s than perhaps any time before or since. Sound and image combined in artists' films, 'happenings' and sounding installations. Experimental forms of notation were also created to stimulate uninhibited musical expression. Eastern European artists and composers were at the forefront of these new experiments with sound and yet their achievements have never been recorded until now. Sounding the Body Electric: Experiments in Art and Music in Eastern Europe 1957-1984, an exhibition at Calvert 22 in London, organised in conjunction with the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, fills in a missing chapter in the history of Sound Art. LINK Calvert 22