Northern Lights has commissioned renowned sound artist Stephen Vitiello to create a new multimedia work based on Very Low Frequency (VLF) recordings and filming of the aurora borealis. Last week, Stephen traveled with cinematographer Matt Flowers to Fort McMurray, in Alberta, Canada.
From: Stephen Vitiello
Subject: Â Â Â report so far
Date: Â Â Â October 12, 2009 12:33:32 PM CDT
To: Â Â Â Steve Dietz
Stephen Vitiello. Photo: Matt Flowers
Hi Steve, just thought I’d give you a report. So far, so good. No Aurora but lights from rainbows, oil refineries and cars approaching on a quiet road at night. As we left Calgary, a wolf was running along the side of the runway, just before the plane took off. It’s cold – generally about 20-30 degrees F. Yesterday it snowed some. We feel like we’re just getting a feel of the place. Today is Thanksgiving here so it’s very quiet. Fort McMurray is a strange town. When I told the customs agent where I was going, he sort of laughed. Maybe it’s like telling someone you’re going on vacation to New Jersey. The sky is supposed to clear up by tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll see something great.
This curb shot reminds me of Natalie Jeremijenko’sNoPark project, which returns “‘no parking zones’ — mostly those associated fire hydrant placement — to low growth mosses and grasses.”
Natalie Jeremijenko, NoPark
“These micro engineered green spaces prevent storm water run off, use foliage to stabilize the soil, and to provide a durable low maintenance surface cover. These microparks continue to provide emergency parking space for fire trucks and exasperated Fresh-direct delivery persons. But the other 99.9% of the time they now do something more. For all the same rationales that apply to green roofs, greening the no-standing zones is a good thing. Practically, noPARKS capture more water than green roofs (not being limited to carrying capacity of the 2â€, 4†or 6†of soil that roofs require). These no parking/standing zones are often situated where water collects, capturing the oily runoff from the road before it runs into the river. noPARKs recharge and replenish soil moisture on the block important to trees — even yards away — to help them dilute the gallons of uric acid poured on city trees plots each day by friendly neighborhood dogs. Less water puddling decreases pedestrian slipping hazards. Lastly, the noPark reduces the number of standing water pools that are left for days, which are the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. In this way, the noPark may reduce the need for widespread fumigation to combat West Nile virus in New York City.”
Are you an emerging artist? Do you work experimentally at the intersection of art, technology, and digital culture with a focus on network-based practices that are interactive and/or participatory Do you live in Minnesota? Would you like $5,000? I can help answer at least some of these questions. Come find out more about the new round of Art(ists) On the Verge grants. http://tylerstefanich.com/clients/northernlights/programs/aov2/
Information session – Influx, Regis Center, Univeristy of MN at 12 30 pm this Friday, October 9. Everyone welcome.
“During their September 24, 2009, meeting, the Directors of Jerome Foundation awarded a one-year grant … to Northern Lights in support of the Art(ists) on the Verge Fellowship/Commissioning Program for emerging Minnesota artists working at the intersection of art, media, technology and social practice.”
Thank you Jerome Foundation. A full call will be sent out in the next few days. A sneak peak is here. Past AOV grantees here.
Sabrina Raaf, "Translator II: Grower, 2004-06" curated by Eduardo Navas for Transitio_MX. "It consists of an interactive robot that responds to the level of carbon dioxide in the room. Quite a popular piece in the exhibit; some visitors, upon learning about the work, exhale in front of the sensor to make the lines as long as possible."
industrial robot manufacturer Gibotech A/S, based in Odense to create an installation, where one of Gibotech’s robots is reprogrammed to cut corrugated plastic in large patterns. Over time, the patterns will transform into a sculptural installation spilling out on the floor or the exhibition space, evolving through the exhibition period.
CITY OF SAN JOSE – SAN FERNANDO CORRIDOR PROJECT
Last Sunday, ON SAN FERNANDO, Arcangel Constantini "activated" Brendan Rawson of 1stACT, DJ Tommy Aguilar, and artist Pilar Aguero-Esparza with his electro-shock art "icpiticayotl", which ZER01 presented at the Mariachi Festival. Propose your own activation project on San Fernando.
GENERAL INFORMATION
San Jose Public Art and ZER01 invite artists to submit qualifications and letters of interest to install temporary artworks on the San Fernando Street corridor in Downtown San Jose. These artworks will be installed in June 2010, be a feature of the 3rd 01SJ Biennial (September 15-19, 2010) and will continue their display through October 2010.
ARTIST ELIGIBILITY: U.S. residents are invited to apply, or those who have a US Social Security or Tax Identification Number by the application deadline.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: Submissions (described below) must be received as a complete application in CaFÉ™ by no later than 12 midnight Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) on Thursday, October 8, 2009.
APPLICATION PROCESS: All materials will be submitted online, via CaFÉ™ website (www.callforentry.org). There is no application fee to apply or to use the CaFÉ™ online application system. To view the application, go to www.callforentry.org, register a username and password, navigate to “Apply to Callsâ€, and search the list for “City of San Jose – San Fernando Corridor Projectâ€.
A site specific installation/formation of ghost flags comprised of 50 strategically located flag sculptures, made from reflective silver fabric, and steel flag poles. The flags have no markings or signifiers of conquest or elements of communication. Instead, the flags serve notice that the location has been conquered by time.
Opening Day Performance
Set within Ghost Siege, dancer/choreographer Leah Schrager will dance to music composed by Kenny Aronoff, preeminent drummer and percussionist.
Each year, EAF artists are awarded a grant and a residency in the Park’s outdoor studio and are also provided with technical support and access to tools, materials and equipment to facilitate the production of new sculptures and installations for exhibition in the Park. The artists develop their projects throughout the summer in the open studio and on site in the landscape, offering visitors the opportunity to experience both the creation and presentation of their works. Representing a broad range of materials, working methods and subject matter, the diverse sculptural works in this exhibition are presented against the Park’s spectacular waterfront view of the Manhattan skyline.
I often say that the 01SJ Biennial – I’m the artistic director – is multidisciplinary and medium agnostic. I’m not sure I ever thought that meant we would be programming at a mariachi festival.
Pilar and Dio are San Jose-based artists, and based on the Mariachi Festival’s thematic focus on the Mexican village, I asked them to construct out of recycled materials a tri-partite, temporary “home” for ZER01 and its artists during the festival.
I have always admired Pilar’s structures, such as her Homework House, exhibited at MACLA as part of Beyond Child’s Play or this balloon-filled tent during SubZERO earlier this year or this 2005 doll-ish house at Works/San Jose, and she wanted to work with Dio, a recent grad of the Yale MFA program on this commission, which I’m looking forward to seeing.
Pilar Aguero-Esparza and H. Dio Mendoza. Drawing of temporary home constructed out of recycled materials for ZER01 at the Mariachi Festival.
The structure consists of three parts: a courtyard, a cyberlounge, and a “Lost Time Refund Office.”
CANCIONE Courtyard Dedicaciones Gratis
In the center of the structure, Pilar and Dio proposed the following project:
A papel picado “awning” (Mexican traditional decorative cut tissue paper streamers) connects two house structures and canopies a “courtyard” space between them. This courtyard space serves as a social area where visitors take a break and have the opportunity to request a song played in the tradition of the mariachi bands and trio groups strolling through the courtyards of the historic Plaza de Garibaldi in Mexico City. But instead of live musicians playing requests, visitors request their song to a DJ equipped with a digital music library showcasing Mexican ballads, canciones roma¡nticas, mariachi favorites along with other contemporary Spanish language music. An open-mic will be available for visitors to dedicate their songs for free dedicaciones gratis. If a visitor’s requested song is not on the DJ’s digital library, the DJ will search for the song on-line. As the day goes on, a type of public playlist develops and the requested songs along with the dedications are written down in permanent marker on a vinyl banner that will be hung up against an outside wall of one of the house structures. This banner then remains as evidence of the day’s songs and personal honoring of loved ones.
Gustavo Romano, Lost Time Refund Office
Gustavo Romano, Lost Time Refund Office. Courtesy the artist.
On one side of the courtyard is a project by Buenos Aires-based artist Gustavo Romano, Lost Time Refund Office, where you can exchange stories of your wasted time from 1 minute to 10 years for some artist-designed currency.
Gustavo Romano, Lost Time Refund Office - un minuto. "Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend." - Theophrastus
According to Romano:
The main idea is to collect reasons of time loss. Odd reasons are welcome.
When a person comes to the “office,” the officer explains like this:
“This is a lost time refund office. You tell us how you lost your time, whether because of a wrong decision or something you had to do and you did not want to do, and we refund it with our bills. We have 1 minute, 1 day, 1 year… “
Gustavo Romano, Lost Time Refund Office - diez anos. "Money is institutionalized mistrust." - Michael Hussey
When the person tells his or her reason and the corresponding amount of time needed, the officer enters the information into the computer database and put the bill (or bills) in the printer and presses the “print the reason†button. The printed bill is then stamped with the Time Notes Stamp.
Gustavo Romano lives and works in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a director of “Fin del Mundo,â€a virtual platform for circulating net art projects, curator of the Virtual Space of the Cultural Center of Spain in Buenos Aires, and a featured artist on the Museo Tamayo cyberlounge.
Cyberlounge
On the other side of the courtyard, I invited Arcangel Constantini from Mexico City to curate a selection of video games and Internet projects, for a “cyberlounge.”
WORKNET: Labor video games and Internet projects curated by Arcangel Constantini
Inspired by activist Cesar Chavez and the values of integrity, innovation, and empowerment that he championed throughout his lifetime, the ZER01 Cyberlounge invites you to interact with computer-based works by contemporary artists from Mexico, Argentina, and the United States that explore contemporary labor issues.
Mejor Vida Corporation isan Internet-based project that offers a catalog of free products and services such as international student ID cards, subway passes, lottery tickets and barcode stickers that reduce the price of food at supermarkets throughout Mexico City. Using the structure of a corporation, Cuevas investigates social and economic issues and then develops a set of free products that solve everyday problems in her community and beyond.
Minerva Cuevas is a conceptual artist who lives and works in Mexico City, Mexico.
Birgit Eschenlor and Art Vega, Retrofame, 2001
Retrofame is a video game that looks at the illegal second-hand clothing market in Mexico by asking players to direct a worker as they sort and select clothing from a fast moving manufacturing line. The game is a playful attempt to call attention to the large and informal population of workers who labor in this industry on a daily basis.
Fran Ilich and Blas Valdez, Beaner, 2000
Beaner is a computer-based game that appropriates the classic arcade game Frogger, where players must direct a frog across a treacherous road and swiftly moving river to reach an area of safety at the top of the screen. In Ilich and Valdez’s version, players navigate a sombrero through a river, a desert, and a freeway—all critical barriers related to illegal border crossings—to reach the land of opportunity. The reward for a successful crossing is the same fate faced by many migrant workers without papers—backbreaking and poorly paid clandestine work.
Fran Ilich is a Tijuana-based activist and media artist and Blas Valdez is a Mexican-American writer.
Txema Novelo, Playing for Money / Working for Free, 2006
In Playing for Money / Working for Free Txema Novela recasts Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian-born anarchist labor activists who were executed in Massachusetts in 1927, as the Mario Brothers from the classic video game Super Mario Bros. The playful retelling relates the actions within a video game to the reality of the working class.
Txema Novelo is an artist based in Mexico City, Mexico.
In Outsource Me! artist Leonardo Salaas reverses the practice of outsourcing. Typically, companies from developed countries attempt to decrease costs by hiring foreign workers at a lower wage than their U.S. counterparts. But in this project, Solaas issued an open call for ideas and hired the person who submitted the winning proposal to be his employer. Then, he acted as an outsourced worker by creating a special website according to the specifications of the submitted idea. Outsource Me! is the result of the collaboration.
Leonardo Solaas is an artist and computer programmer who lives and works in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Vagamundo: A Migrant’s Taleis an online game that uses stereotypes to parallel the plight of undocumented immigrant labor in New York City. Users play the role of a new immigrant and must bag groceries and wait tables to advance through levels. The online game is based on interviews Zúñiga conducted with new immigrants as well as the experience of his parents, who emigrated from Nicaragua to the United States.
Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga is an artist who approaches art as a social practice that seeks to establish dialogue in public spaces. He grew up between Nicaragua and San Francisco.
Dentimundo is a web-based art and research project that serves as an information portal for “border dentistry,†a type of medical tourism that has been steadily growing in popularity along the Mexico-U.S. border. The website documents labor practices along the border while commenting on this very specific example of globalization, where Mexican dentists are increasingly moving their practices to border towns to attract U.S. citizens who are unable or unwilling to pay the skyrocketing health costs on the other side of the border.
Arcangel Constantini, icpiticayotl. Photo: festival transitio ( sintesis libre ) alameda central mexico df 2007
Improvising on an old Mexican tradition, Constantini will also audio-electrocute volunteers with his mobile icpiticayotl box. Náhuatl for electricity, Icpiticayotl uses electroshock to involuntarily contract users’ muscles in sync with sound oscillations to establish synaesthesia, a condition that exists when the stimulation in one sense causes involuntary experiences in a second sense. Constantini’s artistic experiment is designed to give visitors the same adrenalin rush los señores de los toques have been giving cantina patrons as a chaser to their cerveza for centuries. Icpiticayotl is harmless, fun and appropriate for all ages.
Arcangel Constantini is an artist and curator based in Mexico City, Mexico. His artistic practice explores the dynamics of visual and sound works, low-tech installations, propaganda action, performance, hardware hacking, installation, and sound. Constantini is a curator for the cyberlounge at the Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo in Mexico City, and has exhibited his work throughout the world.
[Cyberlounge and Icpiticayotl descriptions, Jaime Austin.]
On September 24-25, 2009 the G-20 Summit will take place in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, where G-20 leaders, representing 80% of the world’s trade and two-thirds of the world population, will determine policies affecting our economic and financial futures.
To foster engagement despite the insularity of these talks, Osman Khan, an artist, and Elliance, are collaborating to develop heyG20 as a forum that will allow concerned citizen’s of the world to voice their thoughts and opinions to the Leaders of the G20 Summit. The project is an interactive installation that will take place during the G-20 Summit in the windows of Elliance’s offices located directly across the river from the Pittsburgh Convention Center.
Interested participants may tweet their message to @heyG20 (http://twitter.com/heyG20), whereby your messages will be transformed to a multicolored morse code light show, illuminating not only the night sky but also the concerns of the world’s citizens.
Hey G20 does not appear to have quite the visual punch of Johannes Gees’ remarkable hellomrpresident projection onto the mountains outside Davos during the exclusive World Economic Forum in 2002, but it will be interesting to see how/whether the ubiquity of social media like Twitter bump up participation in and the impact of the project.
See also These projects are smokin’! for an earlier post about Germaine Koh’sPrayers and Ali Momeni and Robin Mandel’sSmoke and Hot Air, both of which translate messages – in these cases, datamined rather than Tweeted – into Morse code.
Over 100 Incredible Examples of Cargotecture Exhibited At NRW Forum in Düsseldorf Read more: Over 100 Incredible Examples of Cargotecture Exhibited At NRW Forum in Düsseldorf | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World. Via Inhabitat
"This beautiful sunset observatory made from recycled shipping containers was recently constructed in the harbor of Songdo New City in Incheon, South Korea. Designed and built by AnL Studio, “OceanScope” is a composed of five recycled containers, each one angled at a different height to provide 3 distinct views of the harbor."
The existing service ramp will be repurposed as an open-air, studio-lined corridor. Courtesy LOT-EK. via Architects Newspaper
“The Hudson River Park Trust announced a winning plan for Pier 57, the brooding hulk at West 15th Street: a rooftop park crowning a small city of local artisans working out of shipping containers, the vision of developer YoungWoo & Associates with New York architects LOT-EK.“
Danish architects MAPT have erected a striking pavilion composed of a set of old shipping containers stacked up like building blocks.
“As COP15 delegations continue in Copenhagen, Danish architects MAPT have erected a striking pavilion composed of a set of old shipping containers stacked up like building blocks. The recycled pavilion will host an interactive exhibit focusing on urban sustainability, and the interior of the structure is constructed entirely of materials salvaged from the wood and wind turbine industries.” – via Inhabitat
C02 Cube. Image via Obscura Digital via Curbed LA.
“Is there anything shipping containers can’t do? Here they are arranged on a barge in St. Jørgens Lake in Copenhagen to visually represent one metric ton of carbon dioxide stored at standard atmospheric pressure. An average person in an industrialized country puts that amount out monthly.” via Curbed LA
“Pulsing with a dramatic lighting that signals S-O-S in morse code, this towering installation stands thirty-five feet high. Constructed out of shipping containers it addresses the trauma of migration, displacement and change. Influenced by Moshe Safdie’s utopic Habitat housing scheme produced for the 1967 Montreal Exposition and designed to include all people regardless of class, race or gender, this monumental structure reflects on the failure of this ideology and the susceptibility of these social projects to capitalist forces. Future (· · · – – – · · ·) Perfect has a local relevance, reflecting on the politics of gentrification and the displacements inherent to the project of urban renewal.”
Storybox is a site-specific video and music installation that uses two 20ft shipping containers stacked on top of each other. Screens are placed in the frame of the container with imagery back projected from inside the box. The installation is weather proof and secure.
Architects Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano (Lot-ek) talk about their work transforming shipping containers into livable homes at the Postopolis event in NYC.
WPS1 at Art Basel Miami
A striking example of shipping container architecture, Platoon Kunsthalle serves as an exciting and inspiring new exhibit hall and art center in Seoul, Korea. Built from standard shipping containers by Graft Lab Architects,
LiD Architecture wins Dublin’s Parlour Design Competition. LiD Architecture’s winning submission’s simple, strong, clear idea effortlessly addressed the brief. The central concept is to use shipping containers as basic building blocks which will be configured in creative ways to address challenges of containment, movement, art, lighting and art performance. The jury felt that this solution displayed high levels of flexibility, adaptability and toughness in use. The design resonates powerfully with docklands and embraces the temporary nature of the challenge.
"After finding an affordable and convenient warehouse space in the industrial section of Santa Ana, Orange County, local printing company MVP decided to turn part of their premises into an office space. The warehouse wasn’t equipped to accommodate private offices, and the company felt that keeping the whole space climate-controlled would be wasteful, so they decided to group 10 20-foot shipping containers inside the warehouse to act as offices. " via Inhabitat
The boxes were developed by the architecture firm Lo-Tek to create flexible office space in Bohen’s Chelsea gallery. Come summer 2009, the containers will be situated in the newly accessible south Island picnic area with unmatched views of the Statue of Liberty and the New York Harbor.
"Modern Manifesto House Made From Wood Pallets and Shipping Containers" via inhabitat
“The Manifesto House by Infiniski utilizes pre-made materials like shipping containers and wooden pallets to create a totally rad modern house. Infiniski’s mission is to build homes cheaply and quickly using sustainable materials while incorporating renewable energy systems.”
Overcrowded jails and prisons are a growing issue in the US and also globally. This demand can now be filled instantly with modular jail and prison cells made from recycled ISBU shipping containers. via ISBU News
“Nobody loves contemporary networked life more than Christopher Baker. ‘I would absolutely love it if the internet could be truly “free,”‘ the Minneapolis-based new-media artist emails from Hungary. ‘Free of censorship, free of bandwidth restrictions, free of cost, accessible to all, environmentally free, free of the political influence and the weight of capitalism. At the same time, I think it’s extremely important the people realize that it isn’t.’
Christopher Baker, HPVS (Human Phantom Vibration Syndrome), Installation view, Art(ists) On the Verge, Weisman Art Museum. Photo: Rik Sferra
“Baker isn’t just talking out of his beret. This year alone, his web-intensive installations and public works have appeared everywhere from the Weisman to art-tech crucible Kitchen Budapest, where the artist finishes a yearlong residency next month—leaving him just enough time to prepare for the November 20 opening of his first Franklin Art Works solo exhibition. With eight shows in locales ranging from Barnsley, U.K., to Fargo, North Dakota, scheduled for the next six months, the poor devil might perish of exhaustion if not for automation.”
Chris’s work is important – and often mesmerizing – for what it says about the human condition, not because he is a “tech artist,” regardless of how facile.
Here is her official MacArthur profile along with some unofficial photos of Camille in action on projects I have worked with her on.
Camille doing some last minute programming on "Abundance," commissioned for the San Jose City Hall Rotunda by ZER01 and the City of San Jose. Photo: Everett Tassevigen
Camille Utterback is an artist who uses digital technologies to create visually arresting works that redefine how viewers experience and interact with art. Drawing upon traditional media such as painting, photography, and sculpture, she writes computer code that seamlessly blends the interactive elements of each piece with her aesthetic vision. In her 1999 video installation Text Rain, made with Romy Achituv, the interface of video camera and tracking software allows a viewer’s entire body to engage with text. As viewers stand in front of the projection, their shadows interrupt the falling streams of seemingly random words; the words eventually come to rest on the outline of the viewers’ bodies to reveal lines of a poem. With this distinctive and absorbing work, Utterback combines interactivity with a visual and literary experience that captivates people of all ages, including children. While her early work focused on text and movement, in recent years painterly imagery has had a profound influence on a number of her projects. In the External Measures series (2001-2008), she turned the digital medium into abstract pictorial compositions of infinite variety. These dynamic installations react to people’s motions and involve the viewer in the act of creating monumental paintings and drawings.
Camille doing some last minute programming on "Abundance," commissioned for the San Jose City Hall Rotunda by ZER01 and the City of San Jose. Photo: Everett Tassevigen
Utterback’s Abundance (2007), a temporary outdoor video projected onto San Jose’s Richard Meier-designed City Hall dome, transformed an impersonal public space and modern edifice into a vibrant, colorful environment responsive to human presence and movement. With each subsequent project, Utterback is creating works that encourage audiences to take part in new and exciting artistic collaborations and enriching the experience of living in a technological age.
Camille installing, with Alan B. Davidson, the interactive touch railing for her latest project at the West End in St. Louis Park, MN
Camille Utterback received a B.A. (1992) from Williams College and an M.P.S. (1999) from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University. Her work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions at such venues as the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the Fabric Workshop, the Netherlands Media Art Institute, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
Four year legal battle ends with substantial donations to civil + human rights groups
In Strange Culture, filmmaker Lynn Hershman-Leeson tackles the bizarre case of Steve Kurtz, an associate professor of art at SUNY/Buffalo and founding member of the award-winning art and theater collective Critical Art Ensemble, whose interactive projects include the examination of biotechnology and the issues surrounding it. Kurtz’s life suffered an upheaval of Kafkaesque proportions following the unexpected death of his wife, Hope, of heart failure in May 2004.
CAE Defense Fund donated to Center for Constitutional Rights & New York Civil Liberties Union
Buffalo, NY—After a widely watched four-year legal battle, the CAE Defense Fund was officially dissolved last week, with its remainder of unexpended funds donated in two substantial gifts to the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the New York affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU).
The CAE Defense Fund was originally created as a mechanism to raise funds for legal bills incurred by Dr. Steven Kurtz and Dr. Robert Ferrell in what its members argued was a politically motivated attack by the Department of Justice—one which threatened the constitutional and fundamental rights not only of the two defendants, but also of everyone, due to legal precedents that would have been set by an unfavorable outcome.
In response, thousands of people worldwide organized demonstrations and raised money for the two men’s legal defense through fundraisers and a variety of other grassroots efforts.
The fund was also heavily supported by internationally renowned artists including Sol Lewitt, Richard Serra, Hans Haacke, Cindy Sherman, Carl Andre, Mike Kelley, Kiki Smith, Sam Durant, Mark Dion, Jeremy Deller, and many others, who donated work to an auction at Paula Cooper Gallery in April 2005. Other artists such as Chuck Close, Walid Raad, and Ed Ruscha made substantial direct cash contributions. In all, the Fund raised approximately $350,000.
Drs. Kurtz and Ferrell were indicted for mail and wire fraud in June of 2004. Under the USA PATRIOT Act, the maximum sentence for those charges was increased from five years to twenty years in jail. After an arduous four-year-long struggle, in April of 2008 the indictment against Kurtz was finally dismissed by Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara as “insufficient on its faceâ€â€”meaning that even if the actions alleged in the indictment (which the judge must accept as “factâ€) were true, they would not constitute a crime. Ferrell pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in October 2007 after recurring bouts of cancer and three strokes suffered during the course of the case prevented him from continuing the struggle.
When the case was dismissed instead of going to trial, approximately $108,930 remained in the fund.
“Had the case gone to a jury trial, that amount wouldn’t have been enough to cover Steve’s legal bills through the trial, let alone appeals in the event of a guilty verdict†explained Edmund Cardoni, Executive Director of Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center in Buffalo NY, and the Fund’s fiscal administrator. “When the case was finally thrown out, we were thrilled, but we were presented with a new problem. The committee was very conscious of our ethical responsibility to make sure this money would be used in a way that honored the original intent of the many people who gave money to the fund, and the artists who donated art works to the fundraising auction.â€
In keeping with that purpose—to defend our fundamental constitutional rights—the CAE Defense Fund and Trial Fund committees, in consultation with artists, curators, and others centrally involved in the fundraising efforts, voted to disburse the remaining funds by awarding 80 percent ($87,150) to the CCR, and 20 percent ($21,780) to the NYCLU.
CAE Defense Fund coordinator Lucia Sommer said, “We are extremely happy that the case is over, and that the remaining funds can be passed on to organizations that have such a distinguished record of defending not only the U.S. Constitution, but also the human rights and dignity of all people.â€
Added Kurtz, “I always promised everyone who donated their time, labor and hard-earned money to our defense that this struggle would do more than demonstrate to the Justice Department that the art, science, academic and activist communities would not be intimidated by its authoritarian tactics. We knew the legal precedent set by the case was critical to preventing what happened to Bob and me from happening to others, and it’s incredibly rewarding to know that these funds can now be used to defend others who do not have the kind of support we had.â€
Representatives of both organizations expressed gratitude for the donations.
“The NYCLU is very pleased to receive this generous contribution from the CAE Legal Defense Fund to continue our work in restoring, defending, and upholding our constitutional and fundamental rights, including artistic and academic freedoms,†said Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Vincent Warren, Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, congratulated the CAE Defense Fund “and its many dedicated and principled supporters for your extraordinary victory—a victory for our country and the Constitution as much as it is for the individuals.†He further stated that, “The CCR is honored to use the tremendous support of the Fund’s donors to continue the fight against repression of dissent and illegal detentions—work which, unfortunately, is still sorely needed.â€
Krzysztof Wodiczko, (Projection on South Africa House, Trafalgar Square, London), 1985
Krzysztof Wodiczko is one of the primary inspirations for any public projection art. This is some of what he said about his famed intervention in South Africa, which lasted a mere 2 hours – for almost 25 years now.
“We must stop this ideological ritual,’ interrupt this journey-in-fiction, arrest the somnambulistic movement, restore public focus, a concentration of the building and its architecture. What is implicit about the building must be exposed as explicit; the myth must be visually concretized and unmasked. The absent-mided, hypnotic relation with architecture must be challenged by a conscious and critic public discourse taking place in front of the building.
“Public visualization of this myth can unmask the myth, recognize it ‘physically,’ force it to the surface, and hold it visible, so that the people on the street can observe and celebrate its final formal capitulation.
“This must happen at the very place of myth, on the site of its production, on its body–the building.”
