Will Henry Jenkins hear about it?

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Henry Jenkins Unplugged—Jenkins introduced and screened a series of STAR WARS fan films at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in October 2001.

Henry Jenkins Unplugged—Jenkins introduced and screened a series of STAR WARS fan films at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in October 2001.

Lanfranco Aceti

Monday, May 11, 2009 at 11:00pm
Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 2:00am
Location: Istanbul

A socially networked artwork
Please do not spoil the game by telling Henry Jenkins
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
The game – We are throwing bottles in the sea with a message to Henry Jenkins as well as throwing a message in the sea of the information of social networks on Facebook to see if Henry Jenkins will stumble upon the event online first or will receive the message in a bottle. The object of the game is to see if and how he will find out about the project.

Rules of the game – To participate print, copy or download this text, place it in a bottle, on a message board, an announcement list or share it with your Facebook friends. Throw the message in the sea of information systems, and take screenshots or pictures and videos of the bottle in a real space – images can be of any phase – from when you print this message, to when you put it in the bottle or to when you throw the bottle in the river or in the sea of information systems, to when the bottle is traveling in the waters of digital comments. Lastly share the images and videos with me (Lanfranco Aceti) on Facebook. [Please do not throw bottles in the real sea and leave them there adding to the already existing pollution.] The contributions from the audience will become part of an art installation and new video work.

In the chaos of information that characterizes contemporary society, is social networking really making a change? Or does the dissemination and distribution of our lives through social networks add to the sea of information, therefore depriving us of the possibility of making any impact? Are the currents of the seas and the oceans better forms of distribution of information than the speedy currents of contemporary digital media?

The audio, video and photographic records of the game, together with digital artworks and documentation from similar events taking place in Istanbul, Manchester, Rome, London and other locations around the world will be posted on the Internet in order to compare the ‘navigability of the sea of information’ with that of the real waves and chain of events happening in real life.

If you find this message in a bottle, very few were actually placed in the sea, please send it via mail to: Professor Henry Jenkins, Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Building 14N-207, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA.

Please also let Lanfranco Aceti know willhenryjenkinshearaboutit@gmail.com that you have found the real bottle and mailed the message to Henry Jenkins.

Public art commissions 01SJ Biennial

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Adriene Jenik, SPECFLIC 2.0, part of the 1st 01SJ Biennial, 2006, San Jose Public Library, San Fernando and 4th St.

Adriene Jenik, SPECFLIC 2.0, part of the 1st 01SJ Biennial, 2006, San Jose Public Library, San Fernando and 4th St.

For Artists

San Fernando Corridor Project – Request for Qualifications
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 be continue their display through October 2010.

Background: San Fernando Street
San Fernando Street is a significant east/west corridor through downtown San Jose that connects Diridon Station, the major train, light rail and bus center on the west side of downtown; continues through the sports, retail and cultural district; and defines the north side of San Jose State University at downtown’s east edge. The street passes from the station, beneath State Highway 87 and over the Guadalupe River before entering the downtown core. As such, the street offers a variety of opportunities for the creation of artworks in different media ranging from static to electronic, sound, projection, light-based, interactive and mobile or networked. The artworks will be accessible to anyone who works, lives or visits downtown San Jose.

Background: 2010 3rd 01SJ Biennial
The 3rd 01SJ Biennial will take place September 15-19, 2010, throughout San Jose and Silicon Valley. Its theme, “Build Your Own World,” is about how powerful ideas and innovative individuals from around the world can make a difference and come together to build a unique, city-wide platform for creative solutions and public engagement. It is about the inspiration needed to build a world we want to live in and are able to live with. The 2010 01SJ Biennial is predicated on the notion that as artists, designers, engineers, architects, marketers, corporations and citizens we have the tools to (re)build the world, conceptually and actually, virtually and physically, poorly and better, aesthetically and pragmatically, in both large and small ways.

PROJECT BUDGETS: Vary depending on site

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 Calls”, and search the list for “City of San Jose – San Fernando Corridor Project”.

For full details and application process read the Request for Qualifications.

DOCUMENTS FOR REFERENCE IN APPLYING FOR PROJECTS WITH THE CITY OF SAN JOSE PUBLIC ART PROGRAM

Design Contract – Boilerplate (PDF)

Fabrication Contract – Boilerplate (PDF)

City of San Jose Standard Specifications (External)

Crystal Mesh

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CRYSTAL MESH from autokolor on Vimeo.

via Interactive Architecture.org

Temporary Manhattan art park

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Canal Street Getting Public Art Park No One Knew it Needed. Via Curbed

Canal Street Getting Public Art Park No One Knew it Needed. Via Curbed

via Curbed.

It’s not entirely clear what will be happening here, but the basic idea is that while the property owner waits for the real estate market to revive, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council is working with architects Interboro Partners to create Lentspace, a temporary public park and exhibition with event programming. Excellent.

“LentSpace’s landscape design features a tree nursery that provides shade while incubating street trees to be planted throughout the downtown neighborhood at a later date. In addition, a custom operable fence opens the space to encourage a variety of social encounters, incorporating benches for seating and a display surface for a c ommissioned graphic design series. LentSpace is a free outdoor cultural space open to the public from 7am to dusk, made possible by LMCC.”

Who woulda thunk that Canal and Sixth would become the greenest intersection in town? Photo: Curbed.

Who woulda thunk that Canal and Sixth would become the greenest intersection in town? Photo: Curbed.

The visual arts exhibition curated by LMCC’s curator Adam Kleinman includes work by artists: Olivier Babin, Olga Chernysheva, Eli Hansen & Oscar Tuazon, Graham Hudson, Tobias Putrih, Ryan Taber, and Corban Walker. Opening September 18.

Artful public pissoir

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The City of Victoria unveiled this new public urinal on Friday. It was designed by Vancouver architect Matthew Soules. Sept. 5, 2009. Photo: CTV.ca

The City of Victoria unveiled this new public urinal on Friday. It was designed by Vancouver architect Matthew Soules. Sept. 5, 2009. Photo: CTV.ca

“The urinal is surrounded by about 150 vertical steel green pipes that have been welded together in a curvy design that is meant to evoke the arches in Victoria’s historic buildings, [architect Matthew] Soules said.

“The pipes are spaced apart just enough to let an outsider know if the urinal is being used but still maintain privacy for the user.”

via CTV British Columbia

Success!

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Camille Utterback and Alan H. Davidson installing touch sensitive handrail for interactive light work.

Camille Utterback and Alan H. Davidson installing touch sensitive handrail for interactive light work.

Over the past week, Camille Utterback has been installing her as-yet-untitled (suggestions?) interactive sculptural artwork for the lobby of the Showplace Theaters in The West End, St. Louis Park, MN. It’s all working!

Camille Utterback, untitled interactive artwork, The West End, St. Louis Park, MN

Camille Utterback, untitled interactive artwork, The West End, St. Louis Park, MN

There are 6 tubes with LED lights hanging over the staircase in the lobby of the theater. The LEDs react to people touching the handrails along the balcony. Each touch of a hand rail creates an upward “blip” in the corresponding LED light, which is the color of the rail at that moment. The length of the blip is determined by the duration of touching the rail. If all 6 rails are touched simultaneously, the lights rain down blips.

Camille Utterback, untitled interactive sculpture, The West End.

The balcony railing still needs to be stained, so the touch sensitive sections will not be permanently installed till next week, but it’s all working and ready of for the opening of The West End, which will begin in stages after September 15.

See Alan H. Davidson’s excellent documentation on flickr and previous posts on Public Address.

Art for ransom

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Art for Ransom. A project developed at the student design competition put on by the Art Directors Club of Denver.

Art for Ransom. A project developed at the student design competition put on by the Art Directors Club of Denver.

via

An interesting twis on the various citywide mascot sculptures of: moose, angels, cows, rockfish, pigs, sharks, and … umbrellas.

And…

Dry run with funnoodles

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Dry run installing Camille Utterbacks new project at West End. Photo: Alan H. Davidson.

Dry run installing Camille Utterback's new project at West End. Photo: Alan H. Davidson.

On Monday, Camille used some “funnoodles” to mock up final location of her interactive lighting installation in the theater at the new West End development.

Funnoodles to mock up hanging locations for interactive LED lights. Photo: Alan H. Davidson

Funnoodles to mock up hanging locations for interactive LED lights. Photo: Alan H. Davidson

More pictures here.

Today they install the real thing.

Installing at West End

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Camille Utterback, West End project (studio). Studio before we sent out the lights. The lights are naked as all but one test acrylic tube had already been shipped.

Camille Utterback, West End project (studio). "Studio before we sent out the lights. The lights are 'naked' as all but one test acrylic tube had already been shipped."

Camille Utterback begins installation of her West End project today. I’m excited to go visit and see the installation. They plan to hang some styrofoam pool “funnoodles” as a mockup to lock in the column heights/locations.

Prior site visit photos.

Prior site visit photos.

Here’s a link to a set of photos from a site visit last week checking out the wood railing by Utterback’s collaborator, Brett, who did the engineering on the project.

A good shot of one of the Railing Sensor housings in place.

"A good shot of one of the Railing Sensor housings in place."

Our clear test cable guard (will be stainless steel).

"Our clear test cable guard (will be stainless steel)."

The Commons

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“In this innovative animation, filmmaker Laura Hanna, writer Gavin Browning and video artists/animators Dana Schechter and Molly Schwartz examine the concept of “The Commons” as a means to achieve a society of justice and equality.”

via Postcapital

“Postcapital” is Daniel Garcia Andujar’s blog for his project Postcapital Archive (1989-2001), which will be part of the exhibition FEEDFORWARD: The Angel of History, which I am co-curating with Christiane Paul and opens at LABoral Art and Industrial Creation Centre on October 22.

Get your REFUNC on

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REFUNC is a Netherlands-based studio.

“Garbage architecture is providing a second life for found or thrown-away objects. We operate on the borders of architecture, art and design and create new products from old materials. Origin for designs are found in the object itself, by listening to its own composition, history, or local and social context. We do not start from a design, we need a problem to play with. 3D troubleshooting and creative improvisation with the locally available. Waste materials lead the way to our often unpredictable results. Wherever you can find garbage, we do research and workshops on creative recycling.”

Lowlands Biddinghuizen Netherlands August 2009

REFUNC, CONTAINOSAURUS, Lowlands Biddinghuizen Netherlands August 2009

“We found a place in Holland where not usable windmill wings (for their intended function) were stored and felt that we needed to reuse them. Our idea to create an almost-flying dinosaur-installation in combination with containers hit the Lowlands music festival people on the right place as they are going more industrial.”

REFUNC, KULTFLUX, Vilnius Lithuania july 2008

REFUNC, KULTFLUX, Vilnius Lithuania july 2008

“[F]loating architectural installation to promote the river and its banks as active public spaces Lithuanian cultural platform KULTFLUX invited a group of international students and organized different workshops at and on the river. Intention was to draw attention and activate the river as public space including its banks and concrete promenades.”

REFUNC, PETPALACE, Hoge Woerd, Netherlands September 2008

REFUNC, PETPALACE, Hoge Woerd, Netherlands September 2008

“A public event wanted to follow the principles of “cradle to cradle” and asked us to demonstrate the potential of re-using old plastic water bottles.”

REFUNC, LOWLANDS RETANK 14, biddinghuizen netherlands, august 2008

REFUNC, LOWLANDS RETANK 14, biddinghuizen netherlands, august 2008

“[U]rban scale light installation for music festival lowlands from re-used watertanksanother year another chance. We decided to use the 240 water tanks from our last year’s installation in a completely different way.”

REFUNC, AFRIKA BURNS, karoo desert south africa. november 2007

REFUNC, AFRIKA BURNS, karoo desert south africa. november 2007

“Installation camp based on interaction with the direct context at the burning man regional festival in the desert. materialsUsed car tires from nearest tire shops, transport. Left-over materials from other installations as wood, plastic.”

Secret public spaces

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Instant Coffee, Disco Fallout Shelter

Instant Coffee Disco Fallout Shelter 2009 Concept collage

“Instant Coffee is well known for its relational aesthetics approach to art-making, in which loosely defined social scenarios invite an art experience that blurs the boundaries between artist, participant and viewer. With Disco Fallout Shelter, the group has purposely turned the tables on that all-inclusive mode of working. Instead, the locked doors and mysterious subterranean workings are designed to be overtly exclusive. Sounds emanating from below ground suggest that the spartan interior of a bomb shelter has been transformed into a signature Instant Coffee party centre. This time, though, the catch is that only members of the collective are invited to the artful merrymaking. Viewers can ‘participate’ via an above-ground video kiosk showing (pre-recorded) footage of members ‘playing records, eating spaghetti, dancing, reading, sleeping and just hanging out in the tight confines and under the protective barrier of shelter.'”

via Canadian Art

The inaccessible secret space in a public location also reminds me of Atelier Lishout’s The Good the Band and the Ugly (1998), which was in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden for many years.

"the good, the bad, and the ugly" mobile unit, © atelier van lieshout, 1998 collection walker art center, minneapolis

“The project has two parts. The aluminum and fiberglass trailer, the Art Lab on wheels, which is modern, progressive and technologically advanced. As a space, it is as neutral and flexible as possible. It will allow the users to make it their own space, far from the artist or the institution’s dictate. One could say that the trailer is the pure execution of the commission for the client, the Walker Art Center.”

model, interior view, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

“The black wooden house would be his fantasy, an addition useful for residencies, workshops that stays fixed in the garden. This house could be seen as coming from both the tradition of the pioneer shelter, as well as a kind of mythic movie architecture– a place built out of necessity by a group of friends. The house, like the trailer, is real. It is wired and furnished. Joep van Lieshout modeled the bed, chairs, table and shelves, after Shaker furniture design. The house has secret places, dark corners and in a way is like the killer’s house in Jonathan Demme’s Silence of the Lambs. This would be the ‘bad and ugly’ part of the project. The trailer would be the good part.”

via Shock of the View

SkyDog Projects Open Call to Collaborate

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Conflux Festival Workshop 9/18/09

Attention all digital photographers

As part of the Conflux 2009 festival, SkyDog Projects is organizing a group workshop on Friday September 18th from 7pm to 9pm to capture the energies and geographic dynamism of the Brooklyn East River Waterfront Landscape.

The idea is simple.  To enlist photographers to collectively capture the beauty and rhythms of the lower East River corridor through the use of time lapse photographic techniques.  After the workshop, the participants will be asked to upload their footage to YouTube and register information about the location and URLs of their footage.  Using software developed specifically for the conference, conference members will be allowed to create interactive presentations that will uniquely investigate the various perspectives and energies that were captured.

General Rules

  • This workshop is open to public and available to everyone who is willing to share their final results.
  • Participants will need to have a basic understanding of time lapse photography, their own equipment, and a means of combining and uploading the final movies to YouTube.
  • The goal is collapse the 2 hours of documentation into 2 minute videos.
  • Creativity is encouraged. Photographers should feel free to explore the city and use various lenses, exposures and techniques to capture the various interplay of the cities energies.  
  • General guidelines for the event, including basic information about time lapse photography and some tools that can be used, will be uploaded to SkyDogProjects.com leading up to the event.
  • Have fun! 

instead of hurrying by a construction site

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Rachel Hayes, Rainbow Conversation. Re:Construction Initiative


Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brussels, 1932

Open invitation for the Seventh Art Shanty Projects

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Seeking visual artists, musicians, composers, media artists, architects, poets, scientists, dancer/choreographers, writers, builders, fisher-people, outdoors-people, naturalists, puppeteers, set designers, vocalists, spoken word artists, craftspeople, storytellers, actors, playwrights, etc. interested in participating in the design and construction of ice fishing shanty-like structures, producing engaging projects, art, events and shows on frozen Medicine Lake in Plymouth, MN during January and February 2010.

Application Deadline: October 5, 2009

See Art Shanty Projects 2010 Call for Proposals

Art Shanty, winter 2008

In 2008, Kulture Klub used one of the art shanties to participae in the UnConvention.