Marina Fokidis text in the Situation a book by MIT Press

Situation—a unique set of conditions produced in both space and time and ranging across material, social, political, and economic relations—has become a key concept in twenty-first-century art.

Artist's include: Vito Acconci, Allora & Calzadilla, Francis Alÿs, Carl Andre, ADaniel Buren, Victor Burgin, Janet Cardiff, Center for Land Use Interpretation, Tacita Dean, Elmgreen & Dragset, Andrea Fraser, Dan Graham, Liam Gillick, Douglas Huebler, Bethan Huws, Pierre Huyghe, Robert Irwin, Emily Jacir, Ilya Kabakov, Leopold Kessler, Ligna, Richard Long, Gordon Matta-Clark, Graeme Miller, Jonathan Monk, Robert Morris, Gabriel Orozco, Walid Ra’ad, Raqs Media Collective, Paul Rooney, Martha Rosler, Richard Serra, Situationist International, Tony Smith, Robert Smithson, Vivan Sundaram, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lawrence Weiner, Rachel Whiteread, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Qiu Zhijie

Writers include: Wim Beeren, Josephine Berry Slater, Daniel Birnbaum, Ava Bromberg, Susan Buck-Morss, Michel de Certeau, Douglas Crimp, Gilles Deleuze, T. J. Demos,T hierry de Duve, Charles Esche, Graeme Evans, Marina Fokidis, Hal Foster, Hou Hanrou, Brian Holmes, Mary Jane Jacob, Vasif Kortun, Miwon Kwon, Lu Jie, Doreen Massey, James Meyer, Ivo Mesquita, Brian O’Doherty, Craig Owens, Irit Rogoff, Peter Weibel

AllDayDoingNothing.com at the Fischerspooner World Tour

check AllDayDoingNothing.com (2006) here

On the Silver Couch: Nikola Tosic

My friend: athlete and artist Nikola Tosic via Skype


check on his blog about this blog post here

Tldog

Click here to play with this dog
via Raphael Bastide's Twitter

"The Temple of Truth" at The Angelo Foundation Headquarters

Inside the Temple of Truth we created with Andreas: places for a hyper relaxation,



from the Perfect High to the Lower inner-self,



a moment where things can disappear for a while,



a happy total eclipse.

A Jeu de Paume project, next stage end of June 2009
http://www.theangelofoundationheadquarters.com

My interview to Vicious Vitamins for Surveillance exhibition

Untitled(sponge), 2009, InternationalPortraitGallery.com

Untitled(shop), 2009, InternationalPortraitGallery.com

Untitled(rock), 2009, InternationalPortraitGallery.com

Regarding your work on the web, what does the web-domain address mean to you as an artist? Given that millions of people can visit and print your work on website, do you see the web domainaddress as the materialization of your drawing and programming work?
The web-domain address is the title of my pieces, this is where they exist too. When I register a .com title I immediately become the owner of a unique web domain. Although it can be reproduced and can be seen from every computer in the planet, it still belongs to me and exists in a unique location, so these works are unique. I find this intriguing and subversive. I always have to think a title depending on their domain availability. When these websites are sold to collectors I transfer the domain ownership to them. The certificate of authenticity I give of this work is a print out of this legal procedure with my signature. Then the collector is responsible for the maintenance of the site like paying hosting fees, etc, the same way that he had to pay storage for a painting or sculpture. So at the end you “treat” a website as any other piece of art.

Could you please explain what kind of work you have made on social networking web site and what it means?
The Angelo Foundation is a series of projects that I am having fun doing, like for example the impact of the internet in our culture. It is a project that mainly uses Facebook as it’s main communication tool to make events, art exhibitions, fund raisings, charities, protests etc. Every board of directors’ member has its own profile. For example one of the Board members conceived a funny way to bring people to donate money. He conducted an auction on Ebay.com by selling Donation Certificates. These certificates are in edition of 20 signed by me, and they get you access and special benefits to events and functions of the foundation. Also you can frame it and hang it on your wall. The campaign on Facebook really worked because we sold some editions to different people we did not know and we used the money for different missions.

Is the Angelo Foundation a mockery of traditional signs of authority? Do you demonstrate here that the virtual could potentially not replace the real world but actually become reality and take over the world?
I always wanted to play with the idea of a foundation because they are always so serious and ceremonial. I looked at religious or political organizations but also artist’s foundations. I admire the foundations the same way I admire many other hierarchical structures such as countries, kingdoms, royal families, parades, political parties. They are like kindergardens for grownups. The art world system is ruled by very hierarchical regulations too, though they usually pretend to be very casual and artistic and even alternative, when in fact they are as precise as a Swiss bank. The internet is totally the opposite from all these things. It is totally non-ritual, non-regal, nonprecise and non bureaucratic. Everybody can become famous while at home in his/hers pyjamas. Everybody can create his own “kingdom” now with no hierarchies. I am very interested in this paradox and I want to present it, so yes my foundation maybe mocks the establishment, it can actually become the establishment and dominate the world!

Does the International Portrait Gallery project intend to demonstrate that security cameras will never see everything and that the artists will always find a solution to express themselves regardless of the environment?
Since I was a kid I was always finding things that look like faces around me. It was like playing Hide and Seek and being watched all the time. Later when I became an artist I decided that these little creatures were still very interesting and still had the same effect on me so I decided to capture them or even stage some of them. Nowadays we live in another kind of Hide and Seek, a less imaginative one. I am trying to subvert authoritarian surveillance with using the internet as my main medium for expression and research. Either in good or bad times the world is full of challenges for artists.

To which extent does your work relate to surveillance and public security measures?
Surveillance has a more meaningful approach in our connected -everyday reality. Regardless the imposed security measures, we as persons are becoming surveillance machines. When for example, we are looking persistently at somebody’s Facebook profile to see what’s their status or what new photos they uploaded. Our attitude is becoming more and more sneaky. We are also deliberately invade our own privacy. We almost live in front of a crowd, google is watching us, we basically have an audience and finding new ways to deal with this. Many of my works are inspired by this mind-set and have hidden messages of surveillance, to name few -apart from the International Portrait Gallery, the MeLookingAtYou.com , IWantToBeAMachine.com where intimacy, subtle presence and observation are really take a big part in their meaning.

Is the gallery space a way to materialize and monetize your work or is it really an important component of your work?
The gallery space for me is some kind of reward event, both socially and financially. It is also important place for the promotion and support of the work. But to be honest my work starts being exhibited the moment I launch it online so a gallery space is not an important component for exhibiting it. When I started doing websites I never imagined that they would be exhibited in gallery spaces. At the end it is really great meeting people real time and of course I love covering real spaces with the internet.

http://viciousvitamins.blogspot.com/

Soccer Balls

Close encounters

Today: At the architecture school of Volos at 6pm

I will be speaking today at 6pm at the School of Architecture in Volos
invited by Aristides Antonas

On the Silver Couch: Cay Sophie Rabinowitz

Cay Sophie Rabinowitz

Paint and Face

On the Silver Couch: Rebecca Camhi with Dora Filippou

Rebecca Camhi with Dora Filippou

Liquid Sky (1982)

Liquid Sky is an independent film, shot in 1982 and directed by Slava Tsukerman. It features an "explosion" of provocative scenes such as drug use and necrophilia, hyper fashion shows, set design and a trippy soundtrack.

Queer Zines: a nice book dedicated to cool faggotry

Queer Zines: a book curated by Philip Aarons and AA Bronson, with Alex Gartenfeld
(buy it from here)

**I could not resist retyping the following text from Agony Fanzine**

WHY HOMOS ARE BETTER
(A masterpiece of Investigate Journalism in Two Parts)
published in Agony 2

As we all know throughout the ages most great artists, musicians, philosophers, scientists, athletes have been homosexual. A few prominent examples include Oscar Wilde, Mother Teresa, Salvador Dali, Charles Baudelaire, Albert Einstein, Jean Genet, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Joe Montana. On the other hand common laborers, garage mechanics, account executives, politicians and criminals are almost exclusively heterosexual. Heroes also make great clerks and bank tellers. However bear in mind that occasionally a heterosexual will invent something really neat and useful to society, like the atomic bomb. It is easy to see that for the most part, heteros are either criminals or the insignificant cogs in society’s machine who must do the unimportant drudge work due to their own inherent genetic inferiority.
In fact Heterosexual’s repulsive and unnatural “lifestyles”, and their traditional role as proletarian or “breeders” in today’s society, is so pervasive that many people believe now that the hetero “lifestyle” is actually an acceptable and desirable way of life! Just like worker bees, most heterosexuals must live and work in nearly identical environments (tract houses, factories, office buildings) in order to best utilize their limited potential as workers in society’s “swarm”. Fortunately this means that homos can thus be freed to do the important work of the world, much like queen bees. In fact, heteros acknowledge this fact by sometimes referring to effeminate male homosexuals (a small minority on the Queer Population) as “queens”. Because they are genetically inferior, heterosexuals generally all strive to lead their lives in an identical manner. In fact, there is a distinct pattern which most of these people follow, allowing the astute individual to detect heterosexuality in even the cleverest of disguises.
Early in their lives, hets must receive special training to prepare them for a future of boring and repetitive het jobs. This is popularly called “school” and serves the purpose of getting the young heterosexual used to sitting in the same place for eight or ten hours at a time while performing meaningless, ritualized tasks. After “school”, young heterosexuals are programmed to spend several years living in somewhat densely populated area (East Side, Northridge Lakes, etc) in order to find a mate suitable for breeding-hence the popular derisive term,” breeders”. After finding an “acceptable” mate, the young heterosexuals begin searching for a suitable area to spawn, much like many other species of low origin. Suitable spawning areas might typically be called “subdivision”, townhouses in Brookfield” or in rare cases, “Juneau Village”. Once this process is completed, the unpleasant (but necessary) cycle of reproduction can take place. If the heterosexual couple produce two offspring (about average nowadays), then this means that their chance of producing a superior homosexual is only about 20%, or just one in five. Imagine enduring years of dirty diapers, sticky furniture, Cub Scout meetings and having sex with the same person over and over again-only to find out that you have failed, and that none of your offspring are homosexual. This is quite “common” but somehow does not thwart the stalwart (yet unintelligent) heteros. In fact, frustration and shame over their shallow “gene pools” failure to produce a homosexual often drives the couples to divorce and remarry at a rapid rate. The slightly increases their chances of producing a superior, queer child. As bleak as things seem, do not feel sorry for these people. Even if their offspring are inferior (as they in most cases: almost 90% of all babies born today will grow up to be breeders), the heteros have several diversions such as barbecues, television, and pop music to comfort and distract them until they die.

The Pirate Bay is not gonna pay!

International Portrait Gallery photos at Surveillance exhibition

Affirmation Arts is pleased to announce Surveillance, a group show curated by Rachel D. Vancelette, featuring artists: Yasmine Chatila, Tomory Dodge, Jeffrey Gibson, Charles Harlan, Shin il Kim, Caitlin Maloney, and Angelo Plessas.

"Surveillance" is defined as "close or vigilant watch over someone or something,"' and derives, by way of the French veiller, from the Latin term vigilare, meaning "to keep watch." Artists have historically been the gatekeepers of society's public accounts, and today they continue to mirror our daily lives. Whether it is through the Internet, virtual social networking, photography, painting, or multimedia-based technologies, artists are always interrupting and interpreting the reality of today's information age.

Surveillance presents the diverse studio practices of seven artists who remind us all that they are indeed keeping watch over this explosive and public exchange of information. In recent years the continual bombardment of virtual information has radically transformed the world, and these artists are among those who are constantly redefining its boundaries and content. The necessity and proliferation of surveillance techniques have become a large part of our everyday lives. Whether or not our society at large is conscious of these invasions and observations, it is clear that this diverse group of artists is engaging and addressing these critical issues.

In an age where the excess of information has produced false, invasive, and voyeuristic avenues in both the private and public domain, these artists remind us of the daily observation, private moments, intimate encounters, and public cyberworld of virtual activities. Multiple conceptual vocabularies of art are coming full circle with the use of new technologies and materials. These artists are employing both traditional and nontraditional techniques, evoking a transformative intervention while providing a gateway for the viewer's engagement.

On the Silver Couch: Lily Ludlow

Dance nostalgia on a Sunday morning

Robot dancing- all my favourite





The amazing world of Sensus



and some 80's uk disco

The Angelo Foundation headquarters at Jeu de Paume Museum in Paris

still from the Angelo Foundation Headquarters






AP, Jeu de Paume curator Maria Ines Rodriguez, AA



here with Jeu de Paume director Marta Gili



Musac's Agustin Perez Rubio with AA



here with lovely Agathe Snow




Christel Tsilibaris, MIR, AA and Eleni Gatsou




Lisa Rovner and Tolo Canellas



Patrice de Franchi with Tolo



Scott Treleaven and Paul P.


with Yi Zhou



Tolo or Shirin



chez Yi



at the dinner



then at the afterparty at Chacha Andreas with Blair Taylor



Teodore, the heart of club Chacha



Model Alla



Andrea Crews fashion designer with AA



I love this DJ

"The Angelo Foundation: The Headquarters" is a collaboration between artist Angelo Plessas and architect Andreas Angelidakis. click for link here or here

The Angelo Foundation is a sprawling multipart project by Plessas, and in this collaboration with Angelidakis they attempt to give physical architectural form to this complex set of propositions. As this random multiplex takes shape, it will be gradually inhabited by various programmatic interventions.

Tonight: Lily Ludlow at Rebecca Camhi gallery

Lily Ludlow in front of one of her works