Posted inArt

Crossing Brooklyn, Without Leaving the Safe Parts

Let’s begin with the obvious: to attempt a comprehensive exhibition of contemporary art from across Brooklyn would be not only impossible but foolish, a kind of Tower of Babel of artistic practice. And so the Brooklyn Museum’s eagerly awaited Crossing Brooklyn is not a sweeping survey but a tight, thematic show, focused mostly on one specific type of art making manifest throughout the borough.

Posted inArt

Old Favorites and New Surprises at Moving Image

There’s a problem inherent in the basic premise of a video-art fair. On the one hand, it’s refreshing to see artwork at a fair in different media than painting, works on paper, and the occasional sculpture, which are the usual standbys at fairs because they’re easier for a quick sell. On the other, the format doesn’t really suit video art, because fairs are not designed for extended looking. While it feels like an increasingly glaring omission these days to not see more multimedia work at fairs, there’s also reason why that’s the case.

Posted inArt

Want To See the Future of Sundance? Checkout the Abandoned Lumberyard

PARK CITY, Utah — Behind the shopping plaza location of the press-and-industry screening hub known as the Holiday Village Cinemas and tucked behind the celebrity favorite restaurant Blind Dog stands Park City’s shuttered Anderson’s Lumberyard. Recently remade by local businessman Mark Fisher as a music venue called The Yard, the sprawling warehouses turn into the trans-media exhibition space New Frontier The Yard for the 10-day Sundance Film Festival.

Posted inArt

Always Social: Getting Noticed (2008-2010), Part Two

The most striking aspect of social media art is that it contains facets of net.art, by being digital; visual art, by existing on a two-dimensional surface; public art, by existing in spaces used habitually by hundreds of millions of people; and performance art, by being inherently social. Whether the aggregate is greater than its sum remains to be seen …

Posted inArt

Always Social: Social Media Art (2004-2008), Part One

Some time in 2004, I logged onto Facebook for the very first time. My alma mater was one of the few allowed coveted access to the Harvard-originated social network. I filled out a profile, uploaded a picture and began adding friends. A coast away, Tim O’Reilly coined the term “Web 2.0” … Computers and the Internet, after decades of association with nerds and misfits, were on the brink of mainstream cool.

Posted inOpinion

A Urinal Is a Urinal Is a Urinal

How many urinals by Marcel Duchamp are there? Turns out there are at least 17. Greg Allen of Greg.org points out that fact and takes the piss [sorry, couldn’t resist] out of Washington Post critic Blake Gopnik for his recent review of “Stolen Pieces” (1995-97) at Postmasters’ Reality is Overrated show by Eva and Franco Mattes. It’s amazing that Duchamp’s “original” idea continues to inspire artists and discussion.