vertexlistblog

vertexlist blog is an online extension of vertexList gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The content is a collective effort of artists and curators working with vertexList. (www.vertexlist.net)

Monday, October 30, 2006

"vertexList: An Attempt at Disclosure" in the Journal of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts

My essay about the curatorial concept of vertexList came out in October issue
of the very fancy Journal of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. The whole issue is devoted to Digital Art and various approaches to its preservation in archiving. Below is a short fragment (in English:) with images:

Doug Henderson installing a sound installation in front of the gallery

"I picked the name vertexList because I found the metaphor to be potent and inclusive, not to mention the word itself sounded good. The curatorial philosophy was to follow my theoretical interests of disclosing the hidden codes running behind everything from on-screen images to American war games and social institution. This way I didn’t feel limited to new media only, although new media naturally became the label. The kind of artwork I was looking for opened up the slick surface of things and showed the underlying principles, algorithms and numbers. The focus immediately became “low end”, material residues of digital cultures and revisiting the early days, when computers where still bulky calculators. The ideas developed organically: I realized that low-end digital was more interesting from artistic point of view, didn’t require tremendous budget for cutting-edge technology and was largely underrepresented in the New York art scene. I lined up the first season worth of shows; mostly artists I knew since my MFA times at the University of Pennsylvania and some local Williamsburg/Brooklyn selections. I opted to follow the example of Pierogi and Momenta and do two projects by separate artists at the same time. There was enough space and the mixing of two “crowds” at the opening turned out to be very beneficial for developing artistic relations and connections.

"Breathing Mickey Mouse", Akiko Sakaizumi (mechanical sculpture, digital print on fabric)

I also decided to have music performances with the openings, which added some unique character and brought large audiences. To continue with the general philosophy of vertexList I begun curating chiptune music performances, Game Boy sonic experiments and various, digitally based sound performances. Since October 2003 vertexList hosted Bitshifter, Brian Dewan, Bubblyfish, Receptors, Covox, David Kristian, Glomag, Huaratron, Jengizkhan, Minusbaby, Nullsleep, Role Model and many more.

***

Joe Amrhein, "Spurs Take Assault on Women", acrylic on plaster


The magic arrived sooner than one could expect. After the positive review in the New York Times by Holland Cutter, vertexList was on the map, and I had to somehow keep the momentum. Still barely capable of putting together a proper press release, armed with my cell phone and laptop, I took the challenge and tried to make things as interesting as I could. People arrived to check out the new spot in Williamsburg, most with a fresh copy of the Times rolled under their arm and asking what happened to the Four Walls. Yellow envelops from young artists interested in having their NY debut appeared on my desk, which I just recently found on the streets of Brooklyn. Soon after Steven Miyao, the CEO of Kasina, (a smart e-commerce consulting firm in Manhattan), offered his sponsorship: vertexList received a brand new data projector and funding for all printed materials. All I had to do now is show some good work.

"Mus Muluscus Domesticus", Ernesto Restrepo and Maria Lopez (50 female mice, cameras, projectors, prepared doll houses, toys)

VertexList disclosures took very different formats: anything from an acrylic painting to a sensor based Jitter installation. I tried to proove to my audience and to myself that the digital condition is hidden in the way of thinking, communicating and the medium of its deconstruction is really secondary.
...
Over last 3 years vertexList exhibited solo projects by 32 different artist and collaboratives. The small selection described above is just a sampling of the enormous variety of media, tastes and schools of thought. "

"Explosion", Lee Arnold, acrylic on canvas

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Saturday, October 28, 2006

Book Signing David Sandlin

Painting by Aron Namenwirth














untitled 30 2006 Aron Namenwirth




Printed Matter 195 10th ave. 212.925.0325
David Sandlin Book signing Sat. Nov. 4th 5-7 Wonderfool

Thursday, October 26, 2006

"JEWELRY" by Sakurako Shimizu


The brand new concept-necklace by Sakurako Shimizu is a is a physical representation of the HTML code needed to display word “jewelry” via internet browser. The tags were laser-cut out of
silver nickle.I believe it is the first "online" piece of jewelry! The title actually has the "<>" symbols around it, but the blog won't display it correctly.

Here is an interesting article she wrote for the Snag conference in Chicago:
http://www.klimt02.net/forum/index.php?item_id=5020


Monday, October 23, 2006

Ilan Sandler's big book



Another great Canadian (have I mentioned that Rev. Luke Murphy and Jillian Mcdonald are both proud holders of Canadian passports?) has created some enormous and sexy looking art in Nova Scotia. Ilan has previously erected an equally huge helicopter out of fake dinosaur bones at vertexList. This time it is about language; and here is what Ilan has to say about it on his website:

"The Book is a steel sculpture with two pages torn away from its spine. The spine is perpendicular to the ground, the covers are open, and the pages appear to blow in the wind. From the highway viewers see a book that looks as if it were lifted by the wind and oriented towards a sheet that has already escaped its binding. Because the scale of the book is enlarged, the sculpture becomes anthropomorphized and appears to be performing a choreographed dance with the escaping page. The rigid steel plates look animated because of the pages' articulation as rolling forms suggesting a drama between pages and books, readers and words, languages and alphabets, as well as writers and ideas. From the vantage point of the highway, one can see the sculpture as a representation of a literary struggle: despite the attempt to bind ideas together, a page of thoughts escapes.

Although most books tend to be read from front to back, The Book's gesture can be absorbed by viewers in an instant as they drive by the installation. However, viewers who have an opportunity to get closer to the site will recognize that the holes in the steel pages form clusters of words. The clustered texts link the letters of the Latin alphabet to its predecessors, which include the Phoenician alphabet that emerged from Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Phoenician letters that developed from Egyptian hieroglyphs were used to represent syllabic sounds of Semitic languages dating to approximately 2000 B.C. Carvings of a twenty-two character Phoenician alphabet from 1000 B.C. have been linked to earlier carvings from approximately 1750 B.C. (known as the Wadi el-Hol script) that have been inspired by particular Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Each cluster of letters on the page ripping out of the book are symbols that were developed from architectural and technological innovations. The letters on the freed page were derived from parts of the human body. As light passes through the outlines of the characters in the book their projections continue to change and the letters and symbols shift into forms that are less familiar. The future imprints of text on a page are dependent on their ancestral roots as well as the symbolic languages, codes, and alphabets that are evolving out of our contemporary society. The steel book is a monument poised between eras in the evolution of thought.

Ilan Sandler 2006"




Here is Pertoflight by Ilan with Delmira Valladares' video piece in the background.
I am still amazed we managed to get this monster in and out of vertexList! (I mean the helicopter :) But it was fun, plus all parties involved lost a few pounds during the installation.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Age of Unenlightement at Artmoving tonight

David Sandlin is opening a solo show at Artmoving Projects tonight.
It is a collection of his deliciously disturbing, post-catholic
cartoon style paintings of rotten flesh, guns and strangely familiar
Father-Son duos... Here are some installation shots:


Thursday, October 19, 2006

Satellite Valencia at Pace Digital Gallery ... then on to Spain




Friday, Oct 20th at Pace Digital Gallery we're having brief presentations by artists Tricia McLaughlin (New York), David Yonge (Vancouver), Liselot van der Heijden (New York), Claudia X Valdes (Albuquerque), and Jill Miller (San Francisco), followed by a reception for Satellite Valencia an exhibition of short North American videos, animations, and film curated for the International Video Festival in Valencia Spain.

about the New York event
about the Valencia events

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Luke Murphy's fear of Poo(p)


Some of us fear it. Some of us fully embrace it.
To know more about Rev. Luke Murphy's fears check out his website and a presentation at Brooklyn PolyTech on October 19th as part of the Hyperbolis 3.0 conference. He really is a Reverend, by the way.

remix of 8 BIT trailer by Jim Punk

We like the remix of our trailer better than the original. Check it out:
http://dvblogh4ck.blogspot.com/2006/10/8bit_12.html

thanks Tom Moody for finding this!

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Paul Slocum and Cory Arcangel perform at vertexList


Paul Slocum and Cory Arcangel (two artists featured in 8 BIT) performed last saturday at vertexList. Paul was opening his first NY solo show in conjunction with Rhizome 10th anniversary party. And indeed a party it was!

Cory played
glockenspiel parts he added to Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" (which was funny as hell for those who figured out what was going on, and an interesting pairing with Paul's "Last Chair")


Paul Slocum played some old and some new Commodore 64 pieces; it was amazing stuff and some folks started dancing (which was not easy considerning the room was absolutely full). The music was as usual accompanied by
8 BIT syle demos.




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Sunday, October 15, 2006

8 BIT @ MoMA: we packed the house!


8 Bit documentary premiered on October 07 in MoMa, we screened again on Wednesday the 11th. The premiere sold out, the second screening was pretty close. Most of the cast was present and we got interviewed by ABC News. It was fun to be on the other side of the camera for change!
images:

1.Marcin Ramocki & Justin Strawhand introducing 8 BIT
2.Bubblyfish, Barbara London (the organizer) and Marcin Ramocki after the premiere


3.MoMa T1 theatre before the screening


Some reviews below:
http://vrider.wordpress.com/2006/10/26/8-bit-premiermoma-spotlights-on/

http://www.thereeler.com/features/art_fag_city_video_game_cultur.php
http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2006/10/column_cinema_pixeldiso_8_bit_1.php
http://www.vh1gamebreak.com/2006/10/8bit_the_best_g.html
http://gaygamer.net/index.php?id=1475
http://nyc.flavorpill.net/50740

and interviews:

http://smallworldpodcast.com/?p=529
http://ps1.el.net/podcasts/index.php?id=65
http://www.dvguru.com/2006/10/09/interview-with-co-director-producer-of-video-game-documentary-8/
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2564464



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