RESET/PLAY in Austin

RESET/PLAY
September 6 – November 2, 2008

Cory Arcangel
Beat the Champ (Sega Genesis Championship Bowling: Dana), 2008
installation with hacked Sega Genesis game controller
dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist and Team Gallery, New York, NY

The video game as a medium and a style of life has reached its middle age along with the first generation of people who grew up playing them. The non-linear, interactive, processor based narratives, which at first mimicked Hollywood and struggled to convey their simple content with 8-bit processors, gradually became the largest entertainment industry in the history of electronic media. RESET/PLAY is an exhibition attempting a critical exploration of contemporary art inspired by video games. Questioning the history, control mechanisms, political and art-historical implications of electronic games, RESET/PLAY assembles a formidable group of international artists who made a significant impact on this growing post-game artistic sub-genre. Artists include Cory Arcangel, Michael Bell-Smith, Mike Beradino, Brody Condon, Alex Galloway, JODI, Guthrie Lonergan, Kristin Lucas, Joe McKay, Michael Smith, Eddo Stern and Keita Takahashi.

Brody Condon
Judgment Modification (After Memling), 2008
self-playing video game
Courtesy of the artist and Virgil de Voldère Gallery, New York, NY

Talking Art with RESET/PLAY guest curators Marcin Ramocki and Paul Slocum

Saturday, September 6, 3:00 pm

RESET/PLAY is organized for Arthouse by guest curators Marcin Ramocki and Paul Slocum, both of whom are practicing media artists who also run independent spaces in Brooklyn and Dallas, respectively, that focus on media art. The exhibition will be accompanied by an 8-bit music and film festival co-organized by the Austin Museum of Digital Art.

Hustle is Capital: vertexList in Miami

vertexList booth/space in Fountain, Miami

vertexList booth/space in Fountain, Miami, 2

vertexList booth/space in Fountain, Miami, 3
We featured works by JODI, Paul Slocum, Ernesto Restrepo, Maria Adelaida Lopez, Joe McKay, Charles Beronio ("Hustle is Capital" banner), Cj Yeh, Brice Brown, Jillian Macdonald, Eteam and Aron Namenwirth.

Treewave performance during the reception party.


Lance Wakeling/Canary Magazine performance: bootleg press passes!

"..When you ask Jeannette Romeu, Galaxy Girl what style of painting do you do?
She simply always replies: "I paint Music"!...


By far the best thing seen in Miami, rock on Jeannette!

Announcing: vertexList in Fountain

vertexList has the pleasure to announce our participation in Fountain Miami.

We will be bringing new media works by JODI, Paul Slocum, Ernesto Restrepo, CJ Yeh, Brice Brown, Joe McKay and many more. Don't miss the live Treewave performance on friday, Dec 07th, during the opening party (10 pm) and the ongoing press-pass project by Lance Wakeling.

• Fountain is the independent art fair pioneered by cutting-edge galleries in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Fountain Miami 2007 features 14 galleries from Brooklyn, San Francisco and Miami and takes place December 06–09 in a 10,000 sq.ft. warehouse in Wynwood.

• Location

  2841 NW 2nd Avenue, Miami FL 33127, on the corner of 29th Street in the Wynwood district.

“Fountain Miami” is a guerrilla-style art fair - under the radar, but highly influential. “Fountain” was launched in March 2006 in New York, in an effort to leverage support for independent galleries largely overlooked by corporate-sponsored art fairs. In defiant contrast with both Art Basel Miami Beach, Pulse, Scope and the slew of other International art fairs, “Fountain” has received wide public support and critical acclaim for its independent slant. This independent aspect gives Fountain its edge: young galleries showcasing fresh work without official booth spaces or selection committee juries.

Fountain Miami is currently featuring the galleries: Ad Hoc Art, Bipolart, Buenas Artes, Capla Kesting Fine Art, Front Room Gallery, Steven Gagnon, Gitana Rosa, Glowlab, Grace Exhibition Space, Like The Spice, McCaig-Welles Gallery, Miguel Paredes, VertexList and Yum Yum Factory. Special guest appearances to be announced.

Come and experience the unfiltered, uncouth and enterprising excitement of Fountain. See advanced art as it was meant to be seen – without blinders, without “taste merchants” – straight from the source.

Media Contacts: David Kesting 917.650.3760 or John Leo 917.292.8865.

Joe McKay - interview

Joe McKay's "Loss of Signal" made a video appearance on Deutsche Bank art website.
The short interview/document was created by Franziska Lamprecht (Eteam)

"loss of signal" opening

Here is a nice picture of the installation before people started trickling in. Matt Freedman checking out "One Panda (For Matt Freedman)".

Joe McKay explaining how to use his art.

A little "Cellphone Piano" hardcore punk rock improvisation. Joe is on the lead, I am "drumming".

Another after-party at Fanny's, thanks Stephan!

art talks Sept 10 - Marina Zurkow + Joe McKay

Pace Digital Gallery is pleased to host an evening with 2 new media artists - Marina Zurow and Joe McKay.

Monday Sept 10, 6:30pm. Room 313, 163 William Street (between Beekman and Ann Streets), New York, NY, 10038.
This event is free and open to the public, please join us!
inquiries: jmcdonald2 at pace.edu | click for more info, map, directions


::Marina Zurkow creates animated, psychologically infused narratives, which push cartoons beyond the classic perpendicular screen into physical environments. These have at times been interactive, embedded in objects, embodied as mascots; exhibited on multi-screens, DVD, mobile devices, and as immersive installations. Her investigations into character, nonlinear fictions, site, and audience all use pop languages as a conduit to deeper social engagement. Zurkow is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and currently teaches at NYU.


:: Joe McKay is an artist who makes work with and about digital culture. McKay will discuss his recent works, "Cell Phone Sculptures" and "Sunset Solitaire", on the occasion of "Loss of Signal", a solo show at VertexList Gallery, opening on September 7th. McKay is currently in residence at the Headlands Center For the Arts in San Francisco.

Cell phone sculptures by Joe McKay@ VertexList

VertexList space has the pleasure to present “loss of signal”, a solo exhibition
by the new media artist Joe McKay.

A reception will take place on Friday, September 7th 2007 from 7pm - 10pm, with the artist in attendance. The exhibition will be on display until Sunday, October 7th, 2007.

Live demonstration of the “cell phone piano” @ the opening reception.

Joe McKay is an artist/hacker who makes work with and about digital culture. McKay grew up in Ontario, Canada and got his MFA from UC Berkeley. In 2001 McKay participated of the Whitney Independent Study Program and had a two-person collaborative exhibition with Kristin Lucas titled "The Electric Donut". In 2004 Joe had his first solo show at VertexList in Williamsburg, New York. He has shown his work in the Berkshire museum, the National Gallery of Canada, the ICA in San Jose, the Pacific Film Archive, and the New Museum.

Works on display at VertexList include brand new projects including “Cell Phone Sculptures” (an installation Involving crazy contraptions made from old discarded cell phones) and “Sunset Solitaire” (In this performance/video Joe wrote a program that lets him mix the sunset live. He then projects from his computer onto a garage door behind his studio). Also on display UFO 1-7 (manipulated photographs).

Cell phones are contentious little machines. We depend on them to contact our loved ones, or the tow truck. But we hate them too. They make us look silly when they ring during a movie or an artist talk. We both love and resent how connected they make us to everyone else with a cell phone.

So the day you get a new cell phone is a complicated one. The new phone has bells and whistles and good reception – it is without a doubt a "better" phone. But what happens to the object you kept in your pocket all those months, the little machine that vibrated against your thigh and played Santana when your best friend was calling? Do you drive it to Circuit City and toss it into their cell phone recycling bin, telling yourself that you were uneasy about discarding your phone for environmental reasons, and not emotional ones? Or do you leave it in your junk drawer next to your very first cell phone, which still produces a tinge of guilt.The cell phone sculptures give these old phones a second life. Torn apart and recontextualized – they perform new functions. A dog-chewed phone gets to show off its beautiful broken display. Two flip phones become telegraph sounders. Four phones combine to make a musical keyboard. And so on.

In Sunset Solitaire, I perform a one man game with the setting sun. The sunset has a decided advantage, it has access to all the colours that the human eye can distinguish, and a horizon that stretches forever. I have access to a four year old Eiki projector, an old Macintosh laptop with specialized hardware, and the side of a barn. But I have skills, and give the sunset a good run for its money. The game lasts for 35 minutes, starting at a point when there is so much light that the projector does not make much of an image, to complete darkness. In between there are some moments when I come pretty close.

The piece was performed over five nights in the Fall of 2006, facing San Francisco bay. After each night I would re-write the software for the next attempt. I filmed the performance on the fifth night.

http://homepage.mac.com/joester5/art/