BOOK | DIY: The Rise of Lo-Fi Culture

by Amy Spencer

A well informed study that champions the unsung heroes and heroines of DIY distribution in art, music, literary zines and culture.

This exploration of lo-fi culture traces the origin of the DIY ethic to the skiffle movement of the 1950s, mail art, Black Mountain poetry and Avant-Garde art in the 1950s, the punk scene of the 1970s and 80s, right the way through to the current music scene. Through interviews with key writers, promoters and musicians (including Bikini Kill and Bratmobile) Amy charts the development of music outside of the publicity machine of the large companies, and examines the politics behind the production of the many 'home-made' recordings and publications available today.

Amy Spencer is a former zine writer and record label founder who is part of the promotions collective The Bakery. She is currently studying for a PhD in Contemporary London Literature.

Info:
http://www.marionboyars.co.uk/Amy%20individual%20book%20info/DIY.html

PUBLICATION | Vulture Magazine

Vulture Magazine is a new magazine produced by six young Brisbane-based writers, journalists and designers: Sofie Ham (editor), Benjamin Law (editor), Kirsten Mort (advertising manager), Talina McKenzie (sub-editor), Lisette Ogg (creative manager) and Nicholas Sellars (art director). The group banded together early 2004 to create an outlet that would exclusively showcase, nurture and profile local talent in Brisbane.

Vulture is supported by Brisbane City Council and UNESCO. Help launch issue one at Brisbane Powerhouse New Farm on July 15. With live music, fashion by local, independent designers White Rabbit, Nelson Molloy, Limedrop, Necking (jewellery) and Suzanne Smith. More live acts to be confirmed very soon!

Info:
editors@vulture.com.au
http://www.vulture.com.au

RESIDENCY | Power Institute Studio Residency

A Paris studio residency for Australian artists and art critics.

The Cite Internationale des Arts in the Rue de L'Hotel de Ville, in the Marais quarter of Paris, was opened in the early 1960s. It provides studio accommodation for foreign and provincial art students, including musicians, painters, sculptors and graphic artists. One of the first decisions of the Power Institute was the purchase of a studio for the use of Australian artists. Each year the Institute offers scholarships which enable artists to take up residencies in its studio in the heart of Paris.

The artist chosen may be in any of the fields of the visual arts including performance, video and multimedia art and at any level of his/her profession. The Cite is not designed primarily for students but rather for the artist who wishes to spend time in Paris and whose career will be strongly influenced by a stay in Paris. The committee appointed by the University to consider applications is looking for a professional practising artist. Such an artist may be a beginner of unusual talent or someone who is already recognised and well advanced in his/her profession. The artist nominated will be screened by a review board of the Cite to ensure that he/she is indeed a professional.

The artist selected for a given studio will pay no rent during his/her occupancy but merely an operational charge which covers electricity, heating and running costs of the studio. Currently this charge is 274 Euros per month for one person or 348,50 Euros per month for two persons, payable to the Cite. The University of Sydney provides a grant of $7,500 to contribute towards the cost of a stay of six months and half that value for a three-month stay.

In addition to the above, the Power Institute also offers each year a three month period to an art critic, art writer, art curator, art historian or art administrator. Applicants should be practising art critics, art writers, art curators, art historians or art administrators who have completed basic undergraduate training or equivalent, who can demonstrate an initial level of innovation and accomplishment in their field, who exhibit the promise of substantial and distinctive achievement, and who can describe the expected benefits from the award.

Applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents and the ability to speak French would be an advantage but is not essential.

Closes: 25 July 2005

Info:
power.institute@arts.usyd.edu.au
http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/arthistory/power

ARTICLE | Change of Art

by Valerie Lawson
Source: Sydney Morning Herald

There's something rotten in the state of the arts on Australia television. With no regular prime-time program, arts-hungry viewers have few options: the cable channel Ovation, a couple of regular programs on SBS, and one-off programs dotted through the ABC schedule, with three hours of uninterrupted programming on Sunday.

Read the full article online at:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv--radio/change-of-art/
2005/06/25/1119321938377.html?oneclick=true

JOURNAL | PAJ

PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art
Editors: Bonnie Marranca and Gautam Dasguptavisit

PAJ charts new directions in performance, video, installations, drama, dance, media, film, and music, integrating theatre and the visual arts. For nearly three decades, PAJ has been praised for publishing independent critical thought and cutting-edge explorations in the form of artists' writings, essays, interviews, reviews, performance texts and plays.

In 2006 PAJ celebrates thirty years of publication with special features throughout the year on New York; the current state of performance; writing for the theatre; looking back and looking forward; global culture; and media and performance.

Info:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/paj

ARTICLE | Blogs as marketing ...

A report in the LA Times, by Chris Lee, reveals that 'making of' weblogs are the latest trend in film marketing. They have the affect of drawing in fans and generating interest in new productions.

Here's an extract from the report: In April, Peter Jackson, director of the big-budget remake of "King Kong," broadcast his plans to expand the ape epic (due in theaters this December) into a trilogy of films. But his "exclusive announcement" wasn't delivered through the usual channels — the obligatory press release or television interview. News came via his video production diary on the fan website kongisking.net. Using his weekly weblog, Jackson presented digital mock-ups and demonstrated motion capture technology to be used in the sequel, intercut with an interview with its star, Naomi Watts. Most alarming to "Kong" purists, however, were details about the second installment, "Son of Kong": Kong's spawn, a gigantic albino gorilla with machine guns mounted on his back, would battle genetically mutated Nazis during World War II.

Read the entire article online at:
http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/cl-ca-
directorsblogs12jun12,0,2748311.story?coll=cl-calendar

ARTICLE | Hacks and Flacks: The State of Arts Criticism

by Martha Bayles
Source: Arts Journal

Columbia University reported Monday that it is closing its well known National Arts Journalism Program. AJ helmsman Doug McLennan and fellow blogger Jan Herman have been posting insightful commentary about this, and the LA Times has published a long piece about the decline of traditional criticism ... The overriding problem is what linguist Deborah Tannen calls "the argument culture": the media’s habit of framing every topic as a highly polarized debate between two extremes, even when this is not appropriate. This has a distorting effect on many issues, including the arts. Just think about the quality of discussion, even among reputable critics, on issues like government funding of the arts; violence in entertainment; censorship and the Internet; and the "canon" in the humanities.

Read the full blog entry online at:
http://www.artsjournal.com/popcorn/#100359

ARTICLE | Beyond Criticism

by Nancy Levinson
Source: Arts Journal

Arts criticism has been pronounced dead so often that it seems reasonable to wonder whether the latest pulse-taking, in the Los Angeles Times, might be prematurely gloomy. But Critical Condition, by reporter Scott Timberg, was uncomfortably convincing in its glum prognosis. How could it not be, when Dave Hickey, one of our most soulful and successful critics, author of the gorgeous Air Guitar, goes on record with his blunt assessment of the irrelevance of the role: "I do think that we're over. Being an art critic was one of those jobs like nighttime disk jockey or sewing machine repairman: It was a one- or two-generation job . . . I'm like Wolfman Jack. The times have passed me by."

Read the entire article online at:
http://www.artsjournal.com/pixelpoints/#100515

ARTICLE | More on NAJP

Cutbacks End Columbia's Arts Journalism Program
by Simi Horwitz

"Nothing that happens in a university is necessary," says Nicholas Lemann, dean of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. "If Columbia were destroyed in a terrorist attack, life would go on. The real question isn't 'Is a particular program necessary?' but rather 'How does it add value?' And the National Arts Journalism Program was valuable in marrying craft and knowledge in a setting that has access to the arts capital, the best arts journalists, and the rest of Columbia University. The NAJP gave arts journalists context, which helped them understand specifics."

Read the entire article online at:
http://www.backstage.com/backstage/news/
article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000954178

PUBLICATION | SMS & Frieze

Sign up for the frieze SMS text messaging service and receive free recommendations, news and information during the Venice Biennale. Expect 3-4 messages a day. To sign up email admin@frieze.com with your name and mobile number, including country code. The text messaging service is free of charge. Most network providers will not charge you for receiving text messages but we are advised that some may. Please check with your network provider in advance, as we cannot be held responsible for any unforeseen charges.

The latest issues of frieze issue 92 is out now. Jennifer Higgie asks what is slowness in art, and Steven Stern conducts an in-depth survey of the work of Allen Ruppersberg. Other features include Benjamin Weissman on Frances Stark, Chris Berry on Yang Fudong and Edward Allington on Ian Wilson's 'discussions'. Plus, Norman Bryson examines 'Art Since 1900', Alex Farquharson asks if criticism has lost its influence to curating and Francesco Bonami and Charles Esche debate the rise of the biennial.

Info:
http://www.frieze.com

NETWORK | Project Syndicate

Project Syndicate is an international association of 226 newspapers in 107 countries, devoted to the following objectives:
:: bringing distinguished voices from around the world to informed national audiences so as to create a global forum for broadening debate and exchanging ideas;
:: strengthening the independence of newspapers in post-communist and developing countries through a variety of training programs;
:: fostering professional links among member papers.

Info:
http://www.project-syndicate.org

PUBLICATION | Framework: The Finnish Art Review

Framework: The Finnish Art Review
Issue 3 / June 2005: Truthfulness: Objectivity/Subjectivity
Launching event at Campo di Santa Margherita, Dorsoduro, Venice on 9 June 2005 at 9.30-11 pm.

Info:
FRAME Finnish Fund for Art Exchange
info@frame-fund.fi
http://www.frame-fund.fi

PUBLICATION | Site

SITE is an interdisciplinary magazine devoted to the arts, philosophy, architecture, politics and film.

"Site indicates a kind of indeterminacy, which perhaps is what characterizes the contemporary moment more than anything else - an indeterminacy concerning the relations among the arts and their respective borders; concerning the relation among art, philosophy, and politics; concerning the very sense of what we persist in calling 'tradition'." The Editors

Distributors: Norway Astrup Fearnley Museet and Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo; Germany Bucherbogen, Savignyplatz, and Pro Qm, Berlin; Sweden Uppsala Konstmuseum, Index, Malmo Konsthall, Moderna Museets, Konst-ig, Hedengrens in Stockholm and Tidskriftsbutiken, Malmo; Turkey BOOKSTR, Istanbul; U.S.A. Printed Matter, NY

Info:
info@sitemagazine.net
http://www.sitemagazine.net

ARTICLE | Writing on Spec ...

The Dangers of Writing on Spec
By Deborah Straw

[Extract] Over the last two years, an increasing number of magazines seem only to want to look at articles submitted by writers on spec. Is this because there are too many writers pitching ideas, so editors want the freedom to be able to pick and choose the best possible products at the last minute? Are there are so many wannabes willing to write for nothing for the thrill of being published? This business of writing on spec may work out for the publisher, but it is bad news for the writer. My advice, based on a 20-year-publishing career, is generally not to write on spec.

Writing on speculation means that you have a deadline, you have a word count, and you have an approximate pay schedule. Everything is in place except the promise to publish and pay. Beginning writers often have to write on spec to prove their mettle. Many of us are willing to do this once or twice to break in. We need clips to enable us to get into large circulation papers or magazines. Note, I said, we're willing to do this, once or twice.

Read the article online at:
http://www.poewar.com/archives/2005/03/06/dangers-spec

PUBLICATION | Progetto Arte - Journal 9

Message, Advertising and Distribution for a responsible publishing model

Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto has just published the ninth edition of its annual publication Progetto Arte - Journal, reporting on the activities of Cittadellarte’s offices through texts and colour images, together with interviews of artists, critics and curators, who collaborated to projects and events organised by Cittadellarte. Among the others, Hans Ulrich Obrist, curator at Musèe d'Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris, Massimo Melotti, critic and expert in Cultural Communication, Demetrio Paparoni, writer and art critic, Mario Cristiani, President of Associazione Arte Continua, Stefano Chiarini, journalist, expert in Middle-East issues, Thierry Fabre, writer and editor at La Penséè de Midi, Anna Adriani, External Relations Director at Illycaffè, Cloe Piccoli, art critic and independent curator, and unpublished texts by Michelangelo Pistoletto.

Progetto Arte - Journal is printed on bio-degradable and recyclable paper Alga Favini, made from seaweed of the venetian Laguna: a social responsible edition, not only in its contents, but also in its own forms. Moreover, the present edition inaugurates a responsible advertising and distribution form, aiming to transform the traditional models of marketing and advertisement, and to contribute to the diffusion of an ethical dimension, starting from the economical and cultural world, towards the advertising world.The publication, in Italian and English language, is on sale at the bookshop in Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto and at authorised sellers.

Info:
redazione@cittadellarte.it

NEW | anything i like

anything i like is one part art, one part questions, and one part answers. anything i like showcases art and artists from all over the place. Unashamedly biased, flagrantly subjective but ultimately honest, anything i like profiles artists using interview, and includes online galleries of their work. anything i like is open all year round to submissions from practicing contemporary artists. (It's also published using blogging software, Blogger.)

Info:
Marissa Newell, Editor
designer@papertigermedia.com.
http://anything-i-like.blogspot.com